the best of both worlds

Happy Corn on The Cob Day!

What would we do without the internet?! For my part, I would have totally missed this important holiday!

What are you up to today? I started off my day with an awesome run!
Two days ago, it was so difficult to make it through 4 miles and today, I completed 8 with no problem. I ran from our house to the Brandenburg Gate and back, which is such an interesting route. As I was running out of water, looking for a place to refill my bottle, I met these protesting people.

I really hope that my nose doesn't look this big in real life. 

They were pretty serious, carrying gallows and all. 

After finding a Starbucks and pathetically begging them for tap water, I ran back home and made it just in time for lunch.
I tried to take an after picture and already apologize for what you are about to see.

Giving thumbs up is just weird. 

Waving like an idiot is much better. 

While eating some delicious, fresh baked rolls, I thought of the many things (food) that I missed when I first moved to the US. The number of care packages my mom sent me puts me to shame (not really), but how do you make it through the year without Haribo? You don't. Just the plain thought of this scenario makes me sad.
My mom is not only a saint, but also very wise. She knows how to keep me alive thousands of miles away: send candy.

Of course, over the time in the US, I developed other addictions that need to be maintained to keep me from dying. Hence, me forcing Nick to bring a 2lbs jar of peanut butter in his suitcase. Yes.

I will not tell you that I smeared the peanut butter around in the jar to make it look fuller. No one can know how much of it is already gone.
Germany definitely needs to work on their peanut butter import! If you don't know what to do with your life yet, I have a business idea for you!

On the other hand, I now have unlimited access to the following items:

the cheap version on the right, the really awesome expensive version on the left.
Mix it in strawberry yoghurt. You will thank me forever!

There are no words to describe the happiness that these bags hold. 

Aside from peanut butter, I left a few sweaters in Baltimore to take pancake syrup with me. Don't judge. You would do the same.

Having both of these things in my kitchen just makes me happy. 

Of course, I will try to eat as many rolls - and other kinds of baked awesomeness - as I can while I'm here. (Again, I remember a long conversation with my mom, in which we tried to come up with a genius plan to ship bread, cake, and rolls over to the US while maintaining their freshness until their arrival. I will let you know once we figured out a way. It will be life changing.)

To refuel after my runs, I can no longer live without protein bars and the ones you find here, are just no longer good enough for my spoiled taste buds. No Cliff bars. No Kashi. No Luna. No Special K bars in Germany. So I did what everyone in their right minds would do and left a pair of shoes behind to pack a bunch of these:

The last two favorites are from both, the US and Germany. I haven't found any Glucosamine tablets here and they are definitely a stable in my diet. I have also discovered that the German brand Abtei offers these packed little pills that contain most of the supplements I like to take. Hooray!

I know that not everyone is a fan of taking supplements in the form of pills, but I am convinced that they are keeping me young and invincible forever.

To sum it up, I feel like I am now living not only in between two worlds, but I also have access to the best of both of them! It's fantastic!
Feel free to use my little list of things to fill your suitcase with the above items if you travel to the one or the other country. Trust me, it's totally worth leaving your shoes behind for peanut butter or Müsli.



Do you ever feel that shorter runs are harder? Or is it just me?

How much water do you take on your run? Do you take any? Did you ever have to beg for water?

Do you fill your suitcase with food before you leave your country?