Five great things about Germany!
Is it just me or does everyone think we’ve always got something to learn from other people?
I don’t want to live anywhere else but here – but it doesn’t mean we get everything right in Australia.
We had three German boys staying with us for the weekend, on their way to Sydney for World Youth Day.
Josef (Joe), Sebastian (Basti) and Ludwig (Ludi) are all from Perna, a town near Dresden, in what used to be called East Germany.
We exchanged heaps of information - for instance, wages are very low in Germany and some things are expensive, like getting a drivers licence (a couple of thousand euro all up).
They've got some great ideas though...
Germany is the mother of all green movements. A green government about ten years ago first identified that the world was facing an oil crisis – they jacked up the price of fuel and forced people to find alternative fuel sources. And they did it very successfully.
Our visitors were staring out across a see of bald rooves, stunned that Australians (…on the Sunshine Coast of all places) are yet to embrace solar power.
As a result of the governments tough choices – they say Germany is almost immune to rising oil prices.
And far from causing economic hardship, the environmental focus has been an environmental boon - resulting in exciting, clean, green, lucrative new technologies.
Other things I thought were great;
When you finish school in Germany – before work or uni – you have a choice nine months in the military – non combat – or nine months community work.
Sebastian – one of our boys - has chosen community and will work for student wages in a local hospital.
As well, if you give blood in Germany, you get 20 Euro – if you bring along a friend who has never given blood before, 50 euro…
They don’t watch much tv in Germany either, which has got to be a good thing.
I don’t want to live anywhere else but here – but it doesn’t mean we get everything right in Australia.
We had three German boys staying with us for the weekend, on their way to Sydney for World Youth Day.
Josef (Joe), Sebastian (Basti) and Ludwig (Ludi) are all from Perna, a town near Dresden, in what used to be called East Germany.
We exchanged heaps of information - for instance, wages are very low in Germany and some things are expensive, like getting a drivers licence (a couple of thousand euro all up).
They've got some great ideas though...
Germany is the mother of all green movements. A green government about ten years ago first identified that the world was facing an oil crisis – they jacked up the price of fuel and forced people to find alternative fuel sources. And they did it very successfully.
Our visitors were staring out across a see of bald rooves, stunned that Australians (…on the Sunshine Coast of all places) are yet to embrace solar power.
As a result of the governments tough choices – they say Germany is almost immune to rising oil prices.
And far from causing economic hardship, the environmental focus has been an environmental boon - resulting in exciting, clean, green, lucrative new technologies.
Other things I thought were great;
When you finish school in Germany – before work or uni – you have a choice nine months in the military – non combat – or nine months community work.
Sebastian – one of our boys - has chosen community and will work for student wages in a local hospital.
As well, if you give blood in Germany, you get 20 Euro – if you bring along a friend who has never given blood before, 50 euro…
They don’t watch much tv in Germany either, which has got to be a good thing.
posted by Caroline Hutchinson at 9:04 AM
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