Hi, I'm a German who grew up in the Netherlands, studied in the UK and have been living in Spain for 25 years. I visit my parents and a few friends in Germany but sometimes feel like a foreigner in that I am not up to date on social information, cultural stuff... So I enjoyed your takes on things. Here in Spain I am considered too direct a lot of the times and led to conversations about the differences in communicating And how it is considered. Also, I notice the amount of complaining Germans do about irrelevant things, at least it seems that way to me now. Definitely fascinating to talk about with friends from different places. Viel Glück!
The bathrooms in Restaurants are actually free . You don't HAVE to pay to use it. The person sitting there waiting for you to give money is usually the person who cleans the toilet that day or evening and expacting you to tip him or her, quiet like a waiter or a housekeeping service in a hotel. It's a nice way for them to make some extra tax-free cash.
Correct. And they are often not employees of the restaurant. So that money in most cases goes directly to the person cleaning and not to the restaurant.
In normalen Restaurants und Gaststätten ist die Benutzung der Toiletten komplett frei und es ist niemand da, der eine Zahlung erwartet. Die Sache verhält sich nur etwas anders, wenn es sich um Restaurants im Stadtzentrum oder in Autobahnraststätten handelt. Die Toiletten sind da für Gäste und sind nicht gedacht als öffentliche Toiletten zur Nutzung für die Allgemeinheit. In vielen kleineren Cafes, Gaststätten in der Innenstadt hier ist es üblich, dass die Toiletten verschlossen sind. Als Gast geht man zur Theke und bittet um den Schlüssel - nach Benutzung wird die Toilettentür wieder zugeschlossen und der Schlüssel zurück gegeben. Möchte jemand die Toilette benutzen und ist kein Gast, dann wird diesem aber der Schlüssel auch gegen die Gebühr von üblicherweise 50 Cent (max. 1 €) überlassen. Ich finde diese Art der Handhabung super und zahle gern für eine saubere Toilette.
@@simplegermany I think there are exceptions for when the toilet is in a mall or on the Autobahn. However, if there is a person in a restaurant's restrooms, you are not obliged to pay. It is nice to do so, but it's definitely not required, not even in Düsseldorf.
@@simplegermany So I looked it up and I take it all back. It is up to the state to let owners of bars etc. decide. The toilet must exist but the Gastronom can decide to charge you a fee. In other states than Nordrehein-Westphalen it is mandatory to have one free toilet at least. Didn't know this fact myself. My bathroom visits in Düsseldorf at least were always free (and there was a lot of Alt involved).
You can research the different siren signals in the bulletin by the ministry for civil protection. Saturday at 12 it is a test. Different kind of rising and falling howling sounds it informs you of chemical accidents, flooding etc. so the citizens turn on the news for further detail. One signal is for the local fire brigade (I think it's three unchanging sirenhowls) and a long signal of about 1 minute without change marks the end of a warning.
I remember when they were working on the A3 near Aschaffenburg and an excavator triggered a WWII bomb with his bucket. I heard the explosion downtown Aschaffenburg (that's several miles away). They didn't find too much of the excavator guy, either. So: yes. It makes sense to evacuate the larger area when a WWII bomb has been found.
My mother, born in 1934, still was shocked when the alarm came in the 80's because she did remember the bomb alarm. A whole generation has been mentally disturbed by 2nd World War. And in the 70's and the 80's, the "old" bomb alarm sound should warn for atomic bombs. Germany would have been the main front for World War 3. Every Friday 12 h at noon there was an test alarm. (We all hoped that World War 3 does not begin at 12 h.)
The equipment of supermarkets also varies greatly from region to region. In my area, for example, there are hardly any stores where you have to weigh something yourself. And the term "supermarket" is supposed to mean that all possible markets are brought together there. That's why a store that doesn't have at least a small drugstore or beverage department is not really a supermarket. The sirens were abandoned by the Federal Office for Catastrophe Protection until about 35 years ago. In some areas, however, the municipalities took them over and kept them for fire alerting. Where they no longer exist, they are now being restored or rebuilt ("fun" fact: such a siren can easily cost €140,000!). There used to be test alarms everywhere, but at different times (in the GDR, of course, centrally regulated at the same time). In my place of residence, for example, always on the first Saturday of the month. Here you hear the siren but more often times when the fire department must move out. I find of course toilet seats that were fully pissed also disgusting and according to the motto "Therefore, do to no one what you do not want to endure" ...
Yep, I moved to the US and men here pie standing - and therefore on the floor. No matter how much they tell me they don't, I can SEE it! And next time they go pie, they will stand with their feet where they pied on the floor last time. Before coming here, I didn't even know that people could possibly do that. Disgusting. I think I can only live here on the long run if I have my own little bathroom that I can keep hygienic...
Yes, the Alarm is a firealarm. For the Feuerwehr to drive to the firestation as fast as possible. If it's strait 12.00 Uhr or 13.00 Uhr the chances are high that its a test. The contracts (3 months) are a security thing - for both sides. Peeing when you stand is always a mess. If you don't believe it use a black light and you see the mess.
To correct you on point 4 Asterix & Obelix are very popular in Germany and among german kids but are actually not german. They started as a comic (movies came later) and I hope I dont mix it up right now I think the arts were created by a french drawingartist and the stories were written by a belgian author (In case I mixed it up it could be vice versa, but the creators are french and belgian for sure). There is a "Asterix&Obelix"-history-museum in france founded some years ago.
@@Mozart4000 Yes, I don't know where you are from but where I live they still do that at least once a month on Saturday at noon and if its on anonther day we know that somewhere there is a fire going on.
#2 Air raid siren. "A mechanical siren uses a rotor and stator to chop an air stream, which is forced through the siren by radial vanes in the spinning rotor" [wikipedia 'civil defence siren']. I've sounded one in training, just with an arm crank, and its super loud... deafeningly loud.
What a nice ride thru our Culture… Nice Episode… 1. Sirenealarm… as you explain, it‘s a relict from WW2 and cold war afterwards… the 1 min long signal is a sign for attention… the 1 min sinus wave signal is for air raid… the sinus wave with short Interruptions is the Signal for AtomicBiologicalChemestry(ABC) raid… in our times it’s offen the 1 min long Signal, then you can use the App NINA, which is used all over germany. If you are spotted your Postcode (Postleitzahl) then you get emergency Infos for your area, you’re stay… As you also said, in some local areas in the countrysides of germany it’s used as a Signal for the Freiwillige Feuerwehr ( Volunteers firefighters) for get together for an emergency case… in the small village, where i live, there is every first saturday of the month at 11.45 h a „Probealarm“… 2. Asterix & Obelix is translated in many Language, also in Latin (Latein)… 3. Pay for using the toilet… there is one thing you might think about it… in Clubs, Bars etc on Friday/Saturdaynight there is a Lot of Traffic at the toilets, sometimes it’s like a „rumble the Jungle“… therefore (out of a Tradition) are the „Klofrauen“ and „Klomänner“… to get the toilets clean and get the „Peace in the Places“… they often get a small salary and the Money, you are given is like a Tipp (like waiters/waitresses get for their Service). Think about it next time when you have to use the toilets… Last but not least… Why there is so many Bombenalarme nowerdays… in WW2 Germany and the allierds use the „Flächenbombadierungen“ as a method to destroy the War Industries and Shock’n Awe the civil Population to get the Enemy States to Surrender. In some areas of Germany ( Ruhrgebiet, bigger Cities like Cologne/Hamburg/Dresden/Coventry/London/Warsaw) there were massiv huge air raids with thousand and more tons of dropped Bombs. Not everyone exploded… in Germany there are offical Departments to check Photos, taken by allierds, for not exploded bombs… in some areas there is a rule to check the area before you can build a House or something else on the ground…. Looking fortwarf to your next episode😇😇😇😇👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
However regarding paying fo going to the toilet: You only have to pay if the Restaurant can tell you a location of a free, close public toilet. Because then you have another possibility and it's up to you whether you want to pay for a possibly cleaner toilet or use the next free one (also I learned that when I was in a very very whealthy area in a park and there was a very fancy restaurant and I really needed a bathroom. So I went up there and the waiter told me to pay 1€ but then a lawyer happend to be listening in and told me about this law and I didn't have to pay)
Bollerwagen are although from historical significance, because after WWII the 12 Million exspeled Germans from outside Germany, came from mostly Poland and Czechoslovakia but although from all over Europe, carrying their entire belonging in this handcarts. Also their was a lasting influence on German concision from Bertolt Brecht: "Mother Courage" telling the story of a mother with her handcart, going to quiet a experience and change of attitude.
