After many long years, once again I am back in Germany. Thinking about it, it's been almost twenty years since the last time I lived here, and just over a decade since I last visited. And though on the surface I assumed I was quite familiar with the subtleties of Germans culture (after all, I grew up here, went to school, and over seventeen years got pretty much acculturated as a German), I can't deny that certain things still struck me shocking, even though I should be well acquainted with them. Here are a few examples:
Rudeness or Just a Case of the Berlin Snout?
Right on my arrival at the (finally completed) BER airport, my first interaction with a stranger had a huge Welcome to Germany written all over it. My friend came to pick me up, but not wanting to pay for the overpriced parking fee, he asked me to come out to the short-term parking outside the terminal. No problem. I saw a guy wearing a jacket that made him look like he worked there, so I quickly asked him where the short-term parking was. "Why don't you go to the information desk?" he responded. O-kay then! But sure, obviously he was getting paid for moving luggage or whatever, and not for pointing in a direction, or saying "Over there." to random travelers.
"It's Berlin if it is said tougher than how it is meant."
image source
A few days later I had a similar experience at the sauna I visited to get out of the bitter cold that was still holding Berlin in its icy grip. After a couple of sweating sessions I walked up to the bar and said "I'd like to order something to drink," as I was still deciding what it was going to be. To my surprise, the response that followed was not the expected "What would you like to have?" or something along those lines, but a simple "Well then, go ahead and order." And all with a straight face, no smirk, no laugh, or any other tongue-in-cheek sign of I-just-cracked-a-joke-aint-I-funny. 😉 🤣 😜 🤡 😆 But I took no offense, remembering the so called Berliner Schnauze or Berlin Snout, meaning the way Berliners say things that could be seen offensive, though should not, since there usually is a heart somewhere behind the snout.
The Luxury of Space
Another thing that surprised me quite positively, is how much space there is inside of the city. Space for everyone: The sidewalks are wide enough to dance on, or simply leave your electric scooters anywhere. There is still enough room for people walking dogs or pushing strollers around. Also, no competition with bicycles, as they tend to have their own lane on the street, along with the regular two-way motorist traffic, plus a parking lane on each side. And that's not even the major avenues, where there are two car lanes going both ways, plus a tram running in the middle, along a park-like green area. After Mexico City this is something I'm still amazed at.
Having a Beer on the Go
Okay, this is something I remember enjoying quite a lot the last time I was here: in Berlin it's perfectly fine to walk around the city while sipping on a beer. Or drink it while riding the train. Or simply hang out on a park bench. This is such a common practice here that I almost wrote everyone does it, which of course is not true. Little kids (of which there are quite a lot in these parts), and car drivers are excluded. Also, since riding a bike makes it a bit inconvenient to hold a bottle, cyclists tend not do it either, at least not at the same time. Otherwise, however, it's hard to take a five minute walk outside without seeing someone pass by holding a bottle of beer, especially on a Saturday afternoon. And given the fact that every newsstand or kebab shop sells them, this is hardly surprising.
Prices Will Rise ... Not Proportionally Though
Coming back to a place after many years you may be confronted with the realization that things have gotten more expensive. That's just natural. More amazing is to see how the prices for certain things did NOT rise in the same way. For me the trusty meter for rising prices was Berlin's favorite street food, the Döner Kebab. The standard price for a döner that I remember from back in the day was €2. Incidentally that was also the price for a single ticket on the public transport system. In comparison, today the same ride on the public transport costs €3, but the döner is sold for €6 in most places. Okay, that can be explained with the subsidized and government run infrastructure. However, one thing that doesn't seem to have changed at all, is the price for beer! Clearly, it all depends on where you get it, but on average I seem to be paying less then €2 for a 0.5 l of Berliner Pilsener, the overall most typical beer for strolling around the city with. The one I am holding in the photo was a bit more than €2, but then again this is a superior delicious (and also powerful) brew, plus c'mon, it's got my name on it! - Another thing that didn't exist last time I was here.
More to Come?
So these were my immediate first impressions that struck me over my first week in the German capital. So far, not so bad. But is that it? Most likely not. After all, I will probably stay until August, and I'm sure during that time something is going to seem odd, to say the least, even if I should know it well enough. But I'm going to leave that for the next cultural post, which I bet will happen sooner than I may think.
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the people( @ibbtammy ) sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
Thank you, much appreciated for sharing!
Right, now I have to know why you are called @stortebeker! I never thought about it before - just thought it was a last name, but I know your name, so that's a stupid brain cell thing on my part!
Those sidewalks are bloody massive compared to some countries, especially when they'd be occupied with markets and so on.
Lol I had to laugh at that Berlin snout - that very acerbic, forthright thing that could be construed as fucking rude. The Dutch do it too and it takes you aback somewhat!
What are you doing home?
