Was? Warum?

For those of you who enjoy my blog posts, you are in luck. Over the past week I have found myself saying "Warum?". Why is _____ done this way? So, in honor of the differences between the United States and Germany, I have decided to create a list on this blog of things that have presented themselves to me as strange.

1. When going into a building or a room the doors open in. In the U.S. the doors are the exact opposite. We pull doors open when entering.

2. Eichhörnchen, the German word for squirrel, cannot be said in a manly way. I'm confident of that.

3. In Germany they have segregated music sections. Along with Pop, Indie, Reggae and Rock is "Black". Yes, the word Black....in English.

4. Before I left for Germany I heard about how eco-friendly they were over here. Two words - Not true. All Germans I have seen drinking water are drinking store-bought water in plastic water bottles they do not reuse. Nalgene most likely doesn't do a good business here.

5. Germans have two verbs for "thinking" and "knowing". Ich weiß and Ich kenne both mean I know. Ich denke and Ich glaube both mean I think. I still really don't know the difference.

6. Who was the person who thought it would be a good idea to have all nouns have a gender? Why does my bus have to be masculine, my house neuter, and my door feminine?

7. Soccer teams play both in the playoffs from last season and the current regular season at the same time. Think about that. That makes no sense.

8. In America safety is a big issue. What surprises me here in Germany is that no one wears bicycle helmets. A large percentage of students bike to school, but none with helmets.

9. I am the only one in my class that uses pencils. Back in Vermont all we use are pencils. I definitely prefer pencils because mistakes are very easy to correct. I don't understand why everyone uses only pens.

10. The commercial breaks here are around ten minutes long, but occur much less frequently. By the time the shows comes back on I have forgotten what was happening.

11. Germans do not wear sunglasses. Even when it's extremely bright, I am the only one wearing sunglasses.

I am sure I will think of plenty more "Was? Warum?" moments and when I do I will update this list.