The Frankfurt Files

Ever hear of a log-sawing ritual at a wedding ceremony? Or renting an apartment with kitchen space, but no kitchen? How about having to bring birthday cake to work on your own birthday? In The Frankfurt Files: Tales of an American in Germany, David Conte moves overseas to Frankfurt, Germany, to be with his German girlfriend. But when he later finds himself having to relearn life in a very different way, his storybook romance becomes one big lesson in surviving culture shock: hauling a couch up a flight of stairs by himself after being abandoned by furniture movers; participating in civilized nudity at a wellness center; addressing the all-important issue of cream cheese abuse in German sandwiches. A discerning idealist turned idiot among foreigners, he relates the good, the bad, and the in-between of his offbeat cultural encounters.