Here’s your German Road Sign quiz of the week. See below for the answer. Speaking of road, let’s talk about some of the nuances of driving in Germany. For the most part, it’s not too terribly different than driving in Iowa. But there are some differences.

Lane paint on the street is always white. There is not a yellow line to indicate the barrier of opposite traffic flow. So sometimes I am driving down a street and I don’t know if it is 2 lanes going in the same direction or 2 lanes going in opposite direction. I just keep right.

The speed limit CONSTANTLY changes. It goes from 30 KM/HR to 100 KM/HR to 70 KM/HR without (what I have been able to determine so far) any rhyme or reason. Some speed changes make perfect sense, like when approaching an area with exits (Ausfahrts) and entrances. But other times there doesn’t seem to be any change on the road that would warrant a change in speed. And there are speed cameras all over the place, so it is important to keep an eye on the speed or you will get an unwanted letter in the mail. I usually set the adaptive cruise control that does a pretty good job of adjusting to the posted speed, but it isn’t perfect. I also have a little device called the OooNo that alerts me if there are known speed cameras – as long as someone else has flagged the location. So far, no speed tickets for me. Knock on wood.

Stop lights. You know how in the US, if there is a stop light at an intersection, the light itself is on the other side of the cross street, and there is a white line on the street that shows you where you actually need to stop. In Germany, the light itself is on this side of the cross street, so when you pull up to the intersection, you are directly underneath the light. How am I supposed to see that light change to green? Well, actually, from red to yellow to green? If there is a light on the left side of the road, you can usually see it, otherwise your neck is strained trying to look up through the top of your windshield to see the light.

Turn lanes. When approaching an intersection, if there is a designated turn late that only has the option of a left or a right turn, apparently you do not have to use your turn signal. Because obviously you are in the lane, so everyone else has to know what you are planning to do. Why would you waste energy on signaling? Works great IF everyone follows the process.

And speaking of following the process, let’s talk about pedestrian crossing. What is the single most dangerous thing someone out for a leisurely stroll is likely to face? If you guessed crossing the road and getting hit by a car, you would be correct. This fear is ingrained into Americans (or at least to me) from an early age. Stop, and look both ways, before crossing the road. Never assume the driver is paying attention, because if they are distracted by something they could hit you AND YOU COULD DIE. But in Germany, the land of rule followers, it is the expectation that drivers will stop for pedestrians if the road has the little white hashes on it, therefore people just go out into the road without stopping and looking for oncoming traffic. Often times they have their eyes glued to their phone. Or they actually run to the intersection that you are approaching so that you have to stop (#slamonbrakes) instead of walking and waiting a half second for you to pass by. That is putting a LOT of trust in the process, a process where a slight variation could result in DEATH. I’m enjoying a lot of things that are different about German life, but that is one I will not adopt. Blindly following a process rarely produces the best results.

Next topic I want to bring up is hair. I had my first German hair appointment this week. I have been going to Brian for who knows how many years, so this was a big deal for me. I got a salon recommendation from a lady who has gorgeous hair, so I felt fairly confident that they wouldn’t turn it green (unless I asked for it, which I wasn’t planning on doing). The biggest downside is that the salon is located in downtown Frankfurt. I thought that parking might be a challenge but I figured I would figure out where to park once I got there. Lesson #1: Find the location on google maps and then start directions to the nearest public parking garage before you leave your house. I made it to the salon, and quickly realized that there was nowhere to park. I had some lady road rage honk and yell at me when I pulled over to find a parking garage, which didn’t make sense because people pull off to the side all the time here. Whatever. I found a garage and thankfully it had lots of open spaces. I thought it was weird that the gate just opened without giving me a ticket, but thought maybe it was free that time of day. At this point I was already late for my appointment, and according to Google Maps I still had an 8 minute walk ahead of me. I speed-walked to the salon and arrived a few minutes late, but thankfully still a couple minutes before my stylist arrived. My stylist spoke English, but let’s just say she didn’t want to chat. I told her “I don’t really want to go any darker” and she just got to work. She seemed competent in her abilities, but there was no therapeutic chit-chat ending in tear-inducing laughter like I am used to. So I read a book and tried not to worry too much about what was happening on my head.

Y’all. I’m blonde now. I went from dark brown with some hints of red, to full on blonde. The good news is that Jay prefers it when my hair is blonde. Lily hates it. She actually turned off the light in the room and told me “that looks better.” And Ty didn’t even notice the drastic change. Why do I even bother trying?! It’s actually a pretty good color job, just will take some getting used to.

