More Than Just a Taste of Home

I love Kraft Spirals Mac and Cheese--always have, always will. Skim milk and margarine won't do--no, this powdery processed snack deserves the real stuff. Only then can spiral serenity be attained. It took me many years to perfect my preparation method and now that I've finally got it spot on I occasionally look forward to making this lazy day treat...only in Hamburg I have no spirals to work my magic on. Ouch.


While there is a list of American goods I would pay a hefty sum to have at my disposal while living abroad, credit must be given to Hamburg vendors for their effort to bring a taste of home to us expats. In Karstadt, the mother of all Hamburg department stores, us lucky Americans have an entire half an aisle dedicated to filling our bellies with memories of home. And, if you live in a state where Tex-Mex is big, you get both halves of the aisle.

Going into the grocery store and only recognizing these brands used to be intimidating--especially because I didn't buy these products when I lived in the US. But, something about just knowing Campbell's soup is available is comforting. All this and still no baking soda, self-rising flour, chocolate chips, brown sugar, or vanilla extract. I'm not too let down, though--this gives me a good excuse to take a break from baking for a bit.

Lots of high-quality grocery shopping exists in Hamburg so I am able to find just about anything I need. Produce is a cinch, obviously, but some spices and condiments require the very expensive guess-and-check method. While English is all around us in many ways, it's not always there when you need it in the grocery store.


Unless you visit this shop:

A ten-minute walk from our apartment and owned by a British man, this shop sells cake mixes, self-rising flour, and heaps of teas, candies, and chips that I haven't seen in other shops.

 They also have a van that reads, "British Food and Drink, Lifestyle and Curiosity Shop. The 'curious' bit makes me curious. You, too?

To enhance the British experience you can also visit this English spot:

 The owner also has an English book shop next door. A few months ago he down-sized the book shop and a few friends and I stocked up on our reading material while it was on sale, each leaving with a bag full of books. Now it's much more crowded and more difficult to navigate, but technically is still in existence. It's a good thing, too, because though small English-sections exist in the many bookstores in Hamburg and there is a mediocre English-section at the mammoth library, finding good English books for good prices is just plain tough.

This teensy English books section (only including Teens' books) is all that exists in a very large and busy bookstore right around the corner from us.

"ich liebe es" translates literally to I love it, the German way to say  "I'm lovin' it."

No surprise to anyone, McDonald's is ever-present throughout Europe and if we need a taste of home we can stop there for a bite. The fries taste the same as I remember and though they offer local eating options such as wurst burgers and dinner rolls, the concept is the same as it is throughout the US.

It's common to see menus, ads, and other signs in both English and German.

Of course, there are more prepared American meal offerings than old McD's. At California 101, started by an American woman living in Hamburg, you can enjoy highly-recommended California-cuisine. Many folks go just to get a taste of root beer--something impossible to find anywhere else in Hamburg. On the weekends they prepare American-style omelettes, another thing that can only be found at select breakfast spots.


For more Cali-style snacks you can visit Malibu Surf, owned by an American and German. They offer fruit smoothies, shakes, wraps, Mexican pizza, and more. Score. This cute little shop reminds me of a smoothie shop my sister and I sometimes visit in South Florida. And, with many thanks to the owners, the menu and signs are in English. Double score.

Graceland, a restaurant serving Elvis-friendly American-style BBQ just outside of Sternschanze, is another spot we can journey to when feeling homesick for food.

Hamburg has made an effort to give Americans more than just a taste home. If we so desire we can have our nails done American style: 

Germans are more than familiar with American television, music, and movies. In fact, Reggie and I never realized how hysterical Two and a Half Men is until we got to Hamburg. Now we watch it quite often. It's so popular in Hamburg that Reggie has heard the theme song used as a ringtone.

There are three movie theaters in Hamburg that play original version movies (OV means in English and not-dubbed). One of these theaters, called Streit's, plays OV movies and also offers sneak previews of OV movies--the only catch is you don't get to choose what you're going to see. Your Sneak ticket will cost 5€ ($7) with it you gain entrance into an OV movie, the title of which you'll learn when you get there. I've learned over and over again that you must buy your tickets at least a few days in advance or it will sell out, which is, of course, a huge bummer.  

American music is everywhere. It is rare to hear a song that is not in English in a cafe, shop, or restaurant. The current Deutschland chart toppers are all American songs, number one being Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which was big when I was in college. Soon I will be in my glory watching Kings of Leon perform in Hamburg, along with a bajillion other happy Hamburgers.

I didn't discover all these great homesickness remedies on my own. I had lots of help from the various organizations dedicated to expat assistance. First, there was Toytown, an immeasurably helpful site dedicated to helping English-speakers live in Germany. Here is where I found my gig at Seedlings, Ernesto the mover, and many of the restaurants and English book shops I know love.



Without Toytown I would most likely be unemployed, bored, and maybe even hungry.



Young-germany.de is another site dedicated to helping English-speakers survive/enhance their experience while living in Germany, as is spottedbylocals.com/hamburg which is written in English by Hamburg natives. These fine folks review events, nightlife, cafes, and eateries and I carry their recommendations with me. Meetup.com is a worldwide site used by people looking new meet new faces and have a good time by organizing group outings and meals.

While these super sites have taught me a lot about Hamburg, The American Women's Club has introduced me to some fabulous new friends. AWC is 120-ish members strong and welcomes American women, women that have lived in America, or women interested in the American way of life--and boy do they serve us well. I met my first Hamburg friend, Mary, at the AWC 4th of July BBQ and we've all had lots of fun together since. Among many other things, the AWC holds monthly ladies night out get-togethers, dinners, gallery tours, movie nights, and scrapbooking sessions.

AWC publishes a news magazine called Currents and they also published a super helpful book called Hamburg in Your Pocket. It helps a ton with all the legal stuff (my visa fiasco mos def deserves its own post) and includes a line that I now live by, "...don't wait for a nice day to do anything." With the heaviness that is Hamburg weather we would be in our flat 24/5 if we waited for a nice day to go out and get things done. So we pile on the rain gear and venture out into the gray gloom, finding lots of English and other tastes of home along the way.

 

Hamburg has the most consulates in Europe, and the fourth most in the world. There are people from all over the world living in Hamburg and more than just a taste of home is available to them, too, so I suppose I'm lucky I can find even half an aisle of America-food. Though certainly not the only language spoken in Deutsch-world, English is everywhere. It is mixed in with German in ads and signs, it is used for store names even when the store is totally Euro...

 
...and it is spoken by many, many Germans, who in public schools start learning our universal language in grade five and continue learning it through school. Many corporations, including Susat, hire English teachers to teach their employees. They understand that speaking English is practically a must, and lucky for them there's only one form of 'the' in English. So why ever would I struggle through German, you wonder. Well, because I want to...I think? But really, now that I fully understand the power English has on the world, doesn't it just make more sense to practice my English to make sure it stays nice and sharp?