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It's not an AC issue, it is a "properly isolated walls" matter. The walls of German houses are quite thick because they are meant to keep the warm in during winter and even more so if they have extra-isolated to save even more heating costs. Hence you need to air it out regularly, so that the air is exchanged.
Generally correct, but an ac functions as a multi purpose tool. It cools, exchanges and dehumidifies the house. Airing out does exactly the same but naturally instead of artificially. Ac is more effective and independent on outside weather. Because of climate change ac will and is becoming more common in Germany too.
@@SuperUltimateLP bro did you even read my comment. I actually said 1. Airing out dehumidifies depending on the weather 2. Ac gets more common in Germany too due to increasing extreme heat waves in the summer. I personally have a portable ac unit and I live in Germany.
"Airing out" is related to the fact that, firstly, there is no air conditioning and, secondly, German houses are usually much better insulated than in America. In order to get the moisture out, most people open all windows for 10 to 15 minutes in the morning.
That's the definition of a good insulation. No matter the temperature from the outside, it doesn't need much effort to hold the inside temperature. Outside 36°C summer - inside 23°C without AC. Ouside - 5°C winter - inside 22°C with low heatening effort. Temperature doesn't diffund out of the wall. That's insulation. I do not know how representative shows like "fixer upper" are for American houses, but the walls are a bad joke, they would never get a governmental approvement in Germany, and are therefore forbidden to be built. For safety and environmental reasons.
@Phillip Banes Your assumption does not get better through repeating it over and over again. There is not such a thing like concrete blocks in german house-building. Concrete is mainly used for ceilings. If used for outside-walls due to cost- or stability-reasons it consists eather of a sandwich-technology or will be covered with polystyrene or rockwool (WDVS).
@Phillip Banes A concrete block is a block of concrete. We do not use such blocks in house-building. Traditionally bricks, first solid bricks, later hollow or perforated bricks, since roughly 40 years poroton bricks. They have an excellent low heat transfer coefficient. In industrial-building often pre-casted concrete-elements in sandwich are used. They consist of several layers (concrete-insulation-concrete, insulation-concrete-drywall etc.)
@Phillip Banes You may mean Porenbetonstein. But although it has the german word for concrete (Beton) in it, this is no concrete. Yes, in some regions you build with these white, highly porose blocks. Their porosity provide a low heat transfer coefficient as well.
there is a saying in germany: there is no such thing as bad weather. there are only bad clothes. this means that you have to dress according to the weather. when I was a student, I was outside in all weathers. you have to plan for that when you leave the house in the morning. Incidentally, slippers are not commonplace in schools. I don't know any school where you have to wear slippers
Never call your child Kevin if he is to live in Germany. The first name Kevin has become a stereotype for a "behaviorally challenged" student. In a questionnaire of the Oldenburg study, the first name was commented as follows: "Kevin is not a name, but a diagnosis! No offense. My cousin's son is named Kevin and he has developed normally.😄
There's even a technical term for that. "Kevinismus" or "Chantalismus". Also, most teachers will immediately put any kid that has one of the bad names onto their mental "watch out for list". This is mainly due to most people who do this kind of non-traditional german naming being of lower classes, and thus a lot less educated.
The "Rathaus" is simply the town hall. But there are usually public toilets in other places as well. Like restaurants, malls, train stations etc. If you're near a doctors office you could ask there as well. There are enough options open, so no need to worry.
Yep, "Rat" in Rathaus has nothing to with rats, Rat is the german word für a council. So Rathaus literaly translated is "council house" (and this make more sense as the english "Town hall" :-).
Yes, and you do not have to pay in a lot of locations. If you eat at a restaurant they are not allowed to let you pay. If you just go to the toilet they might ask for a little money, but in my experience, especially when you are with children, you don't have to pay.
@@stefanw7406 - I don't know what's up with all these american tourists or americans who moved to Germany that they can't seem to find a free toilet, only the paid ones.
At first glance, it seems difficult for immigrants to get the right school supplies. But it isn't, believe me. You will receive an exact list from the school of everything you need. With this list you go to the nearest Schreibwarenladen (stationery shop), you can really find it in every village. Then you give the shopkeeper the list and you have everything you need. It is best to take your child with you, so that they can still make the important design decisions.
@@familybusiness1224 but for the 1st time getting appliances, it's the easiest solution. I also think it's cheaper than buying new/missing/wrong suplies at the first try.
The UK has a wet climate with an old housing stock built with brick and stone. ( I live in 110 year old house), airing the house in winter improves air circulation reducing the build up of damp due to condensation, in the summer it helps the house dry out in preparation for winter. Modern materials, e.g. plastics, household chemicals, gas stoves, etc, release toxins and pollutants into the air, which can detrimental to health, make people feel sluggish and the house smell stale. Makes me smile to see people buying air fresheners when all the need to do is open window and put a Potourri on the table. Finally there is something uplifting to open the windows after a cold wet spell and feel the fresh enter the house, can feel the mental cobwebs been blow away.
How can you so smugly look down on people about air fresheners and then say you use Potourri. That just sounds like a preference. Not to mention that neither of those things have anything to do with airing out spores or whatever other crap is in the air. They're just pretty smells. I'm not sure why it gets under my skin so much since I use neither but imagining you standing around the air fresheners at the supermarket just so you can judge people and feel superior makes my skin crawl. Get a life.
