deutschland als fremden land? was?

thinking about germany as a foreign country is actually quite a challenge now. it's amazing how much you can adapt in just a month (the 6th passed by without my noticing). i know i used to think of germany like i imagine most americans think of europe: vast countryside, mountains in the distance, cows, horses pulling carts, ruins of castles, people walking around in lederhosen (maybe just germany and austria), straw thatch, und so fort und so weiter. for better or for worse, those days are past. for the most part anyway...

i maintain there is still a lot of old-time atmosphere here. part of it i think is that everything is so much closer together in the cities, but once you reach the edge, you are immediately thrown into farm land. every single valley seems to be filled with wheat, corn, and various other crops. just 10 km south of berlin's very center, you can find fields. and while some of them are operated by large companies instead of traditional farmers (actually not that many?--but then 124 acres is a lot of land by my thinking), crops are purposefully staggered to prevent land deterioration and land on the edges is mostly left wild. it's a stark contrast to california/florida mow-and-spray tactics and even more so to iowa maize maze monoculture.

despite the immediacy of agriculture, there isn't much else of the 1700s still around. this particular region of germany never had much lederhosen (i understand bavarians still put it on for sepecial occasions, however) and despite the 1.40 €/L ($8 something per gal) people are driving (very small--more on that later!) cars instead of livestock. don't know how long that will last though! electricity, as i discovered last time i was here, is--in fact--quite common, although there are no power lines anywhere in the city (presumably underground). at times in fact, i feel like germans are a little ahead of the technology curve: their trains are amazing, the buses are clean and quiet, aforementioned power lines, recycling, induction cooktops... ok, perhaps i'm just impressed by their attention to conservation. for the most part though, it's just a regular, modern country, with all (well, most...) of the comforts of home (minus ubiquitous internet).





herberhausen, landkreis göttingen

you have to admit though, there are certain places where you'd be hard pressed to prove were in the 21st century...