Things we like:
1. The leeway salespeople are given--when Patrick asked the Apple salesman where we could get the earphones that he needed for his old iPod, which the Apple Store doesn't sell anymore, the salesman went to the back and just gave him some (former price: 19,95 €)
1b. At McDonald's, when Michael asked for one of the Lego cars still in the display case with his Happy Meal, the manager let him have all the ones he was missing because the promotion was over.
2. The zippers on plastic bags for fruit
3. Plastic wrap that really sticks and serrated edges that really cut the foil; the coolest is the Press-n-Seal Glad Wrap, which you just press over whatever you want to keep covered.
4. The blue, blue skies
5. The friendliness--Uncle Mark bought some plywood with the boys for their skate ramp and while trying to figure out how to transport the large pieces of wood, a fellow in a pickup just volunteered to drop it off (seems he didn't want to get home to clean out the attic too quickly:).
6. Clothing stores stock my size. Yay!
7. Libraries lend DVD's.
8. The price of Apple products
9. Nick: driving age of 16
10. Patrick: SmartBoards in the classroom
11. Warmer swimming pools
Food we like:
1. American pizza slices
2. American ice cream--mint chocolate chip (Patrick), cookie dough (Nick), coffee (Laura and Michael)
3. Wendy's frosties
4. Bagels
5. Cheerios
6. Brown sugar and cinnamon Pop-Tarts
7. Milkshakes, cheeseburgers, and fries at Jeffrey's
8. Quesedillas (Patrick)
9. Waffles (Michael)
Funny things we've seen or experienced:
1. A cop on a Segway!
Cross-cultural differences:
1. Kids are allowed to play at the neighborhood skate park until 9:30 p.m. (Children's noise has to stop at 8 p.m. in Germany.)
2. The A T & T salesman called me "Laura" about ten times during the cell phone sale. (Even as a 24-year-old student at Frankfurt University, I was only ever referred to as Frau X in Germany.)
3. Patrick commented that when the Americans play soccer in gym class, they say "sorry! sorry!" when they accidentally touch you, whereas in Germany, when an opponent even knocks you down, he'll shout "Schwalbe! Schwalbe!" (faker! hardly touched you!). On the same note, American kids cheer for a good shot, even if they are on the opposing team, whereas the Germans would never cheer for an opponent's goal! It either says something about cultural differences in politeness or how seriously the different cultures take the game of soccer.
4. Child's comment re: A's (US) vs. 1's (German): "A is not outstanding at all because A is normal, and if you have a B, you are a big moron."
Surprising sights for the boys:
1. How BIG all the cars and trucks are (a BMX X5 even looks small here)
2. Number of Corvettes
3. Policemen and police cars everywhere
4. How much fun the American policemen always seem to be having, making jokes, standing around
5. Number of people using iPhones
6. Patrick is surprised the American schoolchildren wear both straps of their backpacks, even to go short distances; the Germans wear them slung over one shoulder when going from class to class.
Surprising experiences for me:
1. All school documents are in English on one side, in Spanish on the other side.
2. Being approached by homeless and people in wheelchairs hanging out at the Union Square subway station, wanting to know if we want some help...and then asking for money. Reminded me of Morocco, not the U.S.
3. How much money the schools want the parents to donate, so they can have budgets better than the California government can provide. Parent donations even pay for the salaries of librarians, art teachers, and so forth.
4. How cashiers ask you intently how your weekend was or whether you have had a good morning so far. Uh, what am I supposed to say? After so many years in Germany, feels like an invasion of my privacy!
Differences in the schools:
1. Nick can't believe you get extra-credit points in academic subjects for bringing in Kleenex or for buying the kind of calculator that gets the school bonus points.
2. I can't believe how devoted the teachers are--checking off every piece of homework, sending home weekly report cards, calling the parents once a month to see if there are any questions.
3. Nick and Patrick are both shocked by the bathroom-pass system: "What?! You can only go to the bathroom twice during the year??" And then the follow up: if you don't use your bathroom passes by the end of the year, you can turn them in for extra credit!
4. The boys are suprised by all the rules in the American schools and all the time devoted to them--Nick didn't learn a thing about what they would be covering in their World History class the first day, just the rules.
5. One teacher says, do not call me Mrs. G because my name is important to me, but the next teacher says, please call me Mr. G; another is called Mrs. G-H.
6. Teachers are much more tech-savvy here, and they all use Smart Boards in the classroom.
7. Patrick and Michael are impressed by how their schools do the morning announcements over their classroom TV's.
8. Patrick says his middle school serves gourmet food, and you don't have to wait a half hour for it as you do in Eppstein.
9. Patrick also likes that the teachers here have their own classrooms and decorate them (with objects such as Mao-octopi). In Germany, the students keep the classroom and the teachers rotate.
10. Mike noted how in Germany, pupils raise one finger to get called on and in the U.S., they raise their whole hand.
Frustrating driving experiences for me:
1. So difficult to follow signs for highways because they are like spaghetti; you think you are going on 580 East and then you lose it. Very frustrating.
2. Never knowing on which side of the freeway the exit will be
3. Having cars pass on the right
4. So many pedestrians and cyclists in Menlo Park, which is actually great, but I live in fear of running over one of them.
Frustrating experiences noticed when driving with permit driver Nick:
1. Drivers don't blink.
2. Drivers are distracted because they are on their cell phones (even though illegal).
3. Drivers weave.
Clever (Germany should adopt):
1. Love how the curbs are painted red in Berkeley if you are not allowed to park there, green if you are only allowed to park for two hours, and gray if you can park for an unlimited period of time. So easy to know where you can and can't park, and for how long.
2. The spouts on American salt dispensers!
3. Glad Press-n-Seal wrap
Things that annoy me in the U.S.
1. Writing checks instead of doing electronic transfers
2. The plumbing
3. AT&T (every problem sends you to their telephone "help" desk's endless loop)
4. AT&T (telephone company doesn't employ enough telephone agents)
5. AT&T (incompetents misspell my name and make me waste hours trying to get it spelled the way I told them it was spelled in the first place)
6. Trains blow their horns so loud and long at crossings all night long
7. Four-way stops everywhere; the German "slow down, then right-before-left" system without full stops is so much more efficient.
8. Windows condense at night and are hard to clean; give me back German windows' two-way opening system.
Things I've learned:
1. What an air gap is (the thing on the sink that is actually related to the dishwasher)
2. The difference between the modem and wi-fi router (well, still a bit shaky on this)
Disturbing things we've seen or experienced:
1. Number of crosses put up in front of a community center--one for every homicide in Oakland in 2009.
2. The number of homeless people on the streets (and the posters in the schools announcing they accept homeless children and the documents you have to check off saying whether or not you are homeless)
3. The overpasses with cracks in them and no shoulders
4. The regular classes Nick got put into as a "foreign student" are mostly filled with minorities and are taught by first-year teachers who could use more experience (some act as if they're teaching kindergarten, passing out "good behavior" tickets for extra credit), whereas the advanced classes are taught by competent teachers, who concentrate on the content.
Things I love in our exchange house:
1. The tilework in the middle of the dining table for hot dishes
2. The squirrels scurrying on the roof
3. The lemon tree outside the kitchen door
4. The automatic watering system for the flower pots
5. The parquet-topped game table in the living room
6. The cappuccino maker
7. The circular driveway
8. The wheels on the game-table chairs
9. The view of the redwoods from the master bed
Boys' favorite aphorism (seen on Tiffany & Bennett's refrigerator):
1. What if the hokey-pokey really IS what it's all about?