I find it very interesting that the rest of the world doesn't seem to get that doing it thatway is far more efficient. I mean as far as I know most of east asia, just a/c the hell out of their houses and so does the US
@@lukeelavan4048 I am an American I use A/C but not like a crazy person. I only use it when it gets 88- 90. I keep it at 74-76 that way it's not freezing. I hate going into a grocery store and feel like you are making in a walk-in freezer.
Good comment. Im shocked that people forgot for what Windows are made for 🙈 Holy moly some people need for real a machine for everything and make jokes about a completely normal things
They're definitely onto something when they mentioned "good customer service" is different for different people or cultures. As a German to me good customer service is leaving me the fuck alone unless I actually request help. American customer service looks like a nightmare to me 😁 Being asked every 5 minutes if everything is fine during a meal or if they can help me when shopping is so annoying and overbearing to me. When tipping I actually tip based on how little the waitstaff bothered me and how quickly they react when I DO want something...interrupting my meal or conversations unprompted multiple times will actually get you less or no tip not a better one. 😉
Not giving tips in America could also be seen as unsocial because the bartenders or servers earn little anyway. Even if that is primarily the responsibility of the owner, pay them properly, don't let the employees bleed.
@Phillip Banes but you will be harassed by small talk while shopping or doing other activities. At least as a German I would like to shop in peace without being annoyed. For me, good customer service is if i need help and i get it and not that someone annoys me every few minutes and involves me in conversations.
@Phillip Banes Dude! Chill out. That wasn't called for. You've both obviously had different experiences, and different outlooks. Your personal experience isn't uniform for everyone!
If you're in the US, please tip 15-20 percent for your restaurant service, your hair salons, and your pizza delivery. It's stupid--I won't argue with you there--but these workers tend to get paid CRAP wages. They rely on tips....which is why they can be so bothersome. They also take a ton of abuse, both from customers and their supervisors. Even crummy servers get 15% from me. They have to be downright intentionally awful to get stiffed on the tip.
@@cariwaldick4898 I didn't express myself very clearly. Of course I'll tip the obligatory 20% in the US. I'm saying here in Germany I will tip nothing if I get bothered too much because tipping here isn't such a big deal but I still tip if I feel like I've had a good experience which includes not bothering me unprompted. And likewise in the US I'd tip more than 20% if I'm not being bothered because that's what I prefer in terms of customer service. 😀
Airing out the house is less expensive than having an ac. The same is for having a dryer. Currently the costs for energy are rising in germany. You don't have to buy house shoes for your guests. We are also used to wear socks inside. Wearing house shoes in school also makes sense. The children walk to school on their own no matter whats the weather like. Their shoes might be dirty or wet.
Gas is becoming so expensive, that AC might soon be or already is (depents on the house etc.) cheaper, actually. :D (Wärmetauscher/Wärmepumpen) But I wouldn't stop airing anyway, haha. But a dryer is really mostly useless, and don't you have to iron the cloths after using a dryer? I never iron my cloths, just special cloths.
@@t.a.yeah. AC will not be cheaper. Because of the gas power plants the energy prices will rise too. I have Fernwärme so I hope it will not be too expensive. When I had a dryer long time ago I never had to iron my clothes.
Airing the house has nothing to do with keeping the house cool in hot days, which is what A/C is used for. Try cooling your house by opening the windows when the temperature outside is over 35ºC or over 40ºC and then get back to me.
@T A @Tina i enjoyed my clothesline here in the states and use it constantly weather permitting, but the reasoning of never ironing clothes will fall on deaf ears probably because most people do not know to hang their laundry properly
I always sleep with the window open (tilted), of course the heating in the bedroom is also off. Especially in winter it is so incredibly cozy when you are completely snuggled up in the duvet and the cold, fresh air blows in from outside! 🥰 AC air just feels so stale! 🤢
One of the biggest differences I've noticed between the summers in the Czech Republic vs in Michigan (a state in the U.S. near Indiana) is the humidity level. Almost throughout the entire summer, in Michigan, the humidity is 80-90%. In the Czech Republic, it's normally 45%. Also, it doesn't really cool down much in the summer evenings in Michigan when compared to the Czech Republic. Between the high outdoor humidity levels and it not cooling down at night, it makes more sense to use AC in Michigan, and Indiana's climate is similar to Michigans.
House shoes for guests are a thing in Germany, but I actually never encountered it until I was 30. Normally guests just wear socks. But if you are staying very long and the floor is cold and everyone else wears house shoes and your feet are freezing then you will want some house shoes for guests as well 😂 But as long as all your Friends have a warm floor you will never encounter it most likely 😂
Never in my life would I, as a German, ask guests to take off their shoes. In my parents' house eigner that would have been impossible. The only people I know who would ask me to take my shoes off are close friends. Otherwise it would be very embarrassing. However, I know it from Russia, where people often had very dirty shoes because of the weather.
Usually it's you visiting someone and ask if you are to take off your shoes. It's the polite thing to do, though not in every Region of germany. You don't need extra Hausschuhe for your guests but again it's polite to have some and offer them. It is common enough, that there are special Hausschuhe for guests you can buy. Those are usually felt slippers and are often sold in a bunch with diffrent sizes.
In my 42 years, i have never seen guest house shoes. (Only heard it's a thing in BaWü) Guests are in socks, or if the home owner allows it, they can leave their shoes on. But what is a thing in the houses where i am arround, is house socks. So for guests you have wool socks. So if the floor is cold you can put a pair of socks over your socks. They are warm. they are sometimes "Anti-slip socks". And the best part is,: One size matches most guests. And they are small. just put them in a drawer near your door.
