We honestly could talk for hours about the differences in homes and what we consider "normal." There are things like outlets, door knobs and light switches that we didn't even discuss in this video. Let us know something that you find different about the housing in Germany or the USA! 😊

We’ve been married 12 years and have had separate blankets since day 1. It’s the greatest.

Als ich ein Kind war und bei meinen Eltern im Bett geschlafen hab bin ich immer in dieser mittelritze verschwunden 😂😂😂

The separate sheets and blankets is GENIUS!!! The detachable shower head makes cleaning the shower SOOOOOOO much easier!

I was always so confused how these people in the movies punched that wall and don't fracture their wrist. Now I know how.

They may not have a garbage disposal in Germany, but they can have 4 different trashcans!

I'll give ya another reason that toilets need to be on the ground in the US.. walls here are not made of concrete... well mostly.

Is it weird that the first thing that came to mind about Germany’s split mattress thing is that it’s way easier to move in and out of a room? Anyone who’s ever tried to get a king sized mattress up the stairs and around the corner can probably relate.

"Ach Mutti, ich kann gar nicht mit ansehen, wie Du so hart arbeitest ! Mach mal die Küchentür zu!"

I was born in Germany but I was raised in the states starting at age two. It’s so funny because every time I watch videos about Germans...I’m like, “so much about me makes so much more sense now.”

In the U.S. a room cannot be listed as a bedroom unless there is a closet built in. Otherwise it can only be considered a bonus space.

I’m from Mexico and all houses I’ve seen here are made of cement, like in Germany, I find it so weird that in the US they’re made of wood and such. Loved the video!

Oh... Hahaha... another experience I had in Germany was when I was visiting a friend that I had met years earlier while visiting Germany. I'm sitting in her apartment and I say... you have very similar kitchen cabinets from your old apartment from when I met you 10 years ago. She said they are in fact the same cabinets and then explained to me that you bring your own cabinets with you. Funny thing that I would even recognize the cabinets from only a short visit so many years earlier, except that they were white with red trim.

The shutters. They're for - thermal INSUlation, and - sound ISOlation.

Struggled with one blanket for years until we heard Europeans use two! Much happier sleeping in our Canadian home now!

We bought our house almost 7 years ago. It has a good sized “area” lol around the house but no plants or bushes. I decided right off I wanted two lilac bushes placed in the side area, where the wind seems to be constantly blowing so the nice smell will travel through the house when my windows were open. ( no air conditioning) Off I went to my sisters house where she had some small ones coming up and got two starts, took them home and planted them. Now granted they weren’t all that big, perhaps about a six inches. I was so happily nurtured them making sure they took, they were doing so well. I go out one day after my hubby had mowed the yard/garden to find he had mowed them down lol. They didn’t come back. So the next spring, I go and get more. This time they are a good 18 inches tall and tied a white piece of cloth them thinking no way they would not be mowed down this time. Well, this time it was my brother who decided to help me take care of the yard since we away for a week. One he pulled up thinking it was a weed (never mind the flag on it). The other he took down with the weed eater/trimmer. He said nothing to me at all about it so I come home to no bushes once more. So the next spring I go and I buy two 5 foot tall bushes lol. I told both if they couldn’t see those bushes, something was very wrong. Lol so finally I am enjoying having lilacs scent blown through my house. Sorry for such a long story, just thought I would share and perhaps get a laugh or two. 🤓

Never had a dryer but I’m jealous of ppl having access to freshly dried towels. I mean: the fluuuuufffff!

The dryer DOES ruin your clothes. They will last decades longer if you hang them dry.

Somewhere I've read that this splashing water in the toilet after 'something' fell down is called: Poseidon's Kiss You're welcome.

as a designer in America, wall mounted toilets are usually in commercial spaces for ease of cleaning. But not in homes because you need thicker walls to hold the structure that keeps the wall mounted toilets up. So in US floor mounted is cheaper. Love that dual buttons are becoming more popular though!

