5 Things About Germans (+)

Ever since I moved to Germany on January 2011, I've been living here surrounded by Germans -- no-brainer. As I live my life here day by day, going through 1001 things I have never experienced back home all my life, I've developed quite a few opinions about these people, naturally. Here are the sum of 5 things I adore from Germans. As follows (in no particular order):

 Despite the fact that Germany is a more developed country than Indonesia, there are less tall buildings in this country. Sure, there are plenty in huge cities like Frankfurt or Berlin. But in most cities, there are only very few of them, if none at all. They prefer giving out their money into preserving the cultural and historical sites rather than building new offices or malls. This is worth admiring for sure! As I went from one town to another to witness their cultures, I observe that there are a lot of local tourists beside the foreign ones. Impressive. I thought they'd be quite bored with it already.

Once, in English class, we had a listening session. A german girl talked about how she missed riding everywhere with bike when she was in England because in Germany it was such a trend. I love this trend so much! In Indonesia -- at least Jakarta -- there were too many motorbikes and cars to ride bikes to places. A high school friend of mine, Galih, did so everyday to and from school, though. I find it admirable but was too scared to try it out myself. Now that I'm given such a chance, I hope I can start this habit. Not just because it's eco-friendly, but also because it's healthy. The Germans love sports. Most of their travel sites contain many, many, many walking and climbing -- see this post. Go figures!

Okay, picture yourself in Germany, in a room somewhere. Go outside and see the people, I dare you. What you will find, mostly, will be people frowning or forming no more than a flat line on their faces. Very few of them would be smiling, I bet. And if they do, they're with someone or talking to someone. Otherwise, well, just try out your luck. Yes, they look scary and unhappy but this actually isn't the case. Try asking them for directions or a general question, they would most likely help you as best they could. They're the exact definition of "Don't judge a book by its cover." Because underneath the mean exterior, there's a kindhearted content.

If anyone knows the Germans at all, the first thing they would know about these people is that they are CRAZY PUNCTUAL. The economics teacher in my school once said, "When a German says, '8 o'clock,' he actually means 07.59." Okay, that cleared everything up. This is the result of their organization. Their transportations schedules are all also fairly punctual, also when they decide upon a car pool. Most of them are by-the-book -- which means they always follow the rules and frown upon those who don't -- and this is just another rule for them. This, however, only applies to formal appointments, though. So when hanging out, don't be too scared about it. They're pretty cool.

What I hate the most in the world is a pretender, a faker, a phony. Which is why this trait of the Germans very admirable to me! My teachers always say that when a Germans asks, "How do you do?" They really want to know how you are doing. They almost never do what we call "small talk." That's why there's no german word for small talk -- aside from the one literally translated. This doesn't mean that they're unfriendly -- well, maybe a little -- but it just means that they're no faker. A trait, I'm sure, many Indonesians can find beneficial.

Any opinions about Germans you'd like to share? Please do. Cheerio!