They sell packs of "guest shoes" in stores where I live. It's like an assortment of cheap slippers in different sizes and colors. And yes, if you have cold floors in your home, you are expected to offer house slippers to your guests.
About the closing stores during the day: there are lots of independently owned stores with only one or two employees. They gotta take a break and grab lunch! As someone who’s worked in a few places like that, only very few customers would come between 1-2pm because they themselves eat their lunch. It is a big meal for most people, so it’s very common.
Most homes in Germany have stone or wooden floors throughout the house/apartment therefore your feet can get extremely cold really fast. Also it keeps your socks/feet clean to have house shoes
As a teacher in Germany I can confirm that every school hands out material lists at the beginning of each school year. It is quite expensive to buy at first, but then you just replace what got used or broken. You don't have to buy the whole lot every year. "Federmäppchen" is an old fashioned term for pencil case. I would call it "Etui". Houseshoes in school are not common in Germany. You would be expected to bring a pair of houseshoes to Kindergarten but not school. In my school kids have to bring trainers to sport lessons that are just worn indoors, so that the Gymnasium floors are not damaged. Most Germans ride bikes. There are areas in Germany where people regularly go on bike rides, like in the Münsterland, Emsland, Ostfriesland, in University cities...30km are nothing, normal distance in a day. No, AC is not common in Germany and that's why we air out the house eg. open the windows. At the moment it's 32 degrees Celsius where I live, so I open all windows in the morning and let the cool air in, then close them all up, let the blinds down and open it again at night when it is cooler. Totally normal in Europe in summer. Stores closed on Wednesdays? That must be a regional thing. It depends a lot on the size of the place where you live. In bigger cities shops will be open from 7.00 till 22.00. Shops in smaller towns might be closed at lunchtime.
What shall old fashioned mean for Federmaeppchen. Old fashioned is a typical term to devalue things and force people to think they are not right. It's a manipulation or one could say propaganda. It is still a German word and has nothing to do with old fashioned. Same like with the Brits to say Happy instead of Merry Christmas. That is to drive consumerism I would say. Btw. our language was 'verhunzt' enough or taken it's magic over the last 150 years. On a video last year or so someone that they wiped out 2000 words at the end of the war.
@@Matthias_Br we don't write with feathers anymore in case you haven't noticed. And my pupils don't write with fountain pens either. No "Feder" is involved anymore therefore "Federmäppchen " isn't the right word.
@@Englandfan91 Still no reason to change the term ... Oh and "old fashioned" IS a term to devalue things ... which is something that communists like to do, who want to destroy/redefine history to make everything old bad.
Neat handwriting is a thing even outside of Germany. Went to school in Italy and I also got a list of supplies to buy each year. Learned neat handwriting using a fountain pen. Same for house shoes in school (although prob not common in other regions of Italy).
in Spain we don't have many public restrooms, because every coffee shop, bar, etc must have one, and it's not a big deal to ask politely to use it if you really need it. I never had any problem.
It really is the same in germany. Common courtesy is that you buy something, but there is no law for that. IF there are public restrooms (like in train stations) you usually have to pay for them. The ones on shops, restaurants, etc don't require payment, but it is common for there to be a small plate where you can leave change for the people who clean the place.
I remember my first time taking the train in Germany. I was SHOCKED at how quiet(leise) it was!!! Almost felt like I was at a funeral. It actually is nice when you are traveling a long distance and want to take a nap or read in peace👍🏻
As an adult who still uses backpacks I can explain the sternum strap. It's there to distribute the weight across your collarbone so you don't end up disfigured and sore over long term exposure of carrying heavy things
Americans never heard of "airing" your house!? What?? So you don't open doors and windows to let in fresh air?? Eeww 🤢😂 That's disgusting. Even if you do have AC, that's still the same disgusting air that's being circulated over and over again. Yuck.
@@dawnpalacios8312 We air out every single day at least twice a day in all 4 seasons, not only to clear out stale air, but also toxins which all household furnishings, carpets etc. produce. On hot summer days we air in the early morning and at night when the air outside is coolest. Even in freezing winter temperatures we air every day twice a day for at least 10 minutes each time. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
@@Wintermaus Where I grew up, Buffalo, New York, it would be insane to air out in the middle of winter. Many Americans, especially in northern part of the country, would view airing out in the winter even for 10 minutes waste of energy. But, the average winter day in Germany, relatively speaking, is warm mild day in Buffalo, New York. Summers in southern United States is hot and humid for several months. Even if the house is aired out for 10 minutes humidity and swarm of insects will take several hours to deal with it. Different countries different environments.
@@dawnpalacios8312 in my experience winter in New York and winters in Bavaria are not that different. The McFalls live near the mountains so it's going to be a bit colder there than in other parts of Germany.
Get well soon from Germany💐 In case of the opening times from different shops: they are talking about their experiences in a small town or village. In big towns shops are open from the early morning until about 22:00 - without "Mittagsruhe" (lunch break) or "Ruhetag" (rest day - apart from sunday)
And in holiday regions such as the North Sea or Baltic Sea, the shops are also open on Sundays during the summer. But many shops are then completely closed in the winter months. 🤷🏼♀️
Why are German shops routinely closed on a Sunday? It's bizarre enough that UK shops have to open for no more than 6h, but what's the logic for keeping them closed completely.
