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Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

blog.alexanderdickson.com

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Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#121

Post by snypox »

benibela wrote: post #114
quelltext wrote: post #8

> It’s also more difficult for me as a I have a US layout keyboard at home and a German layout at work. I'd hate tp be forced to use a specific layout governed by my employer and I'm glad it's not been a problem so far to get a replacement keyboard with US layout. It's pretty common nowadays for developers to simply prefer the US layout if their country's is not great, like the German one that makes typing braces etc…

On the other hand, I can only work with the German layout after living in Germany too long I bought a refurbished, mechanical keyboard that was supposed to have the German layout, but it actually has the US layout, so I cannot use it. I have been planing to sell it. Anyone interested?

As a hungarian, I use a US keyboard with hungarian layout for months. It's not a problem, just don't look at the keyboard.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#122

Post by merb »

lucb1e wrote: post #36
looki wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was actually almost happy when the other day, my train in the Netherlands got cancelled and I had to wait a full hour for another connection. Good to know you're human as well. Self checkouts are definitely a thing here, although typically not in small grocery stores. Larger stores like Edeka, Real, Ikea, Hornbach have them where I live. I'm aware that even the small stores like AH in city centers have them in NL t…

Which city do you live in, if I may ask? I don't think I've seen a self checkout anywhere* though I haven't been to most supermarkets in any given city (of course) so I might totally have missed them by chance. * I've been to supermarkets in Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Darmstadt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Stuttgart (and many smaller cities/towns/villages of course, but I guess there it would be less likely). > Good to know yo…

actually every ikea in germany has self-checkouts.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#123

Post by fhars »

looki wrote: post #9

Regarding the trains, >They are usually on time and cover basically everywhere worth visiting in Europe. He has a very ungerman definition of usually on time :) There's probably not a bigger laughing stock in Germany than our trains (Okay, there is BER). The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time [1]. If you have tight transfers to make, that can get very annoying. I also thought the ICE and…

Speaking about the punctuality of German trains, there will be a talk at 36C3 from someone who collected all the actual departure and arrival times of all long distance trains in Germany for this year: https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2019/Fahrplan/events...

The talk will be streamed. It is in German, but there will be a simultaneous translation into English and probably some other language.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#124

Post by marcus_holmes »

I moved from Perth to Berlin. The biggest thing that hit me was the alcohol. I can buy a (good!) beer at anytime (even 3am) for about 2 euros from a spati ("late shop"- like a deli but mostly selling beer), and then walk around in the open air drinking it. All the supermarkets sell alcohol all day(and so cheap). People gather by the canals in summer, just drinking and talking. No-one seems to get drunk, there's no violence or shouting. It's such a pleasant change.

Also smoking in bars. I don't smoke, but I don't mind it.Ny gf hates it and prefers to sit outside in the cold rather than inside in the smoke.

The bureaucracy is about the same - Aussie bureaucracy is less finicky but feels more hostile.

People are people. Though Germans seem less angry than Aussies. I always wonder why Australia seems such an angry place after travelling abroad.

The graffiti and street art is also striking. Perth goes in for tagging, but not on the same scale or creativeness as Berlin. I really like it, but I understand why other people don't.

I'm really enjoying my time here. Miss the beach, though.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#125

Post by awy »

quelltext wrote: post #8

> It’s also more difficult for me as a I have a US layout keyboard at home and a German layout at work. I'd hate tp be forced to use a specific layout governed by my employer and I'm glad it's not been a problem so far to get a replacement keyboard with US layout. It's pretty common nowadays for developers to simply prefer the US layout if their country's is not great, like the German one that makes typing braces etc…

Hello, author here.

I actually brought a US keyboard which made life much easier. It was only ever a pain to type on the laptop's keyboard, which luckily was quite rare.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#126

Post by KozmoNau7 »

shakermakr wrote: post #107
FabHK wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was more that if German food was the worst among the seven, then they must have all been reasonably decent, at least.

