1. I have an oddly hard time keeping to a single speed when driving. In the US, where the unwritten rule is you can go +/- 5 mph over/under the speed limit, I had no trouble easily staying near the speed limit. Here, at 120 kph (70 mph), I have a hard time keeping it within +/- 5kph. Though that’s probably not surprising as, +/- 5 kph is +/- 3 mph. Smaller range. But I’m slowly getting used to it. I’m told the unwritten rule here is +/- 10% of speed, so maybe I’m being too careful.
2. Distances are still causing some difficulty for me. 200 km seems like SUCH a long way, but it’s only 125 miles. And I still have trouble mentally calculating times based on distance. I just need to remember that 100 km is about an hour driving on the autobahn where it seems like most speed limits are around 120. The ‘unlimited’ sections are balanced by all the construction.
For a long time, when I lived in LA, my frame of reference was the 300 mile trip to Las Vegas. I could handle 5 hours driving to Vegas. If a trip was less than 300 miles or 5 hours, it was reasonable. Here, if I drive 5 hours I may cross several countries and be driving in the Mediterranean.
3. Mileage. In the US we use mpg (miles per gallon), here it seems to be liters/100km. My little 4 cylinder golf gets around 6 liters/100km. It gets something like 650 km on a tank and it seems like I should be able to drive forever on that. Certainly, the fact that I live 2-3 km from my work means that I only fill up once every 3-4 weeks if I don’t have a long drive in between. I still have no idea if that little “I’m going to stop your engine (for a minute) every time you stop and restart it when you take your foot off the brake” thing is really fuel efficient. So far, it just freaks me out that my car effectively stalls 10 times on the way to work.
4. I have very few ways of measuring dimensions at home that have metric measures. Both of my measuring tapes are inches only. Very annoying. Luckily Beth’s sewing measuring tapes have metric.
5. And measuring food for recipes is odd as well. Mostly because I need to remember that 1 kilo is 2.2 lbs. I can’t tell you how many times I bought a kilo of meat and really meant a half kilo (1 pound, or 16 oz.)
6. Using German machines/appliances is frustrating. Yes, I can translate the manuals but translation software is terrible. Mostly, we just find settings that work, and then as we use the machines, try different ones to figure out what they do.
7. I’m learning German now. I have a 1 hour/week class, and tons of homework. My big problems are still understanding spoken German and putting sentences together. Word order/grammar is different enough to be frustrating. For example:
"Hängen Sie die Fragen im Bad auf."
Translated literally: „Hang you the questions in the bathroom on”
Google translation “hangs the issues on bad”
Actual translation: Hang the questions in the bathroom.
The “Sie” seems like an ‘extra’ word, or seems like it should be implied, but its inclusion and capitalization are important and can change the meaning.
I’m slowly getting the hang of it.
I’m sure the above is all wrong somehow, so looking forward to the comments setting me straight. :)
8. I need to figure out how Urgent care works. I’ve been sick for a few days, and there was a point that I thought I needed to see a doctor, but regular doctors aren’t open on the weekends. In the US, I’d go to an urgent care (not as urgent as an emergency room). Here, I’m still not sure what to do.
"Hängen Sie die Fragen im Bad auf."
Translated literally: „Hang you the questions in the bathroom on”
Google translation “hangs the issues on bad”
Actual translation: Hang the questions in the bathroom.
The “Sie” seems like an ‘extra’ word, or seems like it should be implied, but its inclusion and capitalization are important and can change the meaning.
I’m slowly getting the hang of it.
I’m sure the above is all wrong somehow, so looking forward to the comments setting me straight. :)
8. I need to figure out how Urgent care works. I’ve been sick for a few days, and there was a point that I thought I needed to see a doctor, but regular doctors aren’t open on the weekends. In the US, I’d go to an urgent care (not as urgent as an emergency room). Here, I’m still not sure what to do.
@3: Iirc, the conversion factor is 235/(#l/100km) = #mpg and vice versa.
ReplyDelete@7: "Häng die Fragen im Bad auf" is the "simple" sentence, implying "du". The "Sie" is only because it's the formal version. The verb here is "Häng[en Sie] ... auf". Aufhängen. Hard to understand in the beginning, but it makes bigger sentences a lot more precise because the verb(s) enclose(s) the object(s).
Ah, thanks for the clarify on #7!
ReplyDeleteThe answer to 8 is: go to Städtisches Klinikum - ärztlicher Notfalldienst if you need a doctor on weekends or in the evening/night. This is not the emergency room, but a service of the local doctors. Be prepared to wait for a long time. Actually the ärztlicher Notfalldienst and the emergency room are quite close to each other at the Klinikum.
ReplyDelete