It is fun for me to watch these from Finland because some things are exactly the same in Germany as they are here, and then some things are completely different. Here, also, kids go out in kindergarten and school several times a day no matter what the weather is like, so the parents have to supply them with clothes that are suitable for the weather. I remember reading an article by a Finnish woman who moved to the US. When she took her child to kindergarten, at first she always took all the rain clothes etc. with her like she'd done in Finland. Then at some point she realised that it doesn't matter because the kids don't go out during the day. She didn't like that her kid doesn't get to go out so she signed her up in some sort of children's "outdoor club". The first time the club was supposed to meet, she got a message that it was cancelled because it was raining. She was like duhhhhhhhh. The whole airing out the house thing then is totally different. It's not done here because it is too cold to do that, instead, houses here must be built so that they don't get mold in the first place. The attitude to mold is totally different here than in southern parts of Europe. She said in the video that when she noticed some black mold, she just wiped it off. Here people wouldn't wipe it off, instead they would sue the builder who built the house or the person who sold the house to them. Mold is known to cause very serious health issues here, so if someone builds or sells a house that has a mold problem, they are going to end up in court and pay very large amounts of compensation for the repairs that the house needs.
The only schools I know of (in the U.S.A.) that send kids out to play in all weather, including in the rain, are Steiner and Waldorf Schools. They are a type of private school that really foster creativity in children. Their quality of education is considered to be much better than the majority of public schools in the U.S. but in Germany, I've heard that the quality of schooling is sub par when compared to German public schools.
You especially air out in the morning after everyone spent the night breathing inside (breath contains a lot of water) so the air becomes increasingly moist. And in the morning the air outside is usually colder so it contains less water then. This is to prevent mold and also to have oxygen back in the house. I hate AC - it makes such a dry air inside...rather have to air out the rooms once or twice a day...even in the office building i worked for a while the AC was off except it was above 35C° outside...we rather opened the windows in the morning. In europe we are not used to AC and it is commonly seen as a health threat (sore throat, cold etc)
2 года назад
As ever so often the thing about the „Hausschuhe“ is a historic one. Paved Streets were very unusual most of the time. And Houses with central Heating was rare. So it was kind of a necessity to have Shoes for the outside and inside.
Airing out the house is a bigger issue here for multiple reasons. First of all, there are virtually no wooden houses here, most homes are made of thick concrete and rock, which isolates quite a lot and is not very breathable. Secondly there is usually no AC (which would) dry the air, because it would usually not make sense for most of the year for cooling. Also, many houses are centuries old and the isolation and heating systems were changed and therefore are not really fitting the original construction - which can lead to problems with humidity. Even bathrooms inside the house were not allways part of the original plan. Also, the climate is quite moist for a good part of the year. And in addition, drying laundry inside also adds humidity. Therefore many but not all homes require a lot of air to keep them dry enough to prevent the growth of mold. On the other hand in the summer it is often very hot during the day but quite comfortably cold when the sun goes down. Therefore it is an effective strategy, to air out the house after dark or in the morning to chill it down and keep it closed for most of the day. The solid construction does not only provide isolation. Thick massive walls also have a high heat capacity, whilst all the air in the house has a low heat capacity. So, if you air out the house for a long time during the night, all the walls inside also chill down and warm air can transfer a lot of heat into the walls, before the walls themselfes heat up again. In conjunction with the isolation that usualls keeps the house cool enough during hot summer days. And if you only briefly air out the house in winter, you remove smells and waterwapour, but most of the heat is stored in the walls anyways and when you hardly lose energy by exchanging the air.
It's common to air out - for 5 to 10 minutes once or two times a day. If you don't own your flat you're responsible that there's no mold growing - and even if it's not your fault - if you don't air out it's partly your fault.
8:42 I didn't have "house shoes" at school. Yes, there are (sometimes) "house shoes" for guests, but that depends a lot on the homeowner. Sometimes you just walk around in socks. Some allow street shoes. That is very different.
That's not quite true. In the elementary schools I worked at house shoes were forbidden. Having shoes in the hallways interferes with fire protection guidelines. 🤓
@@katrinwe6345 I didn't said it's common in all elementary schools in germany. At the elementary school where the kids from my kindergarten are going they have their own wardrobe space where they put in their shoes and jackets.
Biking is a way of life here...especially in Holland. This has caught on here too...although I have been doing it most of 30years. And the infrastructure is building out to reflect this!
the McFalls from My merry messy life and the Black Forest Family make very precise observations and both go way deeper into cultural stuff than just showing a tilting window.
Yes, many people tend to get an assortment of house shoes for guests, haha. Why would you make your guests walk around in socks and get cold feet if you can just give them house shoes 😆
About the cultural appropriation, many people were upset not because of that, but because Germany is not only bavaria. Since they actually moved to bavaria, that's fine. But western, northern, eastern germans don't wear that type of clothing at all. Not all americans wear cowboy boots and hats, right :-)
8:05 in a later episode they actually acquired a set of guest house shoes in unisize 😆 But shoes for different occasions is a thing in Germany. Because we spent more time outdoors, our shoes sometimes get quite muddy, so by changing to houseshoes we prevent all the dirt entering the house. The same applies to gyms: As a rule, special indoor sports shoes with _white_ or neutral colored soles are mandatory - so that the hall floor doesn't get those ugly black skid marks.
we usually say kids under 13 can ride on the sidewalk , while everyone above rides on the street . most schools have bycicle riding classes when ur about 10ish in 4th grade , where kids learn to ride safe on streets kinda like a drivers license test . u can of course ride on the sidewalk if ur afraid or whatever as an adult, but keep in mind to drive almost a slow as pedrestrians walk
In Germany according to the Strassenverkehrsordnung - children under the age of eight are required to use the sidewalk while riding a bike - children aged 8-10 are allowed to use the sidewalks - everyone, who is 11 or older is not allowed to use the sidewalk while riding a bike (unless they accompany a child under the age of eight) If you are 11 or older, ride a bike on the sidewalk and are stopped by the police, it costs you 55 € (more if someone was endangered or an accident happened).
