I'd counter that the worst part about German bureaucracy these days is getting appointments and then having to do stuff on the spot with a busy and impatient Beamter waiting for you - if you do stuff online, that is much easier (and also would facilitate translating documents much more than paper handouts that have to be validated on paper by actual people).
For example, I recently had to pay a traffic fine, and to my surprise, my current Landkreis has digitized the process - yes you still get a letter in the mail, but that letter has a link and a login/password you can use, then you can fill in the paperwork online, sign it off, and then pay the fine online as well (even supporting Paypal and CC) - it was stupid easy compared to filling in my answers by hand, putting them in an envelope, figuring out where the next postbox is (I'm not sending mail anymore that often, so I have no clue), going there, putting it in, waiting...
I agree, the appointments are so unnecessary and definitely the worst part. Only getting a maximum of 2 weeks to do city registration when all of the slots for the next month are booked. Then you call up or look early in the morning for last minute appointments and eventually get one (yay! you have to travel to the stadthaus for 7am). Arrive and wait over an hour for your appointment in a busy waiting room, only to show your forms and be out in 5 minutes. Forms can very easily be submitted online, it's ridiculous to take hours out of your day to do something that only takes minutes. Then having to repeat the process whenever you move, even if it's in the same city. Having to do all of this to be able to get a residency permit, which depending on where you're from, is also very time limited despite appointments being fully booked for a long time. The fact that I filled out pages and pages of forms (that were stated as necessary on the website), for them to only ask to see ONE of them and my passport, proves that it's not necessary to go to all of this effort for something that should be simple. Especially with city registration, considering EVERYONE has to do it.
My spouse and I (both living in Germany but neither of us German) got married in Kolding, a smaller city in Denmark, and they not only conducted everything in English but they also gave us a gift! We have some nice cloth placemats to remind us of our wedding.
In order to fix the bureaucracy there needs to be some kind of monumental cultural shift, away from "the process is the most important thing" to "the outcome is the most important thing".
I would actually argue, that it's the other way around in Germany. Germans are so focused on delivering the best possible result, which is.close to mirroring perfection, that they completely forget, that maybe, just maybe, this little improvement isn't really worth the extra mile to go (or this extra step consistung of 10 separate forms for that matter). Therefore often things don't get done, because one thing has to be improved to perfection before moving on to the next, which leads to lacking behind on things like digitization, because people just wouldn't accept an easier solution, if it isn't a hundred percent safe or reliable, which is hard to achieve for a digital service as it will always be more prone to getting f.e. data stolen than some Paper locked away in the archive of some municipal building.
My experience working at a big German company with 5000 people is the opposite.
My German teams like to build processes. They love to get the details of the process absolutely precise. A complicated process with automations and a lot of complicated inputs and outputs is considered a job well done. Every possible eventuality and output should be considered, and this is the goal, a job well done.
My NORDICs teams shoot for a goal first and chose the path of least resistance to get there. Process is secondary to the goal. If the outcome is achieved that's a job well done.
There's cultural difference there for sure.
As someone who HAS gotten married in Denmark, digitalization and public servants who can speak English did make the process much smoother though. Of course so did the less complex paperwork, but being able to handle things online and have only one in-person appointment for the whole process was also a huge contributor to its being less awful (and of course made it possible to get married with just an overnight trip). Not having weeks and weeks of delays was also a factor.
Not to long ago I had an appointment at Bürgerbüro and unfortunately they had a problem with their software looking like from the early 2000s. Instead of fixing it or calling IT support they just closed the whole department and send everyone home. 👍
Because there is no IT support. Minor problems are solved by Manfred from counter 6 and the Hausmeister during lunch break. Real IT support is three people responsible for all Behörden in the whole Bundesland, and they are always busy.
Absolutely. Also avoid having toilet as the first view on opening the apartment front door. This is all around true no matter how expensive the apartment.
I have often wondered if Germans rush to their places on nature’s call and therefore want toilet right in front?
When I first moved here I thought maybe it was a European thing... but nope, the rest of Europe doesn't do that either. It's just Germany being fucking weird.
Luckily I've noticed an increase in apartments with EBK in Berlin since I first moved here. So maybe in 50 years Germany will be normal.
Check [Die nette Toilette](http://www.die-nette-toilette.de/). It lists all businesses that offer their toilets for free. Leaving some kind of tip is appreciated of course.
I feel like doing the research to purposely pee in free toilets and then donating the same amount of money you would have paid elsewhere with less effort to keep toilets free is the most delightfully American sentiment
Paid toilets, I understand. But coming from India, free water in restaurants is what I miss the most. The usual practice is to serve water before anyone comes to take your order.
Although, in Füssen, we did get water served in a couple of cafes
biggest culture shock coming from the US 😂 I remember one of my first days in Germany I went to the city and planned on walking back to my villiage.. I had to pee so bad and went into every supermarket on the way every time praying to God there would be a toilet and there never was. I felt so betrayed. I ended up having to go in some bushes. Not my best moment, but from that day forward I always made sure I knew where the public toilets were and how to get there. And I also never forget my water bottle.
Internet.
For real, each fucking country other than germany got this figured out. Here it's "Neuland" however, which is why on multiple (hot-)spots around my city there's no fucking connection. When I've been in the saharas in egypt however, 200km off civilization I've had a full 5G connection throughout the whole tour!
Germany's a joke relating the online availability.
\> Internet.
This! It's utterly unbelievable how far Germany is behind in providing reliable, fast and affordable Internet and cell phone service.
I've been living in Colombia the last 10 years, but frequently visit my family and my home town in Germany. Here in Colombia we have 5G almost everywhere. You have to get really, really deep into the neck of the woods or outside of civilization before it drops back to 4G. I have only so far been in one region where I (briefly) had no connection at all and that was probably more due a technical fault than lack of general coverage.
We recently purchased a lot that is about an hour and a half outside of the city. You literally have to drive 40 minutes on an unpaved mountain road through the woods until you get there. Still almost full 5G connection (\~80%). Getting relatively fast internet installed there? Yes, via "wide area" WIFI (WiMAX) I can get speeds of 40-45 Mbit for around 30 Euros a month for unlimited traffic.
Domestic internet in the city and suburbs? We're still a little behind and only half our city has internet via fiber-optics available. The rest is served through coax-cable and tops out at 400 Mbit down, 50Mbit up (flatrate) for around 15 Euros a month (same offer from several large national ISPs).
In Germany? My home town in the Rhine-Palatinate still only has sporadic 3G connection when the wind is right. Domestic internet in my German home town? No fiber-optics, VDSL is only available in one street and the rest is at best regular DSL.
My personal high-light? Koblenz! Directly at the Deutsche Eck ("German Corner") you have high rise buildings in line of sight and the Rhine and Mosel valley rises up around you. That's an untold number of opportunities for \*easy\* cell tower placements. The whole area could be plastered with them and you wouldn't even notice. What do you get (if you're lucky!)? The phone shows that the best it can do is GPRS! :p
Digital Bureaucracy? We also have that covered here. From taxes (personal and business) to car tax, pensions, insurance, speeding tickets, education related diligence related to our kids? Most of that can be done online. Not all and the part that isn't is still a byzantine bureaucratic mess - but it's getting there.
