Leipzig, Germany
February 2019
I keep a list on my phone of things I like about Germany. Here’s what I have after 10 months here.
The apartment windows (they open out on two different hinges, one for letting in a small draft and one to open the entire window so you can ventilate your apartment and watch the world outside whilst leaning over the sill)
Wurst
How they put a tree on a construction site to celebrate finishing the walls/foundation
The way they eat bread with toppings for dinner and call it Abend Brot
Kaffee und Kuchen in the afternoons every day if you want to
Only major industrialised nation to commit to phase out nuclear power after Fukushima
The word Feierabend and the act of enjoying Feierabend
No plastic bags
The announcement on the U-Bahn that is so much longer in German (“Bitte achten Sie auf den Abstand zwichen Zug und Bahnsteigkante”) than in English (“Mind the gap”)