Culture Shock People Might Face in Germany

Living in other countries might be exciting yet stressful sometimes, especially when you move to a totally different country, with different language to speak, different people to meet, and different culture to learn. It would be different if you only pay a visit for a week or two, but when you start to live there, culture shock might starts to haunt you. Things that are normally done in our countries won't always be a right thing to do. Some things might be easy to adapt, but some things surely take time!

I've only been here in Germany for around 1.5 month, but I've got a long list of culture shock that I face here, and I believe there will be more as the time passes on. Many friends and family have been asking me the difference between my country Indonesia and here, so today I decide to share with you my long and frustrating list of culture shock. xD

1. LANGUAGE BARRIER

Unless you go to the tourism sites, never expect everyone to be able to speak English, N-E-V-E-R. There are some Germans who can speak fluent English, however it doesn't mean that every people you meet might be the same. Fortunately, I had prepared for this back then and learned a bit Deutsch (it was a requirement for the Visa I applied), but still, it can never guarantee you that you will speak fluently once you meet these Germans. What stresses me out is that, Germans stick to their language very much, a simple mispronunciation might cause people to ask "Wie bitte?", which means "pardon, please repeat". Sometimes I wonder why they can't figure out what foreigners say, because not every country teaches how to pronounce "ä", "ö" and "ü".

2. PUNCTUALITY FTW

Germans are so punctual, SO punctual. Not a minute early, not a minute late. They treat appointments very seriously, which means zero tolerance for any delay or lateness. While back in my country, when you have appointment at 7 p.m., it's normal, very normal to just start to get ready at 6.30, go at 7, and arrive at 8. 

3. DIRECT WAY OF TALKING

Germany is definitely not for soft hearted people. If you can't take critisicm thrown right in your face, then please, don't live here. For those people who like to state their thoughts as much as they want, then this place is for you. Seriously, what I love about being here is that people don't fake their thoughts just to please you. NOPE. If they like you, they will tell, and if they don't like the things you do, they will tell you as well. They mean every word they say, so if you make mistakes (even though you don't know that), don't take their words personally but use their words as an advice to be better. Besides, they will say it softly and in a low tone, so you won't feel like you're being scolded. Slow, but deep. xD

4. DON'T WORRY, YOUR PRIVACY IS SAFE

Germans might appear cold on the outside, but once you get to know them, they're generous human beings. When you meet people and accidentally give eye contact to each other, simply say "Alo" or maybe "Gutten Tag", they will smile and greet you back. AND THAT'S IT. Don't expect further conversation, because unless they are your friends then they won't do that. I love how people respect privacy here, don't expect them to ask personal things about you, they don't care to know and they don't expect you to ask as well. This is super different from the place where I came from, so I really enjoy this point. 

5. NO TOUCHING

Back in my country, when you get to know people, it's okay to give a pat on the shoulder every once in a while, especially while you're talking. However, in Germany, you're not allowed to do that, because like I said in point number 4, people respect privacy. Unless you're a couple, or close friends, then physical contact will be avoided as much as possible. Even when you're walking with your acquaintances, and you accidentally bump into them, you need to apologize immediately. 

6. FIRM HANDSHAKE

Believe it or not, there is even a handshake etiquette in Germany. Germans respect others very much, therefore, when they introduce themselves, they will give a very firm grip on your hand. From where I came from, sometimes people just pretended to give you a handshake but you can barely feel it hahaha. But that doesn't happen here.  You need to give a firm and steady handshake as well or people will think that you're disrespectful. Not only on the first meeting, people will also shake your hand whenever you meet or saying goodbye, or maybe on rare occasion, when you've got to know each other for quite some time, a simple hug will do.

7. DIFFERENT STORES FOR DIFFERENT NEEDS

This is kinda hard for me, because I'm used to the life where, when you need to buy things you can just simply go to the Mall, and everything you need is in ONE place, just different levels. However, that doesn't happen here. If you want to buy foods or ingredients, then you need to go to Grocery shops. If you want to buy shampoo or daily needs, then you need to go to Drogerie Markt. If you want to buy electronic stuff, you need to go to Electronic shops. If you want to buy asian food ingredients, then you need to go to Asian shops. If you want to buy home decors or furnitures then you need to go to shops like Bauhaus, OBI or XXXL. If you need to buy pet supplies then you need to go to Pet Stores. And the list goes on.  The advantage is that they are specialized stores, so you can find anything related to the things you want to buy, but the disadvantage is that they're all in different buildings, and if you're lucky, then they're in the same district or blocks. Point is, you really need to know which stores is for what supplies, and note that it's nearly impossible to spend a day in different stores, you can only decide which things you really need to buy on that day, and spend your time in that ONE store for the rest of the day.

8. IT'S OKAY TO BLOW YOUR NOSE IN PUBLIC

This is one of the things that I really need to get used to. It's really okay to sneeze or blow your nose in front of people, even though you're EATING. I don't think I need to explain this point.

9. FAST DRIVERS EVERYWHERE

Unless you're a great driver, or you have an ambition of being the member of  "Fast and Furious",  then never consider to drive here. People drive really fast here, like they're super late for work. But seriously, it cringes me out every single day, especially in the Autobahn / Highway. People are expected to be able to drive at least 80km/hour and ABOVE 120km/hour. You can find speed limits everywhere, but for those roads without, then please pick the right side of the roads, unless you want to be blown away by Porche or Audi in split seconds.

10. STRICT RULES

Germans seem to worship the rules very much. You will find pedestrians who will still stop and wait for the light to turn green at the crosswalk during midnight even though there's NO cars passing by. There is also a time schedule for house cleaning, so if you use the vacuum cleaner during quiet hours then you can expect your neighbours to ring your bell, this also applies to piano playing or anything that might be disturbing. Many foreigners think that it's okay to break the rules, but truth is, we are all expected to understand and apply the unwritten rules, even though we don't know it. 

11. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS IMPOSSIBLE

Oh, you buy huge furnitures? Then carry them yourself. Oh you buy a lot of groceries? Then put / organize them in the plastics yourself. Something is wrong with your house maintenance? You have got two choices : fix them yourself, or make a call to the plumber or electrician and feel free to wait for another weeks (as long as it can take) until they come to fix it. Cheers.

12. TAKE YOUR TIME

I can say that people here are so, so so so so so so so so slow in doing everything. This is because they take their time seriously, and enjoy every milisecond of it. You want your bill? Then wait. It can be 15 mins, or if you're lucky maybe 10 will do. ;) NEVER RUSH THEM, and believe me, nobody will rush you. Even if you're crossing the road in a small street, the cars won't honk you, but instead, they will wait for you. You can walk slowly and enjoy the view, seriously, just take your time :D 

13. LOW TONE 

I love love love and love this point! Back in my country, everybody talks with a high tone and sometimes they even sound like they're shouting or angry. But here, everyone talks in a very soft and low tone, and I even feel like I talk too loud sometimes. They even talk in a medium speed, stressing every single word. You won't hear people shouting, everyone seems happy and chill here, like they don't have anger within them hahahaa. Every mistake is told in a low tone, and people automatically try to accept critisicm here.

14. FOOD PORTION OF COURSE

Omg seriously, the food portions are HUGE. But in some restaurants, they're kind enough to provide klein / small portion. In Asian countries, it's normal to share foods with your friends, like for example : you know the portion is huge, therefore you only order one portion and share it. But here, you're always expected to order one for each person, especially in proffesional restaurants. You will see people eating the whole large portion of pizza or other foods by themselves, and believe me, they are fast eaters. But don't worry, you can always pack your foods home in case you can't finish them on the spot.

15. SHOES AT HOME

I don't know if this applies to all Germans, but from the houses I've been to, I realize that people put on shoes inside their houses. Well, obviously, I come from Asia, so this is quite different from how I was brought up. I know that in America people do this too, but still, I need time to adjust to this. (We don't apply this in our home though hahaha)

16. SUPER CLEAN

Good news, people! If you have a serious OCD, this place is where you belong! This is a little contradicting with point number 15, but seriously. the roads, the parks, everywhere is so clean here. I can tell that they really take care of their environment here, the speed limit in the highway might be slowed down occasionally just because they are doing plant maintainance or maybe cleaning the roads. Just wow.

