Five European peculiarities

I have noticed quite a few striking differences about life in general here over the past few weeks (as compared to life in suburban North Carolina): 

1. Laundry consumes your life and requires much advanced planning, not because the washers are odd, but because you dry everything on a drying rack.  I have been told that this does make your clothing last longer since it is not continually shrunk and tumbled by a dryer, and I do believe that.  My jeans fit the same way before and after washing when they are air dried.  However, my all cotton shirts are entirely too big now.  I find myself avoiding my cotton clothing and preferring my quick-dry REI brand stuff.  I also lament the towel situation - if anyone has any advice on how to get towels to have that fluffy dryer feel via air-drying, please let me know!

2. Water.  I have been studying water resources and contamination for the past 2.5 years in grad school, harping about how precious freshwater is and how we need to manage its consumption. Our Charlotte water is great - I hardly think about when and where I would prefer to get it while at home.  I'm still a little wary about drinking the tap water in our apartment in Berlin since new places can be hard on new people (although I have been brushing my teeth and cooking with it).  Its not so expensive to just buy those giant bottled waters for 1 euro every day and keep them on the kitchen counter, fill my daily water bottle with it, etc... but out at a restaurant, "water", even when we say "ohne gas"(without gas) sometimes is still seltzer water and I only managed to get through about a cup of it, even though it cost me 3 euros (almost 5 dollars) and I was trying my darnedest to drink it all out of principle alone.  (This contest between me and my bubbly water was thwarted by a sudden sideways rainstorm, forcing all those eating outside to run for cover inside the restaurant). Paying for plain water at a restaurant just doesn't compute when you are used to the restaurants in America - its a way to cut costs when eating out - though here, you might as well buy a beer.  Its cheaper, tastes better, and if you don't finish it, well just walk home with it :)

3. History.  This essentially can be summed up with a quote from our Berlin bike tour guide, who, upon showing us a church built in the 1300s, told us, "now, that might be impressive to you Americans and Australians - but to you Italians, not so much".  America in the 1300s... the Mayflower landed in 1600 something...

Also, very recent tumultuous history occurred right here in Berlin and seems to be divided into two major events in the last 100 years, the first being anything Nazi related and the second anything Cold War or Berlin Wall related (I was 5 when the wall fell but don't remember anything firsthand).  Here's me emphasizing temporal variability in a single location - the 12 foot tall wall is now remembered in the brick paving pattern under my feet: 

Certain tourist locations like the "Topography of Terror" are mildly confusing since it contains relics of both major events.  The site is former Gestapo headquarters where Nazi forces planned many of their atrocities, yet it is also immediately adjacent to a 100m long section of the Berlin Wall.  The information panels run parallel to the entire length of the wall, but chronicle Nazi control over citizens of Berlin from 1933 to 1945. The history of downtown Charlotte used to be... uh... a forest??

4. Weather.  Now this is probably such a contrast due to relative urbanization and relative climate alone.  Charlotte probably has more than 300 sunny days a year - its blazing hot enough in the summer to the point of I don't understand how people used to live there before air conditioning and not melt, much less get anything done. Berlin's climate resembles more of where I grew up in Michigan, much more rainy days, summer tops out at 85 degrees, it still gets very cool at night, etc.  However, in the urban setting of Berlin (which I love so much) even though the weather is so much cooler, I find myself sweating so much more on a daily basis.  Since I can't use my car as a repository of all things useful for a day, I really have to think about what I bring with me when I leave the house, and whether it should include a raincoat or umbrella, since I will have to carry it all day (all the while wishing I had broader shoulders).  I think about how much walking vs. subway riding I will be doing, and whether or not I will be taking a bus (read: oven).  Despite the lack of air conditioning in general in Germany, at least our particular apartment seems to be about 15 degrees cooler than the outside temperature, probably due to the lack of direct sunlight since we are in the middle of a courtyard on the 2nd floor (of five). 

5. Suburban vs. Urban:  Most people know that in general, America's public transit is doesn't even compare to anywhere in Europe.  Berlin is about the same size as Atlanta, and, ironically, Charlotte depending on what stats you compare.  Let me explain: (US data from 2010 US census via Wikipedia)...

• Berlin and Atlanta have similar urban populations (3.4 and 3.5 million people)
• Berlin and Charlotte have the same city area (344 and 300 square miles)
• Population density decreases dramatically: Berlin (10,000 people/sq mi), Atlanta (4,000 people/sq mi), Charlotte (2,400 people/sq mi)
• This means that if you doubled the population of Atlanta, squeezed it into the area of Charlotte, you would essentially have Berlin.

In order to do this, you would probably have to remove half of the cars that exist in Atlanta, shrink all the SUVs down to Corollas, and shrink all the Corollas to Smart Cars.  You'd also have to convert all the single family houses to mixed use buildings with daily commercial needs (like drugstores, groceries, restaurants, hardware stores, electronics stores, beer stores, etc.) on the first floor and 3-5 stories of residential apartments on top.  Then add a magical network of underground subways(U-bahns) and above ground subways (S-bahns), which I prefer since they smell nicer and have more airflow.  Also, add busses that are actually on time and have little signs that accurately predict their arrival (though any US bus in the southeast would REQUIRE climate control).  Also, you'd have to add bike lanes at the very least on major roads or on sidewalks to major roads (even though the hilly terrain and hot summers would be brutal).  Here is an electric charging station (which appeared to be free) and a smart car using it - my brother's comment was that in Philadelphia, a unsupervised cable would be stolen in an instant, even if it wasn't the least bit useful to the thief.

One of my goals of this trip is to physically measure and draw some street sections to see how exactly this environment is accomplished and to see which elements may be extrapolated to improve America's urban centers, and use my experience to help decide what elements are great and which elements just suck (like the absence of air conditioning part). Evidence of that project to come in future posts...

The part of this urban environment that is simply wonderful is the active street zone - and thus eating outside (this has become so quickly one of my favorite things about my life right now that I'm typically majorly disappointed when outside seats are full or it happens to be raining).  When you live in an apartment above a mixed use setting, you descend your stairs (lazy Americans could just install elevators), exit your building directly into this area.  You can usually walk less than a block to a coffee shop.  You can walk less than 5 minutes to a multitude of restaurants.  You can walk 5-10 minutes to your favorite restaurant.  We walked less than 2 minutes to the hotel where our guests have been staying.  We walk 5 minutes to the train to anywhere (two choices of stops) - which, when you know where you are going, the walking only accounts for 10% of your trip.  Even so, all this walking adds up - I have noticed that I eat less and exercise more here, simply because of the lifestyle.  This is the sad reality of my "fat happy American" upbringing, which I quote from graffiti a friend of mine saw in either Greece or Italy in 2004 (though some people counter that it should read "fat depressed Americans", citing our dependence on prozac and subsequent laziness:

 This lifestyle is very American and probably a product of our cheap food and our expansive country.  I won't eat as much because the food here is expensive and I know I have to walk/ride a train home - whereas if the food is cheap and I'm in a car I tend to overeat.  We may pay the same for a night out in America, but so much more is included: water is free, refills of many drinks are free, portions are huge, tortilla chips are bottomless...

I came across a forum post on Toytown Germany (Germany's english speaking crowd) and found this post about running road races in Spain... and what is "included":

• AmandaUSCS:  Also, I'm just saying this because in some countries it seems much more common to provide gels and/or electrolyte drinks for races over 10K. 
• AlohaBerlin: Sports drink along the course? Girl we're in Germany - They serve beer! 
• AmandaUSCS: Well, they even had sports drink at the races I've done in Spain... not at the finish though. Afterwards it was just espresso, wine, tapas and condoms. 

Its funny what countries define as normal... expected... and relevant :)
I love this quote (though I don't remember who said it): "The world is a book; people who do not travel only read one page"