American musings on German living

There are many things that I know. There are many more things I don't know. My goal in life is to have the "don't" in the second sentence moved to the same location in the first sentence. In an attempt to achieve this goal my wonderful husband and myself made the decision to move our beautiful little family halfway around the world to set up shop in Germany for a few years.
When the United States Army heard that the Moore family had the desire to live in Europe and travel the world they were kind enough to foot the bill for our move over here as well as paying our rent and utilities for the duration of our stay in exchange for me relinquishing all rights to my husband for the next 20 or 30 years. When presented with a deal like that I could hardly refuse!!
I first became acquainted with this foreign land on the first day of August in the year 2010 and I have spent the past two and a half months exploring the back roads and country sides of my little region in Germany. In the course of my adventures I have already had the good fortune to learn a great many interesting things. While much of my newly acquired knowledge has little value in life, the process of obtaining these tidbits of information has provided a great deal of entertainment for me.
One of my main concerns in moving to a new country was that I did not speak the language before I moved here. I decided that until I was able to actually carry on conversations in German that I would learn a few crucial phrases to get me through the day. Initially I felt that the most important one (aside from "do you speak English?") would be "excuse me". After all, who doesn't appreciate a well mannered individual? Apparently the Germans don't. I quickly realized that the reason that none of the Americans that I encountered knew how to say "excuse me" in German was quite simply because there is no need to know that phrase because the Germans do not use it!! It would seem that the acceptable way to move through a crowd or to get someone to move out of your way is to either stand and stare at them until they get uncomfortable enough to move or to simply shove them out of your way. Being a rude person by nature, this works out well for me!
My next concern was learning how to drive in accordance with the German "rules of the road". Once again, it did not take long to learn that the Germans driving style is pretty similar to their walking style. Whoever is bigger has the right of way and every trip is essentially a huge game of chicken where every driver is a player whether they realize it or not. I recently took a trip with a German woman who married a U.S. soldier. One of his gifts to her was a Hummer. Let me just say, it is NEVER a good idea to give a German driver a car that is larger than EVERY other vehicle on the road!! This woman drove fast enough to compete with Jeff Gordon and when faced with oncoming traffic she would simply laugh and say, "Look at the little speed bumps!!!" I eventually just closed my eyes and began to pray that God would have mercy on my soul because I was sure that I was going to meet him before the day was over.
In addition to the majority of the drivers being absolute maniacs, there are very few stop signs or actual intersections outside of the major cities. Instead the Europeans seem to prefer "traffic circles" or "roundabouts". Basically these are 4-way intersections that merge into a circle and merge back out onto whatever road you would like to take. While these sound relatively simple at first I have a strong dislike for these "traffic circles" because some of them have two or three lanes and the Europeans don't really care for the thought of allowing anyone to merge in order to exit the "traffic circle". In fact the only way to merge in any situation is to have the good fortune of having the larger vehicle. (Remember? whoever is bigger has the right of way.) Luckily, I am an American and we like our vehicles to be oversized, gas guzzling SUV's and the Europeans are really quite fond of the Smart cars!!
Another thing the Europeans are fond of is their leisure time. These people have managed to develop the most amazing aversion to work I have ever seen!! They will go to work in the morning, break for a ridiculously long lunch and (maybe) come back for a couple of hours in the afternoon. There are no German businesses open on Sunday's and they take more "holidays" than I could even make up! They combat the poverty that logic would say comes from a nationwide allergy to work by charging for absolutely everything. From ketchup to dip French fries in to a glass of water (you pay for the refill on the water as well) absolutely nothing is free.
Every day I find myself encountering yet another notable difference between Germany and the United States of America. Some differences make me grateful for being raised as an American, others remind me how happy I am that we made the decision to step outside of our comfort zones, leave our families and friends behind and take that giant leap into unknown territory. Either way this is a huge learning experience and an amazing opportunity that we may never get again. There is one thing that I know for certain though. Despite all of this country's quirks and flaws, I have somehow managed to fall completely and totally in love with this place. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. The carefree attitude towards life is like a breath of fresh air after 24 years in a country where not working usually results in not eating. These people quite simply love life and they make sure that they live it to the fullest!! I know that my time over here will fly by and I am not looking forward to the day that I will have to tell this beautiful country goodbye, but if I can return to the States with even a hint of the approach to life that the Europeans take then I will consider my time well spent and I will be one step closer to my goal of knowing more things than I don't.