It is always good to know the little things that are really important about a culture.

Here is my take – not claiming totality, not saying that everybody agrees to them. But maybe at least some people.

Thumbs up for:

- Shake hands when you meet – Germans perceive it as polite and politeness is important.

- When you bring a newbe into a group of people, introduce the person to others. You want to be perceived as a good host – if you  show you are considerate, we almost automatically also like you.

- Feel free to discuss politics, religion, or any potentially critical topic at a dinner party or over lunch in the canteen. We love to have philosophic conversations and don´t really know how to do small-talk well. Straight forward is good for us.

- Complaining about things is ok – as long as you have either well researched proof for it, a good business case, or – even better: a proposal or an improvement plan on hand

- Tip – There is normally no service charge included and if you appreciate good service then show it via some coins (or notes) … btw – cash is what you need in Germany. Cards have not really made it into daily life in most places or at least you need to buy for a certain amount

- Be on time – as much as possible … almost for all occations. But: If you are invited to a party (not including formal dinner) at 8 pm – don´t show up before 8.45 pm …. you might otherwise be the first one

- Not addressing random people with the informal “Du”. Ok – if you are a non-German speaker we will forgive you. If you are fluent in German most people would find it strange when you address them with “Du” if you are above 25. …. Well, that might actually change at one point. The other day in Berlin – I was addressed with the formal “Sie” and I have to admit I was a bit offended  and spent about  20 minutes thinking about how old these kids thought I was?!

- Not assuming that German music is the uumpa-music, everybody wears Dirndl and that Bavaria is the capital of Germany … Always good when you show that you know that Bavaria is only one province of Germany.

- Knowing a bit about history. e.g. that our queen is not a queen but a chancellor and is called Angela Merkel

- Throwing some German in. Germans are generally impressed by foreigners trying out some German. “Bitte ein Bier.” – Could I get a beer – and even better if you have a sexy accent … then we might even invite you. Because we can be emotional. Really!

- Last but not least: when people offer you something – let´s assume food (it is quite likely that you will be overloaded with food in a German home) … if you want to be really German then don´t say “yes, thanks” immediately. Say a friendly “Noooo, really, I think I am fine”. Then the German host will most likely say somthing like “No, really you should”. Here you have two options. Either you jump on the offer and say “well then, yes” – or you play the game another round until you finally say “ok then, if you insist. Well then I have some more”.

- One last thing – before I am out for today: Watch the little video on superstition in Germany:

Any major knowledge to share on this one?

The post Mind the gap – Germany appeared first on Hey there world.

That’s how we like it:

Wanna know how to really stress out an Ordnung loving German. Mess the whole thing up:

Ever met a “non-orderly” German?

What do you connect to the German’s sense for Ordnung?

The post Ordnung muss sein appeared first on Hey there world.

Here are few examples: 

Rule number one: Parking in the opposite direction of the street is not allowed. This rule I would suggest to follow – otherwise there is very friendly men and women putting little notes on your car – and that normally includes paying a fine.

Rule number two: No drunk cycling. I mean obvious drunk cycling. Might cost you not only a fine but also your driving licence.

Rule number three: No drilling or handwashing your car on Sundays. Hello! Consider your neighbors who would like to relax … and if you do need to urgently drill a hole bring some wine or cake to your neighbors or at least tell them. Most people will be fine. By the way… this apparently also applies on other days between noon and 3 pm…. I have just learned.

Rule number four: Calling a state official a bad name is expensive. Out of good reason – including something with Hitler in it is even more expensive. So if you feel a need for expressing your feelings to a state official stick to idiot and it should be affordable (legal note: I do not take any guarantee for the the non-fining of “idiot”)

Rule number five: Everything is forbidden – apart from that, do what you like.

Rule number seven to three hundred : The German grammar. How many rules can one little language have? The German one has many. And whoever has tried to learn German will know what I am talking about….

Dear German fellows – any really important rule you think would be good to share?

Dear non-German readers – Any rule that is important to know about your culture?

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The way we grew up though differs tremendously. Talking about our childhood and experiences with the DDR I have to admit – I feel excluded. I have not watched Pitiplatsch on East German TV when I was a child, I did not line up to buy bananas, and when I wanted to eat melon I just asked my mum if she could bring one from the supermarket. Chocolate or vanilla milk we got in the school breaks, and I have never demonstrated for my right of freedom.

