die Herausforderung - challenge

some of you may know that i have recently started eating bread again (music cue: hallelujah chorus) as part of a gluten challenge. this is a challenge i am willing, rather, ecstatic, to take on. see the bread and pilsner references in "sehr Deutsch".

germany has several hundred types of bread. i barely remembered what a baguette tasted like before saturday. but the doctor told me to eat gluten, and one must heed doctor's orders, so today i braved the counter of the corner bakery.

overwhelmed is not adequate enough to explain my state as i entered the brightly lit, expensive looking, blue and gold themed shop. the smell alone stopped me in my tracks. along with the many loaves on the wall there were 4 kinds of large pretzels, streudels, rolls, cakes, and other pastries. gluten mecca.

here, one grabs the attention of the person behind the counter without regard for who was there first. after several people pushed their way ahead of me i took charge. i caught the eye of the man slicing cheese and said "um, hallo?". (this is pretty much the extent of my pushiness in german or in english.) i explained as best i could that i did not speak german very well and he said, i think, that his english was worse than my german.

the language barrier left little chance for questions about the splendor that lay before me. even ordering familiar items proved difficult. using many pointing motions and my pantomime skills, i ordered two baguettes, ein klein brie (a little brie) and salami für zwei personas (for 2 people - i don't really know kgs yet). 10 euros and 30 minutes later i walked out with my gluten.

little did the doctor know that when she put me on the gluten challenge it was going to be a challenge to get gluten.