Not every day in Hannover is interesting

I realize that it might seem cool when you read about us going to Berlin for a weekend, and playing weird ball throwing games, and visiting Mini Wunderland. There are plenty of days when life in Hannover is not so interesting. There's not much going on here this weekend.  This morning after Brian shook off the hangover from teachers' Friday happy hour we took advantage of spring-like weather and took a bike ride. But being spring-like weather, it was really windy and we got blown all over the place. It did feel good to get out on the bike in February with no snow or slush or grit to deal with.

We stayed in for the evening and our biggest excitement was the plan to try out food from the Texas-style steakhouse. They deliver and you can order on-line. In addition to onion rings and hot wings and ribs, you can also buy donuts and hot dogs. Sounds delicious, right?

We knew it would probably be disappointing as most quasi-American food in Germany is, but when you see a picture of onion rings and you haven't had onion rings in 6 months, it's tempting to try them out. I placed the order online but got a message that our postal code was outside of their service area. That seemed unlikely since they had left a menu on our doorstep. So, as any normal customer would do, I picked another postal code. That one worked. Then time went by - 30 minutes, 40 minutes - and the screen still said that the order was being sent to the restaurant for processing. I started thinking that the postal code thing was a problem. After an hour I got up the nerve to call.

I'd rehearsed what to say in my head - carefully, since this required using the past tense - and dialed. I managed to say that I'd placed an order online an hour ago, they asked my name, I replied - and the guy on the phone understood it all! Then he said something about how the restaurant was really busy and the order was still coming. I was pretty excited that I'd managed a short conversation with no hand gestures.

The food did come about 15 minutes later. And it wasn't very good. The onion rings and the chicken wings were ok but the ribs were a little tough and the potatoes were nothing like the picture on the menu. We may never order from the Texas-style steak house again, but at least the experience boosted my confidence a little. Someday I might even call to order Chinese food.

It's too wet for a bike ride today and the only phone calls we will probably make will be to family and friends back home. Today promises to be a very normal and uninteresting Sunday. That's ok with me.