Oh really? I was just memeing that wine was sweetened with lead (back in Roman times) but didn’t know the physics I just assumed it was lead tasted sweet and that’s why kids like eating lead painted toys. I will have to rabbit hole learn about this now, thanks for letting me know :)
Water tastes very different in different locations even if it’s all safe to drink. The water at my brother’s house is vile, my sister’s house’s water is fine I guess, my mother’s house’s water is nice and the water at my grandparents house was amazing.
I also tried most of the water fountains on my college campus to find which had the best water so I could refill my bottle there.
Depends on you I would say. The more water you drink the more you are able to "taste the difference". Where I am from in Germany we have, I think 3-4 wells that offer water to 6 villages. The village I lived in had one of the 4, it tastes fresh, cool and sort of light. The village I now live in, still part of the same community has a well with a lot of lime, the water leaves a strange taste in the mouth and doesn't feel as refreshing as I was used to. You can even taste differences in bottled water since they are from different wells and have a different mixture of minerals in them. All of them still have to follow German water rules but there is a difference
Depends where you live and the system in your house / apartment. Lived in an old apartment for three years and water tasted horrible. Now in a new-ish apartment and I couldn't tell the difference between my tap water and the clearest, cleanest spring water I ever had.
Fun fact: a bottled water company sued a water supplier. They wanted that the supplier takes down the composition and certification of cleaners (in lack of better words) as it is detrimental to the bottle water companie sales.
Got thrown out as the law.atates they have to display the values and certs...
Germany and drinking water is a lot more ingrained and a source of weird pride then cars.
They mean that bottled water (which very often comes in plastic bottles) give you more microplastics. Other comments in this thread pointed out that ground water becomes more polluted with microplastics too.
Used to be true but PFAS levels keep rising and it's gotten unsafe to drink in several places like Berlin for example (especially for kids and pregnant woman), although Berlin water works already announced that they'll build new filters
I lived in Düsseldorf and honestly even though the water was safe it tasted crap. It's quite hard compared to what I'm used to, like the way it leaves deposits on kettles, water where I live doesn't do that. I never knew descaling pipes and jugs was a thing people needed to do. I got used to it but for the first couple of months I mostly drank bottled water
Tbf though that isn't unique to a country. The difference between water where I live and my home town (same country, 200 miles apart) is like night and day.
I can kind of get the tap water issue. It's probably a hard water/ soft water thing. If you're used to one, then the other does taste wierd/gross. I've lived places where I just can't drink plain tap water because it tastes so weird and empty. (I was born and raised in an area with very hard water. Soft water is bland and gross)
I grew up in a soft water area. When I visit places that have hard water, if I take a shower the water feels gross and it dulls the shine in my hair :(
The best water I've tasted in the US was in Colorado near the mountains/along the foothills. I have no idea what exactly is different, but I'm guessing there's a reason that a lot of water bottle companies feature mountains in their branding.
Sorry, for clarification as I'm too tired to think properly. And what I wrote is weird and not correct 🤣.
Germans drink water from a river, then dump it back into a river. Repeat that seven times, and then that same water enters the delta known as the Netherlands.
Why is that important you might ask. Well, human piss, even if properly filtered and cleaned. Might contain small bits or medication, and that's not healthy.
(Ohh and the water that Dutch people drink, that is from seven Germans is called heineken)
You're joking, but any major US base in Germany adds chlorine to the water entering their facility, so the soldiers think it's safe to drink as it tastes the way it does in the US
I mean, the point of this sub is to shit in the densest Americans, but in this case, I believe it's just an acquired taste, it's what people are used to. I can travel to across Europe and water just starts tasting weird while it's perfectly normal for everyone around
Literally. I'm from Poland but I lived in the US for 2 years and now in Germany for 6 years. Tap water in the States was undrinkable. After filtering it's barely acceptable. While tap water in Germany is so good, that I never felt any need to buy mineral water.
Same here. I spent sometime in the US in a college while doing some practical STEM stuff. Stayed in their accommodation and the tap water tasted metallic.
Usually that metallic taste is from leaching in the pipes. Good news, it may have contained lead if it was an order building, such as a dorm at a college
We have some of the best tap water on Earth. In fact a few years ago a town in BC won Best Tap Water in the world!
"Yes, the water in the Clearbrook area of Abbotsford, B.C., has been repeatedly judged the best municipal tap water in the world, winning multiple gold medals at the prestigious Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition for its clarity, taste, and lack of chemical odor. Sourced from the deep Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer, this groundwater is celebrated for being exceptionally pure, often without chlorine or added chemicals, and praised by judges for its clean, smooth "mouthfeel". "
Bro, for real!! When I visited my aunt last year, I was so thirsty exiting the plane in the US and just wanted to chug some water. So I filled my bottle at a fountain, took a sip and wanted to spit it out so bad. It tasted foul, chemically. Even the bottled water just tastes like chemicals.
I was in the US twice and learnt to order every drink without ice because a) it's just way too much and b) had some that smelled like chlorine and I could not drink that and was first doubting my senses because why would someone put ice with chlorine in a soda 😐😩
I have been like 2 times there one time because I happened to arrive 5h late on Saturday when anything was closed and everytime I saw people returning 100s of empty bottles. And doing week shopping for a month 🫠.
Soon coming from abroad, Germans smoke a lot. On the public street. If you commute by public transportation, you'll breath cigarette smoke, no matter what.
Agreed. Though a Mexican friend of mine showed me an authentic Mexican restaurant in Vienna. Judging by that she probably misses Tex-Mex and not real Mexican food.
