Parking the German mentality in an American parking spot

I am in the US for work for two weeks, along with many of my colleagues from around the globe, whom I've known for many years.  I went out with the German contingent last night, and we ended up downtown for dinner.  It's been snowy here in the midwest where Benevolent Company J is located, and while the streets have been plowed, it's remained chilly and the snow hasn't budged much, making parallel parking quite an adventure.

When we saw a decent parking spot near our destination, German Colleague 2 hops out to be able to inform Colleague 1 how far away he is from the other cars.  Colleague 3 and I stayed in the car. 

Colleague 1 probably isn't so great at parallel parking in the best of times, and it was a difficult situation:  a small spot with a big American car, leftover snow/slush, and a relatively busy road, so time pressures to get out of the way.  And therefore he botched it, requiring a second and third attempt, and finally, the back and forth to squeeze into the spot due to turning too quick.

As I stood with Colleage 2 at the curb, Colleague 2 remarked, 'he turned in too hard.' 
I answered, 'Yes, I knew each time he was off, but didn't want to pressure him.'
Colleague 1:  'Ah, but H, you must instruct him!  Else how will he ever learn or improve?'

In that moment I was reminded of living in Germany, and how different it was, and how out of place it seemed in that very moment on a US street. 

Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK

Jan 27th marks the official commemoration, with activities being held across the country tonight on the 26th due to the Jewish Sabbath tomorrow.

I wrote about my experiences attending a similar event while in Germany a few years ago.

Tonight's programme was organised by a local council, together with the local Jewish council. It was two hours in length and reservations were required with a strict start time. It was not highly publicised around here, but I left a reservation request yesterday in the odd chance that I could get in, fortunately, as I was only one and there was a cancellation, I was accepted today.

It was a full programme with multiple speakers:

• an introduction and background on the formation of the event, with partnership between government and the local Jewish organisation
• a view of the world today, and where we've come since last year's event
• the main speaker: an Auschwitz survivor who came to the UK when he was 16, he was the only one left in his family. He mentioned, the children were being sent away at the end of the war, if they wanted to go, as he had no reason to go back to Romania, he left. Another boy in the village went to find his brother but came back too late and missed the ship to the UK. The next ship that left went to the US, so he finally caught up with the two brothers after 50 years.
• a musical selection, playing pieces written by Holocaust victims
• a candle lighting ceremony
• closing remarks

I found this evening interesting on a few points:

1. There were only a handful of teenagers, perhaps five. There were no young people like at the similar German event. The teenagers were obviously the grandchildren of someone who was attending. I was a bit out of place, there was no one from my age range (30-40). I'd estimate 90% of the people were late 60's-70's, with the remainder immediately above or below that range.

2. I found it interesting, there was a big mention of 'current day Holocausts', Rwanda was mentioned a few times, along with Sudan and there were some posters at the entrance on the same topic. Slightly different than similar events that I attended in the US or the one in Germany where modern day events maybe received a one line acknowledgement. Then tonight, I read this piece from a few years ago on the BBC, and it started to make more sense, this emphasis.

3. An older woman sat down next to me and starting chatting. During the conversation she starting asking me if there is a large Jewish population locally, then I realised, the assumption was that I was there because I was Jewish, not necessarily because it was a community event. I stopped on the way out to look at some of the items in the display cases (an American flag caught my eye), and a local councillor stopped to chat with me and I mentioned not previously having a chance to see all of these lovely items, and yes it was a wonderful programme, etc. and he offered that I'm always welcome to visit when council is in session although it can be quite dry. He then starts to tell me about some history show they had on last night in anticipation of the commemoration today and asks if I've seen it?

H: 'No sorry, I have no television.'

Councillor: Ah, of course you wouldn't, I should have known that!

H: (Puzzled. My American accent usually causes all sorts of cultural thoughts in the heads of others, so I usually just roll with it.)

Councillor: Growing up, we lived near a Jewish family, I always liked them, and on and on.

So I then made the connection that he's thinking because I don't watch TV I'm Jewish. I then immediately thought of the Amish who don't watch TV. Thankfully, someone came over to chat with him at that point, because I now had the Amish stuck in my head and was having information overload trying to sort out all of these thoughts.

