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Returning to Germany has always been interesting. Since this time, it is for real, I'm the more observing. Some things are truly different from other countries, in particular the United States of America!
Most amusingly, when driving to Berlin this morning to set up shop, I listened to a popular radio station. Soon, advertisements started. One ad was particularly startling: It openly advertised condoms, you know, those with particularly strongly raised rubber dots, "for the best sex you'll ever have!" as the ad cried out. Next thing up were the news. Imagine this on a KXYZ or WXYZ radio station...
Also, driving in Germany is very different from driving in the United States. Doing 75mph doesn't mean much: Every 30 seconds or so I had a car rushing by at something like 120 to 130mph (not km/h!). With many highways being only two lanes wide (in particular the A24 from Hamburg to Berlin), you are forced to watch the tailgaters and be ready to change langes quickly. Compare that with a four-lane highway in the U.S. were nobody thinks its wrong to have four cars driving in parallel at 60mph!
And of course, Germany has the set of ubiquitous super centers. One major addition during the last 10 years of my absence has been the arrival of Walmart. This is supposed to be an amusing story in itself: When the first Walmarts opened, apparently German customers started to riot when American-style Walmart employees put their stuff into bags. Such treatment was unusual, and many customers thought their stuff was being stolen. (Don't quote me on that, I don't have a reference.)
Today, at a short visit to the nearest Walmart, however, I noticed something very different: The universal Muzak played in such places was interrupted at times by news, in this case about the new cabinet of George W. Bush. Wow! I had not expected to see the average Walmart customer take such interest in international politics! You go Walmart!
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