13 Things About the USA I Just Can't Get Used To | Feli from Germany
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▸It's been a little over 5 years since I got on a plane from Munich to Paris and from Paris to Cincinnati, Ohio to do an exchange semester at the University of Cincinnati. It wasn't the first time in the US for me, but the first time that I would actually LIVE there for about 5 months. I was really nervous but I ended up having the most amazing time during that exchange semester which is why I kept coming back to the US over and over again until I won the Green Card Lottery and was able to stay for as long as I wanted. For my 5 year anniversary of me living in the US, I decided to do a little recap and talk about 13 American things (since I arrived on August 13th 2016) that I can't live without anymore ( • 13 Things About the US... ) and in this video, about 13 things that even after 5 years I just can't get used to!
Mentioned videos/links:
Podcast episode regarding AC▸ • EP29: Where It All Beg...
Article on AC making you sick▸ mooreheating.com/air-conditio...
Intentional Homicide Statistics by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime▸ dataunodc.un.org/crime/intent...
Homicide Rate per country▸ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Homicide rate Cincinnati▸ bellmoving.com/blog/cincinnat...
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Check out my PODCAST (with Josh)▸ / understandingtrainstation or linktr.ee/Understandingtrains...
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USA
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0:00 Intro
2:32 1) Showers
4:02 2) No Whatsapp
6:44 3) No deposit system
8:46 4) Bread & dairy products
9:29 5) AC
11:14 6) Washers
12:27 7) Feeling unsafe
15:22 8) Banking system
16:51 9) People not believing in facts
18:27 10) Expensive groceries
19:59 11) Faucet handles
20:17 12) Trash
21:05 13) Alcohol
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 27, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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Check out the counterpart to this video kzhead.info/sun/m7uupNOMbHeElHk/bejne.html ▸13 Things About the USA I Can’t Live Without Anymore
Hi mte
Mate
I don't have mobile data but when I'm there I'll text back
I'm driving
Geht's auch mit weniger Werbung Bitte. ?
You can add a moveable shower head anytime you want. It's a simple fixture to attach. I have a hand held showerhead with a mount for stationary use, as do nearly everyone I know.
Only if you own a house
@@caroline_catbridges_kitty5384nah its like 5 minutes to swap a shower head and just toss the old shower head under the sink and change it back when it's time to move out.
Or if you rent.
@@caroline_catbridges_kitty5384I rent and always change to a removable showerhead. Shove the original under the sink and put it back when you leave. It literally screws off and the new one screws on. Super simple.
Home depot sells all kinds of shower heads. From around $10 and up. Easy to screw off and screw the new ones on.
for me as a Mexican the US feels so much safer lol. I guess it's all relative
The US may be safer than Mexico, but it is still very dangerous.
@@jongordon7914 I guess the same is true for Mexico.
My wife is Ukrainian. She feels a LOT safer here in the USA, and we do not live in a particularly safe neighborhood. So, yeah, it's all relative.
@@antonboludo8886 it's the opposite, a handful of areas are safe only (mainly the touristy areas)
@@--julian_ Even some of those are dangerous, like Playa Del Carmen.
One year late chiming in, but you live in a rich belt of Amish communities. They sell real milk and butter and cheeses. Easy access from Cincinnati to either PA, KY or other parts of Ohio. Congratulations and glad you're digging the US.
Head up to Grandpa's Cheese Barn in Ashland, Ohio right at I-71 and US 250. Or go to Heini's in Millersburg for Amish cheese. Farmer's Cheese is my favorite.
hell sounds like she's never been to Jungle Jims either...sounds like whomever she hangs with is commuting a crime.
Many homes in the US have movable shower heads with a hose. My family had them since like at least 20 years ago. It really is just something that varies for individual homes or buissiness.
It is easy to change to the type of shower you prefer. We had a fixed/ movable. Changed to a fixed. Who knows next time.
@@stevenwagner9912 Yes, I know. I probably should have also explained that in most homes in the US you can unscrew and change just the shower head itself. You don't need to do any actual plumbing or construction work to change the shower head. They are separate pieces that just screw on to the water pipe in the shower.
@@rachelmarie2228 I think most people would be capable of changing the shower head. Not much different than changing a light bulb. But everyone should be careful. People are injured in the shower all the time. Some have been killed. If you drip water it can be very slick. And if you are short and need something to step on to reach it that makes it more dangerous. I didn't know for sure what you meant but that can happen with my reading. I am not trying to be a know it all. Being a farmer I am often forced to learn to do what has to be done. Jack of all trades master of none.
We don't use European standards in the USA
@@stevenwagner9912 I mostly was just making the point that it is something individual owners or renters can just easily change themselves and isn't something that is decided permanently during construction and takes some major renovations to change. You don't even need to hire a plumber or have it inspected or anything. It is really just up to the owner/ renter's choice of buying something and screwing it on. I have been paralyzed, so I certainly know that not everyone can do things like that. I just meant that it wasn't some special procedure that you need a trained expert to do or anything.
There is a simple reason we use top loaders more often for washing. They are more reliable than a front loader, and with a front loader, you tend to get a lot more mold, must, and bad smells. Even when you clean it.
also, due to the direction of motion in the machines, front loaders tend to put more stress on flooring, making them impractical for a lot of mobile homes or wood framed houses. as they age, front loaders tend to develop more leaks around the seals as well.
@@anthonylovern7994 the same is true for the single lever faucet vs two valve faucets. I've had to repair multiple brands of mixer lever faucets three times for leaks, whereas I might have to repair the valve unit once. Her complaint about the agitator is one that's slowly going away, as newer models do away with the antique agitation system.
But that seems to be a general problem. I believe with Miele we have the most reliable washing machines at all, unfortunately the german production will move to Poland because of taxes and costs.
Never had mold or bad smell on my frontloader and i maybe clean it once a year with the cleaning program
@@tonylevan9375 my mother warned me away from front loaders around 42 - 43 years ago. I'll suggest that things have changed a wee bit since then, as in those days, the tub filled quite high with water and modern units use a *lot* less water. Obviously, things have changed over the decades with front loading washing machines - opinions, not so much. I've seen stinky top loaders as well, it all comes down to care and maintenance at times, when something can leave a residue inside the machine's plumbing, it needs a maintenance cycle to clean it out. You know, run the damned thing empty and let that residue get cleaned out. It seems that common sense is a critically endangered species these days.
I lived in Germany for just 3 months in college and I still to this day miss the delicious fresh bread and pretzels available at every supermarket and bakery. Also döner kebabs and paprika Pom bär ❤️
Was a major issue for me when I was in the UK. Lots of different, varried alternatives for Döner...but I just wanted a Döner at 2AM when drunk FFS!
no döner or gyros? No paprika pam bar? Oh man!
@@HistoryGameV In London or other cities you can get them
Yeah, I have to say that her opinion about bread and dairy products, really made me interested in trying the German products. Bread and milk, Yum!
For the deposit thing, Michigan has a deposit system almost identical to Germany. $0.10 a can/bottle, and you can take them to anywhere that sells whatever it is, even a gas station. Most grocery stores, or places like Walmart, have rooms with deposit machines like that for aluminum, glass, or plastic. Why more places don't adopt it is beyond me, at least in the Upper Peninsula you don't find discarded cans or bottles littering places because of it.
its $0.05 in new york.
Seinfeld had an entire episode about the Michigan and New York deposit difference. It didn't end well.
I’ll bet that in Germany the government subsidizes it.
The Ohio Bottle Deposits and Pull Tab Can Ban Initiative was defeated in 1979 with a resounding 72% for "NO". But before then I remember taking bottles back to the grocery store every week and collecting cans, too. Now we just re-cycle paper, glass and metal with the weekly trash.
@@theicedragon100 I drink a lot of diet soda, and since I've moved to Texas, I am so happy I can just throw my empties in the recycling can and not have to return them to reclaim my $.05 per can. I really don't need or care about the money, but being charged up front annoys me.
That spiral thing in the middle of the washer is called an agitator. I think it cleans clothes better than a front loader. As for damaging clothes, do not overload it, and you will need to wash very delicate items, like lace, by hand.
My top loaders does not have an agitator. It's a newer Samsung. Lots of controls.
That agitator! I don’t like it; I’ve had both and prefer the front loader….plus it uses less water and cleans better without damaging the clothes
I'm with you on the showerheads. However, if you have your own place I can't believe you haven't replaced the head yet. Very easy, just unscrew the old one and screw on the replacement. If renting, just save the old one and replace it when you leave, taking your flexible hose one with you. And they usually run only about 20 dollars. It's been so long I don't even remember what kind of shower head this place had when it was built, but probably a fixed one-state of the industry-lol.
except the cheap handhelds in the US are usually crap. I recently switched, and bought a $200.00 one to do it with. it's the first handheld I've used that actually stays where I put it when I'm using it in the bracket for the 95% of my shower that I use it in the bracket for.
