Yeah, like that

So here's an annoying little thing that I've run into a couple of times - the water situation.  It seems that they don't drink water here like we do in the States.  By that, I mean that if you go into the restaurants, cafes and whatnots, you just don't get a glass of water like you do in the US almost by default.  You won't find a water fountain anywhere, and they don't even drink it out of the faucets at home.  Even in McD0na1d's (don't start - I've only been a couple of times, and none since I got here for good) if you ask for water, it's going to be bottled water.  And they don't even do that as much as we do.  They're much more into juices and other fruity soft drinks (can you say Fanta!), and they love C0ke and C0ke Lite.  Now here's the rub.  When you do order a bottle of water, you have to be aware of another little cultural difference as well:  mit kohlensaure (I'll spare you the normal phonetics, as I just don't know).  

Let me explain in a way that you'll understand if you're one of those people who weren't born in the South, but moved there for whatever reason.  When you first got there, did you ever go into a restaurant and order iced tea?  And when you got it, you naturally sweetened it up to your liking, just as you'd always done wherever you'd come from?  Yeah, you know what happened next.  You not only got the sugar you put in, but the huuuge amounts of sugar that they insist on adding in order to make it that viscus syrup that they call sweet tea (still shocked that there aren't more diabetics in the South).  

Well, mit kohlensaure is kind of like that, except with gas.  I'm not talking about the kind you excrete behind you, but just normal carbonation.  Yes, mit kohlensaure means 'with gas' as in soda water.  That's right, they love their soda water here, and unless you pay attention, that's what you're getting.  Now granted, the stuff's not going to put you into insulin shock like twice sweetened tea, but it's a rude little surprise when you're expecting plain ol' water.  You can't even tell by looking at the bottle, because it just doesn't bubble up.  I suppose it would if you shook it up to check, but if you remembered to do that, you'd just read the label (very small print, but if you're looking for it, quite obvious once you know the term).  

So that's the lesson for the day:  Beware of mit kohlensaure, and look for stille wasser [shtil-uh voss-air] on the label, or ask for table wasser [tab-el voss-air - and that's tab, not tayb].

'Til next time, Auf Wiedersehen.