That’s not so clear cut.
Ultimately, what it came down to is that I enjoy the little things more in Germany – walking through the forests/fields with Maxie, buying bread at the bakery, not having to scrape off a car nine months out of the year (ha) – that tips the scales. That, and Germany has a social system that I support ideologically, if not yet in a tax-manner. It’s a fundamental value of mine that Canada is sincerely lacking, though I recognize I would have never known that without that whole poverty-stint a couple years ago. (Is it that long ago already?)
Nevertheless, that 48% seems to be getting a lot noisier these days, and here are some reasons why:
* I’m sick of waiting for a train that has a perpetual ten-minute delay*
*I’m sick of my neighbour insisting that vacuuming between the hours of 8 and 10 o’clock is torture for him (notice the outside-of-Ruhezeit-hours), yet it’s okay for him to blare the TV at midnight (notice the inside-of-Ruhezeit-hours)*
*As grateful as I am that the Krauts in my building don’t follow the “Silent on Sundays” rule Schwabisch-style so I can get some laundry done, doing loud renovations at 11pm on a Sunday night makes me want to kill them*
*Why is it that service people switch to “du” as soon as they realize I’m not a native speaker? Are foreigners (who may have an accent but speak the language very well, thankyouverymuch) somehow not worthy of respect?*
*Krauts seem to find a thousand things they can nitpick about, when they should probably be focusing on all the shit they do incorrectly/poorly*
*I’m sick of choosing my footwear based solely on the fact that I need to be able to walk at least three hours straight in said footwear*
*I have to actually consider whether or not I should finally get around to purchasing legal insurance because, heaven forbid, I stay in Krautland for my PhD and have to deal with sue-happy Germans for the long-run and will never be able to otherwise pay for a lawyer in a country full of people that find me dislike-able (I wonder why that is)*
*The only reason I haven’t sent out resumes for a couple of positions yet is that I have to go get a fucking Bewerbungsfoto done. Why, why, WHY is my supposed ability to do a job somehow related to whether or not I look homeless/beautiful/whatever it is they’re looking in application photos?!*
*I just wanna be able to speak at regular native-English-speaker speed for once without worrying if I will be understood or not*
*I’m sick of my neighbour insisting that vacuuming between the hours of 8 and 10 o’clock is torture for him (notice the outside-of-Ruhezeit-hours), yet it’s okay for him to blare the TV at midnight (notice the inside-of-Ruhezeit-hours)*
*As grateful as I am that the Krauts in my building don’t follow the “Silent on Sundays” rule Schwabisch-style so I can get some laundry done, doing loud renovations at 11pm on a Sunday night makes me want to kill them*
*Why is it that service people switch to “du” as soon as they realize I’m not a native speaker? Are foreigners (who may have an accent but speak the language very well, thankyouverymuch) somehow not worthy of respect?*
*Krauts seem to find a thousand things they can nitpick about, when they should probably be focusing on all the shit they do incorrectly/poorly*
*I’m sick of choosing my footwear based solely on the fact that I need to be able to walk at least three hours straight in said footwear*
*I have to actually consider whether or not I should finally get around to purchasing legal insurance because, heaven forbid, I stay in Krautland for my PhD and have to deal with sue-happy Germans for the long-run and will never be able to otherwise pay for a lawyer in a country full of people that find me dislike-able (I wonder why that is)*
*The only reason I haven’t sent out resumes for a couple of positions yet is that I have to go get a fucking Bewerbungsfoto done. Why, why, WHY is my supposed ability to do a job somehow related to whether or not I look homeless/beautiful/whatever it is they’re looking in application photos?!*
*I just wanna be able to speak at regular native-English-speaker speed for once without worrying if I will be understood or not*
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