20 Things You Might Not Know about Germany...

When traveling somewhere, I have noticed that you tend to only get a glimpse of the culture differences between your destination and your homeland.  We have found that one of the interesting consequences of actually living in a foreign country is that you get to witness some of the nuisances of their lifestyle and their society that you might not otherwise see.  At first, I was quite surprised by all the little differences we were observing between the great US of A and good ole Deustchland.  Initially I thought to myself, “Why doesn’t everyone just do things the same way?”  And then I realized… why in the world would we?!!  With all of us spread across this vast earth, it is seems natural that each and every society would develop in its own unique way, each having their own idiosyncrasies.  It is one of the things that what makes this world of ours so fascinating.  So with that being said, I just thought I would share some of the unexpected little facts we’ve learned about Germany that we would have never discovered without living here....

1.     There ARE speed limits on the autobahn, which is actually just the German word for “freeway.”  Some of the autobahn has an actual speed limit and some of it just has a recommended speed limit of about 80 mph (130 km/h)… but most people drive much faster than that whenever they can. 

2.     About 90% of music on the radio is in English.  The DJs still speak in German but pretty much all of the songs are in English, which I found quite surprising.  Then again, most people do know at least a little bit of English… they probably learn some of it just from listening to the radio.

3.     Addresses are arranged differently.  First comes the street name, then the house number followed by the zip code and then the city.

4.     Homes are not built with what we would call “normal” closets.  You have to install the wardrobe type of closets that you can find at IKEA.  Speaking of IKEA, needless to say they are very popular over here.  Some of the larger IKEA stores actually have parking garages, and really big ones at that.  Apparently, they are doing good business.  Hmmm, maybe we should buy some stock from IKEA…. 

5.     People don’t believe in deodorant here… at least it doesn’t seem so when you are taking public transportation. 

6.     They are huge into recycling… everywhere you go there are bins for glass, plastic, and paper right next to the trash cans.  I think Germany has been “green” for a while now.

7.     All of the STOP signs are in English, and I have no idea why.

8.     Beer costs as much as soda, and sometimes it is even cheaper.  And water isn’t free… they don’t serve tap water here, only bottled.  Don’t forget to ask for water without gas!  Unless of course you like that stuff J

9.     Speaking of beer, there are no open container laws.  Basically you can walk around with an open beer bottle or can anywhere… you can walk from your house, down the street, to the subway, and off to wherever you may be going, all while drinking a beer.  Plus, they even sell beer at the movie theatre!  They really are all about the beer here. 

10. Another surprising traffic regulation… you can’t turn right on red!  I have to remind myself of this all the time.  In addition, a yellow light doesn’t secretly mean speed up… people actually slow down when they see it because yellow lights are so short, if they speed up they will most likely run the red.  And the yellow light even flashes right before the green light too… I guess in that instance it means rev your engines.

11. Voltage over here is 220 V instead of 110 V.  So coming from the States, you have to buy new electrical appliances… irons, hair dryers, DVD players, etc… or plug such appliances into a converter.  Also, lamps require 220 V light bulbs… I found this out the hard way.  Thankfully the filament just blew and the whole bulb didn’t shattered in my face!

12. Wiener schitznel is not a hot dog!  It is actually veal (or sometimes pork) covered in breadcrumbs.  Right along with bratwurst, schnitzel is the most popular type of meat dish served here.  It is pretty good… with the right type of sauce smothering it.

13. There is no standard for telephone numbers.  Sometimes they are 6, 7, or even 8 digits long (like ours is).  Even the area codes are different lengths.  Calling people here is quite tricky…. I still haven’t figured out how to call Daniel’s cell phone yet!  Thankfully it’s a Blackberry so I can just email him.  Oh, and a cell phone is called a “handy” here.

14. Most of the taxis here are Mercedes Benz.  I guess what is a luxury import car to us is the common home-made car to them.

15. Women breast-feed in public all the time… I am talking everywhere and they don’t bother to cover themselves up at all.  On airplanes.  In restaurants.  At Bible study.  They just don’t seem to care who sees…  we just try to divert our eyes.

16. Mattresses and pillows are totally different sizes and shapes here.  They are mostly squares... I guess they have a thing against rectangles.

17. The dates and the time are written in what Americans would consider “military format” but over here it is used by the general public.  Instead of 8 pm on 1/30/ 2009, they write 20:00 on 30/1/2009.  I am just thankful I was used to this format before I got here!

18. Since almost everyone lives in apartments rather than houses (at least here in Frankfurt), most Germans have what I call “satellite gardens.”  Due to the fact that they don’t have any outdoor area to claim near where they are living, they buy plots of land on the edges of the city or near parks and have a fenced-in garden so they can have their own little green space.  There are collections of these satellite gardens all over the city… people even camp in them during the summer.  Like I said earlier, Germany is all about the green.

19. It is illegal to wash cars on public streets here.  Thus the gas station car washes rake in the business, especially during the winter with all the rain and snow.  Sounds like another investment idea….

20. People wear wedding rings on the right hand instead of the left.   Who knew?! J

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this list and that it has given you some insight into German society.  And if you ever want to come check it out for yourselves, please just let us know.  Until next time, take care!