Five and a half years ago, I left Germany. To be honest, while I was still studying in Heidelberg, I felt an urge to leave. Precisely one month after graduating, I moved to the Netherlands. Having a German passport and having spent part of my youth in Germany, I could not help wondering 'why can't I wait to leave this country?'.
One of the reasons was that since I was not of 'pure German blood' (as terrible as this may sound), I did not feel I was assimilating well enough. I did not look German, my name did not sound German, my sense of humor never became German (thank God for that). Also, compared to the Argentinean part in me, Germans always seemed so incredibly serious about everything. Only once a year, around Carnival, suddenly absolutely everything officially was funny. The remainder of the year, se Germans were seriously concerned about something, rarely lighthearted, never relaxed.
One of the things my Southern German neighbors constantly seemed to be preoccupied with was the 'Kehrwoche'. Once a week, one of us would be responsible for cleaning the communal pavement. In the Spring, Summer and Fall, this would mean sweeping leaves off the pavement and onto the street - a purely cosmetic routine. In the Winter though, this meant a lot of work and had a huge impact. Snow needed to be shoveled meticulously and salt needed to be scattered to avoid the snow from becoming ice. According to German law, if a passer-by should fall and break his bones on your house's pavement, you would be liable for the damage done. I did not like the Kehrwoche at all. And while I was shoveling snow for hours, my rebellious heart kept thinking Germans should just lighten up and relax a bit more. While shoveling, I always saw the big yellow snow plugs of the German 'winterdienst' driving by, removing snow from the roads and highways and scattering tons of salt in order to avoid cars from having accidents due to slippery conditions. What an excellent teamwork.
Five and a half years later, I am experiencing the exact opposite situation. It has been snowing for a few weeks. This is very rare in the Netherlands, but it is happening. In The Hague, for example, we have had around 20 centimeters of snow. At the start, it was wonderful, like a white miracle. The kids were making snowmen, the trees turned their depressing leave-less appearance into idyllic white beauty. Everybody was so excited and happy about the snow that nobody even thought of shoveling or removing it, let alone scattering salt. The result was a gigantic ice-skating track spreading over entire cities. People were slipping on the pavements, cars were slipping on the roads. On the radio I heard the newscaster say that the hospitals were starting to become overcrowded due to patients with bone fractures. And still, I saw no single neighbor doing anything about their personal ice-track nor was the city scattering salt except on national highways. Neither did I hear any radio, newspaper or TV station ever say something like 'The Ministry of Street Safety is asking the civilians to remove the snow and ice off their pavements. Please comply!'.
Admittedly, one of the reasons I moved to Holland was that the Dutch were indeed more relaxed, laid-back and funnier than their big Eastern neighbor. However, in terms of street safety and dealing with snow, the Dutch might be able to learn something from the Germans. At least they could ask for a few addresses for buying salt and teach people about the 'Kehrwoche', even though they should better not give it a German name if they want it to be a success.
Die schwäbische württembergische Kehrwoche beruht auf einer Vielzahl von Erlassen, die seit Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts in Württemberg herausgekommen sind, um die Menschen zu Ordnung und Sauberkeit im häuslichen Umfeld anzuhalten. (Source: Wikipedia)
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