Life in Germany: Bitterness and Joy of Cooking Together

I really enjoyed studying in the German language school. Every day, there are new gains and new progress. Seeing that our German level is constantly improving, we feel that every day is full and worthwhile.

But the time after class still makes people feel lonely, especially it is very troublesome to cook three meals a day. There is no student canteen, no fast food restaurant, and money can't buy food.

There is a classic saying among international students that "one person is called survival, and two people are called life". This is not unreasonable. In our line of work, we are all unmarried men and women, all single, and all in the primary state of survival.

Several bags of instant noodles with me became treasures, so I saved them and ate them quickly. I never thought instant noodles were delicious before. After eating bread for a few days, I think instant noodles are much more delicious than bread. At least it's salty, unlike bread, which has a slight sour taste in its mouth. After a long time, my whole stomach is sour.

At this rate, it will definitely not work. How to solve this serious problem has become our top priority.

Boarding with Sasha

A group of international students from China adopted the way of cooking and eating together early, which solved the trouble of three meals a day. This practice was quickly imitated among us.

After school that day, I met Sasha on campus. She told me that she wanted to cook with me. We 17 are only m-girls, so they are very popular with boys, because in life, girls are definitely much better than boys. I live off campus, and I don't even think about partnership. Who will come to cook with me outside school?

Sasha is serious, which makes me surprised and surprised. Sasha is a very clever girl. Although we studied together in the language class in Beijing for half a year, we were under great pressure to learn German and hardly spoke. She went home early on the day when there was no class. Sasha is from Beijing. She is a very pure girl, and her father is a professor at Peking University. Thanks to the influence of the intellectual family, she is not vain and has her own pursuit. Before coming to Germany, she had been hired by a foreign-funded enterprise in Beijing, but she wanted to go abroad for further study and devoted herself to learning German, and finally came to Germany to study as she wished.

I think, among so many classmates, especially among so many Beijing villagers, she chose me for only one reason: security. I am a little brother she can rely on and trust, and I won't have wild desires for her. In a foreign country, girls need a sense of security most.

The next day, we started cooking together. Because my kitchen here is the landlord's own kitchen, with all kinds of facilities. Before cooking, we asked the landlord for advice, but she didn't object.

In this way, the two of us started cooking together. When I come home from class, I will go to the shop opened by Turks and buy some fresh vegetables and food. My division of labor is to purchase materials, clean the kitchen and other chores. When she gets home, Sasha mainly cooks. She can make all kinds of delicious China meals with limited food materials. We soon experienced the benefits of this company, which not only enhanced our friendship, but also made us full. At the same time, it also reduces a lot of loneliness and homesickness in spare time for people who miss their loved ones.

Friendship of international students

Sasha is very mature, just like a sister sent by God, so that I can have hot dishes and hot meals every day, which really makes me feel so happy. Our generation is the product of family planning, and a family can only have one child. We feel lonely since childhood, and the friendship between brothers and sisters is an emotion that cannot be compensated by other means.

Sasha is especially good at making spaghetti, and often attracts landlords to visit her house and watch her cook.

German flour is very cheap. Flour without baking powder costs only 0.29 euros per bag, and weighs 1 kg. Cheaper than domestic flour. Rice is more expensive. They are not sold in supermarkets in general, so you should go to China store to buy them. So we often buy flour as the staple food.

Her specialty is to pack several bags of jiaozi. She can make noodles in a few minutes, and then mix them with jiaozi, most commonly carrots. Many carrots in Germany are also very cheap. Germans also like carrots very much, because they are nutritious and contain vitamins. Carrots in the supermarket are sold in packages. A pack of about five kilograms is very cheap. You can buy a pack as long as 1.5 euros. A pack of carrots is enough for us to eat for half a month.

Meat stuffing is ready-made There is a kind of chicken and pork stuffing in the supermarket. The price is cheaper than pure pork stuffing. One kilogram per box, price 1.9 Euro.

Add carrots, spices and sesame oil to the meat. Dumpling stuffing once overflowed with attractive fragrance, which made people want to eat after smelling it. After the dumpling stuffing is mixed, put it into a plastic box with a cover and use it twice.

The landlord likes jiaozi wrapped in salsa very much, so every time he packs more, he invites the landlord to have dinner together.

Of course, Sasha has other skills. She can make pies that are common on the streets of Beijing. But the pie was going to be fried, and the landlord didn't like the smell of oil smoke in the kitchen, so we made it once.

Sasha said that the most convenient thing is to eat noodles. I really haven't eaten that kind of hand-grabbed noodles before. I have been growing up in the south, and I usually live on rice. I don't like noodles very much, but when I first ate noodles, I changed my prejudice against noodles. Hand-kneaded dough has a smooth entrance, not as hard as spaghetti. After the noodles are cooked, put a little mustard tuber and minced meat on them, and it becomes a slag river surface. It's delicious and I like it very much.

After supper, it is my job to clean up the dishes and the kitchen. This division of labor is reasonable, who let her have the technology. However, as soon as I entered this role, I found that cleaning the kitchen was very knowledgeable.

The landlady likes neatness. She asks us to clean the kitchen after supper every day.

