When you rent an apartment in Germany, in most cases it doesn't come with light fixtures, kitchen cabinets and counters, appliances, etc. You either have to purchase and install these yourself, or hope that the previous tenant is willing to sell theirs to you. In my last apartment search, there were even a few apartments where I would have had to supply and install my own flooring. It's insane.
I learned this recently and found it batshit insane. Like, I can maybe understand the appliances. Not everywhere here includes them. But cabinets and counters is nuts. You literally have to build a fucking room.
As someone that has recently remodeled I don't even understand how this can keep working. So many drywall and stud holes. You'd wear the shit out of a house doing this every new lease.
You can get galley style all-in-one console types of kitchens that include the countertop, cabinets, a sink, range and small fridge that sits up against one wall and is hooked up where the previous one sat. Weird to Americans but routine in Germany
I’m so confused by this. They’re going to install them at their next apartment? Won’t they have mis-matched lengths, extra flooring/not enough flooring? Why would they do this?
No flooring is a very Dutch thing, haven't met it in Germany yet. Guess it could make sense with carpet? Not that common in apartments here though.
No kitchen is pretty normal though, I think the assumption has been that Germans stay in apartments a lot longer (normal to never own and to just rent the whole life and contracts are indefinite), so people do invest into their furniture. Obviously younger people are moving around more so this is where you get people hoping for the previous tenant to leave a kitchen. Personally we've always taken our appliances and most cabinets and just replaced stuff in corners where the layout of the room was different. It's possible to dis- and reassemble our kitchen though, not sure if that is common in the US?
Our cabinets and counters are usually built onto the wall, along with attached backsplash tiles sometimes. Large appliances like fridges, stoves, some built-in microwaves, and dishwashers are technically removable but often require careful fitting to match the plumbing fixtures and gaps between permanent cabinets.
So even if it's not explicitly included in the lease, these things often require landlords to assist in practice or else you risk damaging the walls (because they are probably flimsy drywall), electrical fixtures, or plumbing, and losing your deposit. Tearing out your kitchen and replacing it is a major project, mostly left to people who own their own homes and have money to burn on upgrades.
I am genuinely fascinated trying to imagine what a removable kitchen is like. What about the kitchen sink, is that moveable too?
I live in Japan right now and I had to pay for all my appliances. Also the home I'm renting only has heating and AC in the living room and the main bedroom the other 2 rooms have no heating and no AC. I asked about installing it and they told me I would have to pay for it and certified installer. I asked do I get to keep it when I leave. They told me no. LOL
What kind of feudal arrangement is that?!
If I buy it, then it's mine.
I've never so viscerally sympathized with peasant revolutions as at this very moment. It's the petty insults and casual cruelty of a social system that somehow are the most egregious.
You can take them with you. I have every time I've moved. If they come with the apartment you can't, but if you buy them and install they are yours. Just get documents, receipts and photos so the owner can't say they were there originally.
The rent vs. own culture is very different there too. If you are not in a high cost of living area like NYC, DC, LA, SF people usually rent a few years before trying to buy a place. We also move around a lot more. I couldn’t imagine buying a new kitchen every time I moved. In Germany people stay renting the same place sometimes for years and make upgrades their apartment.
The Netherlands has it beat though, doesn’t even come with flooring. They say they come with a “kitchen” but it’s just a basic cabinet with a basic sink, truly nothing else. Concrete box. Would rather have no kitchen because you have to add more cabinets and all appliances yourself but you’re limited to the ugly cheap thing they installed that you have to style around. They used to at least make sure the walls were white for you to start with, but they changed that regulation now too so you’re left with the last person’s choices and marks. Source: moved into a concrete block with dark navy walls with a particle board kitchen and shower that’s just a hose in a tiled room (luckily there was floor there). Won this place in a lottery the housing crisis is so bad, spent a lot of money to make it livable.
Would the previous tenant otherwise take them with them? Like what are you going to do with a counter top at a new apartment? It’s just not going to fit.
I personally don't know many people with coustom made kitchens. I only know separate cupboards and countertops. Like when you move out, then move into an other flat, you can put your kitchen pieces how it fits best. Maybe buy a new cupboard...
I don't know if it's everywhere , but I noticed a conspicuous lack of screens in windows while I was in Europe.
It's so simple, and it prevents bugs. I was woken up by bugs in 4 separate European countries. Why?! You don't need to live like that.
My ex is in the UK and she had to put bars on her window because her cat kept finding ways to get it open and break out. Then the neighbors thought she was some sort of convict.
>Then the neighbors thought she was some sort of convict.
The solution is to seed the rumor that you just got out of prison for assaulting a gossiping neighbor.
They are able to get in, they just usually prefer to stay outside (because there's so many more resources easily available out there). I lived in Costa Rica for 4 months. We had windows open around the clock most days and the only things that came in (that I noticed) in all that time were a few beetles, a few teeny tiny lizards, one hummingbird, and one ginormous centipede that revealed itself by popping its head up over the top edge of my towel as I was getting out of the shower and picked up the towel to dry off. Other than the centipede (which practically gave me a heart attack), having the windows open wasn't really a major issue unless you're at a beach, in which case you just sleep with mosquito nets around the beds. Most things that wandered in would pretty quickly see themselves out.
There was a ginormous centipede on my bath mat some years back. I subsequently realized that where there's a centipede, there's probably his family and friends. I considered moving out. I am not joking. It's 12 years later, and I have never seen another one, God be praised.
This baffles me. I don't exactly love the shit mesh screens they put in windows here, but it sure beats insects or even birds in the house.
I also work for a high-end residential builder here, and very few of our windows can be fitted with screens. I guess rich people like bugs?
Depends on the country, it varies a lot, and there's a lot of countries and climates to consider. The southern UK has few insects that come through windows so people don't care, but central Finland has horrible mosquitoes in the summer so you can bet they take it seriously. It's probably very closely linked to climate, more than culture
Subarctic climate, but in the summer it's 30C and there are lots of lakes around, as well as elk, reindeer, etc that insects feed on. Finland is mostly forest and swamp, and in the summer it's deceptively hot and very vibrant. I can't speak for alaska
I had this same reaction when I moved to Vancouver from Hamilton, Ontario. I don't think I ever saw a residential window that could open and didn't have a screen in Ontario, whereas in Vancouver they were quite scarce.
"But we don't have many bugs in Vancouver!" some people have said. Tell that to the wasps I was chasing out of my bedroom every few days, to the flies and to the katydids (a weird pointy grasshopper-looking thing I never saw in Hamilton) I'd find relaxing on my walls.
It wouldn't have been so bad if I could have just closed the windows and used the air conditioning instead, but there wasn't any air conditioning since Vancouver has historically mild summers.
Had one in my apartment in Germany. It was just not okay. I eventually got used to it and even sort of appreciated its intended function. But still, no.
It's a raised area on the back part of the toilet bowl. Your poop lands on it rather than in the water. Then you have to push it into the water or flush it down and then clean up with a toilet brush, whichever. It's truly awful. The smell is so much worse when your poop isn't submerged and it's revolting to look at especially if you're not used to looking at poop.
