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The three most important rules in Germany:be on time. don't jaywalk. Have a strong opinion on air circulation.

I agree to most of the things mentioned by Jen & Yvonne but - more generally - I would suggest this as a guideline: 1. Make sure that you know the basic rules in your new work environment: working hours, dress codes, etc 2. Watch your new co-workers and try to (carefully) adapt their behaviour/habits 3. If there is a conflict between the official rules and the behaviour of the employees try to use your common sense or just ask someone trustworthy what you should do (Trust me the key element is communication. Yes, I'm talking about Germany AND communication. Weird, isn't it? No, it's actually not. No matter what you heard about Germans we like to communicate with other people. Maybe a little bit different from the way you are used to but we like it and we do it. So if you are confronted with any type of problem or conflict just talk to the people and usually they will be open, honest and helpful.)

Your videos are so easy to understand and very informative. I don't plan to ever live in Germany but I'm learning German as a retirement hobby and its great to get an insight into the people and culture. I do remember a German intern at our American home office of a large company who used me as her sounding board for what at the time I thought were needless complaints about her co-workers being late, lazy, and unreliable. I related to her about when I was in the Peace Corps and had to adjust to the culture of the country I was assigned to. I also told her that her strong work ethic would be noticed and appreciated. Our company was changing technology and downsizing so there were all different attitudes in the workplace. Now I understand more about the German work ethic you describe which was probably what influenced her more than a lack of people skills.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="610">10:10</a> or even more specific: „Stoßlüften“ - us Germans we love it regardless of the season!

„I say super very often, ne?“ Ihr seid so sympathisch...👍

Fresh air in the room is very important!

So interesting! I’m of German heritage and I have to keep at least a couple windows cracked for fresh air year round. My husband is African American and he hates it in winter. He is cold. I feel the need for frische Luft.

I'm an American on the autism spectrum, and I wish we had German honesty here.

After watching and listening to Yvonne, i feel making friends in Germany is not that much hard. Your videos are awesome watched every bit without escaping ❤

I could relate to all those points. Very perceptive and always an enjoyment to listen to you guys.

I enjoy learning how Germany is seen through the eyes of someone from somewhere else. 😊 But it always startles me how you introduce Yvonne as your German wife.😮 It sounds as if you have other wifes from other countries as well. 😒😆

Oh, finally I feel I am not alone - yes! Ventilation - please open windows for oxygen to boost your mind and clean away all germs :) and I don’t like A/C - it’s just an old air circulation (unless it’s really hot) ❤️🇩🇪 Lunch time in North America is also around noon 🕛 :)

I love your video series. I have not been to Germany in over 20 years and will be taking my 15 yr old son for a 3 week visit in July. Keep up the good work. Very informative.

I enjoy your videos - it’s so lovely to see you both! You are absolutely beautiful couple💕 It is so helpful to learn German culture when seeing your interactions :) I LOVE 🇩🇪

Very honest response on every single question. Good luck looking forward for good stuffs.

your videos are so enjoyable, you should have way more subscribers. keep it up, please!!

Really enjoyed that I never knew that when you'd finished work it was a celebration...how interesting i have been saying that for long time ...keep up the good work you have a nice format Good luck from lreland 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

You are so hilarious in the video; thanks for bringing not only useful information but also joy❤

While I was living and working in Florida, there was of course AC in the office. However, there were also some arguments about how cold the temperature setting should be. Typically, the men, proponents of cold temperatures (and I mean really cold), won against us women. In the end, I - being German - came to the office with sneakers, long pants, and a sweater. (In Florida, I always carried a sweater in case I had to enter a building. Even in winter, I very rarely had to wear a sweater outside). Some of my female colleagues opted instead for an electric heater, which they placed under their desks while wearing shorts or skirts with flimsy sandals. Imagine an electric heater under a desk in a room with AC... Another difference between US and Germany work culture: In my opinion, the dress code in the US is much more formal than in Germany. Jeans are only allowed on Casual Friday. I'm talking about the dress code in the office. Outside the office not so much ;-). And should I mention that I hate cubicles? I never hat to work in one in Germany.

Danke,dies ist ein wundervoller Kanal.Weiter so!!!!

i really like your videos. thank you for your great work!

Ich liebe eure Beiträge - es macht so Spass zuzuschauen - Danke!