I also ate at a Mexican restaurant in Vienna and it was authentic... It's a miracle I remember that evening given all the tequila I drank after the meal.
Pretty much. Taste is extremely subjective, so I wouldn't really get fussed over it anyway. Even going from a Scotland or Norway to another high quality water country could see disagreements around taste, I'm sure.
I had a friend and when he moved out of his parents house for university he landed down with a crate of glass water bottles. He kept them in the fridge and was a little possessive of the bottles. Fair enough I didn't touch it. He went home every weekend so replaced the water every week.
A few years later I was invited to his sisters house. I noticed the same bottles of water in her fridge. At which point I had to ask what was with the water.
It turns out they have a well on their family farm where they all got their water. They didn't like any other water. I asked to try some and they let me have one bottle. It was good stuff.
I was then told if I wanted more I had to supply the bottles. They had to be glass. But for the rest of the time I lived with him I had great water.
Okay, but missing good quality Mexican food is actually a valid one, though. That's definitely a lot harder to find in Germany for obvious reasons.
Edit: to everyone giving me examples, I never had any doubt that it existed. My point was only that it must surely be far less common. Like trying to find a good doner in the US: certainly possible, but way harder.
Outside of the tap water and smokey air I don’t really see an issue with these. I get missing Mexican food and ranch and the convenience of a store being open on Sundays.
Also I presume the driving more so meant that they don’t drive now because they don’t have to. I saw an American that’s lived in the UK say they miss that too because now they never drive. Not that they can’t.
The tap water thing makes sense to me because even if it's the best tap water in the world it's not going to taste the same as you're used to I've definitely had the experience of going to a place with harder/softer tap water and not liking it because it's not the same not bad just not what you're used to
The „non Smokey air“ thing is also valid, people smoking outside of buildings directly next to the door is really annoying. Especially in front of buildings like hospitals.
My least favourite thing is people smoking in the little house with the benches at the bus stop. The smoke just pools in there. I’m pretty sensitive to cigarette smoke and I end up standing in the cold rain often, because the smokers have claimed the Wartehäuschen for themselves. I hate it
Depending how long they've been in-country it's possible they really cab't drive, at least not until they pass a local driving test. Not sure about Germany specifically but I believe you can only drive on a foreign license for up to a year, and an EU-standard test is substantially harder than some US state ones, particularly if you aren't fully fluent in the local language.
He’s lived there for 13 years and I saw him talk about possibly buying a car so I presume he can drive. He just said he has no need since he lives in London and the UK has good public transportation.
Smokey air is SO valid. I've been in Germany twice in the last couple of months and as someone who hates cigarettes it is VERY noticeable and I was constantly dodging smoke when in busy areas. Even at the train station! In the UK you can't smoke in stations. In Germany there's a special smoking area on the platform...but it's not enclosed so the smoke goes everywhere. It made me feel quite ill.
Germany is still an awesome place but a lot of these are pretty valid tbh. Everything being closed on a Sunday was also super annoying.
While Sundays with closed stores may be an inconvenience to some it just requires little planning. On the other side it gives the store employees and many others the chance to do something with their loved ones.
I love the widespread shutdown on Sundays and highly respect those that need to work on a day when most people are off, like public transport chauffeurs, emergency services, pub & bar personnel, plant workers, ...
The thing is you can still buy groceries if it's really necessary. In cities the stores at the main station are usually open (at least in my area) and you can buy stuff at the gas station. It is a little bit more expensive but if you really need something, you're able to get it.
I really don’t see how bakeries, restaurants, cafes, pubs and even outdoor markets are essential while all other shops including grocery stores and car and bike mechanics are not. It’s completely arbitrary.
It was more that we finished an event earlier than expected, had booked travel back Sunday evening in case it was longer, and ended up with most of Sunday free but very little to do. Food was fine as restaurants were open, but couldn't browse shops and many attractions were closed. Everything was just kind of dead and although we had some time, we didn't have time to travel elsewhere and make a whole day of something else. It wasn't really something that planning ahead would've helped much. Just kind of stuck wandering an empty, rainy city.
Nah, Stuttgart. When we went to the station I actually saw there was a planetarium open, which would have been PERFECT for killing some time and avoiding the rain, and I love space, but sadly by the time we were there the next show times just clashed with our train. Like, if it was just half an hour earlier it would've worked out perfectly, but sadly we couldn't make it work. But hey, I'll definitely check it out next time!
Nah the smokey air is a valid one too. Many places in Europe still have a lot of public smoking and it's pretty hard to avoid. It's not like this everywhere; I encountered very little public smoking in the UK and Denmark, but it was also pretty much everywhere in places like Spain and Austria. I haven't been to Germany itself to compare, but I'm sure the person in the OP isn't exaggerating.
There's crazy amounts of public smoking in Denmark! It's even still allowed indoors in a lot of bars. Perhaps you didn't see so many smokers outdoors because they were all inside.
It's not as bad in Munich, most of the time, but it's pretty bad. On the German subreddits, the Germans will usually admit that it's even worse in other cities, especially Berlin.
Tbf, it is something which I think is fair depending on what your baseline is. If you come from somewhere where it's less of a thing, even what is relatively good in x country could be bad relative to your experiences in your home country.
There are Italian restaurants here too but I don’t really eat it like that.
Funny how there’s a post on this sub about a Mexican-American dissing Italian food and it reminded me of my brother. We’re second generation Mexican immigrants (Our parents are from Mexico but we’re Americans) and when he went to Italy, he didn’t like the food there cause it tasted ‘too healthy’ lol sorry if that was random just felt like sharing.
