An intro to German culture

So, since I'm on Herbstferien (fall break) and have done pretty much nothing the last few days... I'm going to take this opportunity to share some tidbits of German life with you. This is in no particular order, and I make no guarantees that I haven't already mentioned certain things.

Laundry:
We hang everything on a clothes line to dry. We only use the dryer when absolutely necessary (ie: jeans in wintertime). This is partially because it is bad for the environment and also because it's ridiculously expensive (something like 6 euros a load). We have an outside clothes line and also several inside in the basement. Even in winter most things are line dried. Also, I had to get a lesson in putting the clothes on the line correctly because everything must be in perfekt German Ordnung (order) and I wasn't doing it right. This means that pairs of socks have to be hung together, and the clothes lines closest to the washer must be completely filled before moving to the ones closer to the door.

Greetings:
I keep forgetting to talk about this, but it's so different from the US! And really quite cool. Generally people always greet each other with handshakes. And not just old men or the first time you meet someone, like in the US. Sometimes it's also kind of like the American 'manhug' too, with a handshake and then a light hug in which you place your cheek against the other person's. But, among young people, this is quite different. Boys still greet boys with handshakes, but girls and boys greet each other with a cheek kiss. Except it's not really a cheek kiss... it's putting your cheek against the other person's cheek and kissing the air. I think I would need to demonstrate to truly explain. Girls greet each other this way too. I have yet to be greeted this way and I'm pretty sure that once I am it will mean that I am now officially a good friend.

Relationships:
Most of the couples in my school are extremely discreet compared to those in America. Sometimes they don't even sit together at lunch, and you rarely see them kiss. I can barely even tell who is dating whom, especially when everyone is kissing each other on the cheek. I generally appreciate the lack of PDA, although it can sometimes be confusing.

Food:
For breakfast we normally have bread (sliced or Brötchen, kind of like rolls) with butter (always) and then cheese, meat, cucumbers, marmalade, or some combination. Yes, this means I have bread with butter AND jam for breakfast. A lot of times the jam is homemade too, and really delicious. Also, a note on the butter: my host mom doesn't believe in margarine. It's always the real deal. I generally stick to cereal, however, because I love Müsli (from Switzerland... think cornflakes with dried fruit and also crunchy bits) more than life. I also usually have a banana and orange juice, but I don't think that's normal. While I eat breakfast, my host mom makes me Stüllen, which are mini sandwiches consist of dark bread, butter, and cheese. I eat these for lunch at school on the long days, along with a juice box, fruit, chocolate, and sometimes a cucumber. Germans are really into cucumbers. On the shorter days I come home for lunch with Ramona, which is normally hot and the biggest meal of the day. Dinner is again bread with butter, cheese, meat, vegetables, or marmalade (but that's just me... my host mom finds it hilarious that I want jam with dinnerbread). Sometimes we have leftovers from lunch. On the weekends we often have tea time, which consists of tea, coffee, and kuchen (delicious pastries). We don't buy chips or any snack foods really (like pretzels or cheezits or granola bars... etc), so I stick to yogurt (whole fat... my host mother doesn't believe in fat free dairy products... more on that later) and fruit when I get hungry. Oh, and we've been to a restaurant once in the month I've been here, for Oma's birthday. I think it's quite expensive to eat out here, so we don't do it often.

Drink:
My host mom constantly tells me to drink more, since she (and all Germans I've met) thinks you need to drink three liters of Flüssigkeit (liquid) a day. Most of the time I have orange juice, water from the tap (we have a special water filter, so Germans that are normally opposed to all forms of tap water will drink it and I don't look like a total weirdo), and tea. My host mother refuses to buy anything other than whole milk (because she thinks that skim milk has chemicals in it to make it taste better), so I only have that with cereal. As far as alcohol goes, my host mother doesn't drink it, aside from Berliner Kindl (sweet, fruit flavored beer that has a low alcohol content) and Maltbeer (kind of like rootbeer, I think? Also with barely any alcohol), because it gives her headaches. This means for the most part alcohol only happens on weekends, when Jörg is home. I have yet to find a real beer I truly enjoy, although I did like beer with cola (which seems to be a uniquely German phenomenon). It seems to be all Pilz, although I'm not exactly sure what that means. I had a glass of red wine and it burned my nose. Berliner Kindl is too sweet. Schnapps (Polish potato vodka) burned going down but made me feel nicely warm afterwards... but I don't think I'd have it again. So far beer consumption among young people here is really different from the US... for example, at Simon's house a few guys were drinking beer but it definitely wasn't to get drunk like it always was in America. Most people didn't have any at all, even though it was available.

