31 things about living in Deutschland

This list (inspired by the questions of curious friends & family in Oz) was compiled during my first months of living in Germany. 5 years later, it is still (mostly) relevant:

1. Winter is cold. Really cold. Really really cold.

2. But snow is magical.

3. Dogs are allowed everywhere – on trains, trams and buses, in shops and even in restaurants.

4. No one ever drinks tap water. EVER. Bottled sparkling water only.

5. There is no such thing as a defined soup spoon in German cutlery sets.

6. There is, however, ever other type of spoon ever dreamt of on the market, desert spoons, yogurt spoons, boiled egg spoons etc etc..

7. Corn flour is a weird yellowey colour.

8. People do the majority of their own in-home electrical work without qualms. From fitting lights to rewiring… very strange …. very dangerous….

9. There is no such thing as a flat or apartment number. Mail (or anything else)
is delivered according to the name on the letter box.

10. Every woman over the age of about 16 is addressed as "Frau", regardless of her marital status.

11. There is no such thing as good service in retail shops. One actually feels very
grateful that one is allowed to buy things.

12. There are literally hundreds of different types of bacon available.

13. But none of these types of bacon is even remotely like the rashers we can buy at Coles.

14. Germans usually buy three different types of laundry detergent: one designed for
whites,one for blacks, and one for coloured stuff.

15. This actually means that you do get around to separating before washing.

16. Wine is usually consumed in moderation. Sometimes too moderately.

17. Bier on the other hand is consumed abundantly…. Sometimes too abundantly!

18. It is indeed wise to 'never mention the war' – the Germans seldom do. Although they do broadcast re-runs of "Hogan's Heros" – dubbed into German - on free to air TV. (I have not the words! )

19. Airports are enormously huge, and you are guaranteed to have to walk kilometres from the check in desk to the departure gate.

20. I am yet to come across or hear about a German Airport that has moving walk platforms.

21. Germans are very very nice to all animals. In all public parks with ponds and creeks the authorities build multiple little ramps so the ducks can climb in and out of the water easily.

22. German ducks rarely use these ramps.

23. German people love to follow the rules. This means they ALWAYS wait for the little green man before crossing the road, regardless of the time of day or the lack of traffic.

24. Not only do you have to take your own bags to the supermarket (or pay a fortune for plastic ones) but you also have to insert a (refundable) coin to use a shopping trolley. There are no trolley-boys in Germany.

25. Tissues mostly come in travel size packs. It is extremely difficult to find actual boxes of tissues.

26. However, you can buy tissues that don't fluff if they go through the wash. These are very cool.

27. Castor sugar is sold as normal sugar. What we call normal sugar is sold as "preserving sugar" for jams. This is done to utterly confuse foreigners who wish to bake.

28. You can only buy contact lense solution at an optomitrists.

29. Specialist dentist tool thingies (including the little angled mirror thing) however, can be bought virtually anywhere.

30. Germans are dead keen on their recycling and it is possible to have upwards of 6 bins in the kitchen (we have 3).

31. German "unfurnished" flats come empty. Like really empty. No light fittings (not even light globes) and no kitchen. Not even a sink …