Regarding the "garbage disposal" - they recently had this question in a german quiz show. Actually these things are illegal in Germany (as well as in the rest of Europe if I remember that right) as the rests of food that land in the sewer attract rats and it damages the sewer system.

I am German but I live in the US. One of the biggest differences in houses are the entry areas. I most american houses you step directly into the living room, while houses in Germany have an actual entry area. Same with apartments. American apartments - directory into the living room. German apartments - the front door opens into the hallway.

Waiiit! In other countries people *dont* have two blankets?! How to they even survive the winter?

Regarding the blankets I have a funny story: My wife and I come from Germany and we are using of course separate ones and we really appreciate it very much when we have this comfort on vacation, too (to avoid any stress at night). We booked a hotel in Fance and we know that they have usely one large blanket for the king size bed. So we asked during booking process to get two blankets instead of a big one, assuming that we get two small blankets. What we found in the room was two big ones instead of one and this was really two much blanket for one bed. But it is for sure that the hosts twisted their eyes about this crazy germans :-).

Love, love, love your videos! Comment about the garbage disposal and the tumble dryer situation: Many german municipalities require people to sort their trash quite extensively, and the there's often a green "bio-tonne" for green kitchen trash. It gets composted, rather than just ground up and sent to the ocean. Also, after 26 years in the US (I'm Danish), I'm still baffled by how it's "just easier" to throw things in the drier, even on warm days - there's little consideration of the environmental impact of such a habit. Seems to me some if the American modern conveniences are really backward in terms of taking care of the planet - and that Germany is forward thinking, even if some of the habit seem outdated.

The thing about one vs two blankets is so crazy. I’ve lived in the US my whole life but my husband and I have always had two separate blankets. I always thought it was weird and like we “should” have just one so when we make the bed we put a fancier blanket over the top of our two blankets. I guess we are secretly German

In Australia we are like the USA and have 1 blanket. My husband and I are currently travelling in Germany and we are completely sold on the double blanket idea. So much so that when we get back home I'm going to buy 2 blankets!

I have had that "the single blanket gets taken by one partner" issue a lot, so we switched to each having our own blanket. It's a life saver!!

Insulation not isolation 😄, "isoliert" is a german false friend meaning both isolated *and* insulated in English.

The advantage of two separate mattresses is the "Besucherritze".

For shower heads, I got a combo one A detachable and a fixed one

One way to resolve the situation with the fixed and detachable shower heads is to have both. That is what our shower has. Although our fixed shower head is up high and is called a rainfall shower head. It is fairly large and literally covers your entire body when standing under it.

From New Zealand 🇳🇿 here: Shared sheets and blankets on the queen bed is usual. King size beds are becoming more common but most would be queen size I think; We have the 2 buttons on the toilet, not levers especially in modern homes. Detachable shower heads are common (but it depends how old the house is). Ours has both a detachable head and a fixed head overhead and we can change from one to the other depending on preference. Toilets do not have a flat bed in them! I have heard (from a German) that Germans are taught from an early age to inspect their doings because health problems can be picked up earlier that way, so it does seem to make sense but I’ve never seen that here. Lots of people have driers but choose to hang washing outside when the weather’s fine. Indoor drying racks are common too whether you have a drier or not. Integrated kitchen/dining is common except in old houses. Modern houses are often open even more, i.e. including the living space as well. Garbage disposals are quite common, we just choose not to have one. Taking your kitchen with you from flat (apartment) to flat is not a thing here! (as far as I know). Double/triple glazing is getting way better but not up to the quality in Europe - yet. Having air-con/heat pumps here depends on whether you can afford it but are quite common. Gardens and gardening are common and very popular here (as are fences! Can’t understand not having fences round my property!). Love all the differences between cultural ‘norms’😊 Another thing you didn’t mention are cars. Automatics have largely overtaken manuals here but manuals are still around. If you pass your licence test in a manual car you may drive both kinds, but if you do your test in an automatic you may not drive a manual until you pass your full license test.

