GRAB GELATO & GO

In August of 2023, my husband and I embarked on a new chapter as we relocated to Germany. He was offered an opportunity to finish his PhD research at a renowned university in the country. We approach this adventure with enthusiasm, wholeheartedly embracing the prospect of immersing ourselves in the rich tapestry of German culture and endeavoring to assimilate seamlessly into our new environment.

There have been culture shocks, major and minor, that I am still getting used to.

• 1. Drying laundry outside
  • This might be the worst shock for me. It’s one thing that we have to take up space on our cute balcony or living/bed room for a drying rack, but it’s a whole different story when the fabrics dry differently than they would in a dryer. Some clothes/towels have a rough feel to them after they are air dried that I cannot stand. (If anyone has a solution to this, please advise.) Some of our clothes will smell like the outdoors after being, well, outside, which I am not a fan of either.
• 2. Washing machine in the kitchen
  • This goes along with #1 on the list. It doesn’t make that much of a difference in my life and I’m thankful we even have a washer, but it is odd to me that is it in the kitchen. This morning, I was making my French press coffee while I was putting towels in the washing machine. Multi tasking at its finest.

• 3. Organizing our trash
  • I understand this one. It is just taking some time to get used to. We have 6 different types of trash that we have to organize, and they have different days that they are taken out on the street to be picked up. For the glass, we have to walk across town to put it in glass bins, and even there we sort it by green, brown, and clear glass.
• 4. Pfands
  • I haven’t been living here for super long yet, but Andrew and I have accumulated a ton of bottles that we paid a pfand for, and they are all sitting in our entry way because we haven’t taken them back to the store yet. It is about 25 cents per bottle that we pay upfront and if the bottles are returned, we get money back.
• 5. Mini Fridge
  • This might be an “our apartment specific” problem. But our fridge is so small, and our freezer is even smaller. We can fit enough for it to be worth it, but we have to be very conscious of what we really need in there. I think that having less space is helping us to buy less. Andrew and I realized that we haven’t thrown out anything that wasn’t used to its best potential. For example, we haven’t thrown out any food that has rotted or gone bad. We eat it before it gets to that point. Which leads us to #6.
• 6. Grocery shopping multiple times a week
  • This has its own ups and downs. Like I was saying in #5, we only buy exactly what we need and we don’t throw out food anymore. It is getting annoying to go multiple times a week, but it is also very easy to go to the store and I am usually only picking up a couple of things. This is the vibe of the area- you go to Aldi, run around super quickly because you know exactly what you need- then carry it home in a backpack.
• 7. No Microwave
  • We could buy one if we wanted to. But our apartment didn’t come with one and it doesn’t seem to be a popular item in this area. I also don’t want to spend money on something that I can probably live without. Our oven is pretty small, so it heats up quickly and gets the job done. I bought a couple oven safe dishes that we heat our food up in. The only reason I miss the microwave is because I miss my easy to make popcorn.

• 8. Dogs Off Leashes
  • Most dogs around here walk with their owners without leashes on. Even tiny little purse dogs. Owners will be on the opposite side of the street as their dog and not even look for it, but then the dog finds the owner and runs over there. I’ve been intensely watching these interactions because I would lose it if my pet wasn’t right next to me.
• 9. No Air Conditioning
  • This affects Andrew more than it does me. I don’t really care about AC, especially when there are fans everywhere. It’s only hot for a couple months of the year, anyway. We turned our heat on mid October and it has been amazing. However, there are no vents, so there is no way for air to go anywhere. We learned that Germans use “shock ventilation” to prevent mold in their houses. When condensation starts to build up inside, they open the windows and ventilate that way. We have noticed everyone opens their windows at least once a day.
• 10. Germans love their fresh air
  • This goes along with #9. Germans open their windows not just for logical reasons, but also because they just like the feel of fresh air. I am starting to understand that, too. As I write this, I have the heat on but am sitting next to an open window.

• 11. Windows open 2 different ways
  • Windows here either open from the side so you can totally open it, or from the top so it allows for just enough air to come through the crack. We also don’t have any window screens.
• 12. Grocery stores sell vegetable soup bundles
  • Andrew and I were at a farmers market in Mainz when we found our first soup bundle. It included carrots, leeks, and celery root. (Celery root was another shock). After we bought it and used it for soup, I started noticing it in Aldi and Rewe.
• 13. Mexican food is practically non existent
  • This is a sad one for us. Black beans and tortilla chips are a hard item to find. We did manage to find a bag of chips at Aldi. The issue is the salsa. We used to buy Aldi salsa in Pittsburgh and liked it. This salsa in Germany is the worst thing I have ever eaten. It is quite literally sugar and ketchup.

• 14. Eggs are not refrigerated
  • Maybe this is a thing in the USA, but I don’t remember ever buying eggs outside of a refrigerated section?
  • To add to the egg section, egg yolks here are orange, not yellow like most in the states.
• 15. Deliveries are stressful
  • I feel very lucky to still have Amazon. However, getting anything delivered is one of the most stressful experiences. The delivery workers will not leave anything outside of the apartment building. Every person living in Germany has to register their address with the government, so because of this, everyone has their last name on a door bell outside of the apartment building. Delivery workers will ring my door bell once or twice and if I don’t run to unlock the front apartment door, they will either start ringing my apartment building neighbors’ doorbells, or they will just leave after a minute. So, I either have to chase them down the street, or a neighbor will be annoyed with me because the delivery worker rang their door bell unnecessarily.
• 16. No one holds doors
  • Imagine you’re walking into a building and someone is a few steps behind of you walking through the doors. You would hold the door for that person, right? In the USA, it is very normal and mostly expected to hold the door for the person directly behind you. Here, no one looks back to see if there is behind them. In the beginning of my time here, I held doors for others, and they were either confused or gave me the loudest “dankeshon!” (thank you) I’ve heard here.
• 17. Green Man Required to Cross the Street
  • It is a crime to jaywalk here. Even worse than being criminally charged here, is being scolded by the local Germans. If you cross the street without the Green Walking Man signal light, you will hear about it. Even if it is just you and 1 adult German, they will say, “How are the children going to learn to cross the street?” Their kids will walk by themselves, so they all follow the rules since they don’t want to risk a child crossing the street when it could be dangerous.
• 18. Quiet Hours
  • Honestly, of all the rules here, I don’t hate this one. Quiet hours are 10 pm – 7 am and all day on Sunday. This means you can’t take out your glass trash during those hours or play loud music. We share a wall with a rule following neighbor, so if we are too loud after 10 pm, he will knock on our shared wall to let us know to shut up, or he will call the police.
• 19. Stores are closed on Sunday
  • All shopping and grocery stores are closed on Sunday. Only cafes and some restaurants are open.
• 20. Sundays are a day of rest and walks.
  • Since stores are closed Sunday, everyone talks a long German Sunday walk, which I particularly enjoy.
• 21. Planned Strikes
  • I have truly never been so affected by strikes in my life. Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa both have planned strikes that will either completely cancel flights/trains or severely effect their departure/arrival times. A few weeks ago, we had to get to the airport hours and hours early to avoid the planned strike put on by German Farmers that blocked access to the airport. Andrew had a flight canceled because Lufthansa decided to cancel 900/1000 flights for one day because of a strike. Trains will just completely stop running from Deutsche Bahn, so we don’t travel by train those days.
• Red Squirrels
  • Seeing red squirrels is a culture shock? Yes. It blows me away every time I see a red squirrel. Lucky for me, there are two that live in my backyard.