Karin's Adventures

It's been 6 years, 8 months, and two weeks from the day we filed the first piece of paperwork, a form I-130 petitioning for my immigrant visa, until today when I was sworn in as a new US citizen.

Everybody is an alien most everywhere in the world, but being an alien in the country where you happen to live is a challenge. There is, of course, the language - which you can learn - but more importantly there are the laws - which you have no control over.

Some countries go easy on their immigrants, some others are very strict. The USA is somewhere in between the two extremes, leaning a little to the 'strict' side. There were two things that I personally found intimidating: the process of being admitted as a resident, which is almost impossible to accomplish for 'average' people - and the process of coming home from a vacation abroad, where they take your fingerprints every time.

It's all over now, and I will be allowed to participate in this year's presidential election!   

If you are concerned about your health and watch what you eat or drink, pop is off limits. Since today's selection of softdrinks doesn't even taste as good as it did when I was young, I find it easy to resist.

I don't like the artificial, chemical, gross aftertaste of Coke and similar beverages. The only reason why I would sometimes buy Coke is for medicinal purposes. The acid in it helps an occasional upset stomach, so you want to have some on hand just in case.

Today we found this rare treasure in the international section of our grocery store: Coke made in Mexico, without corn syrup! This stuff comes in half liter glass (!) bottles with a pry-off cap, and it says "sugar" on the label. One bottle costs $1.69 and it's worth every penny of that. I might have to fake an upset stomach here pretty soon. 

In Germany it's the law. If you're caught driving in winter conditions without snow tires, you'll be fined. But even before it became law, everybody I knew had two sets of wheels for their cars. One with summer tires and one with winter tires mounted. Twice a year everybody would switch wheels on their cars.

Winters in Indiana are just as bad, or maybe even worse, as the ones I saw in Germany, but hardly anybody puts snow tires on in winter.
All-season radials and maybe 4-wheel drive seems to be the way to go.
With our van, which is quite heavy, that idea has been working OK so far, even without the 4-wheel drive. But the Elantra, engineered for fuel efficiency and light-weight, turned out to be almost impossible to handle on just a little bit of snow.

The solution to this problem is easy: get some stylish new rims with excellent snow tires mounted, and voilá! - driving is fun again.

One of my earliest 'culture shock' experiences in the US was when I first noticed locate flags alongside a road. I had no idea, what they were for and who put them there. My guess was they were remnants of a child's birthday party involving some kind of treasure hunt.

When I learned that an entire industry of utility locators is busy year round marking the location of underground cables and pipes with these little flags every time somebody wants to dig more than a foot deep, I found it hard to believe.

I admit I never paid much attention to the markers that are permanently installed all over Germany to tell you exactly where cables and pipes run underground, which is probably the reason why I didn't notice their absence in my new home town immediately.  

Most years I don't have a specific resolution to change anything - because I like everything the way it is. This year is different. When you have to hold your breath to be able to zip up your pants, it's time to lose some weight.
I don't know if it is due to my age, or the country I live in, but lately I'm holding my breath way too often.

So here is my official New Year's Resolution for 2012:

By April 10th I will weigh 10 lbs. less than on January 1st. The diet I will use to reach this goal has to be very easy to follow.
I have absolutely no extra time for complicated shopping lists and special designer recipes.

My plan is simple. Breakfast will stay as it is with yoghurt, fruit, Müsli, and coffee. Lunch will be a bowl of this awesome soup made with lean meat and lots of vegetables. Supper will be soup again, or maybe a whey protein shake. I will keep up my current exercise routine and cut down drastically on snacks between meals.