Den Schrebergarten und Balkonen habt ihr vergessen 😉

Two things about kitchen ..... refrigerators are generally much smaller and do not have a water or ice dispenser. They are becoming more available, but generally fridges are small and no ice or water dispenser. Also, many kitchens have the washer in the kitchen, no separate laundry room.

The blinds are called rolling shutters and are considered a luxury item in the US. The detachable showerhead is intended to shorten the showering time and preserve water, and same with toilet tanks. The flat toilet prevents backslash and encourages courtesy flushing. Driers are considered luxury as well as using lot of electricity and electricity is expensive in Europe. Also washers have a heating element and use only cold water connection. Kitchens are small generally due to limited space availability. Kitchens in Germany are not wall mounted. Windows are called pull and tilt and are better quality than US windows. They are available in the US but are considered luxury. Europeans don't have forced air hvac and use oil to heat water which is in the radiators. Each radiator has it's own thermostat and they heat up a room pretty quickly, hence why you can turn the heat off in rooms not being used for the most part of the day such as a bedroom or a bathroom until you're ready to take a shower. Concrete building is common in Europe mainly due to timber being so expensive. In the US timber is abundant and has been used traditionally from the time the first settlers came. Also, additions and remodelings are easier in the US at the expense that the homes have to be maintained more frequently such as winterizing etc. whereas European homes do not require a lot of maintenance. German gardens/back yards are small again due to land scarcity and cost in residential areas. However, Germans usually have some sort of garden on the outskirts of the town where they go to barbecue and spend a weekend, at least in Hessen. Also, as a bonus Germans don't have window screens and screen/storm doors

We lived in Germany for three years and we loved it. To this day we use two separate blankets for our bedding and we've been married 25 years. This also keeps the peace by keeping the Dutch oven to your own territory 😆

“German” in the title? Diese Kommentarsektion ist jetzt Deutscher Grund und Boden

Hey! I've been watching for about 10 months now as I've been in a long distance relationship with my sweet German from Hamburg. He's the best. I'm moving to Hamburg in July or August of 2021 all the way from NY. I want to thank you for making this transition less scary and more happy and exciting. When I went to a Christmas Market I knew exactly what to get because of your video. I love you both so much and I've never met you haha ok I'll stop typing. -Rebecca xo

We are an American couple, who just discovered you, by the way♥️🇺🇸/🇩🇪♥️, and we are living in Beratzhausen, Bayern, Deutschland!!! So we can relate SOOOO MUCH with everything we have seen in each video so far!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Your videos are so perfect for us to sit and watch together!!! We are able to relate and laugh and laugh!!! This bed thing was confusing at first, but soon figured most of it out and you guys helped to end the education, so thank you on that one!! But we separated our bed a couple of years ago and JUST separated our blankets a month or two ago… We have a king size that the hubs cut in half!! We bought two twin size adjustable bases, put them together inside the bed frame and the rest can be figured out by the intelligent people reading this far😁😉. And now with different sheeted and blankets, sleep and life is a bit more peaceful!!!♥️♥️♥️😁😁😁 Love your videos!! We both do!!🇺🇸🙃🇩🇪😊♥️ Thank You!!

In the 80’s I moved to Germany and was shocked to learn the three-family wonung I rented did not come with a kitchen. Absolutely a surprise. Thankfully, the organization we worked for knew this and brought us one out for us.

I’m American and we have separate blankets. Best thing we have ever done!

As an American living in Germany as well, I can completely relate to everything they are talking about. Having separate blankets is something I never knew about until moving here either, and is something I don't understand why no one else does. Love your videos, they always make me laugh.

My husband and I shared a blanket for years and eventually we got fed up with it! Switched to two a few years ago and it's been great!!

Me: The toilet should always be a seperate Room

I think it's strange that they call yards "gardens". In the US, if you have a garden then you're either growing food or have flower beds.

