
This Family Rule must be understand in a very flexible way. In my family, “German” meant everything related to our years in 1970s Germany. If you lived in my house, you absorbed the fact that living like a German was the best way a person could live. If you were a visitor in our home, you knew you were in the presence of some pretty darn special people!
Here are some things–or ways of doing things–whose Germanness clearly kicked the butt of Americanness. Boy, there were so many things which were better. Germany would have beaten the U.S. in Rock, Paper, Scissors each and every time. And since we understood these things, maybe we were superior beings?
In no particular order, I present the first twelve testaments to German awesomeness. Drumroll, please…
1. Nutella. O.M.G. We were eating it by the pound before you American dumb-dumbs even knew it existed.
2. Drinks in bags. Ditto, American slackers. I was drinking bagged Capri Suns before you were even born.
3. Haribo Gummi Bears. Same story, third verse. Also, gummi colas, gummi worms…you name it!
4. Playmobil.
5. Steiff stuffed animals. Yup.
6. German bread. From fluffy to crispy to scour-your-anus-good. Just add BUTTER.
7. Sausage. So. Many. Kinds. Of. Heaven. (I swore never to try Blutwurst but I ate it once by accident. Part of me wanted to stick my finger down my throat. Part of me wanted more.)
8. Cheese. We only had, what…American, Swiss, and Cheddar back in those dark ages?
9. Ikea. Who cares if it isn’t actually German? We used to go to shop at Ikea in Germany, before it came to the US. I would live in Ikea if I could.
10. Wooden toys. No plastic crap for us. No siree!
11. Coffee. My parents were partial to Tchibo, which they drank with a drop of Bärenmarke evaporated milk.
12. Chocolate. No surprises there, especially in the 70’s. I think Ritter Sport with rum, raisins and hazelnuts was my childhood fave. Also epic: Kinderschokolade eggs with build-it-yourself toys inside. Some of the toys were quite involved. The surprise and the engineering behind them was magic.
Stay tuned for more worship–uh, I mean, sharing. In the meantime, you might want to check out fellow blogger Aaron Schilling, who is writing fun and very authentic bits about the unfolding of his intensive German experience.
This post is part of Family Rules. For the prior post, click here. For the next post, click here.