Good News and Bad News

After a very unsuccessful Thursday by myself, I was determined to have a more successful Friday.  Plus, at the very least I knew Fritz would be home in the evening so even if I ended up on another journey to nowhere, at least I could end the day with a nice hug from my best friend.  

I started the day off right with a Fritz phone call.  I recounted my long walk to Peter's closed guitar shop, and he quickly jumped to my aid by searching for guitar shops in German rather than English.  I probably should have asked him yesterday, because not only did he solve all my problems in less than 30 seconds, he found a music shop right in the middle of the city 2 subway stops away.  Perfect. 

This is what a real music store looks like.  Let's compare to our experience yesterday: 

Nope. Not a real music shop. 

Yup. That's where you can get a capo on a Friday at noon.  

So I got a capo!  Hooray!  If I make any music worth sharing, I'll post it somehow.  Maybe. 

And then I went to the indoor market, which is open 6 days a week (everything in all of Germany except Chinese restaurants is closed on Sundays).  I think the outdoor market is going to be open on Saturday, but this one is quite large and has all kinds of vendors.  Veggies, meat, sausage, cheese, spices, flowers, etcetera etcetera. 

I got the really good sausage (that one I sampled at the last market) and a bunch of root veggies to roast for a good meal when Fritz comes home.  

Bonus points for anyone who can identify this vegetable.  It looked like a dark-skinned potato before I peeled it.  Then I cut it open and discovered it was this beautiful purple color!  

So things were all going pretty well.  Got my capo.  Got meat and veggies for dinner.  I had 5 euros left in my wallet and I still needed to get rice and toilet paper (running low).  

But I was a little worried that 5 euros wasn't going to be enough, so I went to an ATM to get some more cash.  Oh, that's the other thing about Germany.  Everyone prefers cash.  Credit cards aren't even accepted in many places.  

The problem was, the ATM machine spit back my card and displayed a message in German across the screen.  Dont' speak German.  No idea what it said.  So I went to a different ATM.  Same thing happened.  The third ATM machine also spit back my card but this time it showed me the message in English.  "Account has insufficient funds." 

Well that's weird.  I passed the grocery store on my walk home so I figured I'd see if I could squeak out some rice and toilet paper with my remaining 5 euros, then look into this "insufficient funds" thing once I got home.  

I love Germany.  Not only was I able to afford the big bag of rice, I also managed 8 rolls of TP all for 4 euros and 87 cents.  Total grocery store success! 

Went home and checked my account to discover someone in New York City now has several pairs of really nice Nike shoes and has enjoyed rather expensive cigars which he probably also shared with all of his friends.  That's right.  At some point before leaving the US, my identity was stolen.  

I called my bank and filed a report.  I think everything should be fine in a week or so, but gosh!  I need Fritz back.  Everything goes wrong when we're apart!