5 Things Germans Do That Americans Find WEIRD! | Feli from Germany

Germany and the US have a lot in common and moving here wasn't really a huge culture shock they're both Western cultures but every now and then there are these situations where we see someone from the other country do something and we just have huge question marks in our eyes [Music] [Applause] [Music] and welcome back to my YouTube channel my name is Philly I'm originally from Munich Germany but I've been living here in Cincinnati Ohio on and off since 2016 and when you live in another country another culture you'll inevitably have these moments where you see an object or a place or see a person do something and just think to yourself wow that's weird and of course this goes both ways when Ben came to Germany with me for the first time there were lots of things that he found weird and he's not alone with that even here I sometimes get weird looks for some of my German behaviors and you guessed it I wrote down a whole list of those things and today I'll tell you about the top five things that are normal to Germans but weird to Americans Hey where's your trash oh this doesn't go into the trash just put it into the basket next to the door thank you oh do you need these for some kind of art project or something nope it's just where I keep all my empty bottles and cans okay yes Germans collect empty bottles and cans at home which is definitely something that people from the US and other countries have to get used to it first even I have to get used to it whenever I'm back home I sometimes accidentally Crush soda cans because I'm so used to doing that here to save space in the recycling bin but in Germany that's a huge no-go because the reason why Germans collect these bottles and cans is that Germany has a deposit system a fences team this means that when buying beverages in bottles glass or plastic or in cans you'll pay a few cents extra you won't really notice it though since it's already included in the price and then you'll get that money back when you return the empty bottles and cans to the store and this usually happens at these machines that you'll find at grocery stores called fund automat you just put your bottles and cans in there and the Machine scans the barcode that's why you can't crush them because otherwise it won't be able to read the code and then when you're done it prints out a voucher for you that you can then cash at the checkout and since most people don't really want want to carry around one or two empty bottles at a time and get a lame 50 cents back people usually collect them at home and wait until it's really worth it and then they bring a whole basket or whole bags to the store and get like a 10 euro voucher oh yeah that's the stuff the amount of the deposit differs by the way depending on whether it's a refillable bottle for those who usually get eight or fifteen cents back a disposable plastic bottle which is 25 cents or an aluminum can also 25 cents can I do the Schnitzel and just a Coke please thank you they forgot the ice yeah that's not really common here you're gonna have to ask for ice excuse me could I get ice in this thank you two ice cubes another thing that Germans do that Americans find a little weird is drinking beverages without ice that's just not something that's common in Germany or in other European countries at least not to that extent if you ask for ice it'll be more like in that scene that you'll get a few ice cubes while Americans are more used to this I mean cocktails and things like that are served with ice in Germany as well but again it'll just be a few ice cubes as opposed to the whole glass being filled up with ice but water or soda or juice spritzers won't usually come with ice at all now from our perspective this doesn't mean that we drink our beverages warm it's just that it's enough for us when they come out of the fridge or a cold basement in some cases even just room temperature is fine and yes even though I've lived in the US for six years now I still don't put ice in my drinks and I often find the iced water at restaurants for example way too cold like it's uncomfortable in my mouth and if it's a drink I pay for like at Starbucks or something I'd rather get my money's worth and not get a cup full of Frozen water with just a few ounces of the actual drink but I'm pretty alone with that here and the thing just like I haven't started putting tons of ice into my drinks even though I've lived in the US for years now Ben will never stop doing it when we were in Germany and he wanted to get a fountain Coke at McDonald's he forgot to ask for ice and then when we had already walked out he noticed that it didn't have any ice at all and he was really disappointed one thing that wasn't necessarily weird to me before I moved here but definitely not an everyday thing was using a VPN which stands for virtual private Network I mean some of my friends in Germany used vpns to watch the newest episodes of American shows that hadn't come out in Germany yet but that's about it today I use one all the time and the one that I've been using for years now and that I trust is expressvpn which is also today's sponsor an expressvpn isn't only my favorite one but it's even been rated the number one VPN Provider by technology websites like CNET The Verge Mashable tech radar and more the two main situations I use it in is when I'm on a public Wi-Fi like at a coffee shop or at the airport to protect my internet connection and my personal information from hackers and when I want to watch TV shows or movies that aren't available in the US in that case I can just log into a server in another country you can pick from a list of 94 countries and then I can access the internet as if I were in that country right now this is amazing to bypass geoblocking for example which is when content isn't available in your location this happens a lot with the content by German TV channels like the other day when the NFL was having their first big American football game in Germany at Alliance arena in Munich Ben was watching the normal American NFL broadcast cast but I was really curious to hear the German commentary for a bit and see what they're saying about the hype around the game the atmosphere and everything that was going on in Munich so I set my location to Germany and that way I was able to tune into the