Comments on: Reunification Day

By: Eric H

Eric H — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:55:49 +0000

Marie-Christine: What good does it do to have DSL at home if you’re on the road? WiFi isn’t offered here because people don’t have DSL at home (most everyone I know does, especially those from densely populated areas), it’s offered here because you might be out somewhere and want to use the laptop.

In the US (and from what we can tell, Mexico and Colombia), even the cheapest hotels and B&Bs offer Wifi to their customers. In Europe, if they offer anything at all, it’s a single computer (no printer), a bad Wifi connection (lobby only), or a brochure that describes how to sign up for a pay-for-service HotSpot.

I think there’s something else at play here, something cultural, like mayonnaise v ketchup on Freedom … French Fries … pommes frittes. Here you get ice in every drink; Europeans think that’s to rip the customer off, but the real reason was that it was very glamorous back when ice had to be cut and stored. You can ask for no ice in your drink, there’s no problem, but then Unitedstatesians think that you like warm cola and think it’s weird. Both sides are thinking, “Our way is better”, but that cannot be proved. At best, we can each say, “Our way is different, and I’m used to it.”

Here, hotels are burying the cost of WiFi in the price, and that is not seen. There, we saw people stare at the laptop as if we had a sacrifice inside a pentagram on the table.

By: bronwyn

bronwyn — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:01:33 +0000

When I’m in Germany I usually have to list off all the things I can’t eat, after I say “Ich bin Vegetarierin”. I haven’t figured out how to say “vegan” yet.

By: Miss Jess

Miss Jess — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:54:33 +0000

Ah yes, Southern Indiana’s population is dominately German in heritage, everywhere you go in the southern reaches of our state there are German flags hanging right next to (or over!) the American flag; not to mention random German dialects being spoken in small town cafes and shops. Mr. Bird is from a tiny town in the heart of German country, as is my family – my grandparents’ families settled there because it so resembled the forests and hills of the ‘old country’. My dad is always amused at how well he blends into the German populace when visiting on business… and is equally amused by how closely many of the girls resemble his daughters (or vice versa).

By: Marie-Christine

Marie-Christine — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:20:58 +0000

Net cafes are rare in Western Europe for the same reason public phones are too: everyone’s got DSL at home. At least 60% of the French if you can imagine, so you can only guess what the German rate must be. If your connection is down, some neighbor is sure to invite you in. Ditto for the phone, half a dozen people will whip out their cell phone with the least provocation. And 70-year-olds are if anything ahead of the curve. Add to that US-driven movement to privatize public services, and the tourists can just write postcards home…

Be sure to have some real cheesecake while you’re there .

By: Ioanna

Ioanna — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:27:57 +0000

LOL I love your travel posts you guys So much fun to be had looking at other cultures.
I do understand what you’re talking about Kathleen about not actually believing that the wall would eventually come down. This is how it’s like where I live now in Nicosia, Cyprus, except the wall is a makeshift barrier of oil barrels and assorted trash etc, and since Greek and Turkish Cypriots were forced to move to what became their respective sides (since the Turkish invasion in 1974) there’s not even the ‘wanting to see your relatives’ part in the equation. After so much time you get used to the situation, especially if you’ve never lived anything else, and the feeling that this is just the way it is prevails.
Oh and I don’t know what it is with hip hop especially over any other music type, if you hear it in any other language than English it just seems so wrong! German rap LOL
Oh free pets How cool! Seen a lot of German Shepherds? (lame joke ha-ha)
Enjoy your traveling guys!

By: Eric H

Eric H — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:12:57 +0000

"ich bin vegetarierin" or something to that effect. I've been telling them "Wir sind vegetarische". However, this doesn't always confer the proper message, even in English in 'Merica, since that has been variously interpreted as "chicken only" or "I want a salad" or "vegetables cooked in a beef or chicken bullion". And since "meat" is more specific in other languages, we have to be more thorough: "no beef, no pork, no chicken", etc. I have never heard so much Abba, mid-career Elton John (after his rock period, before the old royalist period), Bee Gees, and other crap since the early 80s. I don't think we'll be allowed to leave until I've heard the Carpenters and Captain and Tenille. My poor ears - we had to listen to someone work their way through a very emotive cover of the Stasi anthem, "I'll Be Watching You" right after listening to German rap (something about Freiheit). We saw a kid on the bus this morning who looked like a young Larry Bird -- same hairdo and everything, straight out of Indiana farm country. However, this guy was "hip hop" (or, as they call it all here, "black music"): black hat, 30 degrees off center, black shirt with a gothic R on the back, oversized black jeans with the matching R on them (no, not Roca, but possibly ripped from that). Hip hop? He evidently thought so. Like a good German youth, though, he crossed the 5 meter wide road in the crosswalk after waiting for the ampelmaanchen to grant permission.