3
Erlinger says ‘Most Germans view Berliners as the Latin Americans of Germany’, and that’s definitely not due to their tans and attractive women playing beach volleyball. He doesn’t reckon that Berliners are that hard working, but I would have to disagree (or rather, I’m probably just in for a shock when I go elsewhere). My housemates were seemingly always at work, and, the only night I went to a nightclub over there, I came back at about 5:30 AM, on a packed train taking people to work. My colleagues at the summer camp I worked at were off to other jobs in the afternoon…I dread to think how hard the other Germans work if Berliners are lazy.
As I alluded to in the first sentence, German speaking exams bring up some gripping topics…such as the environment. Never before have I been somewhere where it is more difficult to sort rubbish than to fly with Ryanair cheaply. Here’s a run through of the bins which were outside the flats: blue – paper. Yellow – plastic. Dark green – glass (but there are two glass bins, one is for white glass, the other for other coloured glass). Black – everything else. My roommate informed me that there used to be a brown bin as a compost bin, and an orange one for electronics, but they both vanished. Clearly even the Germans thought it was a bit much.
I was incredibly impressed by the recycling systems in Germany; it has been reported that, in 2010, Germany recycled 62% of its rubbish (in comparison to 39% in Great Britain). This high rate stems from the fact that people are rewarded for recycling; if you take bottles back to a recycling centre, you get money for it. I found it to be quite a sight, and also very impressive – when going to watch a football match, there were people lined up along the route from the train station to the ground with shopping
Facts about Germany
Population:
81.5 Million
More than 99% can read and write.
One of the strongest economies in the euro-zone.
Governed by the Chancellor - Angela Merkel.