Rain Rain Go Away...

It was our first rainy afternoon in Dusseldorf and our first real rainy day in Deutschland. The sky was dreary and the rain pounded the pavement and for the first time since we have arrived in this country we just stayed in. Elise made a pot of coffee and I made myself a piece of toast. We curled up on the couch with our food and drinks in our nice warm blankets and pjs and watched a few episodes of House. It was lovely just to relax. We did though eventually get dressed because we did need to pick up a couple of things from the store so we headed out for a quick bit. In Germany it is custom to pack your own groceries so Elise and I have created a little system so we can be the most efficient and not get in anyone's way. Elise will stand closets to the cash register so as the cashier rings the food through Elise will pack it with the excellent skills she has acquired from her many years at Fairway Market and I will hand the cash over so once that transaction is done we will be packed and headed out the door; objective completed since no traffic jam is created since there is very little space at the end of the till. Today was different though, the cashier insisted on helping Elise pack the groceries and while I was counting out the coins from my hand, since I insisted on paying all in loose change, the cashier gently pulled my hand towards her and counted out the coins herself; German coins almost all look the same so I was a little slow. As Elise and I left we couldn't decided whether it was just really good customer service or she was just a wee bit pushy. Yesterday I bought the Sex and the City movie at Media Mart and so to feel even more at home we watched it over some dinner. We did though indeed want to educationally benefit somewhat from it so we put on German subtitles as part of our German immersion and to possibly learn a word or two. Since the translation was not a direct translation, the subtitles got frustrating and we turned them off, not even ten minutes into the movie. Next time we will watch it in German with English subtitles, maybe it will be better then.