Some of my friends have. Christian´s mum took him to the famous Monday demonstrations in his home town. For him it was a cool lantern procession and it was great fun. He did not understand the impact it had on his country´s future. He was 11.

Shortly after – exactly today 25 years ago – the wall was gone. People could go where they wanted. None of their families immediately took their kids and visited the unknown West. All three of them agree. “You didn´t know if they would close the border again. It was too risky. We waited to see what would happen.”

After a while they went to the West to experience how it looks like on the other side.Every DDR citizen received 100 German mark (around 50 Euros)– the so called Begrüssungseld. Caroline still has what she was allowed to buy from her money. She decided to go for a blue Mickey mouse. She took it with her when she moved to Denmark.

Christian remembers that on the way to the West you still had to get your passport stamped. As a DDR citizen you were used to lining up. So they lined up at the one border control booth where everybody was standing and waiting. It took a while until they realized that there were more border control houses accessible.

Lining up was a natural thing in the DDR. A lack of resources led to people buying tons of shampoo when it was available. You never knew when you would have a chance to get it again. You might have even changed clothes and lined up again to receive another ration. Suddenly lining up was not necessary anymore. Easy to get used to when you are 10 years old – but what a difference for those who grew up in the DDR and suddenly had to integrate into a system that worked quite differently.

All the things you believed in being right for 40 years – or at least the way you did things – was now suddenly wrong. Political education in the DDR school was quite different than in West Germany. Additionally, the teachers who had told about the advantages of socialism and West Germany being the enemy were from one day to the other supposed to teach the great advantages of capitalism. Russian lessons were replaced by English lessons. Everything was different.

The first euphoria of a reunited Germany turned very fast into the West taking over the East. “Robber-knights” from the West went to buy pretty much every property available in East Germany for almost nothing. Still nowadays people suffer from this “take over”.

People you had been friends with turned sometimes out to have worked for the Stasi – spying on you. Do people want to know? What does it do to your level of trust when you suddenly find out that your best friend told all your secrets to the Stasi. Many decided not to take a look into their Stasi file.

A university career, family in the West, being active in the church. All reasons for being a suspect – and therefore people were spied on.

Caroline remembers times where the kids were sent out of the room because secret things were discussed. You always had to be careful what to share – even your husband or wife could have been working for the Stasi or your kids could have accidentally revealed something in school.

Were all Stasi employees bad people? Probably not. Some of them just wanted to work in a profession they were truly interested in – and the price was to work for the Stasi. Did they report everything or did they just report harmless things? Who knows. And nobody really wants to talk about it anymore.

“Life goes on and you just have to make the best out of it.” “Be happy for what you have.” Sentences we have probably all heard from our grandparents. It has a different meaning though for those who lived under restrictions and those who remember the times when your career path was dependent on your parents’ willingness to join the party.

Still today people are very suspicious and careful what to share with others. A result from many years living in this system?

What would my 3 friends have done, if the wall would not have come down?

Christian might not have become a dentist – he would have had to join the party to do so. Martina who chose a career in research says that she might have become a silent follower to be able to do what she wanted to do and Caroline was too young to even consider what she might have done.

Caroline, Martina, and Christian are grateful and happy for what has happened to their lives due to this historic event.

And although I grew up in the West with the options to travel everywhere, do what I wanted to do and say what I wanted to say without fearing the consequences, I am grateful.

We can all go anywhere we want to in the world and all four of us could take the decision to move to Denmark. 3 of us at this table could not have done that 25 years ago.

Thanks guys for sharing your stories!

Did you know about all of this? What are your stories you remember from the DDR or East and West?

If you are interested in more stories about the German reunification, have a look at Doreen’s and Katja’s stories.

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I haven’t really figured out yet why the German sense of humor has not so far managed to spread across the borders. From my experience Germans can be really funny. Quite dry and sarcastic – and of course serious, just the way the Germans are.

Most Germans like something called “Situationskomik” – the comic arising from everyday situations.

It is hard to understand the German humor, since a lot of times people refer to historic events, traditions, or recite quotes from famous movies or comedians.