All in all, it was a well run programme with around 100 in attendance.

The American flag across the street

I mentioned a few posts back, about the construction across the street. I had to zoom today when i spotted the American flag bandana being sported today:

I wonder if he could ever imagine that an American would be taking his photo in this corner of Essex. ;-)

The view from my window

Across the street, they've taken a vacant building and they've started to gut it and built it up by one story. This was my view from my kitchen window today, on the zoom setting:

In the US, I've yet to see a Sikh construction worker, but here in the UK they are plentiful. So much so that the UK has published regulations, http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/fod/oc/200-299/282_27.pdf regarding their exemption from wearing helmets on construction sites.

Obviously in need of spirital guidance?

It was a beautiful Sunday here in Essex, crazy warm and sunny. New friend Ian and I were out and about. We had separate shopping to do, with an appointed meeting time and place, on a small bridge in town. Plenty of people pass over this bridge, so I didn't mind that I was a few minutes early, it's a fun people watching spot with full sun.

As I was sitting there on my heels with my back against the bridge wall, I was re-arranging my backpack a bit. It was comfortable enough, so I remained there on my heels with my backpack in front of my, just waiting.

A woman of Indian descent walking by says, 'quite a beautiful day'
Heather: yes indeed.
Woman: so unexpected for fall.
Heather: yes
Woman: I'm not sure if you are from around here...or visiting?
Heather: yes, I live here.
Woman: then you would know, usually rain is quite common for this time of year.
Heather: mmmmm.
Woman: it is so wonderful that this weather is on a Sunday, when many people are off from work and can enjoy it.
Heather: yes. (secretly looking at watch, it's bang on when Ian and I were supposed to meet).
Woman: Of course, if you are of Christian faith, it makes your Sunday even more enjoyable. Are you a practicing Christian?
Heather: umm. I was raised Catholic.
Woman: Catholic. (now launches into a spiel about the coming of the end of the world.)
Heather: (thinking: this is sort of lost on me)
Woman: Have you read much of the Gospels? Have you heard the Good News?
Heather: um, no.
Woman: (begins second spiel, on the intricacies of Matthew and John)
Heather: (noticing that Ian is now 3 minutes late)

Ian thankfully shows up and the woman thanks me for the conversation and wishes me a lovely rest of my day. Interestingly, she didn't try to offer me any reading materials.

Do you remember when the Jehovah's Witness tried to convert me in Germany? That wasn't the only time actually. I think I ran into enough of them to cause them to start carrying English materials in my corner of DE, even in the tiny town of B where a woman tried to hoist the Watchtower in Turkish on me when I declined it in German. When I had to revert to German to explain that I wasn't Turkish and couldn't read German, she seemed so terribly disappointed.

I have no idea why I appear to be a magnet for those who feel called to bring the Good News. Apparently though, whatever it is transcends cultural boundaries. In particular, I think I go out a lot less than the average person, especially as I work from home. Therefore, my contact with people is probably lower than average, which makes the number of these interactions even more interesting, as I think I get more than an average number of such meetings.

Open mouth, insert foot

Since I work from home most of the time, I accept packages for the neighbors on my floor. Having to take the 15 minute walk to the post office package distribution office is just a hassle if you miss your delivery. We're only three total flats and with very limited shared walls, so things are quiet up here, and both sets of neighbors are very nice. One is from Italy, a beautiful doctor who speaks fluent English, the other a young couple who work in London so are almost never around.

Usually I just slip a note under the door, 'Hi, I have a package for you, stop by before 10 or tomorrow after 8 AM.'

The Italian was lamenting a few weeks back that she doesn't have a boyfriend. As she is educated, gorgeous and has only been in the UK for six months, I was telling her that it's only a matter of time. She is, however, interviewing for the position, but most only last one or two dates before being dismissed. There is one who seems to be on a trial period, so I see him repeated in the parade of men...