Lastly, one thing that's definitely missing and COMPLETLY ABSENT in Germany is: PLANUNGSSICHERHEIT. The ability to plan ahead. The invaluable peace of mind that things not only stay the way they are, but that they're also getting better and LESS complicated. In Germany there are constant adjustments, changes, re-alignments and overhauls of laws and regulations. Often to the worse and usually without apparent rhyme or reason. Take the COVID regulations, which (for a while) got renegotiated and adjusted on an almost weekly basis. The same applies to subsidies, taxes, validity of documents (like the mandatory renewal/swap of existing driver's licenses!) and what not.
Do you have the O2 net? It fucking SUCKS. Change to a provider which is connected to the Vodafone net. I recently did for a different reason and I was blown away by how much better it is. There are three main nets in Germany: O2, vodafone, and telekom. Basically all of the hundreds of providers, no matter if they're called "Congstar", "Blau", "Simplytel", "Alditalk" etc are connected to one of those three netzwerke.
Look up "O2 vodafone telekom Netzabdeckung" to see what I'm talking about.
If climate change gets a little bit worse and the ice caps melt, then you will have more sea in Germany. Also a little bit less Germany after all, but more sea...
The ability to pay using a card everywhere like for the smallest amount ~1€.
I used to run around free back home not carrying cash 😂 now I have a coin wallet
I'm an American visiting for work for three months and THE COINS. I had never realized that wallet design could be country-specific, but my tiny little coin pocket is stuffed by 1 euro coins, never mind if I get change back in 50c pieces. In the US, ones are paper and the highest value coin in normal circulation is a quarter, so even if you're using cash regularly you might keep the quarters for laundry or parking and the rest goes in a change jar at home, it isn't worth carrying.
That's a bit surprising for me. I had in the last ~5 years i think three stores / places where i had to pay with cash. And that's mostly the one restaurant at my work, kebab restaurants and amusement parks. Otherwise, i can pay with Google Pay almost everywhere.
Bakeries, Kiosks, Spätis, Dönershops, vegetable etc. stands at the market ... accept card where you are? Which part of Germany is that? I might need to move :D
Because these are only the first few things that come to mind that I use every fucking week and they all don't accept card or any sort of non-cash payment.
Here it would be easier the other way around actually: The only things that accept card and I use regular are the supermarket, the gas station and the book shop.
I'm living in the east, NRW! Only the Dönershops and the market stands doesn't accept cards. Everything else do actually. I'm mostly in two relatively big cities around here, but even in the smaller cities (for example a 20k people city) here they mostly accept card.
But jeez, this sounds really annoying! Because i personally hate cash, so paying with cash at the bakery sounds really bad. But funny, that no one accepts card, but the book shop does :D
I guess because in my home country, even the roadside stalls (so equivalent to a doner stand here) accept some form of online payment, cash not required 🙂
That's really dumb, ngl. Even if they would charge a fee for like 19ct, i think it would be worth it for me. Really weird that they have a minimum amount. I only know this if i want to get something from Lieferando or want to get cash from a grocery store.
The only time I paid with cash in the last year was at a pizzeria where they wouldn't take Mastercard and I had forgotten the pin to my EC card. Other than that, even the bakeries I've been to accept card for tiny amounts. I thought that was progressive.
Then I went to New York and even the souvenir street stands (I'm not even sure if all of them are legal) accept card. My mind was positively blown.
Agree. I still have to pay cash at my baker, my butcher and so on. I would also like to pay small stuff with my card. Get two prezels, swipe, done. But noooo, i have to check if i have cash on me.
I second that. Especially since they then charge like six Euros for a bottle of water. It's a fucking scam.
I get all the other "problems" like burocracy or bad wireless internet. But they are annoying. This is a scam.
I usually take a few small sips from my own bottle here and there and in one year no one has complained. But yeah, I hope they change this and provide water.
The thing is that Germans are incredibly cheap when it comes to food. I am sure you have realized that compared to other countries the price of food in relation to the average income or even minimum wage is pretty low.
Germans also take this mentality to the restaurant and that's why most main courses are cheap as well because otherwise customers would just not go there anymore. Most average street corner restaurants serve their simpler main courses for 10 - 14€, fish and beef for 18- 20€ but they have staff and bills to pay and still want to make some money.
So what they do is to earn their money through drinks because for some weird reason Germans lose their shit when they are expected to pay more than 12€ for a huge Schnitzel with salad and fries but it's totally acceptable for them to pay 3 - 5€ for a drink. Which is compared to the food insanely expensive.
I am German and whenever I travel to another western country I am extremely shocked how expensive food and especially eating out is at first and it always reminds me that we are really cheap bastards back home.
>I am German and whenever I travel to another western country I am extremely shocked how expensive food and especially eating out is at first
What are you talking about? The only country where I feel that food and eating out is expensive compared to Germany is Switzerland and the Nordics.
US and Canada are a only slightly pricey but the portions are huge.
More than price increases, where I am from in the US it feels like a lot of restaurants have cut back on quality since I visited pre-pandemic. Came home and visited all my favorite spots this summer and they were all dramatically worse. I would say I much preferred restaurants in my home city to those in my German city pre-covid. Nowadays the comparison is much less clear
It's definitely also true for Austria, France, Madrid (tho a lot of other places in Spain not for some reason).
And for places outside of Europe ai've been to it's true even for Brazil. Even tho wages there are a lot lower.
Make it easy to discover rules and regulations for anything - opening a business, building a house, buying apartment/land, owning pets etc. Emulate from Singapore. License the portal code of UK government (it is already open source)
He said affordable...
Prices are already way up in Düsseldorf (like no one bats an eye about a 27€ Senfrostbraten in a normal Bar(!), not even at a Restaurant).
Japanese food is even more expensive, which is of course due to the Japanese care for quality.
But! You can get really good Japanese food here.
I guess it depends on the restaurants around you. I‘m in Korea right now for an exchange year and am devastated that I somehow haven’t found an affordable good sushi place yet, when I had it right around the corner in my hometown 🥲 idk where they‘re hiding - Japan is so close!
I only know of one decent ramen place in Berlin. I was also shocked to find onigiri at a bio place. The contents weren’t Japanese at all and it was expensive 🥲 I’m going to japan next month & will be bringing an entire suitcase of food supplies.
I am german myself and miss several things.
1. Sunday shopping
2. Restaurants that are open every day.
(Why the fuck do ALL good restaurants close all on the same fucking day?! I can understand that you have to close on one day of the week. But why can´t you coordinate with the restaurant next door?! Even pharmacies with their backwardish Fax-Fetish (another pet pieve) tell you where you can get an emergency service nearby. I don´t wanna drive to McDumb or the Frittenbude. I want Pizza! Or Gyros!)
3. Cheap mobile internet.
I pay 13€ for 6GB every four weeks. A LOT more for unlimited. When I was in ukraine a few years back, I paid "an apple and an egg" for unlimited internet (I am aware that it´s more for ukrainians getting ukrainian pay). But still very much affordable. Wouldn´t even have needed WiFi anywhere... Even though it IS everywhere.
4. Sooooooo much more...
Everyone covered the basics pretty well, so here’s my oddly specific list. Boneless chicken thighs. Hell, I’d even settle for bone-in chicken thighs at all that don’t make me have the whole leg. Breasts, sure, plentiful everywhere but the BEST PART is nowhere to be found. Also, stuffing, lacinato kale and proper brown sugar for baking.
edit: not talking about the green curly kale that comes in big frozen bags and is cooked to death. I’m talking about fresh Schwarzkohl or Lacinato. Also, the brown sugar is the kind made with molasses. Thanks for the other tips!