Very nice! I'm looking forward to living this work culture myself! 😊

Vielen Dank für die gute Inhalte.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1258">20:58</a> "working for life" has a different meaning to me as a native English speaker. I understood your meaning from context. Perhaps the phrase "working to live" would fit better. I love the content, please keep up the great videos.

A friend of mine used to say: "Germans are numbers". I was shocked when my boss lost his mother and his 20 years direct colleagues did not know his address when we wanted to send a bucket of flowers for his mothers funeral. We had to send the flowers to the HR after signing the card. To be honest, I did not sign the card, I waited until my boss returned and addressed my condolences privately. That day I saw numbers instead of people with heart and soul

Nice video. So sweet to see how the harmony between you. 😍

the toi toi toi actually comes from the habit to spit over ones shoulder 3 times to fend off evil magic or evil spirits. that developed to a only pretended spitting which creates the t and from there it went to toi

I live in USA, but after almost 5 years in Germany, I always have the windows open here, haha. I totally get it. Rooms feel REALLY stuffy after a long while, especially at work where there might be lots of body heat, and odors, and food smells, or whatever. And English also has a phrase equivalent to "Durchzug" which is "cross-breeze."

Just found your channel and really enjoyed this! Can't wait for some free time to watch more! I will eventually end up in Koln, so I think this channel will be great insight.

loving your contents! I recently moved to Germany and since little bit before I started to watch lots of your videos. loving how you guys lead the contents in a very practical manner, comfortably, appreciate it much !

In Germany we have a saying whenever an open window bothers you: "Wenn es zieht, dreh dich um. Dann drückt es." ^^ 😉

A comment on #3. Back in the mid 70's I was a military wife working in the military hospital in Frankfurt. My co-worker was an older German lady who was the department head's secretary. For my birthday one year she invited me to her house for lunch. It was a workday. She drove us to her house, showed me around and then served a lunch she had already prepared. I remember that I enjoyed myself but I didn't think this was anything out of the ordinary but just a nice lunch between co-workers. So just a comment on my experience.

My former boss in a staff meeting: we have budget for aircons or unlimited free ice cream. Me sitting in the air conditioned server room eating my free ice cream

You girls are so informative and sweet! I like how you explain everything. It really helps to prepare myself.

Well, I think the honesty part is a double edged sword.! I pointed out a mistake in one of the meetings and the presenter got offended.!

Feierabend Bier was mostly usual on fridays in the companys i worked, very seldom on other days. In one company it was also very often that some of us just went into a bar that was just 10 meters next to the office to have a beer there. For the open windows, i'm there in the minority of the germans that don't like that, and man the last years i worked (stopped working 3 years ago) i had a collegue who also always in the deepest winter needed to open the windows, he also didn't left the room, and he didn't closed it for what felt an hour, and i often really had to put on my jacket, but he just didn't cared.

About the AC. I agree with these people. I get a cough and a headache.

thanks for this video, it made me giggle so much. i am a singaporean who has been living in germany for 4 years. YES to everything you both said hahah!!! you did not include the german way of writing curt, (well at least it seems curt to other work cultures) one sentence work emails. no intro, no 'i hope this email finds you well...', just the salutation, and then the one sentence that describes curtly what is needed. and then the sign off.

I am German. At my first job I was not allowed to talk to my coworkers privately, because my boss thought, we just don´t work then. After one year I did not knew my coworkers, even when we worked together every day. When I left the job to find another it was nearly the same, we were allowed to aks how the weekend was or how the baby is, but we were not allowed to meet after work for dinner (we did secretly, but we were always afraid someone would see us and tell our boss). I have to mention here that this were always teams with not more than 10 workers. I thought this is normal, but never liked it. When I got older I noticed, that these bosses are probably extremly afraid that the workers may pull together, start to make friendships that may lead into a behavior that could turn against the boss. My grandma and granddad are always talking about their wonderful friendships with their coworkers, that still lasts till the old age, how they met after work to relax and just having fun. I think behavior at work changed a lot and has a lot to do with the boss.

I googled toi toi toi... 😂 Very interesting. Learned even more!

This American needs his AC!! I sleep with the AC AND a fan at night too. Love your channel. Hello from Toledo, Ohio USA.

