Tschüss Deutshland!

I've been keeping a running list of the little, everyday things that I don't want to forget from my time in Germany.  Things that, over time, are likely to slip away from my memory slowly enough that I likely won't even remember they were ever there.  Here are some of my favorites that I pulled from my notes...

10 Things I Don't Want to Forget About Germany:

1. Understanding my first German swear word ("scheisse"- shit!) on the bus to Stuttgart from Berlin.  (A car cut us off and the driver had a few choice words to share.)  
2. Feeling somehow comforted to see lilacs, wisteria, buttercups and dandelions (yes, they're the same here!) during my stay.  At least some of the flowers are similar when so many things are different.  (On a side note, I'm planning a visit to the Porsche museum when I return in June.  Mom and Dad, did you guys ever doubt you had an influence on me??)
3. The fact that a slow watch could be detrimental.  In punctual Germany on time is already late.  
4. The look on Claudia's mother's face when I replied to her heavily accented "good morning" with "guten morgen!" (probably also heavily accented)
5. The first German song I heard after being in Germany for more than two weeks.  The music video was a boy band wearing lederhosen and t-shirts while dancing on a beach with bikini clad girls.  
6. The Turkish restaurants that are everywhere here, and how I was confused when everyone was talking about "kebab" which was not, as I expected, meat or veggies on a skewer, but a giant (and I mean giant) rotating cone of meat that is shaved and put into flatbread with veggies and sauces. Turns out it's actually spelt kebap and is completely different from kebabs.  
7. That, despite passing many vineyards and orchards, I could never lay my finger on what distinguishes them from California vineyards and orchards.  Something about them is unmistakable different but still reminds me of driving through Sebastopol or out to Sonoma in a bittersweet way.  
8. My friend Ramona's slight Irish accent from her time studying abroad. 
9. The fact that it rained after I left California.  Then it rained when I arrived in Frankfurt.  And it rained when I left Berlin.  And it rained again the day I left Oppenweiler.  Every other day has been warm and sunny.  In the car, I told Claudia that it's because California and Germany are sad to see me go.  
10. My favorite German word, tschüss! Pronounced like "juice" with a "t" at the beginning, it means "bye!"  So much fun to cheerily reply with the right phrase when leaving a shop.