Odds and Ends and the continuation of culture shock

A few odds and ends that I forgot to include in my very first post on this blog about how different things are here. A few stray thoughts....
1. We have no closets. We have something called shranks which are pieces of furniture that hold our clothes. Well technically we do have closets here because we had some built, but nice as they are, they are not normal. In a newly constructed house I really can't understand why there are still no closets.
2. When you rent a house or apartment, the kitchen is more likely than not to be an empty room with nothing in it...no cabinets, no sink, no refrigerator, no nothing. You have to bring the whole shebang with you, or buy one and install it. Not that easy of a deal, and certainly not cheap.
3. You have to pay for your shopping cart at the grocery store. It costs either an Euro or you can use an Euro sized chip. I have a few of them in the cup holder in my car in case I don't have an Euro coin.

It is raining here right now, and this has greatly reduced the snow volume in the last 24 hours. Still have not seen any grass, but I can see the concrete in our driveway. Very exciting. It is slushy mess outside, but I'm doing the happy dance to see the snow melt.