In northern Germany toilets in restaurants, bars and stores are usually free for customers. In some bars in more central locations you have to get the toilet key from the barkeeper (who of cause would know if you just walzed in).
In my experience, it's not only the Apfelschorle, but all kinds of Schorles are quite popular. My wife is German and she makes Schorle out of a lot of thing. For example, Wineschorle, Rababaschorle usw..
The good thing about that contract stuff is, that it mostly goes both ways. Of course there are exceptions but in general both sides have similar rules. So, while people have to inform their landlord months in advance, if they want to move out, the landlord has to give them the same amount of time if he decides to stop the contract.
The signs of the war are pretty much everywhere still. The train station in the town I grew up in was built in 1867. They renovated it in 2010 and the new look weirded me out for some reason. It didn't look all that different but something was off. I couldn't put my finger on as to why that was until i noticed they'd also plugged all the bullet and shrapnel holes from WWII. I grew up with these and never gave it a second thought.
I am old and I remember when the whole "Pee sitting down" started. It started in the 1980s in student homes and WGs when girls started to complain about dirty toilets and when emancipation (anyone remembers?) reached its high, that was one thing, where we men had to align. Or get blamed for and exposed to the public.
Thought I'd comment xD 1. Where I live (South Hessen, Odenwald), you don't pay for the toilet in the café or Restaurant. Most have a sign: "Customers free - Others 50 Cents" or such. So Especially the café at the train station in Weinheim. You don't pay as customer (even if you just get something to go), just when you only want to use the toilet 2. I am one of the few who dislikes sparkling Juice/watered down Juice. I mainly drink sparkling Water and occasionally get some Juice, but I drink the Juice pure. Sodas I only drink when I am out with friends, or at their houses (We often come together to play boardgames). 3. When I was younger (around 20) we used the Bollerwagen for Parades (for Example at Fastnacht). We had our transportable radio that played the music in it, together with some Water/Juice/Soda to keep hydrated and sometimes 1 Pack of small drinks to celebrate when we finished (like Klopfer or such). Plus when we wore costumes we had our jackets in it as well in case one got cold. 4. I sometimes hear the Sirens where I live (really rural) though I never had an idea what they were used for (and no, I couldn't find anything in the internet or such) Ps. Thought answering in English would be more easy for non German speakers (Plus I am so used to comment in English xD)
Bosnia and Herzegovina also has those Bombing sirens they havent been really used since Bosnian War (1992-1995) and periodicly they are tested to see if they still work i whitnessed it few times every city has its own siren idk if its for speciffic Canton or City
Diese Alarmart wird nicht nur für Fliegeralarm benutzt. Auch gibt es Warntöne (Intervalle, Verschiedene Längen, an- und Abschwellende Alarmarten) für die Verschiedensten Arten. Während es Kalten krieges gab es weitere Alarmarten, wie ABC-Alarm (Atomare, Biologische oder Chemische Bedrohung bspw. vor einem bevorstehenden Nuklearangriff).
People in the USA do not like phone/internet/cable contracts. To compete, many companies now advertise "no contract!. You can cancel whenever you wish. Also, 30 days is usually the required notice needed for rentals, unless there is a signed lease with a certain time required. Automatic renewals on subscription services are also a thing, but being charged twice for a product sounds illegal and scammy! Love your videos by the way.
We have the "plane alarm" in Sweden too but we call it VMA (viktigt meddelande till allmänheten = important message to the public) and it is once every 3rd month.
Something to know the tests will always have first the all celar siren, followed by the warning, followed by the clear siren again. So the first one is to actually notify anybody in hearing range that this will be a equipment test
Good afternoon I mix water with almost every kind of juice, not only with apple juice, also with a grape, a cranberry juice or something like that, because a lot of these juice are really sweet and i personally don't like that. In restaurants you can find a choice of different juices mixed with sparkling water, it's very common. That extra payment for going to toilet in restaurant must be something very specific in your area. I never had that in Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania or Bavaria if you are a customer from the restaurant. Sometimes there is a little plate where you can give something voluntarily, but it's not an obligation. In a good restaurant is a clean toilet part of the service. Incidentally, this can be a way to see whether a restaurant is good, just take a look what the toilets look like. The area Rhine-Ruhr had a lot of industry Krupp and Miele for example, iron, steel, coal, mechanical engineering, armaments, a lot of train stations and harbours, an important infrastructure, therefore the aera was exposed to many bomb attacks, similar to North from Berlin to Oranienburg with Siemens, Borsig and AEG. A couple of times in a year the people have to deal with that situation of defusing a bomb.
When I worked in Potsdam they enlarged the train station. For two years or so, they found a bomb every couple of months, which always gave me a day off as I worked in the exclusion zone. 😁
so i've recently discovered your channel and i'm so glad because you two are so cute, i'm (as a german myself) also very interested in these impressions of germany and everything.. and lastly, i hope that's not weird, but you give me such hope and inspiration (i dont know if thats the correct way to express it) for adult wlw relationships, because i'm a baby lesbian and i rarely see any representation especially in adults❤️❤️ much love to you two!!
I thought the same about representation, too My gaydar was like 'are they roomies or...?' But I noticed the way you look at each other and found it so cool when you mentioned it I mean there are some wlw channels in here but I feel they focus just on the relationship which is great and interesting too With you guys it's just casual, fun and cute and you learn something new For example the last time someone slapped their thigh, said 'SO!' and got up I couldnt help but smirk quit a bit bc I suddenly saw it from an additional persepctive which is awesome :D Big thumbs up !
Originally the Heinzelmännchen are a Cologne thing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinzelm%C3%A4nnchen The Mainzelmännchen were named after them by the ZDF TV station which is based in the city of Mainz.
Mainzelmännchen = little men that come from the city Mainz, where the ZDF ( 2nd TV Channel in Germany) is headquartered. They have been inspired by Heinzelmännchen, which is a fairytale about little men that do all the work of humans overnight
I somehow like Meinzel Menschen even better than -männchen maybe some of them are femme or non binary? Btw the Maus just turned 50, I noticed from the current stamp illustration
Another alarm-related thing I encountered when last in Berlin, the Feuerwehr vehicle sirens are *ridiculously* loud, you couldn't sleep through them even with earplugs in. Over here, they're on a par with police / ambulance sirens
I'm a 38-year old German, and the only time I ever had to pay extra for using a restaurant toilet (as an already paying customer) was at a McDonalds in Frankfurt. 😅
A paying customer in a restaurant does not have to pay for the toilet. It's a voluntary pay and no must ... at least in the restaurants I have visited. And as far as I know they are not allowed to do so. Not including the Autobahn.
