Even he was amazed at life over there in contrast to life in the UK, such as the huge variety of breakfast cereals in the supermarkets. One thing that stunned him was when he made an appointment with a dentist for 6.30 the next day. When he turned up at the dental practice at 6.30 in the evening, everything was dark and it slowly dawned on him that the appointment had been for 6.30 in the morning!!
Americans have to be early birds. Many schools in the US start classes before 8 a.m., which is when school starts in Germany. However, if you tell people in Germany that school in England and Wales start at 9 a.m. but with class registration and 'assembly' (basically a church service - as mandated by law) first and that classes only start at around 9.30, their jaws drop.
If you have to sort something official out at the Bürgerbüro (the so-called Citizens' Centre - where you can get things such as passports and ID cards), then you can get an appointment for 7.30 a.m. As is the case in most official places. When I worked for the Housing Benefit department of a local town hall in Wales, I was there for 8 a.m. but the rest of my colleagues (apart from one who clocked in at 8.15 and then went to the cafe across the road until the boss came) only trundled in at 9 a.m.
What brought this little piece of writing on was the fact that I've just read about an author in an article in The Guardian who stated that her high school in the US started at 7.25 in the morning. And I once again thought that the British are still asleep - or at the very least still in bed or eating their cornflakes - while the rest of the world is already at work or nearly starting classes at school.
If the Brits still want to be "world-beating" at anything, they're going to have to set their alarm clocks for a much earlier wake-up. It's no wonder so much is not working there.
No comments:
Post a Comment