5 Common American Things You CANNOT Find in Germany

[@PassportTwo]

Along these lines, do you know of any food products that you would find in your kitchen that is specific to your country and maybe wouldn’t be found in kitchens in other countries?? 🤔 Don’t forget the first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/passporttwo01211

[@andrear.berndt9504]

Going to Denmark I missed our dairy product Quark and I had to use their Skyr, which is a little different!

[@klaus-udokloppstedt6257]

I haven't seen a single Kohlrabi during my 7 years in the US. And I was surprised, that Waldmeister flavor is totally unknown.

[@wncjan]

I never seen real Danish rye bread or a nice Danish matured cheese anywhere and especially not in the US

[@janpracht6662]

Here is one thing you probably only will find in Germany: Der Mettkalender. One Mettbrötchen for every month in 2021. is it not beautiful? ;-) Okay, I admit it is fairly quirky... der-mettkalender.de/

[@_Briegel]

- Tornado Sirenen brauchen wir nicht, wir haben Stabile Häuser. - Für Atomwarnungen sind die auch unnötig, wir haben Nivea Creme (die schütz vor allem was für die Haut schlecht ist) und wir haben stabile Häuser ;-) - Tornadoschutzbunker... siehe Punkt 1 ;-) - Winken oder Grüßen... also ihr überseht eindeutig noch die Feinheiten. Wir Grüßen jeden Bekannten oder Nachbarn. Entweder durch ein zucken des Augenlieds, ein anheben des kleinen Fingers, ein leichtes Kopfnicken oder einfach auch nur dadurch das wir ihm nicht gleich eine Ohrfeige verpassen weil er mal wieder den Rasen an seinem Haus nicht ordentlich gemäht hat. - OK, Schokotropfen haben wir nicht. Das liegt aber daran das die Spitze so gefährlich aussieht und an die alte Pickelhaube des Preußischen Militärs erinnert. Deshalb haben wir die Schoko"hügelchen" - Schulbusse in Warnfarben brauchen wir nicht, hier macht man einen Führerschein und keine einfache Lizenz zum Fahren, deshalb weiß jeder um die bedeutung eines eingeschalteten Warnblinkers ;-) Fazit: Ihr solltet lernen feste Häuser zu bauen, Niveacreme zu benutzen, sparsamer und weniger auffällig zu Grüßen (denkt nur an Zombies, die reagieren auf alles auffällige, also trainiert schonmal für die kommende Apokalypse ;-) ) und endlich mal sowas wie einen ernstzunehmenden Führerschein mit entsprechend umfangreichem Training und Prüfung einzuführen... dann nehmen wir vielleicht auch von euch die Schokotropfen an ;-) In diesem Sinne: Prost!

[@andrear.berndt9504]

Our sirens look different, but sound similar. Mostly we hear them for fire alerts! Great Video, so interesting!

[@PassportTwo]

Glad you enjoy! 😊

[@Honkster24]

We have sirens in Germany, too. They just look different (you won't recognize them as sirens) and are mostly placed upon roofs. Example video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGbZiJeXZ7Who6s

[@HalfEye79]

Back in the 80s, I think, were quite regular testings, too.

[@alenaalive112]

Exactly! Where I live in Germany they are also testet every saturday 12:00 h.

[@dirkschwartz1689]

Indeed! In the village I grew up in Germany, they used to test them every Wednesday at noon. We would call this "cutting the week in half". In the town where I live now, they're tested every Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Strange time. - Anyway, they are generally used to alert the voluntary force of the fire department to a large fire or natural desaster (ofc they also call them on their phones these days). Their origin is war time, and after WW II a special sign pattern has been defined to warn the general public in case of a missile or bomber attack. This pattern isn't widely known any more as it's no longer part of the regular siren test, but it would be used in such a case to alert people to switch on their radio or TV. The sirens are usually set up on top of the roof of a central public building like the fire house or, in my current case, the town hall.

[@MsRiiik]

here is a video on how they are used, so which snignal is used for which emergency etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHvOo4VniKiceMk

[@markmeier2781]

@@alenaalive112 That was obligatory all over Germany in the past. That ended if I am right in the 2000th. Now it is a communal thing and got fairly rar.

[@natstephens4054]

Public drinking fountains. As an American, I became reliant on drinking fountains. During my first experiences traveling around Germany, I became dehydrated, because I could not find one. Now, I always pack water.

[@mikelastname1220]

Yes. When I lived in Germany I never saw one public water fountain! Saw many in Italy.

[@th60of]

Off-topic: I like it when in your intro you refer to that "small Southern state" - which is only a little more than half as big as all of Germany. ;-)

[@emjayay]

It's not what I would consider a "southern state" either. It's more like north Texas, which isn't the same as a Deep South (southeastern) state.

[@SD-ed8is]

Where I live we still have sirens, they are used for the Freiwillige Feuerwehr. We rarely have tornados here. The sirens are tested every Wednesday at 6pm without fail.

[@derhauser]

Same by use. At 10am Saturday.

[@nightcorelove2626]

Same but every first sunday of the month

[@markmeier2781]

That is not really correct. We have tornados here. Actually we have mor tornados here then any other European country. BUT they are much much weaker then the average tornado in the US

[@SD-ed8is]

@@markmeier2781 By 'here' i didn't mean Germany as a whole, only where I live (like my Landkreis). I only remember maybe one or two last year and they where mostly above the Baltic Sea not on land.

[@markmeier2781]

@@SD-ed8is Oh there was a few on land. There is also a German word for it “Windhose”. Sound harmless at the first glance but is nothing else then a tornado. But due to the mor massive way of building in G and the fact that these are normally much weaker then in the US the damages are way less. I guess if a F5 or so stumps true G the damages will be still less but the human “victims” will be much higher due to a) We are simply not prepared for it. And b) G is much denser populated then the US.

[@omayrasanchez2877]

Guys, I really like you and your videos, but to compare the differences between American and German chocolate chips with the differences between American and German bread is an insult 😅 (I still like you, but that has to be said!) Chocolate chips might be different in the US and here, have a different shape and probably taste differently too because they use a different type of cocoa or use different proportions of the ingredients, sure. But they're not more or less different than a thousand other things, that are a bit different here and there. Bread however is something that has its own culture around it in Germany ("Deutsche Brotkultur"), not just one food item of/like many, and the relation between American bread and German bread is far beyond "it's different" (I'm speaking from first hand experience, I tried finding good bread on the Westcoast and tested many different 'breads' over there). From a German perspective you don't have any bread at all, but you have what we call "Toast" (white bread, we call it Toast in general because toasted is the only condition in which we consider it edible) and even your "Toastbrot" (okay, I admit it is a type of bread, but the worst of them all) tastes like paper mixed with sugar. It's so sweet to German tongues that it's borderline-inedible, and I'm not talking about white bread that's supposed to be sweet but just the regular normal white bread in America tastes sweet to us. And nothing else. It has no actual taste to it, it doesn't taste like "bread" at all but it's something else entirely. I love you guys, but Americans don't even know what bread is, by German definition, whereas Germans know what chocolate is and just, partially, use or process or prepare it differently. No offense 🌸

[@goblingoddessgaming608]

That is so true... It's not even just American "bread" that's an insult to the word to a German, even in Austria you can't get proper bread. It's like German bread is its own thing. The French have baguette at least which is awesome too in a different way. I love baguette (finding a good one in Germany can be tricky though.) But man, the worst thing about going to the US or Canada is the bread situation. We usually buy baguettes. Some of the expensive artisan breads are kind of OK too. The worst part is indeed the sweetness. Disgusting. The other day I bought a bread that actually tasted faintly sweet and I got immediate PTSD flashbacks to the States, lol. :D

[@shadowlibra5758]

@Omaraya Sanchez I was actually about to write that too😂😂because of the incomparability of ,chocolate us vs ger’ and ,bread ger vs us’😅😂

[@Nikioko]

Americans try to tell us something about chocolate...🤣🤣🤣 kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIDdmoqjlLJ9b80

[@kingben1216]

Imagine being such a unserious person that you are genuinely offended about comparisons between types of bread. Wow, you’re really quite insufferable, aren’t you?

[@Nikioko]

@@kingben1216 Do you know the meaning of the word "irony"? Has nothing to do with iron.

[@frankj10000]

Wait, you wave at strangers? Why would anybody do that?

[@mmkjijhuks1841]

It's common in Mexico too, in small rural towns. Not t necessarily weaving, but you gesture with your hand at other people while driving your car or riding your bike.

[@kingben1216]

Because it’s considered a polite way of acknowledging the presence of others in certain situations in America.

[@mikelastname1220]

When we hosted our German Exchange student who was from Frankfurt, he saw everyone wave at me as I drove down our rural highway. When we got to the small grocery store, all of us spoke to each other, "Hi, how are you? Sure is nice weather today." Just little things like that. On the way home, some people waved at us from their lawns. Now, we live "out in the country". This is common for country folk. You wouldn't do this in the city. But . . . he was amazed and said, "You must be very popular. EVERYONE knows you!" I said, "No . . . not really. Why do you say that?" He said, "Every person waved at you and every person in the store spoke to you. Surely, they all KNEW you!!!" That's when I explained to him it was just a rural thing. He just couldn't grasp that total strangers could smile and wave!

[@torkakarshiro5170]

...maybe the same reason why you greet everybody with "Grüßgott" in more rural areas, whether you know the person or not?

[@frankj10000]

@@torkakarshiro5170 Yeah, I've always lived in the city where you just don't greet random strangers. Of course it would be different in a much less populated area.

[@maximiliankieser4686]

In germany we will propably not wave to each other. However especially if you see someone elder on the street you may also say hello when you pass by

[@MagnificentGermanywithDarion]

Very nice video Folks, yall do a great job hands down :). That was a lot of fun on my Livestream today and It was a sure honor to have you both there. :).

[@PassportTwo]

We really enjoyed it! Thanks again for having us 😃

[@nicolehilse7191]

The picture of the German schoolbus is interessing: A bus from Hamburg with a destination in Frankfurt?! :-) Great video.

[@saftsack11]

it is just registered in Hamburg

[@Dutchbelg3]

The thing with the chocolate chunks... I am sorry guys but nothing beats the chocolate chips from Belgium. Why? Because in the USA hard vegetal fats are used in stead of cacao-butter (because cacao butter melts at body temperature which gives a creamier and full taste but also make chocolate melt in your hand and keeps shorter in the store). That's why some people in Belgium will keep the chocolate (dry!) in the fridge. The USA is not the only country that does use hard (palm) fat ..even worse because of tropical forest impact.

[@margretblaswich]

🤤👍

[@philippschmidt4053]

You will finde some safety in houses in german echoings (Halligen) and Islands. And there are Sirens in Germany and they get tested mostly on saturdays at 12 o'clock.

[@PassportTwo]

Based on the comments we are reading, it seems the sirens and them being tested varies greatly from region to region and city to city 🤔

[@Aine197]

When I was a kid in school, my village (Baden-Württemberg) still had air raid sirens that were tested on a regular basis. The tests were always at 11AM on a weekday, but not as frequently as every week.

[@dnocturn84]

@@PassportTwo Yes, rules and regulations vary a lot from region to region. Sirens in my area are tested every month on the last Saturday at noon. Others do it every half of a year and so on... One other difference is their use in Germany. They are used for weather hazards and bombing warnings, but in rural areas, like mine, they are also used to alert the volunteer firefighters. So when somthing burns or a traffic accident happens, I will also hear the sound of the siren. But their sound varies between the purpose of the message. The signal will be different for firerfighters, for tornados and for bombardments.

[@berlindude75]

During the Cold War sirens were tested every week, in East Germany nationwide on every Wednesday at 1 PM.

[@moniebee]

Former NYC resident here. Though we have yellow school buses in NYC, they tend to only be used very occasionally like for field trips, sporting events, or private schools. Otherwise, we do it exactly like Germany does where we catch regular transportation which routes us to our schools and certain buses are only intended to be a school bus during certain hours but turn back into regular transit once kids are supposed to be in school. The rest of the state does tend to function like you mentioned though. NYC just likes to be an oddball and it would kinda be expensive to do the standard way considering how many schools are in NYC relative to the size of the city (NYC is little less than half the geographical size of Oklahoma City but has over 1700 public schools compared to the roughly 70 in OKC.)

[@annettestanzel8598]

Fun Fact: We used to have yellow buses all over the country. They were run by the National Post Office Company. We had red buses too. They were run by the National Train Company

[@Baccatube79]

I simply MUST raise an objection here: chocolate chips are not a Grundnahrungsmittel. Germans have their beloved crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, well-risen, exuding perfumes of paradise, sour dough rye bread not seldom with three meals a day. Chocolate chips are an unhealthy luxury making too sweet food even sweeter.

[@Nikioko]

Plus, telling us something about the "right quility of chocolate"... 🤣 kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIDdmoqjlLJ9b80

[@Rubycon20]

This. This right here. This is the most German objection imaginable.

[@stefanjung4454]

Gottseidank gibt es die Unterschiede! Sonst wären diese Videos nicht da. Ich war 27 Jahre als Fernfahrer in Europa unterwegs. Wenn ich essen gegangen bin, habe ich mir gezielt die regionalen Gerichte herausgesucht. Es war eigentlich nie eine schlechte Wahl. Klar Geschmäcker sind verschieden, das ist mir schon klar. Ein Kollege hat sich einmal Maultaschen in Bordeaux bestellt, weil es in der Karte als Aktiosmenü angeboten wurde. Begeisterung sieht für mich etwas anders aus, muß ich im Nachhinein sagen. Da war ich mit dem regionalen Menü auf alle Fälle besser dran. Ich denke wenn ich hier versuche etwas aus dem amerikanischen Repertoire zu kochen, scheitert das an den richtigen Zutaten. Irgendwie geht es immer, das weiß ich. Nur wenn ich irgendwann mal rüber komme, werde ich dort bestimmt keine Maultaschen oder ein Schnitzel bestellen. Während man in Deutschland eigentlich in jedes Restaurant gehen kann, ohne Angst zu haben. Ist das scheinbar in Amerika nicht der Fall. Bisher hatte ich in ganz Europa kein Restaurant gesehen, wo ich nicht hingegangen bin. Mit Sicherheit gibt es das auch, außer Imbissbuden habe ich jetzt noch kein wirklich schlechtes Restaurant gesehen. Dabei muss man beachten, so eine bekannte aus Idaho, daß sich Amerikaner kaum Zeit nehmen zum Essen. Ich habe das selbst nicht gesehen! Folglich ist wahrscheinlich Fastfood Programm. In einigen Dokumentationen wurde das schon vorgestellt, und sah eigentlich immer gut aus. Aber das wisst ihr bestimmt besser! Nun, ich denke daß man bestimmte Lebensmittel bei uns nicht bekommt, liegt einfach daran daß es die regionalen Rezepte nicht benötigen. Das sollte aber klar sein. Ich habe lange amerikanisches Bier gesucht. Bin sogar fündig geworden! In dem Supermarkt, in dem ich hier einkaufen gehe, gibt es ein Stark bier mit einem seltsamen Namen, Arrogant Bastard Ale. Ich fand es eigentlich ganz gut, obwohl ich jetzt des öfteren gewarnt wurde. "Die Plörre könne man nicht trinken!" Bei dem Bier kann ich das nicht sagen, es ist sehr gut. Es schmeckt anders als deutsche Biere. Bis auf den Preis fand ich es super. Immerhin fast 3€ für eine Dose. Ich suche aber weiter! Demnächst werde ich aber die Getränkemärkte durchsuchen, sofern die offen sind. Für Vorschläge auf andere Artikel bin ich jederzeit offen. Macht einfach weiter so und bleibt gesund.