See the neatness and seriousness of the Germans.

German kitchens, like our laboratories, are not only clean and tidy, but also orderly: dozens of pots, bowls, scoops and basins of various specifications are put into cabinets; All dishes, large and small, should be cleaned with a dry cloth after washing, and then put in a drawer; On the seasoning rack, a dozen bottles of the same specification are neatly arranged and spotless; Even the bottom of stainless steel pot is polished.

More exquisite is the trash can in the kitchen.

The landlady didn't say it was a trash can. I really can't believe that those colorful barrels near the corner are used to hold garbage. The appearance colors of those buckets are different, including blue, yellow, black and a kind of red. Clean, tidy and beautiful.

For these trash cans, the landlord gave me a special lesson.

The landlady said, "Different kinds of garbage should be put in different buckets. Don't put them wrong."

She pointed to the blue bucket and said that it was used to hold recyclable paper, such as newspapers, magazines, cardboard, egg boxes (paper) and toilet paper. But coated paper, or used paper, such as colored paper for decoration, or used paper towels, toilet paper and sanitary napkins for women, can't be put into this bucket.

She pointed to the yellow bucket and said that it was used to collect non-recyclable items, such as plastic, tinplate, packaging foam, beverage boxes, yogurt cups, butter and cream boxes.

Black trash can is non-reusable garbage, such as leftovers, expired bread, meat, fish, orange peel and so on. The red trash can is used to hold recycled items that can be used as fertilizers, such as vegetable waste, lettuce leaves, potato skins, fruit stones, peanut shells, egg shells, banana skins (without trademarks), coffee, tea residue and so on.

The landlady went on to say that batteries should not be littered, because it pollutes the environment, so there is a special place to collect batteries.

The landlord said too much at once, how can I remember! I didn't expect a garbage classification to be so many and complicated, which really showed me the rigor of Germans on garbage.

So after dinner every day, my task is very heavy. First of all, we must classify the garbage, which is a very detailed work. Often the classification is inaccurate and misplaced. The landlady doesn't trust me. I must check it myself after I finish my work. However, I was really checked several times. Once, I threw that box of milk into the waste paper bucket. The landlady rudely pointed it out to me and said to me, "There is a plastic film on the surface of the milk carton, which should be thrown into the plastic trash can." Another time, I threw a cigarette case into the wastepaper bucket. In the evening, the landlord specially asked me to "talk" about it. It turned out that my mistake was that I didn't take out the tin foil from the cigarette case. The landlady has replayed the garbage and told me that she won't make similar mistakes next time. I became cautious after the second yellow card warning.

Cleaning the kitchen is no less than cooking. It's too much trouble, too complicated. But it is precisely because Germans attach great importance to kitchen hygiene that there are absolutely no annoying cockroaches in their kitchens. This extremely fertile animal has been extinct in Germany for decades. This is enough to make people admire their hygiene habits.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I'll take Sasha to the station. She will go back to school, and we will review our lessons during the day in the evening.

This season is the coldest day in Germany, and the whole town is covered with snow, white and shining.

The two of us walked slowly along the old street in town to the station. We are often quiet on the road, except for the crisp creaking sound of stepping on the snow, and there is silence around us. We like the quiet in the town, and we like the quiet atmosphere.

A day of companionship and mutual concern

The bus will always appear at this station on time at the same time every day, and be delivered to the school gate by Jiang Shasha at the same time. I didn't leave until the car she got on left. When I return to the landlord's house, my mobile phone will ring on time, which is the signal that Sasha sent me when she arrived at school. I will feel very happy when I am abroad, away from the care of my parents and the mutual care of my peers.

At that time, life was regular, the problem of eating was solved, and there was no worries.

On the way to school every day, I start thinking about a big dinner in my mind, and this state will last until I go home. However, on the way, I am sometimes disturbed by the smell of barbecue in Turkish restaurants. When I am greedy, I occasionally spend 2 euros on a snack. This is a delicious fast food, a bit like Xi 'an's China hamburger. The Turks designed a long barbecue grill with mutton strung on it, which was oily and delicious. Turks will cut the mutton piece by piece with a chainsaw and put it into steamed bread. Then, they will choose a few kinds of vegetables and fruits and put them in steamed bread and meat. The taste will be different, and you won't feel the unique flavor of mutton when you eat it.

I still remember the feeling of having a hot meal for dinner (we only have one hot meal a day, and we have something to take away at noon). China jiaozi, who loves to eat, grabbed noodles. This is not entirely because of friendship, but really because there are too many things to help, depend on and care for each other.

During my months in a language school, I not only made great progress in my language, but also got a comprehensive exercise in my self-reliance ability. Without dependence, everything can only be faced and solved by ourselves. That's when my cooking started, and then I got advice and improved.

It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish. Eating ready-made food can only be a temporary thing; But if you learn cooking skills, you can stop worrying about cooking for life.

I learned to cook. Jiaozi, noodles are a piece of cake. Facing the life of studying abroad in the next few years, I am confident that I can have enough food and clothing to solve the problem of eating, and I won't worry about eating again in the future.