They happen, quite often, but sometimes there's just something that's so glaringly different from home that I just burst out into laughter.
Take last night for instance. When I opened up the mailbox imagine my surprise to find not mail, but a handwritten note (in English) asking me to kindly sort my garbage the proper way. Now keep in mind that garbage sorting in Germany is a fairly complicated endeavor. They have four (yes four!) different garbage cans out front that you're supposed to deposit your garbage in. One for old packaging and paper, one for recyclable plastics and such, one for glass, and one for everything else that doesn't fit into the other three. Now I thought that I was doing a pretty good job at all of this after four months, but apparently not.
But honestly! Would that ever happen in America? I think not! No one would bother taking the time to sort through the garbage to see who wasn't following the rules. That's life in Germany though!
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2 comments:
Hah - it happened to me in Tokyo too! Although there, you not only have to sort your rubbish into 4 different bags for plastic, paper, etc, but you also have different days you could throw them out! All in all very confusing...I was told that the neighbours sneak out to check that you don't put the rubbish out on the wrong day!
Truly amazing the strange lengths that people will go to in order to make sure you follow the rules. . . . somehow it seems so much more extreme with the mundane than the major.
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