America vs. Germany Part V. Air conditioning! + soccer and a cute animal.

Hallo Ihr Lieben,

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! As you all know I am a huge Fußball fan and the Euro 2012 is going on. I hope my Germans will win. Usually I sit in front of the TV or a huge screen somewhere outside with lots of people, I have my face painted with the German colors, have a beer and scream at the screen because I am so excited. This year I can't be excited. Because the UEFA (damn you, Union of European Football Associations) decided that Ukraine is one of the two hosts of this years cup. Besides other reasons that I don't want to address here on my blog Ukraine decided to "clean" the streets from stray dogs in order to make the city attractive for all the visitors. "Cleaning the streets" means that they killed, poisoned, shot the dogs, they burned them alive or beat them to death, run them over by cars. They even used a mobile cremation truck to kill as many dogs as possible. You can read about it here. Ukraine made many decisions that I can't support but this treatment of animals makes me sad, devastated and angry. I can't understand how the UEFA could make such a decision. They ruined the Euro for me...but even worse they took the lives of thousands of innocent animals that did not have the chance to survive. It is a sad time in the history of soccer. And I wish that more politicians would speak up against the saddening behavior of Ukrainian government and the UEFA. I can't support this decision and I wish that the fans would have decided not to buy the tickets for the games that take place in the Ukraine. But unfortunately lots of people just turn a blind eye on it. 

Okay, are you still there? 
It's time for another part of my America vs. Germany series. Today I want to talk about a very important topic for me. And yes, I am aware of the fact that this topic might irrelevant for others. So first of all I have to tell you a little bit about myself:
I make a hot water bottle before I go to bed from September to April. I wear warm socks in bed. I wear a scarf most days of the year. I have a warm blanket on that couch that I use every night, even in summer. I rarely wear short stuff because I get too cold. In winter I sometimes wear two scarves, gloves, a really warm coat, a hat (I look stupid but I don't care), I even have a little pocket heater. I have a heated blanket. When the temperatures are under 20C I get cold. And yes, I have heard the argument that this is  just because I don't eat meat but that's crap. So yeah, I am an icicle. I don't like it but I live with it.
But I have to say that America doesn't make it easy for people like me. I don't know if I am the only person in America who feels like that. 
For example: It was February the first time I went to America. February. Cold. I wore my winter coat, boots, scarves, gloves. I went to my gate at Frankfurt airport and what did I see? People with flip flops! And shirts! And shorts. I was very irritated but that was nothing compared to what I saw at Charlotte airport. More flip flops, more shorts and more short sleeves. I felt like an outsider. David only wore a hoodie but no coat by the way. So yeah, that was my first experience....Americans don't get cold. It must be something in their genes. I don't know. So I am different. I can live with that.

The first time I went to an American movie theater was quite a shock to me. It is freezing cold in there! At least for me. It seems like I am the only one who feels like that because I always see people with shorts and flip flops in the movie theaters. Even girls which is very surprising for me because most of my Europeans friends are like me and get cold very easily. Last week we went to the movie theater and it was hot outside. I mean, really hot. Like 30 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I wore ballerinas but I took warm socks with me, a hoodie and a scarf, And I needed all of it. First I wanted to be brave and see how long I can last with my short sleeves. After 10 minutes I started to wear my hoodie....a little later the socks. And then I used my scarf as a blanket. I am weird, I know. Please tell me that I am not the only person who feels like that and brings warm clothes to the movie theater. 

So America, I know that you like air-conditioning. But don't you think it's a bit too much sometimes?

Last year I went to a restaurant with David, her sister and her boyfriend. It was the first time I met David's sister and I wanted to make a good impression. It was May and it was very hot outside. I wore sandals, a top and jeans. I had a coat with me but I left it in the car because it was so hot. We decided to go to a restaurant....I can't tell you how much I suffered in there. Everybody else seemed to be fine. Although David's sister said later that it was a little chilly inside. "A little chilly" was definitely an understatement. I was freezing cold! Freezing! I started to shiver like crazy but as I said, I wanted to make a good impression so I did not go back to the car to get my coat. I was brave. And almost froze to death.

Every American has air-conditioning in the house. I haven't been to a house without air-conditioning. In Germany we have air-conditioning in public offices etc. That's okay. It is definitely not as cold as in American buildings. But most people don't have air-conditioning in their houses. At least I don't and all my friends don't. I would be interested to know if some of my German readers  here have air-conditioning in their house? Anyway, the house we live in here in America has air-conditioning and David loves it! I always call our bedroom "The ice hell" because sometimes it is so cold in their that I have to sleep in winter clothes in summer. Okay, I admit...it is not as bad as it was anymore. When I visited the first time I was shocked because of all the cold. I think we found a compromise now and we can both live with it. I think German houses are different, that's why we don't have air-conditioning. The houses are build in a different way. I mean, I never had air conditioning in my house but it was always very comfortable in summer. At least for me. Maybe Americans would feel different about it. I don't know. 

How do you feel about air conditioning? Are you always cold? Or do you wear flip flops in February?

Remember this post? My cats are from another planet and came to take over the world! And I recently discovered that at least one of my bunnies joined them!

Go, Tiffie! He may look harmless but he is quite a super bunny! You can't stop him!

Have a wonderful Saturday! I really hope Germany will win even when I can't enjoy it. And I also hope that the team will set an example and speak out against animal abuse!