NORMAL EVERYDAY GERMAN THINGS THAT REALLY SURPRISED ME 🇩🇪 New Zealander in Germany

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel and if you're new here it is so great to have you. I'm Antoinette, a New Zealander living in Germany and in this video today I am going to be talking about five regular everyday German things that really surprised me when I first moved to Germany. Some of these things actually shocked me a little bit. I've actually made similar videos like this in the past. You guys seem to really enjoy them so I thought I would make, I think this is like part three to this little series so I will link the other videos in my description below. But before I get into it, I would like to thank Skillshare for kindly sponsoring this video today. Skillshare is an incredible online learning platform for creatives and curious people who are interested in really pushing their creative journey to the next level. Skillshare offers thousands of inspiring classes in subjects like film and video, illustration, graphic design, photography, writing and so much more. So whether you are a creative professional wanting to take your skills to the next level or you are just a beginner starting out dabbling in a creative subject, there's going to be classes that are perfectly suited to you. I'm particularly interested in their film and video classes. Obviously I make YouTube videos. My videos are super basic. There is so much more to learn in regards to video editing, video production and I'm really interested in exploring that area a little bit more. So if there's a creative subject that you are really interested in exploring, I highly recommend you checking out Skillshare. The first 1,000 of my subscribers to click on the link in my description, the Skillshare link, will receive a two month free premium membership to Skillshare. So that's a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of. So guys, let's move on to the five regular everyday German things that really surprised me when I first moved to Germany. So in no particular order, something that really surprised me when I first moved to Germany has to do with German kitchens. So I remember the very first time I went into a German kitchen. This was at my in-laws house, my husband's parents house and I was so confused because I could not find the fridge. I was thinking to myself, do people in Germany have fridges? Because I cannot see a fridge in sight. And I asked Rob, do your parents have a fridge? And he was like, yeah, of course they do. And then he opened this cupboard and there was a fridge inside it. And I was like, what, that is crazy. And basically in Germany, it is super common for a fridge to kind of be camouflaged amongst the cupboards in your kitchen. So it just looks like part of your kitchen, but it's actually a fridge. And I was like, that's kind of cool, kind of weird, but why not, you know? And I thought maybe this is just in Rob's parents kitchen because surely not every German has a fridge like this. But I noticed that a lot of Germans actually have this style of fridge, which is like sort of integrated into their kitchen. Not all Germans, but I think a lot of German kitchens have fridges like this. And I had never seen this in my life and I still don't know whether this is just a German thing or whether a lot of countries have these sort of fridges integrated into their kitchens. So yeah, it was just something I found super surprising when I first came to Germany. Okay, so another thing that really surprised me not long after I moved to Germany was when I went to a German supermarket and I saw the selection of meat in the supermarket and particularly the ground mince. So in Germany, pork is a really popular type of meat. A lot of Germans like to eat pork and they have pork mince, like ground mince, and then they have beef ground mince. Sometimes they will have turkey, but something they always have is a mix between pork and beef mince, which is something I had never seen in my life before. In New Zealand, we don't really mix meats. Like maybe at a barbecue, we will have a selection of different meats, maybe a sausage, a piece of steak or something like that. But as far as mixing the meats together, it's just not something we do in New Zealand. I just found it really weird seeing a mix of beef and pork together in mince. And on the packet, like on the packaging, they have a pig and a cow and just like hanging out together. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. Then I was thinking, surely that doesn't taste good. I can't imagine these two flavors blending in well together, but my mother-in-law often uses this combination of pork and mince in her cooking and it's actually really, really tasty. And actually over the years, I've seen a few online tutorials, like cooking tutorials about how to cook authentic Italian food. And a lot of Italian chefs recommend using the mix of pork and beef together. For some reason, it just adds really great flavor to things like spaghetti bolognese or meatballs. And so yeah, I found that really interesting. That's definitely not something you can buy in New Zealand. Or if you can buy it, I haven't seen it. So I think this is quite a European thing, maybe not just a German thing. Obviously in Italy, they have this combination. Probably in other countries they do too, but that was something that surprised me when I first came to Germany. Something else that I found really surprising when I first moved to Germany, this actually shocked me, and that was New Year's Eve, Sylvester, as they call it. And I'm referring to the fireworks that are lit off on New Year's Eve. So in New Zealand, we have really strict regulations about public fireworks. And so you're only allowed to set off fireworks in public if it's like a community public event and it's monitored and that kind of thing. And so you are allowed to set off fireworks at home in the privacy of your own home, but not in public places for safety reasons. And in Germany, it's just totally different. So I remember my very first New Year's Eve in Germany, we were actually visiting friends of Rob's and we were