[@luckyqualmi]

Germany is pretty much like Texas when it comes to Tornados. We have them every year, but most are small and or on open fields in middle Germany. Every few years there is bigger one that runs across a village or so. Keep in mind, half of the tornados (or Wind-/Wasserhosen) in Europe are over open water due to the scape of the continent.

[@PassportTwo]

I have heard on a smaller scale Germany lies in „Europe‘s tornado alley.“ We heard Tornados are possible unlike in Oklahoma where in the Spring you count on many large Tornados...haha

[@frednich9603]

Texas tornados are small? I lived through a f4 that hit Wichita Falls in 1979 that killed dozens of people. And then there was the Jarrell Tornado, which was an F5

[@V100-e5q]

@@PassportTwo So welcome back home!

[@swanpride]

It helps that German houses are built stable enough that they can survive a smaller scale tornado just fine.

[@alexanderkupke920]

@@swanpride looking at the common tornado even the average german house would get severely damaged. The main issue is flying debris. And once windows are shattered the wind may build up such an enormous pressure inside that even a house build from masonry materials will be blown apart.

[@eagle1de227]

When i was a kid while cold war we also had sirens here in germany. I remember the siren tests also. But meanwhile they've been dismantled because it was estimated they where of no use anymore and too expensive to warn people and could be replaced by more modern telecommunication devices. Here and there you can still see some mostly in rural places. And please: don't you dare comparing chocolate chips to our holy bread! Yet i surely would appreciate those if available here...

[@karstenvoigt7280]

Germany once had those sirens and also the regular testing. Not specifically for tornadoes or named after them, but for all kinds of hazards, fires etc., each with their own signal, and most of all: WW3. Don't forget: During the cold war, Germany was the designated frontline. But after the cold war, they got removed in many areas, except from some rural ones.

[@leDespicable]

And some cities like Cologne which were intelligent enough to at least keep their pneumatic sirens, and later on rebuilt their system with electronic ones.

[@mayak595]

i grew up in a small german village during the 1990's near the netherland border. there used to be a british military base and those sirens you talk about were all over the place. similar to your experience i grew up hearing those sirens go of every saturday at noon. since im not living there anymore i can't say if those sirens still exist but back then everybody knew them as "bombenalarm", although they went of only for testing.

[@jorgschimmer8213]

The Sirence still exist . Mostly installed at Townhalls . There are just not in usw.

[@dagmarszemeitzke]

@@jorgschimmer8213 but every 6 month is a test on saturdays at 10 a.m. And when you don't hear them you had to respond, so that the Sirenes can bei repaired.

[@jennyh4025]

@@mayak595 I grew up in the Ruhrgebiet, and even if I didn’t have a watch on me or a clock nearby, I loved to know „it’s Saturday noon, everything is all right“. And then suddenly they stopped testing (I can’t remember when that was) and now we have the testing again every month or so in Cologne. I really missed the siren.

[@benganly3932]

Well, there was a period when Germans did do a lot of waving one hand in the air but it didn't go too well.

[@picobello99]

We have sirens in the Netherlands too. They're tested every first monday of the month at noon. They're used to warn the people for danger like aerial attacks, big fires that release toxic smoke, floods, etc. I actually never heard it go off apart from the monthly tests.

[@rexexdesign]

In the small town of 30k where I grew up in Germany waving to people was common. Greeting with a hallo or at least a nod and smile at the minimum on walks. Also, since license plates are often custom and have the town/area in the first 1-3 letter spots on the plate, people recognize each other by the plate and wave.

[@PhilipLon7]

Here in Austria we have the Saturday Noon Siren test too.

[@nobodx]

Germany as well... though many have been dismantled in the past - but in my village, we still have those working They’re also used to inform the firefighters that they’re needed (depending on the signal pattern)

[@nobodx]

@@philippbock3399 it's 12:00 here in our region (eastern NRW) ;P

[@dschue]

Normally, I take the bus to school and back home. As you’ve said, it is just a normal public transportation bus (which is only driving twice a day for school), but there is no sign the bus is used as a school bus - it is just a normal public line so we need to have a valid ticket - and the signs only show the line number and the destination.

[@V100-e5q]

In small areas the waving is also done in Germany. But only between neighbors. Did you notice the rabbit sign in the front window? These were introduced to make it easier for children to memorize their line while they were not yet able to read.

[@sarahmayer8539]

Ihr habt den besten Kanal zu diesen Themen!

[@PassportTwo]

Vielen Dank!! 😃

[@j.f.6687]

Great video! I love hearing about culture differences and you guys always show the things you are talking about which gives us such a better idea of what it is all about. Thank you for the effort. :-) By the way when passing a bus (any type) in Germany that shows the hazard lights, you have to pass by in walking pace. I hardly ever see that happening, but that is actually what people are taught in driving school.

[@PassportTwo]

So glad you enjoy our videos! Ya, showing what we are talking about is one of the most important parts to us because we really want people to see it for themselves and understand what we are saying. Thanks for the kind words! 😃

[@ThomasKossatz]

Oh you will find Sirens in Germany, they only look different. In my town they even check it every week on Saturday at noon. Sounds familiar? de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirene_(Ger%C3%A4t)

[@73bbl38]

A lot of sirens were removed after the cold war ended. They are now slowly being built again as it was realized that there are other needs to warn. The town were I live, kept a majority of sirens for alarming fire fighters and they fire alarm is still used today (not for very small incidents though) despite every fire fighter has a pager as a redundancy. So the sirens can be heard from time to time and are tested once a month with a 15s siren sound.

[@Markus-zb5zd]

@@73bbl38 over here in my hometown Hanau they are tested every 3 months. They were never dismantled and not used to alarm fire services, they are for warning the general public.

[@annkathrinhanamond2982]

The safety houses remind me of small versions of the WW2-bunkers we have in Germany, made against the bombings ... And I want those chocolate chips now! The little tip is so cute :D

[@wernerhiemer406]

No they resemble something of Werner comics but without the winding. ... happens.

I took the bus to Gymnasium (elementary school was in the same town). It was, as you said, a regular bus that just did school bus duty… in a way. It did use the normal bus stops. I'm not sure if the school was a regular stop, I do remember a bus stop sign there, but I never took a regular bus outside of going to school (bike was more convenient), so I can't say if any regular routes stopped there. Oh, wait, there might have been a timetable there too, so it *was* a (sorta) regular route.

