Instead of clapping, German students greet their lecturer in the auditorium by hitting their palms on the surface of their desks. This is said to be done for the sake of time efficiency, as to clap a person would need to put the pen down first.
Germans don’t usually dip their fries, but put the sauce on top, which I personally dislike because it makes things rather messy.
Germans are usually quiet and reserved in their daily lives, but once a while they gather for a party or a trip and make so much noise that any other person would become deaf in those circumstances.
For many Germans eating is not a way of getting pleasure, but simply a source of calories, so they will bite a sandwich, a hotdog or drink a protein cocktail and seriously call it “lunch”.
In many German public toilets visitors of all genders are obliged to use the facility in a sitting position, so that it wouldn’t need to be cleaned.
In the German countryside fruit trees located on agricultural parcels are considered legal property of their owners, so even if all the fruit fall down and rot, others still have no right to gather them for themselves. On the other hand, if a tree branch protrudes over a fence of a private house, people walking down the street have right to pluck some fruit for themselves.
In Germany teenagers are legally obliged to drive their bicycles on public roads or specially designed bike lanes, but not on sidewalks, where only small children can cycle.
Some smaller German railway stations are locked for the night in order to prevent drunks from sleeping inside, so people need to wait for their trains in the street.
In Germany it is normal for one person to perform several functions on their job. For example, if there are two employees in a shop, both will take turns working at the cash desk or unloading the goods, so that no one does the same task all the time.
Germans seem to be obsessed with stories of crime and violence, with every bookstrore having a wide array of crime and detective novels, and primetimes of TV channels being filled with crime investigation series.
German women rarely dress in a fashionable way or use makeup, and in everyday circumstances could be barely distinguishable from men in terms of clothing.
In Germany it is regarded as impolite to publicly discuss wages and money in general. The size of a person’s salary is considered to be a private affair and shouldn’t be boasted about.
Many Germans have their own garden plots with small houses, but it is forbidden to live there on a constant basis, and the plots aren’t normally used to grow any products, and serve exclusively as places of relaxation.
German tap water is not very different in quality from bottled mineral water, although many people still prefer to drink the latter just in case