So the flower guy drops off a huge vase of lovely flowers and a box of chocolates for her on Tuesday. She didn't drop by that night though, but sometime she works some unsocial hours at the hospital so she's coming in at 6 AM or some ridiculous time before I'm awake. Although strangely, I didn't catch her later in the day either. Finally at 9 PM, I hear the fine Italian leather boots clomping up the stairs and into her flat.

She pops over an hour later, I hear the telltale incessant knocking...apparently in Italy you knock low, but repeatedly until the person answers. Couple that with the shouting from the hall "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet -er' It seems the Italians are like the Germans, my name loses the 'TH' in the middle. Slocombe always heads under the bed when A comes around. With most visitors Slocombe will stand in the bedroom doorway to evaluate them, with the noise of A, she isn't taking that chance!

A is always very sweet, however.
'Ah, het-er! Do you have a package for me?'
-Ah yes A, someone must really like you! (I point to the vase of flowers on the floor)

She just blinks and looks at me.

I pause for a minute, thinking: maybe I should not have put them on the floor? It's the safest place as the table is covered with books due to painting....and they were delivered in a cardboard box, so it's the box that's on the floor, not the vase...and I always leave the cardboard boxes by the door on the floor, it's not usually an issue.

Or maybe she's just appalled that I have masking tape and paint cans and paintbrushes in a 'in progress' state here. Although it is an 'in progress' job this week....so to further along this interaction, I slide the flowers out from my flat from inside the door to just outside the door at her feet.

She now has a deer in the headlights look. I'm racking my brain to try and figure out where the problem is...is is the language? Was I too forward in what I said? Did she mistake it for something else, but what?

I realize as I hear a footstep from her flat, that the boy toy must have been in the bathroom freshening up as they're on their way out, and she was probably popping round for the package in a spare two minutes, not realizing that it was going to be flowers, and I'm further now connecting the dots--that the flowers and chocolates were from a different boy that is now poking his head out the doorway into the hall.

Oops. Fortunately he was a good sport about it.

Advertising in Germany

I'm not trying to get back into the misogynist eggs debate again, however, I know many people at home have visions of Germany with snowy alps or the sleek glass structures of Berlin...

so to present a different view, this was my corner of DE, taken on a previous trip back. This sign was on a public street pointing down the driveway of this auto related business. This street has both residential and commercial enterprises on it.

Can you imagine an auto fix-it place in the US having such advertising?

Back in the saddle

Sorry internet, I've been a little slow in posting. My seasonal allergies have been horrendous this past week. I find myself writing a bit less as well as I seem to be more involved in UK outside life than I was in DE. However, I was in DE recently for a wedding, so plenty of fodder now...

New friend Ian and I took the overnight boat from Harwich to Hook of Holland and then drove Mr. BMW through Holland (with a very long lunch break/tour) to arrive at our destination in Podunk, NRW in the afternoon. As I knew it was Himmelfahrt, I was in no rush...this was new friend Ian's first (and last?) trip to DE, so you can imagine how impressed he was driving through he Ruhrgebiet to arrived in a closed Podunk.

I kicked off the interactions with the Hotel Frau auf Deutch, having had to knock on the kitchen door to find her in the recommended 10 double, 4 single room hotel. She was pleasant enough, here's the key, here's the room, etc.

H: And what about the car? (We parked in the town square in front of the hotel which was covered with bott's dots so that you knew where to park. I saw signage, you could park there excluded 0415-18.00 Sat and 07.00-18.00 Wednesdays)

Frau: You can park in the spot behind the hotel (there were two tiny spots next to the building which were reached via a one-way alley). The kitchen worker, she leaves at 18.00.

H: oki doki

We decided to move the car at 18.00 and then take a stroll around. Her car was still there at 18.00, at 18.15, and at 18.30. As it was Thursday and there were plenty of other cars in the Square as well, I said F it, since we're going out anyway at 09.00 on Friday morning.

Friday morning, we head to breakfast at 08.40. As always, breakfast for me is a coffee fill-up and maybe some bread with cheese for the pocket, for later.

Frau: Is that your car!?! (gesturing to the square with 20+ cars parked.)