That thing that you can divorc only after 1 year of separation is not only in Germany, in Lithuania we have it too. Though if you are married and were not living together then it's much faster
We're mixing everything! Apple juice with soda, cola with lemonade, beer with lemonade or cola, white wine with soda, red wine with cola and of course Weizen beer with banana juice 🍻
My all time go to beverage to have at restaurants is Rotes Alster /Radler or Maracuja Schorle I used to only have the latter when going out and recently got into mixing my own one Thats another cool thing that you can choose how 'strong' you want it to be Like tfw you mix the perfect Schorle *chefs kiss* :D
In the northern part of Germany, there's a popular group sport walk "Boßeln" with Bollerwagen and a light rubber bowl: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%9Feln A group of people walk on a small asphalted street and a light ball is bowled along the street. Beer is in the Bollerwagen. There are two bowls for each team. The team win which has got the smallest number of throws.
If you read the comic "Calvin and Hobbes"... Calvin always pulls Hobbes around in a Bollerwagen. I love reading Asterix and Obelix comics too, my family are huge fans😊 I am from South East Asia, and I love your videos and webpage, they are helpful.
Friends of mine used to live in a flat in Frankfurt- Höchst, not too far from the huge chemical plant there. Their rental contract had three pages of regular contract and an annex of another three pages describing several alarm tones and what to do in case these alarms are sounded. Still, the rent was rather low for Frankfurt.....
Many people buy their phone without any contract - and sign up for a mobile phone and data plan contract without a physical phone. You get the SIM card that you put in your phone, set it up and you are done. This way you have more flexibility. You can keep your phone as long as you want, you can buy a new one after 2 or 5 or 8 years or never, well, it's your choice. And your monthly phone plan payments are for the the mobile phone services and mobile data services only. Or your physical data connection at home could have an additional mobile contract add-on, maybe... And "Apfelschorle" is in Austria "Apfelsaft gespritzt" or "gespritzter Apfelsaft". You can order it with sparkling water ("Mineral-Wasser") or with tap water ("Leitungs-Wasser"), you can order it small (0.2 liters) or big (0.5 liters). There are abbreviations and dialect forms like "Apfel Leitung klein" / "Apfel gschpritzt groß mit Mineral".
Das letzte Mal, dass ich einen Fliegeralarm (als Übung) gehört hatte, war in der Wendezeit. Interessant, dass das weiterhin praktiziert wird. Und Apfelschorle mag ich gar nicht, aber viele andere.
ok so I don't like apfelschorle cuz it's usually going straight through me and I gotta go pee. which I do sitting (IF I don't have to clean the toilett. at home I pee standing or sitting however I feel like it cuz I have to clean it.
I am German and I only like certain types of Apfelschorle. The only pre-made Apfelschorle i like is "Lift" and only when it is cold and otherwise only housemade Apfelschorle with very sweet applejuice (usually Granini or Beckers Bester) with at least 50% applejuice in it. Btw, aside from McDonalds i think i had only two restaurants where I had to pay for using the toilet in my whole 46 years.
You still have those sirens? Here in the very South of Germany, I haven't heard a siren in 40 years or so, I think they have all been removed. Same with the toilet fees, is this also more of a regional thing? I cannot remember when I last saw such a person in Germany at a restaurant or even shop toilet that expected a tip, in my whole life I only experienced this surely less than 5 times (another thing are toilets at train stations or highway gas stations, there it's indeed customary now to have to pay).
The Sirens get tested every first saturday at 10 or 11 am. Get the NINA App, that adds more info. Or start your radio. If you like Bollerwagen, take a look a Maiwagen, they can become quit big vehicles :D
Astérix started as a cartoon. Best thing is that you can get them nowadays in different German dialects / colloquialisms which is a lot of fun reading.
When I was a kid, we used to do races with the Bollerwagen because almost everyone had one. But since they don‘t have breaks we were glad that the street wasn‘t very steep, because we had to break with the soles of our shoes. 😉 And yes, Asterix and Obelix are very popular in Germany, but since the comic originated in France and the films are french too, I think it‘s even more popular in France not only maybe but imho for sure. 😉
The bomb thing is bad enough, but if you own a house/ground and a bomb is found on your ground you are the lucky one having to pay for removing it ! In Austria the alarms have always been active. For fire alarms also in bigger cities (I hear them at least once a week). And every saturday noon there is a test alarm country wide. And once a year the big test like you have shown in the video.
I'm not a huge fan of Apfelschorle, but mostly because I don't like apple juice. I do mix other juices with tap water from time to time though (depedning on the juice - mixing banana juice with water makes is miserable).
Warum auch immer wird behauptet, dass man in Restaurants für die Toilette bezahlen muss. Noch nie in meinem (langen) Leben musste ich in einem Restaurant, in dem ich esse, für die Toilette bezahlen muss (Mal die Autobahn ausgenommen, aber dort bekommt man das Geld meist erstattet).
usually, where I live, when you ate at the reataurant, then you don't need to pay, but if you didn't, then you usually need to pay like 50ct. Well sometimes, theres just a person sitting there, hoping that youre gonna give money, but you don't need to. And then there are these "nette Toillette" where you don't need to pay to go to toilet :)
Not living in Germany but several years ago I was lying awake in bed in the morning and I heard a siren go off that scared the living crap out of me. It was the first time I'd ever heard it and it sounded similar to an airraid siren which I'd never heard at that point either. That distinct sound is soo unnerving it's crazy lol. Turned out it was the firestation's alarm. There's one very close to my house. And I find having to wait a year for a divorce to be way too long. There are people who live in absolute misery for years without separating. I don't see why it's necessary for a couple to live apart for a divorce to be legitiment. It's even more complicated if there are children and if the wife doesn't work. Also i hate Apfelschorle lmao. Again not German but yeah.
I don't like ANY kind of "Schorle". Watering down something - nah. It's not that you'd water down a juice CONCENTRATE, it's watering down a normal, perfectly drinkable beverage. The ONLY such thing I'd drink is "Gespritzter" (= Apfelwein mixed with sparkling water - here it makes sense as it's an alcoholic beverage.
There are no alarms here(Berlin). They removed them decades ago, because nobody used them. There is an App called Nina, wich should alert people in an emergency situation like flood, storm etc. But Nina didn't work on the emergency alert test day. So nothing happened at all at this day and people were joking about it all over socal media.
Re: men peeing, an alternative is to kneel down, particularly for those of us with esp. long legs, this minimises kinetic energy acquired by "the stream" & allows it to be directed to the sides to avoid splashback. Well, you did broach the subject ... you sounded like you were lecturing others without the requisite "insider knowledge" :-)
Katastrophenalarm. Still exists here, but I haven't heard it for a while. BTW: Bollerwagen... I'm not 100% sure, but in the children's series (already very old) "Wir Kinder von Bullerbü" (based on Astrid Lindgren's books) I think they also used Bollerwagen. So this is nothing typically German! In the past, one has transported a lot with it. We loved reading Asterix and Obelix when we were kids. And that was over 40 years ago. And it was always a challenge for us who could learn Latain better. Some had it later in Gymnasium as well. :-) Cell phone contracts in Germany are often pure rip-offs. The providers can do whatever they want here, since there are only three major providers anyway, among whom everything is divided. In the meantime, however, some providers also offer simple (inexpensive) card contracts (without cell phones) that can be canceled on a monthly basis. Peeing while sitting is still a contentious issue between my wife and me. I have never had to pay in a restaurant when I wanted to use the toilet. I know that only in department stores, where you can also eat.
I am a 72 year old bisexual woman who moved to Northern Germany (Husum, on the west coast, north of Hamburg) with my female German lover. After a few years she moved on to another relationship and a couple of years after that, I began
With the separation year (and the costs of getting a divorce): that's less romantic reasons or religious. During marriage partners do but also have to support each other. Financially, that is. To an extent that's also true after divorce, but that can get - err - complicated and the state has to step in. They don't want that.
For the siren, if it is not one time (for function test), 3 times, all same duration, is only for the voluntary fire brigade, THW, etc. As a notice to report to their headquarters because of an emergency. If the alarm keeps on for more than 3 times, everyone have to find shelter. Loool, i grow up in a Bollerwagen. Actually my sister too. They are for sure not founded to carry beer around, they are for everything. If someone try to tell you that, its a hoax. For horses have you a carriage, single person just have a hand carriage. Bollerwagen. Same with two year contracts, its a hoax. Of course, the sales persons always try to sell them, but I never sign any contract which I can not cancel every time I want.
One of the best bomb founds was some years ago in the city center of Munich. They evacuated the whole area and when they could not remove the bomb, they had to let it explode. They did some miscalculation and all windows were smashed in the whole of Schwabing.
Hello ladys first of all its warnday once in a year but back in the days on the members of the firebrigade was alarmed in the same way.today we are using an melder all over the place to not disturb the people around.i am f
I didn't pay much attention to the documentaries about Germany out of superstition - every time I was getting too attached of a country they were bought or forced to block me. But Apfelschorle broke my resistance and I remembered that if I would live somewhere else, Germany would be among my top options.
Ahh verdammt. Ich habe schon so viele Videos von euch geschaut, dass UA-cam mir eure Videos schon direkt nach dem Uploaden vorschlagen. Wird wohl Zeit zu abonnieren.
Cute, unexpected insights to our daily life! Unexploded bombs: They are particularily dangerous to explode while being deactivated, hence the evacuations. Alarms: They test the sirens with the "all-clear" sign. You hear more sirens in small villages STILL TODAY when the voluntary fire brigades are alarmed like that. Professional brigades in cities use electronic means. Bollerwagen ("Handwagen") are a part of the German road laws (StVO)!!
Because of my Asterix knowledge I could cut my latin class in school. Veni, vidi, vici! =;-) I have never experienced a toilet in a restaurant where I had to pay for as a customer, And I am frequently in lots of restaurants, at least here in Baden-Württemberg. However, I don't count the rest stops on the Autobahn, because they are just self service places and not real restaurants.
Doch, das passiert bei Klofrauen (diesen alten Damen die zwischen Herren- und Damenklo an einem Tischchen mit Spitzendeckchen sitzen) bei Restaurants an beliebten Ausflugszielen wenn sie denken dass du kein Kunde sondern nur Klogänger bist.
I was in Neu Isenburg in the Groundschool- Years later I heard that they enlarged the schoolhouse-by the footingwork they found thousands of antiaircraftmunition-we played for years on top of them football- just stay cool 😨 by the way in the DDR they used Bullerwagen for five Kids-funny pictures resarch that!
Gibt verschiedene Apps zB Nina de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NINA_(App) wo man über solche Alarme informiert wird. Darüber werden auch andere Alarme ausgespielt zB wenn in der nähe ein größerer Brand ist und Fenster und Türen geschlossen werden sollten. Übrigens Feueralarm hat eine andre Tonfolge 12 Sekunden dauerton 12 Sekunden Pause das ganze wird 3mal wieder holt: ua-cam.com/video/sgw-P-lBFsU/v-deo.html
I think your explanation for the sirens is wrong. In Frankfurt you can different alarms. You can alarm fire alarm or alarm from a chemical industry. You can differ between the sounds.
Apfelschorle is great. :-) But Everything can turn into a "schorle", f.e. Wein (Weinschorle), White-Wine with water. But if you cross the border and try to mix beer with water you are better be an austrian, or an US-American (they simply don't taste the difference, or in other words: pisswater is quite normal for them), thats not a thing in germany. I know some friends of mine who will punish you directly for this crime. Mixed Beer with lemonade is common and accepted, but not loved. ;-)
I'm a German who doesn't like Apfelschorle... Well, I liked it as a kid. But now I can't drink apple juice because it makes me feel sick. So I don't like Apfelschorle anymore :/
![The Schufa in Germany - [EXPLAINED in English]](/img/n.gif)
Hi, I'm a German who grew up in the Netherlands, studied in the UK and have been living in Spain for 25 years.
I visit my parents and a few friends in Germany but sometimes feel like a foreigner in that I am not up to date on social information, cultural stuff...
So I enjoyed your takes on things. Here in Spain I am considered too direct a lot of the times and led to conversations about the differences in communicating
And how it is considered.
Also, I notice the amount of complaining Germans do about irrelevant things, at least it seems that way to me now.
Definitely fascinating to talk about with friends from different places.
Viel Glück!
I live in a small village and here the sirens are still used to alert the members of the volunteer fire brigade for a fire or a big accident.
The bathrooms in Restaurants are actually free . You don't HAVE to pay to use it. The person sitting there waiting for you to give money is usually the person who cleans the toilet that day or evening and expacting you to tip him or her, quiet like a waiter or a housekeeping service in a hotel. It's a nice way for them to make some extra tax-free cash.
Correct. And they are often not employees of the restaurant. So that money in most cases goes directly to the person cleaning and not to the restaurant.
In normalen Restaurants und Gaststätten ist die Benutzung der Toiletten komplett frei und es ist niemand da, der eine Zahlung erwartet. Die Sache verhält sich nur etwas anders, wenn es sich um Restaurants im Stadtzentrum oder in Autobahnraststätten handelt. Die Toiletten sind da für Gäste und sind nicht gedacht als öffentliche Toiletten zur Nutzung für die Allgemeinheit.
In vielen kleineren Cafes, Gaststätten in der Innenstadt hier ist es üblich, dass die Toiletten verschlossen sind. Als Gast geht man zur Theke und bittet um den Schlüssel - nach Benutzung wird die Toilettentür wieder zugeschlossen und der Schlüssel zurück gegeben.
Möchte jemand die Toilette benutzen und ist kein Gast, dann wird diesem aber der Schlüssel auch gegen die Gebühr von üblicherweise 50 Cent (max. 1 €) überlassen.
Ich finde diese Art der Handhabung super und zahle gern für eine saubere Toilette.
In no restaurant I have ever been I had to pay for the toilet in Germany. It is a law that restaurants have to provide free toilets.
Correct.
Same with me. As a guest I don't need to pay.
I guess Düsseldorf offers some exceptions 🤷🏽♀️
@@simplegermany I think there are exceptions for when the toilet is in a mall or on the Autobahn. However, if there is a person in a restaurant's restrooms, you are not obliged to pay. It is nice to do so, but it's definitely not required, not even in Düsseldorf.
@@simplegermany So I looked it up and I take it all back. It is up to the state to let owners of bars etc. decide. The toilet must exist but the Gastronom can decide to charge you a fee. In other states than Nordrehein-Westphalen it is mandatory to have one free toilet at least. Didn't know this fact myself. My bathroom visits in Düsseldorf at least were always free (and there was a lot of Alt involved).
You can research the different siren signals in the bulletin by the ministry for civil protection. Saturday at 12 it is a test. Different kind of rising and falling howling sounds it informs you of chemical accidents, flooding etc. so the citizens turn on the news for further detail. One signal is for the local fire brigade (I think it's three unchanging sirenhowls) and a long signal of about 1 minute without change marks the end of a warning.
I remember when they were working on the A3 near Aschaffenburg and an excavator triggered a WWII bomb with his bucket. I heard the explosion downtown Aschaffenburg (that's several miles away). They didn't find too much of the excavator guy, either. So: yes. It makes sense to evacuate the larger area when a WWII bomb has been found.
Ich wohnte damals in Mainaschaff bei Aschaffenburg, ich hab den Knall gehört.
My mother, born in 1934, still was shocked when the alarm came in the 80's because she did remember the bomb alarm. A whole generation has been mentally disturbed by 2nd World War. And in the 70's and the 80's, the "old" bomb alarm sound should warn for atomic bombs. Germany would have been the main front for World War 3. Every Friday 12 h at noon there was an test alarm. (We all hoped that World War 3 does not begin at 12 h.)
The equipment of supermarkets also varies greatly from region to region. In my area, for example, there are hardly any stores where you have to weigh something yourself. And the term "supermarket" is supposed to mean that all possible markets are brought together there. That's why a store that doesn't have at least a small drugstore or beverage department is not really a supermarket.
The sirens were abandoned by the Federal Office for Catastrophe Protection until about 35 years ago. In some areas, however, the municipalities took them over and kept them for fire alerting. Where they no longer exist, they are now being restored or rebuilt ("fun" fact: such a siren can easily cost €140,000!). There used to be test alarms everywhere, but at different times (in the GDR, of course, centrally regulated at the same time). In my place of residence, for example, always on the first Saturday of the month. Here you hear the siren but more often times when the fire department must move out.
I find of course toilet seats that were fully pissed also disgusting and according to the motto "Therefore, do to no one what you do not want to endure" ...
Yep, I moved to the US and men here pie standing - and therefore on the floor. No matter how much they tell me they don't, I can SEE it! And next time they go pie, they will stand with their feet where they pied on the floor last time. Before coming here, I didn't even know that people could possibly do that. Disgusting. I think I can only live here on the long run if I have my own little bathroom that I can keep hygienic...
Yes, the Alarm is a firealarm. For the Feuerwehr to drive to the firestation as fast as possible. If it's strait 12.00 Uhr or 13.00 Uhr the chances are high that its a test.
The contracts (3 months) are a security thing - for both sides.
Peeing when you stand is always a mess. If you don't believe it use a black light and you see the mess.
To correct you on point 4 Asterix & Obelix are very popular in Germany and among german kids but are actually not german. They started as a comic (movies came later) and I hope I dont mix it up right now I think the arts were created by a french drawingartist and the stories were written by a belgian author (In case I mixed it up it could be vice versa, but the creators are french and belgian for sure). There is a "Asterix&Obelix"-history-museum in france founded some years ago.
I remeber the fliegeralarm getting tested every saturday at 12pm. That was the sign for all kids to get home for lunch...
Same in the Netherlands, first monday of the month and its f*cking LOOUUUUUUUD!!!!!!!!!
We have a weekly test (every Saturday at 11.30 a.m.) of the siren of our local firefighter station.
@@Mozart4000 Yes, I don't know where you are from but where I live they still do that at least once a month on Saturday at noon and if its on anonther day we know that somewhere there is a fire going on.
@Rabennase3 - agreed! That's correct!
In Dresden (Saxony) Thursday 3p.m. :-)
#2 Air raid siren. "A mechanical siren uses a rotor and stator to chop an air stream, which is forced through the siren by radial vanes in the spinning rotor" [wikipedia 'civil defence siren']. I've sounded one in training, just with an arm crank, and its super loud... deafeningly loud.
And say howsit to your South African friend 🤙
What a nice ride thru our Culture…
Nice Episode… 1. Sirenealarm… as you explain, it‘s a relict from WW2 and cold war afterwards… the 1 min long signal is a sign for attention… the 1 min sinus wave signal is for air raid… the sinus wave with short Interruptions is the Signal for AtomicBiologicalChemestry(ABC) raid… in our times it’s offen the 1 min long Signal, then you can use the App NINA, which is used all over germany. If you are spotted your Postcode (Postleitzahl) then you get emergency Infos for your area, you’re stay…
As you also said, in some local areas in the countrysides of germany it’s used as a Signal for the Freiwillige Feuerwehr ( Volunteers firefighters) for get together for an emergency case… in the small village, where i live, there is every first saturday of the month at 11.45 h a „Probealarm“…
2. Asterix & Obelix is translated in many Language, also in Latin (Latein)…
3. Pay for using the toilet… there is one thing you might think about it… in Clubs, Bars etc on Friday/Saturdaynight there is a Lot of Traffic at the toilets, sometimes it’s like a „rumble the Jungle“… therefore (out of a Tradition) are the „Klofrauen“ and „Klomänner“… to get the toilets clean and get the „Peace in the Places“… they often get a small salary and the Money, you are given is like a Tipp (like waiters/waitresses get for their Service). Think about it next time when you have to use the toilets…
Last but not least… Why there is so many Bombenalarme nowerdays… in WW2 Germany and the allierds use the „Flächenbombadierungen“ as a method to destroy the War Industries and Shock’n Awe the civil Population to get the Enemy States to Surrender. In some areas of Germany ( Ruhrgebiet, bigger Cities like Cologne/Hamburg/Dresden/Coventry/London/Warsaw) there were massiv huge air raids with thousand and more tons of dropped Bombs. Not everyone exploded… in Germany there are offical Departments to check Photos, taken by allierds, for not exploded bombs… in some areas there is a rule to check the area before you can build a House or something else on the ground….
Looking fortwarf to your next episode😇😇😇😇👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
However regarding paying fo going to the toilet: You only have to pay if the Restaurant can tell you a location of a free, close public toilet. Because then you have another possibility and it's up to you whether you want to pay for a possibly cleaner toilet or use the next free one (also I learned that when I was in a very very whealthy area in a park and there was a very fancy restaurant and I really needed a bathroom. So I went up there and the waiter told me to pay 1€ but then a lawyer happend to be listening in and told me about this law and I didn't have to pay)
Bollerwagen are although from historical significance, because after WWII the 12 Million exspeled Germans from outside Germany, came from mostly Poland and Czechoslovakia but although from all over Europe, carrying their entire belonging in this handcarts.
Also their was a lasting influence on German concision from Bertolt Brecht: "Mother Courage" telling the story of a mother with her handcart, going to quiet a experience and change of attitude.
In northern Germany toilets in restaurants, bars and stores are usually free for customers. In some bars in more central locations you have to get the toilet key from the barkeeper (who of cause would know if you just walzed in).
In my experience, it's not only the Apfelschorle, but all kinds of Schorles are quite popular. My wife is German and she makes Schorle out of a lot of thing. For example, Wineschorle, Rababaschorle usw..
I also like that too!
Agreed! We would like to think that the Apfelschorle came first and paved the way for the other Schorles 😅
That's right, my wife really loves Johannesbeerschorle (sorry don't know the english word).
The good thing about that contract stuff is, that it mostly goes both ways. Of course there are exceptions but in general both sides have similar rules. So, while people have to inform their landlord months in advance, if they want to move out, the landlord has to give them the same amount of time if he decides to stop the contract.
The signs of the war are pretty much everywhere still. The train station in the town I grew up in was built in 1867. They renovated it in 2010 and the new look weirded me out for some reason. It didn't look all that different but something was off.
I couldn't put my finger on as to why that was until i noticed they'd also plugged all the bullet and shrapnel holes from WWII. I grew up with these and never gave it a second thought.
I am old and I remember when the whole "Pee sitting down" started. It started in the 1980s in student homes and WGs when girls started to complain about dirty toilets and when emancipation (anyone remembers?) reached its high, that was one thing, where we men had to align. Or get blamed for and exposed to the public.
Ich sage nur Alice Schwarzer! ;-)
Thought I'd comment xD
1. Where I live (South Hessen, Odenwald), you don't pay for the toilet in the café or Restaurant. Most have a sign: "Customers free - Others 50 Cents" or such. So Especially the café at the train station in Weinheim. You don't pay as customer (even if you just get something to go), just when you only want to use the toilet
2. I am one of the few who dislikes sparkling Juice/watered down Juice. I mainly drink sparkling Water and occasionally get some Juice, but I drink the Juice pure. Sodas I only drink when I am out with friends, or at their houses (We often come together to play boardgames).
3. When I was younger (around 20) we used the Bollerwagen for Parades (for Example at Fastnacht). We had our transportable radio that played the music in it, together with some Water/Juice/Soda to keep hydrated and sometimes 1 Pack of small drinks to celebrate when we finished (like Klopfer or such).
Plus when we wore costumes we had our jackets in it as well in case one got cold.
4. I sometimes hear the Sirens where I live (really rural) though I never had an idea what they were used for (and no, I couldn't find anything in the internet or such)
Ps. Thought answering in English would be more easy for non German speakers (Plus I am so used to comment in English xD)
Bosnia and Herzegovina also has those Bombing sirens they havent been really used since Bosnian War (1992-1995) and periodicly they are tested to see if they still work i whitnessed it few times every city has its own siren idk if its for speciffic Canton or City
Watching you guys is becoming a daily habit of mine, I hope to move to Germany soon, and maybe in the future come to Dusseldorf and hang out!
In my town, the fire alarm is still always tested on the first saturday of each month at 12pm
In our small town the sirenes were used for the fire service and they are still tested each Monday at 5 pm.
great video!!! I am also an expat living in Germany close to Frankfurt! looking forward to more videos! just subscribed!
Diese Alarmart wird nicht nur für Fliegeralarm benutzt.
Auch gibt es Warntöne (Intervalle, Verschiedene Längen, an- und Abschwellende Alarmarten) für die Verschiedensten Arten.
Während es Kalten krieges gab es weitere Alarmarten, wie ABC-Alarm (Atomare, Biologische oder Chemische Bedrohung bspw. vor einem bevorstehenden Nuklearangriff).
People in the USA do not like phone/internet/cable contracts. To compete, many companies now advertise "no contract!. You can cancel whenever you wish.
Also, 30 days is usually the required notice needed for rentals, unless there is a signed lease with a certain time required.
Automatic renewals on subscription services are also a thing, but being charged twice for a product sounds illegal and scammy!
Love your videos by the way.
We have the "plane alarm" in Sweden too but we call it VMA (viktigt meddelande till allmänheten = important message to the public) and it is once every 3rd month.
Bunch of love for both of you! Ihr seid wunderbar ❤️❤️
Something to know the tests will always have first the all celar siren, followed by the warning, followed by the clear siren again.
So the first one is to actually notify anybody in hearing range that this will be a equipment test
Good afternoon
I mix water with almost every kind of juice, not only with apple juice, also with a grape, a cranberry juice or something like that, because a lot of these juice are really sweet and i personally don't like that.
In restaurants you can find a choice of different juices mixed with sparkling water,
it's very common.
That extra payment for going to toilet in restaurant must be something very specific in your area.
I never had that in Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg Western Pomerania or Bavaria if you are a customer from the restaurant.
Sometimes there is a little plate where you can give something voluntarily, but it's not an obligation.
In a good restaurant is a clean toilet part of the service.
Incidentally, this can be a way to see whether a restaurant is good,
just take a look what the toilets look like.
The area Rhine-Ruhr had a lot of industry Krupp and Miele
for example,
iron, steel, coal, mechanical engineering, armaments, a lot of train stations and harbours, an important infrastructure, therefore the aera was exposed to many bomb attacks, similar to North from Berlin to Oranienburg with Siemens, Borsig and AEG.
A couple of times in a year
the people have to deal with that situation of defusing a bomb.
When I worked in Potsdam they enlarged the train station. For two years or so, they found a bomb every couple of months, which always gave me a day off as I worked in the exclusion zone. 😁
so i've recently discovered your channel and i'm so glad because you two are so cute, i'm (as a german myself) also very interested in these impressions of germany and everything.. and lastly, i hope that's not weird, but you give me such hope and inspiration (i dont know if thats the correct way to express it) for adult wlw relationships, because i'm a baby lesbian and i rarely see any representation especially in adults❤️❤️ much love to you two!!
I thought the same about representation, too
My gaydar was like 'are they roomies or...?'
But I noticed the way you look at each other and found it so cool when you mentioned it
I mean there are some wlw channels in here but I feel they focus just on the relationship
which is great and interesting too
With you guys it's just casual, fun and cute and you learn something new
For example the last time someone slapped their thigh, said 'SO!' and got up I couldnt help but smirk quit a bit bc I suddenly saw it from an additional persepctive which is awesome :D
Big thumbs up !
Oh yeah, I'm following this channel cuz I like to see people living with it and not making a big deal of it, gives hope for me too :)
I learned only recently about the Meinzel Menschen, which apparently everyone knows like Asterix and Obelix. And also Die Sendung mit dem Maus...
Meinzel Männchen...
Mainzelmännchen
Originally the Heinzelmännchen are a Cologne thing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinzelm%C3%A4nnchen
The Mainzelmännchen were named after them by the ZDF TV station which is based in the city of Mainz.
Mainzelmännchen = little men that come from the city Mainz, where the ZDF ( 2nd TV Channel in Germany) is headquartered. They have been inspired by Heinzelmännchen, which is a fairytale about little men that do all the work of humans overnight
I somehow like Meinzel Menschen even better than -männchen
maybe some of them are femme or non binary?
Btw the Maus just turned 50, I noticed from the current stamp illustration
There is free public toilets.
Only the fuel/resting/restaurant stations on highways have perfectionized the pay system.
Another alarm-related thing I encountered when last in Berlin, the Feuerwehr vehicle sirens are *ridiculously* loud, you couldn't sleep through them even with earplugs in. Over here, they're on a par with police / ambulance sirens
I'm a 38-year old German, and the only time I ever had to pay extra for using a restaurant toilet (as an already paying customer) was at a McDonalds in Frankfurt. 😅
A paying customer in a restaurant does not have to pay for the toilet. It's a voluntary pay and no must ... at least in the restaurants I have visited. And as far as I know they are not allowed to do so. Not including the Autobahn.
I would be really interested to learn more about your Latin culture!
The staff with the phone exactly it happend to us ...here in Canada...so contract expired after the 2 years contract..
That thing that you can divorc only after 1 year of separation is not only in Germany, in Lithuania we have it too. Though if you are married and were not living together then it's much faster
We're mixing everything! Apple juice with soda, cola with lemonade, beer with lemonade or cola, white wine with soda, red wine with cola and of course Weizen beer with banana juice 🍻
My all time go to beverage to have at restaurants is Rotes Alster /Radler or Maracuja Schorle
I used to only have the latter when going out and recently got into mixing my own one
Thats another cool thing that you can choose how 'strong' you want it to be
Like tfw you mix the perfect Schorle *chefs kiss* :D
In the northern part of Germany, there's a popular group sport walk "Boßeln" with Bollerwagen and a light rubber bowl:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C3%9Feln
A group of people walk on a small asphalted street and a light ball is bowled along the street. Beer is in the Bollerwagen. There are two bowls for each team. The team win which has got the smallest number of throws.
If you read the comic "Calvin and Hobbes"... Calvin always pulls Hobbes around in a Bollerwagen.
I love reading Asterix and Obelix comics too, my family are huge fans😊
I am from South East Asia, and I love your videos and webpage, they are helpful.
Friends of mine used to live in a flat in Frankfurt- Höchst, not too far from the huge chemical plant there.
Their rental contract had three pages of regular contract and an annex of another three pages describing several alarm tones and what to do in case these alarms are sounded.
Still, the rent was rather low for Frankfurt.....
that risk people take to save a few bucks
Many people buy their phone without any contract - and sign up for a mobile phone and data plan contract without a physical phone. You get the SIM card that you put in your phone, set it up and you are done.
This way you have more flexibility. You can keep your phone as long as you want, you can buy a new one after 2 or 5 or 8 years or never, well, it's your choice.
And your monthly phone plan payments are for the the mobile phone services and mobile data services only. Or your physical data connection at home could have an additional mobile contract add-on, maybe...
And "Apfelschorle" is in Austria "Apfelsaft gespritzt" or "gespritzter Apfelsaft". You can order it with sparkling water ("Mineral-Wasser") or with tap water ("Leitungs-Wasser"), you can order it small (0.2 liters) or big (0.5 liters).
There are abbreviations and dialect forms like "Apfel Leitung klein" / "Apfel gschpritzt groß mit Mineral".
Das letzte Mal, dass ich einen Fliegeralarm (als Übung) gehört hatte, war in der Wendezeit. Interessant, dass das weiterhin praktiziert wird.
Und Apfelschorle mag ich gar nicht, aber viele andere.
ok so I don't like apfelschorle cuz it's usually going straight through me and I gotta go pee. which I do sitting (IF I don't have to clean the toilett. at home I pee standing or sitting however I feel like it cuz I have to clean it.
The alarms/sirens are tested every first Saturday of a month at 11.
I am German and I only like certain types of Apfelschorle. The only pre-made Apfelschorle i like is "Lift" and only when it is cold and otherwise only housemade Apfelschorle with very sweet applejuice (usually Granini or Beckers Bester) with at least 50% applejuice in it. Btw, aside from McDonalds i think i had only two restaurants where I had to pay for using the toilet in my whole 46 years.
You still have those sirens? Here in the very South of Germany, I haven't heard a siren in 40 years or so, I think they have all been removed. Same with the toilet fees, is this also more of a regional thing? I cannot remember when I last saw such a person in Germany at a restaurant or even shop toilet that expected a tip, in my whole life I only experienced this surely less than 5 times (another thing are toilets at train stations or highway gas stations, there it's indeed customary now to have to pay).
You must try grapefruitschorle, verry refreshing.
The Sirens get tested every first saturday at 10 or 11 am. Get the NINA App, that adds more info. Or start your radio.
If you like Bollerwagen, take a look a Maiwagen, they can become quit big vehicles :D
Astérix started as a cartoon. Best thing is that you can get them nowadays in different German dialects / colloquialisms which is a lot of fun reading.
When I was a kid, we used to do races with the Bollerwagen because almost everyone had one. But since they don‘t have breaks we were glad that the street wasn‘t very steep, because we had to break with the soles of our shoes. 😉
And yes, Asterix and Obelix are very popular in Germany, but since the comic originated in France and the films are french too, I think it‘s even more popular in France not only maybe but imho for sure. 😉
The bomb thing is bad enough, but if you own a house/ground and a bomb is found on your ground you are the lucky one having to pay for removing it !
In Austria the alarms have always been active. For fire alarms also in bigger cities (I hear them at least once a week). And every saturday noon there is a test alarm country wide. And once a year the big test like you have shown in the video.
In Ireland when a lady intent visiting a bathroom ,they'll say: 'I need to spend a penny'
😅 thanks for sharing! That would also confuse me! Whenever I’m in Ireland I’ll keep that in mind ☺️
Paying public toilet is also commen in Holland and Belgium
I really hate Apfelschorle, but also any other flavoured water as well.
I'm not a huge fan of Apfelschorle, but mostly because I don't like apple juice. I do mix other juices with tap water from time to time though (depedning on the juice - mixing banana juice with water makes is miserable).
Warum auch immer wird behauptet, dass man in Restaurants für die Toilette bezahlen muss. Noch nie in meinem (langen) Leben musste ich in einem Restaurant, in dem ich esse, für die Toilette bezahlen muss (Mal die Autobahn ausgenommen, aber dort bekommt man das Geld meist erstattet).
usually, where I live, when you ate at the reataurant, then you don't need to pay, but if you didn't, then you usually need to pay like 50ct. Well sometimes, theres just a person sitting there, hoping that youre gonna give money, but you don't need to. And then there are these "nette Toillette" where you don't need to pay to go to toilet :)
Not living in Germany but several years ago I was lying awake in bed in the morning and I heard a siren go off that scared the living crap out of me. It was the first time I'd ever heard it and it sounded similar to an airraid siren which I'd never heard at that point either. That distinct sound is soo unnerving it's crazy lol. Turned out it was the firestation's alarm. There's one very close to my house.
And I find having to wait a year for a divorce to be way too long. There are people who live in absolute misery for years without separating. I don't see why it's necessary for a couple to live apart for a divorce to be legitiment. It's even more complicated if there are children and if the wife doesn't work.
Also i hate Apfelschorle lmao. Again not German but yeah.
Only some toilets are pay. Some restaurants don't charge, but are for customers only
I don't like Apfelschorle, I always order a mix of Apfelsaft (apple juice) with non-sparkling water (Stilles Wasser).
I don't like ANY kind of "Schorle". Watering down something - nah.
It's not that you'd water down a juice CONCENTRATE, it's watering down a normal, perfectly drinkable beverage.
The ONLY such thing I'd drink is "Gespritzter" (= Apfelwein mixed with sparkling water - here it makes sense as it's an alcoholic beverage.
Boiler wagon! In the USA they were called a little red wagon when I was growing up!
It is called Bollerwagen. It has nothing to do with boiling, bollern refers to the sound heard when rolling on cobblestone pavement.
There are no alarms here(Berlin). They removed them decades ago, because nobody used them. There is an App called Nina, wich should alert people in an emergency situation like flood, storm etc. But Nina didn't work on the emergency alert test day. So nothing happened at all at this day and people were joking about it all over socal media.
