Pretending to be foreigners

[Lynch]

NulNuk, we don't get no tourists here at all, not in these aweful times where out tourist economy went down the drain! Hotels in my seaside-city are closing all the time! Altough I've heard a couple of german girls walking down the Tayelet about a month ago, they were rally burnt up

Oh yeah... and I get the part with the Brazilian socks, same in israel.

[:0{]

u just dont live in the right place :0PbPb

here we still have some turist ,same for eilat, and the upper galilea ,
and jerusalem of course , but yes,we used to have more ,today
even "voluteers" in the kibutzes are hard to find ,but still ,Germans
you can find ,they dont care about any thing ,they just go every where!!!

[Patricia]

Mmm..interesting.. I was once walking in a big, unknown (to me) city with map, but nobody offered me any directions.. This could be because of three reasons..
1 Is Patricia really nice?
2 Am I so ugly?
3 Was it because of my t-shirt with the text 'I'm no tourist, I live here!'?



Axystos.

I was wearing a shirt with a flower pattern all over it...oh, and sunglasses! could that be the reason??!!! And mind you this is the city where I live! I think that if they had seen my mobile phone, they would have realised that I was not a tourists....nobody takes their mobile phones while on holidays here!

[:0{]

in here we take the Cellphons to vacations allso, all over the world
is allways better ,to call home cheaper !!!!

[proycon]

Mi foje estis en la vagonaro kun mia fratino. Kaj ni nur parolis Esperanton. Avino kaj infano apud ni ekparolis pri nia lingvo Ili pensis ke ni parolis la Francan! Estas amuze se aliaj homoj parolas pri vi kaj pensas ke vi ne komprenas ilin, sed vi ja komprenas bonege!

I once was in a train with my sister, and we only spoke Esperanto. An old lady and child besides us started speaking about our language They thought we were speaking French! It's funny if other people speak about you and think that you don't understand them, but you very well do!

[darkina]

So basically...half of the world is on top of german preferences for a holiday?

[Saaropean]

So basically...half of the world is on top of german preferences for a holiday?

No, Italy and Spain (plus Austria for winter sports and senior hikers) are still the "classical holiday countries", i.e. the main victims.


That was my 300th post in this forum!

[Francy]

Here on my lake you can see lot of everything!! I mean, lots of German, Dutch, Spanish, Finns, Danese, Swedish, British, Austrian, Americans and even Japenese!!

I have to say Germans are really peculiar (nobody should get offended, please..) they're really different, I recognize them among other northern European!! Dutch are really nice, they're polite and they always come with caravans and the whole family!! (...a lot of bicycles...)

[Saaropean]

Dutch are really nice, they're polite and they always come with caravans and the whole family!!

Dutch caravans are omnipresent on German roads. There's no holiday-time traffic jam without Dutch caravans. And we have lots of traffic jams, especially at rush hour, school holiday beginning or end, week-ends, public holidays and when there are too many construction sites...
Drivers beware, the next summer holidays in Germany start between June 30th and July 31st 2002 and end between August 9th and September 13th!

Disclaimer: This was not meant in a friendly way, not insulting. It was just supposed to show the prejudices towards the Dutch that do exist.

[Leviwosc]

I never travel with a caravan, I hate the caravan, it's to small and very clumsy to drive on the road. Especially when you've to drive trough Germany! I've heard once a few car drivers where talking and they thougth that Germans get ther drivers license with a pack of soap in the supermarket. But I don't believe that, because there will surely be a lot of good German car drivers. Besides that I don't visit Germany so often so I can't make a real objective opinion.

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Ik reis nooit met een caravan, ik haat de caravan, het is te klein en het is onhandig rijden op de weg. Vooral als je door Duitsland heen moet rijden! Ik heb wel eens automobilisten horen zeggen dat zij denken dat de Duitsers hun rijbewijzen bij een pak zeep in de supermarkt krijgen! Niet dat ik dat geloof hoor, want er zullen vast wel een heleboel goede Duitse automobilisten zijn. Daarnaast kom ik niet vaak genoeg in Duitsland om daar echt een objectief oordeel over te kunnen vellen.


Met Vriendelijke Groet
Ron de Leeuw
Nederland

[Saaropean]

I've heard once a few car drivers where talking and they thougth that Germans get ther drivers license with a pack of soap in the supermarket.

ROTFL

Well, driving in Germany is indeed terrible. Not comparable to the relaxed North American drivers...
Maybe it's because the average German driver thinks s/he has the right of way until the opposite is proven. And if you're on the left lane of a highway with less than 150 km/h, you're lost anyway...

