I Live In A Place That…(Part One)

….is very different from my own.

I decided to make this into a two or three part post only because there are just that many differences but I didn’t want to overload your minds from the craziness! How thoughtful, right? These are in my opinion what makes Germany different from America. I’ve been compiling this list since November of just random things I see and that happen. After two years of living here I tend to forget all the things that are so different and it’s always fun for me when people come to visit and I show them around and they point out all the little things that are so bizarre! Here we go!

I Live In A Place That…

…Takes pride in farmer’s local goods.
There is a farmer’s market usually in the larger towns a couple days a week. This is a year round thing and the people selling their items all come together in the town center, set up their trucks of fresh foods, and await the masses.
All the people bring their hand baskets and fill them up with veggies, fish, noodles, eggs, breads, and flowers. The Germans reallllllly love their food to be fresh. Every week we buy fresh baked bread and fresh lunch meat from the butcher. For Toblerone, this is his heaven.

…Lets kids play outside without worrying about them.
This is something really special for me to see. Granted, we live in a small neighborhood but the children all get together and play outside until dusk. I’m not just talking pre-teens either. There have been numerous times I’ve seen children around the age of 4 or 5 walking up the hills behind our house and sitting in the flowers for hours. Not one adult around them.
They are free to be children and somehow the parents are free of worry. I think as a whole, the neighborhood keeps a watch out for the kids (at least I do!) but I just love to see that they feel so safe and so free. Not like in the US where you have to worry about kidnappings and shootings constantly. This, my friends, is what a world is like where guns are not allowed. But the other thing, this reminds me of my childhood. We didn’t spend hours inside in front of computers and the kids don’t do that here at all. They are ALWAYS outside. So nice to see.

…Plays Mmmm Bop on the radio like its a hit song of the moment.
Ha! So true! The radio in Germany is horrendous. SO, SO, SOOOOO bad. I’ll do a post on this another time but they literally will play Hanson, then switch to Bon Jovi, maybe a little Rihanna in there and then back to some outdated Whitney Houston.
And this is all coming from the station that is supposed to play hits from today. But they mostly play the songs made by Americans that never made it in the US (aka. David Hasselhoff…lol) Hence, why I’m currently making more CDs for the car at the moment. Aside from the bad music they think is cool, they also listen to music from all countries such as Spain and Italy. The list goes on but it’s really funny to see them all singing to a Spanish song. Cute little Germans. But I mean, what kind of country am I living in and they don’t even know who Dave Matthews is?!?! Preposterous!!!!!

…Eat meat sandwiches for breakfast.
When Toblerone and I first became an ‘item’ (in America) we used to bring breakfast to work. We worked for the same company so he would meet me around 9am and we would have our morning snack. This consisted of a pretzel roll, tzaziki, and ham or turkey. Looking back at it now, that was his way of doing the “German” breakfast in the US. Poor guy trying to live his German life in the US. Anywho, back on topic!

Here, it’s absolutely normal to sit down for breakfast with rolls, different kinds of bologna (you can see those here), cheese, butter, and jellies. This is a typical German breakfast. I think the idea behind it is to eat as much as possible, then you don’t eat so much for lunch and you have a normal dinner. This could very well be the secret behind the “European” diet. Afterall, Breakfast is the most important meal! Eating sugar for breakfast like pancakes, waffles, and cereal is not allowed here.

…Still smokes in bars/clubs and have cigarette machines on street.
It hasn’t been that long since America stopped smoking in bars and in some places they still do but it’s been long enough that I notice it. Not every bar allows smoking either but many do and it’s so gross. I forgot how gross it was to go home smelling like a giant ashtray! Yuck!! And not to mention there are several cigarette machines in each town. Granted, you need a drivers license to prove your age but it surprises me how many younger kids are smoking. I’m talking 14-16 years old.
May be a little too accessible and a little too accepting if you ask me. People smoke here…the typical European way! When I was younger and I thought about Europeans…I imagined them way posh and smoking cigarettes. Guess that’s kind of true!

So that’s it for part one but part two…and possibly part three will be coming soon!! Stay tuned!!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo