I learned two interesting things from Sacsha, one of my German housemates, in the last 24 hours (Friday to Saturday).
Yesterday evening, as the weekend lay before us, we discussed our plans for these much anticipated two days. He mentioned that he would be visiting IKEA to look for a sofa for his new apartment. Amidst the discussion of items he said he would need to purchase for his apartment, he mentioned that the kitchen came with appliances. I was confused and it was not the fault of language this time. It was my impression that every apartment one rents, and not buys, comes with a stove and refrigerator. He said that this was not the case, at least in Germany. Please correct me if I am misguided in my thinking, dear Americans, but don't apartments and even homes which are rented always come with stove and refrigerator included? Sacsha said that after he has worked at a real job for a few years he will move into an apartment where he buys his own kitchen appliances. He looks forward to this because he likes technical gadgets and wants to choose his own fancy schmancy stove/oven. Apparently there exists a stove top with magnets built into the burners that only functions when an associated magnetic pan sits on top of it. Sacsha excitedly told me that the pan heats up very quickly, but the burner is safe to touch once the pan is removed. It sounds like a nice stove to have if you are a clumsy, absent-minded person. I know a few people who could benefit from this invention...
This morning I was skimming the newspaper, Der Bild/The Image, and noticed that in parenthesis after every human being mentioned was a number, which appeared to be their age. I found this very odd. So, I asked Sacsha if this was normal in German newspapers. He said it was! I can see how the age of newsworthy characters is important in some situations, but in every situation? And wouldn't this be a problem for people who hate to give out their age? I supposed these people would have to be very careful to not make the news. At the same time that the ages of everyone is being given out, there was a photo of an electrician suspected for a crime whose top half of his head, where his eyes are, was covered with a black rectangle. The newspaper is kind enough to protect the visual identity of some people while still giving out the full name and age!? Fascinating.
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I'm going to have to concur that every apartment I have been in (and have bothered to take note) has been furnished with a stove and refrigerator. It does seem odd that one would rent an apartment and have to pay for these things...
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I csn imagine different for Germany (and maybe other countries too) is that b/c of space, maybe many more people live in apartments and that is "their" home while they are there, so they furnish it as they want to live with it. Then when they move, they own them and can take them with them. Different, but I can understand it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ages, have you never noticed in American newspapers that they often print people's ages? It's just that here, they use a comma instead of parentheses to separate their name from their age. And covering the face so you can't identify the person is usually only done here when they are protecting the innocent, not the suspected guilty. Maybe they are trying to have a "fair" trial and not have people "remember" having seen that person before so judge them guilty b/c of that. Here, the press often make it hard for people to have a "fair" trial b/c of pre trial publicity.
Just my thoughts.