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, in order to save his relationship with his German girlfriend. But when he 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 callous furniture movers; participating in civilized nudity at a wellness center; addressing the 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.