Five things I just don't get
I got tagged by Household 6, and like her I can name more that 5 things:
1. Why you can't buy ice in Germany. This is just weird to me. In America, if you need 10 pounds of ice for whatever reason, e.g. margaritas, fill up a beer cooler, you just go to the supermarket or a liquor store and get a 10lb bag of ice for a mere $1.25 or so. In Germany, if you need more ice than you can produce with your 3 ice-cube trays, you're sh*t out of luck. A few years ago I had a party where I wanted to have two buckets filled with ice to put beers in. A friend was able to obtain ice for me from a hotel kitchen. We went over there and filled the buckets, and brought them back home. McDonalds also used to give people ice, but not anymore. Basically, this is a reason why no one makes margaritas here.
2. The lack of public bathrooms in Germany. There are a few, but they aren't common, and they are scary. In America, every public park has toilets. Not so here. Which means, if you want to spend an afternoon in the park drinking beers, you have to run to a nearby Biergarten to pee or you go home early.
3. Why people in LA just don't get the whole overtake on the left rule. Anyone who has been on a freeway in Los Angeles knows that you are constantly playing the lane-changing game. There is no order to which lane is going fastest, so all drivers are constantly darting in and out of lanes, according to which one they think is the fastest. In Germany, this chaos just doesn't exist. The left lane is the fastest, the right lane the slowest, and those in between are gradual increases or decreases. Simple and orderly. Just as one would expect. Why oh why can't Angelinos pick up on this?
4. Political correctness. Political correctness is actually a slave to the prejudice it is supposedly trying to combat. I think that political correctness is just a subterfuge to divert attention away from the real reasons for prejudice, which is largely perpetuated through ignorance. Of course language can be oppressive, however just taking that weapon away doesn't take the problem away. It irks me that in California instead of saying Merry Christmas now, people say Happy Holidays. This is apparently out of respect for those non-Christians of the population. However, I would much rather learn more about our differences, than just pretend they don't exist. I wish when I would say Merry Xmas, that someone would respond Happy Chanukah, or Happy Kwanza. Removing symbols of our differences doesn't lead to the end of prejudice, instead it just increases our ignorance.
5. Why soccer isn't more popular in America. It's so simple to understand and follow (1 ball chased by 2 teams protecting their goal and aiming for the opposing team's goal over a time span of 90 minutes). You hardly need any gear (just a ball). And the men are hawt! And they don't chew tabacco or use steroids. The US is practically the only country in the world where soccer just isn't big.
1. Why you can't buy ice in Germany. This is just weird to me. In America, if you need 10 pounds of ice for whatever reason, e.g. margaritas, fill up a beer cooler, you just go to the supermarket or a liquor store and get a 10lb bag of ice for a mere $1.25 or so. In Germany, if you need more ice than you can produce with your 3 ice-cube trays, you're sh*t out of luck. A few years ago I had a party where I wanted to have two buckets filled with ice to put beers in. A friend was able to obtain ice for me from a hotel kitchen. We went over there and filled the buckets, and brought them back home. McDonalds also used to give people ice, but not anymore. Basically, this is a reason why no one makes margaritas here.
2. The lack of public bathrooms in Germany. There are a few, but they aren't common, and they are scary. In America, every public park has toilets. Not so here. Which means, if you want to spend an afternoon in the park drinking beers, you have to run to a nearby Biergarten to pee or you go home early.
3. Why people in LA just don't get the whole overtake on the left rule. Anyone who has been on a freeway in Los Angeles knows that you are constantly playing the lane-changing game. There is no order to which lane is going fastest, so all drivers are constantly darting in and out of lanes, according to which one they think is the fastest. In Germany, this chaos just doesn't exist. The left lane is the fastest, the right lane the slowest, and those in between are gradual increases or decreases. Simple and orderly. Just as one would expect. Why oh why can't Angelinos pick up on this?
4. Political correctness. Political correctness is actually a slave to the prejudice it is supposedly trying to combat. I think that political correctness is just a subterfuge to divert attention away from the real reasons for prejudice, which is largely perpetuated through ignorance. Of course language can be oppressive, however just taking that weapon away doesn't take the problem away. It irks me that in California instead of saying Merry Christmas now, people say Happy Holidays. This is apparently out of respect for those non-Christians of the population. However, I would much rather learn more about our differences, than just pretend they don't exist. I wish when I would say Merry Xmas, that someone would respond Happy Chanukah, or Happy Kwanza. Removing symbols of our differences doesn't lead to the end of prejudice, instead it just increases our ignorance.
5. Why soccer isn't more popular in America. It's so simple to understand and follow (1 ball chased by 2 teams protecting their goal and aiming for the opposing team's goal over a time span of 90 minutes). You hardly need any gear (just a ball). And the men are hawt! And they don't chew tabacco or use steroids. The US is practically the only country in the world where soccer just isn't big.
posted by CaliValleyGirl at 2:42 PM
3 Comments:
Yours are way better than mine! haha :)
I don't get why soccer isn't bigger in the U.S., either. It's an elegant game to watch I think. (Baseball used to be elegant, until the MLB games started lasting forever and a day to complete a game.)
Accckkk! driving in LA! Bleh!
I thought it was the worst thing ever until I drove in San Francisco. The indescriminate lane speeds are bad, the ignoring "no lane changes" signs, and adding 30 miles to the 50 mph speed limit on the Bay Bridge are worse. Especially when you have to drive next to some delivery truck with bad brakes.
Ech, and then being stationed in Boston! I won't even drive there. While we were there the 95 dropped from 5 lanes to 2 going into the City because of the Big Dig.
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