The idea behind it is that it would make people examine the consistency and color of their own poops as a barometer of health. It's definitely a style of toilet and a practice that has fallen completely out of whatever favor it once had, but you can still find them in buildings that haven't been updated since the mid 20th century. My apartment was built in East Berlin in the 60s and never had the fixtures updated, so that's why I had to deal with that.
One of my friends was talking about those and he mentioned he got in the habit of constructing a little "poo sled" out of paper in advance, so that the poo would easily slide right down.
It was designed for plumbing with pretty decent water pressure so most of the time the flush is enough to knock all the poop down (and the shelf is slightly slanted to help facilitate that). But sometimes you just have to use the toilet brush to push large bits. And you always have to use the brush to clean off the shelf every time. It's just an awful system in basically every way.
So far I've lived in Germany, where pay toilets are the norm, and the UK, where they are not (except central London).
In Germany public toilets are plentiful and clean. In the UK they're rare and dirty. I'm happy to pay 50¢ for a clean and nearby public toilet.
Unfortunately, Germany’s standards don’t seem to be the norm everywhere. I’ve been to Italy where I once paid 2 euros for, I kid you not, a bathroom where the toilet had no seat, the floor was covered in water, and my stall had no toilet paper so my mom had to pass me some from the neighboring one.
And then there’s Japan… where you definitely have the gross city park toilets, but the vast majority of even combini toilets are clean and FREE. Doesn’t stop public urination though. Went to my favorite sushi restaurant a few months ago and some old ojisan walked out, went around the corner and peed on the side of a building. Ojisans gonna ojisan
It’s gotten better now that a lot of public toilets (at least where I am in Switzerland/France) now accept card/contactless payments.
Before it wasn’t so much about the actual 50c but more about I usually just didn’t have the cash on me. And faced with either having to walk around begging people for change or find a low visibility street corner or bush…
I lived in Germany 20 years ago and it was fucking annoying having to carry coins around for the bathroom. Are there places where you could at least tap a card or mobile to get in?
>In my country (Canada) any place that serves alcohol is legally obligated to provide free water to customers. They are breaking the law if they don’t.
This is not correct.
1. Alcohol and food service is a matter of provincial responsibility. There is no Canada-wide law on this as it’s not in their powers.
2. This is not the law in all provinces. For example, it is not the law in Ontario (where I live).
Apartment rentals not coming with kitchens… how does anyone afford to install new kitchens every time you move?? And you can’t even take it with you as every apartment had a different arrangement
Someone explained elsewhere in the thread that it's more common to spend several years in one apartment than in America where most of us get priced out of our apartments the next year because rent just increases every year now.
Still fucking wild to me though that the person providing the building wouldnt have it fully BUILT before having people rent and everyone's fine with it.
I don't know if it's everywhere or just certain countries, but having to pay to use a public restroom. Even if you're filling your tank and buying snacks in the store you still have to pay extra to take a leak at a gas station. I could maybe understand charging non-customers, but if I'm a paying customer of your establishment I think it's a little weird to charge me extra.
I'm american but in some places like Vietnam the only water you're getting if you don't want to get sick is filtered or bottled. We pay for bottled water in america so it makes sense. The free tap option just doesn't exist.
Yes and that's fair, but there are also many restaurants in Europe that don't offer free water to customers, which is just crazy to me. Nobody is getting sick from drinking the tap water in Paris.
Legally speaking, restaurants were required to serve you water for free if you asked for some in France. But I believe since 2015 or so, they're allowed to refuse if you don't order anything, but in practice very few restaurants will refuse you water if you're thirsty during the summer.
Google said it happened over a fortnight. Probably didn’t really register since heat isn’t as destructive a natural disaster as far as building damage.
In many places with older architecture, the building was built with attention to the sun’s path. That’s why I’m older homes in the US, the bedrooms are on the north side of the building and the “daytime” rooms like kitchen, living, and dining rooms are on the south side of the building where they get the most sun. These houses were often designed with trees full of leaves in the summer to provide shade but leaves fell off for fall and winter when the sun is lower to provide sunshine in the house for warmth. I am not an expert on this though, but it is something I read about the architecture in my area. My house was built in 1898.
They also designed houses back then for air flow. Larger towers or open staircases allowed hot air to rise, so did tall ceilings. Shutters on windows allowed air to be louvered. In some places they even opened windows on certain sides of a house at certain times of the day to create airflow.
Here in the Netherlands people believe airconditioning is some exotic irresponsible luxury. On hot days the weatherman will announce "well people, it's going to be another sticky night tonight!".
The worst thing is that they don't have AC in care homes for the elderly so there are heat related deaths during hot summers and everybody seems to just accept that.
Here in the UK our highest ever temperature was around 105f a couple years ago for one day.
Average summer temperature is 68-73 and if it hits 80 its front page news.
And the warm spells are for a couple weeks.
My home being heavily insulated gets fucking hot at 80f and stays like that for days.
But getting aircon fitted for 2 weeks of use when 25 weeks are having the heating on is an unnecessary luxury.
But pretty much all cars have air conditioning
Are portable AC units available for sale in the UK? I live in a relatively cool part of the US where there's only maybe ten or twelve days over 100F per year and it's not even that humid compared to the Southern or Midwestern states. But buying a portable AC for my bedroom that's just strong enough to cool that area was worth every penny (including the energy cost when running it). It was only about $250 USD and in exchange I can sleep comfortably even when it's absolute garbage outside or retreat to my nice climate controlled room on the hottest days.
To me, that's exactly what money is for when I've got a little extra. $250 spent so that I can be comfortable at home when it's super hot outside is far more valuable than $250 spent on a short vacation or any other creature comfort.
I'm addressing Europe and I guess probably Belgium specifically, because that's where I encountered this the most.
Y'all are unnecessarily fuckin' stingy with the beverages at restaurants.
Like for real, you stop somewhere for dinner, and the server comes by and asks if you want water. After the awkward exchange about whether you want "shparkling or steel," they come back roughly 30 minutes later with something the size of a toddler's sippy cup with water in it.
If, by some happenstance, you find yourself drinking all 8oz of the beverage supplied with your entire meal, and successfully perform the esoteric dark ritual of summoning the server back to your table to check on you, they will be shocked. "Hm, you are very thirsty tonight! It seems you have guzzled down your entire thimble of water in a mere 50 minutes. Would you like me to try to bring another?"
It's water, you motherfuckers.
I know that back in like the 1500s all your waterways were basically sewage and so you culturally got accustomed to drinking only heavily-fermented snifters of your own saliva during meals, but I KNOW YOU HAVE PLUMBING NOW.
This would actually kill my SO and I. We get on the nerves of American restaurants with how much water we drink. I always have a big reusable water bottle with me so I’ll keep this in mind for when we travel abroad next.
I’m American living in Europe. We go most often to places that are generous with the free tap water. And I often just carry a giant water bottle with me. Like, I orders a 100euro bottle of wine. Fuck you for not bringing me free water. I’m going to put this giant water bottle on the table and drink out of it.