I'm not American but can confirm that Mexican food in the US is easy to find and really fucking good. Like it's one of the features of going to the US good.
Im in Texas and the Mexican food is so good 😍 and tex-mex. There’s taco trucks everywhere where I live. I want to move to Germany one day and I’m definitely going to miss it but it’s worth it to me to get out of the US
The Mexican food one is a regular complaint for the wife, even in France. Which, fair, I miss it too and I've only had it a couple of times. It's just that good.
She also misses Ranch but that's just cause she's a Midwestern basic :p
Yeah I have to empathise with the lack of Mexican food. I live in Australia and while there are places around that call themselves Mexican food its all so sad and lacking.I would kill for a good chicken mole😢.
I talked with an American friend about this just past weekend. He's lived here in the Netherlands for the past decade and hasn't found a Mexican delivery service that comes close to the US. He confirmed what we should already know deep down.
Yeah im sure you can miss some things but driving? Like we have the autobahn, people come actually here to drive.
Yummy tap water? you mean the kind you can set on fire?
Breathing in non smokey air? I mean yes germany has still to many smokers but you literally cant smoke anywhere indoors and its gotten rarer outdoors too and is generally not a problem.
Propably their american "drivers license" was not accepted to drive in germany. As far as I know, you can only drive 6 month with an american drivers license before you have to take the german drivers license test to continue driving.
As an American, that sounds dangerous. We should not be allowed to drive in your country UNTIL we pass the test, not for 6 months beforehand. We have some of the worst driving laws in the developed (lol) world
Didn’t the base she was leaving operate on a ‘drive on the right hand side of the road’ basis? - which just seems absolutely insane, introducing a whole level of unnecessary risk of accidents.
American military facilities run on American systems, shops trade in US dollars, etc. - Rammstein(Large US base in Germany with a lot of facilities) has the odd dependent who've literally never left the base.
The UK has a list of countries that can exchange without further testing, and the USA isn't on it. Within the EU you don't need to exchange at all until your licence expires.
I was actually super surprised it was allowed. You end up in a country with different road signs and road laws and nobody even checks if you know anything??
Depends on the state. There are only a few of them who fully reciprocally transfer each others license with germany.
I had the same issue the other way around. I could drive on a german license in the US for 6 month, but needed a state license eventually. That was simple to obtain, but a nuisance, like bring your own car to the driving test, get appointments in advance, etc.
I used them for the first couple of periods where I used tampons, so yes. They may not be as ubiquitous, but you can absolutely get them. The applicators are hell on the environment, though.
Tampons with applicatiors are very practical for those of us with medical conditions and mobility issues that make it harder to insert non-applicator ones.
I'm with her on smokey air, as a German who is sensitive to smoke. Might just be the area I'm living, but there's a lot of barbecues in the summer, smokers on my commute, and during the winter I can barely open the windows because a lot of my neighbours still have ovens that burn wood, and it smells like it a lot.
dude is just homesick, dont bash him. when i came to usa i also missed simple things from my European country like: walking everywhere; good bread , rolls, soups etc.;central heating, AC not being blasted on 17C, foods not full of sugar and salt and so much more :D it is called "culture shock", it is normal human nature
That A/C thing irritated me the most when I was visiting the states. We were freezing in some of those restaurants and museums while it was 30C outside. Don‘t understand how people find this comfortable.
exactly, it was everywhere like that, i also attendedto high school in california and it was usualy super perfect and nice weather outside and inside... but i had to wear leather jacket, in addition to swearshirt, to certain classes... iand had bloody stuff in my nose for a month, then i got used to it.
Look, I'm as happy to take the piss out of dumbass yanks as anyone else, but apart from the tap water and driving (and maybe smokey air) nothing here seems to be unreasonable.
Tampons I wouldn't know about as I'm not a woman.
Mexican food, that's fair enough as obviously there's more of it in the states.
Ranch (I still don't know what Americans actually mean when they talk about "ranch" in the context of food), same as above, of course people miss foods they're used to in their home country.
Things being shut on Sunday: I'm not German but I understand this is very common there? And I don't blame her for being annoyed at this, I was a bit annoyed by most things being shut on Sundays when I lived in Spain as nearly everything stays open on Sunday in my country (Ireland).
If you ever see Doritos "Cool American" or "Cool Original" where you live, that's ranch flavor. Try it sometime, maybe you'll like it. It's an extremely common salad dressing, dip, or seasoning.
I can never convince people that root beer is delicious though. Oh well, more for me!
Ranch is ranch dressing. It's a salad dressing that for some reason people here love. I think it's gross as shit, but a lot of people love covering everything they eat with it.
I lived in Germany 4 yrs, tap water nearly as good as in my country Cymru. Driving in Germany is polite and easy also. Lovely cultured people, who know the value of humans over corporations.
Ha, Mexican food. I spent a bunch of time on and off for work in Finland, and wow that Mexican food there was so very bad :-) They had some very good foreign restaurants (ie, non-Finnish) but for some reason those Mexican ones aimed for more of a fiesta/tequila feel than for good food.
I do remember my surprise when everything was closed on a Sunday in German. Including many restaurants (which is not good if your hotel doesn't have its own restaurant). This was in the 90s though, and I had heard it had gotten better.
Tap water is iffy. I do remember one Italian restaurant in Germany where they owners did not speak either German nor English. And I just wanted some water because there was a high amount of garlic. I didn't want wine. So when first asking and try to explain they came back with some finger bowls! Second try they came with expensive mineral water. In hindsight I should have asked for lemonade.
But also in parts of America you really need to avoid the tap water.