Adult on street plus kid on sidewalk is so dangerous at times. Because the adult makes use of his right of way and cars have to stop (or cars accelerate if they see the adult cycling that slow), but the car drivers are not aware of the kid suddenly appearing out of the sidewalk.
Airing out the house is important from healt perspective as well. If you couching all day (get well by the way) all the viruses or other infectious materials will fly around in your house. A standard AC only cool it down, but with airing it out all goes out and fresh clean air can come in. So you should do it except you are live in a very dusty area.
As a German watching your videos I enjoy seeing your reactions to things or habits in germany which are normal to me but not to you or other Americans… greetings from munich
8:13 Must be something new. In the 1970's where I grew up, nobody had the idea, that in school we have to wear slippers. We kept our shoes, also in winter, when we walked through the snow.
I usually let my guests decide if they want to take their shoes off or not. For example, my parents let their shoes on and my friends feel more comfortable in socks. As long as your shoes aren‘t dirty, I don‘t care.
I beg my guests to NOT take off their shoes, cuz I live in the country on a farm and our floors are not clean by German standards. But they take them off anyway. Our Roomba does a great job, and must be used almost daily here to pick up all the bits of hay that end up in our house.
One thing about Germany that most bloggers miss is that handwriting is taught differently, meaning they write their letters differently than we do, even though it's the same letter. My husband is a school teacher and I assume his students can understand what he writes on their tests and on the black board (they still use black boards in Germany) but I cannot read his hand writing. Not at all. It's like some sort of cryptography. Funnily though, even my best cursive, with my best efforts, is unreadable to him. We simplly learned our letters differently. I wonder if Merry Messy Life's kids have adapted, changed the way they write their letters. I'm not gonna change, I like my American handwriting.
we still use a lot of black boards but schools are switching over to smart boards since i was in (i think) 8th grade in the "Realschule" which is now like 10 years ago. Sadly not every school has the money or government funds to buy smart boards at all or many smartboards at once
I am still wondering what kind of black magic german pharmacist use to decipher what the doctor wrote on the prescription, because their handwriting is unreadable.
Yes, when I was 14 I was in Germany for a few months, and I noticed everyone's handwriting looked virtually the same. The letters also look different. "Ls" look funny, "ns" and "ms" are written almost like "u" and "w" respectively, so along with all the "us" and "ws", it looks like *a surplus* of "us" and "ws". It makes writing difficult to decipher.
So for sundays the stores are closed but for the other things it mostly depends on the city size. In Berlin you'll find a lot of grocery stores closing at midnight while in smaller towns stores might close at 6pm allready. Also only small stores really have a "Ruhetag" and fewer stores have them the bigger the city gets
Yeah, in Serbia we have extra house shoes for guests because you don't want people bringing germs in the house, but at the same time you don't want them to be cold, because the heating is usually on the walls like radiators and not floor heating. Kids need house shoes for kindergarten too because they sit on the floor or put down the toys sometimes so you don't want them to walk on that same floor in the dirty shoes from the streets and then maybe put hands in their mouth, ecc..
i remember my childhood neighbours were Yugoslavian that hardly spoke German. My mother asked them if they had a dog, they said no. She askred why they had big cans of dog food on their kitchen counter. They thought it was goulash and ate it all the time.
Rathouse holding the town's rats in order. No, Rathaus means city hall. The term Rat means council and refers to the local government. There are several types of councils depending on the organization and type of area. If it is a city it is the Stadtrat (city council), in a town as Gemeinderat: town or parish council (municipality).
3:28 Plastic bags with a wall thickness of 15 to 50 micrometers have been banned since January 1, 2022. Thinner plastic bags, such as those used for packaging fruit and vegetables that are presented loose, are permitted. More stable ones are also allowed, these are designed for reusability.
It is not totally uncommon for rental contracts to have a clause that the tenants have to air out the home or apartment regularly. Besides the airing out in the morning routine, in my family, the dining room would be aired out after every hot meal eaten there.
The clause, I think, is to avoid being sued in case mold grows and tennants get sick from it. Typically it says the tennant is obligated to make sure the place gets aired out "sufficiently" because if there's mold, well, it wasn't sufficient.
Until 2000 in Germany we had a maximum of maybe three days a year when the temperature was +95F. The average temperature in summer was between 75-84F, at night 50-60F. At such temperatures you don't need air conditioning. An open window by night will do. Temperatures are rising, but there are now other options than air conditioning. For example, I have installed underfloor heating last year, which also can cool. Of course, my house is also insulated from the basement to the roof. Even at 95F outside the temperature in my house is not higher than 72F in any room, 60F in the bedroom, without air conditioning. The electricity I need for that produce my solar panels at the roof, the warm water i need solar collectors. The state gave me 45.000€ for that, I had to invest 70.000€, but I don‘t need oil, gas etc. and from march to october no electricity at all.
