Germany... from a Norwegians point of view...

I think I, Erlend, have only posted one or two times on this blog, but i thought it's now time to share some of my experiences, and differences from Norway, after living here in Germany for a few months.

The paperwork:

What needed to be done for Anne to stay legally in Norway:

First we read all the information we could find on the horrible website NAV, and afterwards we were non the wiser, because the people that write it don't seem to have a clue about how to write things in a way it can be remotely understandable. 

Then we went to the police station to apply for Anne's immigration as the wife of a Norwegian. The police secretary told us to fill in a two kilometer long piece of paper before telling us that since I had not worked in Norway lately it wasn't very likely that this would work, because Anne would only be let in on the grounds of being married to me if I could prove I could provide for her. And since I had lived in England for two years, and did not have 1 000 000 NOK (137 000 Euro) in my bank account, and since the application would cost us a little fortune, we had to give up.

But then there was the other way, she could get a job, and show the police her work contract, and that would give her permission to stay because she's from a EU country, and Norway has an agreement with the EU through their EEA membership even though Norway is not a part of the EU (that is very important to most Norwegians). 

So Anne got a job, got a work contract, went back to the police, they then told her the contract wasn't good enough. She went back to her employers, go a new contract, and again the police said it wasn't good enough, but after we had explained to the police that it was, because it met all of their requirements, and they admitted we were right, she could finally stay.

What needed to be done for me to stay legally in Germany:

We went to the Town Hall, Anne told the lady who she was, and that I was her husband and that I was Norwegian. The lady told me to sign a piece of paper and said "welcome to Germany."

The water:

There is right now 196 independent nations in the world, and if you go to any of them and ask for a glass of water in a restaurant, you get a glass of water.

... but in Germany you get carbonated water, you actually have to specifically order still water.

Method of payment:

In Norway

people don't use cash any more. It takes up all the room in your pocket, the coins are heavy and unnecessary and... well, a VISA is so much easier. And, yes, 99% of stores and shops accept VISA and Mastercard.

As a result of this, the smallest norwegian coin is the 1 Krone, which is worth 13 Eurocents.

In Germany

cash is king. Not just king, its the dictator! I went to a H&M to buy a sweater once, because the airline had lost my luggage, and the lady at the counter simply said "No cards" when I wanted to giver her my VISA. It wasn't just that they didn't take VISA, they did not take cards in general... in a clothing store!!!

I asked for the closest ATM (cash machine) assuming there would be loads of them everywhere, since cash is so common, but noooo! If i remember correctly there was only a few ATM's in the town, and the closest one was at least a kilometer away.... 

And, yeah, McDonalds only accepts cards in airports. (Anne says there are a few that accept cards now, but I have not seen any of them yet.)

Sale of alcohol:

In Norway

all acohols over 10% are only sold in special state owned "Wine monopolies," beer can be bought in grocery stores, but only between strictly regulated times. If I, when I worked at a grocery store in Norway, would have sold someone a beer after 8 at night, or after 6 on a saturday, the store could have lost its license and I could have lost my job.

In Germany

everyone sells alcohol! You can buy a bottle of hard liquor at a Autobahn gas station... Who drives down the autobahn late at night and suddenly thinks "hmmm... I really want a liter of Vodka."

I don't get it...

Oh, and there is also a law that there has to be something cheaper than beer on a restaurant menu, and that is usually water...

Roads:

To drive from my home town of Ålesund to where my sister lives in Bergen, ca 380 kilometers further south takes around 8 hours!

To drive from Hof, where we live now, down to Munich, where some of our family live, which is 300 kilometers south of here, takes 2 1/2 hours...

Conclution: German roads are awesome! Norwegian roads are cattle trails.

This is actually a part of the main road between Ålesund and Bergen

Tobacco advertisement:

In Norway
it is totally illegal to advertise tobacco. I have even seen movie theaters that cut cigarettes out of their movie posters.

In Germany
huge cigarette advertisement posters are a quite common sight in most towns and cities.

Fish:

On my home island in Norway, we all think of fish as free. Why pay for something you get for free right out of the ocean? And, not to brag, but the truth is, Norwegian fish tastes awesome.

Here in Germany I cannot enjoy fish. The taste is so similar to the smell in the fish factory I used to work at a few years ago. (Gjendembuda for those who know it)
And also, since I used to work on fishing boats, I happen to know that it is very likely that the fish that is for sale in places like this, far from the coast, could be up to 2-3 years old... Its frozen and stored to wait for the prices to go up.

Meat:

In Germany
meat is REALLY goooooood!!!!! An so cheap! At least compared to the prices I am used to.
There is no more to say, it's just fantastic! If you want confirmation on that, just ask people who have visited us here. To be fair though, Hof has a reputation to have one of the widest selection of meat in all of Germany.

In Norway
meat is usually very expensive, and after having tried the meat here, I have realized that much of the meat, particularly the breakfast ham, is not good at all. No wonder when you can see through it, and it only tastes of salt water...

Weather:

Everyone I meet here in Germany thinks that Norway is very, very cold. But the fact is, most people live on the coast in Norway, and because of the Gulf Stream, the cost in Norway is not cold.
On average we only have between 2 and 4 week of snow every year. Mostly it's not even snow, just slush and nasty stuff like that.

Germany, on the other hand has very cold winters. I have experience more days with minus Celsius this winter in Germany that in the 10 last winters put together in Norway.



I might post another blog like this, when I remember or experience more interesting cultural differences.

-Erlend