One of the best things about working at NATO is there are 26 different countries there which means 26 different cultures I get to learn about. Some only have 1 or 2 people and some have many more. The Americans, Germans, and British dominate this base. Tom and I have made good friends with a few of the German crowd and yes we generally refer to them by their country ie "The Germans are coming over tonight." Rannier had his wife and son coming this week to visit so Tom and I decided to cook dinner (stop laughing yes I helped cook!) for everyone. Chrissy (Ranniers wife) doesnt speak English but everyone else speaks it very well. Its a requirement to work for NATO. She learned we were Americans and was very excited for American BBQ... made the question of "whats for dinner?" pretty easy. Burgers, dogs, BBQ chicken, pasta salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, and corn on the cob. I've never heard so many ummm's and yum's come from people. They all enjoyed it, but Rainner, Susana, and Christof have had it before. Chrissy may have weighed 110 lbs but she had 4 heaping plates of food. You didnt need to understand German to know she was thoroughly enjoying herself. Now trying to explain what some of the stuff was and how to make it proved to be a bit challenging. Apparently the literal translation for Deviled Eggs is something that doesnt need to be said in front of small children. The evening was topped of with blueberry and chocolate cheesecake and at the end of the night the Germans were all so thankful for the food that I never want to be squeezed that much or that hard after eating that much food EVER again. I can also do without the kisses. The gratitude was so much that she busted out with some of her only English of the evening. "Tank you so veerry mooch. I lick it veerry mooch. My favit eats ever." Very cute and very warm and fuzzy to know she enjoyed so much so that she even tried speaking English. To top it off, Tom was gracious enough to send her home with a huge can of baked beans, a 6 pack of root beer (which she loved) and directions on how to cook the baked beans and make deviled eggs. I'm pretty sure I saw her skipping to the car. It's the small things in life sometimes....