Social Customs

So far the Germans seem to be a very direct and punctual people... let me expalain a little. Before I came, I read that the culture tends to be very on time, much to my liking, but you never know how true the book really are. But on my first day here, we were driving in the car, and the kids wanted to listen to their cd. The dad, Reimund, explained it didn't have regular lyrics, but rather they songs about how to behave properly, etc, and of course the first example he gave was "You know, like to arrive places on time" I had a good little laugh inside. Sure enough, since then, I have noticed that kindy gets out at exactly 1pm, the friends arrive exactly at 3pm, when they said they would be there, and the buses/trains are on time... I'm liking this already :)

As far as being direct is concerned, here's another example for you: I was sitting in a cafe having breakfast the other morning. The waitress spoke a little English, and since I really don't speak German yet, that was really all we had to work off of. So I had finished eating, and she came over and just said "I would like the money now, because I am going on break" Well there you have it! I sure didn't mind because I had wanted to pay anyways, and there was no rush for me to leave, but it was just funny how she said it.

I'm thinking this blog will be a great way to share my clutural mishaps and memorable quotes through out the year, so lets hope the good times keep coming...