So anyway, back to the salon. We wrap up, and I try not to show the shock on my face when I saw how light it was, thinking that it will grow on me. Hey – at least it isn’t green. I needed some shampoo and conditioner, and some product, so we picked that out. All along I never thought to ask about prices. I don’t mind paying for quality work, typically. I was stressing about whether or not I needed to tip at the hair salon, because most places in Germany don’t expect tips, but I didn’t want to leave the stylist short-changed if the salon was the exception to the no-tipping rule. But when she told me the total, it took my best Oscar-worthy performance to not have my jaw drop to the floor. Hair cut, color, and product (no waxing), was 495€. I’ll let you all do the currency conversion to USD. Bless my husband for not calling me as soon as he saw the Capital One alert. I paid (and didn’t tip), then stopped in the bathroom and snapped a quick picture – ignore the lack of makeup.

I had an 8 minute walk to calm down before I had to get in the car and drive home. I found the parking garage (yay!), got in my car, and drove to the Ausfahrt exit. The arm to let me out of the garage didn’t go up. Hmmmmmmm. I looked at the screen and it said I owe 12.50€. How did it know that if I didn’t take a ticket when I got there? OHHHHHHHH! It knew my license plate. So I backed up (thankfully nobody was behind me), temporarily parked in an electrical vehicle charging space, took a picture of my license plate, found the Kasse machine to pay, then finally was allowed to exit the garage. 6 hours and 507.50€ later, I wasted a partial vacation day. Ugh. Next time I’m just going to a place in Königstein that I can walk to, hoping the price is lower and the cut/color is somewhat OK. I miss you, Brian!

Other events of the week included Ty’s second basketball game. They lost, but the coach doesn’t appear to have winning be the priority. It’s more about letting all of the boys get some playing time. This can be somewhat difficult for Ty to accept, since he’s played to win for so long, but we keep reminding him that not having any pressure isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

One thing I love about where we live is that we have so many great restaurants nearby. For some reason being able to walk somewhere to eat seems so much easier than driving to a restaurant. The kids usually prefer something quick to eat for dinner, so if we haven’t cooked a meal, Jay and I get to sneak away for an hour or so and have a lovely dinner without the kids. I hope we keep this up when we go home, even if though we have to drive.

I learned something new about Jay. After 20 years, I would have thought I knew it all. He sorts his Skittles. And he freaks out when anyone (Ty) throws a pile of unsorted Skittles in their mouth. I don’t sort. I eat one at a time, and occasionally will throw a few mixed in my mouth at once. I posted this on Facebook and it basically blew up the internet with comments from the Sorters vs the Non-Sorters. Which are you?

Lily had her first indoor softball tournament on Saturday. She was nervous, and for those that know about her anxiety issues, she did have an episode. But once she got the nerves out of her system (literally), she decided to play ball. I hate that she struggles so much with doing fun things. But once she decided to play and realized it isn’t that much different than outdoor softball (which she is comfortable with), she played like a champ. I was super proud of her for not letting her anxiety win. Speaking of winning…her team won all of their games and got 1st place!

One of Ty’s classmates had a party on Saturday afternoon, so he hung out there during Lily’s tournament. It was the first non-school boy/girl party he has gone to. When we picked him up, it sounded like he had a great time.

I have a challenge. I love bonfires. I’ve seen at all of the home improvement stores (like the German version of Lowes) that they have metal firepits for sale. So we bought one, and a box of firewood. 🙂 And then I got worried that there are probably rules about bonfires. Some quick research online says that my hunch was correct. I am going to have to go to the Rathaus (City Hall) and hope someone speaks English and can tell me if I can have a fire or not, and if so, what kind of special permit I need. To sit by a bonfire. So. Many. Rules.

Sunday morning we decided to go on a hike to check out a place that several people had recommended to us – Feldberg. This hike was a little shorter than the last one we took the kids on, but did have a bit of elevation that tested our endurance. A couple times I had to actually push Lily up the hill by putting my hands on her hips. 🙂 We were giggling the whole time.

Answer: This sign indicates a narrow passage ahead (so many 1-lane roads everywhere!) and oncoming traffic has the right to cross the narrow place first. Red means stop, so the car on the right has to stop and wait. This one actually kind of makes sense.