Toi Toi Toi to your channel and hope very soon your subscribers will multiply.😊👍

Hello ladies! I truly enjoy watching your videos. My son is moving to Germany so I’m learning everything I can about the culture and such. I’m from Guatemala and have been in the US for over 25 years. Jen, yo nací en Salama, BV. de que parte de Guatemala eres? Toy toy to you both! And keep making great videos! ✌🏼

5 Minuten vor der Zeit ist des Deutschen Pünktlichkeit. 5 minutes before the time is german punctuality.

I am in a German school and in our class we argue almost every day about how much to open the window, or wether we let it closed. It’s very funny 😂

In German the saying goes "Fünf Minuten vor der Zeit ist des Deutschen Pünktlichkeit." Appr. "Five minutes before the time is the German's punctuality." But in German it rhymes as well. ;-) Honesty and directness can be construed as rudeness by people who aren't used to it. So get used to it in Germany. :D Taking time to become friends: yepp, agreed. But once you make a German a friend, they will be a friend for life come hell or high water. The only thing you don't do is to betray a German friend. We're not talking about a pratical joke or so. We are talking about true betrayal: that will nearly instantly switch a German friend to an enemy for life. Free time is free time, work time is work time. You can be goofy and fun in your free time, but during work time you are serious, efficient, and concentrate on work. Kantine: it's been a long time since I've had Kantinenessen. So my experiences aren't current. Lüften/airing a room: yepp, this is something that many foreigners from countries with different building standards, as well as more relaxed weather situations don't get. German buildings have comparatively thick walls, and if they are more modern, are very well insulated in the walls, doors, and windows. As such rooms can get stuffy, and fairly low in oxygen content in winter, especially when the doors are closed. This can lead to fairly high humidity in summer, or exceptionally dry air in winter due to central heating panels. Both are detrimental to health. So Germans got used centuries ago to open windows and doors often and regularly to air out rooms. This reduces humidity and temperature in summer, and increases humidity, but still lowers temperature in winter. This also helps reduce a fairly well known phenomenon called Bauschwamm, literally building sponge. This is a type of fungus that grows in humid brick or wood panelling. Once this is inside a wall it is very difficult to remove and eventually will lead to the collapse of the wall. This can be prevented by regularly airing out rooms. AC: I have to confess, I have recently had an AC installed in my living room as well as my bed room during fall and winter. So I haven't used it yet. The AC's I have seen used in the USA, Sri Lanka, and other countries as well are turned insanely low, thus creating multiple problems. First, they use huge amounts of electricity, which is insanely expensive in Germany. Second, they have to be cleaned regularly, otherwise they do have a tendency to accumulate bacterial growth. Third, if they are turned very low, you will experience a massive temperature shock either going in or out. This has been shown to enable something called an AC head cold. Fourth: they are a lot more expensive than simply opening a window. Beer: heck, yeah, nobody bats an eye if you drink a beer for your lunch. In Bavaria in some companies you can even get a beer for your Weisswurst between 9 and 10 A.M. Coffee: yepp, everwhere, anytime. Work-life-balance: Arbeiten, um zu leben. Nicht leben, um zu arbeiten. = You work to live, not live to work. Your max work hours are usually regulated fairly well, so once you are off work hours, you are OFF WORK. Don't take work home; that is your free time. Many employers acutally DEMAND that you take your holidays, because they KNOW that a well rested employee works better and harder than someone on the brink of collapse. Dito for illness on the job: when you are ill, you go to the doctor, damn it. Don't drag your infectious carcass to work to infect your co-workers. Your illness would reduce your productivity to well below 100% anyway, but if you infect others as well you will cost the employer more than if you had stayed home, getting better. Oh, and as an employee in a company in Germany you are required by law to have a health insurance. These health insurances cover virtually everything medical. The only copay is between 5 to 10 € on prescription medical drugs, and up to 10 €/day of hospital stay, up to a maximum of 24 days charge per year, for a total of 240€ per year in a hospital. Everything else is covered by your insurance company. Period. Have your insurance company card scanned at the doctor; that's it. Period. No copay, no networks, no preexisting conditions, nothing.

It took me a few months to realise that my chef wasn’t mean or angry when I messed up. He was just brutally honest and told me I was doing a shiße job sometimes.

What's very interesting about the points that you make is that in Holland where I live the work culture is very similar to the ones that you talk about. For example the beer/alcohol culture, that they also sometimes open the windows in the winter (which I hate too), and also the fact that there is one sunny day out and they act like ants and everybody goes out (that's also typical Dutch) :D

From my experince, it is not the MOST modern offices that have AC, but rather those built roughly between the mid-80s and mid-2000s. After that, companies tried to get a green image by equipping their offices with other means of cooling (e.g. "Kühldecken" or automated shades). On the other hand, you would have a hard time finding a car without air condition built after the mid-90s.