H: Yes, the GB plate is our car (wondering when the 'good morning, can I get you tea or coffee' would come)

Frau: You must move it immediately!!!

H: (I may be getting soft living in the UK, but I lived in DE long enough to play this game, and it wasn't hard to get back into the saddle....knowing very well I'm legally in a free parking zone...seeing the moving van on the other side of the square but no paper signage posted and thinking--someone F'd up here, but it wasn't me. And knowing that it would blow my schedule to go through the myriad of one way streets to get back behind the hotel, just for 10 min.)
H: The hotel parking space, it was not free at 18.00. (insert solid stare here.)

Frau: Yes, the girl, she left late. (Not mentioning that 'the girl' obviously reports to her.)

H: We leave at 09.00.

Frau: (cluck, cluck, mumble mumble)

H: (insert German disinterested shrug which says 'not my problem.)

Frau: Grrr....ok, but you must move at 09.00.

H: That's fine. And where shall we park later when we return in two hours?

Frau: Behind the hotel, the spot will be free.

H: Supi!

Frau: Tea or coffee?
I purposely wait until the church clock is chiming 9 before moving the car at this point. Some random person drives up and takes the spot. I wonder if she is now going to bark at him?

--2 hours later we return. Sure enough, the spots are both full. Back to the square I park, and march inside.

H: Haaaaaalo! Where should I park now?

Frau: (frownly) Goes to window to see who is in spots. You can go over there, the boat club parking.

H: (irritated and wondering as this is plastered all over with signs to not be here illegally, and with a lockable gate...having visions of being locked in on Sunday morning when we need to leave for our boat).

Frau: (marches off to bark at whoever parked in the spots, I hear the German tirade and two minutes later someone scurries out to move their car.)

(Heather not surprised.) At this point I can only giggle at such interactions since I no longer live there and acknowledge them as cultural differences in how things are done. :-)

old habits die hard

it's funny, i find one always carries the remnants of where they grew up, no matter where they go...

in law class this week, we're reaching the final 5 classes of our year long adventure. we had our half-term national exams in january (which thankfully i passed), and now there are two more exams plus a portfolio for june.

we were told to get our portfolio in for easter, and suddenly the laid back students whose attendance was sporadic at best have now disappeared.

the teacher is taking role and says, 'mrs. x'.

the girl next to me asks me, 'who is mrs. x?'

in america i'd say, 'that's the african american girl who works in town C'

i know it's not right in the UK to say 'african american', so i'm stuck.
in my region of philadelphia, to say 'black' is not the most appropriate. most appropriate would be 'african american'.

uhhhh.
uhh.
that's the girl who works in town C?

seatmate 1: who?
seatmate 2: ohhh, the black girl?
heather: aaah, yes.

it's funny how a term which flies over here would potentially cause issues in, or not be the best in the phillyland area...

Follow-up on British humor and frugal eggs - a female British perspective

As a second follow-up, after getting a male perspective on the frugal egg post, I wanted to get a female opinion as well. I have two colleagues who work in the front office at benevolent company J. As it's an international company, both have exposure to many people of other lands, and while both have visited other countres, neither has lived abroad. I wouldn't try to guess ages, but the one's oldest child is 30, while the other's oldest child is 20.

H: Hi ladies, I need a UK female perspective. (I regularly do this sort of thing to them--is this dress correct to wear to this UK occasion, is this the correct response to x here, etc.)
What do you think of this egg carton? (Bringing out the now famous one.)
C1: HA!
C2: Hold on, I need to get out my reading glasses...tsk! Naughty! (smirk)
C1: Is this from the US?
H: No, it's from here.
C1: No! How funny.
C2: They were clever.
C1: Fab!

H: So would you purposely buy or not buy these eggs?
C2: If the price was right, I'd buy them, it wouldn't sway me either way, it's just advertising. How much did you pay?
H: 61 p, marked down as they were at the 'best buy' date.
C1: good deal, 10 p an egg.
H: I know!