[@SusiBlumentopf]

Jürgen, be aware that "gymnasium" in US means only sports hall, fitness center. Here we use this typ of school for more clever kids age 10-18, comparable to "High school" in a way. Secundary school types (Hauptschule, Realschule) for kids age 10-14/15 years were the averages ones Kids than go off tor apprenticeship, or change to gymnasium to finish their education on a higher lavel and join later collage or university.

Hmm, maybe there's a reason I capitalized it… so people would see that it's not just a gym (which is the term usually used, nobody say "gymnasium" in everyday speech).

Also, context: here, I'm replying first and foremost to Aubrey and Donnie. And they are, I think, aware that our school systems are different, so they probably got the capitalization.

[@Zeder95]

7:30 These types of vehicle-specific greetings actually exist in europe as well to some degree, atleast mobile home/camping van drivers are greeting each other a lot with hand signs when they pass each other in traffic, and I think truck drivers and bus drivers also do this. I think its just some kind of sign of solidarity among people who drive the same type of vehicle (and probably encounter the same traffic-related challenges with their vehicles).

[@PegasusNbW]

In Austria, we have sirens as well for civil defense alarms. Sirens are typically mounted on schools, fire departments, official buildings, etc. Outside of big cities they are mainly used to summon the voluntary fire fighters (they have a special signal, 3x 15 sec continous tone). These sirens outside of the big cities are typically tested weekly on Saturdays around noon. On the first Saturday in October, we have the "Zivilschutzprobealarm" (isn't this a nice German word) - where all civil defence sirens nationwide, even those in the bigger cities, are tested; starting with a 15 sec test signal at noon, the warning signal (a 3 minutes continuous tone) at 12:15 pm, the alarm signal (a 1 minute wail) at 12:30 and the all-clear signal (a 1 minute continous tone) at 12:45;

[@seraphiccandy21]

In the Netherlands we also have sirens all over the country that get tested every Monday at 12:00

[@dagmarszemeitzke]

My father rides his motorcycle with my mother. Once he was greeting another biker. My mother asked him if he know that biker he answerd "No, but he drives a Horex too" The bike of my father was a Horex, a special mitorcycle brand like Harley Davidson

[@juricarmichel5864]

Come on, really? But he did not learn to be a plumber at master "Röhrich's" company, right? 😉

[@marywerner4327]

Choclate chips and bread 😂 how true 👍it is always the little things 😀

[@jan-peterbrodersen3302]

Fahrer der Ente haben sich auch immer gegrüßt.

[@christophoffermann2442]

Grüßen sich nicht alle Biker?

[@Hiosho]

Sirens are tested here in the Blackwood Forrest also on Saturdays but at 1.pm

[@Kurvi-2406]

Yeah but monthly... here (also rheinland pfalz) every 2nd saturday a month

[@Apankou]

Don't know if you ever heard them, but as a child in the 90s and 2000s still I would hear my Rhineland village's fire warning siren going off as a test for the local warning infrastructure one Saturday a month or so. Germany had those sirens for fire and nuclear/chemical incidents too, but massively reduced the siren infrastructure in the past years (part of the reason why last years first official emergency warning stress test failed miserably nationwide). My village is lucky to still have one for the local volunteer firefighters.

[@HobbesDan]

Aubrey barely holds in laughter at the Chocolate Chip segment :o

[@Spooglecraft]

on some routes, school buses are also provided by private bus companies. in fact, the buses i tool to school were from a company founded by a woman who wanted a better option to get her children to school in another city, so she set up her bus company and established a route for school kids to be taken from her hometown through my city all the way to the city which had some special schools, like a Gymnasium with a branch for gifted students and a Waldorfschule, a type of alternative school.

[@YOLOJANER]

In NRW we have sirens and in my city we use them all the time. Once every first Saturday in the month as a test, as a mass alert system and for our volontier firefighter like me. If there is a bigger emergency they go of as well our pager

[@YOLOJANER]

Ps our firefighter signal is: 10 sec short. 10sec short. 30sec Long

[@thkempe]

Zivilschutzeinrichtungen hatten wir früher auch, wenngleich aus anderen Gründen. In den Siebzigern wurde zum Beispiel der private Bau von Atombunkern staatlich gefördert. Ich kenne mindestens 1 in meiner Nachbarschaft. Die sind aber extrem selten. Was es in Amerika auch nicht geben dürfte, sind die Sprengschächte/-kammern an deutschen Brücken und Tunneln. Die quadratischen Metallklappen in Fahrbahnen, Tunnelwänden und Brückenpfeilern mit denen sie verdeckt waren, konnte man während der Vorbeifahrt wahrnehmen, wenn man wußte, worauf man zu achten hatte. www.geschichtsspuren.de/images/stories/Artikel/sperren/main_obernburg.jpg (Man sagte ja während des Kalten Krieges immer, wenn die Russen kommen, stehen sie binnen 24 Stunden am Rhein.) Die Sirenen wurden auch bei uns jeden Samstag um 12 Uhr getestet. Zuletzt nur noch mit dem Dauerton für Entwarnung. Während des Kalten Krieges bekam man ein bißchen mehr "geboten": das an- und abschwellende Heulen des Luftalarms, den 3fachen Feueralarm und zum Abschluß natürlich jedesmal die Entwarnung (1 Minute Dauerton). Gut, daß diese Zeit vorbei ist. Das war manchmal schon ein etwas beklemmendes Lebensgefühl hier auf dem potentiellen Schlachtfeld des Dritten Weltkrieges. Ach ja, der regelmäßige Überschall-Knall der Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, die entlang des Eisernen Vorhangs patrouillierte, gehört auch noch zu diesen Kindheits-Erinnerungen.

[@TrangleC]

Ich bin einen Landkreis nördlich von Stuttgart aufgewachsen und hier war in meiner Kindheit immer die Hölle los wenn es um amerikanische Jagdflieger geht. In Vaihingen, einem Vorort von Stuttgart, gleich neben dem Kampus der Uni Stuttgart, ist, oder war das europäische Hauptquartier der US Luftwaffe und ich glaube die sind da immer zwischen Stuttgart und Rammstein hin und her geflogen. Da hat man mindestens ein mal am Tag ein paar Überschall-Knalle gehört. Ich glaube bei Heidelberg war das Haupt-Materiallager der US Armee, weswegen auch viele Transportflieger in der Gegend unterwegs waren. Hat aber alles vor ca. 20 Jahren aufgehört, genau wie und zur gleichen Zeit wie die samstaglichen Sirenen-Übungen.

