I have lived here for X and I have finally mastered...

Well, it is sort of a combo of the corners and the crawl.   

I shove the duvet into the (rightside out) push into the corners and put pegs on the corners (from the outside) while I'm shaking it out so that I don't end up with a bunched up mess in the duvet cover.  Remove pegs - done!

I shove the duvet into the (rightside out) push into the corners and put pegs on the corners (from the outside) while I'm shaking it out so that I don't end up with a bunched up mess in the duvet cover.  Remove pegs - done!

Oooooooh...... wheels turning......

Oh the duvet cover battle! I mastered this fairly early on, because I first learned how to do it at a hostel in Nuremburg. It works a treat!

I turn the cover inside-out, put my hands all the way to the end corners so that the rest of the cover is bunched up over my arms. Then, I take those corners of the cover and grab 2 corners of the duvet, thus immediately depositing the corners of the duvet to the corners of the cover.

I then shuffle the cover off my arms and shake as much of it as I can onto the duvet. I let go of the corners, put the duvet down, and then pull the cover down to fit over the rest of the duvet. A little shake here, a little shake there, and voila! Takes about 2 minutes! 

I have been told that I am weird for doing it this way, but if there is anything I know of the Germans, they are efficient, so I trusted their methods! 

I wish I would have read this before attempting to change a cover this morning-I'm going to give this a go next time!

I thought of another one...

I have lived here for 61 days and I have finally mastered baking Chocolate Chip Cookies instead of Chocolate Chip Crisps. 

Oh the duvet cover battle! I mastered this fairly early on, because I first learned how to do it at a hostel in Nuremburg. It works a treat!

I turn the cover inside-out, put my hands all the way to the end corners so that the rest of the cover is bunched up over my arms. Then, I take those corners of the cover and grab 2 corners of the duvet, thus immediately depositing the corners of the duvet to the corners of the cover.

I then shuffle the cover off my arms and shake as much of it as I can onto the duvet. I let go of the corners, put the duvet down, and then pull the cover down to fit over the rest of the duvet. A little shake here, a little shake there, and voila! Takes about 2 minutes! 

I have been told that I am weird for doing it this way, but if there is anything I know of the Germans, they are efficient, so I trusted their methods! 

I do this too.

Please, please... all of you who can put the duvet cover on yourselves... please do not let Mr. TamaMoo know that fact. If he finds out he will want me to learn your technique, and I am perfectly content making him help. 

I have been here 2 3/4 years and I have finally learned to not be so polite in the grocery store. The past few weeks, while not being rude, I haven't stood back and waited my turn, because 20 people will barge in while I wait on one person. Now I just reach for what I want without being rude about it, and it makes for a much less stressful experience.

I have been here 2 3/4 years and I have finally learned to not be so polite in the grocery store. The past few weeks, while not being rude, I haven't stood back and waited my turn, because 20 people will barge in while I wait on one person. Now I just reach for what I want without being rude about it, and it makes for a much less stressful experience.

I call that 'owning your space'! 

If you think here is bad, go to Morocco! 

I call that 'owning your space'! 

If you think here is bad, go to Morocco! 

If Morocco is worse than here I don't think I could cope. I am claustrophobic and love (and I do mean LOVE  ) my personal space, so it is a wonder I don't just do my shopping online. I think it is because I want to choose my own veg, fruit, meat, fish etc.

If Morocco is worse than here I don't think I could cope. I am claustrophobic and love (and I do mean LOVE  ) my personal space, so it is a wonder I don't just do my shopping online. I think it is because I want to choose my own veg, fruit, meat, fish etc.

Korea is pretty bad on the personal space front as well.

If Morocco is worse than here I don't think I could cope. I am claustrophobic and love (and I do mean LOVE  ) my personal space, so it is a wonder I don't just do my shopping online. I think it is because I want to choose my own veg, fruit, meat, fish etc.

You'd hate Switzerland, too. That was a common expat complaint...how people would just walk in front of you as you stood and looked at a shelf - and then stand there picking something out. It always drove me nuts, and people who did it would get a hip check with the carrier basket when I next saw them 

My thing I have finally mastered is what to say when someone says "alright?" or "you alright?". It really threw me for years before I moved here 2 years ago. It took me a year of living here not to just um and ah and stop thinking that I must look ill or something.

It sounds like I'll be avoiding a lot of places because of people not worrying about others' personal space. 

My thing I have finally mastered is what to say when someone says "alright?" or "you alright?". It really threw me for years before I moved here 2 years ago. It took me a year of living here not to just um and ah and stop thinking that I must look ill or something.

I still struggle through that one. I finally settled on 'I'm good, how are you?' which seems to confuse people who don't really know me, but it is fun, in a way, to have them as confused by a greeting as I am. I always quietly wonder what is wrong with simply saying 'hi'.

It sounds like I'll be avoiding a lot of places because of people not worrying about others' personal space. 

I still struggle through that one. I finally settled on 'I'm good, how are you?' which seems to confuse people who don't really know me, but it is fun, in a way, to have them as confused by a greeting as I am. I always quietly wonder what is wrong with simply saying 'hi'.

I hear Japan is even worse

I usually just say "doing ok, you?" or "yeah, you?" or just simply "hi". Never seems to throw anyone off, at least.

To me it is the same as the overly perky American "HI! How ARE you?!" to which nobody ever really listens to the answer. Taking that nobody listens to the answer principle to the British "alright?" I figure I'm safe as long as I say something unhesitatingly and spit it out quickly and casually.

I call that 'owning your space'!  

If you think here is bad, go to Morocco!  

Slightly off topic, but my three most alarming experiences of "personal space invasion" occurred in Morocco. DF and I were there in March '10 and in the span of 15  minutes someone came up to me and put snakes around my neck without asking and said "you pay. You pay." Then, some woman came up to me, grabbed my hand in a death grip and proceeded to tattoo my hand (not permanent) and then some random dude came up behind me and smelt my hair. This was on my first trip to visit DF. So, it was only my second time out of the US (I went to Ireland in '05). I thought it was going to be 10 days in London, but he surprised me with short break in Marrakech. So, I was very unprepared for it. I'll have to think of this next time I get aggravated in the grocery store.  

Slightly off topic, but my three most alarming experiences of "personal space invasion" occurred in Morocco. DF and I were there in March '10 and in the span of 15  minutes someone came up to me and put snakes around my neck without asking and said "you pay. You pay." Then, some woman came up to me, grabbed my hand in a death grip and proceeded to tattoo my hand (not permanent) and then some random dude came up behind me and smelt my hair. This was on my first trip to visit DF. So, it was only my second time out of the US (I went to Ireland in '05). I thought it was going to be 10 days in London, but he surprised me with short break in Marrakech. So, I was very unprepared for it. I'll have to think of this next time I get aggravated in the grocery store. 

Suddenly, the Blackburn Morrisons seems a lot easier to get through than it did before. Now, I will think 'well, it could be... (insert one of the above examples)'.

I've only had a snake dropped around my neck once. I was 10, and it was at a petting zoo type exhibit. Without thinking, I hysterically said 'Get that f****** thing off me!' I can only think I had learned the word from my teenage uncles and their friends. Mom never said a word about me saying it because she doesn't like snakes either, and because I'd never used the word before and have rarely used it since, because I don't like the word.

Another thing I have mastered is dodging people while walking down the sidewalk (yep, I still call 'em that). In the States I drove, and although I had a lot of sidewalk experience, I never lived in a city where I had to walk a lot. I've learned there is no rhyme, reason or logic to how people get from point A to point B by foot, but I have learned how to keep moving instead of stopping to let people through all the time.