Thursday, April 19, 2012

America vs. Germany - Part I

Hallo Ihr Lieben!

I have been living in America for a while now and I still discover lots of differences (big and small ones) between the two countries. Some are funny, some are just weird. 

There is one (not very important) difference between the two countries that is very hard for me to understand. David and I have talked a lot about it. We have completely different opinions on it. I have already read about it on other blogs. I will never understand the American way. But please, please help me. 

I am talking about.......ICE-CUBES.


When you order a drink in Germany you get maybe one or two ice-cubes in your glass. That is fine for me. To be honest, most times I order my drinks without ice (except for cocktails). I just don't understand why I need dozens of ice-cubes that only water down my drink. I mean, when my glass is half-full with ice then there is no space for the drink. Plus my coke tastes like nothing but water after a minute. Why do you Americans want that? I just don't understand it. But I really want to. Maybe I drink to slow. As I have said, David and I have talked about it a lot. He always wants ice in his drinks. He wants his drinks to be cold. For me, they are cold enough when they come out of the fridge. Why isn't that cold enough? I really need your help, guys. I need more opinions on this. 



I will never forget the first time I went to a movie theater in America. We ordered a huge Dr.Pepper (and I really mean 'huge'. In German movie theaters, you don't get a cup with 2 liters of a drink.). And David told me not to forget the ice. I was confused but I added 3 or 4 ice-cubes to the drink. I guess that wasn't enough. But come on, it takes a while to drink such a huge amount of fluid. And it really just tasted like water at the end. For me that's weird. 

But there is one great thing that I would like to have in Germany too: free refills. It's awesome. I mean, you can drink as much as you want and you only have to pay once! Amazing! In Germany you even have to pay for a tiny cup of water. So yay for free refills! 
(On the other hand, it is a little annoying that the waitress comes every 2 minutes and asks me if I want more water....but that's another topic. I guess you will read about this soon...)

So how do you feel about ice in your drinks?


32 comments:

  1. This cracks me up!! I had no idea that in Germany they don't really use ice. I like some ice in my drink...but definitely not a lot. My mom on the other hand, always asks for extra ice.

    Btw....you should check out my post today. You may have won a little somethin' somethin' :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW! That is awesome! You just made my day! Woohooo!!!!
    (But why didn't your post show up on my feed? That is weird. I need to check that.)

    But yeah, we don't really use ice and I can't understand how people can ask for more ice. :) There must be a reason that I just don't get. I mean, some ice is fine....but more ice than drink? :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I usually ask for my drink without ice...especially when I'm hungover, and need a fountain Sprite from McDonald's. Then it's very important I get 32 oz. of nothing but Sprite :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, it is nice to see that not everybody loves ice ice ice. :) I need the pure taste. I can drink water when I don't want any taste. :)

      Delete
  4. This is too funny! I love reading about little differences like this between states or countries. Personally, I hate ice in my drinks. Perhaps I need to move to Germany where there are fewer ice cubes roaming around! :)

    Andrea
    Left brain, right brain, pug brain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah, I guess Germany would be a paradise for you! :) but sadly, no free refills!
      There are many differences between the two countries so lots more to write about! :)

      Delete
  5. This is very Strange

    Kissies

    Pinar

    ReplyDelete
  6. I always order my drinks with light ice! I hate all of that ice getting in the way of my diet coke!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree! And I am so happy that I am not alone! :)

      Delete
  7. Vielen lieben Dank! Es gibt nichts schöneres, als eine Prüfung hinter sich zu bringen.

    -> Erleichterung pur! :**

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ja, das ist ein super Gefühl! Dann genieß das jetzt mal schön!!

      Delete
  8. haha toller vergleich :-D ist ja echt ärgerlich mit dem vielen eis im getränk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ich muss halt immer dazusagen, dass ich kein Eis möchte. :)

      Delete
  9. it's amazing how countries are SO different from each other.

    i love this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you! :) and yeah, it is fun to learn more about all the differences between the two countries!

