Feierabend

In Germany, the time after work is called "Feierabend" (literally: celebration evening). This daily event will accompany me again from tomorrow on, because after four weeks of holiday, it's time to get back to work. These four weeks past very quickly because there was a lot to do(see also Mylène daily). If you are home during holiday, you get to experience the city you live in, in a different way. For example, you get to go into town at times you are usually at work. As I did not plan a lot before going to get something I needed at a particular time during the day, I experienced several disappointments, because I found myself in front of locked doors. This made me think about the way "business hours" are defined in Germany, in particular in the small town we live in. I collected several examples of "out-of-business-hours" that I encountered:

-@ Work
Don't try to call anyone in our factory from 9:00-9:15, as this is the breakfast break. Also don't try to call anyone in our factory from 11:45-12:45 because most are on lunch break then. Also don't try to call anyone after 16:00 ... Feierabend. On Fridays, don't expect to reach anyone at all anymore after lunchtime ... early Feierabend.

During the holiday season it is especially difficult to reach anyone. A complicating factor is the fact that the holiday season is very long: it starts around the beginning of June, ends at around end of October. Then, starts again, around mid December and ends again around middle of January. This is because in Germany, people have many holidays (typically 30, excluding 10 or so national holidays).

-City administration
usually doesn't open in the afternoon. There actually is a schedule with opening hours of the different service desks in the afternoon, but that is so complicated that you will never remember it. Better plan your visit in the morning.

-Shops
don't open before 9:30, close again between 12:00 and 14:00 for lunch, and close their doors again between 17:30 and 18:00. On Saturdays it's worse: most are closed after 14:00. No need try on Sundays.

-Supermarkets
only close at 20:00 since recently!! Sundays closed.

-Cafes:
-Traditional ones seem to be closed most of the times. At least every time I tried to go into one, I was told they closed (or were they just closed for me?)
-Modern ones close late on Saturdays

-Car wash (also if you do it yourself): NOT on Sundays

-Glass containers: NOT after 22:00 and NOT on Sundays

-Garbage collection:
is a big business in Germany, with complicated business hours. A very sofisticated plan (distributed door-to-door)is necessary because of the very compicated garbage separation system in Germany. Very problematic: chemical waste (collection in the city center at times all but housewives and pensioners are not at home)

I could go on like this for a bit, but I think I can make my point now already:
In Germany (especially in small and mid-size towns like the one we live in) you have to plan your daily (and even weekly) schedule, and check the business hours very very carefully, if you do not want to face closed doors too often.

The "Feierabend" still is a very well protected institution here and I am very curious how long it will take before also Germany will embrace the 24 hour economy.

There is always an exception to the rule, also here. Bakeries in Germany are open from early morning until late in the afternoon, and, as one of the few exceptions sometimes even open on Sunday morning. Because "frische brötchen" and "kuchen" might well be even more important than Feierabend.

Germany - China

After a 1:2 defeat against Turkey four days ago, the German national football team barely got away against China (1:0) after a penalty in the second half time, today. And the better chances were for the Chinese.

So, the Dutch secured their participation for the final round, next year in Germany, and the Germans themselves, well .... they must be getting pretty nervous by now. After all, the last time the Dutch participated in a football tournament in Germany, in 1988, they won.

An excellent situation; I will be able to face my German colleagues with full confidence until the start of the tournament, ha!

By the way, the China Daily is also interested in Dutch football ... or in the wives of the football players. Anyway, as today's most important sports news they announced that Van der Vaart's wife was voted Bundesliga's prettiest woman So, if the Dutch players won't impress their opponents next year, their wives might.

New Mao biography

Just bought the new biography about Mao Zedong, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. I already read three biographies about Mao before, one by his body guard Quan Yanchi, one by his doctor, Li Zishui, and one by Jonathan Spence. So, I am very curious to see what new information Chang and Halliday came up with. There is already a lot of publicity around this book in the media ("Der Spiegel" even devoted their main article to it, last week). I wonder what reactions it will cause in China, because, no doubt, it will be forbidden there. I will check out some China blogs in the coming weeks on this issue.

Coalition poker

Germany seems close to a power handover; Schröder goes, Merkel comes. Relatively quickly, the most probable, and after the elections almost inevitable, coalition announced their engagement today.
That the engagement will lead to nothing more than an arranged marriage is very clear, when you look at the reactions from both parties. Merkel was asked how she felt, because after all, she seems to get what she wanted. She laughed a bit, at first, and continued formally by saying that she felt good, but that a lot of work was lying ahead of her. No enthousiasm yet.
The SPD reacted similarly: Gerhard Schröder was not available for comment, and Müntefering said that this was only the start of the negotiations ... nothing has been decided before it has been decided.
I don't think there will be a big celebration after the negotiations.

It is usually not nice to see a relationship that is not based on love. But in this case, I think it is the best constellation for pushing necessary reforms forward. The SPD will do everything to continue following the road that was taken with "Agenda 2010", the CDU will not be able to take a completely different route, with the SPD on board. And the traditional ties between the SPD and the unions might be loosened a bit, with Merkel at the steering wheel.
If instead of love, a firm basis of trust can be built up, this coalition might become more than, what most Germans believe, a one-night-stand.

I was a bit surprised about the fact that this black/red coalition is something that few people really wanted: the differences between both parties are not that big anymore. So, in theory, they should be able to agree on a sensible continuation of the reform process. On the practical side, though, I also believe that it's not easy for two rivals to work together and to build a necessary basis of trust to make this process work.

The first woman as Chancellor will not have an easy tasks, that's for sure. Wouldn't it be a great first step, if Schröder would get a position in Merkel's "competence team"?

New Weblog for Mylène

The first two weeks after the birth of Mylène have been quite hectic ... in a nice way. It's a good thing to have four weeks off: changing diapers, household, comforting my little girl, etc have taken up most of my time, which left very little for updating this blog. What I did find the time for, was making a new blog for Mylène. So, for pictures and updates about her, you are welcome to check out mylène's weblog.