Hi Exiled Woman
I believe you live somewhere far north near Hamburg.
some say itīs a nice City but North Germans are in line with the weather, a bit colder. But they are also more liberal than the friendly but conservative South. May be North Germans are pissed by the weather.

Iīve never been up to the North, nothing much of interesting things to me.
but I have seen more from the states than from Germany, in fact, I have been almost everywhere in the US and Canada.
How i converted my FJ? you take it to one of the many LPG-Converter and after 3 days you get a real Gas car back, with a 2nd tank underneath. 60 miles cost me now about 17 $, which is very acceptable for a SUV. Meanwhile there are about 3800 LPG Gas-Stations in Germany. 1 Liter is about 0,70 Euro-cent.
the FJ drinks about 10% more on LPG. Since there are more big cars in Northern Germany, there are more LPG-Converters up there. Hence the price for converting is cheaper in the North - about 2500 for a V6.
nevertheless, I hope you enjoy your stay and itīs far better than Baghdad.