Back in Boulder for the Christmas-New Year break between semesters, and decided to make a few random observations regarding being back in the USA vis à vis Deutschland:
1. Plus-sized people. This was apparent as early as the boarding area for the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Denver. XXL and beyond is quite uncommon in Heidelberg.
2. Clear skies and sunshine! Fairly uncommon in Heidelberg this fall which is noticeable when one is used to 300+ days of sunshine per year.
3. Far fewer smokers. US Males = 26.3% US Females = 21.5% German Males = 37.4% German Females = 25.8% And what is very noticeable is the preponderance of young smokers in Germany.
4. Shorter people. Far fewer men over 6'6" and women over 6'0" - I have no data, but there sure are a lot of tall folks in Heidelberg.
4. Shorter people. Far fewer men over 6'6" and women over 6'0" - I have no data, but there sure are a lot of tall folks in Heidelberg.
5. SUV's and big trucks. Rare in Heidelberg
6. Good Mexican, Tex-Mex and Southwest Cuisine! Sketchy in Deutschland.
7. Boulder is less ethnically diverse than Heidelberg.
8. An abundance and nice variety of excellent beer on tap at most restaurants and tasting rooms. A typical German pub/restaurant will have 3 or 4 on tap.
9. Far fewer bicylclists and walkers even though Boulder is a biking town.
10. I prefer being in GMT -7 versus GMT +1
11. Go Broncos and Nuggets!! [Avs too if they ever get past the lockout]
13 comments:
To add to the list: Fewer men named Hans.
Triple S - good point, but haven't found it to be true :-) Did not meet a single Hans in Deutschland, and know two here in Boulder [ok their nickname is Hans].
Welcome back, Doc. That's a great picture you have there too.
Thanks TA! Things have been fairly interesting lately over at the Sensuous Curmudgeon, eh?
Okay, then, what about Heinrich or Brunhilda?
Good point about plus-sized people. In my "world travels," the rotund globules were the American tourists, not the natives.
S3 - more good suggestions :-) But no cigar - the German fellows that I know in Heidelberg are Bruno, Martin, Karl, Christian, Timo and Jan.
It's always interesting, especially when there are only four days to the end of the world, again.
Which reminds me, I'm running low on shopping days before the end of the shopping days before Christmas!
TA - I just checked out our refrig and noted that there are only three beers left - so the real quandry is whether or not to buy any more before the end of the world.....
Also noted the discussion about your posts in the G+ world - how did your circles get so big?
Top 10 German names 2011 (this is nuts)
Jungen (Boys) Mädchen (Girls)
1. Maximilian 1. Sophie/Sofie
2. Alexander 2. Marie
3. Paul 3. Maria
4. Leon/Léon 4. Mia
5. Ben 5. Sophia/Sofia
6. Lukas/Lucas 6. Emma
7. Luka/Luca 7. Anna
8. Louis/Luis 8. Hannah/Hanna
9. Elias 9. Johanna
10. Jonas 10. Leonie
In 2009 or 2010, the 10th most popular German boy's name was Felix. Can you imagine watching a movie with the German villain named Felix?
The premier professional wrestling villain back in the 50's and 60's was Hans Schmidt, German accent and all. An adult wrote that as a kid he was wadering around backstage at a wrestling event in Canada and caught Hans strolling about, pleasant as could be and speaking perfect English. Guess his real name was Guy Larose and a native Canadian.
S3 - thanks for the data re names in Germany - interesting! And I kinda remember the German wrestling dude - boy they had some great names back in the day.
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