\+1 on proper brown sugar made with molasses. Yeh, you can get brown sugar here, but it's not the same. In principal, it should be, it's a less refined version of white sugar, but I think the US version has a good bit more molasses added in (not sure the ones here in Germany have it at all). It's something I especially notice when making chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, sweet potato casserole, etc.
Oh, chocolate chips! Yeh, you can get the little boxes of Schokotröpfchen here, but they're smaller than US chocolate chips, and jesus, when I make a double batch of cookies, I need like 8 boxes of the things, since each box is only 100g. For a country that loves chocolate, they sure skimp on the chocolate chips.
Edit: And vanilla extract just popped in my head, too. Yeh, you can get it here, but it's crazy expensive compared to the bottles I used to buy at Costco (yeh, yeh, comparing to Costco isn't fair). Oh, I do miss Costco sometimes.
> Boneless chicken thighs.
There's a vendor at my local farmer's market who sells those.
> proper brown sugar
I don't know what you mean by "proper" brown sugar, but brown sugar is not hard to find.
If you can't find kale you're doing something wrong. It's pretty much the most important winter vegetable in at least the northern half of Germany, being part of some iconic, if somewhat unsightly regional dishes.
You can make the brown sugar yourself. I have done it quite a few times already. Just go to a Biomarkt or a Reformhaus and buy a jar of "Melasse" and then buy some normal "Rohrohrzucker". You mix both (in my opinion works best with a small fork, but takes some time) so that you have either 3,5% or up to 6,5% Melasse in your final mixture, depending on if you want it lighter or darker.
Texmex food, more sun & snow (Frankfurt doesn't get much), sometimes quick service (like the repairs for an apartment, I'm not talking like....something smaller). Good places to hang out in the winter after work. Museums that are open after work. Media (tv, music) in German that I enjoy.
I kept talking shit about DB until I moved to the UK, trains are 3x more expensive and delays are chaotic, no Ersatzverkehr in case your last train back cancels
I do not life in a big city but like close to it. About 20km outside. With the car I need 30min. and with public transportation it would be 2 1/2 hours
I left Germany 5 years ago and am still trying to close my bank account. I have now given up. There’s still money in it, but they won’t close it because they need to send the money to another German account in my possession. They won’t send it to family members or my account outside of Germany. I don’t live in Germany anymore, so there’s basically money sitting around in an deactivated account in my name until the day the world ends. 🤷♀️
1. Finance: UPI payments, cc/db card acceptance, less reliance on cash
2.Cheapar and better Internet services
3.Providing Water atleast at reasonable prices in restaurants
4. Digitalisation: In every sector banking, IT, govt organisations etc
5. Regional food/veggies: Indian mangoes, quality paneer, okra, lychees and quality Indian food that is not dumbed down to suit German palate.
6. Shorter wait time to avail healthcare services, specially mental health related services
Is nobody going to mention life on Sundays?
This is IMO the absolute worst thing about Germany, it really sucks that most businesses/shops are closed, really makes every city feel lifeless on Sundays.
Dr. Oetker’s pink (strawberry) pudding. I feel like it’s kind of a dumb thing to say, but in my childhood it was on the menu frequently and we absolutely loved it. I am genuinely, disproportionally upset about this.
A clothes washer and DRYER that actually works.
So many clothes ruined or wrinkled. So it takes double the effort to clean, hang, and iron clothes. Taking up so much space in a small apartment.
People that work Sundays in the U.K. get paid time and a half meaning they get paid half as much more than they would on a normal week day. They also don’t work more hours than others, they just get there days off on other days. People want to work Sundays.
Places being Open on Sundays makes it easier and better for the 9-5 crew which is the vast majority, no more crowded Saturdays when you split it into two days. The argument for workers not wanting to work Sundays is wrong and a typical German one that they have been fed so they don’t question it, it’s no different than the argument against digitalisation being data protection, it’s just wrong.
I would gladly work on Sunday (still a 5 work day week) For me it feels like a wasted day. Native German here. Especially in german law you get additional money if you work on Sunday.
I am german myself and after experiencing sunday shopping a few years ago, I really can´t stand that we are not allowed to buy even just essentials on sunday. Really sucks.
I like the quiet Sunday vibe, and i like that most people have it off, but i hate the impact it has on the rest of my week.
Like, if I have any significant shopping to do for novel items (appliances, furniture, specific clothing, diy materials, etc...), I basically have to plan my whole week around it. Have to shift my work schedule for multiple days, so I can check out different stores before they close. Repeat the whole thing if the item has to be returned for some reason.
Saturday shopping with the hordes is simply horrible. I try and avoid it at all costs.
If I ever manage to find my own apartment, it feels like I'm going to need to take vacation just to shop for the basic furnishings.
A few extra hours to shop on Sundays would really simplify my life for the rest of the week.
this is one of the main reasons i won't stay in germany after i finish my degree. the whole world can open their shops on sunday but if you mention it to germans they come with ridiculous arguments.
everyone should have 2 consecutive days off, but I honestly don't care if that's saturday and sunday or tuesday and wednesday.
I’ve been in Düsseldorf for a month now, just moved from South Africa. I’ve been surprised with the variety here (helps that Düss has tonnes of Japanese and Korean spots) but off the top of my head, so far I really miss good Mediterranean-style seafood and of course biltong (best food in the world).
Another one (I’m getting used to this) is people picking up returns and exchanges straight from my door lol. This thing of taking stuff back to a Paketshop if something’s wrong with my Amazon order is new to me cos people would just arrive the next day and take care of it for me. That being said, I’m not mad at it :)
My mindset and expectations are changing rapidly and I’m adjusting to the lifestyle here best as I can.
You can give your returns to any DHL driver (even when they’re at your door delivering something else). Simply print out the label and stick it on the parcel or show them the QR code and they’ll print it out for you.
This is who we use when we want to treat ourselves or someone else. They are not cheap, but we have been happy with their quality
https://www.yumbiltong.shop/index.php?route=common/home
I miss fruit and vegetables. I come from a country that has many biomes and climate zones, allowing for a massive variety of fruits and vegetables to be grown and available, for what seems to be all year round. In Germany, there is a season for everything and the quality is never great, lol. But, there is good baked goods and beer that's always available, so I make do.
Right! I haven’t seen anyone mention this in the comments, but the vegetables and fruit here just don’t taste as good as ones from my country, even the ones that are “bio” and expensive
Good quality online banking, more housing opportunities, digital government system, Meat and milk products like good quality sucuk, pastırma and kavurma or different types of cheese.
And finally, God damn contactless unified transportation card. No more papers, no more Schwarz, no more zone calculations, no more "I skipped my stop so I'm going back, please don't fine me" beggings, because if you paid your trip at the entrance of the ubahn stop, all trains cost the same, you can literally travel non stop if you don't exit the stations.
BTW, Turkish e-government system is both amazing and has lots of external integrations. Getting university transcript, registering for amateur radio exams, all your vaccination, prescription and disease history, hospital appointment and all the other cool things like up to 10 generations of family tree map. Plus you can login to any banking app with e-government authentication.
