Notes on the New Old World
Hi gang! Just an update on my new world:
You have to bring your own bag for your groceries!
There are no paper towels, it's all about damp rags in kitchens.
Toilet paper is thicker, by quite a bit!
Banks cost money, charging a monthly fee. They are so different from each other, that what bank you have is a topic of endless conversation.
Credit cards are rarely used. We have a Visa card, and I was surprised to hear "sorry, we take american express and mastercard" or some other combination. Even in computer/electronic stores, cash is required.
The subway system is amazing, but because it runs on an honor system there are occasional "crackdowns" where they surround a station and make sure everyone inside has a valid ticket. They call you a "Schwarzfahrer" if you are caught: a "black rider".
Water is not a human right. Don't expect ice, Germans think it's unhealthy and bad for your teeth. On the other hand, NxN is like Microsoft, it has free drinks. Of course, they aren't things like Coke, they are...like..."Tea Österreicher" or "Viola - frische!" some kind of lightly flavored limpid pool. (Not complaining! not complaining! :0 )
I bought a bike, really nice mountain bike with the 2 lamps required to be legal. I was worried about it being stolen but as I went to work I saw rows and rows of bikes parked by the subway - with no locks! People always get their lost wallets returned with all the money inside, and the finders often went through a lot of work to find the owner (just today Frau Burger got a call from a stranger because he found an appointment book which listed her for 2 pm. It belonged to the handyman coming at 2 to fix the stairs, he was happy to get it back, and yes, there was money inside!).
Less Germans speak English that you might have thought. Or been led to believe! But on the whole, I enjoy trying out my stilted, halting German on folks. What's depressing is that some of them will suddenly understand English, unfortunately realizing that their poor English is better than my best German. :-)
My work collegues speak in German a lot more than I expected, making me really feel the need to take classes soon! On the other hand, because it's a technical job, I get a lot of the individual words. In fact, it's considered sophisticated to speak "Denglish" (Deutsch + English), and it's not that hard to do. Just mix and match the words below to get a taste:
Deutsch English
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ich glaube, das Computer
Denkst du, daß das Exception
eigentlich ein Bug
wirklich! der Printer
ein Fehler das Inputbox
man muß das nicht machen! Windows
So maybe I'll be speaking natively with my collegues sooner than I hoped. :-)
Without Kris here to manage the paperwork I am already drowning in forms. You have to register yourself at city hall before you can do anything. You also have to get a Lohnsteuerkarte (sort of a W2 form). Also, for my work visa I had extra work to do in that building. Today I had a 3 hour session there, going to the waiting room that corrosponds to last name "St", getting a paper ticket with the number 203 on it. Currently serving number 160. A bell rings, and number 161 is supposed to go into door number 4, while a somewhat dejected looking person walks out (presumably number 160). I repeated this procedure on three different floors, one floor per function, then I paid 70 dollars for the privilege. Cash only of course!
No sales tax! It's pretty nice to pay exactly what the price says.
No tipping! Well, you could tip if something was excellent. But they don't like it so much, that I already had a friend who was a waiter in the states for a while say he was offended to get a tip if he didn't do something over the top. The tipper was being rather weak-minded.
You have to bring your own bag for your groceries!
There are no paper towels, it's all about damp rags in kitchens.
Toilet paper is thicker, by quite a bit!
Banks cost money, charging a monthly fee. They are so different from each other, that what bank you have is a topic of endless conversation.
Credit cards are rarely used. We have a Visa card, and I was surprised to hear "sorry, we take american express and mastercard" or some other combination. Even in computer/electronic stores, cash is required.
The subway system is amazing, but because it runs on an honor system there are occasional "crackdowns" where they surround a station and make sure everyone inside has a valid ticket. They call you a "Schwarzfahrer" if you are caught: a "black rider".
Water is not a human right. Don't expect ice, Germans think it's unhealthy and bad for your teeth. On the other hand, NxN is like Microsoft, it has free drinks. Of course, they aren't things like Coke, they are...like..."Tea Österreicher" or "Viola - frische!" some kind of lightly flavored limpid pool. (Not complaining! not complaining! :0 )
I bought a bike, really nice mountain bike with the 2 lamps required to be legal. I was worried about it being stolen but as I went to work I saw rows and rows of bikes parked by the subway - with no locks! People always get their lost wallets returned with all the money inside, and the finders often went through a lot of work to find the owner (just today Frau Burger got a call from a stranger because he found an appointment book which listed her for 2 pm. It belonged to the handyman coming at 2 to fix the stairs, he was happy to get it back, and yes, there was money inside!).
Less Germans speak English that you might have thought. Or been led to believe! But on the whole, I enjoy trying out my stilted, halting German on folks. What's depressing is that some of them will suddenly understand English, unfortunately realizing that their poor English is better than my best German. :-)
My work collegues speak in German a lot more than I expected, making me really feel the need to take classes soon! On the other hand, because it's a technical job, I get a lot of the individual words. In fact, it's considered sophisticated to speak "Denglish" (Deutsch + English), and it's not that hard to do. Just mix and match the words below to get a taste:
Deutsch English
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ich glaube, das Computer
Denkst du, daß das Exception
eigentlich ein Bug
wirklich! der Printer
ein Fehler das Inputbox
man muß das nicht machen! Windows
So maybe I'll be speaking natively with my collegues sooner than I hoped. :-)
Without Kris here to manage the paperwork I am already drowning in forms. You have to register yourself at city hall before you can do anything. You also have to get a Lohnsteuerkarte (sort of a W2 form). Also, for my work visa I had extra work to do in that building. Today I had a 3 hour session there, going to the waiting room that corrosponds to last name "St", getting a paper ticket with the number 203 on it. Currently serving number 160. A bell rings, and number 161 is supposed to go into door number 4, while a somewhat dejected looking person walks out (presumably number 160). I repeated this procedure on three different floors, one floor per function, then I paid 70 dollars for the privilege. Cash only of course!
No sales tax! It's pretty nice to pay exactly what the price says.
No tipping! Well, you could tip if something was excellent. But they don't like it so much, that I already had a friend who was a waiter in the states for a while say he was offended to get a tip if he didn't do something over the top. The tipper was being rather weak-minded.
