hefalump

Having lived for two years in a 2nd tier city in China, we are about to move from China to Frankfurt, which seems by comparison to be an easy place to live. Am I deluding myself? Although living in China is not easy, and is in a lot of respects truly culturally shocking, the local people know just by looking at me (I don't look Chinese) that I will be struggling to understand not only the language but how the country works, and are keen to help or at least sympathetic. What are the big culture shockers for a Brit in Germany?

woodworm

There is no "queue culture" in Germany. When you go to a post office / shop / bank or any other place with service personel behind a counter, you will need to memorize who was there before you came in and then if someone comes in after you and is trying to push to the front, you'll have to stop them if you ever want to get served.
(This happened to me last week on a visit to Germany, I had forgotten how bad they are in that respect)

Novocastrian

Chimney sweeps. I'm being serious. <waves to Frau Budenheimerin who will explain>.

woodworm

Will I , Mr. Heidesheimer? well... they come to around to every house , once a year or so, to sweep your chimney, if you want it or not... and then you pay for it...that's all I remember about them ... don't they have them in the UK?


(Off Topic to Mr. Novocastrian> did you know they want to incorporate Heidesheim into one of the neighbouring towns, but neither Ingelheim nor Budenheim want them?)

Novocastrian

The thing we found so surprising is that they simply barge their way into the house without a word of explanation (or permission). As you say householders are enjoined by law to have the chimney swept annually but this isn't true anywhere else I've lived. Moreover elsewhere you'd arrange for a sweeping with the company of your choice. We were gobsmacked the first time this happened.


[/QUOTE] (Off Topic to Mr. Novocastrian> did you know they want to incorporate Heidesheim into one of the neighbouring towns, but neither Ingelheim nor Budenheim want them?)[/QUOTE]

I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised.