🇩🇪5 Normal German Things Considered TABOO in New Zealand ❌🇳🇿

In New Zealand, somebody would probably call the cops on you. It is just a big no-go to be... 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 the beautiful wine region of Lower Franconia, Germany. So Germany has a bit of a reputation of being a country with a lot of rules and Germany is not really thought of as being a very relaxed, chilled country. But New Zealand, in contrast, is considered super chilled, super relaxed. You might be quite surprised to learn that there are actually quite a few things here in Germany that are so much more chilled and relaxed than in New Zealand. So in this video today, I'm going to be sharing with you five pretty normal German things that are considered taboo or socially unacceptable. Some of these things are even illegal in New Zealand. Okay, so let's jump into it. Number one, this is in no particular order, but I was very, very surprised to learn that in Germany, if you escape from prison, this is not considered a crime. In New Zealand, on the other hand, if you escape from prison, this is absolutely considered a crime and you will be penalized. You could be facing an extra five years in prison on top of your sentence. So as I mentioned, it is not considered illegal in Germany to break out of prison. Why? Because the German law considers being free as a human need, just like eating and drinking. So a prisoner who escapes cannot be blamed for his or her actions and they will not be penalized for this. Escapees who do not break any other laws are not charged and no extra time is added to their sentence. I find the philosophy behind this concept incredibly fascinating. The fact that German authorities have empathy and understanding for these prisoners and actually understand that this is a natural human instinct to want to escape, want to be free, and this is acknowledged and they're not penalized for their actions. I don't know how I feel about this. I am leaning towards agreeing with the German philosophy. In New Zealand, there is just no question you are definitely going to be penalized for escaping prison. It's just not even something I would have considered, but it does make sense to me and I think it is pretty amazing that German authorities have this kind of compassion. The German prison system in general and the way German prisoners are treated versus New Zealand prisoners is very, very different and probably deserves a whole video on its own. So if you are interested in a video like this, let me know. Next up, I think that is not considered a big deal and it is not illegal in Germany. In New Zealand, somebody would probably call the cops on you. It is just a big no-go to be drinking on public transport in New Zealand and I have to say the drinking culture in New Zealand versus Germany is very, very different. I think that in New Zealand, there is a huge binge drinking problem. It's considered pretty normal for young people to binge drink and get absolutely trashed at parties and in Germany, I've talked to my husband about this and binge drinking, when he was growing up, it just wasn't really so much of a problem. In Germany, the younger population, they do drink but they drink sensibly and they don't overdo it. So in Germany, if somebody was on the train or the bus absolutely trashed, just sculling down a bottle of spirits, that would definitely not be acceptable and that would be frowned upon but it's totally fine if you're just sipping on some beer on the train when you're off to a club or something like that. That's fine and you know, drinking sensibly and in moderation is something that I think Germans do pretty well. The drinking culture in Germany is so much more controlled than in New Zealand. So next up is something I have briefly mentioned in a video a long time ago but something that is completely illegal, you just would never see this in New Zealand, is cigarette vending machines. It really shocked me when I came to Germany, everywhere you look, like on every street corner there is a cigarette vending machine which is available for any adult with an ID. You can just buy your cigarettes, there's like a range of different cigarettes to choose from and I don't smoke so I don't really know how it works, I haven't really looked closely into how the whole vending machines work but it's easy to grab a packet of cigarettes and is still, you know, totally normal and acceptable in Germany. When I moved to Germany over a decade ago, smoking was still considered cool or socially acceptable and you just saw so many people smoking, even back then smoking was still allowed in nightclubs and things like that and in New Zealand it had been banned a long time ago but you know, in Germany it was considered still kind of cool which surprised me. Now, fast forwarding to 2025, you barely see people smoking here in Germany, especially not the younger generation, there are definitely a lot of the older generation that still smoke but it's pretty unusual to see, you know, a younger person smoking, it's considered very uncool here in Germany which is really good but yeah, the vending machines that you still see around in Germany on basically every street corner are still going strong and I actually don't see a lot of people using them. So maybe this is something that is going to be eventually phased out in Germany, that's just my speculation but I can't imagine they will be around for too much longer, maybe I'm wrong. Next up is the whole concept of bringing pets, more specifically dogs, into restaurants and this is something that is considered very socially unacceptable in New Zealand. In New Zealand we have very strict health and safety policies and bringing a dog into a restaurant is thought of as unhygienic and it is something that is just not done at all. Sometimes, occasionally in New Zealand you will see a dog in an outdoor setting where people are eating but not very often and you will definitely not see a dog inside a restaurant. In Germany on the other hand, it is very normal and very acceptable to see a pet dog sitting at the feet of their owner in a restaurant while they are eating. Dogs are considered part of the family in Germany and they are welcomed into restaurants. You do have to ask for permission first before bringing your dog into a restaurant here in Germany but from what I have seen and what I've noticed, most restaurants are pretty open about this and pretty chilled. I remember not long after moving to Germany, my husband's parents adopted the most adorable little dog. I vividly remember one day we were all going out to a restaurant as a family to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday and I just assumed that Leif, the little dog, was going to be left at home or somebody was going to have to stay and look after Leif at home but they actually brought Leif with them and I remember just feeling a little bit kind of embarrassed thinking are they really going to bring Leif into the restaurant because, you know, from my experience in New Zealand this is just a no-go, an absolute no-go. What I didn't realise was when my mother-in-law had made the booking, she mentioned that they had a dog and asked if it was okay if they brought the dog with them. So we just walked on into the restaurant and the waitress came over and she was saying oh my goodness, you are so cute and she even asked if the dog wanted water and I was like this is weird, this is so weird and my husband said it's normal for dogs to come into restaurants and I just, I don't know, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. And also another thing, this is actually not my last point but it's related to the whole health and safety aspect. I will often see in Germany people serving up ice creams and just like holding the ice cream cone with their bare hands without gloves and this is something that is, I'm pretty sure it's illegal in New Zealand, if it's not illegal it is very much frowned upon and just considered a no-go if somebody serving you is touching your food, you know, an ice cream cone with their bare hands without gloves. So it doesn't happen in New Zealand but in Germany this is considered totally fine for somebody to be touching an ice cream cone with their bare hands and then, you know, handing it to you and you'll eat that. I don't know, it's just a cultural difference I guess and yeah, something I noticed. So last but not least, this is also something I have briefly mentioned in a video but I want to get into a little bit more detail about this today and that is bicycle helmets, wearing bicycle helmets in Germany versus New Zealand. So in New Zealand there is a law that you have to be wearing a bicycle helmet if you are riding a bicycle and in Germany there is no such law. It is encouraged and recommended that you do wear a bicycle helmet but you really don't have to in Germany and this is something that like shocked me because I always had it like drilled into me that you have to wear a bicycle helmet when you are riding a bike. I have to say in Germany it is very unusual to see a child without a bicycle helmet but it's pretty normal to see adults riding around without a bicycle helmet. I have noticed in more recent years there have been an increasing number of adults wearing bicycle helmets in Germany, probably due to the increase in popularity of electric bikes, e-bikes because people are riding a lot faster but you still see a lot of people without bicycle helmets and it's totally normal, totally okay in Germany and yeah, in New Zealand it is very much drilled into you from a young age. You have to wear a bicycle helmet. But as I mentioned it is very much encouraged for children especially to wear bicycle helmets in Germany. I remember my daughter coming home from school talking about the dangers of not wearing a bicycle helmet. It was something that they were taught in class that even a really cheap bicycle helmet is much better than wearing nothing. So there was an example of a little girl who got into an accident and she was wearing a bicycle helmet that cost, I think it was like 10 euros from Aldi and it just showed you how much it protected her head but it's an option in Germany, it's not something you have to do. So anyway guys, I have come to the end of this video, I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you found it interesting. If you enjoyed this video then don't forget to give it a big thumbs up, it really helps out my channel, it helps to get my videos out there and notice. If you enjoy my content and you haven't already subscribed to my channel I would love you to consider subscribing, that would mean the world to me. Feel free to connect with me on Instagram and I will see you again really soon. Bye!