A Year Later

On August 11, 2011, I posted some things I had learned thus far in my 10-day-old German experience. Now that a year has passed, what observations can I add?



1.   Here you pay waitstaff differently.  For example: at the end of your meal, the waiter brings you the check, and it is 18 Euros; you want to give him two Euros for a tip (because tips are smaller here--waitstaff get an actual wage), which brings what you owe to 20 Euros.  So, you hand him a 50 Euro bill and ask for 30 Euros, right? WRONG.  You tell the waiter how much you want to pay him for the bill plus tip (20 Euros), NOT how much change you want.  If you are in an area that is accustomed to having Americans, it may not be a problem...or you may just end up with an extremely happy, overtipped waiter. Of course, you may be able to avoid the problem altogether if you pay with a credit card, but really it is better if you...

2. Carry cash. Yes, you can pay with a card in a lot of places, but there are still plenty of places where you can't. 


3. Keep an umbrella handy.  There is a saying in Texas, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute--it'll change." That saying really shouldn't be about Texas--weather doesn't really change, unless you count from "hot" to "really hot" as a change--but it fits Germany.  When I had visitors in May, they went on the Rhine River tour...in one afternoon, they were at different times hot, cold, wet, or wind-blown; for a short while they even endured hail.  Rain, though, is the most likely scenario. Hang on to the umbrella.

4.  Recycling looks complicated, but it is doable.  I recently read Steven Glassman's explanation of it, and it's very similar to what we do in the Frankfurt area. The thing that surprised me the most when the recycling system was explained to me is that it is actually VOLUNTARY, yet everyone seems to do it. 


5.  I eat like a German.  So does that mean I eat of "German food"?

I do eat my share of Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln, but I eat a lot more of what the Germans around here seem to eat a lot of: Italian food...pizza, all kinds of pasta, and even some salads. :)  Of the three restaurants that were near my old apartment, two of them were Italian; now I have one right outside my building's front door...and that's fine with me!