10 Popular Things

Okay, I'll play too. Thanks, Ami im Schwabenland, for the blogging idea!

10 Popular Things I've Never Really Cared For

10. Chocolate. I used to not like chocolate at all, except for an occasional hot chocolate. Now I'll eat it once in a while, especially if it's the exquisite Cornet Port-royal chocolates my cousin got me hooked on in Brussels. Other than that, I'm not really into it. I'm not big into chocolate flavored things, either, like chocolate cake.

9. Hot weather. Especially in Germany, land of almost no air conditioning, I want to hibernate in the summer as I feel sluggish and cranky.

8. Coffee. I like coffee flavor but don't like the drink.

7. Italian food. I find it mostly meh, especially the German version. I don't hate it but I'm not super into it. Considering that I have mild allergies to two of its most common ingredients, I guess it's no wonder.

6. Gardening. I totally agree with Ami in Schwabenland and I'd also rather wash windows! To me gardening feels like a huge, never-ending, depressing chore. I love seeing others' beautiful yards but actually doing the work myself? No thank you.

5. House plants. Ok, this kind of goes with the gardening theme but it's a bit different. Again, I love seeing other people decorate with them and enjoy them but they just don't work out at my home. I've managed to kill all sorts of innocent plants and what I don't kill my cat wants to chomp. They stress me out (it doesn't help that I even name the basil plants one gets from the grocery store, even though they're meant to have a short tenure and I feel guilty when they die).

4. Midwestern (US) food. Casseroles: they just don't do it for me. I need food with some herbs, spices, and flavor, dang it.

3. German food. See above. I also find it too salty for my taste and as someone who's not into meat, potatoes, or copious amounts of bread and dairy, it's not my thing.

2. Gift giving. Okay, Gary Chapman, yes, I'm very much an acts of service person. I prefer not to give or receive gifts but I do like to help my friends and if they want to help me too, awesome.

1. Feet. Okay, they're not exactly popular, but most people don't have a problem with them or some people really like them. I find feet gross though and don't even like to think about them.

Growing up in a clean family has its benefits

So here I am again, writing in the midst of an epidemic. I never thought I'd write that as such a horrible illness has never directly affected life so close here before.

So far I'm not sick but I am nervous about it. For the most part I'm staying at home, only popping out quickly to grab groceries every several weeks or to go for a walk by myself.

I will say that I'm glad that I was brought up the way that I was: in a (basically) clean household. My mom is not a germ freak but she was adamant about not being gross. I'll list some rules of our house. Even as I navigate through my own place, being extra cognizant of what I'm doing or the surfaces I'm touching, I keep coming up with more things that we were taught.

1. Do not wear shoes in the house (we had white carpeting growing up).
2. Do not ever double dip or drink directly from the jug, even if it's your own drink and you'll come back to it later.
3. Don't stick your hand into the bag of chips/bowl of popcorn. Get your own bowl and pour some in.
4. Try not to touch door handles or other public surfaces. If you absolutely have to, either use a piece of your clothing or one finger instead.
5. Wash your hands and the surface where you'll be cooking well.
6. Don't touch your face when cooking.
7. Wash your hands after petting an animal. (This did loosen up a bit after we got a dog but we'd definitely do it before eating etc.)
8. Put silverware in the dish basket handle up and before unloading the dishwasher, wash your hands. Do not ever handle the eating portion of the silverware.
9. Do not put your fingers inside a glass or serving dish.
10. Clean up after yourself right away.

This is all that I can think of right now. Again, I'll say that my mom was not a freak about germs but she was brought up by someone who trained to be a baker and my grandparents also practiced safe food handling techniques so I think that's where a lot of this came in. I think it can be more difficult to try to remind yourself to do these things later on so I'm glad that I learned this while growing up. Knowing these things can't totally insulate me from the risk of COVID-19 but at least it gives a little bit more of a chance. Having the ability to work from home and to self-isolate has also been extremely important.