Don't get me wrong, it's not chaotic like in Paris or Italy (according to what I've heard, not meant to offend anyone).
But if everyone thinks s/he's the king of the road (not only if the car has a target mark or a little propeller ), it's not very pleasant either...
And the police here is very "soft" compared to other countries...

No, in fact getting a driver's license in Germany is relatively hard and expensive.

I'm not a typical German: I neither possess a car nor the famous "Freude am Fahren" (pleasure while driving)...

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Naja, in Deutschland Auto zu fahren ist wirklich schrecklich. Nicht vergleichbar mit den relaxten nordamerikanischen AutofahrerInnen...
Vielleicht liegt das daran, dass der/die deutsche Durchschnitts-AutofahrerIn denkt, sie/er hat Vorfahrt bis das Gegenteil bewiesen wird. Und wenn man mit weniger als 150 km/h auf der Autobahn auf der linken Seite fährt, ist man sowieso verloren...

Versteht mich nicht falsch, es ist nicht chaotisch wie in Paris oder Italien (nach dem, was ich gehört habe, was niemanden beleidigen soll).
Aber wenn jeder denkt, ihm/ihr gehört die Straße (nicht nur, wenn das Auto eine Zielvorrichtung oder einen kleinen Propeller hat ), ist das auch nicht sehr angenehm...
Außerdem ist die Polizei hier sehr "sanft" im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern...

Nein, in Wirklichkeit ist es relativ schwer und teuer, einen Führerschein zu bekommen.

Ich bin kein typischer Deutscher: Ich besitze weder ein Auto noch die berühmte "Freude am Fahren"...

[Leviwosc]

Here on my lake you can see lot of everything!! I mean, lots of German, Dutch, Spanish, Finns, Danese, Swedish, British, Austrian, Americans and even Japenese!!

I have to say Germans are really peculiar (nobody should get offended, please..) they're really different, I recognize them among other northern European!! Dutch are really nice, they're polite and they always come with caravans and the whole family!! (...a lot of bicycles...)

Oh Francy, I'm glad that the Dutch behave there selfs well in Italy. We got other stories about Dutch youngers in Spain..... especially at cities near by the coast.

I think there also a lot of Dutch people who comes by plane to Italy Francy, when I went to Firenze last year there where large groups of Dutch who where visiting Firenze.

And a Dutchy without a bicycle that's like "Pasta senza Pomodoro e Carne" I hope you understand what I mean.


Saaropean do you know the beach of Scheveningen or Zandvoort every summer when we want to go to the beach there are a lot of Jams to that beaches and everywhere where you look you see German Number Plates.

Greets
Ron de Leeuw
The Netherlands

[Leviwosc]

And if you're on the left lane of a highway with less than 150 km/h, you're lost anyway...

150 km/h ?? wow.... 120 km/h in the Netherlands...

And the police here is very "soft" compared to other countries...

I want to invite you to visit the Netherlands and meet the Dutch police.... I will say it simple, in the Netherlands we say to eachother, "watch out in Germany the police there is much harder than here" and it's right. Dutch police is very soft...

No, in fact getting a driver's license in Germany is relatively hard and expensive.

In the Netherlands the same story.... btw, is that your drivers license? I thought you are a man.

With Kind Regards
Ron de Leeuw
The Netherlands

[Saaropean]

And if you're on the left lane of a highway with less than 150 km/h, you're lost anyway...

150 km/h ?? wow.... 120 km/h in the Netherlands...

Don't you know there's no speed limit on German highways? We have a "recommended maximum speed" of 130 km/h, but that's not compulsory.
Weißt du denn nicht, dass es auf deutschen Autobahnen keine Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung gibt? Wir haben eine "empfohlene Höchstgeschwindigkeit" von 130 km/h, aber das ist nicht verpflichtend.

Nevertheless, most routes are limited to something between 100 and 130. In some states there's no highway stretch left where it's allowed to drive one's Porsche like a fool. Fortunately. (And I don't only say "fortunately" because I used to have a Fiat Panda.)
Trotzdem sind die meisten Strecken auf irgendwas zwischen 100 und 130 begrenzt. In manchen Bundesländern gibt es gar keine Autobahnabschnitte mehr, wo man einen Porsche "ausfahren" kann. Zum Glück. (Und ich sage nicht nur "zum Glück", weil ich mal einen Fiat Panda hatte.)

btw, is that your drivers license? I thought you are a man.