Same here Yvonne on the coffee/milk equation. half and half for me, mostly bit more milk too.

NICE INFORMATION IN A FUNNY WAY

I really enjoy your tips. I hope to cope with German culture as soon as possible.

This is the funniest video I’ve watched. :D “Don’t be a fool. When Germans leave - leave with them...... But don’t forget to come back” 😁 Lüftung ist wichtig IMHO

Ich trinke zwar kein Bier, aber ich vermisse diese herzliche Düsseldorfer Atmosphäre, die automatische entsteht, wenn man sich zum Feierabendbier trifft.

I introduced the concept of "Feierabendlimoncello" in my company as an alternative to beer, it was very well received:)

Voy a poner este comento de nuevo 🤘. Thanks for this! I met several German exchange students at a college bar and tried to add them to Instagram, and ONLY 1 accepted. I thought that was weird, or that I had done something wrong. That’s after buying them shots and speaking semi conversational Deutsch. I also worked in MEX as a kid y hablo EL Español casi perfecto, so I’m used to Latin American culture too where you meet everyone and dar saludos a todos ...🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

There is a very nice explanation of the origin of "Toi toi toi" on Wikipedia, in German and English. Just look it up.

And we also have an equivalent of "toi toi toi" When you tell someone about some good thing that happend to you You do the "toi toi toi" so you don't get unlucky

' Work ends Life begins - and that's not necessarily at midnight ' beautifully phrased

I have almost never had a job without friends working with me. And I also made friends at work. I can say the same for my parents - and we're all German. For me, it would be dreadful to work at a place where I can't make friends.

It gets up to 110F (43.3C) for months where I live. I can’t imagine life without AC.

start working at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="315">5:15</a> have a short break at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="495">8:15</a> and lunch at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="690">11:30</a> finish work at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="840">14:00</a> it is normal in 2 shift inustrie doing the pandemik rules. so i work in cnstruktion of truck industrie.

Niche video... and so true :-)

I work for a German company in Canada it's a bit of a culture change but they are honest people and hardworking. If i work a day shift i will start as early as 530 am and have lunch at 10 - 1030 am

Love this video…🤣❤️🌷😎

The window thing reminds me of the way Dutch housewives hang the bedsheet out the window midweek to freshen them

I am glad I’ve found your channel. 🙂 Punctuality - checked! Coffee - checked! Work-life balance - checked checked! ;) coffee-only 2 per day ;) semi-checked! ;)

Although I'm German it all seems very confusing to me, too. This means the mentioned aspects of the directly saying something to your face and not taking it personally. Or the distance to your colleagues. Earnestly, how can you keep that up over so many years of working together? And on the contrary, Germans and especially modern companies (or those who consider themselves to be that) are very engaged to to "Team building" activities. But only once a year. That should be enough ☝️😂

I'm about 10 to 5min earlier, to get my computer started and a coffee (not realy approchable before my first cup, which I already had at home or on my way to work). Mixed feelings about ac. It can be nice (I have two at home), but not a fan of them at work. I mean, I get sick very easily nowadays, because my children are in kindergarten (germ-garten) and they take everything with them, even if they don't get themself sick. If you're sitting directly under the air stream it's hell and there are always people who tune the thing to f... cold..., so I need a shawl and sometimes a jacket to work in my office, because it's +35°C outside, but +17°C inside. When you go outside it's like hitting a wall, especially when it's humid. An old ac can also be the perfect bacteria-distributor. When I go out after work, having a nice time and it seems that my co-worker could become a friend, I'll still be cautious around them about personal things. At work I would definitly be professional/correct (work comes first), but more outgoing around them. Also depends on the gender. Have to figure the guy out, before there are misunderstandings. So I would take my time, like the typical German.

90% of this is true in Sweden too. Even Durchzug, we call it korsdrag

Being from the Danube i felt a little offended when Yvonne claimed the Rhine to be the biggest river in Germany. ;)

Some questions: are Yvonnes parents from eastern or western Germany? Do you think there are still differences between East and West, is the German Latina experience different depending on that? One remark: I need to show your videos to my family and friends and tell them: See, I am just super German!

