I’ve been in Florida for a week now staying with the folks. Some differences between the US and Germany as well as recent events.
1. Televisions everywhere.
I walked into a sports bar when I got off the airport in Charlotte. 10 big screen tvs faced me. Nine of them were playing the same show. This is not unique, but has been the case in every bar I’ve been to in Florida. In one of them a waitress was gracious enough to turn off the tv.
2. Obnoxious Music.
This exists in Germany too, but is of a different breed. While most bad German music is a variation on techno, most of it here seems to be a bastard hybrid of Nickelback and Coldplay.
3. Gran Torino.
The most original thing about this movie is its choice of minorities.
4. Golf
We played Golf on a course filled with identical houses. Two years ago they cost a million dollars a piece. Now they cost 400,000. The only difference between them was the placement of their screened in porch.
5. Friendliness
People smile at you here. They also talk to strangers. It’s nice. Germans accuse Americans of being superficially friendly; it’s better than being naturally cold.
6. Toilets
They use a lot of water in the United States, I was in a bathroom where the urinal used up as much as a normal toilet in Germany.
7. Outlet Malls
8. Sense of Humor
It’s better here.
9. Tips
Waiters and waitresses are taxed on their tips here. In Germany you don’t really give them.
10. Credit Cards
You can pay for everything everywhere with them.
11. Jesus
I met a yoga teacher who was afraid to read Buddhist or Hindu texts because of Jesus.
12. Vegetables
They’re much larger and taste different, not necessarily better.
13. Rejection from the University of Texas
14. Dolphins, Alligators, Pelicans.
Wonderful.
15. Mangalizas;
My dad and his friends are interested in investing in these pigs. We visited them in Austria.
16. New York on Friday, UCLA Interview on Sunday.