Not everyone likes or gets accustomed to the no applicator. I could never get the tampon correctly without the applicator and it’s very very uncomfortable. But I think it’s maybe a Germany thing as in the places I’ve lived in Europe I never had any issues finding tampon with applicator thankfully!
Pushing in a dry tampon is the issue, not your finger. I always adjust with my finger afterwards anyway. Still much nicer to slide it in with plastic though as its smooth and doesn't hurt.
This! I don't need to adjust but a dry tampon is borderline painful. I'd love a cardboard applicator if it's as comfortable as plastic but I can never understand how some women can shove a "naked" piece of cotton inside themselves 😭
I can't speak to other brands, but OB has a silky outer layer that really helps. And when I was using them (pre-menopause) I always kept a multi pack with different sizes so I had smaller/less absorbency for lighter days making things much more comfortable than trying to use the Big Bertha heavy flow all week.
Have you tried switching to a different brand (or a different product of the same brand)? Because the one I have mentioned has a line with a very smooth, silky surface and slides in easily.
Also (sorry for oversharing) whenever I am in need of this product, the way it goes in is not dry at all. (Except you know at the start and at the end phase - but at that time it is better to use just a liner anyway).
Yummy tap water, wasn't Europes problem supposed to be lack of bottled water and ice?
Just googled is German water safe to see what Google says and it mentioned that it’s often higher quality than bottled waters.
Yeah we know. It's a national pride actually
But is it yummy though?
Tastes like water.
Well see there's your problem, it's obviously supposed to taste like chlorine and lead.
And it isn't sweetened
That would be the lead.
lead sugar would do that but not elemental lead. cholera makes water taste sweet tho
So you’re saying we should start bottling leaded cholera water? It’s like printing money!
Oh really? I was just memeing that wine was sweetened with lead (back in Roman times) but didn’t know the physics I just assumed it was lead tasted sweet and that’s why kids like eating lead painted toys. I will have to rabbit hole learn about this now, thanks for letting me know :)
Americans love beer that tastes like piss, why wouldn't they love water with a strong flavour of industrial chemicals?
And don't even get us started on the vomit chocolate they love too
"American Cheese"
"Cheese" in a spray can
My lactose intolerant granddaughter can eat that but not real cheese
And yummy microplastics
Mmm yummy
What about heavy metals? I can’t drink this purified water, I need my heavy metals!
Can you use it as lighter fluid though?
And with a bitter after taste of school shootings and sour tears
Ah. But is it flammable?
Water tastes very different in different locations even if it’s all safe to drink. The water at my brother’s house is vile, my sister’s house’s water is fine I guess, my mother’s house’s water is nice and the water at my grandparents house was amazing.
I also tried most of the water fountains on my college campus to find which had the best water so I could refill my bottle there.
German water is fine but it's got more lime than other places
That improves the flavour IMO
I prefer lemon
House I group in (US) has well water, and it tastes metallic. My mom has to put it through two Brittas but to this day I fucking love how it tastes.
Oh Britta's in this?
That's Mr Brittas to you.
At least it’s a German water filter lol
Depends on you I would say. The more water you drink the more you are able to "taste the difference". Where I am from in Germany we have, I think 3-4 wells that offer water to 6 villages. The village I lived in had one of the 4, it tastes fresh, cool and sort of light. The village I now live in, still part of the same community has a well with a lot of lime, the water leaves a strange taste in the mouth and doesn't feel as refreshing as I was used to. You can even taste differences in bottled water since they are from different wells and have a different mixture of minerals in them. All of them still have to follow German water rules but there is a difference
Depends where you live and the system in your house / apartment. Lived in an old apartment for three years and water tasted horrible. Now in a new-ish apartment and I couldn't tell the difference between my tap water and the clearest, cleanest spring water I ever had.
I work for our public drinking water.
I can confirm that it’s super yummy. And our health and safety standards are higher than supermarket water.
Not without some delicious legionella
Everybody knows about Germany's water purity laws
Fun fact: a bottled water company sued a water supplier. They wanted that the supplier takes down the composition and certification of cleaners (in lack of better words) as it is detrimental to the bottle water companie sales. Got thrown out as the law.atates they have to display the values and certs...
Germany and drinking water is a lot more ingrained and a source of weird pride then cars.
Germany and Denmark will be a united front against Nestlé who wants to privatise all water. We do love our clean tap water here in the north.
And as I learned yesterday tap water is a way to reduce by 90% the intake of microplastics!
Years ago I read that bottled water companies are not in the business of selling water. They sell plastic bottles
It was the last time I bought a bottle of water
Uh, Im confused bu the way you wrote this.
Do you mean drinking tap water reduces microplastics in people?
They mean that bottled water (which very often comes in plastic bottles) give you more microplastics. Other comments in this thread pointed out that ground water becomes more polluted with microplastics too.
Used to be true but PFAS levels keep rising and it's gotten unsafe to drink in several places like Berlin for example (especially for kids and pregnant woman), although Berlin water works already announced that they'll build new filters
https://www.bund.net/fileadmin/user_upload_bund/publikationen/chemie/BUND-PFAS-Wassertest.pdf
Rain water is already unsafe to drink due to PFAS levels globally and I think tap water will come next, not just in Germany
Luckily it's not so hard to filter PFAS out, works with active charcoal
Problem is, PFAS levels are rising everywhere, they are in every corner of the globe, so that’s not specific for Germany
And they are in the food we eat where it is really hard to eliminate.
Yeah that was a new take...
Was surprised as well...
