Winnie's: Remembering Germany

March is here and it reminds me of what I did and where I was last year. I started my internship in a German flour company situated near Frankfurt am Main, lived alone miles away from my family for the first time and had the chance to take short trips to other German cities or neighboring countries when the company was closed for public holidays.

At first, I was excited at the thought of living by myself in a small apartment provided by the company during my internship period. I imagined waking up everyday to make myself a German-style breakfast, savoring it while watching the morning shows on TV before finally heading to work. It would be fun and challenging to get to know new people and work in the QC laboratory. When I returned home from work, I would be switching on my laptop and signing in to Skype to talk with my family in Indonesia. The time between us differed by 6 hours, so by the time they went to bed, I would be preparing dinner.

However, there were times when I missed my family, friends and Asian cuisine at the beginning of the internship. I was grateful that I had learned from my Mom how to cook at least some simple stir-fry dishes. Although I could not find the exact ingredients I wanted from the nearby grocery store, there were some replacements I could use and thank God the cooking turned out fine. I can still remember myself rejoicing when I spotted a bottle of sweet soy sauce sold in Rewe. It was named 'Ketjap Manis', as pronounced in Indonesian or Malaysian. I must admit that I love the taste of sweet soy sauce despite being a Chinese. It is multifunctional, I can use it for fried rice or noodles and also in other dishes. Recalling the first time I made my own fried rice, it turned out too sweet because I had put in too much soy sauce. But well, it somehow tasted like most Indonesian fried rice and I loved it.

As I worked in the main office and QC laboratory of the company, I constantly discovered many things. Working in the main office with a middle-aged lady provided me with the chance to accompany her whenever she went to the bank or the post office. As we traveled in the car, she showed me lots of things on the go. For example where I could shop for utensils, where I could get myself a roast chicken, where I could buy medicine and so on. When I was placed in the QC laboratory, a lady told me that I should shop for food in Lidl instead of Rewe where things are more expensive. Unfortunately, the walk is further from the apartment if I choose Lidl over Rewe. Even so, I regarded the extra walk as an exercise to keep my weight in check. I realized that living in Germany had increased my intake of food and that would be a problem for my Body Mass Index (BMI). For someone as small as me, keeping an eye on body weight is a crucial thing. When the Germans saw me, they would always think that I'm a 15-year-old, despite the fact that I was 20 that time.

What I loved the most about the internship period is travelling to Frankfurt every weekend. It is a nice city with a little touch of Asia and it reminds me so much of Jakarta. I could spot Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Myanmarese and even Indonesians there. Strolling down Konstablerwache was my favorite way of passing the time, where I could do some window shopping, take pictures with my camera phone and hunt for German delicacies in the Saturday market. If I had extra time, I'd take the underground train to Dom/Römer. Tourist shops line the place and the Main river is located nearby. A leisure walk over the famous bridge "Eiserner Steg" provides a spectacular view of Frankfurt and one can find many padlocks of love chained onto the railing of the bridge. Once, a group of friends came to stay over at my place and their friend living in Darmstadt knows the owner of Jade-Magic Wok Chinese restaurant in Frankfurt. The food was great, much much better than the one sold at Frankfurt train station. Another attraction not to be missed in Frankfurt is the large Euro sign in Willy-Brandt-Platz, where the European Central Bank is located.

The worst thing I experienced during the internship was suffering from abdominal pain and watery stool. The outbreak of EHEC was around that time, and I was left wondering whether I had contracted the bacteria from drinking tap water. I was lucky that the lady in the laboratory helped me with contacting a local doctor to make an appointment. I couldn't imagine if I had to speak my not-so-perfect German, not to mention being unable to understand what the other side said on the phone and asking them to slowly repeat their sentences. If I were the one speaking on the phone, I'd be saying "Bitte?" or "Noch einmal, bitte langsam" over and over again. Then the clinic staff would have gone nuts trying to make me understand what she was saying. Luckily, my problem was not that of diarrhea caused by EHEC. From my attempt to understand what the doctor said, it was a mild infection of the GI tract and I had to avoid wholemeal bread and milk products. Oh no....those two were my favorite food for breakfast! Yogurt is one of my favorite snacks! Later I found out that European dairy products tend to have higher lactose level and Asians may not be able to tolerate it.

Now that I'm struggling with thesis research, I wish I could return to Germany and relive the happy moments there. However, it really is home sweet home living in Asia where I grew up and where the food, the seasons and the languages are more familiar to me. I've had fun last year, so this year it's time to get serious and fight for the sake of graduating with a Bachelor's degree.