Treasured Trash


The new love of my life has arrived. Last week it was my kitchen, and now it's my brand new washing machine that Christophs parents got us. Now my poor mother in law doesn't have to wash our clothes and that is good for a couple reasons. I don't think I have ever met anyone who can make laundry smell as good as she does. When I first met Chritsoph there was a specific smell he had that I was always wondering where it came from. Come to find later when I visited his house, a step in their home is like walking into a valley of flowers or hugging the Snuggle bear. Phillipp, Christoph's brother could be working all day in construction, come home and still smell like a princess from 10 feet away. Anyways, I tried out my first load yesterday and it was nothing like how my mother in law made it smell, and it literally put me in a bad mood. So many times I think, "I can do it like the Germans" or "I can be organized too." but it is always falling short. I guess I have to remember I am just not German, and there are some things that never change. I do have to say that I am 10 times better at...

a) cleaning b) washing dishes c) organizing d) taking care of my cat d) calling people back (maybe that's because I only have an average of 2 people calling me a week) e) eating. Last but not least I would like to believe I am way better at cooking by now. I am learning, slowly but surely. When we were repacking all of our stuff we left at the Gruener's home over the past year, I opened a cabinet full of my clothes and was appalled at myself and how I stuffed everything in there. It's good that I see that now, whereas before I would think that is completely normal.

When I was little I used to put trash in boxes and stack them neatly in my closet. My mom didn't find out until she looked under my bed and saw all of my dirty laundry stuffed to the point of no end which made her further look in my junk yard collected closet.

It was maybe five years ago I used a bag of frozen lima beans to ease my shin splints after soccer practice. Two weeks later I smelled something rancid lingering. I finally cleaned up my room and found a bag of rotting lima beans under a pile of clothes. Friends, I am only telling you this because I want you to be proud of how far I am have come, and this sentence is mostly written for my mother. Mother, I no longer hide things in dark places. My kitchen is all white and I keep it looking like a Mr. Clean commercial shoot.

I am always admiring how the Germans are so organized and always getting things done. But there will always be some things I will never understand, and that's not their fault it's just the way everyone has learned. Let me give you an example and it starts with locking your garbage can.
The other day we had to register our new place of living from Gerstetten to Ulm. Now, coming from the States I am very used to filling up your garbage as full as you can get it, put it out on friday morning, fill it up again etc... Well not here! We had to go to some government official building, change our residence, and go to a special desk called "Muell", which means "Trash" and pay for our yearly fee of our gallon sized trash bucket we can only fill up once a month. Don't get me wrong we can still have a special bag for plastic, another for paper, another for glass, and so on to recycle. I am all for recycling to a certain extent, but now I know the reason why people have locks on their garbage cans, so that no one else can sneak any of their trash in there. Yesterday Christoph said he needs to start eating more so that we don't throw extra food away. Now we are both gonna get fat just because we can't leave any leftovers to throw away. I said to Christoph yesterday, "It's amazing that people don't start throwing their trash out of their car windows." He said, "We were trained really well I guess." I believe that if Americans were given the same regulations a great many horrible things would happen. a) our streets would be knee deep in trash b) There would be a new police department specifically for trash called the "Trash Brigade" and c) Mary J Bleige and P Diddy would come out with a new song called, "Look at all the Trash."

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow, have you grown up! Better at cleaning...can't wait to see that! Better at organizing...no more piles? Really!!! Better at washing dishes....good job honey! It sure is different when it's your own home:) I'k glad your enjoying it! mom
baresytapas said…
I entered this site by chance, but I found very interesting. A greeting to all the people who visit this page.

Popular Posts