How Germany Changed Our Lifestyles for the Better as Americans 🇩🇪

today we're going to share with you 10 ways our   lifestyle has changed for the  better since moving to germany hey everybody welcome back to our channel i'm  sara hello i'm kevin and we are the mcfalls   a family of six with four kids a cat and a  hamster very important family members that   little hamster is very cute maybe i'll get some  footage this week and show you guys she's very   cute her name is ginger and she's griffin's sweet  little pet he takes very good care of her indeed   we moved from the usa to germany in february of  2021 so it's been about a year and a half now   and we're seasoned veterans yeah hardly right  we are just now getting started really aren't   we we did a video i don't know it might have been  about this time last year maybe a little earlier   about how our lifestyles had changed since moving  to germany but we were brand new fresh and green   you know and our lives have changed even more now  and they've gone more into depth um on in german   culture so we thought we could do another update  on this and some new we have new things that we're   doing that we weren't doing last year so as an  american we sort of have this idyllic picture   in our minds of what life is like in europe and so  what we're going to share with you today are some   of those idyllic things and we have found they  really many of them really are true there really   is a quality of life here that is really nice  the slower pace of life more focus on family more   focus on your lifestyle your vacations your food  on things being higher quality and less quantity   less materialism these things really are true  here in europe and especially in germany yeah   when americans think of oh i want to travel in  europe or i want to move to europe those are the   things they're after sure is this lifestyle and  we actually want to do a video on that later on   on there are actually many laws and regulations  that allow that a lifestyle to happen it doesn't   happen by accident i think that would be something  really good to research in a future video   now to be fair you know some of the things we'll  talk about could have happened to us if we had   moved somewhere in america and sometimes when you  make a big life change and you move to a different   stage different place or stage of your life you  do change things and some of the things we talk   about we could have moved if we moved to the  mountains in colorado or whatever but like sarah   says many of these things are sort of systemic in  the culture here and we're encouraged for many of   these changes because of the life the lifestyle  here so sure some of these we might could have   done in it moving to another place but many of  them really are connected directly to germany   and europe more in general yes we could have even  implemented some of these things in the location   that we lived in in georgia but like kevin said it  wasn't the culture there many of these things were   going to mention weren't the culture there so it  just wasn't uh much motivation i suppose but there   is something about moving to a new place that you  get excited to get out and explore i mean i see   you know even many germans say they don't get much  beyond germany or italy or austria for vacation   when europe has so many amazing places to visit  so you see that even in europe that people won't   go too far beyond their own borders so that's  the benefit of moving to a new place is you get   excited to explore right and do new things and  try new things so the first one is we don't use   our car very much uh there's plenty of weeks where  it'll sit for multiple days and never get driven   i think we're averaging somewhat less than  once a month to fill up the gas tank which   is you know for an american and we had two cars  and we were filling at least one of them up every   week and the other one you know every cup every  couple weeks so yeah yeah so definitely we're   walking more we're biking more the kids are taking  public transportation to go to school you know the   next town over definitely we're encouraged more to  be active and be out there biking and walking and   using public transportation instead of relying on  the car so much and what i love is having exercise   as a part of everyday life that i don't have to  schedule extra time at the gym or go to a gym i   want my daily life to include exercise it's so  much more sustainable it's so much easier to do   and it's enjoyable for the most part we take the  bicycle or walk into town to do the things we need   to do so number two is we still don't have a dryer  now that's unheard of in america that is unheard   of in america we did a poll about this time last  year and found that 40 of germans also don't own   dryers 60 do own dryers but they use them way  less frequently than americans do like when the   weather's nice many germans are hanging their  clothes outside and you know as soon as there's   sun outside you see everyone even in the middle of  winter you see people hanging their stuff outside   germans have dryers but they use them less  than americans and i mean in america i never   once thought about not having a dryer it's just  not automatic yeah you don't you know wash your   dryer it's a