17. COINS ARE USEFUL HERE

Seriously, coins are always used in every transaction, they are even useful for accessing the grocery carts, especially €1 coins. 

I somehow realize that the people here like to pay with money instead of cards, so keep your coins, they will save your life, unless you want to pay with bigger amount and get a lot of coins in return. xD

18. PETS ARE ALLOWED IN MOST PLACES

Don't be shocked when you're doing your shopping and suddenly there is a pet passing by, or maybe when you're eating in a snack store / imbiss, and there is a pet sitting nearby. I was not used to this at first, but now from the brighter side of perspective, I somehow love this because it simply means that there are a lot of animal lovers here.

19. NO STORES ON SUNDAYS, AND THE STORES CLOSE EARLY

This honestly sucks for me, because we are always required to do shopping on weekdays or Saturdays, since the stores will be closed on Sundays. Problem is, even on weekdays, you need to do it earlier because some stores close at 7-8 PM. And like what I stated above, the people here are so punctual, so we really need to take this seriously. What sucks most is when the Winter is coming, the sky is as dark as 7 PM even though it's just 5 PM here, which makes me even lazier to go out. 

20. GARBAGE RECYCLING IS SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS

As I said above, Germans care about their environment, therefore, they take recycling really seriously. OMG for me, it's insane. We are required to specify the garbages according to their types, and I don't even know how to explain it to you since it's so frustrating and confusing. So, I found an article about the garbage recycling HERE (click) , and have fun reading hahaha.

Wow it's a long list I've got there, and believe me, that's NOT all. I will share again with you once I've encountered new challenges here, so for now, I hope this information will help or give you another perspectives. Kay, see you! xx

What 2015 means to me

Hi everyone. 

It's now around 2 hours before new year, and I'm sitting here in front of the screen trying to share about what I have actually learned in 2015 and what 2015 means to me.

Truth be told, new years have always been so ordinary to me. I always think that it's just another day, nothing much, nothing special. But this year, I can't deny, it's really hard for me to let go of 2015. 

2015 is the year when I ACTUALLY discover myself, about what I want, and what I really need in life. I used to think that growing older just brings more sorrow, because it's time for me to see the world, the harsh world. I used to shut myself down, blocked myself from seeing the "real" world, and I spent almost everyday wondering if I was lost. 

Then I opened myself up.

I started to realize that this world indeed could be as bad as hell, full of fake people, ignorant people, or in contrary, it could be as great as heaven, with many faces to meet, many things to learn. It's all about perspective, and it depends on us which side we want to see it from. 

Truth is, growing up isn't always about seeing things from the "hidden" sides, or "negative" sides. Instead, growing up means you should see things from BOTH sides, and realize that there are always 2 sides of coins and judging from one side won't be wise enough to live an adult life. 

I finally understand, that sometimes we have to let go of things or people, so that we can grow and learn from our mistakes. I finally understand that IT'S OKAY to make mistakes, IT'S OKAY to be imperfect. Because those imperfections are what make me, me. I finally realized that I've been living my whole life trying to please someone else subconciously, trying to lift myself up to people's standards, until I lost myself. I used to blame myself just because people said I wasn't good enough. I used to focus on what people thought about me and I remember sitting at the corner of the room wondering what I did wrong, why people left, why I made mistakes, why things happened that way, why why and why. And it got me nowhere. Things didn't get better. 

And then I slowly learned to forgive myself (it took me 3 years to undestand this). I forgive myself for being imperfect, for making mistakes, and I tell myself that no one, seriously, no one could bring me down or judge me because of a single mistake I did in the past. I've finally come out from my darkest moments and decided to allow myself to see everything from the whole different perspective. I grew stronger, I found myself, I am happy, and I am grateful.