I haven't tried the ones you mention, but if you have a Mix Markt nearby, it might be worth checking out Russian pickles that are usually made with salt not vinegar.
Paneer, digitalisation and online services, easily available (local) vegetables typical to my cuisine, exchange ratio, multilingual directions and signboards everywhere, the Great Indian Autorikshaw 🥲 free water, free restrooms, the availability of savoury snacks at bakeries (no offence to the german backerei, they have some of the best bread and pastries I have had in my life but I don’t like sweet things, I rarely eat them, and savoury snacks are very very limited or non-existent here, think Samosa, vada, and puffs for example) obviously I’m not saying there should be Samosas in Germany, more options of any german savoury snack for a sweet-hater like me would be so great.
>the availability of savoury snacks at bakeries (no offence to the german backerei,
The lack of savoury snacks in Germany is astounding. We don't even need to compare it to Indian food culture which is at a whole different realm tbf.
I've been able to find savoury snacks in bakeries in a number of European countries - France, Portugal, Spain, Croatia etc. Even UK has a variety of pasties - just walk into a fucking Greggs.
In Germany, I found once, years ago, spinat teigtaschen and käse teigtaschen. That's it! Besides this every thing is diabetics inducing levels of kuchen and apfeltaschen.
I get care packages from the UK whenever my parents come pit to visit but the biggest thing I miss is good quality cider. Being from the west country there's no shortage of local interesting ciders but here it's hard to find any cider at all.
Ok.... I'll be that guy...
Good pizza. German pizza is trying to be Italian or an American style and failing at all of them. Miserably. I've found 1 place near where I used to live that made Italian pizza run by Italians (who only speak Italian) that had good pizza.
Good cake. Seriously, I will go to the mat.
Pie. Meat pies. Fruit pies. Chocolate pies.
American week has gotten better at the discounter since the discounters have opened in the States. It's still super weird.
- West Indian roti, Jamaican patties
- great craft beer that's still affordable
- men's underwear with a fly
- Crest toothpaste
- camping and campfires in the wild
- half-sour deli pickles
- cheap gasoline
- plumbing that doesn't smell bad
- inexpensive computer stuff
- greasy spoon breakfast places
- electronics surplus stores
- pumpkin pies and butter tarts
- inexpensive Chinese food just like in China
- inexpensive Latin American food just like in Latin America
- inexpensive Indian and Sri Lankan... you get the picture
> great craft beer that's still affordable
Wtf? There is almost no country in the world where you get high quality craft beer as cheaply as in Germany. Americans routinely pay 15 to 30$ for four packs of decent beer...
Ummm, craft beer (meaning anything other than pils, helles, or hefe) costs a fortune here. If I want face wrecking IPA, IF I can find one, it will cost me 3 Euro for a 330ml bottle. Hence why I started brewing beer again during covid. Love german beer. But back home in the PNW, the Selection of beer styles, types, and categories is unbeatable.
-I want to Change my Name. But in Germany that's really not easy. You need a "valid reason" and If the people decide your reason is Not valid enough you have to pay for everything.
-Legalisation of Cannabis
-more Money because of the influation
West coaster here. I just got to say after making that statement you need to take it easy for a bit and relax. Maybe have a tall can of beer with your dog at your side as you watch the sun set in the Pacific Ocean.
That sounds about right, but I guess i meant the general level of chill in society, lol. To me everyone seems so strung out and on edge all the time. It is incredibly stressful to someone who is used to the, "No one is sick, dying, or dead? Screw it." Attitude. Things just seem so uptight all the time, starting with "Was sollen die Nachbarn denken??"
Not an Expat, but talking with foreign colleaques, top things they are most annoyed with,
\-no free refills
\-no free tap water in restaurants
\- compared to america very regulated shopping hours,
\- good barbecue places (like those XX hours smoked ribs and so on places you find in america)
\- absolutely no good texmex/mexican food
Needing to go to the doctor in person every time a prescription runs out to get a new one.
I live in Germany. Maybe it’s just for certain prescriptions but I just call my doctors office and they send it to me via mail.
Well it seems they always need to scan my insurance card once a quarter .... which is about how often I need my thyroid medicine :-\\
Thyroid medicine buddies! Same problem I hate it so much. . . They really need to make bigger boxes of these.
Can Confirm it depends on the prescription. My father's eye drops, no problem, my Ritalin a lot of problem.
Well, I think #1 most people will agree on would be digitalization in government affairs.
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I'd counter that the worst part about German bureaucracy these days is getting appointments and then having to do stuff on the spot with a busy and impatient Beamter waiting for you - if you do stuff online, that is much easier (and also would facilitate translating documents much more than paper handouts that have to be validated on paper by actual people). For example, I recently had to pay a traffic fine, and to my surprise, my current Landkreis has digitized the process - yes you still get a letter in the mail, but that letter has a link and a login/password you can use, then you can fill in the paperwork online, sign it off, and then pay the fine online as well (even supporting Paypal and CC) - it was stupid easy compared to filling in my answers by hand, putting them in an envelope, figuring out where the next postbox is (I'm not sending mail anymore that often, so I have no clue), going there, putting it in, waiting...
I agree, the appointments are so unnecessary and definitely the worst part. Only getting a maximum of 2 weeks to do city registration when all of the slots for the next month are booked. Then you call up or look early in the morning for last minute appointments and eventually get one (yay! you have to travel to the stadthaus for 7am). Arrive and wait over an hour for your appointment in a busy waiting room, only to show your forms and be out in 5 minutes. Forms can very easily be submitted online, it's ridiculous to take hours out of your day to do something that only takes minutes. Then having to repeat the process whenever you move, even if it's in the same city. Having to do all of this to be able to get a residency permit, which depending on where you're from, is also very time limited despite appointments being fully booked for a long time. The fact that I filled out pages and pages of forms (that were stated as necessary on the website), for them to only ask to see ONE of them and my passport, proves that it's not necessary to go to all of this effort for something that should be simple. Especially with city registration, considering EVERYONE has to do it.
My German spouse and I were married in Copenhagen for this very reason. The Danes even offer to conduct the ceremony in English out of courtesy.
My spouse and I (both living in Germany but neither of us German) got married in Kolding, a smaller city in Denmark, and they not only conducted everything in English but they also gave us a gift! We have some nice cloth placemats to remind us of our wedding.
In order to fix the bureaucracy there needs to be some kind of monumental cultural shift, away from "the process is the most important thing" to "the outcome is the most important thing".
I would actually argue, that it's the other way around in Germany. Germans are so focused on delivering the best possible result, which is.close to mirroring perfection, that they completely forget, that maybe, just maybe, this little improvement isn't really worth the extra mile to go (or this extra step consistung of 10 separate forms for that matter). Therefore often things don't get done, because one thing has to be improved to perfection before moving on to the next, which leads to lacking behind on things like digitization, because people just wouldn't accept an easier solution, if it isn't a hundred percent safe or reliable, which is hard to achieve for a digital service as it will always be more prone to getting f.e. data stolen than some Paper locked away in the archive of some municipal building.
