A day in the life

Before arriving in Europe, I read that German people are known to be very stoic; I've found the complete opposite here. In fact, they are very willing to make fun of themselves (unlike the French and English) and do so often, especially when it comes to their cultural values, which are very intensely enforced, and include maintaining order, efficiency, and most importantly - punctuality. 

They gesture with their hands often when speaking (much like the Italians) but tend to keep their hands/arms below their face, at chest level, because they believe hiding one's face when speaking means you must have something to hide. When counting, they use their thumb to start (one), followed by the pointer (two), and so on. For pointing at things, they use their middle finger, which has been interesting to adjust to.

It is considered to be very impolite in Germany to place your non-eating hand on your lap when dining, as most Americans do. Rather, they place the idle hand on the table, or keep it holding a knife if the other is using a fork or spoon. Like every other western European country I've been to, they consider themselves to be the "center of Europe" and European culture. Also, they are OBSESSED with cars.

Here are some videos I took today to give a clear perspective of what I'm seeing. My area (Hattenheim) could probably be considered German countryside, because most of the houses are cottages, but it's a 20 minute easy bus ride to Wiesbaden, which is a pretty big city almost the size of Tucson. Wiesbaden is the westernmost suburb of Frankfurt, which is massive, and home to the European Central Bank, which I will get to visit next week on a school field trip.

On the walk from my flat to school, which takes about 8 minutes:

Taken on an evening walk to the nearest grocery store, less than 1km away. It looks chilly, but it was actually quite warm, about 65 degrees. It stays light until past 9:00pm here.

The neighborhood I'm staying in, right next to a train station (DeutscheBahn).

The red balloon is where I am living (in Hattenheim, a district in the city of Eltville), and where the videos above were taken. The closest grocery store is in Oestrich-Winkel, and the biggest airport is in Frankfurt. Heim means "home" in German, so many of the cities and towns end in -heim. It is similar to the -ham suffix used to name British towns like Buckingham and Nottingham. (You know I had to throw some etymology in this blog.)