the USA as a foreign country

[deird1]

dr_carrot is visiting America for the first time, and has many observations, for those who are interested...

I do find it funny that, when going to a foreign country, you expect all the big things - but get totally taken aback by all the little things that never occurred to you could be different. Because... they're done the way we do them. Why would anyone do them differently?

Hence my impression of Germany has very little to do with Matters Of International Importance, and a lot to do with the toilets and the way they close their windows.

Comments

[bobthemole]

My first month in the US I almost got run over by a pack of skaters because I was instinctively walking along the left side of a promenade instead of the right. If they hadn't yelled at me, I might still be doing it "wrong".

I noticed at my university that if I'm walking through a corridor, turn a blind corner and bump into someone, more often than not it'll be an international student I run into. And they'll be following the left wall instead of the right.


I'm curious now. How DO Germans close their windows.

[deird1]

German windows - or, at least, every single window that I encountered in Bavaria - have handles that, when closed, point downwards.

When you turn the handle to be horizontal, you can swing the window open from one side.

And then, if you close the window and turn the handle again to point upward, the window will open from the top - but it will only open a few inches, so you can get fresh air without technically having an "open" window.

They were rather nifty, all in all.