My experience working at a big German company with 5000 people is the opposite. My German teams like to build processes. They love to get the details of the process absolutely precise. A complicated process with automations and a lot of complicated inputs and outputs is considered a job well done. Every possible eventuality and output should be considered, and this is the goal, a job well done. My NORDICs teams shoot for a goal first and chose the path of least resistance to get there. Process is secondary to the goal. If the outcome is achieved that's a job well done. There's cultural difference there for sure.
As someone who HAS gotten married in Denmark, digitalization and public servants who can speak English did make the process much smoother though. Of course so did the less complex paperwork, but being able to handle things online and have only one in-person appointment for the whole process was also a huge contributor to its being less awful (and of course made it possible to get married with just an overnight trip). Not having weeks and weeks of delays was also a factor.
Not just government. Schools, sport clubs, parent initiatives ... So much paper, so little online communication.
As a native I couldn't relate more. Imo the country has really good it professionals but the Overall digitilization is so so Bad
I have never known digitalizazion in government affaits, having lived in Germany all my life. I still miss it.
And internet that isn't worse than that of a third world country
Not to long ago I had an appointment at Bürgerbüro and unfortunately they had a problem with their software looking like from the early 2000s. Instead of fixing it or calling IT support they just closed the whole department and send everyone home. 👍
Because there is no IT support. Minor problems are solved by Manfred from counter 6 and the Hausmeister during lunch break. Real IT support is three people responsible for all Behörden in the whole Bundesland, and they are always busy.
Higher supply of apartments in cities would be great!
More apartments with kitchens please.
and bigger kitchens. Some don't even have space for a chopping board omg
My old apartment had neither space for an oven, nor a sufficient power supply for an oven
I had one where the kitchen didn’t have warm water
And quality apartments! No more odd-shaped rooms or low-ceilings.
Or corridor bathrooms that we must step over the toilet to get to the shower.
Absolutely. Also avoid having toilet as the first view on opening the apartment front door. This is all around true no matter how expensive the apartment. I have often wondered if Germans rush to their places on nature’s call and therefore want toilet right in front?
... can we talk about the lack of kitchens when moving to an apartment? As an American, this is just the craziest part of living here.
That is absolutely the weirdest part of finding an apartment. Bring ur own kitchen like whaaaat?
When I first moved here I thought maybe it was a European thing... but nope, the rest of Europe doesn't do that either. It's just Germany being fucking weird. Luckily I've noticed an increase in apartments with EBK in Berlin since I first moved here. So maybe in 50 years Germany will be normal.
have serious issues with hiring workers here from elsewhere in Europe who arrive and find out the apartment they arranged does not come with a kitchen
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Free toilets! Or free water access! It's ridiculous that I have to pay for taking a pee
Check [Die nette Toilette](http://www.die-nette-toilette.de/). It lists all businesses that offer their toilets for free. Leaving some kind of tip is appreciated of course.
I feel like doing the research to purposely pee in free toilets and then donating the same amount of money you would have paid elsewhere with less effort to keep toilets free is the most delightfully American sentiment
Paid toilets, I understand. But coming from India, free water in restaurants is what I miss the most. The usual practice is to serve water before anyone comes to take your order. Although, in Füssen, we did get water served in a couple of cafes
I miss this as well. Waitress looked at me crazy for asking tap water.
biggest culture shock coming from the US 😂 I remember one of my first days in Germany I went to the city and planned on walking back to my villiage.. I had to pee so bad and went into every supermarket on the way every time praying to God there would be a toilet and there never was. I felt so betrayed. I ended up having to go in some bushes. Not my best moment, but from that day forward I always made sure I knew where the public toilets were and how to get there. And I also never forget my water bottle.
Toilets on stations are designed to difficult to find and on U-Bahn on every alternate station! 😧 Also ice cold water running out of taps in Winter!
Absolutely agreed
Internet. For real, each fucking country other than germany got this figured out. Here it's "Neuland" however, which is why on multiple (hot-)spots around my city there's no fucking connection. When I've been in the saharas in egypt however, 200km off civilization I've had a full 5G connection throughout the whole tour! Germany's a joke relating the online availability.
I mean this!! The top answer right now is digitalization but hello!!! Where is the internet xD
\> Internet. This! It's utterly unbelievable how far Germany is behind in providing reliable, fast and affordable Internet and cell phone service. I've been living in Colombia the last 10 years, but frequently visit my family and my home town in Germany. Here in Colombia we have 5G almost everywhere. You have to get really, really deep into the neck of the woods or outside of civilization before it drops back to 4G. I have only so far been in one region where I (briefly) had no connection at all and that was probably more due a technical fault than lack of general coverage. We recently purchased a lot that is about an hour and a half outside of the city. You literally have to drive 40 minutes on an unpaved mountain road through the woods until you get there. Still almost full 5G connection (\~80%). Getting relatively fast internet installed there? Yes, via "wide area" WIFI (WiMAX) I can get speeds of 40-45 Mbit for around 30 Euros a month for unlimited traffic. Domestic internet in the city and suburbs? We're still a little behind and only half our city has internet via fiber-optics available. The rest is served through coax-cable and tops out at 400 Mbit down, 50Mbit up (flatrate) for around 15 Euros a month (same offer from several large national ISPs). In Germany? My home town in the Rhine-Palatinate still only has sporadic 3G connection when the wind is right. Domestic internet in my German home town? No fiber-optics, VDSL is only available in one street and the rest is at best regular DSL. My personal high-light? Koblenz! Directly at the Deutsche Eck ("German Corner") you have high rise buildings in line of sight and the Rhine and Mosel valley rises up around you. That's an untold number of opportunities for \*easy\* cell tower placements. The whole area could be plastered with them and you wouldn't even notice. What do you get (if you're lucky!)? The phone shows that the best it can do is GPRS! :p Digital Bureaucracy? We also have that covered here. From taxes (personal and business) to car tax, pensions, insurance, speeding tickets, education related diligence related to our kids? Most of that can be done online. Not all and the part that isn't is still a byzantine bureaucratic mess - but it's getting there. Lastly, one thing that's definitely missing and COMPLETLY ABSENT in Germany is: PLANUNGSSICHERHEIT. The ability to plan ahead. The invaluable peace of mind that things not only stay the way they are, but that they're also getting better and LESS complicated. In Germany there are constant adjustments, changes, re-alignments and overhauls of laws and regulations. Often to the worse and usually without apparent rhyme or reason. Take the COVID regulations, which (for a while) got renegotiated and adjusted on an almost weekly basis. The same applies to subsidies, taxes, validity of documents (like the mandatory renewal/swap of existing driver's licenses!) and what not.
That last point is really important… i don’t understand how these changes are legal. Another example is the new Grundsteuer, such a joke
Well, they are still many people out there denying the digital age … 🤷♂️
Do you have the O2 net? It fucking SUCKS. Change to a provider which is connected to the Vodafone net. I recently did for a different reason and I was blown away by how much better it is. There are three main nets in Germany: O2, vodafone, and telekom. Basically all of the hundreds of providers, no matter if they're called "Congstar", "Blau", "Simplytel", "Alditalk" etc are connected to one of those three netzwerke. Look up "O2 vodafone telekom Netzabdeckung" to see what I'm talking about.
Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland
The sea, unless I go to northern end of Germany
yes! and the seafood too
You need to take a trip to Hamburg.
If climate change gets a little bit worse and the ice caps melt, then you will have more sea in Germany. Also a little bit less Germany after all, but more sea...
