- We can all “thank” Germany for Daylight Savings Time – it was first implemented here in 1916 (April 30 to be exact) during World War I.
- Germany ranks 3rd amongst countries with the highest recycling rate (1st is Switzerland, 2nd is Austria), and while ridiculous in the beginning it all makes sense now!
- The Gutenberg Bible was first published in Mainz, which is only 30 minutes away from us, in 1450s.
- Ulmer Munster is the world’s tallest cathedral at 161.53 meters or 530 feet; it is also about 3.5 hours away from us and is on our “to visit list.”
- The longest German word ever published has 79 letters. And yes, German words are kind of crazy - they just put words together deleting the space between them to make up a new word. Or at least it feels that way!
- Germans invented gummy bears. They are super popular here!
- German Autobahn has no speed limit only on 65% of it; all together it’s 11,000 kilometers.
- There are over 1,500 kids of wurst; we haven’t tried more than 20 of them and even that might be a stretch. I’d say our favorite is Frankfurter and Curry Wurst.
- Read about this so can’t say that it’s 100% true - since prostitution is legal in Germany, disabled citizens get a stipend to pay for sex. Apparently, there are also training centers where prostitutes learn to work with disabled. Say WHAT?!?
- In America, you can usually pick your child’s name and you only have to worry about your friends and relatives comments. In Germany, you must be able to recognize whether a child is a boy or a girl based on name. Apparently, sometimes it means that you might have to give your child 2 or 3 names of you want to go with different. I am not sure what they do in case of Maxwell Sophia or something where one name is for a girl and one for a boy.
- If you get a taxi in Germany, you will most likely be in either Mercedez-Benz or Audi.
- Weird fact but it’s not illegal to escape from prison in Germany because it’s “a basic human right to remain free.” It is, however, illegal to assist in escape.
- Oktoberfest actually starts in September.
- The first two versus of German national anthem are illegal because they are associated with the Nazi regime, so Germans only sing the third verse.
It's been almost exactly 2 months since the last time I wrote here. Our summer has come and gone as well as 3 weeks of school have passed. The life has been busy but I knew that since all the kids are in new schools and our schedules are completely different from last year. We are still trying to figure stuff out but anyway ... Our house looked like that most of the summer Night before school Anton has started 1st grade. He goes to school for kids with hearing issues and from what I understood the kids in his class are all over the spectrum regarding their issues. Anton does not have a problem with hearing but his brain does not process what he hears at normal rate and Anton's teacher knows how to work with him which has been good so far. The school is a little bit further away but he gets picked up and dropped off right in front of our house and it's going good. He leaves the house at 7:15 and comes home at 15:40 3 times a week and earlier on 2 other d
Comments
Best,
Katey
I am the content editor for EasyExpat.com and have been following your blog since you listed it with us at BlogExpat. I think it would be great in our series of expat interviews. This would entail questions about being an expat, a few pictures, and it would link back to your blog. Here is a link to our latest interviews: http://interviews.blogexpat.com/blog/english
If you are interested, just let me know and I will send the questionnaire. In any case, keep up the good work!
Erin
erin@easyexpat.com
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Katey - it's been a really long time!!!
Erin - I'll check out the interviews. Thanks for the invite.