Sprechen sie English?

I haven't learned much German since being here but I have perfected one phrase...Sprechen sie English? Wouldn't you know that the first time I got a "Nein" was at McDonald's.
The few places I go (the store and the school) there are people who speak English. At least I don't have to communicate a bunch. At the store I just buy what looks familiar. Bread looks like bread so I buy it. Fruit looks like fruit so I buy it. Milk, well that's not quite the same. They have what's called H-milch. It doesn't need to be refrigerated until you open it. It's not very good. We learned that one the hard way. Luckily with eight people we can blast through a liter in no time. People will buy H-milch by the case, usually about ten liters at a time. I buy fresh milk by the case. I have received a few looks from the cashiers that seem to say, "I don't know if this stupid American knows this stuff isn't H-milch and won't last." Yet not one has ever mentioned it to me.
There are a few interesting things about the grocery stores here. To get a shopping cart you have to use a one euro coin or a token and put it in a slot that unlocks it. After you are done shopping you have to take the cart back to the front of the store and lock it back up to get your coin back. The store doesn't bag your groceries for you and they don't provide plastic bags for free. They charge 10 cents per bag and have a variety of reusable bags for sale at the checkout, if you need them. So it's a good thing I brought all my reusable shopping bags that I never remembered to take into the store with me when we lived in America, but I am learning to take them in now. The stores also close at 8pm and are closed on Sunday. They expect you to be gone before 8 or they give you really dirty looks. (Which aren't that different from their normal looks.) Luckily, the cashier only says the total and while I still can't understand the numbers when they speak so quickly I can read the screen with the total. Phew! A few things we can't get here, brown sugar, sour cream, and Ranch. I don't love Ranch but I was missing it. Luckily one of Seth's co-workers brought us a few bottles. We tried some "American" salad dressing. I didn't even know there was such a thing. The vinaigrette wasn't what I was expecting either. I also haven't seen sugar in more than a 1 kg package. Really? It almost takes the whole bag just to make a pitcher of KoolAid.

Everything here is small. Here is a picture of our fridge. There isn't even a freezer in it. We have a mini freezer down in the basement along with another fridge that our relocation agent rounded up for us, along with the washer and dryer. They are tiny too. Not used to doing so little laundry at once.
One thing that is not smaller is tiny cars. I didn't know Fiat made a van and that you could get a Smart Car with four doors. It's a good thing that the cars are small because the streets are crazy narrow. There are places that I see people driving that I don't think they should be driving. Also, parking. They just park on the side of the crazy narrow street. Add to that the plowed snow.  Luckily the people are relatively patient. Meaning they don't seem to get road rage and honk their horns, but if you take your time and there is a gap they will take it.
So I may not have learned much German but I have learned quite a bit since I have been here. Unfortunately, it won't be very useful after I leave here. Unless one of you fine readers happens to move to or visit Burghausen. Then I would gladly unload my wealth of knowledge onto you. Wait, I just did...