German humor

I am sure there is already much said and written about this topic, but I just have to add a few words based on my own experience as well.
In general, I would not claim that Germans have no sense of humor, because they do ... at least some do. In fact, a good German friend of mine is one of the funniest people I know. But, I do dare to say that at least some of what most Germans consider to be hilarious, is in fact not funny at all!

Let me try to prove my point:

1. Germans just love it to make jokes about Dutch and cars, which all comes down to statement that Dutch don't know how to drive a car. Besides being far from the truth, I don't understand what is so funny about this. Here is an example:
"What do you get when a Dutch and a Polish get a child? .... A car thief who cannot drive". And? ... Funny?

2. Germans love it even more to make jokes about the fact that the Dutch supposedly all have caravans. I was not aware of this fact myself (if it is true at all) and I was certainly not aware that this is funny. My colleagues are great fans of caravan jokes. In fact, just mentioning the word "caravan" is already reason enough for some to burst out in laughter.

3. In Germany, it is believed that the more often a joke is told, the funnier it gets. This is very efficient, because you don't need so many jokes in this way. Consequently, everybody already knows the joke when you start telling it, so they can already start laughing before the joke is even finished.

Perhaps I am a bit biased, being a Dutch myself (I admit that hearing theses jokes every day, over and over again, does get on my nerves sometimes), so I will not end this post with a statement. I will ask a question instead:

What's so funny about that???

News of the week - Three state elections

Last week, it was election time again, in three of Germany's 16 federal states. On Sunday, the people could go to the polls in Reinland-Pfalz, Baden-Württemberg, and Sachsen-Anhalt. These elections were particularly important because they count as a probe for the popularity of the current "big coalition" in Berlin, between the CDU and the SPD.

In short, the results were as follows:
-In Baden-Württemberg the CDU remained the biggest party. The SPD lost dramatically, whereas the other parties (liberals, and left wing parties) all reached better results than in 2001. Most likely, the CDU will form a government with the liberal FDP again.
-In Reinland-Pfalz, the SPD reached a majority in parlament, and can form a goverment by themselves. The FDP will disappear from the goverment.
-In Sachsen-Anhalt, both the CDU as well as the liberal FDP lost many seats in parlement. Still, the CDU remained the biggest party, and will form a "large coalition" with the SPD. The FDP lost government participation here as well.

Especially the prominent SPD and CDU politicians showed themselves very satisfied with the results: in all states, their prime ministers can keep their positions and a new state with a "large coalition" can be formed. It seems to be the result that the SPD and CDU needed to claim that there is broad support in society for the course the large coalition in Berlin has taken. Yet, with a voter turnout of around 43 percent, a record low in Germany, it is questionable whether this opinion is shared by the majority of the Germans.

News of the week - Strike in civil service

Germany is in a battle. Not in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Kongo. Germany is in a national battle. Since mid February, in parts of the country, civil servants are on a strike, resulting in piles of garbage in the streets of many German cities, major disturbances in public transportation, emergency-only-treatments in hospitals, closing of kindergarten, and other disturbances of public life.

The conflict is quite complicated, so I'll try to summarize the key issues, here.

Actually, there is not one conflict, but a number of related conflicts. It all started in October 2005, when a new collective labour agreement (CLA) was made for all civil servants in Germany. To understand the following, you have know that in Germany, as a civil servant, you can have one of the following employers:

-The central government
-The state government
-The municipal government

The whole thing basically centers around the amount of hours, civil servants have to work per week. The CLA says: 39 hours.
-The central goverment did not sign the collective labour agreement, this did not result in any strikes yet, though.
-The state goverments did not sign either AND are demanding a 40 hour working week for all civil servants (this is already the case in the former East German states).
-The municipal goverments in Hamburg, Niedersachsen and Baden-Würtemberg did sign the CLA, BUT in the former West German states, the municipalities want to use a right for amendment, to increase the working hours to 40 per week as well.
The labour union ver.di strongly opposes these demands as they fear that an increase of the weekly working hours could cause a loss of 250 thousand of a total of 3 million jobs in the civil service sector.

After weeks of strike, the municipal goverments in Hamburg, and Niedersachsen have reached agreements. In Hamburg, a complicated solutions was found, in which the average weekly working hours were set to 38.8, which can be more or less in individual cases, depending on the job, the age, and the family situation. A similar deal was reached in Niedersachsen, where the average weekly working hours was set to 39.24.
In Baden-Würtenberg no agreement is in sight yet, even after an attempt for arbitrage.
Also for the people employed by the state governments, an end to the conflict is not in sight yet.

The people in several German cities will have to put up with garbage piling up a bit longer. This will not improve the negatiation position of the labour union, as public support for the strikes is decreasing rapidly.



