More About those Crazy Germans

Even though Germany is a completely civilized and “western” country, it still has plenty of dramatic cultural differences that have been hard for me to adjust to. I have chronicled several of them already (including the post before this), and there will continue to be dozens more as I navigate further.

I have a love-hate relationship with public transportation (at least now while I have an American mind frame). Now is the first time in my +16 life that I haven’t had a car, but it’s also the first time I have not needed one. The transportation system is thorough and regular enough that it is completely possible to get everywhere without cars, but my impatient American perspective comes in when I look at my watch when I go from place to place and realize it takes 45-60 minutes to go a distance I could drive in 20. I’m sure I will settle down and relax soon enough.

At these street festivals I have spoken of, and several other streetside restaurants, food and drink is served in dishes and glassware instead of the American plastic tradition. For obvious reasons it is quite economical. The point of mention with this tradition is all these places also charge you a “Pfand,” or deposit, for the dishes, costing about 1 Euro. That way, you get your money back if you return it, but if you don’t bring it back you’ve already paid them for it.

In addition to dishes, we also pay Pfand on all plastic or glass bottles of liquid we buy. As part of Germany’s crazy recycling policies, they charge an extra 25-50 cents on every bottle of water, wine, beer, juice, etc. If you bring the empty bottle back to the store they give you your money back, but if not, the money is lost.

The stereotype of body odor is true. Some people just smell bad. It isn’t so much a suffocating odor from complete lack of deodorant as it is just potent enough to indicate inadequate or insufficient amounts. I know Americans have an obsession with cleanliness and odor (or lack thereof), but there could be worse things to find important!

I have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the older generation of Germans, and how willing and patient they are with us. The younger generation, the teenagers to early thirty-somethings, is for the most part sullen and brooding, or at least not friendly to strangers – or maybe I’m just used to Southern hospitality. I’m sure the attitude will change in the university setting.

In addition, the Germans have a very different sense of humor than Americans. They are very literal people and don’t necessarily enjoy sarcasm or slapstick comedy, which are two things Americans specialize in. While at the film museum last weekend I sat and watched a clip of a Laurel and Hardy type silent film, and the Americans in the audience were hysterically laughing, but everyone else sort of watched quizzically. I have yet to figure out what they DO find funny – it’s just a cultural difference. It is also hard to accept the fact that I don’t know how to tell jokes in German or how to be funny in German.

I figured a way to “cheat” the system for the laundry machines; or maybe that was how they were intended to be used in the first place but the message never was relayed to us. As long as there is little down time between loads, the machines can be restarted on a new cycle without inserting more coins, thus making it 5 euros total, not 5 euros per load.

You have to search hard, but sodium free non-carbonated water in big bottles does exist. If you’re lucky, it exists for 45 cents at the grocery store – otherwise you pay 2 euros for tiny bottles. And it is true, water in restaurants is often more expensive than wine and beer.

It’s true that they don’t provide bags at grocery stores, so you have to bring your own. Groceries are incredibly cheap, though, and I’ve heard it’s even better in the east. They also rarely take credit cards anywhere, meaning that I always have to carry cash – so different from the States, where no one ever has cash and we always pay with cards. It is more secure to use cards, and you always have receipts and paper trails, but then again look at the credit problems people can rack up from always charging everything.

Not a cultural observation, but one of the things I have been most grateful for having has been a sewing kit. Several holes have manifested themselves recently on shirts, pants, and jackets, and I have been so glad to have a sewing kit amongst my stuff.

And the strange one to end it with – Germany does observe daylight savings time too, but guess when we fall back? This weekend. That’s right, for the month of October I will be 7 hours (or 8, or 9 depending on where you are) ahead instead of the normal 6. Then when you fall back, we’ll be back to normal. Whatever!