I'm still speaking lots of German in my daily life, but some Germans I've recently met can also speak Russian and Czech. I actually started taking a Czech course last week, and some of my orchestra friends who speak Czech have taught me new phrases.
I'm still using euros here. Right now, one euro is equivalent to $1.14.
At restaurants, bottled water is usually more expensive than it is at a supermarket. A bottle of water usually costs around two euros, but you can get .25 cents back if you recycle your bottle at a supermarket. The Germans have a name for the money you get back when you recycle a plastic bottle. It is called Pfand (pronounced fahnd).
This week, I ate a delicious Döner (doe-ner) kebab! It is similar to what we call a gyro in the U.S. A Döner consists of beef shaved off of a large block of meat that is on a turning spit, pita bread, lots of vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, etc. and a sauce of your choice. I had my Döner with garlic sauce. Döner is originally a Turkish dish, and there are many Döner restaurants in Germany because Germany has a large population of Turkish immigrants.