So, in short, the whole conflict is about the question whether civil servants should work 39 hours or 40 hours per week. Even though, I realise I oversimplified the situation with this summmary, the following question remains: if employers and employees cannot reach an agreement over one or two extra hours per week, how long will it take for the necessary big reforms to be realised?

I wonder what the Chinese perspective on this issue is.

Time flies

There is not so much time left for blogging these days, I am afraid. I am lagging behind when it comes to posting about the news of the week; only two weeks or so after starting it. I guess I still have to improve my efficiency a bit, to be able to put more activities in less time :-)
There will be something about the ongoing strike in the German public sector tomorrow ... the subject is pretty complicated, so I first have some studying to do.

Einbürgerungskurs

Today, a friend of mine sent me a link to the Dutch 'inburgeringstest'. A similar test has apparently been introduced by the Dutch minister for immigration, Verdonk. Those people who want to obtain the Dutch citizenship have to pass this test before they can even apply for the Dutch passport.

Coincidentally, the German radio channel WDR5, that I always listen to on the way between home and the company, brought the topic today as well. Several German politicians have already shown great interest in adopting a test like the one which will be used in the Netherlands for Germany as well. In fact, Baden Würtenberg, and Hessen have already proposed draft versions of the test, as Spiegel writes today.

So, I did the test. And guess what??? 5,3 was my score (I failed 6 out of 36 questions), which means I did NOT pass the test and can consider myself not well-enough integrated to be a Dutch. Will I now run the risk of loosing my Dutch passport?

I might be considered to be a bad loser, if I write here that to my opinion this test is an at least questionable method to test the level of integration in society. To give an idea of the questions I failed to answer correctly:
-You or you partner is pregnant. When should you visit the doctor? When you feel the baby move, immediately, or after approximately 10 weeks?
-Which province is the biggest in growing flowers? Flevoland, Zuid Holland, or Noord Holland?

Does it REALLY matter whether you know the answers to these questions, for being a good Dutch citizen?

I wonder whether the test has to be carried out by people who already have a Dutch passport as well. And if they fail, will they be kicked out of the country? Ok, I am out already ... but what if Germany also adopts this great idea? Perhaps we should really consider immigrating to China.

Stuff about Germany

These days, I came across a few websites, that made me wonder what I am writing these articles for, anyway. I was not so naive to think that I am the only one who is writing about life in Germany. After all, on the Internet, anything you can think of is there ... and more. But still, I have to admit that for a short moment, a feelilng of disappointment came over me. Luckily, this feeling disappeared quickly after I checked into the contents of these sites.

Living in Germany for example has lots of interesting information about Germany, ranging from practical stuff to cultural backgrounds. My sister sent me this link to one of the funniest characterisations of a German I have ever seen: check it out yourself. Even my German colleagues liked it.

Another interesting site is The German way, focussing on the books "The German Way" and "When in Germany, do as the Germans do" by a guy called Hyde Flippo. Nice stuff, altogether, to browse through on a rainy day.

And my own weblog? Well ... there is only one person who can write about my observations and experiences, right? A good reason to continue, I would say.

News of the week - The new German spelling

It is no secret that in Germany, many things take a bit longer to be realised than in most other countries. The reform that was finally agreed upon last week, is a bit extreme even for German standards, I think.

So what is it all about? Last week, the reform of the German spelling was approved, after a struggle that lasted almost 34 years. In 1972, the reform started with an initiative to write nouns without capitals. After many rejections and revisions, in August 2004, several publishing companies, most prominently, the "Axel Springer Verlag", even decided to go back to the old spelling again, bringing the reform process into a serious crisis. Finally, in 2oo5 a commission was set-up that should settle the issue, once and for all. The work of these brave men and women has now resulted in a reform proposal that has been accepted by the government, as well as by the publishing community in Germany. The new spelling rules will apply from 1 August 2006 ... 5 months left to study them.

Definitely, the German news of the week!

A little bit of Holland in Shanghai

This post is directed mostly to the readers in Shanghai. On the site of Dutch blogger Marc van der Chijs I picked up an article about a Surinam restaurant in the heart of Shanghai:

"The restaurant is called Sweet Fajalobi - The taste of South America, and is located on 362 Shaanxi Bei Lu, just north of Plaza 66 (taxi: Beijing Lu/Shaanxi Lu). It's a two-storey restaurant, with a small patio in the back. The atmosphere is relaxed, with South-American music (not too loud), and small tables with a candle on it. There is also a bar, with Hoegaarden (white beer) on draught. The walls have pictures and art from Surinam on it."

Supposedly the restaurant also offers some Dutch favourites on the menu. So, if you are interested to get a taste of theDutch food, go check it out .... for some of you it's practically around the corner.

Enjoy your meal, and tell me whether you liked it!