C2: (pondering) You know....this was created by a man.
C1: Oooooh, definitely.
H: How do you know?
C2: A female wouldn't come up with this way to market eggs.
C1: Don't you know it!
H: Really?
C2: (Now holding the box) Where are these from? Suffolk. Do they have a website H?
H: None that I could find.
C2: Hmmm.
H: So what would a female have said instead?
C2: Something more subtle, still with a double-meaning, but not so forward.
C1: Yes.
C2: Like 'we're fresh' or 'fresh today' or something like that.

Follow-up on British humor and frugal eggs - a 38 year old British male

Following up on British humor and frugal eggs, as a bit of cultural investigation, I took the opportunity to ask D his opinions on this topic as a British person. Granted, he's a little bit more international than the average Brit on the street as he worked in the US for two years, in Australia for two years and Germany for seven years. However, I was curious as to what a late 30's British male would say on this topic.

H: What do you think about the egg post and the comments on it?

D: I think you have a bunch of Americans reading and posting on your blog who never lived in the UK.

H: Well sure, some of them are Americans in America and others are Americans in Germany, and others are to/from elsewhere but my UK readers living in the UK are few and far between. Did you see any reason to be offended by this egg cartoon, as a Brit?

D: I think it's advertising or marketing. It's not intended to offend, it's meant to sell eggs in a way which is different from its competitors.

H: Yeah, you're a male, would a female British person perhaps be offended? Your sister or mother?

D: I can see if you are a mother with young children, that you wouldn't want to have to explain the slang of 'to get laid' to a five year old in the supermarket. But in that case you're using the basic explanation that the chickens laid the eggs recently, so what's the problem?

To explain further, the point you're missing H...'to be laid' isn't such a commonly used phrase over here like it is in the US. Sure, we know what it means, mainly from American movies or television, but I would never say, 'I got laid last night', nor would I hear that phrase from any of my friends. You would said 'I had sex last night' and that would be that. So it doesn't have as much force or such a negative connotation to me, because I never use the phrase.

So I would be curious, in particular of the people who were offended, as to who has ever lived in the UK? I would think none, because this type of humor is normal in the UK and wouldn't be cause for offence. Similar to how when I lived in Germany slapstick humor was quite popular there so one saw lots of this type of humor. I can see this egg box wouldn't have made it to the shelves in the US because the definition of humor is different and the culture is different.

H: So would this advertising impact whether or not you'd buy these eggs?

D: Nah. I do buy only free range eggs, which these are, so perhaps I'd buy them, perhaps not depending on the price and expiration date. Normally I buy happy eggs as that is what Asda carries in free range at a good price.

H: Thanks for the info.

So there we have an initial opinion. My population to survey is a little bit small in that anyone whom I interact with is usually a little more international than the average Brit (so working in international company J, for example). However, I will be surveying a female from there next to get another opinion on this topic.

My new nickname

From one of my law class colleagues, upon seeing me hand in the assigned work early:

You are such a boffin!

Out of curiousity I looked it up on Leo--> der Wissenschaftler. I get the translation, but I think something is sorta lost there...

pardon me, Germany

After years of griping while living there about having to go down to the cellar to do a load of laundry (I always lived 2 or more floors upwards), i can now see a bit of a benefit.

Last week the washing machine connection had a slow leak and the girl downstairs is away a lot and came home to a leaked upon ceiling (in three places spread over two rooms). Thankfully, building insurance will cover anything over the 250 GBP deductible.

Oh how I know miss the subterranean dungeon of washing machines/dryers with concrete floors slanted toward a central drainage point where leaks happened with some frequency but the only issue was a soapy wet floor...

Praktisch!
Logisch!

'Let's get 'er done'

All political opinions aside, I can't help but think of Sarah Palin saying that phrase when I have things to do. :-)

There are a few simultaneous plates spinning right now so I haven't been online much. The newest is the UK driver's test. I currently have a Germany license (which I brought along), and my US Pennsylvania license (which I received when the PA one handed in to DE expired-PA issues new licenses every four years.)

In the UK, US citizens are given a one year grace period to drive on their home license before getting a UK one in place.
EU citizens can do an even swap from EU licence to UK once, once they've been here for six months, or they can stay indefinitely on their EU one if they prefer.