The problem is often cultural food (ie non German) quickly changes to the German palate. There was an incredible Indian restaurant opening here recently. We visited a few months later and it was half as good. Asked the owner: “yeah well, Germans like it not hot, salty, and fatty”. Same with Italian: it’s quantity over quality. And the supermarkets are woeful. It’s hard even to get an “exotic” herb like cilantro often…

My girlfriend's family lives in Baden-Württemberg, and I can't really recognize your impressions of woeful supermarkets nor of Germans not appreciating good food.

Go to any Edeka, and you'll be spoiled for choice, including fresh herbs. And while German traditional food may not be as high concept or artistic as other cuisines, there is a definite pride in using good quality ingredients and making deeply satisfying meals. It's a more down-to-earth way of appreciating good food.

A simple platter of good sausage, local cheese, fresh butter and crusty bread is nothing fancy to look at, but it is deeply satisfying.

Regarding the restaurants from other cultures adapting to local tastes, that happens everywhere, and is a real shame for those of us with adventurous taste buds.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#127

Post by interdrift »

fefe23 wrote: post #44
chki wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People from Africa or Asia routinely get held at extraterritorial prisons indefinitely. In case you have mixed ancestry and look like "people of color" be cautious. Not regarding anything else you are claiming this is quite an outrageous claim and I have no recollection of such things going on in Germany for the last few years. It would also be a severe violation of the German constitution if this would be happening…

Germany does not have extraterritorial prison colonies. I think this is a combination of hyperbole and choosing the wrong word. Germany does have housing for refugees and asylum seekers while they wait for asylum to be granted or denied, and the conditions there might be construed as prison-like depending on your political point of view. Technically it's not a prison. Asylum seekers are not permitted to do paid work,…

Illegal migration is wrong and is rightfully opposed by many countries. There are procedures everyone must follow. Nobody is above the law, especially not if you're entering a country.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#128

Post by kfk »

lumberjack wrote: post #93

If you want to move to Germany don't underestimate how hard it is to have a social life around here, especially if moving alone. It is the one thing that seems a constant, whenever I talk with other foreigners. Even Germans seem to find it hard to have friends when they relocate away from their previous social lives.

I think the issue is that here in Germany there is a lot of unspoken peer pressure in regards to where you should be in life at your age. That pressure makes it hard to keep things in a flow and basically people (German and expats) tend to put a structure around everything. Social interactions? Needs to happen at the appropriate time and scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance. Fancy restaurant dinner with girlfriend? Needs to be scheduled weeks before. Work life balance? You must have work life balance and you must go out on sunny days, which is great until it feels again like pressure to be something you don't want to be. Hiking? You will find another zillion people on that mountain because again you are supposed to go out on sunny days.

It can feel very "robotic" and I think people just end up detaching themselves from what they truly want or truly need from their social interactions.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#129

Post by fit2rule »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #124

I moved from Perth to Berlin. The biggest thing that hit me was the alcohol. I can buy a (good!) beer at anytime (even 3am) for about 2 euros from a spati ("late shop"- like a deli but mostly selling beer), and then walk around in the open air drinking it. All the supermarkets sell alcohol all day(and so cheap). People gather by the canals in summer, just drinking and talking. No-one seems to get drunk, there's no vi…

I'm also from Perth, lived around the world, including some years in Germany .. had the same set of observations. On this:

>I always wonder why Australia seems such an angry place after travelling abroad.

I think Australia has a lot of deep pain in its history, and in its culture, and this manifests in a hostility.

Every time I go back, I wonder why its such an angry shithole. Australians just seem to be getting madder and madder...

EDIT: Germany does have deep pain in its history. Germans are aware of that, and overt about it. Australians not so much.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#130

Post by awy »

Hello, author here. Thanks a lot for reading my post!

A few things to clarify:

- indeed I am now in London, but have very fond memories of life in Germany and still enjoy practicing my German

- I took a US keyboard layout to work, which made things fine except for when I was on the laptop only (some keys are different shapes as well)

- I found it amusing the comments about the German trains. I will confirm that the standard was pretty low in Australia :P (hopefully that's going to get better)

- the impracticality of 4 seats and 2 doors in the car was meant to imply that it means it's more difficult to put people in the rear seats in this configuration

- thanks for the corrections on train speeds and naming of the ground floor, I'll fix that

Let me know if there's any other corrections I should make, anything I missed or should expand on.

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