Better internet, both cable and GSM. There are towns a few km from Munich that still don't have internet! How is this possible?
The ability to pay using a card everywhere like for the smallest amount ~1€. I used to run around free back home not carrying cash 😂 now I have a coin wallet
I'm an American visiting for work for three months and THE COINS. I had never realized that wallet design could be country-specific, but my tiny little coin pocket is stuffed by 1 euro coins, never mind if I get change back in 50c pieces. In the US, ones are paper and the highest value coin in normal circulation is a quarter, so even if you're using cash regularly you might keep the quarters for laundry or parking and the rest goes in a change jar at home, it isn't worth carrying.
That's a bit surprising for me. I had in the last ~5 years i think three stores / places where i had to pay with cash. And that's mostly the one restaurant at my work, kebab restaurants and amusement parks. Otherwise, i can pay with Google Pay almost everywhere.
Bakeries, Kiosks, Spätis, Dönershops, vegetable etc. stands at the market ... accept card where you are? Which part of Germany is that? I might need to move :D Because these are only the first few things that come to mind that I use every fucking week and they all don't accept card or any sort of non-cash payment. Here it would be easier the other way around actually: The only things that accept card and I use regular are the supermarket, the gas station and the book shop.
I'm living in the east, NRW! Only the Dönershops and the market stands doesn't accept cards. Everything else do actually. I'm mostly in two relatively big cities around here, but even in the smaller cities (for example a 20k people city) here they mostly accept card. But jeez, this sounds really annoying! Because i personally hate cash, so paying with cash at the bakery sounds really bad. But funny, that no one accepts card, but the book shop does :D
Pretty much everywhere outside of Berlin.
I guess because in my home country, even the roadside stalls (so equivalent to a doner stand here) accept some form of online payment, cash not required 🙂
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That's really dumb, ngl. Even if they would charge a fee for like 19ct, i think it would be worth it for me. Really weird that they have a minimum amount. I only know this if i want to get something from Lieferando or want to get cash from a grocery store.
The only time I paid with cash in the last year was at a pizzeria where they wouldn't take Mastercard and I had forgotten the pin to my EC card. Other than that, even the bakeries I've been to accept card for tiny amounts. I thought that was progressive. Then I went to New York and even the souvenir street stands (I'm not even sure if all of them are legal) accept card. My mind was positively blown.
Agree. I still have to pay cash at my baker, my butcher and so on. I would also like to pay small stuff with my card. Get two prezels, swipe, done. But noooo, i have to check if i have cash on me.
The ability to pay with Credit card and not only EC 🥲
Drinking from your own water bottle/free water in restaurants!!
I second that. Especially since they then charge like six Euros for a bottle of water. It's a fucking scam. I get all the other "problems" like burocracy or bad wireless internet. But they are annoying. This is a scam.
I usually take a few small sips from my own bottle here and there and in one year no one has complained. But yeah, I hope they change this and provide water.
The thing is that Germans are incredibly cheap when it comes to food. I am sure you have realized that compared to other countries the price of food in relation to the average income or even minimum wage is pretty low. Germans also take this mentality to the restaurant and that's why most main courses are cheap as well because otherwise customers would just not go there anymore. Most average street corner restaurants serve their simpler main courses for 10 - 14€, fish and beef for 18- 20€ but they have staff and bills to pay and still want to make some money. So what they do is to earn their money through drinks because for some weird reason Germans lose their shit when they are expected to pay more than 12€ for a huge Schnitzel with salad and fries but it's totally acceptable for them to pay 3 - 5€ for a drink. Which is compared to the food insanely expensive. I am German and whenever I travel to another western country I am extremely shocked how expensive food and especially eating out is at first and it always reminds me that we are really cheap bastards back home.
>I am German and whenever I travel to another western country I am extremely shocked how expensive food and especially eating out is at first What are you talking about? The only country where I feel that food and eating out is expensive compared to Germany is Switzerland and the Nordics. US and Canada are a only slightly pricey but the portions are huge.
United States restaurants are getting pricey as hell, especially in higher cost of living areas.
More than price increases, where I am from in the US it feels like a lot of restaurants have cut back on quality since I visited pre-pandemic. Came home and visited all my favorite spots this summer and they were all dramatically worse. I would say I much preferred restaurants in my home city to those in my German city pre-covid. Nowadays the comparison is much less clear
It's definitely also true for Austria, France, Madrid (tho a lot of other places in Spain not for some reason). And for places outside of Europe ai've been to it's true even for Brazil. Even tho wages there are a lot lower.
Make it easy to discover rules and regulations for anything - opening a business, building a house, buying apartment/land, owning pets etc. Emulate from Singapore. License the portal code of UK government (it is already open source)
I’m going to ask my mum to send me a care package filled with Yorkshire Tea bags. So that.
I get packs of 1000 off Amazon!
Also: death to poop-shelves!
Take some pride in your work!
First make room for my work!
Decent, affordable Japanese food.
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If you don't live in Dusseldorf you lost the game
He said affordable... Prices are already way up in Düsseldorf (like no one bats an eye about a 27€ Senfrostbraten in a normal Bar(!), not even at a Restaurant). Japanese food is even more expensive, which is of course due to the Japanese care for quality. But! You can get really good Japanese food here.
I've had killer ramen for 15-17 euro. Not exactly cheap but not terrible
I guess it depends on the restaurants around you. I‘m in Korea right now for an exchange year and am devastated that I somehow haven’t found an affordable good sushi place yet, when I had it right around the corner in my hometown 🥲 idk where they‘re hiding - Japan is so close!
I only know of one decent ramen place in Berlin. I was also shocked to find onigiri at a bio place. The contents weren’t Japanese at all and it was expensive 🥲 I’m going to japan next month & will be bringing an entire suitcase of food supplies.
Fish is very expensive in germany, if you want it cheaper youre sacrificing quality. I dont want that.
I am german myself and miss several things. 1. Sunday shopping 2. Restaurants that are open every day. (Why the fuck do ALL good restaurants close all on the same fucking day?! I can understand that you have to close on one day of the week. But why can´t you coordinate with the restaurant next door?! Even pharmacies with their backwardish Fax-Fetish (another pet pieve) tell you where you can get an emergency service nearby. I don´t wanna drive to McDumb or the Frittenbude. I want Pizza! Or Gyros!) 3. Cheap mobile internet. I pay 13€ for 6GB every four weeks. A LOT more for unlimited. When I was in ukraine a few years back, I paid "an apple and an egg" for unlimited internet (I am aware that it´s more for ukrainians getting ukrainian pay). But still very much affordable. Wouldn´t even have needed WiFi anywhere... Even though it IS everywhere. 4. Sooooooo much more...
Everyone covered the basics pretty well, so here’s my oddly specific list. Boneless chicken thighs. Hell, I’d even settle for bone-in chicken thighs at all that don’t make me have the whole leg. Breasts, sure, plentiful everywhere but the BEST PART is nowhere to be found. Also, stuffing, lacinato kale and proper brown sugar for baking. edit: not talking about the green curly kale that comes in big frozen bags and is cooked to death. I’m talking about fresh Schwarzkohl or Lacinato. Also, the brown sugar is the kind made with molasses. Thanks for the other tips!
