Unexplained Cultural Phenomena: Or, What I don’t Understand about Germans

So despite the total 1 year and 1 month total that I have ever been in Germany there are many things that Germans do that just don’t make sense to me. So I decided to ask around and see what explanations I could find to what I largely find to be  the conundrums of German culture.

1. Bottled Water:

Although tap water has been proven to be higher quality than many types of bottled water, Germans still buy their water from the store instead. Especially considering the efforts of the average German to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle,  I was surprised that so many reusable bottles were in circulation (and I really mean circulation, there is a very well running bottle recycling program in Germany that incentivizes recycling by offering money for returned bottles- and this unlike the recycling program in the U.S. is located in every grocery store entryway). My teacher explained this as being caused by the historical health benefits of drinking water in spa towns, where springs produced mineral-rich water. Eventually the health water was bottled and sold in popular stores. Even though the water sold in stores is of the same quality as the kind found in a faucet, the idea that buying water is healthier has stuck.

 

2. Covered Legs:

So Germany, as you may have heard is known for being a notoriously  liberal country. Some of my classmates have already come to class wanting to know how they can politely ask their flatmates to please not walk around the flat naked quite so often. However, when the Germans do wear clothes, the ones that I have seen so far tend to be pretty covering. Even on a hot day, women will wear a skirt with tights or long pants.  Men wear skinny jeans instead of shorts as well. Every time I wanted to wear shorts or a skirt without tights, I felt like I was wearing a sign that said “Guess who’s an Ausländer (foreigner)!”  At first I wracked this up to the simple pragmatism that is the explanation for so many a parts of German culture. But then I started to realize that even when I thought it was okay to be wearing shorts (i.e. hiking up a mountain on a 25 degree Celcius day), nearly everyone else was wearing jeans. To answer this I went not to my teacher, but to my street smart Tutor, Joanna, who seems to have her finger on the pulse of German fashion (and yes, I know how weird that sentence might sound, but these are the logical things that go through my head whilst contemplating German culture). And the answer was, actually just the pragmaticism that is the explanation for so many things in German culture.

3. Internet security

So this one is less a conundrum and more soemthing that just occured to me as being very different. Germans are very very careful about the online footprint they leave. If not made clear by the outrage after it was revealed that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was being tapped by the U.S. government, Germans are very conscious of their online footprint and the effects that this footprint can have on their real lives. One way that this has affected my daily life is in the form of online banking. I decided to do online banking, because it is convenient for me since I don’t live in the center of the city. When I signed up, I was told in great detail about the many contracts that I would have to sign and return and given a small machine about the size of a calculator. This machine is called a TAN machine (TransAction Number). In order to access my banking information, I have to physically stick my bank card into this little maschine and then put sensors up to a flashing graphic on the screen in order to receive a code which I then have to type into the computer in order to do anything. I personally think that this is very interesting and probably a very good thing, what with the growing threat of cyber crime.

I also noticed a difference at the library where one must first insert a student id into the printer before being able to print out papers. First you send the document to the printer, then you go and insert your card and select print. This has two main benefits. One, you are physically at the printer when your document prints, so no one will lay it off to the side or throw it in the recycling bin. The document is secure. Additionally this prevents over-printing by bringing in an additional step to the printing process. If you decide at the last minute that you actually don’t want to print the document or have made a last minute change before printing, there is a last-minute change to opt out of wasting paper. I am a fan of this system because of it’s paper saving qualities and efficiency in organizing the printing at such a large university.

4. Barefootedness, everywhere.

 

So according to the teacher of my language course, it is possible in Germany to go shopping, or eat in a restaurant in without wearing shoes. Coming from a country where the phrase “No shirt, no shoes, no service” exists, I was a bit surprised. Americans are mostly taught that going barefoot is somehow unclean. This, like many other practices belong to what Germans refer to as “alternativeness.” Unlike the American definition of this term that has to do more with punk music, German “alternativeness” is more of a term used to describe an environmentalist way of living. Other qualities that might qualify someone as “alternativ”  are having dreadlocks, being a vegan, or wearing a specific type of pants made from fair trade materials that sit looser around the legs. This style is quite popular in the region of Germany that I live in, which due to the popularity of the Green Party has something of a name as a green region. I don’t know quite how I feel about the blatant categorization of  people like this, but I would like to note that this label is much less attached to the worth of person as it is to a descriptor of their outward appearance. Kind of a shallow term to describe the shallowness that inherently lies in an appearance.

These findings are in no way definitive, but I thought it would be interesting to share with you some of the things that have been most fascinating to learn out about German culture.

Bis Bald!