German Chocolate Cake

Building a new life in a new country is a little like preparing a layer cake. We all fancy the end result of falling in love with the country and all its trimmings and settling down, much like the way a finished layer cake will look fantastic in all its frosted glory in a bakery window, but few are willing to go through the trouble of actually toiling away for hours in the kitchen to make this behemoth. Mario and I are ready for this challenge and have started work on the foundations to this new tasty treat we like to call our European life, one layer at a time.

Layer 1: Mario and I found ourselves at the onset of the new year in a dilemma: Because of Mario's dual citizenship I had to be on 'tourist status' until he found a new job and proved he could support me. Tourist status means that I can only do touristy things like spend money in the country but nothing else. In addition, if Mario did not find a job within six months we would have to head home to the stars and stripes--or at least I would have to, or else I could file for an extension after the six months are up. So Mario had to get his portfolio in gear right after the last shower of New Years confetti fell. As luck would have it, though, Mario nailed his very first and only job interview two weeks into January and he was hired by his current employer, ISR, as a production and marketing associate in their Braunschweig branch! Yeah! He now commutes forty minutes by train to his new job. Even though we wish he didn't have to commute as much since it gives us less time on weeknights together, we still have the weekends and a foothold on my progress towards gaining my integration papers here so I can start working within the country. Plus, acquiring health insurance isn't so horrible either.

Layer 2: Finding a place to live in Hannover so we weren't bumming it at Mario's mom's home was not so easy. Mario had already started work so that meant that any weekday viewings before 7:30pm had to be done by Esther accompanied by (insert-somebody-who-speaks-German-here). As we learned, rental properties come 'cold' here, and they really mean it! It is not uncommon to find an apartment with no closets or kitchen appliances, no washer and dryer, and the heat is an additional monthly charge that is an estimated amount of what you would use, but the renter gets the full heating bill at the end of the year and charges you the dividend of whatever amount you used over the estimated amount. It is also more common here to have an apartment showing "housewarming style" for the duration of a day where the renter hires a real estate agent to open the doors and you show up among a bunch of other people and whoever likes the place submits an application. There are no guarantees to this procedure, they don't go by credit checks here, so two of our attempts were dismissed in this way since you have no idea what they are looking for in a renter. Then there were a few places we looked at that were just instant deal breakers because either it was too dark, located in "no-man's" land, or had kitchens and bathrooms that were too 'Jimmy' for long-term contentment.

We finally filed our third application attempt one month after starting our search in an area that perfectly suits our lifestyle. It is within walking distance to most of our frequent haunts in Hannover including the Maschsee--the most popular lake here in Hannover--downtown, the main train station, the stadium, and the city hall. As a matter of fact, our new living and dining room windows on the fourth floor (no elevator) offer us a great little view of the historic Rathaus, as the city hall is called in German. We put in an offer immediately upon viewing this apartment and got approval the next day. By the second weekend of March we moved in after we had picked out some kitchen appliances at a local refurb shop with a good reputation. The weeks following our move-in date were filled with trips to IKEA, a Home Depot-like store called Max Bahr, as well as some new and second-hand furniture shops downtown. We wanted to make this place rock in order to give Hannover its best chance at winning us over and so far we are extremely happy with the slow but steady results. With the help of some amazing friends who helped us bang out a kitchen in one Sunday afternoon and the support of patient family members of Mario's, we have finally started on a place we can call home here in Hannover and we want them to know they are truly loved and appreciated for all the help--particularly the funky VW bus use--they have contributed toward our happiness. We can't wait until we have our pull-out sofa in another week or two so we can do a housewarming for you all!!

Layer 3: German language school started for me on the 15th of March in the midst of all the moving-in madness. I now go to school Tuesdays to Friday for four hours each day with Mondays off to do my own thing or paint some walls. A typical weekday consists of getting up at 7:30am and getting ready for school, grabbing the bus at 8:45am to get to my 9-1pm class about 15 minutes away, coming home around 1:30pm, walking Truffles to the store to grab a round of groceries or go to the bank to withdraw 300 Euros and throw away $130, then working for a few hours before starting on my homework. Mario corrects my homework when he gets home around 7:10pm and then we throw something together for dinner, eating at about 7:45pm and then I either work some more or do some sort of home-improvement activity like putting together chairs--I joke that some of our furniture pieces are assembled by somebody who came from China--before we head to bed to watch an X-file, Colbert Report or SNL episode before sleeping around 11:30pm or midnight.

I have really been enjoying the people in my class which consists of ten people from a handful of countries including Palestine, the Czeck Republic, South Korea, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, and Cameroon. We all hurl our horrible German at each other and somehow get away with it and have a mutual understanding. As of now we have only two more weeks of class and have almost all registered for the next class in the series of classes before taking a language test for integration. The hardest part about learning German is definitely the memorization of the articles that accompany each noun. If you don't remember the article you screw up the entire conjugation of the sentence which we all know only makes you look like a walking "Nice Try Buddy" flag to the locals. So that is the part I am currently having difficulties with but it's nothing a few flash cards couldn't help with... good-bye rain forest!