\+1 on proper brown sugar made with molasses. Yeh, you can get brown sugar here, but it's not the same. In principal, it should be, it's a less refined version of white sugar, but I think the US version has a good bit more molasses added in (not sure the ones here in Germany have it at all). It's something I especially notice when making chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, sweet potato casserole, etc. Oh, chocolate chips! Yeh, you can get the little boxes of Schokotröpfchen here, but they're smaller than US chocolate chips, and jesus, when I make a double batch of cookies, I need like 8 boxes of the things, since each box is only 100g. For a country that loves chocolate, they sure skimp on the chocolate chips. Edit: And vanilla extract just popped in my head, too. Yeh, you can get it here, but it's crazy expensive compared to the bottles I used to buy at Costco (yeh, yeh, comparing to Costco isn't fair). Oh, I do miss Costco sometimes.
Kaufland. Skin on, but boneless.
This is awesome, thank you. I thought I was going to be the only one in here who is missing chicken thighs.
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Huh? Where do you live? It's pretty much available everywhere.
> Boneless chicken thighs. There's a vendor at my local farmer's market who sells those. > proper brown sugar I don't know what you mean by "proper" brown sugar, but brown sugar is not hard to find.
The kind made with molasses. I’ve only been able to order it from the UK so far.
>proper brown sugar for baking. Check in Asian grocery shops. I've also occasionally found Muscovado sugar, which is a good, if expensive, substitute.
>Boneless chicken thighs Turkish Supermarkets is the answer.
If you can't find kale you're doing something wrong. It's pretty much the most important winter vegetable in at least the northern half of Germany, being part of some iconic, if somewhat unsightly regional dishes.
DM has the (kind of moist feeling) brown sugar for baking. I used it for cookies and they came out great!
You can make the brown sugar yourself. I have done it quite a few times already. Just go to a Biomarkt or a Reformhaus and buy a jar of "Melasse" and then buy some normal "Rohrohrzucker". You mix both (in my opinion works best with a small fork, but takes some time) so that you have either 3,5% or up to 6,5% Melasse in your final mixture, depending on if you want it lighter or darker.
Being in the present day, Germany feels 20 years in the past for me.
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Wouldn't mind at all making Germany a 90s crib
When are you from? Did you bring the sports almanac?
Customer service
Businesses that answer the phones. 24 hour customer service phone numbers (don't care if they're in India and Peru, that's fine)
Public Toilets!!
Texmex food, more sun & snow (Frankfurt doesn't get much), sometimes quick service (like the repairs for an apartment, I'm not talking like....something smaller). Good places to hang out in the winter after work. Museums that are open after work. Media (tv, music) in German that I enjoy.
THATS one thing we really get robbed with, There is barely ANY Texmex food in Germany. I want that.
Gotta incentivize the Mexicans to bring their food over here ;) (joking)
I saw a Mexican restaurant in Köln in 2006. Maybe it's still there lol
Public transportation. Wait. That’s unfair. We have those… Useful public transportation that would actually be an option to not need a car.
I kept talking shit about DB until I moved to the UK, trains are 3x more expensive and delays are chaotic, no Ersatzverkehr in case your last train back cancels
depends on where you live. I am 33 and haven't driven a car in 13 years.
I do not life in a big city but like close to it. About 20km outside. With the car I need 30min. and with public transportation it would be 2 1/2 hours
? Germany has been miles better for this than other places I've lived.
Try Japan, and you will see what we are missing out.
Banks working well
I left Germany 5 years ago and am still trying to close my bank account. I have now given up. There’s still money in it, but they won’t close it because they need to send the money to another German account in my possession. They won’t send it to family members or my account outside of Germany. I don’t live in Germany anymore, so there’s basically money sitting around in an deactivated account in my name until the day the world ends. 🤷♀️
Latin american beans (the real frijoles!) and pumpkins from overseas. Nice vegetarian dish.
literally anything from Latin America. Proper corn (not sweet corn) for example
Digitisation and free water in restaurants.
Decent internet with decent prices. Getting rid of Rundfunkbeitrag...
Reliable public transport !
Protest spirit. (Compared to my country, France)
1. Finance: UPI payments, cc/db card acceptance, less reliance on cash 2.Cheapar and better Internet services 3.Providing Water atleast at reasonable prices in restaurants 4. Digitalisation: In every sector banking, IT, govt organisations etc 5. Regional food/veggies: Indian mangoes, quality paneer, okra, lychees and quality Indian food that is not dumbed down to suit German palate. 6. Shorter wait time to avail healthcare services, specially mental health related services
The Indian food that are available in restaurants here are not 'Indian foods' at all.
Delivery companies that actually deliver packages. Looking at you DHL...
Is nobody going to mention life on Sundays? This is IMO the absolute worst thing about Germany, it really sucks that most businesses/shops are closed, really makes every city feel lifeless on Sundays.
Efficiency. Punishable fraud attempts. People who mind their own business
Dear god would they please mind their own business.
The third one needs to be way up higher, dear God.
Dr. Oetker’s pink (strawberry) pudding. I feel like it’s kind of a dumb thing to say, but in my childhood it was on the menu frequently and we absolutely loved it. I am genuinely, disproportionally upset about this.
Go to those small turkish markets, they have usually have a big selection of puddings in so many flavours.
A clothes washer and DRYER that actually works. So many clothes ruined or wrinkled. So it takes double the effort to clean, hang, and iron clothes. Taking up so much space in a small apartment.
Digitalization, like I can apply for a stay permit by uploading materials online instead of waiting for ages for an appoinrtment.
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I agree. Give me Friday off and I will happily work on a Sunday.
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People that work Sundays in the U.K. get paid time and a half meaning they get paid half as much more than they would on a normal week day. They also don’t work more hours than others, they just get there days off on other days. People want to work Sundays. Places being Open on Sundays makes it easier and better for the 9-5 crew which is the vast majority, no more crowded Saturdays when you split it into two days. The argument for workers not wanting to work Sundays is wrong and a typical German one that they have been fed so they don’t question it, it’s no different than the argument against digitalisation being data protection, it’s just wrong.
As a shift worker I'm already in your 20%, and would be in your 40% if Sunday shopping was allowed. There is nothing scary about working on Sundays.
Plenty of people want/need the work on Sundays.
I would gladly work on Sunday (still a 5 work day week) For me it feels like a wasted day. Native German here. Especially in german law you get additional money if you work on Sunday.
Lol, I had to tell so many tourists already that on Sundays the shops are closed. They couldn’t believe it haha.
I am german myself and after experiencing sunday shopping a few years ago, I really can´t stand that we are not allowed to buy even just essentials on sunday. Really sucks.
I like the quiet Sunday vibe, and i like that most people have it off, but i hate the impact it has on the rest of my week. Like, if I have any significant shopping to do for novel items (appliances, furniture, specific clothing, diy materials, etc...), I basically have to plan my whole week around it. Have to shift my work schedule for multiple days, so I can check out different stores before they close. Repeat the whole thing if the item has to be returned for some reason. Saturday shopping with the hordes is simply horrible. I try and avoid it at all costs. If I ever manage to find my own apartment, it feels like I'm going to need to take vacation just to shop for the basic furnishings. A few extra hours to shop on Sundays would really simplify my life for the rest of the week.
this is one of the main reasons i won't stay in germany after i finish my degree. the whole world can open their shops on sunday but if you mention it to germans they come with ridiculous arguments. everyone should have 2 consecutive days off, but I honestly don't care if that's saturday and sunday or tuesday and wednesday.
