Wanderings and Cultural Differences

---

One of the largest benefits of traveling to another country is developing a greater understanding of another culture. I have been lucky to be able to stay with two German families within the past week and have learned a great deal from both of them. I want to thank Mike, Ines and their children Liam and Lily for allowing me to stay with them in Heidelberg; and would also like to thank Julia, Bruno, and their children Phillip, Anna, Isabella and Janina for accommodating my travels in the Frankfurt area. I feel blessed to have been able to become a part of your families, if even for a few days. It is through your help that I have certainly developed a much greater understanding of German culture and how it differs from that found within the United States.

The first big thing I owe thanks for, is helping me to overcome the language barrier. I will always remember certain terms and phrases from the patient teachings of Liam and Lily. They humored me when I would point to objects and have them tell me the word in German for extended periods of time. Two of my favorites are sonnenblume (sunflower) and piratenschiff (pirate ship). I suppose it is important that you know that Liam is five years old and Lily is two and because of this fact I can say with absolute certainty that my German is still not as good as a two year old's!

Beyond language, I was able to have long conversations with both Mike and Julia about the differences in culture between the United States and Germany. (I will remind you that when discussing how countries differ, you have to focus on generalizations, which doesn't let you examine the entire population.) One of the major differences that creates many smaller ripple effects is the German focus of spending money now to avoid problems that would cost more later. For example, German taxes tend to be much higher than those in the United States because they go to social programs, healthcare and other services. The idea is that when the people are fed, healthy, and educated they will not turn towards crime.

Another big issue that creates many differences, is the lack of land in Europe. Julia really hit this home for me by stating that Germany is about the same size as Maine but has a population of about 80 million people! To make this even more pronounced is the fact that, unlike New England, most people live at the centers of cities and towns. You can see this very well when flying in, because you will see large fields of green farms surrounding small communities, whereas in New Hampshire people tend to live all over the town and have more of their own space. This is most tied to the history of Europe where in feudal society, lords owned the land but hired the subjects to work the land. They would then build up small towns around the fields that they worked. Alright, sorry for that history nerd out session, I just may be a bit proud of that because I thought of it on my own and then had it confirmed.

As you could guess, the lack of land creates many changes in German society. One of the changes I noticed from the beginning is the focus on the environment. In America it is much easier to hide the massive amount of trash buildup we are creating, but of course this is harder to do in Europe. Almost every public area has not one trash can, but usually a set of four for different types of recycling. Another change is the efficient transportation system (which I am riding right now). Since most people live in cities and towns, the need for cars is dramatically decreased. As I mentioned before, biking is huge, and in addition to that, each city tends to have very good bus and tram service. There is also incredible inter-city transportation with express trains. The train I am on now has a speedometer and has showed speeds of 250 km/hr!

The difference in food has been very interesting as well. German breakfasts tend to be more simple, with bread and fruit spreads (or Nutella!) and cereal. Traditionally, German lunch is a hot meal (unlike our sandwiches) and is more important than dinner. I have tried some delicious food so far including schnitzel, onion bread, wursts, and fladle-suppe (pancake soup) just to name a few. There are also differences in what you find in the grocery store (beyond the fact the labels are in German). One trend is that carbonated water is really popular. Germans will buy huge quantities of it in the supermarket and when you go out to eat and ask for “wasser” they will most likely give you the carbonated version. To me, this water doesn't even quench my thirst. One positive of the German supermarket is that they have incredibly delicious yogurt, since they keep it full fat!

In my recent stay with the Posset family in Bad Hamburg, I was able to observe classes within an International School. For those who are not aware, one of my potential future endeavors is to teach within an International or American school abroad. This was a really interesting experience and it was neat to see how teachers can utilize the diverse background of their students to their advantage. At the higher levels, it would be a huge blessing to have students from all over the world in a class, so that they could share their experiences and add different perspectives to conversations. One major piece of advice that I received from teachers was that it is much easier to find international teaching positions in Asia if you are just starting out. Maybe I have found my next adventure!

Speaking of adventures, during this last week of staying with families and friends, I have also been able to tour some interesting locations. So I won't bore you with any more of my musings on culture. The first location that I was able to check out was on my return to Heidelberg, after doing some laundry in the city center, I decided to walk along the famous philosophenweg (philosopher's way) that winds through the forests in the hills over Heidelberg. Knowing that it went in the general direction of the house I was staying in I continued on it through the woods and after an hour and a half of walking ended up coming out right where I wanted to be. You can see some of the pictures below.

Another location I was able to tour was the Saalburg Roman Fort near Bad Hamburg. This was a reconstructed Roman fort that was situated right on the border of what was then considered Germania. The fort was one of the main barriers to the “uncivilized” peoples to the northeast. What I found to be the most interesting was the large collection of artifacts found in the museum. As you can see in the pictures, the museum displayed the artifacts next to some recreated pieces so it is easy to tell what they were used for and how they may have looked in the past. They also had many baths, which were heated by an underground tunnel heated from one end by a fire to keep the rooms and water hot. I was blown away that this technology was used almost 2000 years ago!

Another trip I was able to complete was going to the old town are of Frankfurt. Today, Frankfurt is really known as the banking and business center of Germany, so I was thrilled to find out that their was much to see in the old town. Sadly, my camera battery died during this adventure, so I only have videos. One of the most impressive places in the old town was the Frankfurter Dom, which is a cathedral which is most famous for being the place where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. As a history guy, this was an amazing thing for me to wrap my head around the fact that I was standing at such a significant historical location. Since Frankfurt, as well as many cities in Germany, were hit hard with allied bombing raids during World War II, the old town is largely rebuilt, but the cathedral tower is one of the few places that was missed.

The last trip I was able to complete during this time was to visit my friend Zach, who is studying in Bremen. We were able to tour the old city and check out the large festival or freimarkt that was going on at the time. The old city, due to its importance as a harbor has a really cool section of what used to be fisherman's houses all crammed into a small area. Now there are a lot of shops and cafes there instead. The old town area was filled with hundreds of people because of the freimarkt, but we were still able to view the Bremen Dom (cathedral) which was first built in the late 8th century! We also saw the statue for the “Musicians of Bremen” that is based upon a folk tale that you may know (even though Zach and I had no idea!). Bremen is also protected by the famous knight Roland that was immortalized in the tale The Song of Roland, so there is a statue dedicated to him in the old town.







Frankfurt Videos:
Old Town Center:

Inside Frankfurt Cathedral:

Outside Frankfurt Cathedral:

Opera House Square:

St. Pauls Church and Ratskeller:

---

Photos

Hypocausts
Heated the baths

Woods above Heidelberg
We drove up into the mountains to try and get above the fog and found this ethereal light

Bridge & Castle of Heidelberg
View from the opposite bank

Comments

[anonymous]

I even took photos of the recycle barrels in Germany. It seemed a perfect example of the German value of preciseness, each barrel having a specific color to denote its contents. I also noticed the German respect for rules. If there was a crosswalk two blocks away, that's where you went to cross the street even if there were no cars in sight. We were also impressed with some innovations used in German homes, such as windows and doors which were hinged on the top and on the side to accommodate opening in either direction. We Americans don't know it all. Jean