Differences between Germany & America

I have been struggling what to say about differences between Germany and the USA, which I said I would write about.  There are so many, and many are obvious --And when compared with the diversity inside the US, many observations about Germany seem insignificant.

During our visit to America in Jun & July, I was reminded that the USA is a big place.  Everything is scaled up; the cars are bigger, and houses are bigger  --refrigerators, shopping carts, isles in the grocery store, grocery stores themselves, farms, etc. are all bigger.  And yes, on average the people are bigger.

As Betsy & I traveled around North America, it made clear that the US is not a train country (except for freight trains).  The train and public transport system in Germany is great; we use them frequently for local and long-distance travel.  For example, by train it takes 5.5hrs from Stuttgart to Hamburg (southwest to northwest), which is a little faster than driving.  For comparison the drive from Denver to Chicago will take about 16hr (Amtrak will take over 18hrs, and is only once per day), but it is only 4hrs for a flight (including security & waiting) and there are dozens per day.

Another difference that became clear when traveling around the US (especially Iowa) is that in Germany everyone lives in a city or village.  Even farmers live in town, and they travel to their farms, instead of living on the farm and being surrounded by their acreage.  Therefore it is not uncommon to smell livestock in villages, like ours.  In our immediate area, the distance between villages is never more than 5km (3miles).  There are lots of consequences that come from this living arrangement --the public transportation works better, people walk more between places, and you can always tell the time from the tolling of the local church bells.  When we first moved to Germany the bells would keep us awake at night, but now it just part of the sound of life in Germany.

US check-out lines

As mentioned the refrigerators are small, at around 4cu.ft., they are dorm-like.  This contributes to my frequent grocery store visits.  Going to the store is usually an adventure, and not just for trying to read the food package labels; the part that I dread is the check-out.  Check-out lines are combat shopping.  If you are not a friend, then you are at best a nuisance.  Nothing makes this clearer than when a new check-out line opens in the store (usually there are a total of 2 or 3 check-out lines, and only 1 or 2 being used).  When a new clerk arrives to open a second line, there is a rush to be first, and there is no courtesy to those who have been waiting longer.  In this case there are two differences between the US and Germany: 1) Americans check-outs are numerous and efficient (the bagger who packs up everything helps, and so does the counter space after the scanner), and 2) In the US this type of cutting in line is strongly frowned upon, and can earn the cheater a scolding.