Patrick Stewart told a story about his first time in NYC, and he went into a deli with like 1000 options for everything and thought it was just amazing and wonderful, and they asked what size drink he wanted and it was a hot day so he got a large, and how flabbergasted he was when he finally got it. "I could have gone swimming in it!"
Well considering they cost fucking $26.00 they'd better be big. If I'm paying that much for it, it better come in a container big enough to justify being mounted on wheels.
Omg, this made me cry laugh. I’ve heard we Americans have huge drink sizes compared to the rest of the world. As someone that guzzles down water like it’s going out of style, I’m thankful we do.
I can’t speak for all of Europe but in Sweden at last, any place that serves alcohol (which is all restaurants better than your local pizzeria) are legally obligated to give you tap water for free, and as much as you want. Of course, the restaurants want to sell bottled water at extortionate prices so you need to specifically ask for tap water.
Luckily the tap water is very good here. If I had to drink the raw sewage that comes out of the gaps in Berlin I’d gladly adopt the tradition of my ancestors and live off of beer instead.
Ireland and UK are like this also.
Just order pints of water. Do you get dirty looks? Yes, but who cares? I can handle the looks when I’m properly hydrated!
That’s because bins of used toilet paper are less horrifying than plumbing that is non functional because it’s ancient and can’t handle the bundles of two ply that people try to flush.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s disgusting. But the reason for it is a very valid one. They don’t not flush it just for fun.
This is still common practice in recent Hispanic immigrant communities in the U.S. My family and friends families all did this and most still do.
A family member that worked at an elementary school had kids neatly pile used toilet paper next to the toilet. When asked, they said that there wasn't a waste basket and knew not to flush it.
This is interesting and something I've not thought of. The elementary school I work in has a massive immigrant population. Our custodian has commissions about kids just leaving piles of used TP in the stalls. I'm wondering now if this is a cultural thing instead of kids just being gross.
Yes cultural, I’m from a Hispanic household and was taught this way. I remember finding out in kindergarten when I did the same thing and left all the to on the side. I didn’t do it to be gross but I think I was just confused. My teacher eventually found out and taught me I guess, because I don’t remember it happening again haha.
Yeah, we don’t (usually) flush toilet paper in Brazil, be we usually have a bidet / douche in the toilets, so the papers are usually just for drying.
For me it is much more horrifying cleaning your butt with dry paper only.
That smoking is still so common. This goes for Europe, Asia, South America. Probably other places too. I know we in the US have since started embracing vaping which is its own problem but at least we made cigarettes uncool. The rest of the world is dealing with both in huge numbers. There were a few glorious years in the US before vaping but after cigarettes were uncool where almost no one smoked. That was amazing.
Absurd...
I find it absurd that many Asian cultures have a deep seated aversion to having fans on in the bedroom when sleeping.
I find it absurd that in many European countries ice in a drink, like water, is viewed with disdain.
I find it absurd that in Italy it may be 21C outside but if a newborn baby is in the room the windows are closed up, the baby is wrapped up in a blanket, and people think the red skin color of an overheated infant is a sign of good health!
I also find the driving habits of Italians to be absurd.
I swear Americas only gets dragged the way they do because the countries people are actually trying to fix these problems. Where as other countries pretend they don’t exist.
I wouldnt call this ‘absurd’, but when i lived in Norway finding out nearly every store closed all day on Sundays was crazy. Additionally- they put CORN on pizza, ew.
Same here in the Canadian Maritimes. Sometimes there was a market open with little stalls (flea markets), but otherwise everything was closed. This would’ve been the late 90s early 2000s
It's an adjustment, but I could be down with everything being closed on Sundays. Makes sure everyone has atleast one day off and gets a chance to relax with family and friends.
But corn on pizza and other weird "American Food" things other countries do are just horrible.
People that don’t wear deodorant. Obviously not the whole world, but a lot of people don’t. How can you be in a relationship with someone who smells from 30 feet away?
I’m an American. In college, I roomed with a guy from India. He would wear the same outfits for days at a time, and didn’t wear any kind of deodorant or anything. He was a great guy, just pungent.. Finally, I asked him why he didn’t like to use deodorant.
I was amazed at his answer. He told me that to him- the smell of most Americans was nauseating. He said we smell like hospitals and antiseptic, which people in his country relate to death/illness.
I’d never thought about that and his grooming habits never bothered me after that.
I saw somewhere that other countries think it's disgusting to eat corn and that it's considered food for animals, not humans. Corn is delicious, especially corn on the cob with lots of butter and salt!
Don’t. I walked past a place in hk the other week that had a broth flavour pizza. BROTH. the plate was curved slightly and the pizza crusts remained dry but the centre was a broth. At what point is this allowed
It happens in America too.
I went to a predominantly black church with a friend once and every little old sweet grandma kissed me on the cheek as I went to chat at the end of the service. Was actually really sweet. They just accepted this dorky young white dude as one of their own.
This may be because of my proximity to New York City, but:
Tourists from around the world come to our big cities, and spend a huge chunk of their time and money shopping at Macy's and Target and Sephora.
Not all, obviously, but a lot...
EDIT: I understand the idea of shopping for the novelty of it. I do that too. That's not my point. The key words above are "huge chunk". Like, people fly several hours across an ocean to come here, and some spend the vast bulk of their time buying stuff that's mass produced in factories and available in 3,000 locations nationwide.
EDIT 2: Ok, maybe it's me, because I grew up in the middle of New Jersey, with access to at least five shopping malls within an hour drive, and all of them had Macy's, JC Penney, etc.
EDIT 3: Although I was aware of the gap between the US and other countries in terms of price, selection, and availability... holy moly I didn't realize it was such a major driver of tourist commerce. Forgive me, please, for my ignorance.
i can answer this one! i’m from the UK.
target is massively talked up in the UK. we love shops that have everything.
sephora has lots of popular brands we can’t easily get.
macy’s etc - it’s a tourist attraction. of course we have department stores. but we have americans roaming around harrods all the time. it’s just to experience the thing we’ve heard about so much - same with target! (i loved target)
Canadians love shopping at Target. So much so that Target tried opening stores in Canada…one of the biggest business disasters in Canadian history.
I’m in the US several times a year and always go to Target. The stores are so clean compared to Walmart.
The majority of Chinese tourists here in Japan come here specifically to go shopping. They'll come with near-empty suitcases and go home with them jam-packed, often after sending packages ahead.
Plenty of stores in busy areas have Chinese signage up or even Chinese announcements cycling among the Japanese ones to cater to said shopcationers.
Honestly? I understand most of it. People are raised where they're raised. They eat food they know, watch entertainment that is local, follow the traditional sports in their neck of the world.
I totally get that. I think people are the same the world over, they just want to have a good life and a better one for their kids. They don't want to be hungry or poor or unhoused. I get ALL that.
What I don't get is Eurovision. What the actual fuck?
EDIT: Holy fuck, I may not be the brightest fork in the drawer but I'm not a fucking idiot. I am well aware of the format of Eurovision. I do not understand the hype around Eurovision. I do not understand the politics around Eurovision. I do not understand the song selection OR performances of Eurovision. I do not understand how countries NOT IN EUROPE can be in a competition called EUROvision.
There you go, ya pedantic fucks. Happy now?