Icing: The best part about living in Europe is...well, that you're living in Europe!! A bevy of honeymoon and dream vacation destinations all concentrated in an area that is, for somebody like me who is from Los Angeles, usually within a three hour flight or less away. We already have a trip to Nice, France planned for the end of April to visit Christina before she moves out of her place, with a hop-over weekend in Milan to see our good friend, Paola. The next month of May finds us visiting Berlin once again to explore the city a little more in depth with Christina and her brother Tim, who is studying at the moment in two hour-away Amsterdam. Then in July we are due for the Lau annual family vacation in Denmark. Although many of Mario's American siblings have already enjoyed this great yearly tradition, this will be my first time and I am really looking forward to it, mostly because of the reputed fresh fish available locally. Oh and of course all the quality family time! But who are we kidding here, my stomach makes the rules. And we have just started planning for a weekend in Munich for Oktoberfest. All of this traveling, no doubt the height of many bucket lists including mine, will make for plenty of quality food blogging I'm sure so keep your appetite open for details to come. Until then, this cake is still in the process of getting richer and sweeter with each oncoming month; but remember, as my favorite quote from Vanilla Sky paraphrases, "the sweet is never as sweet without the sour." Good thing we Chinese are so good at balancing both flavors in our cuisine!

Facades in Braunschweig.

A city square.

Gildehaus (Guild House), home of the Craftsman's Association in Braunschweig this is just one of the intricate hand-carved doors.

The rest of the building facade.

The sun dial adorning the outside of the Brunswick Cathedral, or St. Blasius.

Pedestrian walkway in the city center. While Mario went to his job interview, I did a little shopping.

The lion is Braunschweig's mascot, basically, and you really can't appreciate the fact that these lions supporting benches outside of the Brunswick cathedral are each made to be unique. Each has a different expression and demeanor. They've also included one special bench not pictured in which two cubs are wrestling off to one side while their mother looks on, I love it!

Inside the Blasius or Brunswick Cathedral. Like the lions outside, each pillar inside the castle is unique. Built between 1173 and 1195, this cathedral was a pleasant surprise to me with its timeless design, in my opinion.

We were here the second week of January and so of course the cathedral is still decked out in holiday trimmings.

The catacombs under Blasius where Henry the Lion, founder of Braunschweig is buried.

This is not Henry the Lion's tomb but it could be Dracula's! Henry's is not shown here but it is modest and made of stone. Not as exciting.

"Boohoo! We didn't have enough money to fashion me out of pure gold!"

This tomb was downright Bacchanalian with its two residents luxuriating atop like they probably did while still alive.

Our new apartment starts with these nameplates!!

Mama Jenne peeks out into our new hallway as seen from entering through the front door.

Immediately to your right is our future dining room.

One door down from the dining room and connected via an opening in the middle wall is the living room.

Immediately to your left upon entering is the kitchen, mercilessly empty as you can see.

Bathroom.

Our new bedroom.

View from the dining room windows.

I love this one taken from a little nighttime stroll through the neighborhood.

IKEA is our new best friend since we've been crashing here every other weekend. The one in Hannover is HUGE and so is their cafeteria. I noticed the new and less-improved mud-meatball recipe was also adopted here. How I miss the old meatballs and red potatoes! They make up for it by a well stocked dessert and cold items aisle.

I got their veggie cous cous with salmon and it was like eating at the IKEA in Mission Valley all over again! Only of course they have beer here and they sell these delicious organic spritzers.

Our best friends here, Georg and Vincent, sacrificing one of their quiet Sundays to help us put together our first kitchen made from scratch.

"I'm only happy when I clean."

One of our favorite pics from the day.

Making myself useful.

Truffles, also making herself useful.

Mario's brother and girlfriend show up to help and boy did they ever!

Dining room in stages of non-completion.

Finished hallway for now.

The kitchen as it stands now. We still have a few shelves to put in.

We have a balcony from the kitchen that is perfect for storing beers in winter.

Our Doublemint Fresh bathroom. My favorite part is the outdoor lantern we chose for the lighting.

The living room, still sans-couch to date. But it's coming next week, or at least we hope so!

The only closets in the apartment so far. We still need to get more of these.

Our bedroom without bed in this pic, but we have since gotten one with pull out drawers underneath for storage. See the next stage of completion soon!

My Turkish classmate in German language school works as a cook until 2am and he still found time to make us an amazing cake and fry up some herb 'n' cheese egg rolls for our coffee break in class the next morning. Best break eva!

Our first really decent meal cooked at home, finally! Steak made Italian style sliced atop arugula and then topped with a drizzle of lemon juice and parmesan shavings. The sides are roasted carrots with parsley and potato salad. So rewarding after a day of putting together furniture!

My first quiet Sunday in Deutschland with only my Sweeto. The perfect rainy day accompaniment is your loved one and one big helping of orange creme dipped raisin Challah French toast made in a cast iron skillet with real maple syrup and a fruit salad.