Royale with Cheese...

The other day when Marina and her friends mentioned that they had never seen so many smokers as they've seen here, it occurred to me that after six months in Germany I've grown accustomed to many of the things that used to seem foreign. This epiphany inspired me share with you some of these little, mildly interesting differences before I lose all awareness of them.

Here's a pretty basic difference: Almost all windows in Germany can be opened like a door and tilted in at the top. Turning the handle up allows you to tilt the window in. Turning it parallel to the floor allows you to open it from hinges on the side while pointing the handle toward the floor locks it. I must admit this relatively complex engineering for such a common object confused me when I first checked into a German hotel in September of last year. I also haven't seen screens on the windows here.
Something else that surprised me is that alarm clocks display 24-hour time. I had read this format was used for official purposes, but for whatever reason didn't expect it to be "baked in" to normal (non-DoD) clocks. Another difference that I complained about in one of the first posts in this blog is the size of the refrigerators. While American-sized refrigerators are available here, they are quite expensive and, as far as I can tell, not that common. Although we have second refrigerator due to the size of our family and our die-hard American fondness of excess, I have the impression that many Germans live with these dorm-sized fridges without thinking twice about it.
I also mentioned while we were still in our temporary apartment that (apparently) many buildings are constructed without vents for dryers. The solution? Dryers that get really, really hot so that the water evaporates and condenses in a "drawer" that must be emptied every other load or so. I (only somewhat) affectionately call this the "Jack Daniels" approach in deference to the similarities with distillation. I haven't yet seen one made with copper tubing though.
Ever-obsessed with conserving their (our?) national resources, see below the big flush/little flush "buttons" common on many toilettes in Germany. Enough said on this one.
One last thing: Some unexpected things are identical to their counterparts in the States. See below the "STOP" sign outside our apartment. I've been told this word is used as part of the effort to standardize street signs across the European Union, although I'd like to think it's a simple gesture on the part of the Kirchheim mayor's office to make us feel more at home.