[@raffelon9508]

12:00 for us (where I live, not really Germany, but close by and german speaking, sharing most culture, rules, list goes on...) it's just regular buses, they have that timing, rout and amount (like 3 in a few minutes) for bringing you to school, but they're just regular buses that everyone can take (if they're willing to share a very crowded bus), it depends on where you have to get for school and mostly starts to really affect one at high school, but for example the next middle school takes a short bus trip to the next village while there's a elementary school in this village (at high school we have to go to a town), but our village is actually very big (bigger than the one we share the middle school with) and smaller villages might not have a elementary school or a Kindergarten (might means I don't know because I never cared about such things, I remember a girl from elementary school was from another village, but there could've been more from there if the don't have any elementary schools, still I think to remember talks that it was odd to be only one and the main village of our comune/municipality where the middle school is located forms a triangle between those 3 villages where they also could go to elementary school there... and there're also even smaller villages here in the mountains, so that seems very logical to me that not all have that much infrastructure)

[@polyanthajones8168]

When I was living in the uk, I was surprised to learn that there were no mini-brooms and dustpans. In Germany, every household I know has multiple sets. Then I found out they did not exist in Spain and many other countries, either. What I miss about the uk is a lot of stuff from craft-shops and baking supplies, especially fondant icing. And really strong unflavoured black tea :D

[@spickinicki3307]

First off, I would like to say that I appreciate how careful you guys are not to offend anyone and make it clear that you can only speak to your own experience. Of course, there will always be trolls in the comments, but I think you're really getting ahead of most of them. Your bit about the chocolate chips made me laugh. Whenever we vacation in the US (I'm German), our first trip is to the nearest Walmart (for water etc.), and I always end up filling the shopping cart with all kinds of chocolate chips. Mini, white, butterscotch, mint, ... I so wish we had more variety in Germany, so I guess I'd have to agree with you on that point. I had never thought about or even noticed the difference in shape, though. "Again what learned!" :D Also during vacation in the US, we have found that the waving-to-everyone-thing varies depending on where you are. In more rural areas, we had a lot of people wave at us, while nobody greeted us in bigger cities. In Germany, many cities are already too big and too crowded for waving to everyone, but in smaller villages people do that here, too. It usually annoys me; too much work, I guess. ;-) Apart from the sirens, I have also noticed "Tsunami/flooding evacuation route" signs all over some states (Florida and Hawai'i mostly, I think). All in all, I think Germans are left alone by their government when it comes to natural disasters. Even in areas that are prone to flooding, I have never noticed any signs showing escape routes. We also don't have any push messages sent to our phones by the government (because, you know, privacy protection is more important than... protection). I was astonished when I suddenly got Amber alerts and weather warnings sent to my phone in the US. The Amber alert made me sad, but I really appreciated the weather warning.

[@mikelastname1220]

I laughed out loud on this: "privacy protection is more important than... protection"

[@bjoern0975]

In Germany, if schools are too far away from children's homes for them to walk or bike there, kids will usually use regular public transport lines (busses, trams, subways, local or regional trains). As you mentioned in the video, some regular bus lines will run some extra buses during the early morning hours, sometimes particularly for school children and sometimes with a little change of route to stop closer to the schools. Otherwise they are like regular buses - regarding the vehicles but also regarding the optionality of using or not using them - they are not reserved for designated children, but work on a hop on hop off basis. Note also that school in Germany does not start at the same time for everyone. Some kids may start their classes, say, at 8am, others at 9, others even at 10, depending on individual schedules. So it's good they can rely on the flexible schedules of public transport.

[@evilbaron]

Sirens do Actually exist in Germany. I know this cause i live next to one. XD My Region is the South of Sachsen-Anhalt. These are used to warn you for Fire (also near the Fire Station), newer also flooding, terrorism and so on. Also they are tested regularly, exactly Wednesday at 15:30 monthly.

[@TrangleC]

In the little towns and villages in Baden-Wuerttemberg, where I grew up in the 80s and 90s, we had sirens too. They were supposed for air attack (or nuclear strike) warning too, but also called the volunteer fire fighters into action, in case of a fire. They were tested every other Saturday at noon too, then every first Saturday of the month, if I remember correctly. Those regular tests stopped sometime in the early 2000s though. I only heard the sirens maybe 2 times since my youth, when there actually were fire alarms. I think 2 times in my lifetime (I'm 42 now.) we even had small tornadoes in this area. I remember how one tore the roofs off of a few buildings in 2 neighboring villages when I was a teenager. I didn't see it myself, but heard about it and saw it in the news the next day. The other one must have happened when I was a toddler. I have no memory of that one, but my parents told me about it. Near to where I live, there is a fast food restaurant that has imported and re-purposed a yellow American school bus as part of their seating area. They parked it next to the regular restaurant building, built a short hallway connecting the building with the bus door and replaced the bus' original seating rows, with diner style tables and benches. Weirdly enough, it wasn't even a American fast food chain, but "Wienerwald", a Austrian one, which went bankrupt maybe 10 years ago and now that school bus restaurant is a pizzeria, as far as I know. It is a highway roadside truck stop area alongside the "Autobahn A81" and you probably passed by it when you visited Baden-Württemberg. If you are interested, look up the coordinates on Google Earth: 49"03"32"N 9"16"17"E

[@ChrissyXD1001]

Here in northern Germany small city, they're testing our fire sirens every saturday at 12 am.

[@TrangleC]

@@ChrissyXD1001 Yeah? Here they stopped doing it about 20 years ago.

[@ChrissyXD1001]

@@TrangleC Maybe it is different from "Bundesland zu Bundesland"

[@leDespicable]

Here in our county in Bavaria, the sirens are tested on the third saturday of the month at noon. Although I think they switched to every saturday now, but I'm still not certain.

[@mirajolinardiaglionis399]

Thank you for your amusing and interesting video(s)! I went by bike or public bus to school. 🚲 🚌

[@S_mitty]

We have a siren in my town that's tested every Saturday at 11:15

[@wer-hat-es-gedacht]

I live in a small Village near colone. For school I need to get to the next bigger Village. We have more or less school transportation (our only ways to get to school are with Bus, train and Bike; Most students use the regular train- but only at certain times a day and the parents need to pay for the train Ticket and so on ) but you can see it is a school Bus on the windshields- normally they have in the front and in the back a sign with children on it. They are called "Schüler spezial Verkehr" and are used when there isn't (enough) transportation for students. Normally it is for multiple schools, so it is common that Kids need to go ~1 km from their Station to school. And it is Not Common to get picked up at the door. Sometimes students need to Walk around half an hour (or even more, mabye with Bus or train rides) to get to their Station.

[@babicka1]

There used to be a extensive siren system in both Western and Eastern Germany which was dismantled during the mid-1990s. The local authorities were able to to keep them for a nominal fee of 1 Deutschmark. As they were also used to alert firefighters in rural areas they still are a common sight there (they look like a mushroom, wiki.ig-wasi.de/sirenen/elektromechanisch/e57 ...) and are tested on Saturdays at noon. Only few bigger cities kept the sirens (for example Hamburg to warn about storm surges). A growing number of bigger cities currently reintroduce siren sirens or plan to do so

[@ingaurban404]

I'm German and I lived two years in Portland, Oregon. There were some minor things I missed living there (real bread, cheese variety, creme fraiche etc), but since I've returned I miss some American food items as well. I miss especially the big boxes of broth, like chicken broth and vegetable broth etc. Of course I can make my own and there are small glasses with premade broth to buy, but they are pretty expensive in comparison. I loved those broths in the US. And since I like to bake as well, I miss the brown chewy sugar and of course the chocolate chips too!😀

[@swanpride]

We very much still have sirens...but they are hidden a little bit better. We used to have more, though. I grew up in the Ruhr area, and there was still regularly "smog alarm" when I was a child.

[@Akkaren79]

Please make a video about the difference of German brickhouses vs the American (and lot of other English speaking countries) Woodhouses. For me as a German it makes close to no sense why you wouldn't build your home or of stone or bricks because of the long-lasting properties or insulation.

[@Bobrogers99]

In the US, we build most of our houses from wood because we have so much of it, and it's quicker and cheaper.

