Just An Odd Story Plot For German TV

 Occasionally, I will watch a German crime series ('Tatort') on Sunday evenings (8:15 PM, via ARD...Channel 1).

There are 'winners' and 'losers' with the show.  They run for about 90 minutes (no commercials), with the German detective crew rotating (probably 20 different crews).  Some of the episodes are artsy....meaning it's a pretty well-drawn story that keeps you guessing what really happened.  Some are basic murder stories.  Some have a comical side being played out.

This past Sunday, the story centered around a Dutch educational tradition in the Netherlands where you abandon teenagers (age 16) alone in the woods at night. The story revolves around “droppings” (the Dutch term) and a murder.

So they lay out a dropping....you as the kid are left blindfolded in the middle of the woods with a compass, map, some basic camping gear and enough food for two days.  Your job....return to civilization without a GPS.  I should add...you wouldn't be alone.....usually two or more in this 'team'.

The murder business for this one show?  Well...the kids apparently have a cellphone (breaking the general rule of the dropping, and see a dead guy's picture near the camping spot.  They call the police, and the rest of the show is mostly who-done-it.

So, here's the thing....no one in Germany has ever heard of a 'dropping', and it was well argued the next day or two....this was simply a wild and crazy idea

The Dutch?  They will generally say that no one does in the urbanized area of the Netherlands, and that the 'game' still occurs....some on the high-end scale, and some on a limited budget.   

The fact that the woods in Germany or the Netherlands is 100-percent 'safe'?  I pondered about this.  Generally, without any snakes, wild dogs, coyotes, bears, or crazy folks....you can generally walk around as a teenager in a wooded area, and have no fear...other than a storm, or running out of water.

For myself as a kid?  I probably would have marched off to the outer boundaries, got on a train or two, and announced my location a week later....300 kilometers away.