German Generalizations...

After two months living in small-town Germany, here are some of my impressions of some differences between Germany and the U.S. Some of these jumped out at me immediately, and other observations have taken a while longer to appreciate:

1. Jay-walking is non-existent. I'm not kidding. Even if it's night-time, and there are no cars in sight, Germans will reliably stop at a cross-walk and wait patiently for the "little green man" to give permission to walk across the road.
2. There's a world 'nother world of yoghurt over here. In America, we have: plain, cherry, strawberry, strawberry-banana, blueberry, raspberry, mixed berry, peach, vanilla, chocolate... and that's pretty much it, right? Well, in addition to the American standard fare, the Germans have: peach-passionfruit, strawberry-rhubarb, watermelon-kiwi, grapefuit-apple, pineapple-orange, pear, nectarine-guava, honeydoo melon-peach, walnut, cinnamon-plum... and the list goes on. Sehr gut!
3. Goth is way in right now. You know the died-black hair, black make-up, lots of body piercings & tattoos, black clothes, etc.? Well, this style is very chic here right now among the youth of Oldenburg. I befriended a piercings artist at a bus stop soon after my arrival, and he explained that there's an American reality TV show (I don't know the name) which is very popular here. Apparently, ever since the show began airing here -- 7 or 8 years ago -- the popularity of tats and body piercing has sky-rocketed. I don't know if the goth stylings are part of the same trend... or not.
4. Bikers, bikers everywhere. Bicycling, as a primary means of transportation, is very widespread here in Oldenburg -- not only with university students, but with people of all ages. On weekend evenings, there's an awesome congregation of bikes -- easily two hundred -- parked on one of the main squares (Julius-Mosenplatz) until the wee hours of the morning providing the late-night party animals their return transportation. But beware, police ticket here for bicycling under the influence -- no joke!
5. Smoking... and biking. I realized, even before arriving, that Germans (or more generally, Europeans) are bigger tobacco-smokers than Americans (on average). But it still surprises me how much tobacco smoke I encounter here. There are even cigarette vending machines in my dorm and in the cafeteria. Since smoking and biking are both so ubiquitous here, it's not uncommon to see bikers puffing away on cigarettes.
6. Bladder control is a virtue. Anyone who's vacationed in Europe probably already realizes this, but: (1) restaurant restrooms are generally only for patrons; and (2) even customers are expected to pay for use of restrooms in department stores. So if you're downtown and gotta go... hopefully you're also hungry. At least most restrooms have toilets and toilet paper here!
7. Drinking fountain extinction. Drinking fountain: what's that? You know that metal device, where you push a button and a constant stream of water flows from a nozzle? Well, so far as I've seen, this innovation simply does not exist here. Come to think of it, I don't think I saw them in Sweden either... but an English classmate confirmed for me that England has them, so it must not be a Europe-wide extinction.
8. Weekends are not for shopping. I'm so spoiled by America's anything-you-want anytime-you-want-it mentality. But here, the grocery stores (and most other shops) close at noon on Saturdays (if they're open at all). And other than some restaurants, nearly nothing is open on Sundays. I still forget, sometimes, to stock the frig before the weekend -- it stinks to run out of food and go to bed hungry! I talked a few weeks ago, however, with a guy from Berlin, and he informed me that the stingy store hours are more of a small-town German thing. In contrast, he said, he can find stores open at nearly all hours, every day of the week in Berlin.
9. Oldenburgers are a friendly lot. Somewhere along the way, I picked up an unfortunate stereotype of Germans as cold, stern, unemotional, impatient, and ultra-efficient (to a fault). I have certainly met a few of these exaggerated type-A's here (as with anyplace), but in general, it just isn't so. A few weeks back, when I bought my (first) bike (which was stolen a few days later), I got lost on my way home from the bike store. As many of my long-time friends know, I tend be slightly direction-impaired, in general, but in my defense: I had only ever used the buses to get around town, so this was the first time I actually needed to know where I was going. When I stopped at a street corner and began studying my map, a 60-ish German man (who was driving past the intersection) rolled down the window and asked if he could help me. I told him I was lost and looking for my dorm -- Otto-Suhr Strasse -- and he told me to follow him with my bike. He drove slow enough for me to follow him for the 2-3 miles to my dorm. What a nice gesture! There have been several similar situations, in which I've been pleasantly surprised to be the beneficiary of warm, genuine, selfless acts of kindness.