Can you link the creator that made this? I am very curious who posted this
I lived in Düsseldorf and honestly even though the water was safe it tasted crap. It's quite hard compared to what I'm used to, like the way it leaves deposits on kettles, water where I live doesn't do that. I never knew descaling pipes and jugs was a thing people needed to do. I got used to it but for the first couple of months I mostly drank bottled water
Tbf though that isn't unique to a country. The difference between water where I live and my home town (same country, 200 miles apart) is like night and day.
Hard water does suck arse though
I can kind of get the tap water issue. It's probably a hard water/ soft water thing. If you're used to one, then the other does taste wierd/gross. I've lived places where I just can't drink plain tap water because it tastes so weird and empty. (I was born and raised in an area with very hard water. Soft water is bland and gross)
I grew up in a soft water area. When I visit places that have hard water, if I take a shower the water feels gross and it dulls the shine in my hair :(
The best water I've tasted in the US was in Colorado near the mountains/along the foothills. I have no idea what exactly is different, but I'm guessing there's a reason that a lot of water bottle companies feature mountains in their branding.
"Waiter, my tap water isn't yummy enough"
It's only real Yummy Water if it's made in Flint, USA.
Water in a new place always tastes weird.
Well, they could make the German tap water yummy by adding a little chlorine
She can chug the local pool water.
Not enough chlorine I guess.
But just as much piss
This reminds me, we dutch people drink the piss of like 7 Germans. (According to my professor)
That does sound like a very Dutch thing to do...
Sorry, for clarification as I'm too tired to think properly. And what I wrote is weird and not correct 🤣.
Germans drink water from a river, then dump it back into a river. Repeat that seven times, and then that same water enters the delta known as the Netherlands.
Why is that important you might ask. Well, human piss, even if properly filtered and cleaned. Might contain small bits or medication, and that's not healthy.
(Ohh and the water that Dutch people drink, that is from seven Germans is called heineken)
You don't mind the french and swiss piss along, do you?
Well, the beer thing starts on Chur, with Calanda brewery being Heineken.
Prost!
Well, we have the Czech prior. So it just gets more concentrated
Literally, I once checked. The limit for chlorine in US tap water is like multitudes the limit in German public swimming pools.
You're joking, but any major US base in Germany adds chlorine to the water entering their facility, so the soldiers think it's safe to drink as it tastes the way it does in the US
which would prove that Americans have no good taste.
I mean, the point of this sub is to shit in the densest Americans, but in this case, I believe it's just an acquired taste, it's what people are used to. I can travel to across Europe and water just starts tasting weird while it's perfectly normal for everyone around
Literally. I'm from Poland but I lived in the US for 2 years and now in Germany for 6 years. Tap water in the States was undrinkable. After filtering it's barely acceptable. While tap water in Germany is so good, that I never felt any need to buy mineral water.
Same here. I spent sometime in the US in a college while doing some practical STEM stuff. Stayed in their accommodation and the tap water tasted metallic.
Usually that metallic taste is from leaching in the pipes. Good news, it may have contained lead if it was an order building, such as a dorm at a college
Extra flavour that is
I’ve been down to the States for work, and hated drinking the tap water. It always tasted strange to me (Canadian).
We have some of the best tap water on Earth. In fact a few years ago a town in BC won Best Tap Water in the world!
"Yes, the water in the Clearbrook area of Abbotsford, B.C., has been repeatedly judged the best municipal tap water in the world, winning multiple gold medals at the prestigious Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition for its clarity, taste, and lack of chemical odor. Sourced from the deep Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer, this groundwater is celebrated for being exceptionally pure, often without chlorine or added chemicals, and praised by judges for its clean, smooth "mouthfeel". "
We are privileged that way for sure
Likewise, only visited Germany but I had no complaints about the water at all! I’ve never risked it in the US.
Tap water quality depends on the area, it's quite good around here.
That’s my experience in most places that I visited in the USA too
Bro, for real!! When I visited my aunt last year, I was so thirsty exiting the plane in the US and just wanted to chug some water. So I filled my bottle at a fountain, took a sip and wanted to spit it out so bad. It tasted foul, chemically. Even the bottled water just tastes like chemicals.
Yes! This! Our very polite German houseguest did quietly remark that our tap water tasted like chlorine!
I was in the US twice and learnt to order every drink without ice because a) it's just way too much and b) had some that smelled like chlorine and I could not drink that and was first doubting my senses because why would someone put ice with chlorine in a soda 😐😩
Or lead
Maybe she could start by using lead pipes in her house, so she can get that real Flint quality tapwater.
Don’t forget to dissolve natural gas in it so you can set it on fire….
What the frack
I assumed this was why some people would pay good money for used bathwater online?
Things I Miss as a German in Germany:
Mexican food
Stores being open on sundays
I live in Hamburg and we have a Lidl (under Altona Railwaystation) that is open on Sunday.
It is about the warzone you expect
But just the possibility to go if you forgot something is amazing. I would never go so my weekly groceries in a sundays.
I have been like 2 times there one time because I happened to arrive 5h late on Saturday when anything was closed and everytime I saw people returning 100s of empty bottles. And doing week shopping for a month 🫠.
How? Why?
🫠
Things I miss as an Australian who moved from a small town to a small city:
Stores not being open on Sundays
Soon coming from abroad, Germans smoke a lot. On the public street. If you commute by public transportation, you'll breath cigarette smoke, no matter what.
Greeks: Hold my ouzo.
Agreed. Though a Mexican friend of mine showed me an authentic Mexican restaurant in Vienna. Judging by that she probably misses Tex-Mex and not real Mexican food.
