German doesn't have a word for "pet peeve," but...

Question: "Helen, your blog entries are so positive - what don't you like about Germany?"

Well, imaginary questioner, here's my list so far:

1. Most restaurants don't have tap water. If they do, you likely still have to pay for it. And when you ask for tap water (or leitungswasser as it's known here) it's likely you're being judged as totally plebeian. I miss huge glasses of ice water with lemon for free. Beer is literally cheaper than water here - almost always.

2. The weather. Except for this lovely week in Erfurt, it's been mostly chilly and rainy.

3. How fast the walking signal at crosswalks turns. In many places in Bremen you literally would have to run to be able to make it. And no countdown.

4. That the trains are often late, meaning you often miss your connection or have to haul booty in the train station.

5. Germans' notions of what constitutes spicy is comical. Yesterday I had a choice between mild and hot salsa and bought the hot one. What, dis is hot? i thought once I tried it. JOKES.

6. How unspecific the language seems to be. I've heard that English has twice as many words as German. The same verbs are used for errything! And the hilarious expressions I love so much in English don't exist here. I suppose I'll just have to get better at the language, and then I'll (hopefully) discover German ones. Germans are a bit serious, though.

7. Rarely any free bathrooms.

8. Umlauts. "Cake" and "kitchen" are spelled the same, with just an umlaut's difference. It is impossible for me.

9. Where be the good Mexican food? One of the other CBYXers with me in Erfurt is Mexican, and he said the owner of a Mexican restaurant in Cologne (who was not Mexican) offered that he become his partner so he could teach him how to cook! Hilarity.

10. Very small refrigerators. Not all that much fits!

11. No In-n-Out (lol). Once in college my roommates and I went to In-n-Out 3 times in 24 hours. We had a problem.

Now these are all pretty small things, I'm just feeling a bit whiny today :) Don't worry bout me, the endless supply of bratwurst and hefeweizen make up for it.