What does my American Mom think of Germany? (Supermarkets, Autobahn, Kita, Gas, Playgrounds + More!) 

In my childhood (80s) we kids go to the playground all by ourselfs. No adults everywhere. Or we go onto the fields or into the forest. Everything without an adult in our near. We have had lots of fun. Yes, we got hurt, sometimes badly, but we wouldn't miss it. The only rules we had: "Don't break anything" and "be home when it goes dark".

We have here in Germany a Law of responsibility, so that parents are responsible for their kids. That not only means you are to blame when your kids do shit, it also means that you can't sue someone if they hurt themself, because you are responsible for them not anyone else. That is why our kids can have such nice playgrounds.

There's a good reason why most gas stations (edit: in Germany) don't have the "pay outside" systems implemented. Gas stations only make one or two cents per litre, so pumping gas isn't really how they earn money. Most of the money comes from selling snacks, drinks and all the other stuff in their little shop - so obviously they want you to enter the shop so that you might grab a snickers or coke before paying.

Wow, your mom is an incredible woman, seems so lovely and open-minded. And taking care of Willa in a different country, not knowing the language, is very impressive. 👸

I laughed so much at how Tanner corrected Willa after the count and how cool he made it sound. You are a really likeable and cool couple and it is fascinating how you manage everything like KITA etc. in another country and that you have the courage to accept these offers. I always enjoy watching you and love your positive view of things, even if it is sometimes difficult. Happy first advent.

That plant is called Schlehendorn (Blackthorn) and the recipe the lady tried to give you was probably Schlehenmarmelade. They contain a wee bit of cyanide which is why you shouldn't binge on the raw berries but the cooking process gets rid of it ;)

You've such a lovely mom 😄 great to have you and your family here in Germany!

I cant help it - but i think Willa get more and more charming for every time i see one yer videos, and yer have a wonderful family.

Your mom is full of energy and yes she is cute. I also think she was very honest about comparing somethings in Germany with the U.S. No cops at all or they are not in plain sight. How I wish people follow the rules where we are now in Accra. Those colorful mushrooms are exactly like the garden decorations I see in Italy and France. They are beautiful to look at. God’s wonderful creation.

great video, cool mum.... the Ausfahrt issue reminded of a british collegue who came for the first time to Germany by car from the UK and told us that after crossing the Belgium German border near Aachen, and passing seveal Ausfahrt signs he thought: Wow Ausfahrt must be a really big big city :-)

your mom is so cool, love her and Willa is a sunshine ❤

🤣😂 @your mom - so cute. I am 40 and I had a lot of fun watching and listening her. Staying on her own and taking care of her grand child in a different country is kinda brave. Glad that she seems to like it, or I'd better say that she seemed to like it.

That's the first time I've seen your videos and I enjoyed it. To see Americans in Europe is like watching a caged animal let outside for the first time. Loved ya mum and Willa is a star and gorgeous. Go you three and enjoy your life, it makes for fascinating viewing, thanks.

I was interested in your mother's comments about playgrounds. I saw a while back a video on this very subject. I live in the UK and playgrounds are pretty much the same as in Germany. Apparently, the European perspective is that it's good for children's development to deal with 'risk assessment'. So some parts of playgrounds should be a little more adventurous and edgy balanced by soft 'flooring' for if/when they fall. What fascinated me was that research has shown that the rate of accidents in the 'safer' American playgrounds is actually slightly higher. The only explanation they can come up with is that European kids learn to assess risks and take care whereas American kids tend to be more reckless because they feel safer. Also learning to cope with risk through play makes children more confident and less anxious in general.

I just realized that it must be so awesome when your kid is old enough to start talking and you can actually have a conversation. Shit i think i want a baby now.

Your Mum is so cute 😍 and the Berries might be Schlehen

thanx for another nice video, your mom did a great job and Willa always make me smile.

Another great video and Willa is always so funny

it´s always fun to see others perspective and your mom is so cute ^-^

I wish you a nice first Advent, thank you for the very exciting video. Your mom is really great, great respect for what she did there, that's real love. But she also has a certain life experience and knows how to help herself. I'm really happy when she's having a good time too and Willa seems to be having a lot of fun too. Nice to hear that she likes the kindergarten and that she likes to spend time there, she also seems to be very uncomplicated, at least I have the feeling. For the search for mushrooms you should know your way around or have someone with you who does that. Some mushrooms are very poisonous. In Germany, especially in the more rural regions, always keep in mind that not every German understands or speaks English or another foreign language there.