in Stuttgart and we were on this bridge and there were so many people there. I just remember as soon as the clock struck 12 midnight, boom, everyone just goes crazy and they start chucking fireworks around and it's so dangerous. I could not believe it. So there were fireworks like super close to my face and people are just wild chucking these fireworks and I just could not believe that something like this was legal in Germany. There was also like a beautiful public display of fireworks, but also people chucking their personal fireworks around and they weren't careful about it and I felt super uncomfortable. I think I probably had a few drinks and I was in a good mood, but I was not feeling comfortable at all and Rob was just like, nah, this is fine, you know, this is what we do in Germany, you know, just, you know, whatever. And the next few New Year's Eve celebrations in Germany were exactly the same. People just going like crazy, chucking fireworks everywhere and people are drunk as well, you know, people aren't thinking logically when they're super drunk. And I actually remember a friend of mine, she chucked a firework. She was just doing what everyone else was doing and it landed on a guy's jacket and it put a hole in his jacket and the guy was like absolutely furious and he was like saying you need to pay for it, I need to get your number and he was like after her, but everybody else was doing it too and I don't know. And I just said to Rob like I don't want to put myself in that situation again, so I try and avoid the crowds at New Year's Eve in Germany. So the last few years I've stayed well away from like public places on New Year's Eve in Germany. Okay guys, so something else that shocked me when I first came to Germany, not just surprised me, but shocked me and this is something that I've actually been wanting to talk about for a long time now, but every time I go to bring it up in my videos, I'm like no, no, I just can't. I think that's crossing the line a little bit too much. But I don't know, today I'm just going to share it with you guys. And that has to do with German toilets. Not all German toilets, but a lot of German toilets have this little shelf and when you do your number two, it comes like it plonks onto this little shelf instead of going down the drain. And I was absolutely horrified when I first saw this at my husband's parents house and I was like what on earth is going on? Oh my goodness, something's wrong with the toilet. This is so embarrassing, I don't even know them very well. I'd just come from New Zealand to Germany, I was like oh my god, no, what do I do? And I like flushed the toilet and then it just went down and I was like oh my god, oh my god, thank goodness. And I also remember my auntie, when she first came to Germany for my wedding, having the same horrific experience and I should have warned her, I just had forgotten about it. I'd forgotten because it was so normal to me that I'd forgotten how shocking that was when I first came to Germany. And so I think the reason why German toilets, many German toilets are like this is for health reasons because the way that your number two looks is a very good indication of how healthy you are. And I think a lot of Germans may be curious to see what it looks like and whether they are in good health or not. If somebody has a better explanation as to why some German toilets are like this with the shelf, then please let me know in the comment section below. So last but not least, another everyday regular German thing that really surprised me when I first came to Germany was going to a German person's house and seeing eggs, like uncooked eggs, raw eggs, in their shelves just sitting there on a shelf, like not refrigerated at all, sitting there in room temperature and this is something that you wouldn't really see in New Zealand. I know that in a lot of countries you actually buy your eggs refrigerated but in New Zealand we don't usually buy them refrigerated but it is recommended that you put them into the fridge straight away when you get home, which is to prolong their shelf life and prevent getting bugs like salmonella and things like that. And so it was kind of shocking for me to see these eggs just sitting out there in room temperature and I was just wondering, is that safe, don't they need to be refrigerated? And I actually did a little bit of research on the topic and I found out that German eggs do not need to be refrigerated because it's something to do with the shell, it does not get cleaned. If you clean off the protective shell on an egg, then it needs to be refrigerated. Sometimes in Germany you'll look at an egg that you buy from the supermarket and there may be like a little feather still on the egg and the egg isn't quite clean and that is because they haven't washed off this protective shell. And so this protective shell enables you to leave your egg at room temperature and it lasts for a long time out in room temperature. I'm pretty sure in New Zealand they still leave this protective coat, like layer on the egg but it's still recommended to refrigerate your eggs but it's not actually necessary. So please don't freak out if you come to Germany and you see unrefrigerated eggs just hanging at room temperature in the kitchen, they're not going to make you sick, they're perfectly fine, so don't worry. So guys, those were five regular everyday German things that really surprised me, some of them even shocked me when I first came to Germany. If you are a fellow expat living in Germany, I would love to hear some of your stories in my comment section below. Also if you have a creative passion or interest that you want to take to the next level, I highly recommend checking out Skillshare. And don't forget that the first 1,000 of my subscribers to click on the Skillshare link in my description will receive a two month free premium Skillshare membership. Thank you so much for watching my video, if you enjoyed it then don't forget to give it a big thumbs up, I would love you to consider subscribing to my channel, feel free to connect with me on Instagram and I will see you again really soon, bye!