TILIG 03 Mar 2017

A few weeks ago, we went to a local steakhouse.  It was a Friday night, and it was pretty busy, with several very large parties (10-15 people.)

It took a long time to order, a long time to get our order, etc.  And that's fine.  Spending a great deal of time at dinner is kind of a German thing.  We were pretty proud that we were able to order and everything in German.  A success!

At the end, we really wanted dessert. 15 minutes later, we got the attention of our server, and asked to order dessert.  She looked at us for a second, and then said no, the kitchen is too busy (in German.)  A half hour later, we got our check and left.

This was the first time, in any country, that a restaurant refused to let me spend more money! It's not a German thing because as a rule, everyone is very polite.

I think that everyone in Germany wears coats made by Jack Wolfskin.   That IS a very German thing, as far as I can tell.

One difference in driving here is that not only does a green light go to yellow (caution), and then to red when you need to stop, when you need to go, it goes from red to yellow to green!

I'm guessing that the yellow (caution)  step here is so you can make sure it's safe, but deep inside, I think it has something to do with the auto-stop/start of engines.

When stopped, by default, many cars turn off.  And when you take your foot off the brake, they start again.  I think the yellow between red and green is to take your foot off the brake so when it turns green, you're ready to go!  Alternately, since so many people drive stick shifts here, maybe it's a pause to put the car in gear.  I have no proof of this, however.  I'd suspect that Germans driving in the US might be put off by that missing yellow from Red to Green.


In the US, if you order pizza, it always comes sliced.  You can often request more or fewer slices, or square slices, but I never ordered a pizza in the US and had it delivered unsliced.

So far, in Germany, I have never ordered a pizza and had it come sliced. Granted, it's not a big deal, except my super nerdy pizza slicer that looks like the USS Enterprise isn't great at doing it's job...

Another difference in driving in Germany is simply the way they drive.  It seems very much tied to the way society works here, so it's not surprising.

When I learned to drive, my mom taught be to be a defensive driver.   What that means is that I should assume everyone else who is driving on the road is a bad driver, and I should protect myself.  That leads to being overly cautious and sometimes that interrupts the flow of traffic.

(Granted, I eventually learned that you have to be a very aggressive driver on LA freeways or you'll never get anywhere, but the defensive driving lessons still follow me.)

Here in Germany, It's not aggressive driving as maybe I once thought.  Rather, there's an expectation that everyone knows how to drive and is competent.

For example, at an uncontrolled intersection (no stop signs, or yield signs), the person on the right is assumed to have the right of way (this is a simplification.)

• Right has right-of-way: When two public roads cross at an uncontrolled intersection, then right-of-way is always given to traffic approaching from the right.  This includes "T" intersections!  In the US, traffic on the through street of a "T" has the right-of-way.  In Germany, you must yield to the right, even if you are on the through road.  This also includes the rare situation where a main road and small side street cross at an uncontrolled intersection

What that means in every day driving is that when you approach such an intersection, and you're on the right, you're expected to make a confident move through the intersection.  If you pause, it throws people off and makes them yell and wave their arms at you.

That seems to be an extension of society as a whole here.  Generally, there's an expectation that adults are adults and make good decisions.