@@littlescully3637 Der Ort war in der Dorferneuerung, deshalb standen Beratungsmöglichkeiten an allen Ecken zur Verfügung. Außerdem komme ich aus einer Handwerker und Ingenieur-Familie. So dass ich immer jemanden hatte, der Fachkompetenz hat. Begonnen haben wir vor 12 Jahren mit einer Außensanierung, als der Bau noch nicht so boomte und es noch mehr Handwerksfirmen gab. Vom Beginn der Planung für die Innensanierung bis zum Einräumen des Geschirrs gingen drei Jahre ins Land. Und es ging halt auch nur, weil ein Zweitwohnsitz vorhanden ist. Insgesamt sind über 120.000€ reingeflossen, ohne Eigenleistung (Bäder z.B., Hof und Garten, Maler- und Schreinerarbeiten), mit wären es bestimmt noch 60.000€ mehr.
we love fresh air in every room of our house, and from spring to autumn we sleep with open windows in the night. It´s so healthy. And in summer all my fresh washed clothes have to dry outside in the sun and the wind, in winter the dryer do this job. In Bavaria the clocks are working different to the rest of our Country. As a German I have the same problems when I go shopping in Hungary.
7:15 As someone with terrible handwriting and struggling with straight lines and remembering to use a ruler: This is a really accurate impression of class in Germany. In your graduation exams or really important tests you can even lose points by not crossing out mistakes with a ruler. (And sometimes even a pencil)
As a Bavarian from Munich I really have no problem with visitors wearing our trachten. What I do have a problem with are tourists that can't hold their liquor. Especially during Oktoberfest it's very common to find tourists passed out in a puddle of their own puke (and/or other bodily fluids e.g. saliva and urine) everywhere around the festival site and ending up having to send them to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.
in my middleschool days my biology teacher demanded a blank 40 pages notebook and the first homework was to draw a border on each sheet in red with a certain cm distance. and to write the stuff into the notebook u had to get a linienspiegel, shert of paper with thick lines on it ehich u put under the blnak sheet so you can see the lines through and write then... insane
US culture shock. The windows in my condo were actually glued closed. Or the paint made it impossible to open most of them. I was only able to open the patio door and one window for a small slit. Sure, the condo had AC, but I wanted fresh air.
I have 10 different types of "Schluppen" (Hausschuhe), some for Winter, which are cosy, for Summer, some to go to the garbage outside and of course some for guests 😂
If you run around in socks all day, your feet will get cold. Most German houses are quite old and don't have heated floors. Also, American houses use carpet way more than German houses. We usually have wooden, laminate, linoleum or tiled floors.
When I was a boy (in the 1960's) hardly anyone thought about getting an air conditioner in the apartment, or in the house. For the few really hot days of the year, that was completely unnecessary. In the meantime, this has changed a lot due to climate change, so that we now have many ! hot days (and nights) in Germany. Clever ventilation late in the evening and in the morning makes a lot of sense to keep your own rooms reasonably cool. Many are now retrofitting mobile air conditioning systems. Depending on how the electricity for these devices is generated, these devices increase climate change by even more CO2 in the air.
Koeln has exceeded its previous record for Hitze Tage, days over 30C this year, and we're still in the middle of it. Right now it's 35C. I have to water my trees and plants every day or else they will be dead like the cornfields all around us. I have an AC unit running every day, cannot live without it. I used to dread German Winters, all that snow! But now I know there is nothing to worry about, there won't be mountains of snow to shovel off my driveway for days on end. Our snow shovel has not been used the last 2 years! Now I simply dread Summer.
Recycling: in Italy we have - One bin for plastic and metal - One bin for paper - One bin for glass - One bin for organic - One bin of non differentiable matters In small towns you put the right trash bin outside your house at the right day (for example plastic on monday, glass on tuesday, organic 4 times a week and so on) and they pass in front of your house and take it (and they can apply you a fine if you make it wrong) In bigger towns (like Rome where I live) we have big trash bins where and you empty your personal trash bin inside it. Every day a big truck will pass and empty that big trash bin inside the truck itself (it's all automatic, trucks have mechanics arms to take the big trash bins and empty them in the truck)
First thing: all the best to you Ryan and good recovery with hopefully no long covid symptoms. Sarah and Kevin are such a cute couple, and their four kids are amazing. Totally worth a subscription. Sarah does most of the editing, and she is really talented at it. Federmäppchen = pencil case. Literally "little feather file". As in a sharpened feather quill used for writing. And file, as in a manilla envelope. Later the Feder / quill became a fountain ink pen tip but it was still referred to as a quill case. Yeah, the specific school supplies demanded by some teachers is ridiculously exact. Someone made a Tweet about parents desperately trying to find a pencil case made from birch bark sourced from a living birch under a new moon on an uneven week day during a summer solstice and coming up short. Strange, huh, that not all stores carry such supplies? 😁 Yepp, you can wear socks at home as a guest. But some people find certain tile floors too cold, so they might need some extra warmth during cold winter days. While German houses are generally very well insulated ceramic tiled floors in older, unheated rooms might be uncomfortably cold with only socks. While that doesn't apply to most houses built after 1950 there are still quite a few older buildings around where that still applies. Yepp, those buildings aren't considered historic or necessary of special treatment; people still live in them normally. Many people have several pairs of adult size felt slippers (one size fits all adults) from IKEA, plus maybe two pairs for kids (again, one kids' size fits all kids). Usually kids aren't so fussed about walking around in socks even on colder floors anyways. But that is only the case with cooler tile floors. Warm wooden floors usually don't require slippers for warmth, but maybe for the additional grip of slightly rubberized soles on the felt slippers so you don't slip on the wooden panelling or parquette. Many elementary schools and kindergartens prefer younger kids to walk around class or inside with house-shoes instead of their street gear, which may be dirty or wet from playing outside. So kids don't sit around for several hours in wet, soggy outdoor shoes and catch a cold from that. Because