Love hearing the American mom's perspective. I really enjoyed coffee in Germany. Thanks for sharing ❤️

I like this Mum and/or Dad vids from expats. Always fun to watch - thx for sharing! ♥

Hi and a nice 1 Advent.The little berrys are calld"Schleen", in my region we make liqour from them.First they got frozen in nature then we pickt it up and put it in a bottle,fill it up whit some hart liqour and let it rest for 2 month.

your mom is soooo cute, thanks for having her

I went grocery shopping in Nürnberg with a friend from Germany (we were visiting them from Austria) and I thought it was so so great to be able to sit down at a counter at the meat section and have a steak cooked for us to eat right there. Delicious! Was a really cute video you posted---enjoyed it!

Mushrooms aren't limited to fall. Some of the best (morels) come out in spring. Ceps (porcini, boletes) can be found all through summer and fall. The winter has Wood ears, enoki, pleurotus. The berries you treid are called Schlehen, they are actually the wild form of Plums. They are less adstringent after having frozen once. But you have to quick then, because the birds know that as well. They ARE very sour; you have to add quite a lot of sugar to make them palatable. The German name is related to jelly.

Thumps up for mum!

I love the very bright and patient young one.

Oh, you found Schlehen (buckthorn)! My dad used to pick them when I was little and mom made jam from them. Just wait until after the first freeze before picking them; they get sweeter with the cold.

I think the berries you've tried are called "Schlehen". They need to freeze before you can eat them...if not your tongue gets numb.😅

You are a family with sunshine in your eyes and in your hearts. Love to watch you guys. I´m a grim German filled with German Angst, so just the opposite.

Those are Schlehen, Blackthorn i guess. You harvest them after they froze over the first time. It sweetens them. You can make a nice liquor from those

EINS, ZWEI, DREI, VIER, FÜNF, SIEBEN...... 😊 So wundervoll. Dieses Lachen hab ich heute gebraucht 🥰 Ich danke euch

Thank you for sharing

My (the Netherlands) on the gas station: the waft of coffee and sausage rolls, the sight of chips, drop and ice cream - while you’re waiting in line at the cashier, the snacks sell themselves…

What a sympatical family, I love to watch all of your videos. And your mom is great! The berries might be from a Schlehe (Prunus spinosa), and they get a little bit sweeter after they got their first frost. But there are some other blue berries, that are poisonous, so be careful you got the right ones from the bushes.

Your mom seems to be very nice. I know now where you got your beautiful smile from.

I think the very is "shlehdorn" you should put it in the freezer, so it can be digested better 🥰 then make Marmelade or Juice ect. It's a kind of Prune.

The Blackthorn berries have to go either frost or collect them, wash and put them by yourself in a freezer. Afterwards, you can make a great mix-marmelade with sweet cherry or other berrys. Making some liqour out of them is also a good way to use them.

You are such a nice family and I enjoyed watching. The little berries are called Schlehen (blackthorn) in this part of the country (NRW). They need frost at least once to taste really good. My mother used to make Likör (liquer) out of it, with rum and sugar. After several weeks it tasted really good.

Tip: Never pick up champignons who grow under or near oaks, they are no champignons they are death cap mushrooms. Same for champignons who have a green touch, they are also a sort of death cap mushrooms. The death cap mushrooms form a synthesis with the oaks, therfore you find them under oaks. The mushrooms on a field/meadow without a oak are all eatable champignons. The little blue berries are perfect for a liqueur (Schleenlikör) put them in a bottle with Schnaps and candid sugar for a year. Than you get the perfect liqueur for the next Christmas. If you let it rest for 2-3 years, you get a world class liqueur.

I know some stations that also work pre-paid with credit card, but they are still quite rare here in Germany.

Ich find' euch soo süß!

I would love to the a picture of your Mom when she was your age! 😃

Willa is soo cute! 😊

Your mom is amazing.

Yes, Schneebeere is not right. Schneebeeren are white and you can't eat them. Another name is Knallerbse. It is actually a plant native to North America. (common snowbeerry) The blue fruits looks like Schlehenbeeren / Schlehenfrüchte. The plant is called Schlehe or Schlehdorn.

🥰 I love, you enjoy your life here.

" i found a leaf " was the best part 😅

My parents were very knowledgeable about mushrooms. As a kid in Germany, I remember going into the woods with them and picking mushrooms by the bagful. You really have to know what you're doing, which mushrooms are edible and which ones are poisonous. The bright red one with the white dots is poisonous (Fliegenpilz), so stay away from them. My favorite were Pfifferlinge (Chanterelles), and they are divine. Best tasting mushroom by far, in my opinion. We often found Steinpilze, which I believe are called porcini mushrooms in the States and the champignons, which are the little white button mushrooms, you see all over the grocery stores in the States. If you find a spot where the Pfifferlinge grow, do not tell anyone. Look for certain types of trees they like to grow near, so you can find them. Let it be your secret spot, otherwise they will be picked over by others. They are hard to get here in the U.S. because they are not grown on mushroom farms, only in the wild and I believe they only grow in North Eastern regions, and the Pacific Northwest.