Bakeries:
This would fall under food if I were in America, but die Bäckerei is such a big deal in Germany that it deserves its own category. There are at least three bakeries in Spremberg alone... and I'm certain there are more I haven't yet discovered. We don't buy bread at the supermarket. Bread must be fresh (we buy more at least every day or two), and we cut it ourselves. Pastries are always bought the day of consumption. Bakeries here are kind of like Frosty's doughnuts in Brunswick, to the extent that you only go there to buy bread or pastries, not to sit and eat them. Except all the bakeries sell tons of types of breads and multiple Kuchen varieties, not just doughnuts.

Recycling:
At my house in the US, we had one container for trash, one for paper recyling, and one for cans/plastic jugs. Here we have a compost, a container for foodwaste, one for paper/plastic packaging, one for paper recycling, and one for bottles and cans. In major public places, there are multiple containers for different kinds of waste. I quite like this.

Biking:
Everyone bikes here, out of necessity and not a desire for exercise. Only tourists and some old people wear helmets, and that's on the bike path and not the street. The roads are too narrow to ride on, so bikes are accepted on the sidewalk. There are bike racks in every single public place. Everywhere. It is wonderful.

School:
I've already talked a lot about school, but in general there is just a much higher level of trust. There is no such thing as a teacher having lunch duty or greeting duty... generally they stay in their teacher's lounge unless they are in class. We're not supervised during lunch, or anytime really. There is no such thing as a detention or suspension. In free hours we can leave or pretty much do whatever. No one is loud in the halls and there are never fights or anything like MTA. Everyone is really respectful of teachers. Everyone studies, a lot, although there isn't much homework. There are no afterschool clubs or much in the way of school activities. I miss them, but other than that I am a fan of German school.

Christmas:
Yes, it is October and I am writing about Christmas. That is because in Germany the Christmas season (in shops and the like) begins in late September. In the US the super crazy stores put out Christmas stuff after Halloween, but mostly the Christmas season begins after Thanksgiving. Here, Halloween isn't major (in the former East, it's only been occuring for about 15 years, and it's mostly just small children), and there is no Thanksgiving, so the stores have nothing to wait for and just put out stuff in Oktober. Pretty silly, I think. My host mother agrees.

Fall:
There is no such thing as pumpkin pie and also kids do not jump into piles of leaves here. This is upsetting. I am determined to make pumpkin pie from scratch, but I may have to forgo the leaves.

CDs:
There is no longer a music store in Spremberg. Today I went to Cottbus, the neighboring city, with Maria and Ramona, and we went to Media Markt (kind of like Best Buy). This is the closest thing to a CD store here - a giant electronics store with a music section. The selection wasn't great, with only mainstream American artists and even less German ones. There was also a section entitled 'Black Music' (in English), which I deteremined to be mostly soul/hip hop/music generally performed by, well, black people. I found the title to be astonishingly politically incorrect, but I don't think the Germans understand the meaning so I can't really blame them. Also, the prices are atrocious, with an average CD costing anywhere from 15 to 20 euros (20-25 dollars). Needless to say, I didn't buy anything and I was horribly missing Bull Moose.

Fashion:
Clothes are expensive here and I keep reminding myself not to buy too much as I have to bring it all back in my suitcase. The fashion isn't too different here (not that I paid much attention in the US), but there's definitely more scarves and boots and skinny jeans. Also, hardly anyone wears t-shirts to school... it's always a well put together outfit with jewelry and accessories and everything. I'm glad I didn't bring many t-shirts. There's a lot of stripes and plaid, but that was the same in the US. Spremberg has a few stores but nothing too big, so I think Maria and I are going to check out some in Cottbus tomorrow. In general I think I packed pretty well, but I could use something warm as it's quickly getting really cold here.


That's enough for now, I think. Yesterday I walked around Spremberg and did a little shopping with Linda. It was a lot of fun :) Tomorrow Maria and I are going to Cottbus for a little sightseeing (although Cottbus is different from a lot of European cities in that it doesn't have much of an old town or pretty landmarks... it was basically a city that came about out of necessity during the time of former East Germany because a lot of people worked at the power plants nearby. Think like, Pittsburgh or Lewiston/Auburn or something) and shopping. I think we are getting lunch at this Indian/Italian restaurant (weird combination, but whatever, it's Indian), which I am so happy about. I miss Sheere Punjab like it's my job. I checked out the menu, and this place even has Chana Masala. Yum!

Tomorrow night I'm staying over at Yasmin's with Olga and Daniela for some pizza and Wii (they say pizza like 'pit-sah' here, and at first I had no idea what Olga was saying... it took three tries for me to figure it out). Then I'm heading off to Berlin with my host family for Martin's birthday. We'll be there from Saturday to Sunday, and I'm hoping to meet up with Lissa and Felix at least briefly. Maybe we will even do some touristy things for me :)

Also: My host mom has never had a burrito. I am sorely missing Mexican food, and I think I will be making burritos for us very soon.

That's all for now!
Dani