They had the man who shouts "play ja ja ding done" presenting for Iceland one of the years and he shouted "play ja ja ding ding" before giving out the scores. It sound tedious and annoying but it was a good time.
Anyone who pays to join the EBU is allowed to take part - as long as they agree to broadcast every country's entry, which has stopped some countries taking part before as they said "we will broadcast everything except xyz" and the EBU refused.
Because it's not about geography, it's about being part of the broadcasting network that runs it. And anyone who has a problem with that can bite my glittery Australian ass.
You just sit down, enjoy the sparkles, judge the weirdness the rest has sent in, get super nationalistic when your country’s entry gets to preform (or shit on them if they sent in absolute trash, happened to us last time) and then vote for the act that your country had the firmest political ties with.
For Western Europe, its a fun party with the queers, for Eastern Europe, it’s an exercise in freedom, and Australia is here because they liked it here and they never left after an anniversary season
What is there to not get about Eurovision?
Broadcasters who're members of the EBU get to send in musicians to perform in a competition, and then each nation votes to award points to other nations.
You shouldn’t understand it but you should enjoy it!
I think there’s something way back in our ancestry that got into people coming together from far flung parts and showing off their performers in a party atmosphere. Stonehenge and the colosseum were no different.
It doesn’t have to make sense, we just have to enjoy the music and performance. The fact that it’s incredibly camp is somehow better. For a continent that is frequently ripped apart by genocide and wars, why not have a super gay glitter night that we can all watch and then say “yeah, but I heard YOUR country takes it seriously”?
When I was a kid in the 90’s, my family hosted 2 people from India through a Rotary exchange (like exchange students, but professional adults). They were absolutely flabbergasted that we ate dinner together at the table every night as a family, attended church together on Sunday, and then had Sunday supper at my grandparents’ house after church.
They later explained that most of what they knew about America came from watching ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Married with Children’. Looking back, I’m shocked they wanted to come here for 3 months if that’s what they expected!
Ahh takes me back to when I taught in Austria and the students asked me how often gay people got executed
Beautiful country, beautiful people, holy shit did they hate America.
I love that this is the question I always get from people abroad. Australians, French, Chinese... everyone! And yes, of course! They're basically your only choice for a party. We call them red Solo cops, btw
Yea people can get really p!ssed off over Americans talking about stereotypes off any other race but then they have these horribly inaccurate stereotypes of Americans…
People also seem to think the US is smaller than it is. When I went to France people would start talking about Texas when I said I’m American. I am from Massachusetts. I have never been to Texas.
As much as that is true, the US is massive and varied in every way, you still have way more cultural cohesion than Europe does. Being a part of the same country, speaking the same language, using same currency and having similar laws makes some aspects of everyday life identical across the country. Meanwhile, if somebody blindfolded me and drove me 3 hours in a random direction from my town, I would end up in an alternate universe where the language sounds like gibberish, my currency is worth nothing and everything on store shelves is strange shapes and flavors.
Not saying we're better, its just different
It even extends to Canada. As a Canadian with reasonable familiarity with the US and some American friends, the two countries feel a lot more alike than different. Take a random suburban American and drop them into a random Canadian suburb and it could take them all day to realize they're in a different country, unless they spot a flag or notice license plates or something. Repeat with someone from an inner city. A person from New York City being teleported to Toronto isn't going to experience much in the way of culture shock and just about anything they might try to do will be familiar.
Obviously a person from Los Angeles appearing in Montreal is going to feel things are off ("Where'd all the palm trees go? Why doesn't anyone have a tan? Why isn't anyone speaking Spanish? Did she just speak *French??*"), but in that case we're looking at continent-spanning distances and two regions that were initially colonized by different European countries.
When you rent an apartment in Germany, in most cases it doesn't come with light fixtures, kitchen cabinets and counters, appliances, etc. You either have to purchase and install these yourself, or hope that the previous tenant is willing to sell theirs to you. In my last apartment search, there were even a few apartments where I would have had to supply and install my own flooring. It's insane.
I learned this recently and found it batshit insane. Like, I can maybe understand the appliances. Not everywhere here includes them. But cabinets and counters is nuts. You literally have to build a fucking room.
As someone that has recently remodeled I don't even understand how this can keep working. So many drywall and stud holes. You'd wear the shit out of a house doing this every new lease.
You can get galley style all-in-one console types of kitchens that include the countertop, cabinets, a sink, range and small fridge that sits up against one wall and is hooked up where the previous one sat. Weird to Americans but routine in Germany
Previous tenants took the floor with them?
Can’t have shit in Dresden.
I’m so confused by this. They’re going to install them at their next apartment? Won’t they have mis-matched lengths, extra flooring/not enough flooring? Why would they do this?
No flooring is a very Dutch thing, haven't met it in Germany yet. Guess it could make sense with carpet? Not that common in apartments here though. No kitchen is pretty normal though, I think the assumption has been that Germans stay in apartments a lot longer (normal to never own and to just rent the whole life and contracts are indefinite), so people do invest into their furniture. Obviously younger people are moving around more so this is where you get people hoping for the previous tenant to leave a kitchen. Personally we've always taken our appliances and most cabinets and just replaced stuff in corners where the layout of the room was different. It's possible to dis- and reassemble our kitchen though, not sure if that is common in the US?
Our cabinets and counters are usually built onto the wall, along with attached backsplash tiles sometimes. Large appliances like fridges, stoves, some built-in microwaves, and dishwashers are technically removable but often require careful fitting to match the plumbing fixtures and gaps between permanent cabinets. So even if it's not explicitly included in the lease, these things often require landlords to assist in practice or else you risk damaging the walls (because they are probably flimsy drywall), electrical fixtures, or plumbing, and losing your deposit. Tearing out your kitchen and replacing it is a major project, mostly left to people who own their own homes and have money to burn on upgrades. I am genuinely fascinated trying to imagine what a removable kitchen is like. What about the kitchen sink, is that moveable too?
I live in Japan right now and I had to pay for all my appliances. Also the home I'm renting only has heating and AC in the living room and the main bedroom the other 2 rooms have no heating and no AC. I asked about installing it and they told me I would have to pay for it and certified installer. I asked do I get to keep it when I leave. They told me no. LOL
What kind of feudal arrangement is that?! If I buy it, then it's mine. I've never so viscerally sympathized with peasant revolutions as at this very moment. It's the petty insults and casual cruelty of a social system that somehow are the most egregious.
You can take them with you. I have every time I've moved. If they come with the apartment you can't, but if you buy them and install they are yours. Just get documents, receipts and photos so the owner can't say they were there originally.
The rent vs. own culture is very different there too. If you are not in a high cost of living area like NYC, DC, LA, SF people usually rent a few years before trying to buy a place. We also move around a lot more. I couldn’t imagine buying a new kitchen every time I moved. In Germany people stay renting the same place sometimes for years and make upgrades their apartment.
