the px needs an update april 19 2006

This is the time every year that one has to renew his or her tax card in order to be allowed to shop at the PX in Germany. To those of you who don`t know, retired military personnel living in Germany may use the facilities of AAFES or Armed Forces shopping provided there is a pink card on hand from the Customs inspectors of the Deutsche Regierung. We may shop but are taxed for are purchases after the fact of buying usually within the month. I rarely have a need to go to the PX but I am constantly besieged from Amees (Americans living in Germany, nickname by the Germans) or natives to please pick up various beloved items not found here in the Bundesrepublic. If there is something similar such as peanut butter which is sold in the super markets, the quality and taste and unhealthy aspect of said condiment is not as pleasing or as artery clogging as say "Skippy" or "Jif". I say unhealthy because the dutch make a pretty good peanut butter but with not as much added transfats or sugar like the American version. That being said peanut butter out of America has taste whether it is artificial or not. I could wax on and on about this product but have decided to make my own butter out of unsalted peanuts and spare myself the cholestrol tainted version. My mother at 91 says American peanut butter is good enough for her and she ought to know having eaten it for at least 85 of her 91 years with no artery clogging results. I usually volunteer to take some friends along to see what is there in the commissary or exchange store and it takes about 5 or 6 hours out of my day but their happiness at seeing real "Amurican" food is reward enough.
I had to go to the US Army customs office and present identification, receive a letter of certification for the next year and then back to Hof where I live to the Germany customs for the pink card which allows me to buy at the Military base. They stamped the first date in on the card and so the process begins. The Germans are in love with stamps of all sizes and shapes since the time of Napoleon who introduced the concept of Civil Service to Germany when he invaded the teutonic land. When I first arrived here some 15 years ago, a receipt from a store or rent payment, whatever, was stamped by the person handing it out. All Germans at that time seemed to have their own private stamp kit to make everything official. The computer and its corresponding point of sale cash register has begun to make this aspect obsolete but the civil service better known as "Beamters" have fiercely held on to this rather ancient custom. When applying for retirement pay from this country`s social security system I had to prove with official transcripts that I attended High School. I had never even seen my High School Transcript or remembered my college ones but there they were, officially stamped by the various board of education secretarys or respective college registrars. I never had to do that for American social security..It was also painful to see what President Bush described as his Gentleman "C" average all over these transcripts with a sprinkling of d´s and a couple of e`s. How did I ever get through school? I did not even get a decent grade in chorus. It reminds me of my french teacher Mrs. Denzer calling me a "mechant garcon" which means something to the effect of "bad boy"..It can be dangerous delving into your past and now I am planning a visit to the PX in the next few days. My peanut butter supply is getting low.