One whose Witz made it into everyday life is Loriot. He was born in 1923 as Vicco von Bülow in Berlin. He had an immense creative talent and therefore started his career as cartoonist after WWII.

During his career he invented cartoon figures such as Wum & Wendelin – a dog and an elephant who appeared on a game show in the 70s or the two man in the bathtub (Herr Müller-Lüdenscheidt and Herr Dr. Klöbner).

He brought Family Hoppenstedt to life. A crazy bunch that let´s us participate in their daily life. Their bizzare stories are so far out that it almost feels realistic.

He made hundreds of short movies and slapsticks. At the end of the 80s and during the 90th he wrote, directed and played in two great movies. The situations he puts people into are so absurd – and strangely enough everybody can in some way relate to it.

He exaggerates stereotypes and in an intelligent and funny way points out those things about Germans we don´t like to look at.

I am not sure if he really is funny with English subtitles. Trust me – in German he is! Here is a little appetizer. Loriot in his movie Papa Ante Portas.

And – funny? I hope you enjoyed it.

I cannot let you go without explaining a phrase a lot of Germans use. It actually is a word. A very ironic “Ach” – as an expression of surprise – which has been implemented into the German language through the cartoon “Two man in a bathtub”.

If you got 5:38 more minutes I would like to invite you to watch this little scene. These almost 6 minutes bring German humor to the point and explains a lot. Meet Herr Müller-Lüdenscheid and Herr Dr. Klöbner.

Enjoy!

Not that I have watched it for the first time….. but Ach! I still love it!

Any phrases you use in your culture that are just so classic?

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Oom-pah music, beer tent, Dirndl and Lederhosn.

Unfortunately this is not representing Germany. All those things very well describe Bavaria. Some part of Bavaria. The southern part.

I hope during one month of introducing different cultural aspects of Germany you will get a different picture of this very diverse country. But up to now we are still quite in the beginning of the months – therefore some stereotypes are of course allowed.

So here we go:

All people in Germany are like Bavarians….. Tell that to a person from Hamburg and the chance to become friends will very fast go down to zero.

Germany has all the same traditions. North and South – East and West.There are some quite significant differences. Carnival is the biggest event in the Cologne area. Try to call a business partner on “Faschingsmontag” – the Monday of the festivities. I would assume the chances of reaching anybody are quite low. In most other parts of Germany people might dress up a bit, but honestly, it is not the biggest event in Hamburg.

Everyone in Germany speaks the same language. German ≠ German. I have a friend in Berlin who just loooooves when I role the “r” the way we do it in the northern part of Bavaria. Little side note – the rolling “r” is not even the same in north and south Bavaria. And some people in Aachen would not understand what a person from Saxony with a strong accent tells them.

Roasted pork with dumplings is Germany´s national dish. Ah, nope. The north eats a lot of fish dishes (logic, since they have the sea right in front of their doorstep.) The south eats a lot of roasted pork and dumplings. Berlin is known for its Currywurst while the cuisine in the southwest is very much influenced by the French kitchen (again they are quite close to France).

Fashion = Dirndl and Lederhosn. If you would like to out yourself as a tourist, wear a Dirndl in Hamburg. You better not wear a Dirndl or Lederhosn outside of southern Germany – around Carnival times it is ok though. And even in Bavaria – again north and south differs here as well – not everybody has a Dirndl in their wardrobe. Coming from north Bavaria I got my first Dirndl when I moved to south Bavaria – Munich. It might be different nowadays, but back in the days running around in Dirndl was a definite no-go and considered really conservative – even strange – when you were under 65. There is by the way some great and quite famous German designers out there that you probably already know. Karl Lagerfeld, Bogner, Guido Maria Kretschmer, Wolfgang Joop to just name a few…. and you probably don´t know them for their Dirndls.

German music = oompah music. Yes – also. But again – Bavaria – in beer tents – at the Octoberfest. And even with the oompah music there are hugh differences. If you are not particularly into oompah music – try this one. LaBrassBanda. They are really cool and almost made it to the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany … but that´s another story.

Eventhough you thought you understand German you have not understood what this song is all about? Don´t worry – even as a native Bavarian (to be very specific Frankonian – which means I speak a very different language myself) I could not fully translate this song to you.

There are many more stereotypes on Germany and we will touch upon some more in later posts.

What stereotypes do you have about Germany?

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