@@kenbrown2808 The only time I’ve had trouble with the gooseneck showers is when I decide to use channel lock pliers to tighten it instead of their recommended hand tight. Since I fixed that small problem I‘be had the same shower head going on six years. The only problem now lime buildup because of hard water.
@@CaseyinTexas all the cheap ones I've had to use have flopped around on the little pin they expect you to hang it on and had a pathetic spray pattern.
Had one for $9,99 from Wallyworld and it worked just fine five variable settings, multiposition clamp bracket,6' hose.
@@kurtsnyder4752 maybe they've started making them better, but I suspect I just have a more elitist definition of "just fine" addendum: as evidenced by the sheer number of cheap handhelds that if it was my own shower I'd throw it away and put on a fixed shower head. - or a better grade of handheld.
I've installed hand-held showerheads on all my showers for the last 40 years, even at the apartments I've rented. It's easy to install and easy to put back when you move out.
Same here. It’s very easy, easier than complaining for years. 😂
Exactly … all places i live in the US I’ve always preferred hand-held showers… so if there wasn’t one I’d installed one …
I'm renting a house, and it came with a hand-held showerhead.
Pretty easy to go and get one at Home Depot and other such stores. I'll give her hotels though, those suck
@@MollyFC But you don't have to clean the tub in a hotel! But usually whatever shower head they have doesn't work properly, at least in the lower to mid range places where I stay.
I grew up in the US where we had a shower head attached to a hose. When I moved off to college was my first time experiencing living with a fixed showerhead. I have since decided that when I own a home that I will have a "hose showerhead." I like clean showers.
I'm originally from Serbia (southeast Europe), but I have lived in Germany for 46 years, and I've got a top-loader washing machine from a German manufacturer called AEG. I had to choose a top-loader because top-loaders are narrower and I don't have room for front-loaders. The operation of my washing machine is completely normal. You can adjust the temperatures etc. and inside it looks normal, not like in the video.
You’re right, but toploaders here in Europe have a horizontal rotation axis, so they work basicly like frontloaders, whereas American toploaders have a vertical rotation axis, and that’s the problem.
@@vincentoesterle6781 You can get both types of toploaders in the US. With or without an agitator.
I remember back in the 70s when most soft drinks came in glass bottles rather than cans almost all grocery stores, at least around Cincy, did have dedicated bottle return areas and they were widely used. They were very noisy too with all that glass clanking.
I remember that
I remember that… not just noisy, but HEAVY, making them more expensive and difficult to transport. Environmentally less efficient.
Child of the 60s and parents paid a deposit on milk and Coke bottles and had to turn them in to get a refund.
@@stevecagle2317 I used to get 24 glass bottles of pop for the people at work. They put the empties back in the crate and I would return them to the bottler and get 24 new bottles. The deposit would just carry over. I only had to get the refund on the last crate when I stopped working there. Much better than now having to go all the time to the redemption center.
I remember that, the glass bottles would have the deposit amount on the bottom.
As a South African living in Germany, the LACK of AC in Germany is something I still haven't gotten used. 😂
As a Texan, I agree. Would you rather be a little cool inside in the US or literally sweating in the living room in Germany? Open a window? Do they not have flies, mosquitoes, etc. in Germany? And where I live, it's only ever cool enough outside that it would make sense about one month out of the year...and then it's raining.
@@jameswoodard4304 its not about AC, its about the temperature
@@etopsch369 , That's why I asked if they don't have flies or mosquitos in Germany. I know it may be very different than what I'm used to, but I know Summer still *exists* in Germany. Even a slightly warm day becomes stifling w/o windors *or* AC. I know Germans use their windows, which can only mean they don't have as big a problem with bugs.
@@jameswoodard4304 not that much and we tilt our windows, so there isnt that much of a problem. Our houses are all made out of brick and concrete, natural insulation. We need very little heat in the winter and with degrees around 25 celius , you still have 19 inside
Germans are thrifty . They spend all their money on Beer and sports futbol club memberships. No money for AC.
Honestly, I enjoy your content more than 99% of KZhead, so thank you for taking he time to create it. Perspective is needful in this day and age and yours adds value. I would be interested in your perspectives on rural America, as the lifestyle, crime-level and environment are quite different than in urban areas. The USA is a huge geographic area and having lived it both metro areas and small towns, I find the difference to be profound. I hope you continue to enjoy much future success !
Feli, just head north to Michigan to get a similar bottle return experience. In Michigan no one crushes cans or tosses bottles. At just about any tailgating event homeless people will be out collecting cans and bottles for the ten cent deposit. You just take your cans and bottles to any Michigan grocery store, put the containers in a machine, it reads the barcode and you get a little slip to take to the cash register to get your money.
I could've sworn ohio has one too. When I went to OSU, kids left their empty cans and bottles out on the lawn for the homeless to gather and return for 5 or 10 cents. Maybe it's only in certain cities like Columbus?
We tried to introduce a bottle and can deposit scheme here in Scotland this year but the UK government stopped it in it's tracks. It's a mazing how short sighted politicians can be !
She can take a lesson from a Seinfeld episode where Newman and Kramer have a recycling scheme go up in flames.
The fixed showerhead is common because it's cheap. You can always go and get a hosed replacement and install it yourself. I've always done that. In places I've rented I change the showerhead out and save the original so I could replace it when I moved out.
That's pretty clever 👍🏻 I learned, that you can buy a "German" shower in the US. Maybe I'll go get a greencard now 😉😁
I also think it might be regional. I live in Colorado, and have house hunted twice, once high-end, and once middle/low, and the ONLY time I've ever seen fixed shower heads is on small basement standup showers, where there's not much room. Our current house has a finished basement and a tiny shower that has the head coming out of the ceiling. I'd fit a handheld, but I can't find one designed to attach to the ceiling, and it'd be tight. They don't actually cost enough to cheap out on ONE shower.
I have always switched out showerheads too, but what has always aggravated me is that showerheads are always placed so low on the wall that a normal person has to crouch down to have water flow over their head and shoulders. I am a rather normal height 5'10" and I can't imagine what it is like for actual tall people. Why do they do this, is it just to save an extra foot of pipe in the wall?
@@robertvirnig638 6'3" here. Showerheads get replacement before I shower in new apartment/houses. Usually a combo of fixed and flexible heads for each shower.
Be Careful doing that, though. Doing that could violate a lease agreement.
This just reinforces that culture is not monolithic in the US. If you were to live in a city on the west coast, you'd find a lot of these things to be different than in Cincinnati.
If you're used to returning cans/bottles, try the state just to the north. We do that here. Also recommend visiting Frankenmuth, would be curious to get a German's opinion on the town.
Yes, I would love to hear what you think of Frankenmuth. I suspect that you would find it less than authentic. Most Michiganders have been there and love it.
Banks do have a transfer system, an old one called ACH and they also have Zelle (a bank service, not separate as you thought), which is used a lot. An online bank called Paypal also exists, which uses the old ACH system to transfer to others by sending money to / from bank accounts.
I remember when I was a kid, we used to be able to return our bottles for a refund. That went out when the plastic bottles came along. As for the showers, I've never lived in a house that didn't have the removable showerhead. My mom from the Netherlands also complained about the bread. In my house we make our own bread.
I don't know why she complained, the supermarket bread in NL isn't especially great. It's better, but marginally unless you find a decent bakery.
We have large, commercial supermarkets that have to buy what the average consumer can afford. Complaining that Kroger doesn't sell crusty bread is like moaning because the Ford dealer doesn't sell Humvees. If you want good bread or cheese in the USA you find them in bakeries and cheese/deli shops (just like in England)...it's just more convenient to buy food at a supermarket.
I grew up in Oregon. Oregon has a deposit system for glass beverage bottles and aluminum cans. This dates back to at least the 1970s. You could take them to any grocery store to get the deposit back. It varies widely between states.
Michigan has 10c bottle returns and you can return them in any major grocery store and even gas stations, though there's usually a limit.
While many supermarkets in New York City have recycling stations just like the ones in Germany, they are very unpleasant to use because homeless people collect hundreds of cans (making the rest of us wait) and, alas, some of these people are sick and dirty. And the machines run out of space frequently during the day.
I’m from Oregon too, and I always take my cans back for the deposit. I really love that we have BottleDrop here now too, so I can just bag up my cans and drop them off and they do all the work. Haha.
@@CathyS_Bx Stop and Shop stores in Brooklyn do not maintain the machines so they are broken or full all the time and they are outside or in a roach infested unheated uncooled shed. Every time I went to either one near me I had to go to the desk inside and demand that the machine be emptied if it worked at all. (Don't tell anyone, but the ShopRite supermarket has machines in the parking garage and they actually keep them working and not full.)
@@tomrogue13 i used to live along the UP/Wi border. We would buy in Wi and return them in MI for the deposit LOL
I always say “it isn’t a free country if you can’t walk down the street enjoying a bottle of beer”
As an American I say the same thing thst if I can't carry my gun down the street and I don't feel free either
And i prefere both at the same time
@@hansosl😂great combo
I’m really late seeing this video, but thank you! This is a nicely presented summary of bothersome things that should not be an issue anymore, but are getting worse. I agree with you on all of these and wish I lived somewhere that addressed them seriously.
I'm from Brazil and I feel VERY safe in Boston. Most things you mentioned sound different from here.
"If Miele doesn't get it clean, nothing does!" That is exactly how it is. In my family Miele was always used from the 50s. My grandmother had a Miele wasching machine, which broke down, but Miele was able to provide spares for repair for a 40 year old washing machine. And it works again for the next 40 years.
Bosch
I love my Miele washer and dryer.
@@multilingual972 Philips is a dutch company! "Bauknecht" was good german Quality, but it doesn't exist anymore.
Hey....was is mit Bosch??? Meine neue Boschwaschmachine SOLL in den nächsten Tagen ankommen. :-(
@@joeybacker8429 What do you mean "doesn't exist anymore". I just bought Bauknecht toplader a month ago here in Münich
I know this video is a couple years old, but for Americans who live in states without a deposit system, most big cities regardless of location have recycling centers that will at least pay for aluminum by weight. I grew up outside of Chicago, and as Illinois doesn't (currently) have a deposit system, it was quite common to bag aluminum cans separately until you had several garbage bags full of cans, and then we'd bring them to the recycling center, they'd weigh your bags and give you cash. Places like this I've gone to elsewhere in the US today still do this with aluminum cans as well as other sources of recyclable metals. Not as good as a deposit system, but it's something that gives people an incentive to recycle.
omg. i always forget other states don't return cans. in ny there are usually machines near the entrance or in separate rooms for returnables at major stores. if they have a grocery section they usually do returnables. cultural shock in the same country!
I know! My in-laws in North Carolina once asked me why I never crushed my cans. I was utterly bewildered by this question. I was like "Ummmm...because the machine won't recognize them if they're mangled, and then you have to go all the way inside to the counter to return them? Why would people crush them?" Every state I've ever lived in has had can and bottle deposits; I think I just assumed it was everywhere.
The recycling deposit system!! That's how I got my allowance growing up! I'd accumulate all of the cans and bottles and every month I'd take them all to the recycling center by my house and get $10-$20 bucks. Not much anymore, but at 8 years old I wasn't spending much. I saved it for the most part so I could buy cool toys and gifts for friends and my parents.
I would walk up and down the streets finding bottles and turning them into a little store in my neighborhood for spending money. I would buy my little sister and myself an ice cream and we would sit on the sidewalk in front of the store and try to eat it before it melted. We lived in Tucson, AZ so it did melt fast! lol
Lady, the AC constantly being on in the Midwest it’s not as much about keeping it cold, it’s about getting rid of the gawd awful humidity! In the Chicago area during early spring/fall months we have to run both our heat and A/C at different parts of the day! We have had sub freezing temperatures up to mid 70’s with high humidity in less than 12 hours!
Meh, I think you are doing it wrong. Does your house leak real bad?
This guy midwests. I run the a/c just to keep the walls from sweating here in MN.
Sure, but there's also a temperature control. Dehumidifying doesn't even have to cool at all.
I must be from a different time. I live in South Carolina and still don't much care for AC. Work at home in the shop with no AC. When I go inside my wife always has the AC cranked up so I freeze...brrrrrrrrr..
@@martinoamello3017 I just recently visited family in SC for the first time. Your humidity is just as bad as ours in the Midwest! Beautiful country though!
Great video! I can relate with you on the A/C temperatures in the US. I have lived in Texas my whole life and even as a child noticed that I needed to take a sweater with me everywhere, especially the grocery store. Why? It does not need to be that cold. If it is hot outside, I am dressed appropriately. So when I walk into a store in my tank top and shorts, I am suddenly freezing. It is pretty annoying to have to change my clothes for drastic temperature differences from outside to inside. Likewise, many stores will crank up the heater in the winter. If it is cold outside, I am dressed warm but I also have to wear a tank top and shorts under my sweater and sweat pants so that I don’t sweat while shopping. Then I have to put it all back on before I go back outside. It makes no sense. 😂
We have deposits in some states. California calls it CRV (Cash Return Value). Each store has to provide a recycling location, and they are found within walking distance of the store, but not in the store itself. We also have mandatory blue trashbins that we put glass, metal, and cardboard into to be sorted for recycling. We can put CRV items into the blue trashbins, but that's like throwing away money, so we only put in non-CRV items into the blue trashbins.
Surprised our measurement system wasn't #1. I installed handheld shower heads in my newest house and did the same every else I lived. They're not expensive and super easy to install. Even if you're renting it makes sense to put one in.
True that the handhelds are easy to install but they don't always last long. I went through 3 showerheads in the course of 8 years...the oldest one lasted about 6 years
@@Oak7565 You get what you pay for, buy Moen or Delta. if you're under 50 bucks its not gonna last.
We have moved into a home we love but the showers are small. With the handheld hose, it was difficult to keep the showerhead in the holder and not back into the shower stall...we replaced it with a fixed head.
Ya shortly after we moved into our house we replace all 3 shower heads with handheld ones, and we actually did the same to our kitchen sink and for the sink in my bathroom. Very easy to do by yourself, even if you don’t have any experience doing something like that. I don’t remember how much we paid for ours at the time since this was back in 2006. If you’re renting I’d also suggest just sticking the fixed shower head under the bathroom sink or wherever else you want to store it that way you can swap it back out and take your handheld one with you whenever you move out.
You won't find them pre-installed in most rental houses because of the litigious society we have here. Handheld heads have other hazards that leave the installers or home owners open to being sued for damages if the user hurts themselves or a child gets tangled in it and has an injury. If you buy your own and install it, then any injury you get is on you and can't be blamed on the homeowner or the firm who installed the plumbing when the house was built. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's quite as easy to sue someone for an accident in the home you are renting in other countries. Handheld shower heads have certainly become more popular recently, and having had a job where I cleaned newly-built houses, I can tell you that homeowners who are building from the ground up often do have handheld showers installed. But I can also tell you from that same job, that sometimes they don't. As to how you clean a shower like that, you tend to rely more often on foaming cleaners that you can spray on and they will stick to the wall or fixtures (only if they are dry) and slowly move down the wall and grout lines. Even then, you still want a long, firm brush to scrub with and a tall cup or pitcher you can repeatedly fill with water so you can use it to rinse down the walls. If you can't reach the top of the wall on your own, you wrap a very wet washcloth or rag around the head of the brush and "wipe" down the top of the wall.
I really feel this is less about complaints about the US and more about Cincinnati. Other states are completely different and probably align more to what you would be happy with.
One thing I learned when studying French culture (vis-à-vis the US) was, Americans do not like to generalize 😂
I spent a year abroad in Austria and definitely brought a few preferences home with me. My home has the detachable shower head you remembered, a mixing tap at the bathroom sink, and a dual flush toilet. I also have a fondness for duvets and covers :-) I think if more people had exposure to some of these things, we'd just realize how much more sensible they are!
Try looking/asking for “fresh mozzarella.” That is the light, airy kind. The rubbery, low moisture kind is “processed mozzarella.” If you ask for just mozzarella you will mostly likely get processed mozzarella. You may also like burrata which is fresh mozzarella blended with cream. I’m not sure about Cincinnati, but there are a lot of places in the US you can also get the bread you like.
No wonder why I don't like mozzarella because it's processed.
wait, what the hell is processed mozzarella then?
The kind of mozzarella you like is like anything else…. matter of taste. To me, fresh mozzarella is pretty taste-less. As with any cheese, you gets what you pays for! Don’t expect the $5 brick of stuff to taste the same as a $15 brick of cheese that’s been properly aged! You can get bad cheese in Germany just as well as you can here. As bread goes, with the disappearance of local bakeries in Germany I find the quality of bread has declined. There are many artisan bakeries in the US that make wonderful bread! The biggest difference between German and American bread is that most German breads are made with sourdough. You can’t really compare sourdough bread with the stuff they sell in the bread isles here. Once you realize you need to look for sourdough bread (not just the San Francisco kind, but also the rye and other type flour breads) you’re on the right track.
Italian mozzarella is made with Buffalo milk and is made differently. It's far superior to the low fat part skim crap in the US grocery stores. The best I can find is Boar's Head whole milk, but it's a far cry from the real Italian stuff
I'm in Canada and tend to hit up Italian grocers/markets in whatever city I'm in for mozzarella. Outside of a city though if you want good cheese you'll need to go for a type of cheese that is made locally, which at least where I am isn't mozzarella.
The deposit system varies by state. In Michigan, its $0.10 per bottle/can. And they use the same bar code reading system. It just varies by state. Oh, BTW, top load washers are cheaper. That's why you get them in rentals.
We have a deposit system in California and there are recycling machines outside most grocery stores that return .05 to .10 cents depending on the container.
It does vary by state. In Massachusetts they have $0.05 deposit on carbonated beverage containers, so beer bottles have a five cent deposit but not wine or hard liquor. The recycling machines are in most supermarkets but there are a few stand alone few recycling centers. In Maine they banned juice boxes because the foil/plastic/paper mix is such a pain to recycle.
In Ohio, we had the "bottle bill" presented in 1979. It was going to force retailers to charge deposit for all beverages in order to reduce the pollution caused by all the bottles and cans dumped all over the place. But the beverage producers got together and spent I think $2,000,000,000 (worth about $20B today) on advertising saying this was a bad idea, most trash wasnt bottles, the bevergae producers had a better, more comprehensive plan and if we just voted down the bottle bill we would have a "real" solution. Since the "pro" deposit faction only spent maybe $500,000 it was totally voted down. I am sure the "real" solution will be finally presented any day now, they are just putting the finishing touches on it. It will be AWESOME, it has to be with them preparing it for 42 years!
but absurdly, Americans also have a fixation on the idea of top loaders somehow being superior. I've used frontloaders most of my life, and will never use a toploader by choice.
@@kenbrown2808 Depends. If you just want fast, dont care if your clothes get clean or wear out sooner and have lots of money to spend on water, soap and electricity then a toploader is good enough.
OMG! I wrap a specific hair towel with a loop on my head when I don't want my hair to get wet in the shower. I have a handheld shower, and I don't want to be bothered with it. Showers create moisture regardless of its handheld or stationary and your hair is going to get damp if you don't protect it.
Recently found the channel and amazing job with the content 😊 I'm from the US and had been bothered by similar things that you mentioned in this video. Many more things have been difficult to get used to after living in South Korea for a few years. I got used to and like that in South Korea, the bathroom isn't divided between the shower and the rest of the space. The drain was often located in the center of the room and showers were usually handheld attached to the side in order buildings or handhelds to a fixed head in newer buildings but cleaning the bathroom was extremely easy! Also love Kakao and how Integrated it is with the ease of life management there. Yes there is a concern of a company having so much personal data and accounts, but I don't see it much differently the way social media is used. Banking, trash/recycling, food waste, walkability and public transportation, healthcare, etc. are all areas I believe the US citizens can learn from other countries to improve.
america: im 21 i can finally drink legally deutschland: im 21, guess i should rethink my unhealthy drinking habits and strive for a sober life
This is actually how it works in most of Europe :-D
The weekend later: LOOK GUYS HOW MUCH I CAN JUG!
yeah we had a joke about in Russia ) US: I'm 21, I can drink legally! Russia: I'm 21... It's time to quit drinking or I'll shit my liver out
@@Vojtaniz01 Well... basically my live XD i drank a lot between 17-20/21, every weekend i got hammered at least once. when i got 20/21 it only was about every second weekend. and with 22 i maybe, maybe, drank a bit in a month and got hammered twice a year - my birthday and on new year/sylvester.
It actually makes more sense to have a lower drinking age than an older one because too many teenagers will try to binge drink thinking they're cool.
I haven’t received a paper paycheck in about 20 years. Most places don’t even have that as an option anymore. You either have to set up direct deposit with your bank account or they’ll give you a debit card that your pay will go on. My apartment won’t even accept a check for rent.
My husband receives a paper paycheck through UPS biweekly on Fridays to this day. His job does not offer direct deposit. And our landlord ONLY accepts checks. Lol.
@@amsel_in_defense UPS doesn’t offer direct deposit?? As in the international shipping company? That’s so weird.
@@markbollinger1343 No, he doesn’t work for UPS. He receives his paycheck in an envelope delivered by UPS. He works for a small bus company in my town.
@@amsel_in_defense thanks for the clarification, I was confused there as well.
In Germany I received a check once in my life. The check came from my health insurance organization. They had too much money at the end of the year. In Germany it is forbidden for health insurance organizations to be profitable.
Well, glad I put in our hand held shower head and now have a single lever faucet in our kitchen. I live in Wahington, DC and the condo I live in has a single pipe system for heating/AC, so its either heating or A/C or twice a year nothing when switching systems. I rarely use the heating in our winters but I love it when the A/C is switched to as I use it all the time.
Quark = cottage cheese, just needs to be blended. For good cheese visit Whole Foods Market. Expensive groceries: groceries in Germany are government-subsidized, so you pay the difference in your income tax; also, in Germany many things aren't available out-of-season, so comparisons to the USA where things are available year-round are unfair.
It's not the side on which the washing machine is loaded, but it's the axis along which the drum inside is spinning. In Germany, even top loading machines have a drum that spins at a horizontal axis. But American top loaders have a vertical axis, and that means they don't use gravity to toss around the laundry inside while spinning, and therefore they can't really get it as clean.
Ok, I was about to write that too. We also have a top loader, but with a horizontal axis, like the side loader. These are usually bought when there is less space for installation.
@@inotoni6148 But why would you buy a machine that works worse if you have more space?
@@MisterPyOne That's the thing: German/European top loaders *don't* work worse, because their drum spins on a horizontal axis just like the front loading machines! The drum is closed (with holes for the water to flow through) on the circular front and back sides and has a door that can be opened on the rounded side, if you want to load/unload the laundry, you have to rotate it into the right position (modern machines do that for you and lock the rotation as long as they're open) and then you can access the contents.
@@Seegalgalguntijak oh okay, thanks for the explanation.
The axis doesn't change cleaning quality. The axis does impact wear & tear on the motor, max load size, and energy efficiency. A drawback of the front loads it they are more expensive to service and lots of issues with the bellows. I used to do appliance repair. We had more issues with front loaders than top loaders. Front loaders also suffered mor clogging as there are many gaps small things like socks can go into and catch in the pump. In 7 years, I never once pulled a sock from a top load. Coins also clogged front loaders all the time.
We've just built a house and our shower heads look like the German one you showed. Super practical. But even when I lived in rentals I used to replace the showerhead while I was living in the property. You just put the old one back when you leave. As far as washing machines, I've had both and I personally prefer top loaders, especially when you're 9 months pregnant, LOL.
The top loader I have does not have the central cylinder you said ruined your clothes-- it is much better without. There have been lots of problems with front loading washers in the U.S.-- see Consumer's Report. I do think a front loader would be nice, becauase I am not tall (5'6:) and it is hard to reach into the washer to get all my clothes out. My dryer is front loading, however. Most washers are laundromats are front loading.
@@jamesbull6266 the agitator (that center shaft your talking about) has been done away with in many models due to better designed drums. But even the best designed top loader isn't as efficient as its front loader variant. Most the issues I've seen from them leaking is user error/incompetence with the dront door seal.
@@jamesbull6266 that central cylinder you speak of is the agitator,,,,,i like an agitator,,,,it has a purpose,,,it agitates,,,and in old machines it was wild,,,and did a good job of beating out the grime
I've had both top loaders and front loaders. I prefer a GOOD front loader such as a Speed Queen, Miele, LG, or GE that cleans effectively and is energy efficient. Top loaders from Whirlpool and Maytag have ruined my clothes in the past due to poorly designed agitators, and I know Samsung's mold problem all too well. I've had my LG front loader for 2 years, and recently got the matching dryer during my move. My favorite cycle on my LG is the 15 minute Speed Wash, which is super awesome and saves me valuable time. As for the shower heads, the ones landlords provide in apartments are junk. I simply bought my own. And in my new house, I got to pick out some of my bathroom fixtures during the construction process.
For me, it's top loader all the way. 1. I have back issues, and front loaders require me to murder my back every time I take clothes out of it. 2. There's always that one sock or wash cloth that gets left somewhere. With a top loader, you just pop the lid open and throw it in. Not so much with a front loader. 3. The mold is real. No matter what I do, I can't get all the mold out of a front loader. I've tried every trick in the book, but it always comes back with a vengeance. 4. The seal in the front loader eats baby clothes like nobody's business.
In NY, we have a deposit system (usually 5 cents) and most supermarkets have recycling areas where you can deposit cans and bottles for a refund. They even crush and the cans and break the bottles for you.
Completely agree about showers. The last few places I have lived, I have installed a hand held. My current on has lights that indicate water temperature.
As a Canadian, this video (and a few others of yours) make me realize how Canada is way more different than the US than we often think.
Don’t take pepper spray across the border
Like, the U.S. sells beer and wine in grocery stores.
@A Ryzen Canada is better overall by my values (I used to be a landed immigrant there and have lived in two provinces), but it's more restrictive about where alcohol can be sold.
@@timelston4260 depends on the state
@@mats7492 I've lived in nine states and beer and wine could be purchased from grocery stores in all of them, but yeah you're probably right about the laws being at the state level and probably different in some states.
With you on the shower heads. My house has 4 bathrooms, changing the showers over to either combination (waterfall head + movable head) is the first thing I changed. A relatively cheap and easy modification.
I agree, our bathrooms already have a combination showerhead. It was a $40 renovation on our rental house. Get over the showerheads. In the old days this was a cheap fixture and it, along with other cost-saving items allowed 65% of Americans to own their own homes and make renovations as they could afford it. Only 43% of Germans own their own homes.
A quick trip to lowes and you can do any showerhead you want.
Same here. I always switch out the old shower heads whenever I move into a new place, but most places I've been to recently have already switched over
@@KimInCalifornia Excellent point, yet she is still a renter !!!
Living in an economy with a rental market rather than a purchase market for property comes with its own societal and economical perks. But being arrogant and condescending about it won't help you understand how.
As an American born and raised in this country and having had the good fortune to travel abroad, I can totally sympathize with many of your complaints. Especially in regards to the shower head thing. I have a handheld shower head. It's certainly easier to clean the shower with one. I work for BMW and eveytime I go to Munich one my first stops is at the grocery store to get some milk. Germany's diary is so smooth, rich and creamy!!! There isn't much of bottle deposit system here b/c we (Americans) are LAZY! It's easier to throw it all in a bin and let the recycling center sort it out. In fact, in places where Americans were forced to sort their recycling items before getting picked up or take them to a recycling center, the number of people recycling significantly dropped. The AC temp is something that is fought and argued over in every household in America. As far as feeling unsafe goes, most major cities around the world have parts of them that are very dangerous. American suburbs are extremely safe. The suburb I live in has had 1 murder in the last 5 yrs. The faucet thing is about 50-50 in my experience. When American politicans use facts and lies as political weapons, it's easy to see how people can doubt the truth. This makes me very sad sometimes. I'm with you on the Alcohol topic. Only in Louisiana is public drinking or drinking while driving legal. I worked in Louisiana for a bit and drive thru daiquiri stands are the BEST!!!!
I always replaced the showerheads with handhelds when I rented. Cheap to get one at the hardware store or Amazon. Just put the fixed one back on when you move out. You can always go to a laundromat to use top loaders. Landlords won't generally supply top loaders for rentals because the maintenance costs are too high. I have a house I rent out and the washing machine recently needed replacing and I considered a front loader, wanting to be nice to my tenants, but every article I read strongly advised sticking to front loaders in rentals because of the maintenence costs, so in the end I had to concede that a front loader wasn't practical. There's also the fact that I can't be sure a tenant would take care of such an expensive appliance as well as I would myself. The cost difference is not small. Tenants in general do tend to be tougher on things, since they don't own them and don't pay for the upkeep. That definitely discourages landlords from providing more expensive fixtures or appliances. Everyone in the US does NOT use iPhones. In not even sure how many people I knew who do. Maybe in YOUR friend group, in YOUR area, they're common. Here, Androids are at least as common, if not more so. My impression is that iPhones are relatively rare, in fact. I use Next SMS on my Android for texting. My spice both just use the built in Android texting app on their phones. We do group chats all the time and both of those apps handle them just fine. And send pics too. And the group texts work just fine between Androids and iPhones, too. I can't see why it would make a difference. The messages are being sent via SMS or MMS, which are universal, not app or platform dependent. The one thing I wish the texting app would do that it doesn't is back up texts in a way that I could easily find them in the future, the way I can old emails. I used to have an app that sent texts to Gmail for backup for that purpose, but it stopped working a long time ago and I haven't found another. What else does Whatsapp have that the regular texting app does not? I always hear you talk about it having features, but I don't know what features. What makes it better, to you?
Look for Kerrygold butter. It's an imported Irish butter and is probably closer to what you're used to. Also, being born in a Greek-American household, I completely understand your confusion about alcohol.
Kerrygold is far from being a good quality butter, Look for an organic butter at whole foods. Those are closer to real butter.
Nah, amish butter rolled in wax paper
@@maggieremankerrygold is organic
@@lk7195 it is not organic, and it's actually a low quality butter.
@@lk7195 Amish butter, definitely very good butter!
When we moved to America, we changed out all of our showerheads to handheld showers. It’s easy to do and they are found in all home repair stores here. I think it’s not standard because it’s cheaper to have a fixed shower head and many Americans want those rainfall type showers instead of having a handheld.
same, but it's still not the same since there isn't the metal bar attached to the wall to regulate the height. if you have a bar, it's flimsy since it's not attached to the wall on the bottom
As an ex-sailor I had the opposite reaction to the hand held showers on the Navy ships 🚿🚢. I disliked them & still prefer fixed shower heads over hand held ones 🛀. But a lot of times, it depends on what you're used to.
Good on you. It’s easier to change the showers than to spend five years complaining about them.
@@MTed1 Yeah, unless you live in rented apartments and move a lot in which case your comment makes no sense.
The handheld ones can also be put in a stationary position.
I just came back from my last trip to Germany. I will miss it so much. Lived in Hanau from 72 to 96.
I just found this, so I don't know if you see my post 2 years after you put this video up but... About 20 years ago (or so) my wife talked me in to installing a shower head on a hose in the bathroom shower. After using it for awhile I was convinced that this by far better... yes, for all the reason you state. Hence, we have always used one, replacing it when the old one broke.
There are reasons why you see fixed shower heads in rentals and most new developments. The reasons why they are more common in rentals is because A. They’re cheaper. B. Their simpler design means there are fewer points of failure and thus rarely need to be replaced. In the case of new homes/apartments, the general assumption is that the new homeowner will want to install the shower head that they want. Therefor rather than trying to predict what kind of shower head they might want, it’s easier to just place a cheap and generic one that the new homeowner can just replace and throw out… or they can just choose to keep using it if they don’t care enough to replace it. 😊
what I can't figure out is why the majority of shower heads in CA, USA are too low for an average man to fit under. also, as a bicycle fanatic, I still feel that using too much heat or air conditioning stops us from adapting to the outdoor temperature and makes being outside for extended periods of time unnecessarily uncomfortable/stressful. My all-time favorite residential shower in the US had a hand-held shower head and was built to be wheel-chair accessible, so effectively the toilet was inside the shower & cleaning was extremely easy - like when I worked at a public pool and we cleaned the whole bathroom with a hose.
@@EcoFreak13M In the US it's all about making it as cheap and shitty as possible with the illusion of quality and necessity until the consumer sentiment changes. Too many Americans believe corporations have their best interest in mind. They don't.
@@EcoFreak13M The reason is more women like lower shower heads, and women are more vocal about how showers are used.
Price issues might be because fixed heads are the standard and sold more often in the US. In Germany handheld showers are cheaper (Cheap ones at around 12 $ or 10 €. We only use fixed showers in combination to hose attached showers wich makes it rare and more expansive cause less numbers in production). So i think it would be about the same prices. Simpler Design? No. Defenitely not. Simple handheld showers are nearly indestructable. And if they break you can just be replaced very easily by any person. The weak spot of fixed showers is the joint (If they have one.) And what also destroys showers are lime and dirt. And now take a guess which of the two designs is easier to be cleaned. Installation is also more simple since the hose can simply be attached to the tap.
Watch Producer Michael (or any other) tour of some 30 million $ mansion and you can see same shitty fixed shower heads in those. That is just crazy lol
Having lived in Germany for four years, with regular trips there before and since, there are many things I miss about Germany: Coffee. Bread. Beer. Villages with Cobblestone Streets and Half-timber houses. Great train system. "B" highways to drive along rivers and in the mountains. So easy and close to visit other countries. Sharing tables with strangers in restaurants. Germans being understanding and helpful to foreigners trying to use the German language. Relative safety in the cities. No passing on the left while driving. Old preserved medieval cities. Mostly, the friends and German colleagues. (Many more, but I decided to keep my list to 13, as well.
From travel videos that I have seen about Germany like Saarland it is much better designed for travel or vacationing or just exploring. Have you seen how tall the beer glasses are? There are bike trails like in around Saarland that are several hundred kilometers long. Along the trails are pubs, and hotels etc. Fantastic! We dp not have anything like that in Canada.
"No passing on the left while driving." Really? I thought passing on the right side is disallowed; people use the left lane to pass slower traffic on the right.
I miss when Germans lived in Germany.
you do realize you can fit most of europe in the US thats why is easier to get around and see other countries
@@danf2Schwätzer
as for washers, given same quality machines the top loader should be more efficient and durable because a vertical axis is more stable. So the difference you observed must come from lower quality of production.
*Showers* : In New Zealand, we have both. Hand held are better by far. Older homes often have the fixed shower heads, but we've adopted the hand held in most modern homes. Our *recycling* is usually separated into two categories: glass, and the other stuff. Cans, paper plastic alll go into one bin, glass into a crate. They have a process for sorting the non-glass recycling out later.... "A vibrating machines separates the cardboard and paper - different types of paper are sorted by hand and then baled. The remaining recyclables continue on another conveyor where steel cans are removed using magnets. Different types of plastic are identified and separated using optical scanners." We mostly use *top loaders* here. The one I've got at the moment is excellent. I think it's probably more the quality of wash powder. And I'm not sure why you'd want more options than Hot, Warm or Cold? If I had to select a specific temperature it'd just be one more hassle in my life I'd have to figure out! Make it easy for me, technology! Those *crime figures* must be wrong - I've heard America is full good people with guns, and that makes y'all safer! [For the record, yes I'm being very sarcastic.] *Homicide rate* : In NZ it was 2 (rounded figures) in 2018, but it's spiked a bit recently at 3. So not as good as Germany, but better than the US. Same here re *Cheques* : why, America; just... why? And our banks make domestic transfers direct to each other, usually the transaction now is done the same business day. Overnight at the most. *Facts* are generally uncontroversial here too. I know a lot of religious people, none of whom deny evolution as far as I'm aware. It seems a lot of religious people in the US (evangelicals, I guess) struggle to be able to see the creation myths of the Old Testament as metaphorical, and instead feel they have to be taken entirely literally. Beyond that, there's the current political environment, where it's become more common among some to have "alternative facts" rather than just an opinion about something. We mostly use *mixer taps* in modern homes. Yeah, I've noticed the *prudish take on alcohol* in the US too. Here you can almost always buy alcohol at a supermarket, and often at a dairy ('convenience store' I think they're called in the US).
Fixed shower heads do still seem to be the standard here, but I’ve had a handheld head in my personal bathroom basically my whole life. It’s not a foreign concept (I’ve even seen them in some hotel rooms), it’s just not everyone’s preference.
It depends on the shower. Most residential showers where I live are the hose types.
Just go to Home Depot and replace it. Should not need a plumber
@@timothykeith1367 I know. That’s what I’ve always done. Very rarely have I encountered a shower head that wasn’t removable or wasn’t a thread type that a wand could be attached to.
How can it be a matter of "preference" when you can can also never hold a "handheld head" in your hands? I only use the heights adjuster (or when I clean the shower/basstub). I never hold it in my hands while showering.
It's because masturbation is a sin
I lived in Michigan for a while when I was younger. The can and bottle deposit system was amazing.
Its a pain in the butt when the machines break down or get full. Or when people come in with 20 garbage bags of deposits-_-
@@tomrogue13 In NY we have redemption centers, and they count them real fast, like 500 cans/bottles in the time it would take you to do 50 in the stupid machines. I have no idea why people still use them when the alternative is available. They can stay in business because although they offer the full 5 cent refund, they get 7-9 cents from the recycling centers
I moved to Houston from Rio de Janeiro, and absolutely LOVED ACs blasting everywhere, haha. But agree with most of those points (well, except safety). Now I’m in Vancouver (the Canadian one) and some of those things still apply… not enough AC (you’d like it), but the bread and dairy are similar to the US (although you can find really nice cheese in certain places other than supermarkets).
Also ich verfolge deine Videos schon seit Jahren, weil sie sehr unterhaltsam und informativ sind .Natürlich nicht zuletzt auch, weil du selbst sehr sympathisch bist. Aber meiner Meinung nach toppt dieser Beitrag alle anderen. Erfrischend mutig und offen riskierst du hier Anfeindungen durch deine natürlich subjektive Darstellung von negativen Erfahrungen. Kompliment 🎉
I do remember returning racks of beer bottles when I lived in Germany and way back in the 70s/80s bottle deposits were the norm here in the US
Most US banks offer bill paying services through their online portals. Most large business pay using direct deposit, not physical paychecks. Some smaller business still pay with paychecks, but most large business do not.
Yeah I found her experience with those odd.
@@markbollinger1343 I'm guessing she hangs with students alot who work part time jobs at smaller companies that still use physical checks.
Yes! And it's been this 'German'/ EU' way in much/ most of the US since the late '80's/ early '90's for direct deposit. Bill paying thru banks sometime before 2010.
I love your videos. About "Not believing facts" you sort of answer it yourself. The moving target of "official facts" proves the point and your 'German" response of trusting everything the government says as "fact" is for many of us very scary. Climate change, as an example, you can indeed measure the temperature over years (which is mostly fact - not counting heat blooms in cities as compared to 100 years ago) but you then move to cause, which is all theory (virtually all computer models have failed to be accurate). These things are debated and when one side says "These facts" are what you are to believe but any contrary view people are called "flat earthers" just to shut down the conversation.
I was born and raised in the US, mostly around Detroit. For the most part I go where I want when I want and I never have any issues. One of the simplest and most effective ways to stay safe all the time comes down to body language. If the way you walk and carry yourself exudes self confidence and you just stay focused on your business you'll be fine. I used to work security at the airport in Oakland, California on the early morning shift I was on a city bus in Oakland going all the way across the city at 3 am for just over a year and never had any issues. It's body language and knowing your surroundings and how to behave in them.
and you don't think it's exceedingly sad that you have to even do that?
@@JapanesePorcelain why would I think it's sad? It's just part of life don't you find it exceedingly sad that you can't go roaming the Amazon rainforest without a guide? Same concept. Bad people are always going to do bad things and find each other. In cities bad people just stand out more because there are more people living right on top of each other with less open space between them.
Body language doesn’t stop a stray bullet.
I'm surprised sales tax isn't on this list. This was the thing that threw me even after having been there for months :D In germany, the price on the ware is what you pay at the counter - sales tax is already included. Whereas in the US, it gets added at the cashier, so you have to calculate in your head as you shop to make sure you stay within budget
The Goverment wants to prove the outstanding schoolsystem with excellent math skills
TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU, STEPHANIE! This is ridiculous and there is absolutely no reason to keep this system working all over the country. I have heard laughable explanations as to why: because of different tax systems from one state to the other. If you buy in one state, you pay the sales tax of that state, simple. For the same item, you also pay a different sales tax (called VAT) in France, Germany, Italy, etc... but still, the price tag gives you the price you have to pay, basta!
Sales tax is excluded for food in most states, but almost all states charge it for non food groceries. The US does not have a value added tax. Also if you are in a city there is an extra 1% added to the sales tax.
How hard can that be. You don't have to calculate in your head. Get what you need and add up the total price and then just add 5 or 6% or whatever. This is simple 3rd grade math.
@@tikihutdweller5944 might not be hard (And I would argue that not everybody is as good with math as you seem to be), but for someone who has never had to do it in her own country, it's certainly jarring, and not at all transparent. Plus, why require ME to do the calculations when it's easy to just add everything up on the price tag?
I had to laugh a lot because my German girlfriend complains about exactly the same things except that all the Europeans in Australia have imported butter and a few more cheeses,although still no quark! And you are so right about the Miele washing machine(front loader),her jeans got washed three times in Australia and when she arrived in Germany her mum insisted on washing them immediately and they came out the Miele like new!!! Anyway after watching your September video we had a good laugh because lots of these count for Australia as well !
Most of these do NOT count for Australia as well. WTF are you talking about??? 1. My bathroom downstairs has a handheld shower, as have many other places I've lived. It's perfectly normal. 2. Everyone uses WhatsApp. 3. Several States have bottle deposits and you can recycle cans in all of them. 4. Bread and Dairy. Two words Mate: King Island. 5. Air conditioning? Are you living in the Australia on some other planet? Hardly anyone here uses air-conditioning, and no one uses it too much. 6. Washers - yep, well, I've had a few front loaders, but most people DO use top loaders here. 7. Feeling unsafe and gun control??? 8. Bank transfers are a regular part of life. 9. People not believing in facts. Yep, well, there are a few, but it's not rampant the way it is in America. 10. Groceries aren't expensive. I can't be bothered going on. You're an idiot...
@@philsurtees Wow! That wasn't rude at all. 🙄
John Docherty Interesting. Well, I'm from Missouri. You'll have to prove to me that one style cleans better than the other.
As the son of a dry cleaner who worked for my father as a teenager I will certainly attest that front loaders not only clean better and are far more gentle on fabrics as well.
@@LlyleHunter huh. that's weird. I've used both and never noticed any difference. Maybe because I am a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy. :)
I know this is an old video, but we do have a deposit return in the U.S. now. A few grocery stores, like Kroger, have machines that you can put your cans into and get a slip with monetary value that you can use to purchase things in the store.
