This weeks marks the one year anniversary of my move to Germany.  To be honest the day almost passed by without me even realizing what it meant.  I even forgot to mention the event to anyone until the next day.  When I asked Anni if she remember the significance of yesterday, it took her several tries to come up with the answer.  Maybe we should have put more importance into the day, but so much has happened within the last year that frankly moving to Germany was just another day.  Yet it was also the beginning to something new.  So to celebrate I thought I would write about things which have become normal in my life:

Sales Tax

A Coca-Cola bottle

Almost everyone in the United States pays sales tax at some level.  While there are a few states without sales tax, you would be hard pressed to find someone who has not paid it at least once in their life.  Unlike in the United States, in Germany the sales taxes is combined with the price of the item you are buying.  For example, I bought a this Coca-Cola earlier today while I was walking through town.  The price was .95 cents which includes the Coke and the sales tax.

I find it very convenient this is combined into the sticker price.  You do not have to think about which town you are in and what their sales tax might be.  Or even worse, which store you are in and are they in a special tax district or not.  The simplified pricing makes it much easier to know what you are paying at the counter.

The only problem with this example is Coca-Cola comes in a plastic bottle.

Recycling

A bottle recycling symbol

Germany has a great recycling program.  Every grocery store (that I have been to) has a plastic and glass bottle recycling center.  These machines sort the bottles depending on the type of material.  Bottles like my Coca-Cola are made from a softer plastic and get crushed by the machine.  As added encouragement to recycle, they also come with a .25 cent recycling deposit.  Which is a small catch to the simplified sales tax system.  That .95 cent Coca-Cola just became a Euro and 20 cents.  Not really a problem if you know about the program.  A year ago I was not aware the deposit existed and was confused the first couple of times I went to the store.  Fortunately that sensation quickly faded.

Trash Day

So trash is not exciting nor original, but it can be different.  We have four different types of trash which is collected on a rotating schedule.

• Biological trash is collected every two weeks and can include anything, well, that is biological.  So from your banana peel to the weekly grass clippings.  Anything that is biodegradable.
• Paper products form cardboard to confetti and everything in between.  Be prepared to wait before this is taken away.  In our area, they only collect the paper trash once a month.  Normally one of the weeks between bio-trash collections.
• Plastic and metal recycling goes into a thin plastic yellow bag.  Probably my most ecologically appreciated portion of the trash service.  I have always hated mixing the metal and plastic trash with everything else.  Now, I can easily and conveniently dispose of it properly.  Also, picked up once a month.  So have some space in the basement to store these between collections.
• and finally everything else gets put into a black trash can.  With the other three options this probably gets the least usage.  Which is good.

I jotted down a list of 10 more things I could write about, but these are three I encountered today.  I am sure in the coming years more and more will become an every day occurrence.  Like with everything, it just takes time.