washer dryer dryer yeah you get a  washer dryer repair and before we moved here i'd   heard of many people who didn't have dryers  i wasn't even sure if we had a dryer hookup   or an exhaust fan or pipe well we don't and we  don't okay i mean i don't know it comes back   into the room i'm not sure but in america every  house that has an exhaust pathway for the to hook   up the dryer and many german homes that isn't  even a thing so i didn't want to buy a dryer   before he moved here in case i wouldn't be able  to use it so i started hanging up my clothes and   now i just we just have this routine i wash and  hang up the clothes and it's become such a habit   that i'm like do i even want to spend 900 euros  on an ice dryer in the winter time sometimes i do   because drying sheets and towels takes a long time  and that gets annoying especially before going on   a vacation i need things to dry quickly so  we can get ready but other than that i don't   really find it to be annoying at all it's been  fine and i can't believe this if you would ask   me when we lived in america if i'd ever go without  a dryer i would have told you no way that's crazy   yeah so with sick family of six and no dryer no  way yeah so number three this is a really funny   cultural thing we now like stiff towels i do  at least i don't know do you i don't have you   even noticed you've never even noticed so in the  u.s because we have dryers you know we dry our   towels they come out nice and fluffy which i love  that too nice fluffy towels are a wonderful thing   i never would have thought that i would like stiff  towels and when we first arrived and i would hang   our towels up to dry i was like oh they're so  stiff but then i saw in many of our youtube videos   you guys have commented on how you like stiff  towels because they're sort of exfoliating and   i have grown to like them now kind of like with  mineral vasor i really like sparkling water now   and i didn't like it when we first arrived and now  i like stiff towels i like the way it feels on my   skin there's a sort of texture to it and it's not  that i don't like soft towels i still like them   but i also like stiff towels so either one that's  just sort of a weird lifestyle change that i had   to throw in there for fun and so then the fourth  one is we're just a lot more eco-friendly here   where we lived in georgia that was not really a  priority i mean we did recycle some we had single   stream recycling we did some of that and there's  other places in america like california where   plastic bags are are banned from grocery  stores but in general germany is just a   lot more eco-friendly focused you look at every  house has solar panels on them ours does and it   helps heat our pool recycling is really a big deal  i mean probably one of the biggest ways to measure   our eco-friendly footprint here is looking at the  trash can that we have we have a very relatively   small trash can by american standards rest mode  the regular trash that goes in the landfill and   it only get a small one gets taken out every two  weeks and in america we had like a three or four   times the size of that and it was taken out every  week and uh sometimes overflowing yeah so a lot   of times overflowing so we definitely produce  less trash a lot of people reclaim their rain   water for their plants uh you know there's just  it's just part of life here and that's it's just   expected and it's just that's just normal and it's  not sort of a political thing that all of the tree   huggers are doing in america or whatever it's so  politicized in the u.s and i think that's really   sad because it just should be something normal  and good to take care of the environment like   taking care of people it's just the right  thing to do why is this a political issue   it's refreshing that it's just a normal part  of everyday culture and next week our video is   going to be about how we're much more eco-friendly  we're going to go into depth on that so stay tuned   next week number five is that we travel  much more now in the u.s there's a lot of   really cool places to see especially out west  the national parks are absolutely beautiful   yellowstone and you know there's some big cities  like new york city really fun to visit so we   could have been traveling more in the us but  because the us is so big we would have had to   fly most places in order to see them and kevin  had a lot less vacation time quite frankly so   we didn't have the time off nor the money to be  able to go to the places that we wanted to visit   we especially wanted to visit more out west here  in europe everything's much closer together so   we have been able to take the train or drive  pretty much everywhere and within four or five   hours we can see a ton of really cool things  and other cultures other languages other foods   for us traveling in europe is just much more  interesting yeah i mean it's interesting in   america too but we like the other languages we  like the different kinds of food the different   kinds of cultures old world yeah architecture yeah  so it's just helped sarah and i be excited to go   and travel and go and see different places and  that gives us motivation you know because it's   not easy to organize and operationalize a vacation  with the family of six it's not