cultural difference 38: Ueberraschungs-Ei

Possibly every child (and adult) here in Germany knows what an Ueberraschungs-Ei is. The literal translation is “surprise egg,” but it’s mostly known as “Kinder Surprise” in the rest of the world.

It’s a hollow chocolate egg with a yellow capsule inside, which contains a small toy.

Often, the toy requires assembly, and I had to assemble quite a few little toys for my niece and nephew, using the sometimes nearly incomprehensible instructions.

I bought two of the little eggs to show you how complicated assembly could be (oh, the sacrifices I make for this blog!), but instead, the two eggs held a little inflatable fish with no assembly required.

The surprise eggs are not just popular with kids. Collectors trade or pay astonishingly large amounts of money for some of the toys.

Kinder Surprise isn’t sold in the US, though, because the law forbids having inedible items in edible objects. Apparently, 25,000 of the eggs are confiscated by customs every year. Maybe someone there is collecting them too?

cultural difference 37: school cone

Tomorrow is the first day of school for six-year-old children in Baden-Wuerttemberg, the part of Germany where I live. It’s thought of as a big day in their lives, and to celebrate it, we have a special tradition that reaches back to the year 1810:

Children receive a “Schultuete” (“school bag”) from their parents (and/or grandparents or godparents). The Schultuete is a big cone made of colored cardboard and with pretty decorations. It’s filled with candy, cookies, and chocolates to sweeten the first day in school.

Nowadays, in addition or instead of the sweets, parents often put crayons, pens, toys, or other small gifts in the Schultuete.

Quite often, the Schultuete is larger than the excited kid clutching it, making for very cute photos.

cultural difference 36c: another castle

This is Baden Castle, located just a few miles from where I was born.

	Baden Castle was built around 1080. It helped protect the silver mines in the surrounding area.
This castle was destroyed by French troops in the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 too.
	Today, the castle looks down on Badenweiler, a health resort at the edge of the Black Forest.

cultural difference 36b: more castles

Rötteln Castle is located near the city of Lörrach, in the southwest corner of Germany, close to the borders to Switzerland and France.

	The castle was built at the beginning of the 11th century on a wooded hilltop, 420 meters above sea level.
The earthquake of 1356 severely damaged the castle. It was destroyed by French troops during the French-Dutch War in 1678.
	Here’s a link to a 3-D reconstruction of what the castle looked like.

In case you are wondering about the flag — it’s the flag of Baden, which was a sovereign state until 1871. The flag flies over many castles in southwest Germany, but during the Soccer World Cup, many castles displayed the German flag instead.

cultural difference 36: castles

In Southern Germany, where I live, we have a lot of castle ruins that are looking down on the valleys below. I thought I’d share a few pictures of castles I have visited.

This is one of the most famous, Heidelberg Castle.

This photo was taken from the Philosopher’s Path on the other side of the river.

	The first parts of the castle were built between 1294 and 1303. The castle was extended and more buildings added over the next 300 years, so now the castle is a combination of buildings from different periods of German architecture.
Lightning destroyed large parts of the castle in 1764.

The Castle stands 300 feet above the city of Heidelberg. From the terrace and the gardens, you have a great view of the city and the Neckar River.

If you are ever in Heidelberg, make sure to visit the castle.

cultural difference 35: air conditioning

After a much too cool spring and a rainy start into the summer, we had much warmer weather (about 80° F) today. That made me think of air conditioning — or the lack thereof.

Most German houses and even office buildings have no air conditioning. Most of the newer, bigger cars have it, though.

I’ve come across a funny (and, for the most part, true) blog post, in which an American makes fun of the German “superstition” that changes in temperature are detrimental to your health. Maybe that’s why we don’t have air conditioning.

cultural difference 34: closets

There are very few walk-in closets or built-in closets in Germany.

Instead, we have a “Kleiderschrank,” a free-standing closet for clothes, in our bedroom and typically other cupboards and cabinets in the hallway and/or living room.

Some houses have an “Abstellkammer,” a small storage room, and most apartments have a place in the basement where you can store stuff that you don’t use that often.

cultural difference 33: flags

Most Germans would never say that they’re proud to be German. Maybe they feel that, after the Third Reich and World War II, Germans lost their right to patriotic pride.

As a result, the national flag isn’t displayed as readily as in the US. In Germany, you can go for months or even years without seeing the German flag anywhere.

With one big exception: the soccer World Cup.

Every four years, Germany goes crazy, and you can see flags hanging from lots of windows, balconies, and cars.

cultural difference 32: cakes

Having “coffee and cake” on Sunday afternoons is a typically German tradition. We have a countless number of different cakes and pastries.

My personal favorite is cheesecake. In Germany, we prepare it with Quark, which apparently is not known in many other countries. It’s a kind of yogurt-like cream cheese. There’s an ongoing debate about whether raisins belong in cheesecake. To me, the answer is: YES, of course!

Some people prefer cheesecake with mandarin oranges, though.

A specialty in Southern Germany, where I live, is “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte” (Black Forest Gateaux). That’s the one with the cherries in the first picture above. Personally, I find all the whipped cream and the “Kirschwasser” (cherry liquor) a bit too much, but a lot of people love it.

Then there’s Frankfurter Kranz (Frankfurter Crown Cake) with buttercream.

The Dresdner Christstollen, a loaf of cake with dried fruits, is a specialty that is mostly eaten around Christmas.

Linzertorte is originally an Austrian recipe, but it’s very popular in Germany too, especially with home-made raspberry jam.

Then there are different kinds of Zopf (which translates to “braids”),which is made from flour, butter, eggs, sugar, yeast, and often raisins. The dough is braided before baking, so therefore the name “Zopf.” Sometimes, it’s filled with ground nuts.

Hm. Now I’m hungry

cultural difference 31: how are you?

I think many Americans use “How are you?” more like a greeting. The expected answer is probably “good” or something equally short.

For some Germans, the question is actually more an invitation to start a long monologue about work, health problems, and anything else going on in their lives right now.

So we probably wouldn’t ask someone we barely know “How are you doing?”