Following the Signs

Germans go to the polls today! Coming from a completely different political system, I don't really understand everything that is happening, but I am fascinated by the efficiency and the civility of the process. Political debates seem to stick to the issues, candidates let each other speak, and I didn't hear any personal attacks (or of I did, I didn't understand them!). Compared to what we have become used to in the US, the elections here seem, well, kind-of boring. I miss that.

In the US, we just have a two-party system. Here there are many, many parties; there is even one with pirates! 😊





Here no single party usually gets a majority of the votes, so parties have to form a coalition government (they have to work together?!). That's about as much as I have read about the German political system. So, this is not an in-depth report on German politics; most of my information comes from political signs.  (I'm still learning German, ok? Pictures help!)  Judging by the numbers of signs out there, it's easy to tell which parties are the major ones: the Christian Democrats (CDU), Chancellor Merkel's party; and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), whose candidate for the chancellorship is Martin Schulz.






The CDU is the center-right party. Americans will probably recognize the "Law and Order" slogan (top left), but the rest wouldn't fly in an American conservative party: making things easier for families? Quoting Obama to entice voters? Check out the sign about taxes (bottom right). Roughly translated, it says, "He who has a business here, must pay taxes here." NOWHERE does anyone suggest lowering taxes.











The SPD is center-left, but their signs look like the CDU's in some ways. The SPD is for keeping the EU, and it also mention families (see below). One difference is that the SPD campaigns on equal pay for women.



The SPD family policy is "loud and demanding"... looks like my kindergarten class! 





Political parties were only allowed to put up signs in early August for the September 24 election, which makes for a pretty short election cycle (yea!). You can't get too deep into a party's beliefs with their signs, but you can get feel for their focus, and children and families were a central theme. While the CDU and SPD mention families, the Green Party specifically mentions fighting child poverty.
The Freie Demokratie" Party--the pro-business party--focuses on education ("backpacks change the world, not briefcases.")





The AfD is concerned about children as well, but AfD wants those kids to be German (see below). I don't know much about German politics, but it was pretty easy to pick out AfD as the anti-immigrant party. Babies, bikinis, Dirndls...not exactly a platform. (You can see more AfD signs, including ones that are more crass, here.


Some of their signs in Berlin were vandalized last weekend ("Voting for AfD is so 1933").




Personally, I like the Green party's signs, though I dare say none of these slogans would get any traction in the U.S.



Some of my absolute favorites comes from Die Linke, the left, probably because they would be political suicide across the pond. Have you ever seen a political sign encouraging taxing millionaires to benefit children? Or asking for more workers in the healthcare industry?




There are even more smaller parties, too, though I don't know how many votes they'll get....

The Communist party: "Health as a commodity? That's sick!" 

...and if anyone has any idea what this one is about, please let me know.

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!

Culture Shock?

The new teachers at school had a meeting yesterday to discuss how we felt in our new surroundings, and how we were coping with "culture shock".  According to the W-curve of cultural adaptation, when you move to a another country, you go through certain phases:

1. Honeymoon. Everything is new and exciting!

2. Crisis/Cultural Shock. The novelty wears off, and anxiety sets in, as you start to notice real differences in lifestyles, social customs, communication, etc.; you find yourself asking things like, "Why can't they just do it this way???" [or maybe, "In this town there is a Korean market and a Turkish market--why isn't there an American one, too?!" :) ]

3. Recovery and Adjustment. You begin to feel more comfortable in your new environment, and more accepting of the culture and the differences.
 

I've been working in Germany in three months now, and I'd like to think that I am already at the recovery phase (even though I think I see a few symptoms of "culture shock", like sleeping more now than I probably did as a child).  There are many things I like about Germany, including some that surprised me. For example, I thought it would drive me crazy that nearly everything is closed on Sundays. I am actually starting to like this; it kind-of forces you to chill out...of course, going out-of-town on the weekends helps, too.  :)  Here are a few other random things I like:

1.  I don't feel like people are always trying to sell me stuff I don't need.  So many examples...Here are two: 

• The salesman who sold me my cell phone plan told me that his store didn't have the best price on a cell phone (in Germany you can buy a cell phone without a contract), and suggested I go somewhere else to buy the phone. 
• I stopped in an electronic store to buy an antenna for my TV.  The guy told me that all I needed was the little antenna that cost 10 Euro. When I took it back the next day (because I could only see 3 channels), he GAVE me a cable so that I could put the antenna closer to the window.  Seriously?  Don't you want to sell me the biggest, most expensive antenna you have?!?    He was right, of course; I now get about 20 channels.   