recess in German schools usually includes lots of running around outside, no matter the weather. Get the blood pumping, oxygen into the system, and make kids get rid of some of the restlessness of having to sit rather quietly for longer stretches of class periods. That's why kids, epecially younger ones, require rain pants and jackets. Sometimes they are called 'mud pants', / Matschhose. So kids get those dirty instead of their normal gear but they are made to be particularly mud resistant and are easy to clean. So for recess kids switch to their normal shoes, maybe rain jacket and pants, but when coming back to their class room they switch back to house-shoes and indoor gear. For me personally that never happened during my elementary school. Meh, just my two cents (shrug). Yepp, Kevin's hat in that earlier video was like have having someone wear a felt 5-gallon Stetson hat in Germany, with a Texan flag with an additional crossbar through it. About as accurate as that, and about as insulting to real Texans. And the rest of US Americans would just roll their eyes at the apparent generalization of 'traditional American clothing'. Oh, and "Stein" in German simply means "rock" or "stone". So when you call a beer glass a "Stein" Germans can't help but cringe at the completely wrong term. The term "Stein" may come from the shortening of "Steingut" = "stone wares", such as ceramic wares, or ceramic mugs. But the latter got lost in translation. Unfortunately that's about as accurate as saying that "Bar" is the same as "BBQ" because it also contains the word "bar" in it. So if Germans talked about "bar" when they actually meant a BBQ, you'd get the same misunderstanding as well as raised eyebrows from Americans. The being "somewhat less boisterous" usually only applies if you're living in an appartment complex or condominium with neighbors bordering you directly wall to wall, or ceiling to floor. As that is a somewhat less common situation in the USA for many areas in suburbia it is understandable that it is somewhat of a culture shock for someone moving from a single family home to a condominium. But for single family homes you can usually be as boisterous as you want (or let's say, within reason; don't put out your 100 kilowatt speakers and blast death metal shaking loose windows one town over, you get the drift, right?). On public transportation being a bit more quiet is usually considered a form of politeness to all other travellers as well. Shouting into your phone how you just got your toe nails clipped at the pediatrician may not be the most appropriate topic for public conversation. That may be a funny story for some people on a bus or train waggon, but some people might be bothered by it.
Yes! Here in România too about silence. There is hours in the block , you have to keep quiet till 12 until 16 and after 22:00 if you scream or listen loud music the neihbors can call cops. Yes most of them we have here too. So i quees all over Europe. We have traditional instruments and wear, traditional danceing and folklor so on❤💛💙🇺🇲🇷🇴 Exept we don't close stores exept in the weekend the program will be shorter but open here in Bucharest!
I can say that most shops dont got an open toilett but if your shoping and ask for it no shop wont let u use thiere workes toilett and there are a lot of publik and well kept toilett around the citys. And the thing with school is that most schools got the same Color coding for their subjects like red for German blue for math green for biologue stuff like that.
Gas Stations are open 24/7 as well and most have a small grocery store attached, so you could always get what you need. Maybe you need to wait till Monday to buy a new TV, but most people do that online anyway.
Hope you are doing good and getting too your full health soon man. I really like your videos its always nice to see what people from the outside of germany think about us, keep it up my guy but dont overdo it if you are not feeling well man.
I reckon school kids are sent outside for their breaks to make sure they move their bodies (sitting all day is super unhealthy), they get to play and have fun together and connect with their friends and get to blow off excess energy to balance out the focused mental/intellectual school work. Plus, being exposed to fresh air, even when it's cold, rainy or snowy outside, is considered super healthy and good for the immune system (that's why childcare or school staff are so specific about making sure all kids have their rain proof jackets and pants so that regardless of the weather, they get to go outside and come back in dry.) Fresh air = healthy is why I air out my house: out with the stale old air, in with crisp fresh air, aaah! (especially the rooms where ppl are sleeping, eating or hanging out a lot.) Try it!
House shoes are usually for those with a cold floor. All houses have stone or concrete floor and they can get pretty cold, so you wear house shoes to insulate you feet. If you have underfloor heating, or your floor doesn't get cold (for whatever reason) you usually don't need them. But it is relatively normal to have at least one pair for guests with "cold feet syndrom" (usually women ^^). Since they are more like slippers, you don't need to worry all to much about the size.
First of all, hope you come well through Covid. As a German I love your content and it makes me smile to see your reactions almost all the time. So keep going. I want to make some suggestions which RU-vidr‘s you should watch and react to. Almost all interesting people are mentioned in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MXa8EPC4nF8.html greetings from Stuttgart
You're right about airing out having to do with our complete lack of AC. You really have to do it to get the moisture out. But not necessarily the whole house. ;)
in our german rental Contract there are recommendations written down about airing the house - like how often, how long,.. to prevent mold. We call it "Querlüften" if we open all windows and doors of the flat and the wind can blow through the house.
I used to have some American expat friends about 20 years back when I was still living in Germany (I've been living abroad for 10 years now) and for time the biggest and most longterm culture shocks were: - lack of smalltalk culture (so they needed to get their 'fix' by visiting the Irish Pub once or twice a week where all the other Anglo-Saxon expats would gather) - having to organize your day schedule around store closing times. it is indeed harsh for many Americans who are used to be able to stumble into Walmart even at 2am on a weekend, that suddenly they have to get all their shopping done by 8pm (6pm in villages and small towns) and that there is mostly no shopping to be had on sunday. - navigating bureaucracy as a foreigner. a very understandable point, as German bureaucracy is built and meant to cater to Germans, but as soon as you are a foreign passport holder even basic things get a lot harder and more time-consuming.