Hahahaha, I KNEW this would happen at some point! If you scroll back on my profile to some 900 posts ago, there is one that I wrote explaining who Störtebeker was and why I'm using his name as my Hive identifier. Okay, who's gonna do that, right? Exactly!
So I did it! I even timed myself, knowing that it would take forever, and indeed it was just under five minutes before I found it. Here it is, please take a look! What's interesting about it is how it was my eleventh post, that it earned me a good hard quarter, and that it got two upvotes in total (one being my own) and three comments (essentially one comment thread). And I remember how psyched I was about it back then! The only thing I felt sorry about, is that this relatively decent post (okay, I know, I wrote it, but I happen to like it still) ended up going largely unseen... that is until now, thanks to you!
Hey, can you help me with an experiment? I'm going to make a couple of changes to it, mostly just fixing some typos and putting the pics in the center. But I believe that would make the whole thing appear in your feed. Could you check for me please? I appreciate it!
How would it make it appear in my feed!? I don't get it. Off to read now...
... Could you have used Hive Searcher? I guess you have to remember the title or something to get an instant result...
Oh, don't ask me about the HOW, I don't know anything about that. However, as you can see in my Störtebeker post, it must have appeared in someone else's feed too, as it got commented on just after being updated.
As for Hive Searcher, honestly, I haven't had the best results with it in the past (they may have improved it since I last tried, I don't know). I think scrolling back all the way to my beginning was still easier.
Did it take you 0.037 seconds? 🤣🤣🤣
Learning, learning, learning... Thank you, dear @riverflows for your highly effective teaching method. Hive searcher has gotten a neat new place among my Hive tools bookmarks. Now I only need to do something about that burning sensation in my face.
Hahahahah oh darling, sorry xx I appreciate you doing six years of scrolling to find your post though :P xxx
I just added two new words to my vocabulary all thanks to you😃
😁
That must be sooo interesting experience going back after a while. I met a couple of Germans traveling around in Thailand and they sort of miss home because to them, Thailand is a bit chaotic. But from your description, I don't think I would like it much over there haha especially I like going where the friendly people are 😂. But walking with the beer part, that's one thing that should be normalized everywhere though I know, here even in Thailand and Indonesia, they can be pretty strict about the beer. This post is an interesting insight for sure!
Well, it is interesting for sure! And I believe most of the world is a bit chaotic compared to Germany. But you know what? For German standards Berlin is actually on the chaotic side, hahaha.
As for the friendliness, it has happened to me so often in Mexico (where I normally live) that people have been pretending to be friendly on the outside, while it was clear that they were actually not being very nice. You know, "With all the greatest respect, ..."
As for the beer, what cracks me up in comparison in the US, where it's okay to drink alcohol in public, but you must hide it in a paper bag. So if you see someone drinking out of a paper bag, it's obviously alcohol. Not so in this place. Germany at least is honest about it.
haha that's what I noticed! I heard the same thing about Berlin as well. When I said that thailand especially BKK is paradise compared Indonesia, they were shocked because to them BKK isn't really pedestrian friendly and too chaotic. It's nice that you brought this up since this got me thinking about living here and the differences that I've experienced so far.
Nice example! It goes to show, everything is relative.
The side walks look big enough to be a whole road where I'm from😅😅. They're ginormous.
Wow, walking around and having a beer does sound strange to me. I'm curious though, how come it has your name on it??
And did the harshness affect you in any way? For example, having stayed there for a while, when you returned did people tell you that you were harsh?
So why does the beer have my Hive name on it? That has to do with the person whose name I picked for my Hive name. I wrote a post about it when I started blogging, but it actually goes back to when I started using the Internet. Check it out to find out more.
Did the harshness affect me in any way? It probably did! But then again, I think I've always been quite direct and frank, saying straight out what I think and how I feel. And yes, sometimes that's perceived as rude.
Love this post. I was in Europe for only five days once, but I'd absolutely love to visit most European cities and Berlin is close to the top of the list, so these short guides are most welcome for the future. Thank you for this sneak peek!
Nice. Obviously I only touched on a few random aspects, maybe not even the most important ones, but I'm glad you found it useful. What made Berlin come so close to the top of your list?
Well, I'm seriously interested in the German language and want to visit many cities in Germany, I feel a peculiar connection to the country and it's one of the few places in Europe where I actually see myself living for a long period of time. Berlin draws me mostly because of its history and the references that I have from friends who love to visit there.
Right, Berlin is brim-full of history! From Prussian to Imperial, 3rd Reich to East-West, and it's all alive, mixed up with the most recent part of our present days. And for learning German it's still good, though you can easily hear as much English, Russian, and Turkish spoken all around.
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @drrune, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @stortebeker for you. Enjoy it!Do you want to win SOME BEER together with your friends and draw the
BEERKING.