🙈
I learned about Asterix from my in-laws in Brazil. 🇧🇷🙂
(I really enjoy your videos, even though I have no plans to live in Germany. 🙂)
-Sarah
I'm wondering what language you two use at home? Fun watching you!
We speak infused English 😅 80% English with the rest a mix of German and Spanish
@@simplegermany Thanks!
In New York they test the alarm system just like that when l was growing up!
Ah, interesting!
That was in cold war times, I guess?
Re: men peeing, an alternative is to kneel down, particularly for those of us with esp. long legs, this minimises kinetic energy acquired by "the stream" & allows it to be directed to the sides to avoid splashback. Well, you did broach the subject ... you sounded like you were lecturing others without the requisite "insider knowledge" :-)
Katastrophenalarm. Still exists here, but I haven't heard it for a while.
BTW: Bollerwagen... I'm not 100% sure, but in the children's series (already very old) "Wir Kinder von Bullerbü" (based on Astrid Lindgren's books) I think they also used Bollerwagen. So this is nothing typically German! In the past, one has transported a lot with it.
We loved reading Asterix and Obelix when we were kids. And that was over 40 years ago. And it was always a challenge for us who could learn Latain better. Some had it later in Gymnasium as well. :-)
Cell phone contracts in Germany are often pure rip-offs. The providers can do whatever they want here, since there are only three major providers anyway, among whom everything is divided.
In the meantime, however, some providers also offer simple (inexpensive) card contracts (without cell phones) that can be canceled on a monthly basis.
Peeing while sitting is still a contentious issue between my wife and me.
I have never had to pay in a restaurant when I wanted to use the toilet. I know that only in department stores, where you can also eat.
I am a 72 year old bisexual woman who moved to Northern Germany (Husum, on the west coast, north of Hamburg) with my female German lover. After a few years she moved on to another relationship and a couple of years after that, I began
With the separation year (and the costs of getting a divorce): that's less romantic reasons or religious. During marriage partners do but also have to support each other. Financially, that is. To an extent that's also true after divorce, but that can get - err - complicated and the state has to step in. They don't want that.
For the siren, if it is not one time (for function test), 3 times, all same duration, is only for the voluntary fire brigade, THW, etc. As a notice to report to their headquarters because of an emergency. If the alarm keeps on for more than 3 times, everyone have to find shelter.
Loool, i grow up in a Bollerwagen. Actually my sister too. They are for sure not founded to carry beer around, they are for everything. If someone try to tell you that, its a hoax. For horses have you a carriage, single person just have a hand carriage. Bollerwagen.
Same with two year contracts, its a hoax. Of course, the sales persons always try to sell them, but I never sign any contract which I can not cancel every time I want.
Jen- "uah uah"...oh man its so funny.
One of the best bomb founds was some years ago in the city center of Munich. They evacuated the whole area and when they could not remove the bomb, they had to let it explode. They did some miscalculation and all windows were smashed in the whole of Schwabing.
Yes, we have heard stories about the fireball!
I saw this wagons in USA...for going to the beach...
Hello ladys first of all its warnday once in a year but back in the days on the members of the firebrigade was alarmed in the same way.today we are using an melder all over the place to not disturb the people around.i am f
I didn't pay much attention to the documentaries about Germany out of superstition - every time I was getting too attached of a country they were bought or forced to block me. But Apfelschorle broke my resistance and I remembered that if I would live somewhere else, Germany would be among my top options.
Ahh verdammt. Ich habe schon so viele Videos von euch geschaut, dass UA-cam mir eure Videos schon direkt nach dem Uploaden vorschlagen. Wird wohl Zeit zu abonnieren.
Cute, unexpected insights to our daily life!
Unexploded bombs: They are particularily dangerous to explode while being deactivated, hence the evacuations.
Alarms: They test the sirens with the "all-clear" sign. You hear more sirens in small villages STILL TODAY when the voluntary fire brigades are alarmed like that. Professional brigades in cities use electronic means.
Bollerwagen ("Handwagen") are a part of the German road laws (StVO)!!
Because of my Asterix knowledge I could cut my latin class in school. Veni, vidi, vici! =;-)
I have never experienced a toilet in a restaurant where I had to pay for as a customer, And I am frequently in lots of restaurants, at least here in Baden-Württemberg. However, I don't count the rest stops on the Autobahn, because they are just self service places and not real restaurants.
Ich habe es noch nie erlebt das ich in einem Restaurant für die Toilette bezahlen sollte.
Doch, das passiert bei Klofrauen (diesen alten Damen die zwischen Herren- und Damenklo an einem Tischchen mit Spitzendeckchen sitzen) bei Restaurants an beliebten Ausflugszielen wenn sie denken dass du kein Kunde sondern nur Klogänger bist.
@@heldt952 ja. Aber es ist nicht immer eine Verpflichtung. Vgl praxistipps.focus.de/muss-man-die-klofrau-bezahlen-das-muessen-sie-wissen_94502
The only time I would NOT like Apfelschorle was when it leaked in my schoolbag
-fortunately its already diluted in its stickyness :D
😅
I was in Neu Isenburg in the Groundschool- Years later I heard that they enlarged the schoolhouse-by the footingwork they found thousands of antiaircraftmunition-we played for years on top of them football- just stay cool 😨 by the way in the DDR they used Bullerwagen for five Kids-funny pictures resarch that!
Grundschule is primaryschool or elementary school. the word groundschool does not exist in english.
One year separation is required in some states in the USA for a divorce.
Gibt verschiedene Apps zB Nina de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NINA_(App) wo man über solche Alarme informiert wird. Darüber werden auch andere Alarme ausgespielt zB wenn in der nähe ein größerer Brand ist und Fenster und Türen geschlossen werden sollten.
Übrigens Feueralarm hat eine andre Tonfolge 12 Sekunden dauerton 12 Sekunden Pause das ganze wird 3mal wieder holt: ua-cam.com/video/sgw-P-lBFsU/v-deo.html
I think your explanation for the sirens is wrong. In Frankfurt you can different alarms. You can alarm fire alarm or alarm from a chemical industry. You can differ between the sounds.
Apfelschorle is great. :-) But Everything can turn into a "schorle", f.e. Wein (Weinschorle), White-Wine with water. But if you cross the border and try to mix beer with water you are better be an austrian, or an US-American (they simply don't taste the difference, or in other words: pisswater is quite normal for them), thats not a thing in germany. I know some friends of mine who will punish you directly for this crime. Mixed Beer with lemonade is common and accepted, but not loved. ;-)
I'm german & I don't like Apfelschorle...
& I can't remember a PROPER restaurant where I had to pay to use the toilet
Hello. I live at the french border where a nuclear powerplant is nearby. Our sirens are because of that.
Lucky luke is also as popular cartoons in Germany!
If I want to try an apfelschorle for myself, what proportions should I mix?
Start with one part juice and one part sparkeling water. Taste it and adjust if it is to sweet or to watery. Enjoy :-)
I'm a German who doesn't like Apfelschorle... Well, I liked it as a kid. But now I can't drink apple juice because it makes me feel sick. So I don't like Apfelschorle anymore :/
😢
Nice.
No Asterix & Obelix? We call that "BILDUNGSLÜCKE!!!!!!!!!!" (yes, with that amount of exclamation marks ;) )