Kommentare zu: Germany – Random First Impressions

Von: Tina

Tina — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 09:15:54 +0000

Als Antwort auf Christina. Christina, thank you so much for your comment! Even after 12 months back the staring still bothers me. I'm much more self-conscious when it comes to clothing than I was in the US. How long have you been back in Germany? Have you settled in yet?

Von: Christina

Christina — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 20:32:48 +0000

Great list Tina! I came back to Germany after 20 years abroad and just could not explain the feeling that everone was staring at me. It has made me feel so uncomfortable.. Now I know I am not the only one ;-) Hope you all have settled well! Christina

Von: Tina

Tina — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 02:35:02 +0000

Als Antwort auf Rachel. That's definitely what I felt like, Rachel: as if all these people saw me, the German expat blogger who lives in the United States, for the first time ;-)

Von: Tina

Tina — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 02:33:35 +0000

Als Antwort auf Jessica. Love this! Thanks for sharing, Jessica :-)

Von: Tina

Tina — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 02:32:41 +0000

Als Antwort auf Katja.

Hi Katja,
when I was in Germany, I didn’t really have time to talk about the upcoming elections. I was in the getting-organized / catching-up with-friends-mode. But I think what Germans would be really surprised about is that the elections don’t play a very big role in our life and the life of the Americans we spend time with. Not yet, at least. I often would like to talk about it more, ask questions and hopefully get some answers. But one of my really good American friends told me not too long ago that she always tries to follow her Mom’s advice: never ever talk to your friends about: money, religion. And politics… So I’ve become even more careful.

Von: Tina

Tina — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 02:25:16 +0000

Als Antwort auf Rina. Ha – these made me laugh, Rina! Especially the short, but on the point phone calls. I guess it will take all of us some time to get used to not exchanging all sorts of pleasantries before we get to the point!

Von: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 14:04:38 +0000

Dear Tina,
thank you so much for sharing your impressions with us. It feels like home and I’m looking forward to it, that’s for sure!
The „direct look“ everybody is faced with, reminds me of children, when they see something the first time. Maybe a habit we didn’t grown out of it:-)
Have a great week,
Rachel

Von: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 14:00:31 +0000

When we came back to Hamburg, Germany after roughly four years in London, UK – I had the feeling I had to greet everyone because they all looked so familiar northern german. It good really embarassing when I tried to convince the girlfriend of the guy who was selling us his car that we know each other and that I just can’t remember where I met her before. After a long talk we agreed, that we had never met before and I stopped geeting random people.

Von: Katja

Katja — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:33:50 +0000

Hey Tina,

isn’t it funny how you look at your home country completely differently when you’ve been away for a while? I love your observations, though they would probably be somewhat different in other parts of the Country ;-) But I always love to see how we Germans are perceived from the outside, it is quite funny actually (and often very true).

What I would really like to know is how you felt about the Germans‘ attitude toward America – did you have any conversations about that, and if so, what did you think? I mean, the news are full of reports about the elections and such …

Cheers,
Katja

Von: Rina

Rina — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:09:28 +0000

I also noticed how nerve wrecking it can be to take over cars in a 2-lane road in the smidge of a second. Other observations I made: Those very short on the point phone calls in Germany, waiting until everyone got their meal served before starting to eat, clink glasses when drinking – even a couple of times during one event, crazy tight parking lots (had to climb over to the passenger seat to get out of my car).