(a little town in Germany population: 3,000)

Last week (before my move) I got back from spending a week with my oldest brother and his family in Germany (omg my nieces are absolutely adorable ) and it was such a wonderful trip.

He and his wife had a joint celebration for their 50th so they had a 100th birthday party and it was lit  They are so popular! People flew in from all over the world to  attend! (I was not the only person who flew in from the US! ) I felt a bit like a celebrity, since everyone I met already knew who I was 

Here are some of the things I love about Büderich:

 Stamps in passports - they still use stamps! Most places I have visited recently have digital stamps which means I can’t browse through my passport and see where I’ve traveled too 

 Eggs, meat and fresh produce come from the farms across the road from the grocery store and around the town! Talk about farm to table 

 They don’t have grapefruit because it’s out of season. Or fresh fish. Or sushi. They won’t freeze and unfreeze it. Fresh food only.

 You buy your meat in bulk. My filet came in one slab, for me to cut my steaks  off  That was cool.  No one tries to talk to you randomly

 It’s inexpensive

 The two way streets are single lanes  (fun for me to be a passenger, I’m sure terrifying if I had to drive it)

 The level of consideration was soooo high!!! People are actually aware that other people exist in the world and they respect that 

 At airport security, rather than herd you in like cattle, they have one person unpack and put stuff in trays at a time. It just felt respectful.

 You drink water right out of the tap (that freaked me out a bit at first )

 The food is HIGHLY regulated so even when I went off plan, I had almost no reactions to the foods I’m sensitive to 

 My family is here  (and they are wonderful)

 The pace of life is so relaxed 

 I haven’t spoken German in 23 years but it just started rolling back to me  (although my Spanish is better than my German at this point, since I can understand parts of a conversation in Spanish but in German I can only pick out certain words)

What I missed about the US:

 Ice in your drinks is not a thing - they don’t even have ice in bags at the store. Luckily my bro had ice trays 

 My kiddo   

 My friendies

 There’s no bachata 

 I could only go online when I had wifi 

I’m feeling really grateful for the effort I’ve put into cultivating a life where I can travel across the world to see my family, in the middle of a work week without it affecting my income. I didn’t have to ask for permission. I didn’t have to stress about money.

That’s freedom to me  

 Abi xoxo 

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