Well, here we are in Germany, although with the crutch of an Air Force base just down the road. I have been here a month now but Sarah, my wife, just arrived last week after finishing arrangements back in Cincinnati. Having at least three weeks of experience to help ease her transition, I've found myself repeatedly saying, "expect 80% of what you want."
Rather than be open 24 hours a day, the super market is open 80% of the hours. Similarly, rather than be open 7 days a week, they are open 80% of the days. The stores also carry 80% of what you want. Given a shopping list, any store will have 80% of the items. The next you go to will still not have 20% of what you need and so on ad infinitum. The result is that you never have everything you need, yet spend all your time trying to get it.
The Germans love their rules. The packet explaining the correct method of bringing your trash out is nine pages. This is because of their complex recycling process (kudos for recycling, something Cincinnati hasn't figured out how to do yet). Paper goes in one bin collected once a month. Other recyclable are collected in a separate yellow bag once every two weeks. Biodegradable (Sarah knicknamed it biohazard) waste is collected on opposite weeks. Finally residual waste (trash) is collected sometimes.
The previous tenents in our apartment had a large family and therefore got a larger trash can. My landlord told me on the sly that he would do a favor and not inform the government that we are only two people and shouldn't have the luxury of 4 extra liters of trash. Thanks. I've heard the German government can come down hard on criminals and that is quite a risk.
The rules for recycling are also confusing. Used paper products can be recycled unless they are greasy or oily, then they are residual waste. It's nice to know that someone's old, used Kleenex is now paper of my Wochenblatt, the weekly city news bulletin that I use to cool our freshly baked cookies on.
Still things are new and exciting. Learning rules, customs, and ways of living in a language you're just now trying to learn is exciting. And when I have overly high expectations, 80% of that should be just fine.
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5 comments:
PMP. So you get 80% of the products you need, and 120% of the rules you want? I'd say that all evens out.
Now, who is this "Sarah"? Your... wife?
I think he was letting blog tourists know who Sarah is. Beach must also be aware that this blog could become one of those famous blogs that you can make money on.
This will become the next great thing! everyone wants to hear about my life! Then i will use this as the basis for my autobiography.
OMG - I'm so excited about your blog! You just found yourself one regular blog reader. Hope you are well - - I need to write to catch up with you and Sarah. Lots of big stuff in your world right now -congrats!
Beach, I can only begin to imagine how excited you are to be in such a prolific land of sausage!
kp
Ah, interesting blog! I should forward it to my friend in London. I'm sure she can relate to the 80% rule but not all the "rules".
So, it's good to see you all are starting to settle in. Take care! Drink a stein for Ryan and me.
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