"Get a good night's sleep if you want to drive to school."
Growing up, I wasn't just a fervent rule-abider, I was a rule internalizer.
I like rules. They make sense to me. They make me feel secure. In that sense, I may even be too German for the Germans.
On the one hand, Germany has a lot of rules. Many are direct: recycle glass bottles before 8 pm; bikes left, pedestrians right. Others are just strong incentives: if you don't visit the dentist once a year, you'll pay a lot for dental care in the future. Still others are hallowed tradition: a towel at pool-side indicates a radius of undisputed ownership.
For all the rules there are here, however, there is also a lot of resistance to rules, and that can be frustrating for people like me who crave structure, efficiency and agreements that hold.
In my first shared housing experience, we had a dinner system. Each person cooked one night per week. For me, the convenience of a warm dinner six nights a week vastly outweighed the inconvenience of being tied into cooking for 7 people once per week. When I suggested a similar system in my current shared flat, my flatmate said, "My life already feels too much like one long series of obligations to fulfill."
At work I try in vain to keep my colleagues from using exclamation marks AND CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis on our website! Not to mention the fight I lost long ago on the usefulness of text styles. I have also been ridiculed for asking people standing under no smoking or no cell phone signs to oblige.
So, where does one go if Germany doesn't offer enough rules? Isn't that like bemoaning the dearth of water in the Caribbean or luxury hotels in Dubai?
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| Three paragraphs to explain a ban on climbing up to the roof. |
It's not like I am completely out of touch with my inner rebel. I was proud to once be chastised for jaywalking: "Young lady," growled an angry driver, "You are not above the law!" ("Rot gilt auch für Sie, junge Dame!") If I experienced enough outbursts like that, I might muster the courage to do something really radical like ... mow the lawn on Sundays.