it's hard it's not   easy but you know going to venice or going to the  alps or going to really cool places has made us   you know more motivated to push through that and  make it happen and help our kids be more used to   that as well so number six is that we get outside  a lot more especially here where we live in such   a beautiful area with lots of outdoor activities  i mean you can't but not be inspired by everyone   you go out on the weekend especially on sunday  everyone's out with their bikes everyone's out in   their bicycle or walking around or doing something  else it's harder to drive on sundays than it is   to take your bike because you have to weave  around all the bikes yeah i love it it's just   much more part of life here just yesterday i  brought grayson to his hockey practice and i'm   sitting in the parking lot you know waiting  and it's like well there's a mountain right   there instead of sitting in here on my phone  why don't i just go hike up that mountain for   an hour while i'm waiting for him to get out  of hockey practice so i got in a nice you know   nice hike up the mountain because it's right there  what he's not telling you is that it's not a hike   it's a rock climb with a rope and he showed me the  pictures and i said oh my god if you fall off of   that you're going to die and we're not going to  have a father for these children anymore it had a   little tiny via ferrara like this and it is rocks  it is rocks it was it was fun and it was a great   way to pass the time and it keeps me healthy keeps  me nice and strong it does keep you healthy and   strong i'm glad you couldn't do that just don't  leave us don't leave me widowed definitely well   yeah but like we said in the beginning of the  video when something is part of the culture   you're much more encouraged to do it it's much  easier and like we talk with our friends and   like oh yeah this weekend we're going on such and  such hike all of our friends all of our friends   are going hiking going biking somewhere nearly  every weekend except when there's snow and ice   on the ground um and then they're all going skiing  and going laughing so there's sports all year long   and everybody i know does sports on the weekends  when you talk to them they're not like oh we're   going to this theme park or that theme park we're  going to this movie theater of course they go to   movie theaters and theme parks now and then but  it's like twice a year and so outdoor sports   are so common here and it's not just here in the  mountains it's all over germany so number seven   is that we are all stronger and healthier than  this time last year now when we were in the u.s   our two oldest boys were both into baseball we  had games and practices two or three times a week   they were very active the kids run and played  in the yard we had we had awesome woods which   we did in the us we had a great backyard  and the kids would run around in the woods   it was not as if our children were sedentary or  lazy or anything they were stru we thought they   were strong then too then we get to germany we  were like oh my gosh like we all felt like we   were so weak compared to all of our friends  they would talk about going on all these   bicycle rides from our town to like  three towns over and we were like   how do you do that 10 15 kilometers to kids you  know six-year-olds we could not believe their   six-year-olds could do these bike rides and then  like they will take the entire kindergarten class   on this hike that's literally right out of our  backyard we can hike it um up to this monastery   and it's talk about idyllic i mean it's truly like  what americans dream of when they think of europe   and that's a 200 meter ascent you hike you know  and they take the kindergarteners i could barely   do when we got here yeah remember we did it one  day the two of us and i was like oh my gosh i'm   gonna die it was hard and now this year even we  are surprised by how much stronger their kids are   for instance like gabriel and grayson they walk  a kilometer every day to school from the bus stop   and they have big heavy in each direction yeah  you know rook sacks on their backs yeah in each   direction so they're walking two kilometers every  day with a heavy book bag griffin walks almost a   kilometer every day with a heavy book bag yeah  um and gabriel was able to go on a hike with his   class they did a 900 meter ascent yeah so that's  pretty beefy and we all they take the whole class   it's not just like hey the people that are really  fit and want to go it was the entire class it was   part of part of their class to go and hike  up that high and stay overnight up in the   mountains we honestly weren't sure he could make  a 900 meter ascent and we thought oh no where the   teacher's going to be like you know not stopping  if they need help or you know we didn't know we   were really worried and then gabriel talked to his  teacher and she was like the whole class is going   of course we'll you know keep up with you and  we'll make sure you're okay everyone's going   so you should just come and he did it just fine  yeah he was in the he was in the fastest fast   i couldn't believe it and gabriel like i said he  was playing soccer and in baseball before we moved   here he wasn't a weak child so it's