      Delete
  10. Danke Katrin :-) für deinen lieben Kommentar und das Verfolgen. Es wird ja auch schon Zeit, um für den Sommer einzukaufen. Bald ist wieder alles weg ;-) das geht mir jetzt schon teilweise so wenn ich was tolles im online-shop sehe. dann ist es schon ausverkauft

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danke für Deinen Kommentar, echt lieb von Dir! Würd mich freuen auch weiterhin von Dir zu hören! Bin auch gerade schon am Einkaufen für den Sommer, man muss echt schnell sein. hehe.

      Delete
  11. Tolles Posting <3; die Unterschiede sind wirklich bezeichnend.
    Herzliche Grüße.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dankeschön!:))) Dein Blog ist großartig!
    Lieber Gruß!

    ReplyDelete
  13. i hate no ice here in europe LOL! but then again when drinks are served here, they are never really cold. so that is why i hate it! but i think these two go hand in hand...if europeans offered free refills, then the amount of ice wouldnt matter, ya know? in the US, we always have free refills, so we dont mind if we get tons of ice in our drink because we can just get a refill on it when we are done...we so are satisfied b/c it's unlimited and chilled ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's a good point! :) i mean, in europe we want to have what we pay for because we don't get a free refill. :) but maybe i drink too slow because i always feel like my coke just tastes like water after a couple of minutes. maybe that's just me.
      and i have to agree: i don't like it when drinks are not cold enough. but when they are really cold then i don't want any ice.

      Delete
  14. Haha, das hat mich auch immer genervt. Immer und überall Unmengen von Eis im Glas. Ich hasse Eis in meinen Getränken, denn das vertrage ich überhaupt nicht. Dafür hätte ich hier in den Kinos gerne das "gebutterte" Popcorn.

    LG
    Chrissy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Noch jemand, der mich versteht! Puh....:)
      Ich muss sagen, dass ich im Kino noch gar kein Popcorn probiert habe. Sollte ich vielleicht mal machen. Ich bin ja mehr für gesalzenes Popcorn.

      Delete
    2. Ich mag eigentlich auch sehr gerne gesalzenes Popcorn. Aber in den USA liebe ich das mit warmer Butter. Ist zwar erstmal gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber mit der Zeit hätte ich mich daran knubbelig essen können :D
      Ich freue mich schon auf weitere kleine (oder große) Unterschiede, über die du uns hier erzählen wirst.

      LG
      Chrissy

      Delete
    3. Haha, ja....wenn man mal damit anfängt, kann man nicht mehr aufhören. :) Ich kenn das!
      Es gibt noch viel mehr zu berichten, also danke schonmal fürs Lesen und fürs Interesse! :)
      LG Katrin

      Delete
  15. My husband loves ice in his drinks. I hate it for exactly the reasons you mentioned. If I pay for a drink I want to drink it, not pay for ice and then have what's left taste like water. Plus, it makes my teeth cold. So, of course I love the German convention of rarely using it.

    I believe the reason the restaurants in America do it, regardless of whether people like it, is that they have to use less of the liquid. Even if they refill your glass a couple times, you're probably paying for just as much liquid as you'd pay for in Germany, but you're getting that 'fountain drink' soda, not soda like out of a bottle (another reason I prefer Germany; most of the time they bring me a glass and the bottle). What restaurants pay per squirt of fountain drink vs what they charge actually makes drinks one of their highest profits, even with free refills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, you are right. I prefer getting a bottle too!
      And David also loves to have a lot of ice in his drinks. I really can't understand that at all.

      Delete
  16. in Indonesia we usually have lots of ice too in our drink. but we can order if we want less ice in our drink. well, in this case i'm with the american way. and yes i know there's less room for the drink but i don't think it's a weird thing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I will never completely understand this! :) I mean, ice in water okay. But not in a coke. :)

      Delete
  17. I'm that one cube girl too. I scoop the ice out of my drink at restaurants and set it aside because it gets in my way!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it is really not neccessary to put all that ice in there! I don't understand it.

      Delete

Please leave a comment...