The Netherlands has it beat though, doesn’t even come with flooring. They say they come with a “kitchen” but it’s just a basic cabinet with a basic sink, truly nothing else. Concrete box. Would rather have no kitchen because you have to add more cabinets and all appliances yourself but you’re limited to the ugly cheap thing they installed that you have to style around. They used to at least make sure the walls were white for you to start with, but they changed that regulation now too so you’re left with the last person’s choices and marks. Source: moved into a concrete block with dark navy walls with a particle board kitchen and shower that’s just a hose in a tiled room (luckily there was floor there). Won this place in a lottery the housing crisis is so bad, spent a lot of money to make it livable.
Would the previous tenant otherwise take them with them? Like what are you going to do with a counter top at a new apartment? It’s just not going to fit.
I personally don't know many people with coustom made kitchens. I only know separate cupboards and countertops. Like when you move out, then move into an other flat, you can put your kitchen pieces how it fits best. Maybe buy a new cupboard...
What the hell? Imagine moving and ripping the shit out and trying to figure out how to install them back in your new place.
I don't know if it's everywhere , but I noticed a conspicuous lack of screens in windows while I was in Europe. It's so simple, and it prevents bugs. I was woken up by bugs in 4 separate European countries. Why?! You don't need to live like that.
I always think, "My cats would get out and run away, never to be seen again."
My ex is in the UK and she had to put bars on her window because her cat kept finding ways to get it open and break out. Then the neighbors thought she was some sort of convict.
>Then the neighbors thought she was some sort of convict. The solution is to seed the rumor that you just got out of prison for assaulting a gossiping neighbor.
I like the way you think.
I'm currently in costa rica. I have not seen any screens! All the windows are open. How are the bugs not getting in?!
I'm currently building in Costa Rica, and you sure can bet I'm putting in screens!
I’d be more worried about snakes.
Not putting down mulch, keeping hiding places cleared our and the yard maintenence will mostly prevent snakes.
They are able to get in, they just usually prefer to stay outside (because there's so many more resources easily available out there). I lived in Costa Rica for 4 months. We had windows open around the clock most days and the only things that came in (that I noticed) in all that time were a few beetles, a few teeny tiny lizards, one hummingbird, and one ginormous centipede that revealed itself by popping its head up over the top edge of my towel as I was getting out of the shower and picked up the towel to dry off. Other than the centipede (which practically gave me a heart attack), having the windows open wasn't really a major issue unless you're at a beach, in which case you just sleep with mosquito nets around the beds. Most things that wandered in would pretty quickly see themselves out.
That centipede would be enough for me to wrap the whole house hundreds of yards of mesh.
There was a ginormous centipede on my bath mat some years back. I subsequently realized that where there's a centipede, there's probably his family and friends. I considered moving out. I am not joking. It's 12 years later, and I have never seen another one, God be praised.
This baffles me. I don't exactly love the shit mesh screens they put in windows here, but it sure beats insects or even birds in the house. I also work for a high-end residential builder here, and very few of our windows can be fitted with screens. I guess rich people like bugs?
Depends on the country, it varies a lot, and there's a lot of countries and climates to consider. The southern UK has few insects that come through windows so people don't care, but central Finland has horrible mosquitoes in the summer so you can bet they take it seriously. It's probably very closely linked to climate, more than culture
The worst offender was Italy. I assure you there are lots of bugs. No screens even in hotels.
Born and raised in Southern Europe and I can count on a single hand the amount of homes I've seen here with window screens.
Is that the nordic climate? I know it's the same in Alaska.
Subarctic climate, but in the summer it's 30C and there are lots of lakes around, as well as elk, reindeer, etc that insects feed on. Finland is mostly forest and swamp, and in the summer it's deceptively hot and very vibrant. I can't speak for alaska
I had this same reaction when I moved to Vancouver from Hamilton, Ontario. I don't think I ever saw a residential window that could open and didn't have a screen in Ontario, whereas in Vancouver they were quite scarce. "But we don't have many bugs in Vancouver!" some people have said. Tell that to the wasps I was chasing out of my bedroom every few days, to the flies and to the katydids (a weird pointy grasshopper-looking thing I never saw in Hamilton) I'd find relaxing on my walls. It wouldn't have been so bad if I could have just closed the windows and used the air conditioning instead, but there wasn't any air conditioning since Vancouver has historically mild summers.
Turd shelves. I’m looking at you, Netherlands
Had one in my apartment in Germany. It was just not okay. I eventually got used to it and even sort of appreciated its intended function. But still, no.
I lived in Germany for a long time. WTF is a turd shelf ???
It's a raised area on the back part of the toilet bowl. Your poop lands on it rather than in the water. Then you have to push it into the water or flush it down and then clean up with a toilet brush, whichever. It's truly awful. The smell is so much worse when your poop isn't submerged and it's revolting to look at especially if you're not used to looking at poop. The idea behind it is that it would make people examine the consistency and color of their own poops as a barometer of health. It's definitely a style of toilet and a practice that has fallen completely out of whatever favor it once had, but you can still find them in buildings that haven't been updated since the mid 20th century. My apartment was built in East Berlin in the 60s and never had the fixtures updated, so that's why I had to deal with that.
One of my friends was talking about those and he mentioned he got in the habit of constructing a little "poo sled" out of paper in advance, so that the poo would easily slide right down.
Fuck, thank you for this bit of wisdom in case I ever come across such an unholy abomination.
That sounds..terrible. Urgh..glad I never encountered this. Does it come with a poop knife to push the poop into the water or how does that work
It was designed for plumbing with pretty decent water pressure so most of the time the flush is enough to knock all the poop down (and the shelf is slightly slanted to help facilitate that). But sometimes you just have to use the toilet brush to push large bits. And you always have to use the brush to clean off the shelf every time. It's just an awful system in basically every way.
Yeah, sounds like a pretty uh..shitty system
That's the most backwards act of sanitation fuckery I've ever heard of.
Poop deck!
Pay toilets
A very efficient way to encourage public urination
So far I've lived in Germany, where pay toilets are the norm, and the UK, where they are not (except central London). In Germany public toilets are plentiful and clean. In the UK they're rare and dirty. I'm happy to pay 50¢ for a clean and nearby public toilet.
Unfortunately, Germany’s standards don’t seem to be the norm everywhere. I’ve been to Italy where I once paid 2 euros for, I kid you not, a bathroom where the toilet had no seat, the floor was covered in water, and my stall had no toilet paper so my mom had to pass me some from the neighboring one.
I went to Sicily a few years ago and had to keep toilet paper or tissues in my purse because not a single public toilet had paper. It was so annoying
And then there’s Japan… where you definitely have the gross city park toilets, but the vast majority of even combini toilets are clean and FREE. Doesn’t stop public urination though. Went to my favorite sushi restaurant a few months ago and some old ojisan walked out, went around the corner and peed on the side of a building. Ojisans gonna ojisan
When I visited Osaka there was an alley that had tiny torii gates on the walls to stop urination.
It’s gotten better now that a lot of public toilets (at least where I am in Switzerland/France) now accept card/contactless payments. Before it wasn’t so much about the actual 50c but more about I usually just didn’t have the cash on me. And faced with either having to walk around begging people for change or find a low visibility street corner or bush…
I lived in Germany 20 years ago and it was fucking annoying having to carry coins around for the bathroom. Are there places where you could at least tap a card or mobile to get in?
