Paperwork, Picklesburgh and much more

After our trip to Sunnyvale, we spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh, except for a weekend at Lake Erie. Besides Julian's daily work, I applied for a volunteer position at a botanical garden. I was accepted there, but unfortunately, once again, all sorts of paperwork are in the way before you can start volunteering. I waited almost four weeks for my confirmation documents. Now they have finally arrived, and I was able to work for two days. I will go into what my volunteer work consists of in a separate post in the upcoming weeks. As you can see, not everything is running smoothly here and takes time. So everything is like in Germany.

While the weekdays quickly pass us by with everyday things like work, lots of sports, paperwork, etc., we always look forward to the weekends. There is usually something going on in Pittsburgh on weekends. Almost every weekend there is a festival.

For example, in July, there was the Picklesburgh Festival. If you are now thinking Pickle = cucumber... what kind of festival can that be?? We felt the same way. And yes, it is exactly what the name suggests. A festival where everything revolves around pickles for four days! But that already raises the next question, right? What can you eat with pickles? Okay, let's start harmlessly: Normal burgers, of course, with pickles, then large pickles on a skewer, pickled cucumbers in various 'dressings'. Yes, those are the harmless/normal foods. Now let's get to the say, more unusual foods: Have you ever eaten a pickle covered in chocolate (like we have chocolate strawberries/chocolate bananas at Christmas markets in Germany)? No? Then come to Pittsburgh in July for the Picklesburgh Festival; you can definitely try that! Of course, there are also hot dogs, but not with sausage, but with a large pickle inside. It continues with fried pickles, cheese-covered pickles, and our absolute highlight: Aperol Spritz with cucumber water. An absolute shame for our dearly beloved Aperol... But the Aperol stand did have one good thing… Tanja is now the proud owner of an original Aperol T-shirt. This means that when we return to Germany, there will be an Aperol party! Woohoo!! (@Dennis, Verena & Oskar, we count on you to make the garage party as great as ever! 🎉). After strolling through the festival a few times and, of course, trying some things (pickle on a stick, pickle ketchup, various pickled cucumbers, etc.), we couldn't miss taking a look at the three different stands. Besides various bands, there were also completely new Olympic disciplines. From drinking pickle water on time to eating pickle hot dogs, everything was included. And of course, like at every festival, there was a stand with Picklesburgh T-shirts/tank tops and similar items.

Apart from the Picklesburgh Festival, there was also the Little Italy Festival in August. By the way, there was also very good Aperol and excellent Italian food at the right stands!

As you already know, we have been to the baseball games a few times. To prepare well for the football season, we took a closer look at the Pittsburgh Steelers during a training camp on a Saturday in July 🧐. It's amazing how many players make up a football team. After we had observed the training, we couldn’t miss watching a preseason game. Apart from the fact that the game itself was very boring, as not many points were scored, the atmosphere was great. Our friendly seat neighbor even got us a sign so we could show that Germany is also well represented at the football games.

Aside from the festivals and football game, we also visited the farmers' markets in Pittsburgh and explored the parks in and around Pittsburgh. It’s really beautiful here.

Last but not least, in the past few weeks, we’ve also made some acquaintances in our housing complex. In August, a barbecue evening was held for all residents to get to know each other and spend a nice evening together. Since then, we’ve also been informed by a girls' group that has been living here for about eight years, about the biggest gossip in the house. From now on, we are always up to date and well informed!

You see, there is always something to do here, and we have settled in very well.

And now it’s already moving on:

We just landed in Denver. Here we are spending the weekend to pick up friends from Germany (Steffen, Ronja, and little Levi) at the airport on Monday. Together we will take a round trip, including through the Rocky Mountains. We are really looking forward to the vacation and the reunion. We will check back in after our vacation... See you soon!🤩