Even though I have an EU one, I received my German one though an even trade of my American one, meaning--I didn't take any qualification test to get it. The UK therefore does not recognize this license as a true 'EU' one, but they treat it under the one year rule like the US one, that I can drive on it for a year and then must convert it to a UK one.

Someone suggested to me that the UK would never bother to track down in Germany whether or not I did or didn't take the test there. Probably true. However, the application to get the UK license forces one to state whether or not they received this EU license from a test or not, and from where. As a non-citizen in this country who plans to stay here, I don't want to be found lying on government forms. In addition, company J graciously provides me with a company car and insures it for me, they would not be too keen about this topic if I was found to be skirting the law.

I had an American expat colleague here who was convinced that she wouldn't pass the test here and as she was only here for two years she decided to carry on and not get caught. (Yeah, she got into an accident and got caught prior to the two years being up.)

No time like the present to get things rolling. I've purposely waited at least six months to get the rhythm of driving on the opposite side, and to stop clipping the curbs (done). I had to wait a few more weeks as one must turn in their non-UK passport to get the Provisional license, and I had work travel planned.

Expenditures so far:
-50 GBP to receive the Provisional license
-5 GBP to send off passport/application recorded mail
-5 GBP to pre-pay an envelope for them to return it in the same manner.
-31 GBP to pay for the theoretical computer test (test next week)
-practical test fee, still to pay

-a few hours spent reading the UK Highway code, including Friday night. As I've been driving for almost 20 years I'm doing the reading on the cheap by getting out library books. This should be interesting, however; my local driving center has a 38% pass rate on the practical test...

The week in Germany - a wrap up

Last week was a nice time to visit Germany--fall has arrived with leaves changing color and crisp weather. (Well except for that one night when the weather was freakishly warm, above 20 still after the sun went down and we drank wine on the Balkon.)

I'm very lucky to be able to stay with a work colleague who has a very nice kitchen so I can buy foods and properly cook, instead of having to eat heavy hotel foods. I also consider myself to be blessed, my direct and indirect work colleagues are very nice, so the week was spent doing work while being invited multiple times for a coffee, lunch, etc.

While it was all pleasant enough to visit, I wouldn't really want to live there again.

One night, on the way home, I stopped off at Lidl in Leverkusen. (Leverkusen locally has a reputation of being a bit rough around the edges, working class.) In line behind me was a gentleman wearing the blue overalls of the working class uniform, and a dyed blond mohawk, perhaps 50 years old. As I'm past the queue and at the counter arranging items in my recycled box, he is then next to me doing the same.

He then says to me (in German): Pfui! It's too early for Christmas chocolates!
I have 15 items--pasta, tomato sauce, lettuce, etc. and he's commenting on the one Christmas item I have, a Milka Santa.

In my first few years of living in Germany, I probably would have felt affronted. Even in year three or four I may have stumbled along a response. After year five I think I got into the flow, and apparently, I have not forgotten this necessary attitude even after leaving.

Heather response: Ah yes, I used to lived in Germany, but now I only get to visit from England, and I will not return before Saint Nick day.

(To his credit, he managed to understand my less than perfect German. It's what I always liked about Leverkusen, the people seem a little friendlier to me than Cologne or D'dorf where they seemed personally offended by incorrect grammar.)

Leverkusen man: Ja, but you cannot buy a chocolate Santa Klaus in the UK?

Heather: Yes, but not such nice chocolate like Milka, and not so big, only little Santas.

Leverkusen man: Hmm! Then this is ok that you buy your German chocolate to take back to England...but this is not ok for normal Germans, this is too early.

