German Journal
Nov 08
and what other language? That seems to be a valid question here if you were interviewing someone for a job. I say this because of the amount of diverse people I have met that speak another language. So when I had to get oil for our house I was a little worried about talking with [...] [...more]
and what other language? That seems to be a valid question here if you were interviewing someone for a job. I say this because of the amount of diverse people I have met that speak another language. So when I had to get oil for our house I was a little worried about talking with the guy, but when he arrived, sure enough he spoke pretty good English. The driver was kind of younger, so maybe he was taught it in school. But…the ladies at the bakery, probably in their late 30’s/early 40’s — speaks at least a little bit of English. Ok, well I bet there aren’t any senior citizens that speak English right? — Wrong again. My neighbor who owns a mechanic shop — REALLY good English. I realize that English is more of a worldly language than say German or other languages, but I am most surprised by the people that are able to speak multiple languages. Think about your truck drivers and/or baker in the US and take a guess how many of those people speak multiple languages. (i’m not insulting anyone in these professions either, just overall – not likely).
English isn’t the only language either. I have heard Polish, Czech, French, and Italian spoken throughout town. These countries are close by so these could be immigrants and/or visitors but still interesting to hear so many different languages being spoken.
Oct 09
round here, are ya? Last week I made my yearly trip to Oktoberfest, I say yearly because it has been 2 years in a row now (and it sounds cool to say I make a yearly trip to Oktoberfest). For the most part it was the same wonderful time as it was last year- beer, [...] [...more]
round here, are ya? Last week I made my yearly trip to Oktoberfest, I say yearly because it has been 2 years in a row now (and it sounds cool to say I make a yearly trip to Oktoberfest). For the most part it was the same wonderful time as it was last year- beer, partying, meeting new people, etc. You will see the one thing that I did not mention was food. The reason is because I had another not so good experience with the food here. First, Oktoberfest is in Bavaria which treats itself like it’s own separate country compared to the rest of Germany. Many people compare it to those from Texas and how every Texan thinks they’re better than the rest of the US. One of the many things that are different there though is the language, which is very bad for someone that doesn’t speak the language very well to begin with (read:me) So when I didn’t see anything on the menu that I recognized I went with blah blah and rice. The blah blah ended up being Chicken (great, right?) the problem is that it was Chicken LIVERS!. I am always up for trying a new food, but having a whole plate of them–not so much.
Anyways now I know one plate to stay away from when eating out here.
Sep 26
comes up to the door and says “Yea, I got a delivery….for a Joe Smith”. Guy at the house says “uh he’s my neighbor”. Delivery guys says “Yea, whatever. sign here.” Apparently this how it works for the Germans when it comes to delivering a package. Let me explain. We had a note left in [...] [...more]
comes up to the door and says “Yea, I got a delivery….for a Joe Smith”. Guy at the house says “uh he’s my neighbor”. Delivery guys says “Yea, whatever. sign here.” Apparently this how it works for the Germans when it comes to delivering a package. Let me explain. We had a note left in our door from DHL (like FedEx) addressed to me and it had a bunch of German writing with the address of the house next door and the persons name. Well the letter essentially said that I had a package delivered and since I wasn’t at home they left it with my neighbor.
I am pretty sure this doesn’t happen in the states and was kinda surprised that the delivery man blindly assumes that my neighbor won’t keep the package for themselves. I guess they figure since the neighbor signed for the package and left me (the actual recipient) a note saying they left it with my neighbor; there is nothing to worry about. Everything worked out without an issue and it was actually a good chance to meet my neighbor for the first time. So it was a win-win situation, still kinda weird though.
Sep 15
once again. I can’t believe that it has been over a month since my last post and I apologize for this. I haven’t been sitting around enjoying the beer gardens (or biergartens) the whole time though — just most of the time. I have just moved to a new place in Deutschland and [...] [...more]
once again. I can’t believe that it has been over a month since my last post and I apologize for this. I haven’t been sitting around enjoying the beer gardens (or biergartens) the whole time though — just most of the time. 
