This year is the 40th anniversary for me, upon arriving at Rhine Main Air Base in January of 1978....and getting 'Germanized'. I reflected upon this since January and I have a list of twelve things that I 'learned':
1. The really clean toilets that exist in Germany, are managed by ladies who sit by the entrance of the men's and women's toilets, and clean them out every hour or two. There's a bowl there for their tips, and it's wise to always leave at least 50 cents for their service.
2. Never consume more than two bottles of German beer while walking around town or some fest. Never ask for the Mass steins (the 1-liter glass containers) unless you got someone who will walk you back to the bus, or home.
3. You just don't know how many pork recipes exist in the world, until you've been to Germany.
4. You learn a whole new appreciation for trains and their operation while traveling around Germany. Things run on time, and the worst you can say is to avoid train travel in the summer months.
5. In 1978, if you walked around Frankfurt, it didn't take more than ten minutes to grasp good fashion from bad fashion. And in bad fashion.....you just didn't know how bad it got.
6. Reflecting back.....man, things were awful cheap in those days. Compared to 2018.....it's a tremendous change.
7. You really don't know what a smooth ride is in a car, until you've been in a Mercedes.
8. German cops tend to be awful professional and even helpful if you are 'lost'. If you are drunk and stupid.....well, it's best to avoid them.
9. You really don't know what speed is until you've been in some BMW or Mercedes....doing 240 kph (150 mph) on the autobahn. You also don't realize the braking distance required for high speeds until you've done at this speed.
10. The most complicated business I faced in early 1978, upon arrival.....was the business of getting a European license via the base drivers office. Between the 60-page manual, the 150 signs you had to memorize, and the forty four-way-intersection scenarios in the booklet.....it was awful hard.
11. You really don't know how bad TV can be, until you sat and watched an evening of AFN TV out of Frankfurt. They did the best they could, but it was awful lousy options for viewing.
12. Even if you started on day one of the 730-day tour consuming a new brand of beer or a shot of alcohol....every single day.....you'd barely scratch the surface of what the average German consumer had for choices. Along the way, you'd learn that there are some really crappy beers (Henninger for example).
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