The other week I spent a couple of hours in Munich to meet with my new manager, who will based in his home country of England. During our initial greetings he mentioned his irritation with the German railway system because the trains tended to be PUNCTUAL. His point was that if one was running a few minutes late in the UK, they were almost always guaranteed to catch their train, which was also almost always running a few minutes late. I was momentarily surprised at his comment, but then realized he was making a joke, at least partially.
Over the next days as I went about my normal activities, I took time to actually appreciate various aspects of life and culture that rather appeal to me. It is not that I have taken these things for granted, but still, it was worth remembering why those things make my experience here pretty pleasant. Of course, not all of the aspects are strictly German, per se, but being that this is the country that I live in, I recognize that plenty of Germans appreciate the same things.
For example, seasonal foods. As we begin spring, out come the stalks of asparagus (Spargel) in the markets, and I am sure in a few weeks all the restaurants will have some sort of special on the menu.
Likewise, with the first relatively warm afternoon filled with sunshine, the ice cream cafes are serving up scoops to anyone and everyone out enjoying the weather.
Texas never has offered much in the way of four seasons. Summer lasts about 10 months, winter about 6 weeks, and either side of winter is a brief period of time where one might say the weather is fall or springlike. True, when I lived in another part of the US, I did get a better feel for all four seasons, but it was not until I got to Germany that I could truly live it.
While my favorite seasons are autumn, winter, spring, and summer (in that order), I absolutely love the actual change from one season to the next, particularly that first crisp afternoon that marks the coming of fall, and days like we have had here recently, where it stays lighter longer, and the temperatures are just starting to get a bit warmer.
Last month, I turned off my heating, and a couple of weeks ago opened up all the windows in my apartment to allow for a little fresh air to breeze through. It has been lovely, up until a couple of nights ago when the temperature did drop a little more than usual. Suddenly, I was sitting on the couch freezing my ass off. Fortunately, I have a blanket for such occasions, and was able to finish watching the Inspector Morse episode in cozy comfort.
Yesterday evening, I reached that point where I could no longer concentrate on work, so stepped over to the pub and stood outside enjoying a beer while watching people pass by on their way home from work. After a few minutes, I did find myself feeling a bit chilled, despite being dressed warmly (or so I thought) enough. I had to go back inside the pub for a few moments so as to warm up, but then quickly went back outside to enjoy the cool and the people watching. Some folks are still going around in scarves and coats, while others are already in shirt sleeves and flip-flops mode. As I said, the change of seasons, and here marks the coming of spring.
As everyone starts to come out of hibernation, you obviously see a lot more people on the street, out and about doing their thing. This includes my neighbors who live in my building. There are eight flats in total, and I think all but one or two are occupied. Working from home, I actually hear the neighbors more than I actually see them. I certainly hear people traipsing up and down the stairs, presumably on their way to and from work. But, since I don't actually have to go far to my office, I am never on the landing at the times that they are.
I have recently noticed that we seem to be accumulating more trash than in previous months (or even years). One of the things that I really like about being in Germany is that I have become much more environmentally inclined. This is due to the influence of friends of mine who have taught me to be a bit more conscious of my actions, particularly when it comes to conserving energy and sorting trash. Indeed, Nadja was particularly helpful in showing me how to optimize my ways, and of course the color coding of the bins is also pretty clear.
One thing that I have always found curious, recently even more so, is that we seem to have three big bins for plastic recycling, and another three big bins for paper recycling. However, our bin for biodegradable trash is only medium-sized, and there is only one. Not only that, the one remaining bin, which is intended for, let's call it "trash" trash, is downright dinky. It is about half the size of the big bins. It never has really been an issue in all the years that I have lived in my flat; we all seemed to have a decent balance of plastics vs paper vs crud. That is, until a new family moved in a few months ago.
With any new tenant coming into the residence, there is always a spike in cardboard recycling, due to the various boxes that were used in the move. That is normal, and is usually how I can tell when someone has moved in. (small tangent - for as much time as I spend at home, I almost never am around when a new tenant moves in (or out) of one of the apartments) At any rate, during the winter months, I was aware that one of the new residents was rather small. Apart from the dead giveaway of the baby stroller parked in the downstairs hallway, I can hear the baby from time to time. Not just his cries, mind you, but just the general sounds of a little one.
And he is a super pooper.
In the past weeks, our trash bin gets filled up more frequently than in the past. The trash collectors come by regularly, but within a day or two of pickup, the bin is almost overflowing. Just last week, there were extra bags placed next to the bin, simply because they wouldn't fit. I noticed that several of the bags were baby-related (diapers and such). This, too, is normal, and I have absolutely no problem with it. My issue is that I am questioning why we have so many bins for plastics and cardboard, and only a small receptacle for our normal trash.
I accumulate my share of trash, and while I could be a bit better at sorting the Bioabfall from the Restmüll, I do a reasonable job and think it is an okay balance. The bins themselves have little pictures on them to explain what goes where. This is particularly helpful for those who don't necessarily know that Verpackung means plastic recyclables, or that Bioabfall is for the stuff that many Americans would put down their garbage disposal or in the compost heap in their backyard.
The picture on the Bioabfall includes things like half-eaten apples, etc. The bin for plastics shows pictures of things like milk cartons, and the Restmüll bin shows pictures of broken light bulbs and broken cassette cartridges.
Going on this logic alone, I can certainly understand why the sizes of the bins are how they are. For sure, I drink about 4 liters of milk a week, so I am using the Verpackung bin a lot. On the other hand, the last time I had a broken audio cassette was in 1989, and I replace light bulbs about once every two years. Putting more descriptive pictures on the Restmüll bin will not help whatsoever; not unless they make the bin bigger, or provide us another couple of bins.
Part of me likes the fact that the bins are not overly big. Somehow, this keeps me conscious of how much stuff I am accumulating. However, we need to be realistic. I go through a lot of coffee, so I am all for having an extra Bio bin, and when it comes to regular trash, I try and keep that to a minimum, also. As for my little buddy upstairs, he will be a regular contributor for the next year or so, until he completes his toilet training. So, we probably need another one of those for him. Maybe the trash guys will realize that and increase their pick up runs during the week.
Actually, they are just arriving, so I will finish this up and go let them into the building.
enjoy the start of spring
bryan
