We bought a TV

Brian and I bought a TV. 

It was a first for me. I think in my whole life I have never actually bought a television. They have been handed down or given as gifts (thanks, Mom) over the years. And since we moved to Hannover, Brian and I have not had one. We haven't gone Amish or anything, we were just using a projector. It seemed like a great idea - hook the computer to a projector and use the white walls to our advantage. But then the projector broke, we hung a nice picture on the wall, and it was time to move on.

Buying an electronic appliance means going to an electronics store. You might think that these places in Germany would be quaint, with fresh bread and a beer stand and lederhosen-wearing salesmen. You are wrong. The big box store is international. And it's my least favorite kind of store. I would rather be Amish and write this blog on a slate with chalk than go to Best Buy at Christmas time.

Check out the length of the word above the TVs. German is hard.

You see, I am not into gadgets. I like them when they work and I like using them to the very minimum of their capabilities. This means I have an automatic communication gap with people who are into gadgets - like anyone who works at an electronic store - even before you consider the language gap. What I do have working in my favor is that I've always been a bit of a nerd magnet. And though they are not wearing lederhosen, the guys working at the big box store are definitely nerdy. Therefore, when buying an electronic device in Germany I pull what I call the double bimbo. I ask the salesman in my heavily accented German, filled with cute grammatical errors, about what a smart TV is, actually. Not only am I a foreigner (hopefully a cute one) but I apparently know nothing about electronics. This means that the nerdy salesman should take pity on me and walk me to the precise point in the precise aisle where the HDMI cables are hanging. It's not an act; it's a survival skill.

I am not helpless with technology; I am just not that interested. I'm also old enough to know that it's faster to just let the interested people help me. My generation learned how to program the VCR and make mix tapes. I can use iTunes and pull off a mail merge. But I have no idea what HDMI stands for.

So we bought the TV. Then we had to get it home. No, Brian did not strap it to his bike and roll it back (though he did that a few weeks ago with an armchair). We took the tram. It reminded me when we bought our grill and took it on the very same tram four years ago.

For that purchase, there was just a lot of pointing involved. A grill does not have any electronic parts so I didn't need to ask any questions. I think the Amish even use them.