Archiv US-Observations from Hannover

October 2006
Before my elderly American landlady left to New Jersey I asked her what differences she distinguish to her surroundings in Princeton Junction and Sarasota and daily life in Hannover or Germany in general.

The first thing that came to her mind was "multi color hair". She is always surprised to see adult females with unnatural hair colors. She is used that students from a High School or children on a party have strange colors in their hair. I thought she talks about a color like the red of Franka Potente in LOLA RENNT. No, she is not used to the reddish hair that you can see in almost one in ten brunette haired woman.
The second difference was a unfriendly remark about people in Northern Germany especially Hannover. In her view WE are unfriendly and in our remarks often sourpussy. She likes the Germans in the South that have always a smile on their face and a "Grüß Gott" on their lips. [She simply does not understand our understatements and our sense of humor]
The next observation was related to our transport. There are so many extra small cars in Germany. She assumes that with increasing fuel prices these cars might become popular in the US too. She did not like the chaos of parking cars because of missing parking space in the streets.
A last curiosity for her is that some houses are painted very colorful.