2015 has taught me that this life is actually wonderful (maybe to some people I might sound ignorant or naive when I write this), I was the one who blocked myself from seeing its value because I focused too much on all the negative sides. I tend to blame people for not understanding my circumstances, my thoughts, and my behavior. But truth is, we can never expect everyone else to walk like we do, talk like we do, and think like we do. People are different, we are all different indeed. And when I accept this, my life changes. I become happier by accepting and understanding why they think differently, and for me, it is interesting and full of wonders. I went to places, I met new people, I talked to strangers, I came out from my comfort zone, I saw the world little by little, I learned new things, and the more I learn, the more I realize how small I am in this world, how much I don't know, and that's OKAY. I don't need to feel worthless about myself, because as human beings, it's become our nature to learn, and as long as I keep on learning, I won't feel sorry for myself. These things finally led me to my biggest accomplishment in 2015 which is : start LIVING instead of just existing. And I'm grateful.

I've finally let go of my past completely, and I'm thankful for that. I've put down all the burdens which have haunted me for years, they're only lessons to me now, they could no longer harm me, and I'm finally free spiritually and mentally.  

The road is still long ahead I know, and I don't say it will be easy. I'm just starting my journey, a whole new journey. A journey of gratitude, a journey to learn to be better, and I'm looking forward to it. This is my personal adventure, my personal homework, and now I'm finally ready. 2015, thank you for all the memories and lessons, you're my best teacher, and 2016, here I come <3

"You have to let go of the past,so that the better future can come to its place."

I want to live my life to the absolute fullest

To open my eyes to be all I can be

To travel roads not taken, to meet faces unknown

To feel the wind, to touch the stars

I promise to discover myself

To stand tall with greatness

To chase down and catch every dream

LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE

Let's call on the interested 
The wide-eyed, the hopeful
The princesses and the princes
The believer

Let's summon the generals, 
The queens, the kings,
And the knights that ride the adventurous trails

Let's call on the leaders
The lover, the big ones, the small ones
The been-there's, the done-that's
The discoverers, the conductor
The scientist, the CEOs

Let's call on the skywalkers
The movers, the shakers

Let's call on the curious
And bring on the hope.

LIFE STARTS HERE

and after all these years, I finally understand what meanings these commercials actually hold. <3

Merry Christmas

Sharing my current favourite Christmas Song from TTS <3

 May you have a wonderful Christmas. XX.

DIY cute jar tutorial

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog!

So I'm finally back with another tutorial to share with you guys. This is a recycling tutorial I can say. I believe that most of us sometimes buy candies, jams, or any other foods in the jars, and instead of throwing the jars away, we can always reuse them to keep another foods or we can even recycle by decorating and transforming them into cute jars to keep anything we want. So if you like to do DIY or recycling projects, then this tutorial is definitely for you. <3

Several years ago, I had transformed some candy jars into these, and since I am a planner, I like to keep everything related to planning, such as clips, pens and cute stuff in the jar. So you can actually decide yourself what things that you're gonna keep, and what words you wanna write on it. 

So for this project, I'm gonna use this Mozzarella Cheese jar. I remember I bought this just because I loved the jar very much hahaha. So finally I can use it now. However, if you use this jar as well, or any other food jars with a strong smell, you have to wash it so many times to get rid of the smell, I mean really really lots of time. I find it so hard to get rid of it, I even sprayed some air freshener inside, geez. 

I use erasers on top of my jars. Yes, while people collect branded shoes or bags, I collect... erasers. Oh come on, I just can't stand it alright. Whenever I see cute erasers at the stores I would definitely buy them hahaha. So instead of using them on papers, I use them as decorations. Well, you can always use whatever you want to decorate, but in this tutorial, I'm gonna use these. 

These are other materials needed for the project. You can always be creative by adding whatever materials you have/want in decorating your jars. 

So let's start <3

You can first start off by colour coordinating the stuff that you're gonna use. For me, I will go with turquoise, pastelic blue and white.

Next, measure the ribbon around your jar and cut off the ribbon.

Pick a pen and write down whatever you want on the ribbon. I'm using a gel ink pen so I need to put aside and let it dry for a few moments.

While waiting, let's move on to the cover. Pick out your favourite ribbon and start gluing it on top of your cover.

Next, arrange your favourite erasers / any decorative items on top of your cover, and glue them down.

Now, take out your pearls, stick them wherever you want, and have fun with it! :D

This is optional, but if you have jeweled stickers, you can add them on top of your items to make it look shinier and cuter.