I also ate at a Mexican restaurant in Vienna and it was authentic... It's a miracle I remember that evening given all the tequila I drank after the meal.
Everyone just has different personal tastes for tap water (hardness, minerals, etc) based on what they were raised with I think.
Pretty much. Taste is extremely subjective, so I wouldn't really get fussed over it anyway. Even going from a Scotland or Norway to another high quality water country could see disagreements around taste, I'm sure.
I grew up on hard well water, and when I moved away "normal" water tasted strange. Now when I go back to my parents' place it tastes like blood.
Mmm metal taste
My tap water back home came from a mountain spring and it tasted pretty mossy.
I don’t know where my water in my new country comes from.
I had a friend and when he moved out of his parents house for university he landed down with a crate of glass water bottles. He kept them in the fridge and was a little possessive of the bottles. Fair enough I didn't touch it. He went home every weekend so replaced the water every week.
A few years later I was invited to his sisters house. I noticed the same bottles of water in her fridge. At which point I had to ask what was with the water.
It turns out they have a well on their family farm where they all got their water. They didn't like any other water. I asked to try some and they let me have one bottle. It was good stuff.
I was then told if I wanted more I had to supply the bottles. They had to be glass. But for the rest of the time I lived with him I had great water.
I thought I hated the taste of water until I moved out of my home city. Turns out I just hated Perth.
Okay, but missing good quality Mexican food is actually a valid one, though. That's definitely a lot harder to find in Germany for obvious reasons.
Edit: to everyone giving me examples, I never had any doubt that it existed. My point was only that it must surely be far less common. Like trying to find a good doner in the US: certainly possible, but way harder.
Outside of the tap water and smokey air I don’t really see an issue with these. I get missing Mexican food and ranch and the convenience of a store being open on Sundays.
Also I presume the driving more so meant that they don’t drive now because they don’t have to. I saw an American that’s lived in the UK say they miss that too because now they never drive. Not that they can’t.
The tap water thing makes sense to me because even if it's the best tap water in the world it's not going to taste the same as you're used to I've definitely had the experience of going to a place with harder/softer tap water and not liking it because it's not the same not bad just not what you're used to
That is a fair point, I have had that experience before thinking on it. Honestly I just bottled water at this point.
The „non Smokey air“ thing is also valid, people smoking outside of buildings directly next to the door is really annoying. Especially in front of buildings like hospitals.
My least favourite thing is people smoking in the little house with the benches at the bus stop. The smoke just pools in there. I’m pretty sensitive to cigarette smoke and I end up standing in the cold rain often, because the smokers have claimed the Wartehäuschen for themselves. I hate it
Even the tap water in a neighboring city is different enough from what I get at home that I’d rather just fill up a water bottle.
Depending how long they've been in-country it's possible they really cab't drive, at least not until they pass a local driving test. Not sure about Germany specifically but I believe you can only drive on a foreign license for up to a year, and an EU-standard test is substantially harder than some US state ones, particularly if you aren't fully fluent in the local language.
He’s lived there for 13 years and I saw him talk about possibly buying a car so I presume he can drive. He just said he has no need since he lives in London and the UK has good public transportation.
Smokey air is SO valid. I've been in Germany twice in the last couple of months and as someone who hates cigarettes it is VERY noticeable and I was constantly dodging smoke when in busy areas. Even at the train station! In the UK you can't smoke in stations. In Germany there's a special smoking area on the platform...but it's not enclosed so the smoke goes everywhere. It made me feel quite ill.
Germany is still an awesome place but a lot of these are pretty valid tbh. Everything being closed on a Sunday was also super annoying.
Berlin especially is just awful. Just smokers/vapers everywhere
While Sundays with closed stores may be an inconvenience to some it just requires little planning. On the other side it gives the store employees and many others the chance to do something with their loved ones.
I love the widespread shutdown on Sundays and highly respect those that need to work on a day when most people are off, like public transport chauffeurs, emergency services, pub & bar personnel, plant workers, ...
You can intellectually agree a system is better but still miss something that made life easier.
The thing is you can still buy groceries if it's really necessary. In cities the stores at the main station are usually open (at least in my area) and you can buy stuff at the gas station. It is a little bit more expensive but if you really need something, you're able to get it.
Depending on the federal state, bakeries are also open (at least for some hours), and afaik restaurants, fast food companies... also sell food.
I really don’t see how bakeries, restaurants, cafes, pubs and even outdoor markets are essential while all other shops including grocery stores and car and bike mechanics are not. It’s completely arbitrary.
It was more that we finished an event earlier than expected, had booked travel back Sunday evening in case it was longer, and ended up with most of Sunday free but very little to do. Food was fine as restaurants were open, but couldn't browse shops and many attractions were closed. Everything was just kind of dead and although we had some time, we didn't have time to travel elsewhere and make a whole day of something else. It wasn't really something that planning ahead would've helped much. Just kind of stuck wandering an empty, rainy city.
Was it Munich? That city is terrible with attractions and shops in general
Nah, Stuttgart. When we went to the station I actually saw there was a planetarium open, which would have been PERFECT for killing some time and avoiding the rain, and I love space, but sadly by the time we were there the next show times just clashed with our train. Like, if it was just half an hour earlier it would've worked out perfectly, but sadly we couldn't make it work. But hey, I'll definitely check it out next time!
I did the Stuttgart planetarium in the mid 90s. It was fantastic.
Nah the smokey air is a valid one too. Many places in Europe still have a lot of public smoking and it's pretty hard to avoid. It's not like this everywhere; I encountered very little public smoking in the UK and Denmark, but it was also pretty much everywhere in places like Spain and Austria. I haven't been to Germany itself to compare, but I'm sure the person in the OP isn't exaggerating.