[@greble11]

I like my wooden American house. It is quite spacious and comfortable. The spaciousness is great for large family gatherings, or having parties, or having overnight visitors. I’m especially thankful to have a large house during the pandemic since my wife and I have been working from home and our daughter has been attending school remotely. We have even hosted several foreign exchange students over the years - which wouldn’t have been feasible in a smaller house. I think the cedar siding is attractive, and it is actually a good insulator. Wood generally has a higher R-value than brick. A severe tornado can destroy a brick house. A less severe tornado can damage a brick or wooden house; however, a wooden house will be easier to repair. Either way, the odds that your house will be hit by a tornado are negligible in most parts of the US, and extremely rare even in tornado alley. I admire long-lasting houses (wooden or brick), but they can become obsolete over time. I’m impressed by houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, but I honestly wouldn’t want to live in one. Wooden houses are generally easier to modify and expand. They also do better in earthquakes. By the way, a lot of American houses are built of brick, and other countries have large stocks of wooden houses (Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc.), and yet only Americans are considered stupid for using wood.

[@claudiakarl7888]

From an ecological point of view wooden houses are better.

[@mikelastname1220]

One thing to remember is, not everyone in Germany can afford a big solid brick or rock home. Of all my German friends I know and have been in their homes, they are either apartments or rented. I don't think many Germans own their own home. I may be wrong. One family was very wealthy and I asked why they didn't just build their own home instead of renting and the father told me it would be very expensive and getting all the permits and going through the paperwork with the government was just too much trouble. Plus, he said it would take nearly two years to get it done. It is SO easy in the states to build what we call a frame home and get it done in just 3 or 4 months. A 3 bedroom home with a living room, a "family room" (TV sitting area), a dining room, a kitchen (usually much larger than a German kitchen), two bathrooms, a small back yard patio, and laundry room would cost here in Kentucky around $150,000. When I was a young child, that cost would have been only $10,000!!! I admire the German homes! I saw the benefits of stone walls nearly 2 feet thick! Warm in winter and cool in summer, plus no repair work on the outside. German homes are SOLID! If I lived in Germany and built my own home, I would want it made of stone and built in the traditional German way, but . . . . with maybe some designs on the outside like I saw in Switzerland.

[@salam-peace5519]

I grew up in a rural area of Germany in a small village where we didn't have normal public transport, we only had a school bus, but our school bus looked like a regular public transport bus. There were only two buses in the morning and three in the noon/afternoon when school started/ended, and they were often completely overcrowded, will people being squeezed into the entire middle way. We always saw these yellow american school buses in movies and series and were surprised that Americans not only had buses that looked different from regular public transport buses, but that everyone actually got a seat place in the bus. And some areas of Germany have sirens, however they are not used for tornadoes, instead they are used for voluntary firefighters in villages when there is a major fire, and they are also tested sometimes.

[@brom0198]

A school bus/train in germany is a regular bus/train not driving during holidays and also transporting adults. A house-to-house bus is only common to special schools with kids who would get lost (for many reasons). They are smaller, not yellow and look like big taxis.

[@Niyuu1010]

In my homevillage we do have a siren aswell, since we dont have a professional firebrigade - we have a "Freiwillige Feuerwehr" (voluntary fire brigade) which will usually be alerted silently via Pager. If not enough people respond or if there is a big Event happening, the siren will Start going off to alert them. Also, every first saturday of the month at 1 pm they will test the functionality so nothing goes wrong when its needed. Since we are hosting a big Musicalfestival each year, which somehow only knows 2 types of weather (drowning and thunderstorms or saharan heat) thats when they start blaring more frequently, although there are people on the premises of the festival already, when like in 2016 a storm hits and the people attending the Festival need to be evacuated from there or if for example the underbridge to the trainstation gets flooded like in 2010. When I was a child, my grandma visited us and her trauma from WW2 let her grab me and we sat beneath a table until my parents came home. To her it sounded like airraid sirens from her young adult life, since it is actually the same sound. My other grandma still flinches because of them, since she was 7 years old, when WW2 ended. Also, there was a Sirentest nationwide a few years prior - which failed horribly, because some parts had no sirens go off at all.

[@svenreichert6304]

The hazard warning lights on buses do not have anything to do directly with the school bus. Regular buses must also switch on the hazard lights if the bus stops on the road and cannot enter a stop / bay separate from the road.

[@LythaWausW]

Re: waving, I used to hang out with real cowboys in rural Washington state. And they did a lot of these gestures that you mentioned. I actually found myself nodding and doing a fake tip of the cowboy hat to them, because the behavior was so ubiquitous. I would laugh at myself after, because I couldn't control it. Re: chocolate chips, that Nestle is a European country is baffling, that there are no chocolate chips here. My mom sends me a Costco-sized bag every year so I can continue making chocolate chip cookies for all the Germans I've gotten addicted to them: ) Re: I was in a tornado in Kansas as a child and the TV had a symbol in the corner, saying how bad it was. Do you have that too in OK? Thanks for the fun video tonight: )

[@katjabaark3863]

I appreciate your last sentences - we are all the same yet special and unique. I like all the different cultures and lifestyles and I have always disliked people travelling abroad and expecting everything to be like it is in their home country (Germans in Spain eating "German" food) and who do not even try to get in touch with the local population. So it's like home with better weather 🙈 I feel the people make travelling so exciting and whenever I meet foreigners I try to give them the best possible impression of Germany and the Germans. 💝🙋🏼‍♀️

[@lnorris5142]

My daughter, who is living in Germany right now, says she can not find canned pumpkin, strawberry cake mix or peanut butter chips (like our Reese's PB baking chips). She also said the chocolate chips are "different" and that the fudge she tried to make with the German chocolate chips failed. : (

[@hartmutbohn]

As you are living pretty close to Mannheim, you might want to check out the two "American Candy" shops - one is on the upper floor of the Q6Q7 shopping mall, the other one is in N6. Maybe they have imported chocolate chips...

[@annkathrinhanamond2982]

Oooh ich wohne in Mannheim und muss da auch mal hin, wenn der Lockdown rum ist! Danke für den Tipp!

[@poohbearsmom2964]

Wait!!! Tornado sirens are tested weekly in Oklahoma? In parts of Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado that I’ve lived in, it’s monthly. Specifically, the first Wednesday of the month at 11am.

[@patrickdodson1713]

Milk bags in Canada. At least in Ontario, where a majority of the milk is sold in a large bag containing 3 separate 1 liter bags. Most would wonder how the heck are you supposed to then use the milk?? The answer is that we have companion pitchers that the milk bags sit in, and to pour out the milk, one must make a diagonal cut to form a spout. There are tools sold to make it easier to cut, but sometimes they are also sold together with the pitcher.

[@michaelgiertz-rath7994]

Tornado sirens: We have them in Germany, they're just not called tornado sirens and some towns put theirs down due lack of need or never had one (especially smaller towns). Maybe your small town doesn't have them, but where I live (small town near Ulm, 15k inhabitants) there's at least one functional siren. And it's tested once a week, at Saturday, usually 11am. We also do have a "backup system": church bells. They can be used to warn people. Tornado shelters: Some older buildings still have bombing shelters. Besides that, since we don't have tornados in Germany (okay, we do, but they're rare and much weaker), there's no need for tornado shelters, right? Also, basements are a staple here.

