Trying to look European?
We leave tomorrow to go to Salzburg! Oh and I realized I've been spelling Salzburg wrong but I am very excited to go to another country and have our first train experience. The only down side is it's supposed to rain all weekend... and heavy rain! Looks like we'll be wearing our hiking shoes with great traction, our rain jackets and jeans that I know will get soaked. With as much as it rains here in Germany you would probably think we have an umbrella. Well we do but one is red, white, and blue and the other is purple and gold and says East Carolina University. So we'd rather not use those because we try not to stand out too much. We go back and forth with trying to fit in and look European or not caring. When we first got to Germany my husband was set on never wearing a T-shirt that had anything English or American written on it. He still is, he only wears solid color shirts or polos, nothing with a logo on it. There are some Germans who don't like Americans so we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves. On the other hand if I look American then I can pull the ignorance card and pretend I didn't know something. But I honestly don't think a lot of them even notice one way or the other. I have blatantly worn a T-shirt that has East Carolina or Marching Band written on it and they will speak German to me. And for us, the location we live, around US military, and the places we visit are known for having a lot of Americans so it's not like we're completely out of place. In situations that could possibly be awkward my husband and I will purposely speak English loud enough for someone else to hear, such as a waitress or cashier at a store. Often, if they hear us speaking English first then they will automatically speak it to us which is so nice to be able to skip the sprechen sie Englisch? (do you speak English) part. But of course there are those Germans that don't speak or understand any English and we just have to stare, nod and shrug shoulders. Overall we try to fit in, Germans have no shame in starting at people (other Germans have told us that) so we try not to stand out. I've learned that I just need to accessorize my outfits so scarfs have become my new best friend! What better way to dress! Wear a solid color shirt and add a scarf!