There's crazy amounts of public smoking in Denmark! It's even still allowed indoors in a lot of bars. Perhaps you didn't see so many smokers outdoors because they were all inside.
It's not as bad in Munich, most of the time, but it's pretty bad. On the German subreddits, the Germans will usually admit that it's even worse in other cities, especially Berlin.
Tbf, it is something which I think is fair depending on what your baseline is. If you come from somewhere where it's less of a thing, even what is relatively good in x country could be bad relative to your experiences in your home country.
I’m an American living in Mexico and while we have a few good Chinese and Japanese restaurants here, I long for Indian, Jamaican, and Ethiopian food 😢
I guess the grass is always greener, huh?
I moved from Kentucky to Ohio and somehow lost all Indian and Italian restaurants.
Lexington was a food haven.
There are Italian restaurants here too but I don’t really eat it like that.
Funny how there’s a post on this sub about a Mexican-American dissing Italian food and it reminded me of my brother. We’re second generation Mexican immigrants (Our parents are from Mexico but we’re Americans) and when he went to Italy, he didn’t like the food there cause it tasted ‘too healthy’ lol sorry if that was random just felt like sharing.
I'm not American but can confirm that Mexican food in the US is easy to find and really fucking good. Like it's one of the features of going to the US good.
Im in Texas and the Mexican food is so good 😍 and tex-mex. There’s taco trucks everywhere where I live. I want to move to Germany one day and I’m definitely going to miss it but it’s worth it to me to get out of the US
The Mexican food one is a regular complaint for the wife, even in France. Which, fair, I miss it too and I've only had it a couple of times. It's just that good.
She also misses Ranch but that's just cause she's a Midwestern basic :p
Yeah I have to empathise with the lack of Mexican food. I live in Australia and while there are places around that call themselves Mexican food its all so sad and lacking.I would kill for a good chicken mole😢.
I talked with an American friend about this just past weekend. He's lived here in the Netherlands for the past decade and hasn't found a Mexican delivery service that comes close to the US. He confirmed what we should already know deep down.
I'm fairly sure people drive in Germany, they invented the car (Karl Benz) and the road trip (Bertha Benz) there.
Given the number of poisoned water scandals in the US, I think they misundstand 'yummy'.
Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn
You have to wonder why you never hear of German cars. Or roads. /s
I believe Karl Benz even invented the driver's license...
Yummy lead water
mmm lead
i presume they just cannot be bothered to learn to drive German roads.
Probably hogs the left lane on the Autobahn doing 55mph and wonders why everyone’s so mad at them.
She is doing 55 kph thinking it's mph
Maybe they just really like the taste of lead in their water.
Lead does taste sweet…
I want some currywurst
Me too, man. Curry-Ketchup my beloved
Yeah im sure you can miss some things but driving? Like we have the autobahn, people come actually here to drive. Yummy tap water? you mean the kind you can set on fire? Breathing in non smokey air? I mean yes germany has still to many smokers but you literally cant smoke anywhere indoors and its gotten rarer outdoors too and is generally not a problem.
Propably their american "drivers license" was not accepted to drive in germany. As far as I know, you can only drive 6 month with an american drivers license before you have to take the german drivers license test to continue driving.
As an American, that sounds dangerous. We should not be allowed to drive in your country UNTIL we pass the test, not for 6 months beforehand. We have some of the worst driving laws in the developed (lol) world
As a British person that's totally what should happen.
Anne scoloas comes to mind...
Didn’t the base she was leaving operate on a ‘drive on the right hand side of the road’ basis? - which just seems absolutely insane, introducing a whole level of unnecessary risk of accidents.
American military facilities run on American systems, shops trade in US dollars, etc. - Rammstein(Large US base in Germany with a lot of facilities) has the odd dependent who've literally never left the base.
It's a provision to allow tourists from other countries to drive through yours or get a rental. Pretty much everywhere makes such allowances.
If you move here as an American, you can trade in your American driver's licence for a German one without having to take any test...
Not from all states. Look for Reciprocal Agreements. Here is more.
The UK has a list of countries that can exchange without further testing, and the USA isn't on it. Within the EU you don't need to exchange at all until your licence expires.
I was actually super surprised it was allowed. You end up in a country with different road signs and road laws and nobody even checks if you know anything??
there are states that have aggreements that allow them to get the license instant...
they shouldn't most of them. But it is... What it is...
Depends on the state. There are only a few of them who fully reciprocally transfer each others license with germany.
I had the same issue the other way around. I could drive on a german license in the US for 6 month, but needed a state license eventually. That was simple to obtain, but a nuisance, like bring your own car to the driving test, get appointments in advance, etc.
Also, I'm pretty sure tampons with those horribly impractical (in my opinion) applicators are available in Germany as well.
I used them for the first couple of periods where I used tampons, so yes. They may not be as ubiquitous, but you can absolutely get them. The applicators are hell on the environment, though.
Tampons with applicatiors are very practical for those of us with medical conditions and mobility issues that make it harder to insert non-applicator ones.
I'm with her on smokey air, as a German who is sensitive to smoke. Might just be the area I'm living, but there's a lot of barbecues in the summer, smokers on my commute, and during the winter I can barely open the windows because a lot of my neighbours still have ovens that burn wood, and it smells like it a lot.
Mexican food is fair to miss. Genuinely unsure how youre not finding ranch or similar condiments in Germany though.
Not even hard to make. I can only assume Germany has buttermilk and spices. Just find a copycat online ffs.
Making your own food?! What layer of hell is this?!