*****
Well then. In addition, you'll be pleased to know that due to careful packing and AirBerlin's delicate suitcase handling, Milka man survived the trip back fully intact. :-)

Anglo American Cultural Exchange - with New Friend Ian

Having only ever lived in England (and one small part at that), my experience of other cultures is – shall we say, much more limited than Heather’s. However the other culture I know the best is probably American. (Admittedly this is mainly through watching The Sopranos and 24. Though my Aunt is American). Despite having a reasonable grasp of ‘Americanisms’ there is still the odd occasion when Heather and myself don’t quite get what the other person is saying. For example;

English / American
Anti-clockwise = Counter clockwise
Trousers = Pants
Pants = Panties
Courgette = Zucchini
Aubergine = Egg Plant
Manual car = Stick shift car
Ground floor = 1st floor
Chips = Fries
Large Coke = Small Coke
Petrol = Gas

(Pronunciation)
TomARto = TomAto
OrigARno = OrEGGANNo

The ground floor / first floor caused some confusion, with Heather telling me she had purchased a 4th floor flat, and me thinking to myself, “but the block only goes up to the 3rd floor”. And I will confess to wandering round the supermarket for at least 10 minutes looking for an Egg Plant, without realising what I was supposed to be getting.

With Heather teaching me about American culture and language, I have also tried to educate her with regard to Essex culture. ‘Essex Man’ and ‘Essex Woman’ came to prominence during the 1980’s when Mrs Thatcher made Essex very rich (and simultaneously made a lot of other places very poor). Characteristics of ‘Essex Man’ and ‘Essex Woman’ include the following;

* A desire for designer goods – though tacky rather than quality.
* Hard working – will do anything for a bit of extra money.
* Lack of subtlety – say it as it is at high volume.
* A habit of starting to produce babies in their teens.
* Politically right wing - with a fierce dislike of immigration.
* Big fans of fast food and cheap drink – and all the associated health related issues this brings. (As Heather found the other week when she wanted to buy a size 10 – only to find a lack of size 10’s but plenty of size 16’s and above).

As with all stereotypes – they are exaggerations but based on truth. Heather will often see an especially bad example of Essex Man and comment that they are “my people”. Well….. Yes, I suppose they are! But Essex isn’t really that bad. I wouldn’t live here otherwise.

So hopefully, as the years roll on, Heather will continue to teach me how to speak ‘American English’, and I will continue to try and convince her that not all Essex people live up to their stereotype. It will be fun!

New Friend Ian

My new nickname

Growing up, 'Heather' doesn't really lend itself well to nicknames as to shorten it ends on a soft 'th' sound; it just doesn't work. I do, however, love a good nickname. As I've worked with the same people for years, most of them somehow have picked one up along the way, cute short versions of their name, English names for Germans, names which started from a funny incident on a night out, and on and on. I don't directly have one, although there may be a few I don't know about. ;-)

So I found it so terribly endearing then, that my parking spot owner found it fit to bestow one upon me. I sent her an email to make sure that she knew when I was coming to pick up the car (as I don't move it much, I have the spot behind the gate blocked by other cars). Her response:

no problem poppet. See you later xxx

Strange--I don't see in the definition 'cranky person who wears too black too much and tends to be too focused and serious' next to this one in the dictionary... :-)

Influencing consumer behavior and marketing to me

One area in the UK which reminds me more of the US than Germany is the ability and willingness of vendors to modify prices to change consumer behavior to meet their business goals.


Specific examples in the past week:

1. Asda - As mentioned, I'm a big fan of online grocery shopping to avoid the queue and hassle of carrying everything down the street and up four flights of stairs. As I don't buy fresh things online but rather heavy/bulky things (cat litter, paper towels, fizzy water, wine, etc), I have a good deal of flexibity in my ordering and am gearing up to do a big order once per month.

I was looking online and starting to put together my order last week, for this week. Asda (for whatever business reason they had--numbers to make, knowledge of consumer spending during school holidays, whatever), dropped the delivery change down to 2.50 GBP per order for a few days in the last week of August.

As it is, I'm already on the low end of the online delivery food chain. Prices from the big supermarkets generally go anywhere between 3.50 and 6.50. Tuesday/Wednesday from Asda tends to be the rock bottom 3.50 rate. Drop me down a pound further and I'm influenced to order a week earlier. I never felt that Germany was able to vary in their prices so much, or to be overly responsive to the market. Strawberries are cheap in July as they're in season, my favorite fizzy water would be sold 2 crates for 6.66 once per quarter (yeah, that one was easy to remember), but everything always seemed very planned in relation to prices or sales, or maybe that was just my small area with limited competition or choices...