Fall here in Germany is both my most favorite and my least favorite time of the year. It's my favorite because it is the main mushroom season, and my least favorite because it means that winter is coming soon. Best time here imo, is from like the month of May to November.

We are in Graf and I only pick 4 types of mushrooms that I’m confident in. You can start finding mushrooms here as early as July.

Your mom is really cute ❤

beautiful mom

@13:19 And the prices include paid sick days, minimal paid vacation of 25 days (+festive days), health insurance and unemployment insurance

A nice video again. Lovely to see your mum. I'm happy she had a great time here. Her storys about her life here are just sympatical. She's really great. I'm curiuos: did you get Willa a adventscalendar ? I hope so. I'm sure she'll love it. Have a nice and cosy first advent .

So cute 🥰

When talking about Ausfahrt it reminds me of my story about Notarzt. When I first come to Germany I haven't learned much of German but managed to know that Arzt means doctor, but then one day I was in the street and saw a car written notarzt and I asked my German friend why dose this car has to claim it's not a doctor and my friend laughs so hard 😅

I like the choco mustache of the little one. 😄

Your Mother is Great! 🥰

Your mum is such a sweetie 🫶

Your mother is really cool, very personable. I would also like to be able to pay by card directly at the gas pump at more gas stations. Going in and waiting annoys me. But I guess they want to earn more with shop sales

Your mum is awesome 😊☮️

Re filling up in Germany there are actually some stations where you can drive in and out without actually presenting a credit card. You download the app and fill in your payment details - drive in, fill up and out.

They seem to be "Schlehen" (sloe berries). And there is a very nice Schlehenlikör (sweet) or -schnaps you can get in the region (if you drink alcohol - or as a nice souvenir)

Good to see the forests finally growing back. The US raised the entire German forest until 1956 while we rebuilt the cities from $$$ imported soft woods.

That's the way you get gas in most countries in the world. There are a few places where I live that have a card slot on or near the pump, but usually only at unattended stations.

About those "speed indicators". Near where i live they have ones that also measure how loud your vehicle is. So every time i drive past with my Quad it always shows "LEISER!" 🤣 But yes, Fall is the best season to drive around. I enjoyed it quite a bit in the Pfälzer Wald close to Kaiserslautern where we also have a lot of Americans. But i really have no contact with them.

Have a nice first Advent🌲 Great video as always 👍😍 Have a great week you guys🌲☀️

you have to wait until the first frost to get rid of the strange feeling on the tongue. the frost makes the berry edibil but usualy you dont eat thouse raw.

Have a great time in Germany / Franken ;-)

My ancestors are from Germany, heading over for the first time in September…of course for Octoberfest 😉 but can’t wait to see the city of Munich.

Have you already visited the Weihnachtsmarkt in Kassel? It's really beautiful especially in the dark

Lebkuchen Schmidt.. for me the best Christmas stuff to eat. Live the Dominosteine

I was born and raised in Amberg and know Grafenwöhr, on the subject of tips on mushroom picking look in a (German) library there is usually a mushroom guide or look in Vilseck maybe there is someone who can translate his knowledge even into English.

There ARE some so called "Nachttankstellen" (Night gas stations) where after e.g. 8 PM you need to put in first your EC (electronic cash)/Debit card (foreign credit card probably won't work) and then your allowed to pump your gas to a maximum amount of money (e.g. 100-120 €)

Thanks for the new perspective and your mom is really courageous. Doing all this in a country where you don't speak the language, wow. So glad she had a good time anyways. And I hope you gave her some Elisen Lebkuchen in Nürnberg. Expensive, yes, but soooooo good. And you can only find them in the region. The really good ones anyway. About the mushrooms: some are very poisonous, so please be very careful. But there are people you can show the mushrooms you picked and they will select only the edible ones. There is a "Pilzberatungsstelle" in Weiden, I think. Might be worth a look. Thanks a lot for the nice video 😄

6:44 „very polite drivers in Germany“ I cannot believe this.

those blue berrys where schlehen sloe in english they are usually not eaten raw they have alot of natural tanins in them( what makes that funny mouth feel) best time to harvest them is usually after the first snow or frezzing temperatues (those reduce those tanins and maybe gives them a dialect name related to snow i am not from bavaria so im not shure ) they can be made to marmalade juce wine or liquor of some kind mabe you know sloe gin they allso have a medical use for stomache problems for example

7:57 that is a young fly agaric (toadstool). You wil see the typical umbrella later on. It is toxic, but the most dangerous and deadly mushroom in Germany is the amanita mushroom (Grüner Knollenblätterpilz) that can be mixed up with the very tasty porcini mushroom.