/s
dude is just homesick, dont bash him. when i came to usa i also missed simple things from my European country like: walking everywhere; good bread , rolls, soups etc.;central heating, AC not being blasted on 17C, foods not full of sugar and salt and so much more :D it is called "culture shock", it is normal human nature
That A/C thing irritated me the most when I was visiting the states. We were freezing in some of those restaurants and museums while it was 30C outside. Don‘t understand how people find this comfortable.
exactly, it was everywhere like that, i also attendedto high school in california and it was usualy super perfect and nice weather outside and inside... but i had to wear leather jacket, in addition to swearshirt, to certain classes... iand had bloody stuff in my nose for a month, then i got used to it.
while it is entirely possible it's a trans man... "dude"? "him"? talking about minutia of menstrual products? unlikely...
He just likes the way they feel
Everyone on the internet is a man /s
"Yummy tap water" IN AMERICA??
Being used to drinking poison real water tastes funny.
Nyc tap water is good 🤷♀️
Driving??? You missed Fucking Driving in Germany
Look, I'm as happy to take the piss out of dumbass yanks as anyone else, but apart from the tap water and driving (and maybe smokey air) nothing here seems to be unreasonable.
Tampons I wouldn't know about as I'm not a woman.
Mexican food, that's fair enough as obviously there's more of it in the states.
Ranch (I still don't know what Americans actually mean when they talk about "ranch" in the context of food), same as above, of course people miss foods they're used to in their home country.
Things being shut on Sunday: I'm not German but I understand this is very common there? And I don't blame her for being annoyed at this, I was a bit annoyed by most things being shut on Sundays when I lived in Spain as nearly everything stays open on Sunday in my country (Ireland).
Shops being closed on Sunday is the law in Germany. Though there are exceptions, mainly shops at railway stations.
If you ever see Doritos "Cool American" or "Cool Original" where you live, that's ranch flavor. Try it sometime, maybe you'll like it. It's an extremely common salad dressing, dip, or seasoning.
I can never convince people that root beer is delicious though. Oh well, more for me!
Ranch is ranch dressing. It's a salad dressing that for some reason people here love. I think it's gross as shit, but a lot of people love covering everything they eat with it.
I lived in Germany 4 yrs, tap water nearly as good as in my country Cymru. Driving in Germany is polite and easy also. Lovely cultured people, who know the value of humans over corporations.
Which American tap water are they referring to? America is SOOOO BIG and SOOOO DIVERSE that there are like, 100's of different kinds of tap water!
Real talk, though, some areas around here have nasty friggin water.
When i visited florida recently even the locals drank bottled.
Also i'm fairly sure those in Flint michigan wouldn't say their water is yummy.
Soooo a Mexican restaurant in Germany sounds like a business opportunity!
There are Mexican restaurants in Germany. Most are not very good.
Soo a very good Mexican restaurant in Germany
Ok, I live in Germany and they’re right about the Mexican food and the shops opening on Sunday.
The rest of it is … um yeah. It’s a point of view, I guess.
You don't have tampon with applicators in Germany ? We have lots of them in France so it's suprising to me
The worst Mexican food i ever had was in Mannheim, no contest. And it was like 30 euro
Ha, Mexican food. I spent a bunch of time on and off for work in Finland, and wow that Mexican food there was so very bad :-) They had some very good foreign restaurants (ie, non-Finnish) but for some reason those Mexican ones aimed for more of a fiesta/tequila feel than for good food.
I do remember my surprise when everything was closed on a Sunday in German. Including many restaurants (which is not good if your hotel doesn't have its own restaurant). This was in the 90s though, and I had heard it had gotten better.
Tap water is iffy. I do remember one Italian restaurant in Germany where they owners did not speak either German nor English. And I just wanted some water because there was a high amount of garlic. I didn't want wine. So when first asking and try to explain they came back with some finger bowls! Second try they came with expensive mineral water. In hindsight I should have asked for lemonade.
But also in parts of America you really need to avoid the tap water.
Ranch. Germany just has a different type of farms...why is that a problem?
Thank you. Cant stop laughing.
You have an applicator, conveniently attached to your hand. It is called a finger.
And you now also have unlimited access to o.b. which is the best and was originally developed in Germany.
Not everyone likes or gets accustomed to the no applicator. I could never get the tampon correctly without the applicator and it’s very very uncomfortable. But I think it’s maybe a Germany thing as in the places I’ve lived in Europe I never had any issues finding tampon with applicator thankfully!
Pushing in a dry tampon is the issue, not your finger. I always adjust with my finger afterwards anyway. Still much nicer to slide it in with plastic though as its smooth and doesn't hurt.
This! I don't need to adjust but a dry tampon is borderline painful. I'd love a cardboard applicator if it's as comfortable as plastic but I can never understand how some women can shove a "naked" piece of cotton inside themselves 😭
I can't speak to other brands, but OB has a silky outer layer that really helps. And when I was using them (pre-menopause) I always kept a multi pack with different sizes so I had smaller/less absorbency for lighter days making things much more comfortable than trying to use the Big Bertha heavy flow all week.
Have you tried switching to a different brand (or a different product of the same brand)? Because the one I have mentioned has a line with a very smooth, silky surface and slides in easily.
Also (sorry for oversharing) whenever I am in need of this product, the way it goes in is not dry at all. (Except you know at the start and at the end phase - but at that time it is better to use just a liner anyway).
They miss driving? In Germany? The country that INVENTED cars… and has the LEGENDARY autobahn? 🤷♂️.
Well then go back to your country!
Isn't that what they say to foreigners?