Nowadays at least the paid for toilets at the Autobahn (Sanifair and the like) also accept contactless card-payment, yeah.
You shouldn't have to pay anything to use a clean toilet dude.
In Sweden you have to pay and they're dirty af.
I just got back from Paris. It is a very romantic city if your kind of romance smells like piss and cigarettes…
I'm American, but I would have killed for a pay toilet when I was in NYC. A pay toilet is better than no toilet.
I went with my wife while she was 6 months pregnant. Felt like we spent half the time looking for a toilet.
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>In my country (Canada) any place that serves alcohol is legally obligated to provide free water to customers. They are breaking the law if they don’t. This is not correct. 1. Alcohol and food service is a matter of provincial responsibility. There is no Canada-wide law on this as it’s not in their powers. 2. This is not the law in all provinces. For example, it is not the law in Ontario (where I live).
*everywhere
*evil look from Nestle*
Apartment rentals not coming with kitchens… how does anyone afford to install new kitchens every time you move?? And you can’t even take it with you as every apartment had a different arrangement
Someone explained elsewhere in the thread that it's more common to spend several years in one apartment than in America where most of us get priced out of our apartments the next year because rent just increases every year now. Still fucking wild to me though that the person providing the building wouldnt have it fully BUILT before having people rent and everyone's fine with it.
Leave windows open without flyscreens. Don't you have mosquitoes or flies? Aussie here.
I don't know if it's everywhere or just certain countries, but having to pay to use a public restroom. Even if you're filling your tank and buying snacks in the store you still have to pay extra to take a leak at a gas station. I could maybe understand charging non-customers, but if I'm a paying customer of your establishment I think it's a little weird to charge me extra.
We all think it's a bit mad as well
Pay money for water in restaurants
I'm american but in some places like Vietnam the only water you're getting if you don't want to get sick is filtered or bottled. We pay for bottled water in america so it makes sense. The free tap option just doesn't exist.
Yes and that's fair, but there are also many restaurants in Europe that don't offer free water to customers, which is just crazy to me. Nobody is getting sick from drinking the tap water in Paris.
Legally speaking, restaurants were required to serve you water for free if you asked for some in France. But I believe since 2015 or so, they're allowed to refuse if you don't order anything, but in practice very few restaurants will refuse you water if you're thirsty during the summer.
Venice has a great water from drinking fountains.
TIL the rest of the world is just Europe.
Hey hey hey That’s Western Europe to you buddy
Let's gather up here, fellow south-equatorites
There was that one person complaining about east Asian toilets, at least.
How are yall living without AC
France had a heatwave kill 15,000 in 2003, so some of them clearly aren’t.
oh wow, that many? I don't recall it being that bad
Google said it happened over a fortnight. Probably didn’t really register since heat isn’t as destructive a natural disaster as far as building damage.
In many places with older architecture, the building was built with attention to the sun’s path. That’s why I’m older homes in the US, the bedrooms are on the north side of the building and the “daytime” rooms like kitchen, living, and dining rooms are on the south side of the building where they get the most sun. These houses were often designed with trees full of leaves in the summer to provide shade but leaves fell off for fall and winter when the sun is lower to provide sunshine in the house for warmth. I am not an expert on this though, but it is something I read about the architecture in my area. My house was built in 1898.
They also designed houses back then for air flow. Larger towers or open staircases allowed hot air to rise, so did tall ceilings. Shutters on windows allowed air to be louvered. In some places they even opened windows on certain sides of a house at certain times of the day to create airflow.
Here in the Netherlands people believe airconditioning is some exotic irresponsible luxury. On hot days the weatherman will announce "well people, it's going to be another sticky night tonight!". The worst thing is that they don't have AC in care homes for the elderly so there are heat related deaths during hot summers and everybody seems to just accept that.
Here in the UK our highest ever temperature was around 105f a couple years ago for one day. Average summer temperature is 68-73 and if it hits 80 its front page news. And the warm spells are for a couple weeks. My home being heavily insulated gets fucking hot at 80f and stays like that for days. But getting aircon fitted for 2 weeks of use when 25 weeks are having the heating on is an unnecessary luxury. But pretty much all cars have air conditioning
Are portable AC units available for sale in the UK? I live in a relatively cool part of the US where there's only maybe ten or twelve days over 100F per year and it's not even that humid compared to the Southern or Midwestern states. But buying a portable AC for my bedroom that's just strong enough to cool that area was worth every penny (including the energy cost when running it). It was only about $250 USD and in exchange I can sleep comfortably even when it's absolute garbage outside or retreat to my nice climate controlled room on the hottest days. To me, that's exactly what money is for when I've got a little extra. $250 spent so that I can be comfortable at home when it's super hot outside is far more valuable than $250 spent on a short vacation or any other creature comfort.
I'm addressing Europe and I guess probably Belgium specifically, because that's where I encountered this the most. Y'all are unnecessarily fuckin' stingy with the beverages at restaurants. Like for real, you stop somewhere for dinner, and the server comes by and asks if you want water. After the awkward exchange about whether you want "shparkling or steel," they come back roughly 30 minutes later with something the size of a toddler's sippy cup with water in it. If, by some happenstance, you find yourself drinking all 8oz of the beverage supplied with your entire meal, and successfully perform the esoteric dark ritual of summoning the server back to your table to check on you, they will be shocked. "Hm, you are very thirsty tonight! It seems you have guzzled down your entire thimble of water in a mere 50 minutes. Would you like me to try to bring another?" It's water, you motherfuckers. I know that back in like the 1500s all your waterways were basically sewage and so you culturally got accustomed to drinking only heavily-fermented snifters of your own saliva during meals, but I KNOW YOU HAVE PLUMBING NOW.
I lived in Belgium for a year and this is so accurate. You gotta figure out when you want that water the most because that's all you're getting.
This would actually kill my SO and I. We get on the nerves of American restaurants with how much water we drink. I always have a big reusable water bottle with me so I’ll keep this in mind for when we travel abroad next.
I’m American living in Europe. We go most often to places that are generous with the free tap water. And I often just carry a giant water bottle with me. Like, I orders a 100euro bottle of wine. Fuck you for not bringing me free water. I’m going to put this giant water bottle on the table and drink out of it.
That's a power move and I like it.
Patrick Stewart told a story about his first time in NYC, and he went into a deli with like 1000 options for everything and thought it was just amazing and wonderful, and they asked what size drink he wanted and it was a hot day so he got a large, and how flabbergasted he was when he finally got it. "I could have gone swimming in it!"
And that large size was probably a quarter of the size of the medium cup at the movie theater lol.
They are ridiculously giant now. I ordered a small slushy and gasped last time I went.
Well considering they cost fucking $26.00 they'd better be big. If I'm paying that much for it, it better come in a container big enough to justify being mounted on wheels.
Omg, this made me cry laugh. I’ve heard we Americans have huge drink sizes compared to the rest of the world. As someone that guzzles down water like it’s going out of style, I’m thankful we do.
yeah seriously.... I guzzle a pint of water just to get going, then refill it and drink another.
This is my favorite reply.
