Archive for August 19th, 2009
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19
Aug
2009
“Bad Habits” developed in Germany
As you live in Germany for some more time, gradually you kind of develop various “bad habits” which can never work in China. Anyway, I myself am very interested to have seen all these changes in my daily behaviour and seriously I may need some time to “change back” when next time I’m home again.
(1) Wipe your nose as loud as you want but hold down as you sneeze. In China we do exactly the contrary cause we think it very rude to wipe nose right in front of other people which sneezing is somehow not controllable and thus accepted. Say sorry for sneezing is never to be seen and saying “Gesundheit” to show care for the sneezing guy is considered as very strange.
(2) Riding a bike on the pedestrian way. In Germany there are not so many bicycle ways in their real sense and people just ride by to which people should be careful
(3) The number “1″ is added with a tick on the top and looks like a “7″ and the number “7″ with a line through the middle. It seems that both ways would be blamed if done in China.
(4) If traffic light turns green, just cross the street even without the need to lift the head cause drivers always make way to pedestrians. But in China this could be fatal.
(5) The habit of looking for bus or train schedules before going out.
(6) The ” table knocking” way to show admiration and praise at the end of a lecture or a conference.
(7) Being told that I speak too quiet at the dinner table. In China loudness at dinner shows you are enjoying the get-together or invitation very much.
(8) Putting the bag directly onto the ground anywhere you want, sometimes perhaps also the bread while having to make a short pause for something else.
(9) Gathering bottles to earn money.
(10) Always think about making appointments first even for informal or personal affairs.
(11) ……
19
Aug
2009
Traffic in Germany
Don’t know where it is, but is definitely amazing^_^
As I have once already mentioned, on many high expressways in Germany there are even no velocity limits for automobiles. This may arouse your worry for quite possible traffic accidents, but if I tell you that Germany is one of the European countries with the lowest incidence of traffic accidents, it may have confused you. But how?
To explain this, firstly we are going to refer the highly developed road networks in Germany, which is also complemented with other kinds of public transportation such as trams, subways and of course railways. According to an article, more than 12.000 Km. of high expressways have been built in this country, which ranks the second of the world only after America.So conditions of traffic jam are much relieved which mean that people are less likely to drive in disquietness and thus accidents are reduced. Needless to say, the road condition is also very good for driving even if on rainy days.
Secondly, There are very strict rules to restrict the driving on the road. Electronic cameras are set everywhere and fouls are forfeitable, in tremendous bad cases even the possibility for jail. But one thing I find very interesting is that the information where cameras and set will even be shared through radio stations to remind drivers of possible punishment, like playing games with the traffic police^_^ No one could bear the lost of driving fun especially for the Germans, so they drive crazily but also in a safe way in oder to still keep their licences in the pockets. And if you hear how they curse stupid drivers on the way, that’s really interesting. “Silly monkey” and “cow” are very favorable terms as examples.
And at last and also the most crucial point, the Germans themselves have a really strong sense of abidance, not just for traffic rules, but for all those to make the globe move around. What’s more, I ‘ve heard that kids get educated about traffic and driving rules even since the kindergarten, which is a convincing argument for such a safe Germany!