When I moved to Germany, I came from a work culture where BC would start at 7 and WC no later than 8. Imagine my surprise when my colleagues didn’t show up till 9 😶😂 We’ll sometimes go out on a Thursday afternoon for a beer, but most of us work until 18 or 19, so not very often. And definitely no beer or any type of alcohol in the office. However, the coffee machine is really the center of the office ☕️😃

Toi toi toi is onomatopoeia for „oink oink oink“ because a pig brings luck, according to German traditional superstition.

5.40h wir sagen dazu "Dienst ist Dienst und Schnaps ist Schnaps" soll heißen, das eine ist Arbeit und das andere privat. Und Mal was trinken gehen ist erstmal ne Ausnahme und ein kleiner Einblick in das Privatleben.auch muss nicht jeder auf Arbeit wissen, mit wem ich privat abhänge und außerdem darf das Dienstverhältnis nicht leiden, weil wir privat zu tun haben. Also auch wenn wir Freunde sind,musst du deine Arbeit genauso machen wie alle anderen. Auf Arbeit wird nicht getrunken und was ich privat mache ist mein Ding. Auf Arbeit gelten zb. Gleiche Moralvorstellungen für alle. Die können sich privat stark unterscheiden. Privates bleibt auf Arbeit außen vor.

Let's have some coffee ☕️ 🇧🇷😊

Kippen is a normal thing in Poland too 😀

If you ever join a theatre production, don’t be surprised when people spit over your shoulder when wishing you ‚Toi,toi, toi. (Which is believed to be an old Bannspruch (Teufel,Teufel,Teufel, so he would feel ‚honored‘ and not interfere or deriving from Jiddisch (like es zieht wie Hechtsuppe) it’s not real clear)

And the most important-it must not be a beer ;-) but together drinking is ok!

I was working for the government for years, so we absolutely couldn't drink alcohol during office hours. However, we would still have Feierabendbier. Usually once a week, or when something special happened to one of the coworkers, someone would get a case of beer for the whole team. Then, once Feierabend rolled around, we'd all check out (so we weren't technically on the clock anymore), we'd head back to the break room or something similar and we'd crack open the beers. So Feierabendbier is an absolute staple of german work culture, and nothing will get in the way of it.

Here is a German very pro AC 😀 I love it!

Please do a video on how to get a german passport if you were born in germany

Homer: Do you know anything about Germany? Lisa: Well, it's a country in Europe. Homer: Good. I'm learning. Lisa: An economic power of the world. Homer: Because we send them money? Lisa: No. They're efficient and punctual, with a strong work ethic. Homer: D'oh!

I grew up in Massachusetts, and it was a while until you were on first-name basis.

What r ur skin care routines?? Im new here and im all ashy everywhere 🥺🥺🥺

I like you both so much:)

Seeing the 🥥 emoji in the title after finishing this video: 🤣

Except when you have an appointment with Behörde tell your employee for the appointment otherwise you have to be <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="535">8:55</a> at the office or home office

One thing that is very strange to non Germans is GEMA. This is the copyright organization that collects royalties. So say a school was having a social event they must list the songs they will be playing and pay upfront the royalty fee. Usually for a school it is around 600 Euros. Also private people having a large party will some times be too scared to play music as they could be reported to GEMA. I know a song writer who wrote a children's song and allowed it to be played in a primary school. The school would not allow this song to be played until it was registered with the German GEMA even though the friend did not care about royalties for the song?

Hola Ustedes, mi esposa es chapina. Vivimos mas en Guate, en Mixco, pero me puedo identificar mucho con muchas cosas que dicen. Aunque después de veinte anos mi esposa ya adoptó algunas de estas cosas. Todo lo mejor para Ustedes.

in Holland zeggen ze ook toi toi toi . Veel succes betekend .

Best people best channel

I kind of understand the German perspective on AC. It's great when you're so hot that you're dying in sweat, in extreme situations. But if I can, I prefer to be without it (American here)

Besides cabbage, what vegetables are popular in Germany?

arbeit ist arbeit und bier ist bier, liebe jen. viele deutsche trennen arbeit und privat(das private hat bei der arbeit nichts zu suchen, weil es dich ablenkt und dich ineffizient macht). das bringt die lustige erfahrung mit sich, das man in der regel jeden deutschen zweimal kennenlernt. :) /edit ich sage mir auch immer: wenn ich bei der arbeit schwitze, mach ich was falsch.

I saw a different video of an American living here in Germany for some time now and when she is back in the States she really gets pissed off, when her friends are late ;) BAD german influence *hihi

kippen= tilt (the window)

Do you have more tips to deal with the honesty?