just really  amazing and even ella she's been able to ride her   bicycle and she's so encouraged again because  it's the culture she's all her friends riding   their bikes yes and we arrive at kindergarten and  there's a ton of tiny bikes oh i love it it's so   cute i should i should get some video footage of  the tiny bicycles there are just a ton of little   bicycles as soon as spring comes and ella was like  well i want to ride my bicycle to school if all   the other kindergartners are writing it she does  not back down from a challenge so now it took us   i don't know a couple of weeks maybe to teach  her how to go down the big hills in our town and   now she just puts her hands on the brakes and you  should see her she just coasts down the hill she   is totally under control now and she's doing five  and six kilometer bike rides without any trouble   now i never would have thought that could happen  a year ago never so even ella's much stronger   and so that's why but i still have to carry her  sometimes on my shoulders when we go walking   places but she still does a lot of it so so that  surprised me i we really felt kind of weak when we   got here everybody was much stronger than us  and in only a year we're all speaking german   way better and we're much stronger so germany  has had a good effect on us in that way number   eight is that we consume less sugar which  we touched on this and two videos ago when   we talked about the drinks that are popular  in germany that aren't beer and we have a   whole section in there about high fructose corn  syrup and sugar in the us and high fructose corn   syrup is a thing that's basically non-existent  in the eu it's not banned but it's regulated   to allow for other types of sugar manufacturing  but anyway in the u.s it is huge because   corn is prioritized it's subsidized a lot it's  yeah it's prioritizes subsidized so there's   high fructose corn syrup and absolutely everything  you have to be very careful with your ingredients   in the u.s if you want to try to eat less sugar  and less high fructose corn syrup you have to   read the package on absolutely everything which  is i mean that's a lifestyle change i don't have   on the list for today but i don't have to read  ingredients here like i used to have to in the u.s   anyway so we naturally consume less  sugar because high fructose corn syrup   doesn't exist in the products here now when it  comes to sugary drinks you know i still look   uh for the sugar content on that and now  in cereals cereals can still be sweet here   yeah so we try to you know eat the less sugary  cereals but in general we eat a lot less sweets   but the biggest difference i would say is the  kind of foods that germans serve for their kids   and that their kids bring to school you know  in the u.s a lot of kids will come to school   with junk food and they will come to school with  tons of sugar and junk you know bags of doritos   you know juice boxes with juice that literally  has 14 grams of sugar and something this big   you know a massive amount of sugar for a small  child and so when you send your kid like we were   very strict about food in the u.s and our kids  did not consume much sugar or junk but it was   really difficult because they would go to school  and see all of their friends eating all this junk   but of course to a kid looks super yummy and fun  so they want to eat what their friends are eating   and they feel silly that they're the ones  with the carrots and the the green peas and   and the apples they want something like their  friends have sure but here we don't have to deal   with that there's actually a rule in ella's  kindergarten that they can't bring junk food   if they ask the parents please bring healthy food  so that the kids aren't tempted to eat unhealthy   foods we need them to eat healthy because it helps  us keep the classroom under control right it's way   more common here to eat healthy and so many of my  german friends talk about how much sugar there is   in everything now in germany and they don't like  it and they're getting strict about sugar and   in the us if you talk about eating less junk and  less sugar you're kind of the freak i mean one of   the most telling things is you look at fanta you  know which is a coca-cola product all originally   german and it has 50 percent more sugar in america  than it does here you know it's the same product   essentially but but just has the company can make  it healthier they just choose not to which i guess   it's consumer demand too but although i will say  the one thing i haven't found a good salsa here in   germany that doesn't have sugar in it i mean many  of the salsas in america also have a lot of sugar   um but i'm still struggling to find a good salsa  that's not really sweet let us know if you know   one so number nine this is sort of a negative  lifestyle change is that i still can't drive   and that's because in the u.s there are certain  states that have reciprocity agreements with   germany but not all of them do even though the  driving test rules are the same in every state   so it doesn't make any sense if some americans  can drive and they should all be able to drive   technically the same but it's so close to you  it's like splitting hairs to say that it's any   different yes so that