Be careful with the mushrooms. The cute red one with the white dots is quite deadly...

happy to hear your mom likes driving here.I heard from other americans that it is bothering them that the traffic lights are not at the other side of the road or crossing like in the US so they struggle to see when it becomes green cause you need to look up. Would be interesting to know whats your opinion about this. And im also happy about the green smile 🙂

I would love to help you showing you what mushrooms you can pick and eat next fall. Ever since I was a small kid my mum, my grandpa and me took our baskets and knifes - and our dog and went mushroom picking almost every year. Unfortunately I don't live near you. But maybe you can invest in a mushroom-book. They are pretty good helping you identifying the mushrooms and telling you if they are good to eat.

We have family in the us and when they visited us in Germany, my ‚us aunt‘ only remembered the word Ausfahrt from the Autobahn😅 They were scared to death when we drove threw constructions on the Autobahn because the lanes on a construction are even smaller than the (for an american) allready small lanes on a regular german road

The Schlehen need to get some frosty temperatures for a while, then most of the astringency goes away, and then it's the right time to pick them. We do make marmalade and liqueur from them.

In der Volkshochschule gibt es immer wieder Kurse für Leute die Interesse haben am suchen von Pilzen

Your mom feels like such a great person even from the short videos we had with her. She raised a great daughter, and helps raise an angel of a grand-daughter. Careful, real Schneebeeren / snowberries ARE poisonous and should NOT be consumed. Schlehendorn should be picked only after the first frost, otherwise it is very sour and tart. Schlehendorn is adstringent, thus helps in healing minor cuts and wounds, is able to lower fevers, and antimicrobial. So yes, Schlehendorn may look somewhat like blueberries/ Blau- or Heidelbeeren, but once you bite into them the pit inside gives away the fruits. Blaubeeren, also called Heidelbeeren in German, or blue berries in English, however are pretty healthy if washed and cooked, when foraged. They may contain some worms or parasites if foraged why it is advised to cook them for marmelade/jams, or to boil them down for juices. Boiling them kills parasites and worms, either on the skin, or inside the berries. 11:42 Lebkuchen Schmidt is (supposedly) one of the best, if not THE best Lebkuchen producer in Germany. While gingerbread might be the closest approximation in English, it's not exactly the right stuff. I order a large packet of Schmidt Lebkuchen every time for the last two years, and I am certain, this will become a long standing tradition for me. They are SO GOOD! Avocado being provided mostly by Mexican farms they should be somewhat to a lot cheaper than in the USA as the transport costs from Mexico to the USA should be a lot cheaper. So if they are comparable that means that avocados in the USA are probably (comparatively) more expensive than in Germany if we factor in the much higher shipping costs.

LOVE your mom 😍😍

Schlehen are sloes in English and usually used for flavoring gin (Schlehenlikör in German or slow gin in English).

No need for Stop signs because there is a basic traffic rule for unregulated intersections = the one coming from the right site has always the right of way. "regulated intersections" have either traffic signs for "having right of way = basically the road you are in is signed as priority road" or for "have to give right of way = basically crossing a priority road" or is regulated with a traffic light...besides of having lots of roundabouts as well.

It's confusing, that we first fill the car and after this we pay. I remember a time, where it was like a restaurant, that someone has act like a waiter and to get the money, but when gas stations became grocery stores, you go into the store and pay.

🤣 8:05 you talking about cameras... Right between the two of you at the tree in the middle: is it a wildlife camera or a bird's house?

Sehr symphatisch, deine Mutter. 👍🏾

Willa is so cute and she obviously is so smart.

Oh Willa is a Germany Fan)) and i´m a Willa Fan))

There is actually one gas station nearby my town where u have to pre pay-> that is a problem for us.😂

10:20 Those are probably "Schlehen" 😀 "Der Schlehdorn (Prunus spinosa), auch Schlehendorn, (Gemeine) Schlehe, Sauerpflaume, Heckendorn, Schwarzdorn oder Deutsche Akazie genannt, ist eine Pflanzenart aus der Gattung Prunus, die zur Tribus der Steinobstgewächse (Amygdaleae) innerhalb der Familie der Rosengewächse (Rosaceae) gehört." (Wikipedia)

Your mom stayed with Willa on her own in a foreign country during your entire cruise? She is damn brave. Willa accepted this shift easily, givng she does not see grandma on a daily basis? Asking cause we plan exactly the same next year only cruise => ski ;)

this little princes is soo sweet :3 and verry clever! wie alt is die kleine denn? natürlich nur wenn man fragen darf!^^

There are VHS-Kurse that teach you what mushrooms are good to eat and what are widow makers ;-) Maybe check out your local Volkshochschule.