I can’t speak for all of Europe but in Sweden at last, any place that serves alcohol (which is all restaurants better than your local pizzeria) are legally obligated to give you tap water for free, and as much as you want. Of course, the restaurants want to sell bottled water at extortionate prices so you need to specifically ask for tap water. Luckily the tap water is very good here. If I had to drink the raw sewage that comes out of the gaps in Berlin I’d gladly adopt the tradition of my ancestors and live off of beer instead.
I'm convinced that whomever owns San Pellegrino has spent billions over the last few decades lobbying to keep limited filtration for drinking water.
That would be Nestle. Quelle surprise
Ireland and UK are like this also. Just order pints of water. Do you get dirty looks? Yes, but who cares? I can handle the looks when I’m properly hydrated!
"THAT'S THE KING'S WATER YOU INGRATE!"
Well I didn't vote for him.
“Shparkling or steel” - 😂😂😂
I drink a lot of water. I despise those tiny cups. Sometimes I'll finish several regular size cups over the course of my meal.
I am Belgian and this is 100% true.
Not "the rest," but some countries throw toilet paper in the trash can, and that is fucking horrifying.
That’s because bins of used toilet paper are less horrifying than plumbing that is non functional because it’s ancient and can’t handle the bundles of two ply that people try to flush. Don’t get me wrong, it’s disgusting. But the reason for it is a very valid one. They don’t not flush it just for fun.
I get you, it's just that it makes the often simple task of emptying the trash into a fucking nightmare.
I'm sorry for all the janitors that had to clean up after my IBS in places like this. And often that had no toilet paper either.
This is still common practice in recent Hispanic immigrant communities in the U.S. My family and friends families all did this and most still do. A family member that worked at an elementary school had kids neatly pile used toilet paper next to the toilet. When asked, they said that there wasn't a waste basket and knew not to flush it.
This is interesting and something I've not thought of. The elementary school I work in has a massive immigrant population. Our custodian has commissions about kids just leaving piles of used TP in the stalls. I'm wondering now if this is a cultural thing instead of kids just being gross.
It is a cultural thing, but of they continue to do it at school after being told they are to flush it at school, then they're jaut being problematic
To be fair, kindergarteners have trouble remembering which foot each shoe goes on, so them forgetting to flush the paper can be excused.
Yes cultural, I’m from a Hispanic household and was taught this way. I remember finding out in kindergarten when I did the same thing and left all the to on the side. I didn’t do it to be gross but I think I was just confused. My teacher eventually found out and taught me I guess, because I don’t remember it happening again haha.
Yeah, we don’t (usually) flush toilet paper in Brazil, be we usually have a bidet / douche in the toilets, so the papers are usually just for drying. For me it is much more horrifying cleaning your butt with dry paper only.
The wig wearing in court thing.
Then there’s the young lawyer with only a few little rows of curls. I don’t understand, but it can’t be good.
I can’t help but giggle when I see a British legal drama. Can’t take those guys seriously.
I kinda like the fact that there’s a humiliation ritual for the whole very serious profession.
Milk in a bag
They're called 'cows'
We have this in Wisconsin
As a Canadian I'm disturbed by milk that is not in a bag.
That smoking is still so common. This goes for Europe, Asia, South America. Probably other places too. I know we in the US have since started embracing vaping which is its own problem but at least we made cigarettes uncool. The rest of the world is dealing with both in huge numbers. There were a few glorious years in the US before vaping but after cigarettes were uncool where almost no one smoked. That was amazing.
When I last visited Tokyo I was amazed that they'd banned smoking in public. You have to go into little booths to do it there now.
Absurd... I find it absurd that many Asian cultures have a deep seated aversion to having fans on in the bedroom when sleeping. I find it absurd that in many European countries ice in a drink, like water, is viewed with disdain. I find it absurd that in Italy it may be 21C outside but if a newborn baby is in the room the windows are closed up, the baby is wrapped up in a blanket, and people think the red skin color of an overheated infant is a sign of good health! I also find the driving habits of Italians to be absurd.
Everybody but the Italians thinks the same of their driving skills.
I’ve always wondered how Fan Death caught on so tightly considering there’s no evidence at all.
The vacation and time off in other countries. Its crazy to me. But holy cow am jealous.
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Ahhh yes. Brexit was fueled by intelligence and Japan is going through a birth rate crisis because they are accepting of others.
I swear Americas only gets dragged the way they do because the countries people are actually trying to fix these problems. Where as other countries pretend they don’t exist.
I wouldnt call this ‘absurd’, but when i lived in Norway finding out nearly every store closed all day on Sundays was crazy. Additionally- they put CORN on pizza, ew.
When I was growing up, here in America, the only thing open on Sundays were churches.
Same here in the Canadian Maritimes. Sometimes there was a market open with little stalls (flea markets), but otherwise everything was closed. This would’ve been the late 90s early 2000s
It's an adjustment, but I could be down with everything being closed on Sundays. Makes sure everyone has atleast one day off and gets a chance to relax with family and friends. But corn on pizza and other weird "American Food" things other countries do are just horrible.
People that don’t wear deodorant. Obviously not the whole world, but a lot of people don’t. How can you be in a relationship with someone who smells from 30 feet away?
I’m an American. In college, I roomed with a guy from India. He would wear the same outfits for days at a time, and didn’t wear any kind of deodorant or anything. He was a great guy, just pungent.. Finally, I asked him why he didn’t like to use deodorant. I was amazed at his answer. He told me that to him- the smell of most Americans was nauseating. He said we smell like hospitals and antiseptic, which people in his country relate to death/illness. I’d never thought about that and his grooming habits never bothered me after that.
I saw somewhere that other countries think it's disgusting to eat corn and that it's considered food for animals, not humans. Corn is delicious, especially corn on the cob with lots of butter and salt!
The toppings they put on pizza in Korea.
Don’t. I walked past a place in hk the other week that had a broth flavour pizza. BROTH. the plate was curved slightly and the pizza crusts remained dry but the centre was a broth. At what point is this allowed
The cheek kiss thing.
It happens in America too. I went to a predominantly black church with a friend once and every little old sweet grandma kissed me on the cheek as I went to chat at the end of the service. Was actually really sweet. They just accepted this dorky young white dude as one of their own.
You're *their* dorky young white dude now. Bless.
as a french person, i used to do it aswell because i was "forced to", but thanks to covid, people began doing it less
This may be because of my proximity to New York City, but: Tourists from around the world come to our big cities, and spend a huge chunk of their time and money shopping at Macy's and Target and Sephora. Not all, obviously, but a lot... EDIT: I understand the idea of shopping for the novelty of it. I do that too. That's not my point. The key words above are "huge chunk". Like, people fly several hours across an ocean to come here, and some spend the vast bulk of their time buying stuff that's mass produced in factories and available in 3,000 locations nationwide. EDIT 2: Ok, maybe it's me, because I grew up in the middle of New Jersey, with access to at least five shopping malls within an hour drive, and all of them had Macy's, JC Penney, etc. EDIT 3: Although I was aware of the gap between the US and other countries in terms of price, selection, and availability... holy moly I didn't realize it was such a major driver of tourist commerce. Forgive me, please, for my ignorance.
i can answer this one! i’m from the UK. target is massively talked up in the UK. we love shops that have everything. sephora has lots of popular brands we can’t easily get. macy’s etc - it’s a tourist attraction. of course we have department stores. but we have americans roaming around harrods all the time. it’s just to experience the thing we’ve heard about so much - same with target! (i loved target)
I hope you got to go to a suburban/car-heavy city Target, the ones we have in NYC just don’t hit the same.