I have just moved to a new place in Deutschland and live in the heart of the city now. This will be good for many reasons that I can tell so far. First I will be able to ride my bike or walk to work when I want which is something many Germans do. Living in the city will hopefully force me to pick up some more German too since I will be interacting with more people while I’m out and about. The biggest benefit of this move though, is that I now have internet that will allow me to do some of the things I haven’t been doing lately — posting more often and sharing pictures with all of you.
So to commemorate this occasion I have uploaded some pictures of a trip we went on this summer to Garmisch. Garmisch is in the south eastern part of Germany in the heart of Bavaria. One thing close to this town is the Neuschwanstein Castle which Walt Disney modeled the Magic Kingdom castle after. It is a pretty amazing piece of work and crazy to think that it was built over 150 years ago (give or take a few years). The other pictures on the page are of a gorge that we hiked through (the water is actually that blue!), another castle in the area, the hotel we stayed in, and a few shots of Innsbruck Switzerland too. All the pics are here: http://aprice77.googlepages.com/garmisch
Aug 12
never even close to being right at most of the stores here in Germany. I have learned that the term “Customer Service” is more of an afterthought and not the standard here. This is totally different then back in the states where you are greeted with a smile by virtually every employee, asked if you [...] [...more]
never even close to being right at most of the stores here in Germany. I have learned that the term “Customer Service” is more of an afterthought and not the standard here. This is totally different then back in the states where you are greeted with a smile by virtually every employee, asked if you need any help, and then repeating the process a few times. Here –not so much. You are lucky if you get eye contact let alone an actual ‘halo’ (hi/hello in German). It is so bad that some bigger ticket items – like car salesman – actually hire a majority of people from other countries that are more accustomed to this crazy customer service idea.
This is even the case with things like apartment renting companies and other services where you are willing to pay A LOT of money. Apparently money is not an important factor in business here because no one goes out of there way to “seal the deal”.
I actually like not being bothered sometimes when I go shopping and I know what I’m looking for. I can get in, get out, and really only have to say “danke” which is great. Other times though, it would be nice for the person renting out an apartment to actually show some interest and initiative to get all of the details worked out. (yes I’m moving, and yes I’m a little perturbed about working with a person that has a house I REALLY want to live in).
Jul 22
has been created by 2 Americans who recently visited Munich. It sounds improbable, I know, but it’s true and I am living through it to confirm this. The official slogan of Germany should be “Anything Goes” (kinda like THIS). Why you ask? There are so many reasons that I would probably overload the blog if [...] [...more]
has been created by 2 Americans who recently visited Munich. It sounds improbable, I know, but it’s true and I am living through it to confirm this. The official slogan of Germany should be “Anything Goes” (kinda like THIS). Why you ask? There are so many reasons that I would probably overload the blog if I listed them here, so I will focus only on the examples from last weekend. First – the clothing is out of this world. You have everything from the über fashionable to those that just can’t quite get out of the 80’s. I cannot tell you how many jean jackets I have seen. Not to mention the amount of old school mohawks (not frohawk’s either). I’m talking old school style. 2nd- My buddy and I went to a a discotheque and experienced the bar scene of Munich. In the USA only the REALLY wasted guys would be caught singing Backstreet Boys, The Village People, or Madonna. In Germany – Anything Goes, the whole club sings every word to the whole song. Straight guys, straight girls, gay guys, gay girls, it didn’t matter at all. No comment on if I participated in singing. Finally- at the same bar, guys would get up on stage and dance with the girls too. There was no bouncer to through them off immediately, or a group of other guys to boo them off. They just got up there did there thing and no one cared. (no – I definitely did not join this. My dancing is worse than my singing).
Those are just 3 examples from this weekend but there are plenty more that I won’t go into here. Like so many other things I have talked about here — this isn’t a bad thing or a good thing, just different. Just very different.
Jul 12
is coming soon for everyone that is a reader of this or any other blog hosted by www.blogsmonroe.com . At the Monroe County Fair on Aug 5th @ 6 PM many of the writers of the different blogs will be in person to talk to some of their loyal readers and it’s a chance for [...] [...more]
is coming soon for everyone that is a reader of this or any other blog hosted by www.blogsmonroe.com . At the Monroe County Fair on Aug 5th @ 6 PM many of the writers of the different blogs will be in person to talk to some of their loyal readers and it’s a chance for the readers to finally put a face to the blogs that they read.