[@sinjaja5836]

You Guys: No Tornados in Germany. 🤔 Later: NO CHOCOLATE CHIPS?!? 😱

[@PassportTwo]

Seems on the same level to us...🤔😅

[@Nikioko]

Well, it's the land of chocolate, as we know: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIDdmoqjlLJ9b80

[@emjayay]

For those not from the US, the waving and helloing thing is a southern/small town thing not seen so much elsewhere.

[@d34d10ck]

Isn't having a cellar also having a underground bunker? Most houses in Germany do have cellars. Also. We do have actual bunkers left where we could take cover. Big ass ones. So big we can't even destroy them with explosives, which is why we still keep them around.

[@suzannes5888]

Having lived and traveled all over the US, tornado shelters and sirens only exist in tornadio prone areas (mostly in the midwest, including Oklahoma where you're from) and do not exist in CA, DC, NY, etc - except for some military bases. Also, waving to everyone you see while walking or driving is only a rural / small town US "thing". This is NOT done in big cities, such as Chicago, NYC, LA, DC, or most of the East and West Coasts, - and can actually be unsafe if done in large metropolitan areas.

[@alexander_kopainski]

The waving thing is so funny :D :D I might add that germans say hello to each other in rural/suburb areas. But no waving from cars whatsoever :D only when you know the person :D

[@jamesreisenauer1778]

Many sirens date back to WWII as they were used to warn the general public from incoming Air Raids. Especially on the countryside they are often pneumatic so it‘s impossible to use them as speakers. But there are different signals to alert the public, alert the fire department, warn from NBC hazards, cancel all alerts, and Test the sirens. These signals may vary depending on the state or region you live in. Mostly the fire department and police would warn civilians using specially equipped vehicles when needed. For example when there is an evacuation going on because of a disposal of WWI or WWII bombs. These are relatively common because there is a huge number of bombs that did not explode and are still laying underground. Tornados have been a thing here in Germany for about the last 15 years, but they are by far not as common as in the us.

[@undo2613]

Some villages still got those sirens, which are tested every one or two weeks at noon. I found the Katwarn App a great alternative (Katastrophen Warnung) and it is an official system. Not sure how many know of it though. It gives off a siren sound and warns you about a possible emergency in your area. I get severe weather warnings (hail, storm, etc.), once it went off because there was a kid on a shooting spree, and a few times recently about Corona restrictions. Can but recommend it. They rather warn too much, than too little these days (heavy rain?), but it always gives you context and a colored area map.

[@thomasw.7926]

I used to go to school by bicycle (if the weather was really bad I went by bus.) The school encouraged this by providing huge spaces to place our bikes and efficient bycicle stands. In elementary school we were taught the traffic rules, then our teachers went with us to the local traffic training area where every pupil took part in a one day long lesson in save bikeriding given by police officers (including a theoretical and practical test, just like a little, of course inofficial, "driver's licence" for children.) I have benefited from this ever since.

[@benjaminjakob1906]

Nice remark! dedication to the discovery of uniqueness on different countries is what makes your videos and your "mission" great! Thanks for your work. In fact there are sirens in every community in your area also. In my little neighborhood, not far from yours, it's tested every first Saturday in a month, at noon. They're mostly used in cases of fire I think they call fire workers to come to the fire stations. Probably there are more such signals which I don't know.

[@benjaminjakob1906]

Did some research. There are sirens in some but not all cities I Germany. They are often used in case of fire and other emergencies. You wanna get informed immediately in case of any severe hazard in your environment (smoke from fire, severe weather etc)? get the KATWARN-app, where authorities like the fire Department, will send you notices on emergencies around you.

[@wichardbeenken1173]

Every first Saturday of the month at ten o’clock I hear the sirens tested in Germany. They have different sounds: A steady one serves usually to call the voluntary firemen to assemble at the station house, where the siren is mounted on top of the roof. This is also the test sound. The other is swelling up and down and shall warn the population in case of catastrophes. It means stay at home or seek shelter and switch on radio for further information. My mother got always an uneasy feeling when this sound was tested in former times, since it reminded her of the day she and her family were bombed out during WWII when she was a little child running through the streets between burning houses searching for new shelter after their first (not very) bomb-proof refuge had been hit. There are still some of these shelters existing in Germany but now used as normal basements. In Germany we have no Tornado-shelters, since nearly all buildings are made of bricks. Thus, except of the roofs, they do not fly away even by heavy storm. Therefore, it is sufficient to go to the lower floor in case of a storm, and close the typical window shutters you showed in one of your videos. These do not only keep light and burglars but also hail away. Unfortunately, after a hailstorm like that two years ago in Munich, you have to repair the newer type of them, which are made of plastics, whereas the old ones made either of wood or even steel are much more stable.

[@wncjan]

In Denmark the sirens used to be tested every Wednesday at noon, but after all mechanical sirens have been replaced with electronic sirens, they are only tested once a year, at noon on May 1.

[@dagmarszemeitzke]

In Villingen every Saturday at 12 the Sirenes was alerting. That was as I stay with my grand mother there for my Education. (1989)

[@Humpelstilzchen]

Yep plastic or aluminum is availible. Stainless steel shutters are also availible. They are considered and tested to be burglar resistent (with tools like axes, crowbars, hammers etc.) for a good amount of time and they will hold heavy winds but these are expensive as hell. 😊

[@KaiFaber]

In Coburg all firesirens are tested every second saturday between 1000 and 1400 one after another.

[@MensinCorporeSano89]

We have the same saturday thing with Feuerwehrsirenen. They are tested every weekend and you can tell if it is a drill by the number of hauls. Two times is a drill. More often is a real hazard. What would interest me in a future episode would be gardening differences. I watch a lot of gardening youtubers, many american, but when i were in wisconsin i thought there were not as much home gardens or allotments there as in europe but much more trimmed lawn. Also what is typical american granny kitchen? I mean home recipes that use fresh produce and not so much industrial ingredients like grannies jam or polenta with beans or sunday roast... family recipes from before walmart and other supermarkets brought ready made food to the world.

[@Dresscodes.by.Jacky1312]

The motorcycle-wave is a thing in Germany. I've been around on the motorcycle with my dad and they all casually greeted when passing each other :)

[@EyMannMachHin]

It's also a thing for cabrio drivers. At least in the Mazda MX-5/Miata community.

[@mascami]

We have sirens for warning, too. But they're no more in often use. I know from my childhood in a small village they were used to alarm the volunteer fire department workers when a fire or something came up. This siren was installed at the roof on the house below us so it was at the same height to our house and it was very loud!!!

[@angelikaeder6391]

In Austria school kids just take the regular bus, mostly the post-bus. No specific indicators, no special signs, nothing. Regular folks are riding these buses, too, at the same time.

[@promonto]

even though we dont have Tornado sirens, we have other sirens. Mostly in towns we have Airraid Sirens used for public emergencys and often as a way how firedepartments get their emergencys.

[@ACEsParkJunheeWreckedMeHard]

For me (As A German) I grew up that if you wave to someone, you basicly just visited a relative or friend and you have to tell them goodbye. We often do this in cases like you sit in the car and you can still be seen but not heard anymore so people you visited know that you are saying goodbye. IDK how comon it is but depending on how close you are with someone they also might stay outside their house and watch till you are gone. Some people (mostly when you are not that close or live in a tall apartmentbuilding) just take you till the door and thats it

[@paule8271]

Hey we have sirens in Germany as well. They are tested regularly like every week or once a month Saturdays. If you listened to the news last autumn you noticed problems with the Bundesweiten Warntag. There they didn't start.... With our stone built houses we don't need shelters. We just can go to the room with the least windows...

