The Not So Super Superbowl

Well, this past Sunday was part recovery (we had a big birthday celebration on Saturday night) and part anticipation, on my part anyway.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing in the Superbowl and I was very excited. For those of you who don't know...I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I lived there until I was 12 years old.  Even though we moved to Florida and I went to middle and high school there, I still have a strong allegiance to Pittsburgh.  I guess part of the reason is because my whole family is from there and I was the only one to grow up outside of Pittsburgh.  This allegiance is especially true when it comes to professional sports teams.  I love, love, love the Steelers, the Penguins, and the Pirates and I never considered rooting for any other football, hockey, or baseball team in my whole life. I have very fond memories of watching all of these teams play on TV with my dad in our house in Pittsburgh and it just reminds me of my childhood.  There's just something about all of that black and gold that I can't get enough of!

Since we have the lovely time difference to deal with, Rick and I took a nap and set the alarm for 12:15 am so we could be up for the 12:30 am Superbowl kick-off.  As we settled in and started to watch, we weren't sure what happened to poor Christina Aguilera who decided to forget the words to the National Anthem (!) and then it was time for the coin toss.  For Pittsburgh's past 2 Superbowls I have worn my Roethlisberger jersey with pride and it seemed to help because the Steelers won.  This year however, I opted for my Steelers sweatshirt instead just out of comfort.  I have been (secretly) hoping ever since that I didn't single-handedly bring down the Steelers since I wasn't wearing my lucky jersey!  I certainly hope that is not the case because that is just too much guilt for me to carry around...

As we watched the game and watched my poor Steelers not quite getting it all together, we lamented over the fact that we don't get to see any of the fun Superbowl commercials here.  We get our American TV from something called the Armed Forces Network (AFN).  It's satellite TV that is operated through the Armed Forces and it's available to soldiers and some civilians (like us) in countries around the world.  We have about 5 channels and we get sports, news, and TV shows from the United States.  Since it is operated by the Armed Forces, they are not authorized to play commercials from advertisers in the States.  So, we have commercials that are produced by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines and they are some of the worst commercials ever known to man.  They range from topics like not getting yourself into gambling debt, not drinking too much, and don't shake your baby, to don't tape the pin on your hand grenades and how to get down and cover your head if you think that your building is going to be hit my some sort of incoming explosive.  I wish I was making all of this up but I am not.  We endure the painful commercials so we can actually watch some television shows from the States.  We have the option of German cable which involves having MTV and CNN as the only English speaking channels, so we end up watching alot of AFN.

The lack of Superbowl commercials led me to think about some of the other things that miss from the good 'ole USA.  There are things that you would never think you would miss while living in a foreign country.  Of course there are the usual suspects like Target, Macy's and Publix grocery store that just the very thought of can make me sigh, but I'm talking about strange things that you wouldn't automatically think about.  Things like:

• Drive-up ATM machines-I don't consider myself a lazy person at all but there is just something about staying in my car to get some cash when it's freezing, snowing, and/or slushy that very much appeals to me.
• Food delivery-There are times when we would pay a million dollars (or Euro) to have someone bring some take-out food to our house. Chinese food, pizza, chicken wings, salads, anything!  We have one restaurant in our town that will deliver.  Their menu is supposed to be Mexican food, but corn, green beans, peas, and carrots are not necessary in my chicken burrito, thank you.  As you can probably tell we don't frequent that establishment too often, so there really is no need for their delivery services.  
• Automatic garage door openers-This wonderful invention doesn't seem to have made it's mark in Germany quite like it has in the States.  Again, when it's snowing, raining, sleeting, freezing, or any type of inclement weather, I would love to just drive into a garage without having to get out of the warm car to unlock and open the garage door.  We only have a one car garage, so a two-car garage can also be added to this list (that's not really a Germany-wide problem though, it's just our house, so I won't put it on the list).
• Stores open on Sunday or past 8:00 at night-I have gotten used to this one, however it doesn't mean that I still don't miss having the option there in case I need it.  There are times on a Sunday afternoon when I would love to just stop by the grocery store and buy a few things, but that just isn't going to happen.
• Picking up the phone without thinking of the time difference-If we are going to make a phone call to anyone in the States, then we are forced to do math.  I hate math.  Even if it's the simplest of equations to figure out what time it is in a certain part of United States. I usually end up not calling because once I've done the math, I realize that it's either too early or too late.
• Round door knobs-This one sounds crazy, but it's true.  All of the door handles here are flat levers instead of round knobs.  They are actually helpful when you have something in your hands because you can use your arm or your elbow to open the door.  In our house however, they are not helpful since we have a dog that is like the great Harry Houdini. She is smart enough to open the door handles while home alone.  Because of this we have to lock the kitchen door since she will simply help herself to mass quantities of any food she likes and she'll make quite a mess while doing it.  We also have to double lock the door to our apartment because 'Jersey Houdini' will let herself out of the house and wait for us or the family that lives downstairs out in the hallway.  All of this could be avoided with round door knobs.

As you can probably tell, I could go on with list forever.  I will stop complaining because there are many more reasons to be thankful that we get to live here than there are silly things that I miss having.

We have some fun trips planned in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for more posts with pictures from our adventures!