You are not kidding about your last point. Still, we got most of it done now. I find the shopping thing less of a problem. I'm from the UK which has a bit (though not as much, I suspect) of an open all hours culture with shops but you just have to plan stuff here in Germany. It's not a problem really.
17:57 our houses are built from bricks and concrete, they are meant to insulate. So it can keep the heat or cold out, but at the same time it traps moisture, which can lead to fungus. That’s why we air out our houses. Most of the time you can take care of it by leaving a few of your windows ajar so you get a steady flow of air.
Dude don't even get me started on the school supplies 🤣🤣🤣 My son's first year of school was the most terrifying thing of our lives. They are asking for so many things that I had no idea what they were and mostly they are things that they are not going to use. They just like to ask for a lot of things to make it look more interesting 😏😏😏 They need one pair of shoes for school, another for the sport class and another one if they go to Betreuung. Before Corona they were supposed to change their clothes for the sport, which is not something like real sport, they just stretch a bit and fool around on a carpet. And apart from the sport, they have swimming classes and they need another shit load of things to pack in a bag each week. Sending a child to school in Germany is so damn stressful. After 4 years I still forget some of the things he needs, or I get confused between the sport bag and the swimming bag 🙈🙈🙈 And I have 3 kids, so basically half of my day will go on preparing kids for school 😂😂😂
"German culture shocks" German cultures depends on the region you are in. These people in the video are from south west of Germany. South west Germans are almost like the Swiss people and little bit weird 😆
Federmäppchen is a trivialization of Federmappe. Thats an very old word back from the times you used a feather to write it is a case for feathers a feathercase or in german federmappe
This whole "Everything closed on Sunday" Topic is actually all about where you live. Berlin,Munich or other Big Cities have a lot of Stores who are open on Sundays. They even have some 24/7 Supermarkets or Discounter. Even my Supermarket is open from 6 to 1 on Sundays. Its getting more and more rare if you visit smaller Cities. Also where i live no Stores have additional Resting Days except Sundays. It seems the Couple from the Video living in a Super Small Town.....maybe even a Village.
I live in Northrhine-Westphalia and in my surroundings I do not know anybody who is keeping houseshoes for their guests. It's not unusual to wear houseshoes in your own home, but as a guest you don't need to take off your shoes. At least not where I come from. In fact, people who are asking you to take off your shoes might end up being quite lonely.
One friend of mine has some house shoes for guests, but they are more useful if you stay for a while. Myself I don't require my guests to put off their shoes and neither does my family, but personally I use house shoes. Just much more comfortable.
So, when I moved to the apartment I currently live in, having houseshoes for guests was a big thing on my list! Of course I had many more things that were far more important like funiture and so on, but having several pairs of houseshoes for guests just feels super nice, caring, polite and a bit luxurious to me. You don't have to have it, but I certainly feel very welcome and well cared for when I arrive at a home where the hosts give me warm cosy houseshoes. I now have two pairs - one for big feet and one for small feet, and I plan on getting more for bigger gatherings. It's a wonderful homey item to have and it makes me feel like a good host because nobody needs to have cold feet ^^
11:15 Backpacks should ALL have a chest buckle, because IT IS BETTER TO HAVE THE LOAD ON THE HIPS THAN THE SHOULDERS ... so teach your kids/yourself to USE THE BELT! Just try it ... fill up the backpack nice and HEAVY ... and try it with / without the belt.
Rathaus = Townhall but literally translated it means "Consult/Council house" Those people are living in a small bavarian village so their perspective is village life in the countryside..therefore the public restroom is located in the town hall which is also "the center" of the village..what better place than locate a public restroom in the village center. But shops and restaurants/pubs also offering their restrooms of course...the people there usually know each other anyway.
I think they don't know about the restrooms in stores because they aren't visible to the eye. If you go into any German shop you won't "find" the restroom. You simply need to ask and they will show you. But if you look and don't see any and assume there aren't any you might get the impression that they are rare in Germany (which they aren't).
I'm so used to have my own bag or backpack at the store that i haven't even noticed for a while that plastic bags where banned. Airing out the House, that's a little, not culture shock, but i don't understand you americans that you have to use AC and your thing in the bathroom and dryers etc. for something that nature does for you by itself, and with no extra fee. Most of the time, when i'm at home my windows are open. It has to be f****** cold that i close them and turn on the heater. A lot of stores have closed on one day in the week and on the afternoon because they're smaller private businesses, the 'Ruhetag' (day off) is often used to do your paperwork, restock your store etc. and 'Mittagsruhe' ist just to take a break, and eat something without beeing in a hurry all the time.
The thing with like recess and the houseshoes is or can be different from school to school, some schools have something called „Regenpause“ where the Kids stay inside during recess when it is heavily raining and when there is like a storm warning Kids who live further away from school dont have to come. Houseshoes are more Common in elementary school
Being quiet in public spots and traffic is what i wish more peoples in germany would actually respect. They live in a conservative village in the south. In Berlin you can only wish for that. Public culture has changed for the worse but i think thats in alot of countries. Recently saw a video about that in south korea even
I'm from north Germany (Niedersachsen) and my social circle often makes jokes that Bavaria isn't a part of Germany but should be it's own country because it's vastly different from the north. I always cringe when seeing their traditional clothing and hear their accent 😅
Airing out is needed because we don’t have ac in houses our apartments. And only have a fan in a bathroom or toilet when there’s no window. If there’s a window you need to air out. It’s even requested in the rental contract to prevent moldy walls - it’s so hard to get the mold away.