No, my name is not Mustermann (John Doe).
Besides, I have an old pink paper license, like this one. Finnish and Swedish are missing, although those countries were already EU members when I made my license.

Nein, ich heiße nicht Mustermann.
Außerdem habe ich noch einen alten rosanen Papier-Führerschein, so wie der. Finnisch und Schwedisch fehlen, obwohl diese Länder schon EU-Mitglieder waren, als ich meinen Führerschein gemacht habe.

[darkina]

i hate driving!!!!!!!!!!! what is said about italians is sadly true... i drive rather slowly (which means im 98% of the time respecting the speed limit) and everybody overtakes me furiously...same if i take a bit too long at a Stop... 10 minutes of driving get me so stressed... I 'had to' get my driving licence to get abit of independance, otherwise i would have always been forced to ask my parents for a lift...and in the evening, poor ones, they weren't happy... But now i've decided that i'll use the car only when it's necessary, i'll always try to use the (*sighs*) bus...or to ask soemone for a lift . Plus, i can't park very well

Btw, now they want (or they've already done, i dont know) to rise the speed limit in the motorways to 160 km/h... which everybody does anyway...

When i went to Germany, at pedestrian crossings my German friend passed straight... while i was still on the other side looking every way to see if it was safe to pass...Then everytiem she told me that i should have passed straight like her, cos cars have to stop, that's the law...And everytime i replied that in Italy it's the law too...but noone does!!!!!!!! (i usually do so the drivers of the cars behind me, who are probably angry with me already, get even more pissed off )

[Saaropean]

Btw, now they want (or they've already done, i dont know) to rise the speed limit in the motorways to 160 km/h... which everybody does anyway...

Crazy. But even in Québec, with a speed limit of 100 km/h, you get overtaken when doing 130...

When i went to Germany, at pedestrian crossings my German friend passed straight... while i was still on the other side looking every way to see if it was safe to pass...Then everytiem she told me that i should have passed straight like her, cos cars have to stop, that's the law...And everytime i replied that in Italy it's the law too...but noone does!!!!!!!! (i usually do so the drivers of the cars behind me, who are probably angry with me already, get even more pissed off )

I grew up in a rather big city (Stuttgart), where you have no chance if you wait on the pavement, even though the cars break the law if they don't stop. So I always walk straight across. I've been doing this all my life, and only once there was a car that had to do break abruptly (on my way to school in Stuttgart).

My favorite speed when driving a car is 30 km/h. There are so many residential areas with a speed limit of 30 instead of 50 in Germany, where everyone does 50 instead of 70. I just love driving 30 (or 28) in such an area when there are many cars behind me and they get angry because they can't pass.

[Luís]

Besides, I have an old pink paper license, like this one. Finnish and Swedish are missing, although those countries were already EU members when I made my license.

Those are the old ones. I already got one of the electronic ones. It looks like a credit card or something... Unfortunately, it only displays one language in it
And now that we're on this subject, are the ID card in your countries translated to any other language? The Portuguese ones have everything translated into English and French in smaller letters.

[Patricia]

You surprise me people. I thought the only crazy country where you need a survival kit to be a pedestrian was here in Argentina (o, and maybe in Brazil too). When I was in Italy, I was amazed by the car drivers stopping at the pedestrian crossings to let me cross!
Btw, I can't drive, and I obviously don't have a car. We have a pretty good public transportation system here in Buenos Aires; you can get anywhere at any time of the day, so I've been putting off the driving lessons...

[Luís]

When I was in Italy, I was amazed by the car drivers stopping at the pedestrian crossings to let me cross!

that happened in Italy

I felt exactly the opposite. That Italian drivers had usually no respect whatsoever for pedestrians... or stop-signs or ... red lights

Oh... especially taxi-drivers... but I guess that's everywhere

[Saaropean]

And now that we're on this subject, are the ID card in your countries translated to any other language? The Portuguese ones have everything translated into English and French in smaller letters.

It's the same in Germany: Everything (except the word "Bundesdruckerei" ) is translated into English and French. But the words "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" and "Personalausweis" are written in a bigger font than their translations.
ID cards here look like this one. And this is the backside of someone else's ID.
For the non-Europeans: they are plastic-coated, measuring 10.5 x 7.4 cm, and it's required to have an ID when you're 16 or older.

We have a pretty good public transportation system here in Buenos Aires; you can get anywhere at any time of the day, so I've been putting off the driving lessons...

Now that I have my semester ticket (about €55 for all busses and short-distance trains in the state), I don't need a car either.