has had a negative impact  on my life since moving here and it makes you   sort of feel like a child that your license is  taken away even though you did nothing wrong   so i'm going to take the next month or two  to really study for my test i really want to   make sure i can get that soon because especially  in the winter time it really impacts our lives   because we do need to drive a little bit more  because of the snow and ice and we can't take   our bicycles as much anyway that's an announcement  starting in august and then half of september i'll   be posting every other week so that i can have  a little bit of a break from work and be able to   focus on the kids and also get my driver's license  and i haven't been able to focus on it so far   because you know youtube on my blog and taking  care of four kids and all the german classes   i've been taking online i've been i'm almost  completely done with a1 which is 100 classes   almost completely done with it yeah nice so i have  i have been choosing to focus on learning german   instead of my driver's license since i can get  away with not having a driver's license here   just send me up to go do the driving yeah just in  kevin owens uh so then number 10 is we are just   a lot more adventurous you know we talked about  how we're more motivated here to go and do things   but you kind of have to be adventurous to throw  yourself willingly into a new country where you   don't speak the language and you don't know the  culture so well so you have to be adventurous to   do that but it's just really trickled down through  the entire family you know i think everyone is a   lot more resilient now than than we were when  we came kids are jumping on the public bus to   get over to the next town over to go to school the  world is open we're trying new languages new foods   we hosted a ukrainian family here and had totally  different ideas and a way of life and it's just   really i mean that's what we came here is for  is to open our minds understand how things are   different and really just get more adventurous  and see more things and experience more things   yeah and that's not necessarily something that  has to do with germany it has more to do with   moving abroad yeah in general and even moving  within your own country to a different region   that's a lot different you know from the north  to the south in germany or the south to the north   and same in the u.s it's quite different in the  north and in the south it can really change the   way you see things being in a totally different  culture with a totally different language and food   it busts open everything you've ever thought about  life and makes you think about things differently   yeah that's what we love about moving abroad not  everybody likes that but we do that that's our   thing so kevin and i have always had in common  with each other and uh what you know sort of   united us really at the beginning when we met each  other it's really cool to see when we go traveling   in other countries they're kids you know even  griffin will try like new foods you saw in our   video when we went to hallstatt in austria that  he was trying the florella a whole fish with a   face and everything on it it's not something  we ever really really tried so much in the us   but he's more adventurous now so he will try that  and the kids when we went to venice they asked you   know what is the language here oh italian okay  well what are some words in italian and they are   interested in knowing how to speak in italian and  they were using some italian words while we were   there and they were interested in trying different  italian foods that they had never tried before and   so yeah the world is now open to them in a way  it was never opened before and as we've said   before america is such a huge country and it is  isolated kind of like a big island in a way from   europe and asia in africa and everything else  so it's difficult to be to integrate yourself   into other cultures there besides spanish  culture and then canadian is quite similar so   yeah i mean not the culture so much well there's  some they're they're more similar than say a   european culture they're just the 51st state  yeah don't tell that to the canadians i'm sorry   yes i mean so no there's a lot of differences  between canada and the us you have to really   work at it if you live in the us to be part  of another culture it's just it's not easy   and it costs a lot of money so it's not even  possible for many americans so so that's all we   have for you today we hope you come back next week  to hear about how much more eco-friendly we have   become since moving to germany all right you guys  thanks for watching and we'll see you next week the problem is that she climbs everywhere quickly ginger peanut looks like  a levithman so we can't let her you

Channel: My Merry Messy German Life

Views: 113,894

Keywords: moving to Germany from America, moving to Germany with family, moving to Germany for work, Germany, Germany vs America, Americans in Germany, living abroad, life in Germany, moving abroad, moving abroad with family, moving abroad from America, moving to germany from usa, expats in germany

Id: Z8Ua76kACUw

Length: 25min 53sec (1553 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 17 2022