Amerissian Dressing

When I was at Center Parcs with my family (nanny family that is) after all the incredibly heavy food I was being fed by the family. Greasy meat, tons of white bread rolls, croissants, noodles, cheese, and of course a constant flow of candy, all I wanted was a salad. I was being deprived of my vegetables! Anyway when I ordered I had the option of Balsamico, Italian, something else and American dressing. I chose Balsamico I believe for my very mediocre snack bar salad I think. But anyway the point of my story is that there was an American dressing. I asked Chris (the mom) what American dressing was. And turns out it's what we call Russian Dressing. Now it makes more sense to me that it's called American dressing - I mean it's KETCHUP & Mayo (though it also sounds like something that Germans would love - since they eat so well!) . I wanted to know why we call it Russian Dressing though.

So here are some Russian/American Dressing facts according to Wikipedia:

Russian dressing was invented in the United States in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

During the Cold War, many US restaurants referred to the dressing as "Sweet Tomato Dressing" to show their preference to capitalism over communism.

Some claim that the dressing's name originated in the fact that the condiment in those days typically included caviar, a food associated with Russia. Referenced at: Food Reference

Wild Boars

Ahhh....Bianca is always talking about how she is so scared of running into wild boars where she lives (Klein Machnow - a suburb outside of Berlin). She hates taking the walk home from the bus to her house at night because she fears a runin.

It never occurred to me that I too should fear a run-in with these wild beasts. On my way home from work in Charlottenberg (my Monday/Tuesday family) I walked down the small path, a shortcut I take to get to the S-Bahn. I saw some bushes rustle, and kept walking until I saw something jump over the fence. And I heard a snort and in the shadows I could make out a 5 or 6 of them. I ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. Apparently they can't see very well, but I had convinced myself that they were deadly.

Turns out these boars have become an issue recently in Central Europe because of the Global Warning's recent mild winters. They are particularly an issue in Berlin because there are so many small forests and gardens within the actual city.

I am irrationally scared now. I don't think they are typically a problem to passerbys but I am mildly afraid of the dark as it is, and now that I know the dark can be shared with these lurking pig predecessors! ! ayyyyyyy

New Yorkers Speak

My friend Davide from Milan is working on a project analyzing New York City culture and just city living in general. It is just a general forum. He would like to hear input from New Yorkers or those who once were there. Check out his blog and comment on what people have to say:

How to Explain - 5 W's

Disclaimer

I was glancing at my last post, and realized that a lot of times my entries don't follow through on thoughts and contain a lot of grammatical errors. This is because I often just type the way my brain is working in it's spacy way and then get sick of it all and decide not to read over what I wrote or correct it. Just wanted to put that out there. Just wanted to excuse myself for myself. Like you cared ! ! :) Emoticons.

Bath Houses

This was one of the saunas I was in, but only in the ad do people have towels on. Also people didn't look this good.

Germans love their saunas and bathhouses. nude of course. Last week I went with one of the families I work for to this indoor water park type place called Center Parcs Bispinger. I almost didn't go because she mentioned the saunas. perhaps if it were the time of year where I didn't feel as gross as I do in winter, I wouldn't have felt so shy. But I decided to beat the mentalities of prude USA out of me once and for all. And I decided to go anyway. Life experience, Life experience, Life experience. That's my motto and excuse for everything these days. I went and sure enough into the bath house all day with my employer and her children and the rest of the resort. All naked. At one point I was in a pool tossing little Anna back and forth between me and her mother. Anyway I often can't imagine how my life has become what it has, but it sure is interesting.

Also there are much less creeps in Berlin than NY. Cat calling and being disrespectfully hit on at bars is quite rare here. My guess is that this has something to do with the lack of sexual repression that exists in Germany. People don't find nudity or sex nearly as taboo as they do in the states, and so they don't wind up reacting nearly as disgusting. When they see a girl that's walking down the street that just looks good they don't think as much of it I guess because they could just go to the bath house and see her naked - no big deal. hahahah hahaha

Coming to You

Dinner Dance Party establishing American, Swedish, & German Connections. Featuring Dr. Pussy Pop himself.

I don't think Lennart knows I have a blog..he'd probably kill me if he knew I posted this. I think he even said 'don't put that on facebook, Ashley' Well this isn't fb! Sorry Lenny Penny!