And now you're done with the cover. Let's move on to the jar.

After it has dried, place the ribbon on top of your jar and glue it down. 

As you can see I ruin one of the words and should clean it since I'm so lazy to rewrite it hahaha. Next, take out your decorative ribbon and place it wherever you want to make it less plain.

Instead of using the same ribbon, you can colour coordinate the upper part with another ribbon to make it look sweeter.

To cover up my mistake, I use the decorative flowers I have in my storage and add pearls on top of them to make them pop <3

Place another ribbon around the jar and tie up a ribbon. I purposely don't do it separately to add more "DIY" feeling to my jar. But you can stick the below part of the ribbon to make sure it doesn't move.

Place the cover on the jar and YOU ARE DONE!!! <3 

You can always customize your own style of jar and pack it as a gift for someone you love. Since it's handmade and one of a kind, this kind of jars will be much more meaningful than any other jars you could buy from the stores. 

So if you see this tutorial and happen to make the same jars or if you make another creation of your jars, or if you have another ideas on how to make cute jars, then you can always share them with me by tagging me on instagram : @flolaviniaa or leave a comment below, I would be so happy and honored. :D

Alright then, thanks for reading and see you guys <3

DIY extra storage in your planner

Hi everyone!

2016 is around the corner, what have you planned for a new year? As for me, I've been planning a lot for my 2016 planner. I have been a planner for more or less 9 years now, and so far I only use 1 kind of planner each year. But for 2016, I'm planning to have both planner and bullet journal to keep myself organized. This is because the planner I'm gonna use doesn't provide any extra pages for me to jot down my other essential sections, so I've decided to use bullet journal in addition to keep myself on track on what to plan and stuffs.

The planner that I'm gonna use is peekmybook 2016 in pastel mint colour which I totally love (left). I bought this planner at ART SEE (IG : @art.see), they sell cute stuffs for planners, and if you're a planner addict like me, make sure to check them out. <3 As for the bullet journal (right), I bought it from DAISO SG. I know it's not a proper bullet journal, but it's okay since it's quite emergency.

As you can see here, they don't have any extra spaces in front or at the back to put my stickers, money or paperclips like my previous planner. And the only way is to add them myself. I always keep stickers and paperclips which I always use inside my planner so whenever I don't bring my planning essentials pouch with me, I don't need to worry since they are already inside my planner. And I always put emergency money inside my planner in case I forget to bring my wallet, so for me, those extra spaces are super important.

Finally I come with an idea to use my old envelopes which I thought I no longer need as an extra storage. We never know when we will need all those abandoned stuffs right hahaha. So, yeah, this post is gonna be a super simple tutorial of how to add them inside, especially if you have the same problem with me.

For this simple project, you only need 3 stuffs :
- Journals/planners you wanna use
- Envelopes
- Hole puncher

Let's start with my bullet journal. Since it uses rings to bind, you need to start of by marking down where the holes are going to be. You can use the rings as the guide.

Then just simply punch them with the hole puncher, and remember to slit through the middle part of the holes, since the rings are fixed and can't be opened.

Then use your finger to plug the envelope into the rings and voila, you are done! Now you have your extra storage to keep your emergency money or stickers. Remember to seal the cover by using washitapes to prevent the content from falling out.

And what's best from this is people won't even realize that you have an envelope inside, but this is only possible if you don't put too much money since it will be so bulky.

Next, for a planner which is binded this way, you can just simply stick the envelope and put in your most used stickers.

So that's all for the tutorial. I know it's super simple, but I really hope it will be useful for you. Okay then, see you on my next post <3.

New blog is born!

Hi everyone!

I'm finally back on blogging. I was kinda sad because I could no longer log into my old blogspot account, and I should leave all of my memories there. I had been blogging since February 2010 and you can imagine how many posts I should leave behind and start all over again. *sob* But now I feel a lot better after putting a pastelic theme here. My previous blog was left abandoned since August 2013 because of hectic schedules and stuff, and I've been missing my blogging life so much. Through blogging I could pour whatever I feel into writings and it really helps me a lot, and I really hope that this blog can inspire you all as well. Okay, enough of the craps. See you on the next posts <3