...vielen Dank für Deine möglichst objektiven Beschreibungen und Erklärungen...
I really like your videos One thing to always remember is that the USA is a MASSIVE country and every location is different. Im Canadian and live in Oregon and it’s very different than Ohio. Same as compared to Texas or NYC. We have extreme have and have-nots which is different than Germany and Canada. Where things are typically safer and more neutral.
Very well put.
Fellow Canadian expat. Drive from Point Grey to Hastings and Main in Vancouver, then tell me Canada doesn't have massive income disparity.
#2: One reason SMS is still preferred over other messaging apps? SMS does not require a data signal! In fact, SMS will get through on the weakest of cellular signals. And if you don't have a signal when you press send, the message will be queued until you do get a signal. Cellular voice and data coverage is not as solid as the companies claim!
and where it is it's common for people to chat over whatever shared platforms they're on too (basically every social media app has chat and there's a blue million other chat apps to choose from)
The WhatsApp thing confused me. How many damn features do you need to say "I'm around the corner" or "🤣". Built in text service also allows for voice messages, so what's the problem? The data signal thing is certainly the main reason though.
I mean sure but the rest of the world uses WhatsApp so that says something about how important phone signal is (it's not anymore, hasn't been for a while) And nobody is saying once you use WhatsApp normal SMS is never used, it is when needed. But depending on where you live, unless you go in the middle of nowhere your internet signal should be strong enough to have a proper chat over internet. Also it's funny that Americans out of all people don't use WhatsApp when you have some of the worst mobile phone rates and subscriptions with very poor services offered. WhatsApp offers everything for free as long as you have a internet connection which you usually have everywhere via WiFi. I know there are a lot of similar apps like WhatsApp that Americans use exactly because of the bad mobile plans you have, it's cheaper to pay a sub for these apps
@@Morindor If you're in an area with wifi then you're in an area with a cell phone signal. Again, chat apps would just be just redundant. I'm seriously struggling to think of a single reason to use a secondary app.
I guess for me its like..... it's a system that already comes with the phone. I've never needed to get an outside app for sending messages cause phones already come with the ability to do that. Why do i need to replace a messaging app with a messaging app?
Differences in faucets and laundry and shower heads depend on ages of homes and regions. Same with recycling. We install hand heads everywhere we moved to. Got state rebates, in OR for buying more efficient front loaders. Old home had two handles at sink, newer home combined. Oregon recycling bins everywhere. Houston none
Saw Lewg Reacts do a reaction to this video, and after being deployed to Germany for almost 2 years, I can relate to most of what you said as hard for you getting used to over here, but still kinda in shock that you didn’t bring up ice in beverages. That was one of my favorite things of living in Germany, I didn’t have to ask for “no ice”. While in Germany we had to ask for ice. I hate ice in my drinks, bc I like to drink them slowly, and here in America, half the drink is ice, so it waters down your drink, unless you self serve in the restaurant, of course.
Much of this depends on where you live in the US. I personally have a front loading washer (for many years), and a wand shower head, I have a mixer faucet in my kitchen (though the ones in the bathrooms from the original building of the house are separate handles). And in suburban areas I think most American's feel safe, even if that feeling gets shattered from time to time (I've never felt unsafe in my neighborhood, but there was a super rare shooting a block from my house last month). Those all apply to pretty much everyone I know as well. Here in CO places don't generally keep AC that low. I'm actually an outlier keeping my house at 70F, where most people would recommend 72 or even 74. Still, good list.
I think top loaders with the agitators( swirly plastic thing in the middle) are better at shaking dirt out of clothes than fronts which just roll them around.
The groceries being cheap in Germany compared to the rest of Europe was such a nice surprise when I did my Erasmus there
Why is that btw.? (I know cause of subsidies Id should be cheap, but why more in Germany than other countries?)
@@MisterPyOne the german supermarket chains got a pretty big impact here. They pretty much got all of the market share in the sales of groceries so they kind of dictate the prices. They even go so far as removing products of some brands if the producer of the brand doesn't want to accept the lower prices, which then results in people buying less of their products if they are regulars at that specific market. The big "Discounters" like Aldi and Lidl kind of got the biggest impact in that region.
@@Karamuto you mean in Germany? (I'm German)
@@MisterPyOne Ja in Deutschland. Wenn du von hier ist sollte dir die Macht von Lidl, Aldi und Co doch durchaus bewusst sein und das von daher auch Lebensmittel so unglaublich billig sind bei uns, trotz der guten Qualität 😁
@@Karamuto Bin ich, und bin auch sehr froh darüber :)
We have a deposit system on glass bottles. However, most of the country kind of phased them out a long time ago as things moved over to plastic. California, Oregon, Michigan, and I think New Jersey still have the deposits. In fact it was a relatively recent story where someone was busted trying to ship in Arizona bottles to get the deposits from California. To the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cans can be collected and sold to scrap yards for the aluminum, not really a deposit scheme there. I'll add that I do remember as a kid we'd save all the bottles up and take them to the store with us to get the deposits on them. This was back in the early to mid 1980's though.
I am USA born and raised, and I am also bothered by every single one of these issues. Especially paper plates, litter, and lack of an effective recycle system.
When I was kid growing up in the 1980's, recycling was much better. I and my younger brother spent a great deal of time and effort scouring public places for aluminum cans. Between that and the cans our family created as waste, we'd have a good couple of hundred every Saturday that we'd line up down the driveway and stomp flat. Every couple of months we'd help load up about 8 garbage bags full and our parents would take them to the recycling center. At least part of the reason this isn't a thing anymore in most places in the US is because the economics changed and it became much more economical to ship it to China rather than actually remake the waste into a new product.
I'm with Feli on all of those except WhatsApp. Why anybody would use a single for profit company's messaging instead mystifies me almost as much as I'm mystified by why we haven't all demanded a unified "open" platform/company independent standard like a merged iMessage/RCS.
@@outby50never trust the Zuckerberg! But yeah on everything else I absolutely agree. Especially on the violence problem we have hear.
Very true. Especially since many municipal recycling programs are a farce. So much of the recyclables end up in landfills rather than being recycled.
Move to Connecticut, 5 cent deposit on everything.
I remember the deposit system in Northern Kentucky when I was a kid(1970-80s). I would hunt in new home construction sights for glass soft drink bottles left by construction workers. Once plastic replaced glass bottles the deposit system went away and I had to get a real job...
The handheld shower head does have one disadvantage -- the hose introduces a delay between making an adjustment to the water temperature and feeling the effect of it, so it can take quite a long time to get the temperature right.
Feli, you are so eloquent and well spoken!
Oregon has a deposit system for bottles and cans. It's 10 cents for each bottle or can and adds up quick. I had a hard time moving to a different state and learning they don't have bottle deposits. They also don't recycle as much in other states whereas Oregon did separate by materials like you spoke about. So it really depends on the state on whether they separate recycling or have bottle deposits or not.
Most doesn’t get recycled. It is sold to the Chinese and they dump it in the ocean. Drug addicts in Oregon buy the water with government money dump the water out and use the deposit money on drugs.
Thats really crazy because in germany all of our 16 states have the same deposit system. Its so simply and nice, theres no easier way to do a good thing for nature or environment in general. In my opinion, every country should have a deposit system. Its very rare to see any bottle or can on the streets in germany, because its litterally money laying on the streets, so some poorer people collect a bunch of them bringing them back to a store. Its sad on the one hand, but on the other its keep our streets clean, ironically.
In NY state, we have paid deposit on beverage bottles. We also have telephone showers.
Spot on! I'm living the opposite situation. You can say these things because you're an actual German. I'm an American living in Germany (Augsburg! since 1999) and you describe the reverse culture shock I experience when I come back to the US for a visit. Once I spent the summer day at a campground in Wisconsin because my kids were at daycamp there. The campground wasn't that large, but nobody walked anywhere. Sie waren unterwegs mit Golfcarts! It was a cool, rainy day and I sat in the cafe while I waited and the aircon was on full blast freeze mode! It made no sense since it was cool enough outside for a jacket. Another thing which I was surprised you didn't mention...billboards and signs screaming at you from everywhere! Don't miss that one bit!😅
Wait… not all states have a deposit system, and some that do don’t let you take it to the store for the deposit refund?! Mind blown. I live in Canada and we take these things for granted, and I’ve visited the US and not noticed this difference!
Most states doesn't have a bottle/can deposit. The handful that do, you can return them to the store. If there is one state you can't return them to the store, that's news to me.
@@BillW50 california only requires stores to accept bottles if there's no nearby recycling center, and those that do often require you to take them to customer service and wait on a human being. thus consumers have no real incentive to participate. despite this, most consumers do use recycling bins where they're available, and then whoever manages that bin ends up being the one to collect the deposit.
