Out of Africa

For those of you who have not yet seen the pictures on facebook, I am fully indulging in a week back in the western world! My dad had to do some business in Germany and Switzerand so I was able to tag along! It was such a huge blessing to also be able to spend some time with my cousin Greg and his wife Amy in Munich! They are spending the year in Paris while Greg works on research for his PhD. It is just so crazy to meet up with family in a different part of the world! We had so much fun exploring and catching up on each others lives in different cultures! I also have spent the week enjoying luxuries that I am no longer accustomed to. Todays post I am just going to share about the things I didnt even realize I missed, and next week I will talk more about my time in Europe. I hope it will be enlightening for all of you as well, as many of you probably do not even think about not having some of these things. (I didnt!)

1. First of all, I have to say that I have enjoyed the time with my dad! Everyone knows that I am a daddy's girl, so 8 months without my dad is a long time!!!

On the plane to Munich with my dad

2. A comfy cozy bed with a down comforter and a hot shower!! I think I have discussed before that instead of a cold shower I opt for a warm bucket bath. Unfortunately it does not quite have the comfort of a hot shower!

3. Different fruit and veggies!!!!! One thing I have missed terribly are berries. Occasionally you can find blueberries in our supermarket, but they are VERY expensive! I found strawberries for 2.50 Euros for 1/2 kg! I was so excited and ate all but 5 of them in one sitting.... lets just say my stomach was not very happy with me! My dad and I also enjoyed white asparagus. We love asparagus at home, but the white asparagus in Germany is even better!

My strawberries :)

On many street corners are these produce booths. You can see the white asparagus! They also had blueberries and cherries, but they were still too expensive. I did enjoy some blackberries though!

4. MEAT- I NEVER order or buy meat in Uganda. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I do not enjoy meat on the bone :) So in Germany I ate like the Germans and enjoyed lots of meat :)

One of the German meat stores.... it smelled so good!

5. Safe Water - One thing I have grown use to is brushing my teeth with only bottled water and having to filter all of my drinking water. At the hotel I asked my dad if the water was safe and at the first restaurant I asked if the "still" water was safe... the guy probably thought I was crazy!

6. STARBUCKS! Enough said...

Just ignore how they spelled my name! 

 7. Baked Goods - Germany has WONDERFUL bakeries everywhere! We ate lots of pastries and German pretzels. I may go through withdrawals next week!

Some sort of raspberry dessert. YUM!

8. Warm Clothes - This sounds silly but one thing I look forward to at home is the change of season and change of clothing! It has been kind of nice to need a jacket. HOWEVER.... this girl is FREEZING! It was only 1 degree Celsius today!!!!!! (my dad said it wasnt accurate... but I was COLD!)

9. Ice cream - Ice cream in Uganda is just not the same. In fact, I never eat it except if I am at Matoke Inn. I think my dad and I managed to get ice cream every day but one!

:) 

10. Shopping - When Amy and I went into the first department store, I was VERY overwhelmed. There were just so many choices!!! After I got over that though, it was very nice to do a little shopping! 

11. It was nice to sleep without having to crawl under a mosquito net!

So..... sorry this turned into a materialistic post... but these have all been things that I have tried to soak in and enjoy as I will do without them for another 3 months. It sounds strange, but when I am in Uganda I really do forget about most of these western world comforts. However, while in Europe I have tried to take it all in! Next week I will fill you in a little more on what we did... besides eat :)

Thank you all so much for your love and support!