German live stream on granite and this even works for getting access for the Netflix selection of other countries or Amazon Prime or Hulu or whatever streaming service you prefer if you log into the UK server for example you can watch friends and the office on Netflix which both aren't available on the US Netflix and there's no problem with buffering or anything like that they actually have super fast servers so that you can stream in HD quality at any time and if you would like to try expressvpn yourself I have a really good offer for you to get three months for free if you want to find out how just visit expressvpn.com feedy from Germany or simply click the link in the info box below what do you want to do for dinner it's your first night ooh can we go to a real American Diner no problem there's one soup super close by like a mile down the street oh perfect that'll be a nice little walk walk no we were gonna drive walking for over 15 minutes to get to your destination normal for Germans weird to Americans especially to those who don't live in a huge City your car is what gets you around in the US and even for short distances you won't see a lot of Americans walk if they don't have to it's even considered unsafe in many places the US is simply a Car Country in most places even in mid-sized cities like Cincinnati there's always enough parking spots so you can really drive anywhere you want to go without really thinking about it most stores and restaurants even have their own parking lots and you can do countless things without ever leaving your car in this country you can get food and drive-throughs you can get coffee you can get cash from drive through ATMs even liquor from drive-through liquor stores so really anything you want Germany on the other hand isn't a car country most of our cities and towns were built before cars even existed and we also don't have as much space for parking spots so getting around with public transport by bike and walking is pretty normal for us at least in urban areas in rural areas it's a little different but in Munich for example it'll most likely be quicker to walk 20 minutes than taking a car getting through the traffic taking forever to find a parking spot and then walking to your destination from The Parking Spot plus many Germans also simply enjoy being active and being out in the fresh air [Music] I think that's the girl's bathroom there's a sign that says uh sit down to pee oh no you were right that's the men's bathroom what okay so to this topic I've actually dedicated a whole video before so make sure to check that out if you haven't seen it but yes in Germany it's common for men to sit down to pee well in the U.S most people are not only completely shocked when they find out about this but also find it really weird and I understand that that's a weird thought if you've grown up your whole life thinking that all men pee standing up and that's just how it is period like it's okay that that's weird to Americans at first as long as you don't get started with insecure comments like oh it's unmanning to sit down to pee I hope we can all agree that that's complete but back to the topic in Germany most men sit down to pee at home to avoid a mess it's also supposed to be healthier for your prostate and this is also what's expected of you when you're using someone else's bathroom in Germany and yes even public bathrooms might have a little sticker or sign asking you to sit down to pee might be weird to Americans but it's normal to us Germans [Music] foreign [Music] now this last one is a real mystery even to me the German stare to be honest before I came to the US I didn't even know that that was a thing but after being away from Germany for a while I suddenly noticed that Germans do this thing where they just look at you and don't stop in a way that I wasn't used to it anymore from the US and I noticed that I did it too and I don't know if this has to do with German directness that we're just curious looking at people and thinking nothing of it or if there's another reason behind it but I do know that many expats who come to Germany find this really weird and uncomfortable and I've had to explain to many Americans that no they're not staring at you because you look American or they don't like you and something they just do and they're probably not even aware of it like myself because it's just something that's kind of normal in Germany and that was the last point on my list for today I'm sure I'll share some more of these with you in the future but for now let me know if you've ever had any similar experiences yourself like have you ever lived abroad or traveled somewhere and were baffled by something that the locals seem to consider the most normal thing put it in the comments and of course if you enjoyed this video and like what I do here on my channel make sure to subscribe if you haven't done so yet it's completely free and it basically just means that my videos and posts will show up on your YouTube page every now and then and if you even like to get notified whenever I post a new video you can just activate the little notification Bell next to the Subscribe button and activate notifications in your YouTube settings you can also find me on social media on Instagram I share things from my everyday life but also little rants about American online banking for example or the zipper merge so if you don't follow me on there you're definitely missing out and of course if you want to support my channel you can leave a little tip via the super things button underneath the video on kofi.com or by joining my patreon community thank you guys so much for watching and for your support and I hope I'll see you next time cheers [Music]

Channel: Feli from Germany

Views: 291,968

Keywords: Germany, USA, America, Munich, Cincinnati, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Kulturelle Unterschiede, Feli, Felicia, Deutschland, München, Amerika, Kulturschock, Ohio, USA vs. Germany, Comparison, Expat, Living abroad, Move to Germany, Life in Germany, Move to Europe, Life in USA, U.S., Deutschland USA Kulturunterschiede, Unterschiede Deutschland Amerika, Feli from Germany, Deposit system, Pfandflaschen sammeln, no ice in Europe, drinks with ice, sit down to pee Germany, German stare

Id: X6dDmjyi66A

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 22 2022