CRV is the system for returning cans and bottles in the United States. You pay a .05 cent deposit on all aluminumcans, glass & plastic soft drink bottles here in the U.S. and you can return them to the store. There should be a bottle recycle machine that you feed them into and then it gives you a receipt with your total reimbursement that you cash in at the store. OR you take them to a recycling center. You get a nickle ($0.05) for each one returned.
i just came across this and decided to watch and while listening decided to make some comments 🙂. 1. i'm 67 y.o. and remember often staying with my grandparents when i was young. they always had bottles of coca cola. they bought it by the wooden case (a couple of doz bottles), which are no longer made, but that was before anybody ever even thought of making plastic bottles. anyway, when the case was empty they'd take it back to the store, turn in the glass bottles, get their deposit back, and buy another case of drinks. when companies started using plastic, the deposit/refund practice was discontinued. also, where i lived several yrs ago you could take recycylables and put them in specified bin, but they later got rid of some bins and made it just general recycling - which i still don't understand. 2. as mentioned, i'm 67 - and i still completely agree with you on the a.c., and there's still places where i take a jacket when going to eat. i'll also mention that i had a problem just today when going shopping with a friend. throughout the day it's been in the 50°'s-60°'s, and this person ran her a.c.! even though someone else and i were cold! and it's winter time! 3. cheese tastes much different than when i was growing up. i have found some specialty places that have very good cheese, but it is rather expensive so is something i treat myself to on rare occasions only. as to butter, i used to buy it from someone who made it from her own cows, but i've moved away from there, and that's about the only way i know of to get really good butter ☹. i could go on, but i think this is enough to let you know that there are lots of things (especially in food relared areas) that, for some unknown reason, have changed for the worse in the past 50-60 years. i imagine that recipes have been changed to use cheaper ingredients, preservatives added, and other similar things, and it hasn't helped tastes at all.
our local recycling company explained in a recent mailing that they have automated the separation of recycled materials, (a machine does it) so please dont use plastic bags; many were putting paper scraps, cans, bottles all in kroger bags tied shut. Some person has rip open those bags , defeating the purpose of automation.
I remember those old glass Coke bottles in the wooden cases! The bottles used to say where they were originally filled, and sometimes you could get bottles that had started out very far away. When my dad was young (he's 87 now), he and his cousin would compare their bottles when they bought Coke, and whoever had the bottle that originated nearest to where they lived (Fredericksburg, Texas) had to pay for both. If I remember correctly, my dad once got one that had started out in Egypt!
As far as shower heads, those fixed position ones are usually in older houses, or, houses where the owners like to take baths. I have a house built in 59', and one built in 91', and both have the modern shower systems. It's simply a matter of ordering what you want from Home Depot or Lowes, or wherever, and installing the kit. It takes about 10 minutes to install, and you're done. So there is no reason not to have the shower head system that you want.
Yep, one of the first things I've always done when moving into a new house is to install the showerheads I want.
My impression is that fixed shower heads are common in old housing, cheap housing, and rentals, not so common in newer/nicer homes owned by the resident. A landlord isn't likely to lose a tenant over the showerhead, so they don't put out the (admittedly minimal) extra cost for a nicer one.
If you're going to replace a fixed head with a hand held, go to Lowes or home Depot, and not Walmart, and buy a more expensive one. The cheap ones will not last long, and you'll have to replace it soon.
And i do believe its regional as well because Ive lived in 3 houses and 4 apartments in my lifetime, none ever had a an attached shower head, not even upon move in. Ive lived in NJ/Phila. PA area my whole life, both states.
@@SandyDiVa we all know the real reason women like the handheld shower head and it isn't for cleaning babies that's for sure lol
Great video, especially No 9!! Never thought about that way you are very right!!
In nyc, years ago we had money for bottle return machine in supermarket. Then they went to recycle pick up in front of your home or apt building. You need to go to an italian market for good fresh mozzarella. Many Americans like it cold in the summer.
A deposit system used to be used here up until the 60s and 70's. Mostly it was for glass soda bottles which were sterileized and reused by the bottling companies. You could see the name of the city that the bottle originally came from molded into the glass on the bottom. Those are considered collectables today. And they were made out of high quality glass so most were used by the glass industry. Nowadays we only have recyclleing for aluminum, glass, plastic paper etc.
I'm from Oregon where we were the first state to introduce a "bottle bill" law for can deposits in the early 1970s, so I've been saving my cans my whole life. We used to take them to the store where an attendant would take care of the work, then they introduced the machines where you have to do it yourself which was often very dirty and time-consuming. Then they put those machines outside where they were basically all monopolized by the homeless, which discouraged other people from using them. In recent years the grocery stores got together and sponsored a recycling center program where you can simply drop off bags at your convenience to be counted by machine later and credited to your account. Personally, I give all my cans away to the homeless or donate them. It is easier for me and is a small form of charity.
Waste of time i throw them in the trash and the homeless just dig them out. Pretty much everbody here does that.
It's similar here is Canada. Deposits have been a thing all my life. Though Canada has more emphasis on taking them to a bottle depot, which usually requires you to hand sort them into trays. I've never personally seen a bottle sorting machine before, so I have to experience there. Grocery stores are the only stores I know of who accept cans and bottles, though they discourage it by placing limits on how many you can bring in at a time. I personally give mine to the homeless. Where I live, we have a lot of bottle pickers, but I choose to not make them sort through trash to find mine.
fun fact: the machines the stores use are designed and built in states that have no bottle bill, and the designers have no comprehension of the volume the machines need to be able to handle.
I'd be interested in you venturing out into more of the US then revisiting this list and hearing your thoughts. I think you'd find a lot of your answers have changed. I agree with you on safety, food, trash, but the others are not really accurate. Interesting how our surroundings affect our perceptions. :)
Most people have traded out their stationary shower heads with hand-held; funny we have those in the kitchen sink but not standard in the shower….and it does make it a pain to clean the shower and tub.
Just returned from the 3-year contract gig in Germany. You're so right, girl!
Europe really is safe!
Feli: we've become a throw-away economy. Everything goes into a landfill. Recycling incentives are few and far between. After all we can eventually use the Grand Canyon as a large landfill!
Certainly hope we never do.
At least, you have a Grand Canyon in the U.S. to be used as a large landfill! ;-) In Europe, with our density of population, we have nothing in comparison. That's why we have to implement recycling systems.
Recycling is a scam. It either gets thrown in the dump or sent to china.
@@Ozark-nq9uu No, recycling is not a scam. It's an industry. In Europe, whe collect old glass, which then is sorted and melt again for producing new glass. We also collect old paper, which is then put in aquaeous solution to produce new paper. We collect old metal, which too is sorted, melted, and reused. Meanwhile, there exists even new technology to deal with plastics, so we also collect plastics. Throwing in the dump or sending to China is rather the method used by the mafia in Southern Italy, where the waste systems are controlled and run by the mafia. That's however not the case at all in Mid or North Europe. Here in Austria, recycling is an industry, we even have several world-leading experts, and much recycling technology was even developed in Austria: Because we're a small mountainous country (small after WWI only, before WWI, Austria-Hungary was huge and dominating Europe) and we had to deal with the waste somehow.
@@volldillo I meant more here in the US. In the US it is a complete scam. I've actually been to Germany, back in 2009. I remember how all the trash was separated
Much if this I find most of us do the same as you. While I have a removable shower head attachment on my fixed head, both in one, I still rarely use the removable one. I use both hands in the shower and don't want to have to hold that thing. I mainly use the hand held for washing my dog. As for checks, I don't know anyone that has gotten paid this way since maybe the '90s? It's all direct deposit and has been for a long time now. All my bills are set up on auto-pay with me checking account, but checking accounts rarely involve checks anymore. Maybe she lives among a lot of elderly people? I am in my 50s and so I grew up with checks and learned to balance a check book, etc., but I haven't done that in decades. Some of the other stuff used to be done here like you did in Germany, but things changed. Recycling for example, and the deposit system existed before my time. We used to separate glass from metal from paper, etc. then they just made it easier for everyone to encourage more recycling. It worked. We used to be able to drink in public. In fact when I lived in Vegas, in the '80s, you could walk out of a casino with your drink and take it into the next one. I don't know how they got their glasses back. As for the hours, in most of the country 2:00am is the standard time to stop selling alcohol. When I was in VA. it was 10:00pm. I thought that was weird, but oh well. Well Vegas is a bit of another world, or it used to be anyway. To my understanding you used to be able to drink at a park and of course people always take beer with them fishing or camping, etc.. Maybe it's just one of those things that started getting enforced but wasn't exactly legal back then either?
When I first came to the US 50 yrs ago Germany was way behind , I glad to see they finally have caught up 😂