Germany Odds and ends

There's no unifying theme to this entry, but rather a few short, random thoughts I have had along the way and wanted to jot down before the braincells fall prey to another German beer (which, BTW, I'm still not incredibly fond of!).

First off, along the thoughts of drinking and the like, ice is incredibly hard to find. Ironically, as a child, even when my family stayed in the cheapest motels imaginable in the US, there was always at least one huge ice machine parked near the hotel lobby, an indisputable right of any American traveller. Larger or swankier hotels boasted multiple ice machines, and every room offered an ice bucket, if nothing more than a styrofoam bucket. In Europe, however, on this trip as well as others, I've noticed that ice machines are almost non-existent, and in the few places which actually _do_ have one, they are wimpy, underpowered, usually always broken or completely out of ice. At long last, there is one trump card for US culture. We may be monolingual, we may be embarrassed by nudity, we may not be able to handle things such as prostitution and public drinking, but we do have our ice machines.

I'm spending a small fortune on water on this trip. I don't yet seem to have figured out how to order tap water (maybe it is not offered?), so every time I need a drink it's three euros or nearly $5. I mean it quite literally when I say that I am spending more on water than I am on alcohol on this trip. No ice, no water....hmmm, something is odd here.

Be aware that many places do not take any credit cards, so check ahead of time, especially in restaurants. This is especially important since most US banks have relatively safe (i.e., low) daily withdrawal limits. Combine that with the weak dollar exchange rate, plus the fact that many banks cutoff card access as soon as they see anything out of the ordinary (such as overseas charges!) and you could quickly find yourself in a cash crisis, unable to get cash out of an ATM and unable to use credit cards to cover your daily expenses.

One personal disappointment for me is that in this land of incredible baked goods, I am definitely _not_ a dough-head. Even before the carb-bashing days, I never really cared for breads, pastries, or anything of that nature. Give me meat and I'm happy, donuts on occasion are a rare treat, but that carbohydrate, fruit, and vegetable stuff---no thanks. That really is a bummer, because I freely admit the food in the bakeries looks so appealing.

As much as I malign McDonalds, there are times on trips such as this that a familiar (and cheap) face is welcome, so I have snagged a breakfast and a dinner in Ronald's foreign palace. Granted, I detest the idea of travelling 6000 miles only to eat from an American franchise in a foreign land, but there is something to be said for trying the quintessential standard of fast food in order to compare it to back home. As I mentioned earlier, the MacRoyal (which bombed in the US) is very prevalent here in Germany, just as it was in France when I was last there several years ago. What a novel idea: Sell a hamburger with cheese, lettuce and tomato on it!!! I still don't understand why this product failed in America, since of all the Mac food options, this is one of my favorites. I guess that even here, I truly am more of a European than an American.

I'm amazed at how few FM radio stations there seem to be, and how short their range is. (When I do find one which comes in strongly, it fades in just a few miles.) In listening to German FM radio, 70's rock music still appears to be very big over here, with many memories from my childhood flashing back as I listen to songs which haven't been played in the US for 30 years. It's not that Germans are obsessed with it, but rather these "golden oldies" seem to fit regularly in the radio station playlists. I wonder if perhaps this is not one more reason that Germans (and other Europeans) continually seem to be able to hold their own when conversing in English: Perhaps something as subtle as regularly hearing American words in American music adds to the learning and the retention. BTW, FM 101.3 of Munich is excellent, I'm hoping to find it streaming so that I can listen to it back home.

I've said a few times that the Germans seem a bit abrupt, and I am beginning to understand it. First of all, it truly is not with me as an American; quite the contrary, they seem to treat me no different than they treat each other. Not rude, not abrasive, but they are efficient which often does indeed come across as abrupt. Yesterday morning, I saw a young man scramble down the subway stairs in an effort to catch a train; he arrived at the lead car just as the doors were closing. Although the train operator was looking out the window, directly into the would-be passenger's eyes only ten feet away, he would not override the doors and allow him to embark. It just seems to be a way of life, an expectation, in this country: People are proud, restrained, disciplined. Along with that comes self-determination. Yes, you want to drink a beer in public, you may do so and as long as you do not harm others, so be it. If you screw it up, you pay the consequences. Similarly, you know (or should know) when the subway will leave the station; if you choose to be late, don't expect sympathy. Certainly there are exceptions to this, and more than one Municher has gone out of his or her way to assist me, when I appeared to be a confused traveller, but in general this place is very Darwinian: We'll do you no harm and wish you no ill will, but survival is up to you.