Top 10 Ways You Realize You Might Now Be Living in a Small German Village
(Each picture on this blog was taken in Rümmingen.)
10. Your neighbor's house looks like this:
9. While preparing dinner in the summer it is not uncommon to hear, through your unopened window, sheep baa-ing and their bells clanging. When you look outside you see this across the street:
Oh hello there!
8. During an average day you see more horses than people...no joke.
Population of Columbus, Ohio - 797,434
Population of Rümmingen, Germany - 1,664
7. When you search for your new hometown on Wikipedia you get this:
6. By the time you realize you're entering the village...you're already exiting it.
5. People actually still use this as a means of transportation:
This thing is called the "Kanderli" and it rolls by my house every weekend. I like to wave at the passengers on the train through the kitchen window. Sometimes I go out on the terrace and make Teddy stand up so they can see him over the wall and we wave at the children together. It seems like a sweet village tradition until its blaring horn wakes you up at 8 AM on a Saturday at which point you curse its 118 year existence.
A school (That I didn't even know existed until some months ago and only has new classes starting every other year due to not enough children.)
A bank (I think they mean the one ATM machine around the corner?)
A "Dorfladen" (Translation - Village Store) that sells one bottle of milk, one slice of cheese, one egg, one slice of bread...etc.
(<--- The store is so small that this picture of it is almost to scale.)
A flower shop (That has been closed for years)
A hotel (That closed last year)
A restaurant (That I've never heard of anyone going to)
A fire station (That is directly across the street from my house and yet I have NEVER seen/heard them go out on a call with sirens on. I see them practicing all the time though. I suppose that's a good thing?)
A recycling center (That is open for a whopping total of 5 hours a week - Fr. 4-6 and Sat. 9-12.)
A soccer field
Tennis courts (members only)
A volleyball court (That was donated to us from a local radio station because they felt bad there was nothing to do here...I'm joking...kinda.)
3. Your town was founded in the year 767. I typed that correctly too, there is no "1" before the "7."
2. If you travel more than 15 minutes in any direction away from your house, you'll find yourself having to explain to people where you are from and what it is close to.
And the number 1. way you realize you may now be living in small German village:
While on a walk with your dog you're hit with the realization that people here walk their goats.
I'm aware that some of that info may make this place look bad so here are some more pictures of my village that may (or may not?) make it look better. As usual, pictures courtesy of my talented brother-in-law Johann Frick. For more pictures, please visit:
(Me in a field. Note the horse in the background. I wasn't lying about the horses!)
Auf Wiedersehen!
-Frau Frick
America vs. Germany
81. I find the ice cream here to be more icy than creamy. It's good, but different. I sure do miss me some Handel's or just a good ol' fashion American ice cream sundae. The idea of Cold Stone/Menchies here would be mind boggling. I can hear it now "Vhat do you mean zhere iz Sneeckerz und Gummibears in zhe icecream? Zhat iz khrazy!" (Even after living here for so long, my German accent sucks.) It's hard to find hot fudge here (and no, Italian ice cream parlor lady, don't heat up chocolate syrup and tell me it's hot fudge...it's not the same!)
82. People back home often ask Eddie if he skis. The answer is no. We live near that Alps but Eddie has only gone snow boarding twice. Cross country skiing doesn't count. I've never tried skiing because I heard through the grape vine that broken femurs hurt.
83. Germans can be a bit nosy. I feel like they get into your business a little more than Americans. It's hard to explain. It's like they get unnecessarily agitated by small things like cars not having license plates, or people passing them on the highway (they LOVE to flash their lights at you), or a neighbor once told my sister-in-law that she was going to call the police if she didn't get off the handle bars of her friends bicycle. If someone wore shorts to the store in January in the US we'd probably be like "hm, he must be cold," and continue about our business but it Germany, oh my heavens, that would be OUTRAGEOUS! They would stare at him like he had three heads. When I go grocery shopping I often catch the Germans looking in my shopping cart. (?!?) "Um, can I help you?" I almost want to bring a blanket with me and drape it over my cart so they can't see in. Now that would drive them crazy. One last example: our neighbor once asked Eddie why we didn't open our windows one night. Um...firstly, why are you looking at my windows at night? Secondly, they are MY windows and it's MY house. I'll do with both what I please.
84. Germans are much better at following the “left lane is for faster traffic” rule. Once they pass, they almost immediately get back in the right-hand lane again. Not so much in the US. I guess they have to while driving so fast on "the Autobahn." ;)
85. If you order fee-fees (that’s Rachelian for french fries), they will ask you if you want ketchup or mayonnaise. Side note: ketchup packets cost 20 euro cents.
86. Yes, they serve beer at McDonald’s.
87. Like any country, it takes a while to get used to their light switches, outlets, and toilet flushing handles/buttons. Here are what they look like in Germany:
or 
or 
or...
or or or...
88. My brother-in-law thinks our toilets in the U.S. have too much water in the bowl. I like to think with the extra water, there is a smaller change of...moose tracks? Each German toilet has a brush next to it to take care of said problem.
89. Heineken is not a German beer. Becks is though. The beer here is good, I guess. I'm not a big beer drinker (or a big any-kind-of-alcohol drinker) but if I do drink a beer it is usually a "radler." A radler is half beer-half sprite or half beer-half coke. It sounds weird, but it's actually pretty good. Do not attempt this back in the States. It tastes lousy back home but definitely try one if you visit.
90. Cans (pop cans, beer cans, etc) are not that common in Germany.
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