Oddities
One day, I was biking to work along one of the many bike lanes in the city, when I decided I was going to pass the very slow biker in front of me. I was intrigued by his speed, because he seemed young enough and had no apparent reason to be pedalling along slower than the mother and child walking to the right of the bike path. I started shifting towards the edge of the lane, intending to pass him on the left, when I noticed with horror that the young man's left hand was not on the handlebar but instead was holding a cigarette. Well, that explains it, I thought. But I continued my trip in a daze. It was the first time in my life that I saw someone smoking while biking.
I don't know the numbers for this, but of all the young people I have met in Germany so far (I don't know, somewhere between 30 and 50, so a decent sample for statistics; a varied enough sample as well), about two thirds smoke regularly. I really think that bars here are smokier than in Montreal (especially now, with the new non-smoking law in place in Quebec...). Germany is also one of the last western european countries to take measures against smoking. A pity.
The worst I have seen so far are young people smoking on the ski slopes. I have seen them smoke while waiting in line for the chairlift, but if they could smoke while skiing too, I'm sure they would. At one point, the 4 or 5 people in the midst of whom I was waiting for the lift were smoking at the same time. For a few minutes, I really felt like I was inside a bar, and had trouble breathing. Outside, on top of the Alps. And no, it wasn't due to lack of oxygen, we weren't quite that high.
Now that I am on - or near - the subject of bars, I should mention that beer here costs 50 centimes/500 mL (at the grocery store) and 1.50-3.00 Euros/pint (in a bar). You can buy a bottle of good wine from 4 Euros up, and a bottle of Port wine (1 L) is 7 Euros. Don't get me started on hard liquor.
This is an oddity, especially if you live in Canada or the USA. And get this, I went to pick up some tickets for a show at an irish pub the other day, and I saw a lady swinging a 3-year-old kid around. Inside the irish pub. They wean them young.
Many people here wear their wedding ring on the right hand (same finger though). Some wear rings on the ring fingers of both hands which starts to be confusing, to say the least.
So you really want to know whether you have a chance with that handsome guy in the corner? Ask him if he were to take all his rings off except one, which one would be left?
And while on the topic of guys, Munich has an incredible selection of handsome boys and men. Of girls and women too. Munich draws beautiful people. Or the beautiful people are born in Munich. Either way, when in doubt, come to Munich.
There are many windmills for electricity in Germany. In more remote areas, you may see a lone one not too far from the highway, but they sometimes come in fields of half a dozen or more too. This country isn't particularly famous for its numerous rivers, but it is famous for its numerous population, and these people need electricity (with an average of about one mobile phone per person - and many have two-, that makes a lot of phones that need to be recharged regularly). Therefore they make electricity however they can. I was going to suggest to someone from the government to burn some of this excess alcohol for energy; I will do that right after I finish writing my own version of string theory and revolutionizing the german language.
Phones. Almost all fixed line phones sound the same here. Why is that?
I was at the bank, talking to the clerk, and suddenly a phone started ringing just like one of the ones in our apartment (I lost count, what with all the mobiles and fixed, and mobile-fixed mixed, etc.; we are 3 people after all, we need our communication devices). Anyway, I jumped and almost tried to find it and answer it. But there were people standing in line behind me and I didn't want to lose my spot.
And to end, I saw "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity" written on the remnants of the Berlin wall. These germans know what they're talking about.
I don't know the numbers for this, but of all the young people I have met in Germany so far (I don't know, somewhere between 30 and 50, so a decent sample for statistics; a varied enough sample as well), about two thirds smoke regularly. I really think that bars here are smokier than in Montreal (especially now, with the new non-smoking law in place in Quebec...). Germany is also one of the last western european countries to take measures against smoking. A pity.
The worst I have seen so far are young people smoking on the ski slopes. I have seen them smoke while waiting in line for the chairlift, but if they could smoke while skiing too, I'm sure they would. At one point, the 4 or 5 people in the midst of whom I was waiting for the lift were smoking at the same time. For a few minutes, I really felt like I was inside a bar, and had trouble breathing. Outside, on top of the Alps. And no, it wasn't due to lack of oxygen, we weren't quite that high.
Now that I am on - or near - the subject of bars, I should mention that beer here costs 50 centimes/500 mL (at the grocery store) and 1.50-3.00 Euros/pint (in a bar). You can buy a bottle of good wine from 4 Euros up, and a bottle of Port wine (1 L) is 7 Euros. Don't get me started on hard liquor.
This is an oddity, especially if you live in Canada or the USA. And get this, I went to pick up some tickets for a show at an irish pub the other day, and I saw a lady swinging a 3-year-old kid around. Inside the irish pub. They wean them young.
Many people here wear their wedding ring on the right hand (same finger though). Some wear rings on the ring fingers of both hands which starts to be confusing, to say the least.
So you really want to know whether you have a chance with that handsome guy in the corner? Ask him if he were to take all his rings off except one, which one would be left?
And while on the topic of guys, Munich has an incredible selection of handsome boys and men. Of girls and women too. Munich draws beautiful people. Or the beautiful people are born in Munich. Either way, when in doubt, come to Munich.
There are many windmills for electricity in Germany. In more remote areas, you may see a lone one not too far from the highway, but they sometimes come in fields of half a dozen or more too. This country isn't particularly famous for its numerous rivers, but it is famous for its numerous population, and these people need electricity (with an average of about one mobile phone per person - and many have two-, that makes a lot of phones that need to be recharged regularly). Therefore they make electricity however they can. I was going to suggest to someone from the government to burn some of this excess alcohol for energy; I will do that right after I finish writing my own version of string theory and revolutionizing the german language.
Phones. Almost all fixed line phones sound the same here. Why is that?
I was at the bank, talking to the clerk, and suddenly a phone started ringing just like one of the ones in our apartment (I lost count, what with all the mobiles and fixed, and mobile-fixed mixed, etc.; we are 3 people after all, we need our communication devices). Anyway, I jumped and almost tried to find it and answer it. But there were people standing in line behind me and I didn't want to lose my spot.
And to end, I saw "Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity" written on the remnants of the Berlin wall. These germans know what they're talking about.
posted by Diana Dragomir at 9:01 AM
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