[@mareenlang2452]

Here in Germany we actually do have those sirens. I remember the noon on Saturdays as well but I think it depends on your location. However my grandma always tells me of the "fliegeralarm" during ww2 so some older people with dementia actually are pretty scared when they here a sirene nowadays.

[@seerose7189]

The busline you' re showing is in Frankfurt/ Main and I use it daily 😀

[@PassportTwo]

Haha, that’s hilarious! It was just from Google 😅

[@LadyZora90]

Ich hab mich schon gefragt, ob es in Hamburg (der Bus in ihrem Video hat ein Hamburger Kennzeichen) auch das Mönchshofsviertel im Gallus gibt :D Komme aus Wiesbaden und war beruflich schon in FFM tätig, daher kenne ich zumindest die Buslinie vom Sehen. Haben die Busse in FFM tatsächlich ein HH-Kennzeichen?! 🤔

[@seerose7189]

@@LadyZora90 nein, die sehen auch ganz anders aus (rmv- Farben) mit F- Kennzeichen. Kennzeichen und Farben haben mich auch irritiert

[@wernerhiemer406]

@@PassportTwo And the display here around AC (Aachen) is white on black. They even show a cup of coffee when having a break at the terminal of a line. In olden days they were motordriven and more olden even handcranked scrolls so the usabillity for different lines may had been limited to a degree. But what is most annoying are those "Werbeaufkleber" going over the windows zones even as they are reversly to comic print have tiny holes. Ok I am on the aut spectrum. Nowadays I am on these times not using any public transport as I was already unconfortable touching any surface of a bus.

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

Germany does not have many tornados (although due to climate change there is a growing number of such events), but we did have sirenes like this: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Pneumatic_siren.jpg. They were thought to warn about air strikes, but were also used for e.g. fire alarm (calling the fire brigade volunteers to the fire brigade garage). So there were different signals for different alarms. Tests were mostly at 9 am, often at Thursday - but since the 1990s most of them were removed. Since we don't have many tornados we don't have tornado shelters - but there are other shelters (some built during WW II, but most during Cold War times) as well as external access doors to cellars with metal trapdoors looking exactly like a tornado shelter. In many rural regions in Germany the 'natives' were used not so many years ago to greet any person they meet outside (with the exception of some naturally grumpy people perhaps), but in urban regions this was seen as unusual and strange behaviour even then. Since cars became cheaper and more available many city-dwellers moved to new settlements "in the green", and brought their thinking with them.

[@itsdeanya]

I miss rice cereals. There must be some kind of import ban on them, except for the chocolate. Simple Rice Krispies and rice Chex. I can find the tiny boxes sometimes in packs at the store, but not often, and not in quantity to cook using. Also, butterscotch morsels. I don't really miss the chocolate chips, since there are so many bars so easy to cut up, and good choco chip cookies on the grocery aisle, even to make from mix. Hershey's candies, including the kisses, the regular chocolate bars, the ones with almonds, all of Hershey, and all of Russell Stover, which was my favorite. Quick-stir cheese grits. ANY grits that are not pre-sweetened. MEXICAN FOOD. OK, that's enough! :-) Nice vid as always.

[@aaron9828]

Where I live, there are no school buses. I just used the normal public transportation lines

[@MrMastermind85]

There are the same kind of sirens here, mainly in smaller towns or villages. They are the alert sirens for the volunteer firefighters, to get them alerted and into the firefighter station.

[@uncinarynin]

Of course Germany has sirens and so does Austria, they are just not specifically tornado-related. They are also tested at saturday noon local time. Some of the signals are for instructed personnel only, such as members of the "Freiwillige Feuerwehr", otherwise you are advised to stay home, close your windows and turn on the radio for further instructions. When I went to school, my school had an arrangement with other villages that didn't have this type of secondary school: The kids from there were brought over by a school bus. Likewise I took the school bus to another village two years long. A distance that I'd rather do by bike nowadays. Those buses were usually old regional buses, such as 1960s Setra models that weren't found in public transport any more (sadly I never thought of taking photos of them, well I didn't have a good camera either but they were ancient). But on many routes it's considered inefficient if buses are just used twice a day so as mentioned in the video they will do a school bus route between other kinds of trips.

[@darkredvan]

I went to school by regular public transport bus. BTW at that time from the mid- 1950‘s to the early 1970‘s in our area they were so called Obusse (Trolley Bus), electric buses with overhead power lines. I wish they would not have scrapped them for the diesel buses. But diesel was cheap at that time, and many wooden poles for the power lines needed replacement. They shyed the investment and went for diesels.

[@regenbogentraumerin]

It's pretty common within the motorcycle community in Germany to greet each other. The more 'arrogant' bikers (usually the ones with pretty expensive motorcycles) only greet others driving a bike from the same brand or even only the ones driving the same model. Most greet every biker they see unless it's a really crowded day and they would nonstop have to drive one-handed. Truckdrivers usually do greet each other as well. So do people who drive really old cars or a car model or brand that's quite rare on German streets. On the countryside, people who are walking (on the pavement, in the woods, whereever) will usually greet each other, as well as drivers who know each other (and 'knowing the person' in this case means thinking you might know roughly which village they live in). It's true though that we don't wave at total strangers if we have nothing in common with them :D

[@lindatisue733]

Missing in Sweden: 1. No waving at strangers, if one is out in the forest and you walk by someone very rarely will they say hello, even if you say hello first. 2. Long handled household brooms. Have to go to a hardware store to get a shop broom. 3. Almost no premade dough. One can find pepper cookie dough for about two months at Christmas, but no chocolate chip, sugar cookie, dinner rolls. In the last year Ica has some canned croissant dough, but it is pretty sad. There are pie crusts but they are tough and not flaky. 4. Big Bottles of cheap aspirin or any cheap pain killers. All the otc pain killers come in blister packs and 20 aspirin will cost about $6. 5. No "one price stores", like the Dollar tree, Diaso or the €1 store. There is a chain called the dollar store, but items have different prices.

[@brutiaut79]

we have that saturday 12:00 siren als well in austria :)

[@robfriedrich2822]

In my childhood there was a siren test sometimes you hear multiple ones.

[@renesalinas9491]

Germs also have Sirens and have to be tasted frequently, but not that often. I think once a year

[@donaldmeulemans6458]

We still have a sirene here in town. Its tested every first saturday in the month and used to warn the volontary firebrigade.

[@mahari7285]

Hey, nearly every town in Germany has at least one air raid siren! Mostly installed on rooftops of school buildings or fire houses. And they are also tested either on wednesday or saturday noon. In many regions they are nowadays part of the alarm system for volunteer fire brigades which are not equipped with pagers. But I've never heard one for storm warning...😄

[@juoz284]

Well I've never heard one for Storm but for high tide especially Sturmflut.

[@darthrevan2118]

Rheinland Pfalz was already referred to as Tuscany by the ancient Romans, because the temperatures in summer are almost the same as in Tuscany and excellent for wine growing.

[@andreasmartin9296]

Too bad they had no Dubbegläser back then

[@saschamohr7970]

Sirenes and heavy duty shelters were/are pretty common in Germany.

[@garydell2023]

Good to know. Want to visit and maybe move there. Thank you