My top 9 favorite things from Germany - Vincerò!
Hi!
As promised in my last newsletter, today I’m going to share with you my thoughts about Germany. I’ll do it in three parts:
What I like the most in Germany
What I find worst in Germany
Cultural differences and misunderstandings vis-a-vis my own culture (Catalan/ Spain)
Today I’ll share with you the 9 things I find awesome in Germany.
But before that, let me briefly talk about my teeth and about COVID-19
Wisdom teeth
Three weeks ago I had my wisdom teeth removed. In October I had a gum infection caused by one wisdom tooth. I have (had) all four of them but there’s not enough space in my mouth, so they weren’t totally out, they were partially covered by the gum… so it got infected. Was nasty, had to go to the emergency dentist and get it cleaned, take a course of antibiotics…
My dentist told me again to have the wisdom teeth removed and recommended a dental surgeon (they were too close to the nerve and she couldn’t do it). After three months of thinking about it, I made up my mind and scheduled the dental intervention for the 27th February.
The whole operation was nothing. 10 minutes, local anesthesia, 1 week of ibuprofen to manage the post-op pain… and finished.
But it affected my overall productivity. So sorry about the delay in my writing to you.
Coronavirus
Many of you have asked how the corona-crisis is affecting me and my family.
In personal terms:
Schools cancelled starting tomorrow for a month (until after Easter holidays)
My wife was in Poland last weekend and couldn’t almost come back - The Polish closed the borders overnight. Her train back got cancelled. She could finally come back by literally walking across the German-Polish border and then taking a German train back home.
No frozen pizza, mincemeat or toilet paper in the supermarket.
But other than that, life in Germany remains quite unaltered.
Professional life:
All my clients’ investment plans and budgets have been diverted to ensuring contingency plans, or plans to allow employees to work from home.
It still remains to be seen how the economy will be affected, but my guess is Euro governments will have to use a LOT of money to prevent liquidity crisis, unemployment crisis, logistic chains crisis, among others.
(Many Eurogovernments and the EU will use the coronavirus as an opportunity to spend more, lay out social protection and investment programs and strengthen the EU.)
How about you? How is the Coronacrisis affecting you?
My favorite things of Germany
Here’s my list. In no particular order.
1. Peace and quiet
Even in big cities, there’s more distance between people, between buildings, there’s less density and more green than in any Spanish city or town. I like that. I like there’s less noise, it lowers my anxiety.
2. The Postal Service
I love Germany’s Die Post. So different from Spain’s ineffective Correos. A letter is delivered in 2 days, there’s service even on Sunday/ Saturday evening. The postwoman/ man is friendly, casual…
3. Great at logistics for physical products
As an extension to point 2, Germany is awesome at logistics for physical stuff. They are the kings of online shopping, everything gets delivered to your door fast and efficiently. You can see this is necessary in a country where
a) All bureaucratic procedures are still carried out by letter/ paper.
b) The economy revolves around making quality physical things, from pencils to dishwashers to cars.
The flip side -we’ll see that next week- is Germany doesn’t understand the online world and is really bad at services.
4. Dentistry
German dentists are awesome. Not only are many procedures and checks paid for by the healthcare system, dentists here are also more professional.
Case in point - you can get all 4 wisdom teeth removed in 10 minutes with only local anesthesia, zero pain and at the total cost of 0€.
5. No body taboos
People can walk down the street barefoot.
Children can stroll around in the summer totally naked.
Nudism is normal in parks and beaches.
Sauna etiquette is they are mixed-gender and you have to be totally naked
You can be thin, fat, short, freckled, tattooed, dark, light, no-one will pay any attention to you.
Knowing that you can leave the house without adjusting your scarf, jacket and shoes to match the “right” casual look is liberating, too.
6. Children are freer
Since they start school at 6, all children are assumed to go to school, come back, and go to any activities by themselves, alone. They can ride their bicycle, take the U-Bahn or bus.
They decide among themselves when and where they’ll meet to play (sometimes we parents just confirm with other parents, but they can come and go very freely).
Children are also expected to make more decisions and are made responsible for them. From organizing their homework load (parents are expected not to manage it), to cooking.
Of course it means any old lady on the street feels entitled to punish children for crossing in red or having their shoelaces untied…
7. Construction quality
New or reformed buildings are of very high quality standards. Isolation, double-pane windows, under the floor heating, low energy, etc. People expect and demand these high standards.
It also helps, of course, that most people are renting, and the only way for tenants to increase rents is to make improvements on their buildings…
8. Relaxed, laid-back
Germans are incredible relaxed about everything. They work slowly. They behave with humor and a “laid-backness” that I find surprising but fantastic. In part it is because they believe there’s a system and things will end up working. Going back to Barcelona, you see people talking fast, moving fast, stressed-out.
Western Germans are more relaxed and friendly than the Easterners. Berliners are more grumpy, but still more relaxed than us Catalans.
9. No turnstiles
German public transportation works with the so-called ‘honor system’. There are no turnstiles or physical barriers to make sure you have your ticket. It is socially understood everyone has their ticket… which they do.
Vincerò!
The aria Nessun Dorma (“let nobody sleep”) from Puccini’s Turandot has become an anthem in Italy against the coronavirus. It gives me chicken skin - it’s so beautiful.
I had to share it with you:
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, oh Principessa
Nella tua fredda stanza
Guardi le stelle che tremano
D'amore e di speranza
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me
Il nome mio nessun saprà
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò
Quando la luce splenderà
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà
Il silenzio che ti fa mia
(ll nome suo nessun saprà
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir)
Dilegua, oh notte
Tramontate, stelle
Tramontate, stelle
All'alba vincerò
Vincerò
Vincerò
Take care, and until next week, this time with the annoying things from Germany.
Dein Freund,
Òscar