Buttered Pretzels

Buttered pretzels; they are the best. Don't underestimate the significance of buttered pretzels.
During my stay in Germany, I've been observing the buttered pretzel phenomenon. It all started when I went to Hamburg with Krishi. We left like really early; we were actually the first group to leave (which is not surprising when you have Krishi as a team leader); we were on our way at around 6 am. Ofcourse we didn't have breakfast yet, and not many shops are open at that time of day. So we stopped at this bakery to get - can you guess? - buttered pretzels! Two for each person. It was so delicious, I was amazed how good something so simple can taste.

So from that time on I was always looking for buttered pretzels, but it ain't that easy. Not all the bakeries in Germany have buttered pretzels; they all do have pretzels, but they're not all as committed in buttering them. Everyone knows however, that a pretzel and a buttered pretzel are totally incomparable. It's like yin and yang; you can't have one without the other!
Believe me, I've eaten plain pretzels, but they're horrible. It's salty and dry, way too dry. I still can't understand how a bakery would produce pretzels without buttering them. When I was in Mainz I actually got to a point that I started getting annoyed with all the lazy bakers who didn't butter their pretzels. Sometimes they would tell me they don't have butter - yes I know, a bakery without butter; absurd! - and other times they would even dare to give me a small packet of butter as in "here, do it yourself". This is a call to all bakers: Please, butter your pretzels.

But then it struck me. As you know, I'm in Freiburg now and I've been looking for the best bakery to offer me a fully buttered pretzel for the lowest price. You see, there are 3 types of pretzels. You have plain pretzels, you have semi-buttered pretzels and finally there's the fully buttered pretzel. Ofcourse I'm looking for the last one. A semi-buttered pretzel is a whole lot better than a plain pretzel, - in fact, on a good day I could even pay for it - but it still ain't that what makes a fully buttered pretzel so delicious. A semi-buttered pretzel is a pretzel in which only the big half is buttered; the baker couldn't be arsed to cut the small part of the pretzel which has the knot in it so to say. When I get that kind of pretzel, I always first eat the unbuttered part, and then I can fully enjoy the buttered part which is fortunately the biggest.

Anyway, to get back to what I wanted to say; in Freiburg almost every bakery sells semi or fully buttered pretzels! I started thinking, why don't they do this in Mainz? And then I realized: It's the quality of the town that determines the quality of the pretzel! It makes sense; Germany is the country of pretzels as much as it is the country of beer and bratwurst. But since I'm a vegetarian and don't drink beers too often, the pretzel is that which reminds me of Germany.
In Holland we have a similar thing; the amount of hookers and coffeeshops determine the quality of the city; that's why Amsterdam is so cool.

So when you're in Germany, always check the bakeries for buttered pretzels. I can already tell you that Freiburg is a no brainer; it's the best town when you're not looking for hardcore cities like Berlin, Hamburg or Munich. Today I visited the mayor of Freiburg. There was this band from Scotland with like 25 people playing the bagpipe. Afterwards they went to visit the mayor, so me and Iva came along pretending we were supposed to be there. We sat in a nice historic room where a few guys gave their speeches, and after that we approached the mayor and told him that we're looking for a hall, for free. He sent us to someone who's gonna do her best for us, so we'll see what comes out of it! Also we went to this Tibetian house where we managed to get a hall for free for next sunday; we're gonna have long kriya there with the participants of last course, and then we'll tell them that we're organizing a new course and that we want them to invite their friends. The party will be complete when Ajay - awesome Yes+ teacher from Holland - will show up too!

I can't wait 'til I can teach these courses myself; it's gonna be so cool! Hopefully I'll get the Yes+ manual and kriya tape in the next 6 months. I feel that a lot is going to happen. We're only at the beginning and we've already undergone such a huge transformation; it's really amazing how much you can learn in such a short time. I feel like I felt before YWC; I don't know what will happen, I only know that I'll be happy that I'm here. And I already am.

So if you see a plain pretzel, don't try and butter them yourself, but contact the nearest baker immediately!