Balla Balla

So far, I haven't found Balla Balla in Deutschland. While all of the spin-offs and variations exist, the plain old original is hard to come by. I found this bag here in Amsterdam and snatched it up right away.

Your basic Balla Balla is a chewy wrapping similar to a fruit roll up (but thicker) that covers a filling of softer candy. This interior has a consistency of warm modeling clay, and melts away as you eat it. Heavenly.

Compared to other Haribo, they aren't the prettiest candy. However, I can assure you that their flavor makes up the difference, and then some. Within the Balla Balla variety, we find five distinct and mouth-watering (no really, my host sister and I started salivating) flavors:

(Improvisation/assumptions)
Red - Sweet Apple
Yellow - Lemon
Green - Lime
Purple - Blackberry
Brown - COLA!

In my humble opinion, Balla Balla is truly a Haribo that the whole family can enjoy - the flavors span the taste limitations of different generations, and they don't require much chewing - even toothless Oma sitting in the corner in her rocking chair.

If you ever come across Balla Balla, make the right choice and eat it.
That is all.

4.9 of 5

One Month in Wesel / M.M.

So today is my one month anniversary since my arrival here in Wesel.
I'm going to skip over the awkward parts and describe the present instead:

I have a wonderful host family; I consider myself lucky every day to have been placed here with them.

My life here isn't too fast-paced, but I like it that way.

I ride my bike about 4km to school, weather permitting, and park it amongst a few hundred others.

My classes include Philosophy, History, Music, Chemistry, Soccer, and English and Biology as my main focus.
Some of the subject material is review, and some is new to me, but I am learning more and more German all the while.

I've lost my fear of making mistakes, and now I can carry on conversations with adults, relatives, shopkeepers, etc. Suprisingly, teenagers are the most difficult, because they assume that I don't understand them and they use too much slang. Yes, I'm allowed to talk about teenagers using too much slang.. because I have forgotten all of mine, along with curse words and many colloquialisms.

I can't honestly say that there is one thing or another here that bothers me or is difficult to overcome, though I do miss driving very much. And water fountains.

The food is wonderful. So wonderful that I'm cutting myself off from my favorite - raspberry marmalade - bread, and all other forms of sugar, so that I don't return home 30 pounds heavier!

My host family and I took a weekend trip to Amsterdam with a friend's boat two weekends ago. Suprisingly, it was not hard at all to get along with three other people in a tiny boat abode.. I actually found it super entertaining, and I know that my host dad had a blast being Captain. Amsterdam was gorgeous, and I was especially mesmerized by how fashionable the people there are.. every man, woman and child (and some dogs) were dressed up, with a highly varied mix of styles. My host sister says it's in their genes.. Or maybe their jeans (ha!)?

This last weekend, we all went up to Hamburg to visit my host mom's uncle for his birthday. Everybody I met had already heard about me, and already had a multitude of questions planned to ask me! The party was great, though really do need to get around to partying with people my own age and not my host parents.. I have to admit, though, a guilty pleasure I have developed: Schlager music. It's 70's style, a little techno at times, fist-pumpable at other times, and always either about a romantic subject or a drinking insructable. It's beyond cheesy, and my host sister is utterly against it, but I can't help it.

As for now, I have to stay afloat in school until the Fall Break, and then the fun can really begin!

Ahso, you didn't think I would let you get away without more Haribo, did you? Come on now, get with the program.
These are Lakritz Schneller, or Licorice Snails. I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but let me note that I rank them a 4.0 of 5 on their own! Unfortunately, I didn't grab a bag of just these.. I had to go fancy and try the Matador Mix:

And, you know, it just might be the fact that I hate Matadors (you can skip to 1:30 if you please) that made this bag of otherwise alright confectionary sustenance taste strange, but who knows.

SO, we have some big Polynesian heads that taste like tar, some candy covered licorice that isn't anything to write home about, and some mice that are just downright strange. Ho-hum, Matador Mix. Ho-hum.

This one gets a 0.
Fail, Haribo.

Haribo Turtles

A quick review before I leave for Hamburg for the weekend!

I love discovering new types of Haribo. These Turtles totally took me by suprise when I stumbled upon them in Real with my host sister.







So succulent, so satisfying..



Turtles are a chewy-type gummi with a tiny bit of marshmallow on the underside - though not as much as other varieties, like Quaxi frogs or Fantasia. They are covered in sour sugar and have a gooey pocket inside, so they really aren't the type of Haribo that you enjoy with coffee after dinner .. more like, the type that you would hope your mother packs in your lunch box. All three flavors, though I'm not exactly sure what they are, are absolutely delectable. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I'd had these in 2nd grade, riots would have ensued in my classroom over who would have gotten to share them with me.

Bottom line: They are super fun to eat. And maybe to share, but I wouldn't know yet.

4.6 of 5