2.  The price you see is the price you pay. Taxes are already figured in, so you know what you are paying. This is not just at the supermarket.  No extra "taxes and fees" on your cable or phone bill--that 40 Euro plan actually costs 40 Euro.

3.  I'm learning what produce is actually in season.  Before coming to Germany, I couldn't tell you when many fruits and vegetables were available locally.  Believe me, if you're here when asparagus is in season, you'll know. 

4. Cars actually stop for pedestrians in crossings. The first few times I saw someone walk into a crosswalk without even looking, I thought, "Wow, she's brave."  (I'm not completely acclimated--I still look.)

5. Rote Grütze. It's made from fruit (cherries, raspberries, Johannisbeeren) and SUGAR, and it's sweet enough for the American palate. I have only had it with a kind of vanilla yogurt, but I can imagine it on ice cream, with cream cheese...so many possibilities!

Yum!

6.  Taking the train. I've always liked taking road trips, but I like driving, too.  I LOVE the train.  Mostly I think I like it because I can just sit and stare out the window; there's usually something nice to look at.  Plus, if you somehow got tired of Germany, in just a few hours you could be in another country!

 

Hundewetter!

Hundewetter = foul weather
[literal translation: dog weather]

This morning it was 35°F--with a wind chill of 28°F--and it's only mid-October! It may not be Hundewetter yet (the sun was out), but it definitely gives this Texas girl a chill.  All week long I have heard discussions about the weather that begin with "Ohhhh, just you wait! Last year it was horrible. Did you hear about....". 

Speaking of Hunde...you know I'd like to have Tostitos (along with salsa, peanut butter, and warm temperatures), but what do I really miss from home?  Along with my family and friends, of course, what I miss most is my dog.  I decided to leave Allie in Texas for several reasons, one being that I wasn't sure what it would be like for her here (I travel on days off, she hates rain, I'd have to check her on the plane, etc...), and another was that I knew she would be very well loved and cared for by my family in Texas.




Allie at the front door when I left home

 

I still miss Allie, though, and I blame the Germans for that, because I can't seem to go anywhere without seeing them with their dogs! They take them everywhere...

Yes, that is a dog in there!

sightseeing with the family on vacation...

to the mall...

                                                                              on the train...

out to dinner...

I've also seen them inside the city hall and the farmers market, and I've been told they've been known to frequent some bars.  The only place it seems that dogs are not welcome is at the grocery store, where they are left near the front door and calmly wait for their owners.  This, of course, makes me think of another sticking point about bringing my dog over to Germany:  she and I both would have to undergo some serious training before that could happen...German dogs are some of the best behaved dogs I have ever seen!

What's in a Name?

Well, gender, for one thing.  In Germany, Jan (or yahn, as it is pronounced in German) is apparently exclusively for men.  I have seen some confused looks on people, but my name hadn't yet caused any problems...until today.

When I give the the chatty lady behind the grocery store counter my debit card, she says, "Is this your card?" I tell her in my broken German that I am American, and that in the U.S. Jan is usually a name for a woman.  Her answer is something like, "Wouldn't that be Jane?" Now, it's often difficult for me to discern the tone in which Germans are speaking, so I couldn't tell if she was making conversation (seems hardly likely, considering the number of people in line behind me) or if she was actually arguing with me about my name. I just smile, as I feel my face turn purple, and quickly sign for 6 Euros worth of groceries.  She then compares the signature with the one on my card.

Next time, I'll just use cash!

The German Bachelor

In the U.S., The Bachelor is a popular reality TV program whose main personality is a successful, good-looking, 30-something guy who spends a lot of time at the gym and tanning, and whose business can apparently withstand him leaving for a few months while he jets around the globe with about twenty beautiful (though often crazy!) 20-something women all vying for his attention.

I just finished watching what seems like the German version: Bauer sucht Frau (Farmer Seeks Wife).  Take Brad, the last American bachelor, and put him way out in the country (so he is too far away and too busy to get to the gym), add 50+ pounds and about 10 years, and you've got your Bauer!  The women who are interested in him do not have to be models, but they do have to be able to write him LETTERS telling him about themselves.  I think the German version brings a little more reality into its reality show.