2. Papa John's pizza - no better way to celebrate the end of vegan month than a discount pizza. I ordered online from them once, and now I get an SMS once a week with a special offer which isn't available online. It's specifically from my local outlet, so I guess they can be clever and anticipate what they want to move (if anything) during a particular week. Tonight it was 'any pizza 9.99 tonight or Wednesday'. In Germany I always went with the local pizza places but none of them 1. had online ordering or 2. did any sort of midweek special. The price was the price which was the price, be it Tuesday afternoon or Friday night. Although carryout did get you a 10% discount. Here these offers tend to come during slow times. Usually they would be Mon, Tues or Wed pizza at a special price, but with yesterday's bank holiday their offer came out today for today and tomorrow.

Speaking of UK pizza delivery--another thing I'm a big fan about here is ordering online. I hate to call and be on hold or not understand the UK accent. Even better, let me order and pay online--then, send me an email that the order is received and then an SMS when the delivery guy is on his way out the door. I'm a big fan of technology when used well.

The face of new Europe

While shopping on High Street on Sunday, I saw these two. (Yes! in my corner of Essex, all the shops are open on Sunday--but that's a different post.)

Unfortunately I missed to get the fellow's face in the photo--his is painted with the Lithuanian flag, while hers has the Polish one.

I've been to the store they advertise, it's close to my flat. Specifically--this store has all sorts of Eastern European goods--frozen pierogis and jars of mushrooms from Poland, Russian juices, frozen Lithuanian cepelinai, that sort of thing. There's little in the store which isn't Eastern European--unless it's something from elsewhere in Europe which one can buy in Eastern Europe--i.e. German Milka bars.

I find it interesting that they advertise the store as 'European' rather than 'Eastern European'--or maybe that's how they see themselves--as opposed to British.

They have little competition in my corner of Essex, beyond Tesco's token attempt to sell to the Eastern Europeans here by importing their cheeses and jars of pickles.

Recycling in the UK

One thing I really liked about life in Germany was the prevalence of environmentally friendly options which were readily incorporated into daily German life. I had very little garbage there because much of it was placed in the various paper and yard waste containers and yellow sack. So at the end of the day I had less than a small shopping bag of 'true' garbage per month. Glass would be deposited in the pods less than a block from my flat.

Here in the UK I've already noticed more packaging and more plastic. I've researched from the local council's site the recycling options and overall, I find the system to be unconnected at best, disjointed at worst.

To start, I live in a flat building. Recycling is not available to my flat building the way it is to local houses. Boooo Essex! So we have two large dumpsters for 12 flats in the basement of the building which are absolutely full every two weeks. In Germany we had four garbage bins (smaller than those giant wheelie ones in the US or UK) which were emptied twice per month and never packed.

So if I want to recycle, how can I do it?
Here are the giant recycle pods down the street behind 'my' bar, located in a pay parking lot. On the plus side, ther are no quiet hours on them like in Germany so I can bring my glass at any hour it appears.

On the negative side, I can only bring the following four items to these four pods:

1. brown glass

2. green glass

3. clear glass

4. 'food and drink cans' - this category is only for tin or aluminum, not plastic.

So where does my plastic go?

5. I need to haul that with me to the big supermarkets such as Asda or Tesco, they have giant pods too. Or I need to drop it with a friend who has a bin which will accept those.

Where does my paper go?

6. Paper can go to the Tesco box.

What about cardboard?

7. Cardboard is harder to find a home for. There is a box for it in the hidden long term parking lot.

8. The same parking lot has a bin for shoe donations as well.

So why not take everything to Asda or Tesco in the car?

A. I try to avoid the supermarkets in person and don't go so often. Plus--I'm not in the car every day, I'm trying to go to and from the office on foot.

B. Tesco and Asda have a variety of bins depending on which one you go to. This one takes aresol cans, that one doesn't. This one takes plastic and squashes it in an instant machine, that one has pods which are always full and on and on...

Overall--not so impressed yet on this point for my corner of Essex.