For obvious reasons (currently $1024 for a plane ride home) I will not be in attendance but if you have the opportunity to stop by you should. If you haven’t ever checked out the other blogs that blogsmonroe offers you should do this too. Some of my favorites are the Michigan Beer Buzz and a family favorite Pacer Chick. Take a look at these blogs when you have a free sec and support all the blogs by visiting them at the fair this year.
Jul 12
it has not been over 65 degrees for the past week or so – with about 4 of those days raining most of the time. I have complained about the hot weather before, but know it’s time to complain about the cold weather. I actually would choose cooler weather over hotter weather (especially without A/C) [...] [...more]
it has not been over 65 degrees for the past week or so – with about 4 of those days raining most of the time. I have complained about the hot weather before, but know it’s time to complain about the cold weather. I actually would choose cooler weather over hotter weather (especially without A/C) but I have to admit that in July I expect to have the option of wearing shorts when I would like and not forced to wear jeans all the time.
My guess is that sometime next week it will be 85, sunny, and I will be asking for the cold weather again, but that’s what people do no matter where you live – complain about the weather.
Jul 02
at least that’s how I feel right now. It’s been at least high 70’s to mid 80’s for the past 3 or 4 days and you’re probably thinking that’s nice weather. Well it’s not nice when you don’t have any air conditioning in your house or even your office. The past few days at work [...] [...more]
at least that’s how I feel right now. It’s been at least high 70’s to mid 80’s for the past 3 or 4 days and you’re probably thinking that’s nice weather. Well it’s not nice when you don’t have any air conditioning in your house or even your office. The past few days at work have been uncomfortable and the past few nights have been unbearable. Our room is on the 3rd story of the house so to say that it’s been warm at night is an understatement. The 25 euro fan in the room is just not cutting it and I don’t know how I will survive this summer if it gets any warmer.
The houses here actually do stay cooler than what you would think and that’s because of the material they are made of. Most all of the houses are made of some form of concrete/cement which helps keep things a little cooler, not to mention keeping the rolladens down to keep out all of the sun.
Well hopefully it won’t get too much hotter during the summer or at least have a few 70ish days mixed in between the 80 degree days to keep a little cooler. If not I may have to invest in the $400 Air conditioning units — yea $400 I wasn’t happy about this either.
Jun 25
“home” with my recent trip back to the USA and it was interesting the things I noticed since this was the first time I have been home since I left. In some respect not much has changed, afterall it’s only been 9 months since I left. On the other hand though, I noticed many little [...] [...more]
“home” with my recent trip back to the USA and it was interesting the things I noticed since this was the first time I have been home since I left. In some respect not much has changed, afterall it’s only been 9 months since I left. On the other hand though, I noticed many little things about the differeneces between Germany and the US.
You could probably guess that the biggest is driving. I quickly got used to the fast paced and aggressive driving over in Germany so driving on the expressway for 3 hours between C-bus and Michigan was painful– and SLOW. The same distance would probably take me no more than 2 and 1/2 hours in Germany. So I had to spend at least 1/2 hour of my life in a car (each way). Maybe I need to talk with my congressman about speed limits here. I also realized how much more efficient round-a-bouts are when compared to 4-way stops. Seriously..they are 1000 times better.
The other big differences I quickly noticed was the services at restaurants. I haven’t really blogged about this before, but the service at restaurants is much slower in Germany than in the US. It’s not that the customer service is bad, but the Germans don’t want to bug you or make you feel like you are being pressured to leave, so they don’t come to your table too much. In America it’s all about fast, quick, in & out service and I can understand why the Germans (or really all Europeans) probably feel rushed when they come over here. I personally like aspects of both systems — some times i want to get in and out, but other times i don’t mind relaxing for awhile. If i had to chose i would probably go with the US system, i guess i’m not that patient when it comes to my food and drink.
The other plus of the US is something that Germany will never be able to compete with…seeing family and friends. Thanks to everyone who carted me around and took time out to see me. Especially mom, dad, little brother and a few good friends. Hopefully be back soon — but maybe not too soon. The 12-14 hours of travel time is not a fun thing.!!