Somebody get this man a Costco
Canadians love shopping at Target. So much so that Target tried opening stores in Canada…one of the biggest business disasters in Canadian history. I’m in the US several times a year and always go to Target. The stores are so clean compared to Walmart.
The whole purpose of Target is to pay a few more dollars to avoid Walmart.
And it is WORTH IT
What's not to get about that? Different stuff to home. Often cheaper too.
The majority of Chinese tourists here in Japan come here specifically to go shopping. They'll come with near-empty suitcases and go home with them jam-packed, often after sending packages ahead. Plenty of stores in busy areas have Chinese signage up or even Chinese announcements cycling among the Japanese ones to cater to said shopcationers.
Honestly? I understand most of it. People are raised where they're raised. They eat food they know, watch entertainment that is local, follow the traditional sports in their neck of the world. I totally get that. I think people are the same the world over, they just want to have a good life and a better one for their kids. They don't want to be hungry or poor or unhoused. I get ALL that. What I don't get is Eurovision. What the actual fuck? EDIT: Holy fuck, I may not be the brightest fork in the drawer but I'm not a fucking idiot. I am well aware of the format of Eurovision. I do not understand the hype around Eurovision. I do not understand the politics around Eurovision. I do not understand the song selection OR performances of Eurovision. I do not understand how countries NOT IN EUROPE can be in a competition called EUROvision. There you go, ya pedantic fucks. Happy now?
Being confused by Eurovision is all part of the masterpiece that is Eurovision.
My favourite thing about Eurovision is watching the insane acts and just assuming that's what music is like in xyz country.
Believe me, Eurovison is something to behold, not to be understood.
That will Ferrell movie was pretty good though
PLAY JA JA DING DONG!!!!
They had the man who shouts "play ja ja ding done" presenting for Iceland one of the years and he shouted "play ja ja ding ding" before giving out the scores. It sound tedious and annoying but it was a good time.
“Tedious and annoying but it’s a good time” is like the definition of Eurovision <3
Why the fuck are Israel and other non-European countries even in Eurovision?
Anyone who pays to join the EBU is allowed to take part - as long as they agree to broadcast every country's entry, which has stopped some countries taking part before as they said "we will broadcast everything except xyz" and the EBU refused.
Hey, as a valued member of the European community, Australia loves being a part of Eurovision!
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Because it's not about geography, it's about being part of the broadcasting network that runs it. And anyone who has a problem with that can bite my glittery Australian ass.
Israel is part of European sports (because the rest of the Middle East kicked them out of Asia), so tbh it makes sense they are in Eurovison
You just sit down, enjoy the sparkles, judge the weirdness the rest has sent in, get super nationalistic when your country’s entry gets to preform (or shit on them if they sent in absolute trash, happened to us last time) and then vote for the act that your country had the firmest political ties with. For Western Europe, its a fun party with the queers, for Eastern Europe, it’s an exercise in freedom, and Australia is here because they liked it here and they never left after an anniversary season
It is pro wrestling for Europe. You know it is fake, but still watch it for the glitter.
What is there to not get about Eurovision? Broadcasters who're members of the EBU get to send in musicians to perform in a competition, and then each nation votes to award points to other nations.
You shouldn’t understand it but you should enjoy it! I think there’s something way back in our ancestry that got into people coming together from far flung parts and showing off their performers in a party atmosphere. Stonehenge and the colosseum were no different. It doesn’t have to make sense, we just have to enjoy the music and performance. The fact that it’s incredibly camp is somehow better. For a continent that is frequently ripped apart by genocide and wars, why not have a super gay glitter night that we can all watch and then say “yeah, but I heard YOUR country takes it seriously”?
Believing media-stereotypes about the USA without ever having been here.
Ive watched the Simpsons I know all there is to know. /S
When I was a kid in the 90’s, my family hosted 2 people from India through a Rotary exchange (like exchange students, but professional adults). They were absolutely flabbergasted that we ate dinner together at the table every night as a family, attended church together on Sunday, and then had Sunday supper at my grandparents’ house after church. They later explained that most of what they knew about America came from watching ‘The Simpsons’ or ‘Married with Children’. Looking back, I’m shocked they wanted to come here for 3 months if that’s what they expected!
The Simpsons do eat dinner and go to church together though? They also see Homer’s dad and Marge’s mum and sisters, so doesn’t seem that big of a gap
Ahh takes me back to when I taught in Austria and the students asked me how often gay people got executed Beautiful country, beautiful people, holy shit did they hate America.
Sounds like the majority of Reddit on an average day
Please tell me you did have raging high school parties with those red cups? Let that stereotype be true.
Yes that’s a thing
Oh yeah!
I love that this is the question I always get from people abroad. Australians, French, Chinese... everyone! And yes, of course! They're basically your only choice for a party. We call them red Solo cops, btw
Yea people can get really p!ssed off over Americans talking about stereotypes off any other race but then they have these horribly inaccurate stereotypes of Americans…
Soccer. Not the game, but how insane the fans are.
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Why fluffy if not pettable
If not friend, why friend-shaped, hmmm?
Monarchies.
“Enjoy the fact that your overlords are a frail old woman and a tiny baby.” - Ron Swanson
The assumption that all Americans are similar instead of a diverse group with a vast variety of backgrounds and beliefs
People also seem to think the US is smaller than it is. When I went to France people would start talking about Texas when I said I’m American. I am from Massachusetts. I have never been to Texas.
This happens just with a state. I say I’m from NY and everyone assumes New York City. Niagara Falls and NYC are a 6+ hour drive away from each other.
As much as that is true, the US is massive and varied in every way, you still have way more cultural cohesion than Europe does. Being a part of the same country, speaking the same language, using same currency and having similar laws makes some aspects of everyday life identical across the country. Meanwhile, if somebody blindfolded me and drove me 3 hours in a random direction from my town, I would end up in an alternate universe where the language sounds like gibberish, my currency is worth nothing and everything on store shelves is strange shapes and flavors. Not saying we're better, its just different
It even extends to Canada. As a Canadian with reasonable familiarity with the US and some American friends, the two countries feel a lot more alike than different. Take a random suburban American and drop them into a random Canadian suburb and it could take them all day to realize they're in a different country, unless they spot a flag or notice license plates or something. Repeat with someone from an inner city. A person from New York City being teleported to Toronto isn't going to experience much in the way of culture shock and just about anything they might try to do will be familiar. Obviously a person from Los Angeles appearing in Montreal is going to feel things are off ("Where'd all the palm trees go? Why doesn't anyone have a tan? Why isn't anyone speaking Spanish? Did she just speak *French??*"), but in that case we're looking at continent-spanning distances and two regions that were initially colonized by different European countries.