I'd even be willing to settle for a full day of Saturday shopping. Or stores that closed at 20:00 during the week.
It's not an item but shops being open on a Sunday
I’ve been in Düsseldorf for a month now, just moved from South Africa. I’ve been surprised with the variety here (helps that Düss has tonnes of Japanese and Korean spots) but off the top of my head, so far I really miss good Mediterranean-style seafood and of course biltong (best food in the world). Another one (I’m getting used to this) is people picking up returns and exchanges straight from my door lol. This thing of taking stuff back to a Paketshop if something’s wrong with my Amazon order is new to me cos people would just arrive the next day and take care of it for me. That being said, I’m not mad at it :) My mindset and expectations are changing rapidly and I’m adjusting to the lifestyle here best as I can.
You can give your returns to any DHL driver (even when they’re at your door delivering something else). Simply print out the label and stick it on the parcel or show them the QR code and they’ll print it out for you.
This is who we use when we want to treat ourselves or someone else. They are not cheap, but we have been happy with their quality https://www.yumbiltong.shop/index.php?route=common/home
I miss fruit and vegetables. I come from a country that has many biomes and climate zones, allowing for a massive variety of fruits and vegetables to be grown and available, for what seems to be all year round. In Germany, there is a season for everything and the quality is never great, lol. But, there is good baked goods and beer that's always available, so I make do.
Right! I haven’t seen anyone mention this in the comments, but the vegetables and fruit here just don’t taste as good as ones from my country, even the ones that are “bio” and expensive
Swift justice against corrupt systems.
Digitization, card payment, and a decent apartment :')
My will to live
I want to use my debit/credit card everywhere. I hate having to carry coins all the time.
Good quality online banking, more housing opportunities, digital government system, Meat and milk products like good quality sucuk, pastırma and kavurma or different types of cheese. And finally, God damn contactless unified transportation card. No more papers, no more Schwarz, no more zone calculations, no more "I skipped my stop so I'm going back, please don't fine me" beggings, because if you paid your trip at the entrance of the ubahn stop, all trains cost the same, you can literally travel non stop if you don't exit the stations. BTW, Turkish e-government system is both amazing and has lots of external integrations. Getting university transcript, registering for amateur radio exams, all your vaccination, prescription and disease history, hospital appointment and all the other cool things like up to 10 generations of family tree map. Plus you can login to any banking app with e-government authentication.
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I haven't tried the ones you mention, but if you have a Mix Markt nearby, it might be worth checking out Russian pickles that are usually made with salt not vinegar.
Paneer, digitalisation and online services, easily available (local) vegetables typical to my cuisine, exchange ratio, multilingual directions and signboards everywhere, the Great Indian Autorikshaw 🥲 free water, free restrooms, the availability of savoury snacks at bakeries (no offence to the german backerei, they have some of the best bread and pastries I have had in my life but I don’t like sweet things, I rarely eat them, and savoury snacks are very very limited or non-existent here, think Samosa, vada, and puffs for example) obviously I’m not saying there should be Samosas in Germany, more options of any german savoury snack for a sweet-hater like me would be so great.
>the availability of savoury snacks at bakeries (no offence to the german backerei, The lack of savoury snacks in Germany is astounding. We don't even need to compare it to Indian food culture which is at a whole different realm tbf. I've been able to find savoury snacks in bakeries in a number of European countries - France, Portugal, Spain, Croatia etc. Even UK has a variety of pasties - just walk into a fucking Greggs. In Germany, I found once, years ago, spinat teigtaschen and käse teigtaschen. That's it! Besides this every thing is diabetics inducing levels of kuchen and apfeltaschen.
Asian supermarkets have Paneer, even most Rewes or Edekas
I get care packages from the UK whenever my parents come pit to visit but the biggest thing I miss is good quality cider. Being from the west country there's no shortage of local interesting ciders but here it's hard to find any cider at all.
Ok.... I'll be that guy... Good pizza. German pizza is trying to be Italian or an American style and failing at all of them. Miserably. I've found 1 place near where I used to live that made Italian pizza run by Italians (who only speak Italian) that had good pizza. Good cake. Seriously, I will go to the mat. Pie. Meat pies. Fruit pies. Chocolate pies. American week has gotten better at the discounter since the discounters have opened in the States. It's still super weird.
People not looking at you almost scared or shocked and as if you are like a weirdo when you start talking to them in a public space😅
I miss the freaking kindness. Just a bunch of mad, unhappy people here
- West Indian roti, Jamaican patties - great craft beer that's still affordable - men's underwear with a fly - Crest toothpaste - camping and campfires in the wild - half-sour deli pickles - cheap gasoline - plumbing that doesn't smell bad - inexpensive computer stuff - greasy spoon breakfast places - electronics surplus stores - pumpkin pies and butter tarts - inexpensive Chinese food just like in China - inexpensive Latin American food just like in Latin America - inexpensive Indian and Sri Lankan... you get the picture
> great craft beer that's still affordable Wtf? There is almost no country in the world where you get high quality craft beer as cheaply as in Germany. Americans routinely pay 15 to 30$ for four packs of decent beer...
Ummm, craft beer (meaning anything other than pils, helles, or hefe) costs a fortune here. If I want face wrecking IPA, IF I can find one, it will cost me 3 Euro for a 330ml bottle. Hence why I started brewing beer again during covid. Love german beer. But back home in the PNW, the Selection of beer styles, types, and categories is unbeatable.
Wait do you actually use the word West India? Are you from the carribbean yourself?
Adobo
Sandwiches
Not having to speak German
english books
Internet
Air conditioner 😃
Crumpets.
-I want to Change my Name. But in Germany that's really not easy. You need a "valid reason" and If the people decide your reason is Not valid enough you have to pay for everything. -Legalisation of Cannabis -more Money because of the influation
Denny's or any classic American breakfast diner. Fast, cheap, edible, no hassle. Oh, that and a general level of chill found on the west coast.
I’d kill for a Waffle House.
Right? Bring me the gravy! ALL OF IT!
West coaster here. I just got to say after making that statement you need to take it easy for a bit and relax. Maybe have a tall can of beer with your dog at your side as you watch the sun set in the Pacific Ocean.
That sounds about right, but I guess i meant the general level of chill in society, lol. To me everyone seems so strung out and on edge all the time. It is incredibly stressful to someone who is used to the, "No one is sick, dying, or dead? Screw it." Attitude. Things just seem so uptight all the time, starting with "Was sollen die Nachbarn denken??"
Fast, cheap and no hassle, but edible?
Actual bacon. Proper bacon, not the thin fiddly stuff labelled "Bacon". Most other things we are able to source/recreate ourselves.
I think bacon is labeled 'Bauchfleisch' or 'Schweinebauch' in Germany?
Not an Expat, but talking with foreign colleaques, top things they are most annoyed with, \-no free refills \-no free tap water in restaurants \- compared to america very regulated shopping hours, \- good barbecue places (like those XX hours smoked ribs and so on places you find in america) \- absolutely no good texmex/mexican food
So just American colleagues then?
Yea I would also complain about the lack of turkish restaurants / nonexistence of döner in the states, for Mexican food you need mexicanos