I’ll use a dreyer for my bedlinned and towels. Not for my cloth, I’ll hang it in my bathroom. Love from Tanja in Denmark

We also have duo flush buttons here in Australia. We have outside washing lines here in Australia as well, most people have one called a hilltop hoist that spins around and you can crank a handle to make it go higher or lower.

I cannot believe I never though of using separate blankets before. Game changer.

I went to visit my mom and grandparents, aunts and uncles when I was 23 and had not been to Germany since I was 4 or 5 (dad raised me) and I fell in love with Germany! My favorite thing about the homes was the windows and the blinds that closed the room and made it dark but it was also good if you wanted to go on Vacation and keep your home secure. I also loved the gardens as well and when I would walk through the village that mom was living in in the morning I would see the moms and Oma's out in the garden hanging their clothes, rugs out being banged to get the dirt out of them and then they would be sweeping the front walk, side walk and sometimes the street area in front of their homes. The windows would either be partly open or fully open depending on the time of the day to air out the house. You are so right about the houses there being so sturdy as well. I fell in love with Germany and did not want to come back. One thing kind of off topic of the homes is that Germany was so very clean, everything is recycled or composted and you were only allowed one size garbage can and then they would do the junking (only household items on the curb for others to pick through and take home). Once again I loved Germany!

2 blankets here for sure .. both of us from US , been married for 20 yrs almost! We’ve been using our own blanket every since we lived together!!

You two are funny! I love your energy! By the way I love the handheld shower head because it's so convenient when you need more water in certain places.

I live in Canada, and because we traveled, now our bed is 2 singles put together, for the last 3 years. We have different covers too. Is great! I need a thicker blanket most of the time. My husband use to still the blanket, now we do not have this issue! Soooo happy now!

I've never thought to use separate blankets. It sounds like a great idea. We just bought a huge blanket so we both have plenty of blankets. With the toilets-I think I would have to clean it way more often due to the "landing zone".

Thank you for the video. I live in NY, and watching your channel is tremendously helpful in calming my covid-19 anxiety. Having lived in both the U.S. and Germany, your channel is a lot of fun to watch. I started to hang dry my clothes again after a recent visit to Berlin. It really does help keep the integrity of the fabric intact.

I find it so weird that so many Americans don’t have window shutters, not even curtains, like I wouldn’t feel comfortable walking around the house at night knowing anyone can watch me from the outside

Wow, those blackout metal that covered the windows were the best! No sounds and dark. The Swiss hotel also had air conditioning in the summer. Fabulous!

Yup, don’t just dump everything in the disposal. It’s simple to get rid of small amount of food stuffs from plates, basically so you don’t get clogs.

Just discovered you both by chance this evening. This is so funny yet important things to talk about.

My boyfriend is german and raised in germany and im still learning, but these videos are so cute and helpful to know all of these things! Thank you all so much ^^

American here: Spouse-Creature and I have separate blankets and no top sheets. Totally a relationship saver!

I think it is great when you can bring your own kitchen to your new place because you can decide how the kitchen looks and you can create your own

fixed showerheads often hang too low, the detachables have a sliding bar. I rarely detach it but man do I love that sliding bar

Love, love Germany. We visit family in Germany every year and have learned so much. During my first trip over ten years ago I had to buy my own duvet! I love using only the bottom sheet

You'r right i remember "garbage disposal on elm street", "garbage disposal the 13th" or "28 garbage disposals later" , as you know, cause phil's older brother was in that movie.

We were both raised in the USA but after one trip to Germany we came back and now have separate covers because that is just sheer brilliance! Tilt-turn windows are amazing and I love them. I was also amazed that no place we stayed had screens (because there weren't that many bugs even in summer) and even the hotels/tall buildings let you open the windows (NOT a thing in the USA). Dryers: It is true that dryers do shorten the life-span of clothing. The biggest question I have about Germany is: WHY do so many showers have a detachable shower head but no curtain or even wall to keep the water from going everywhere?????? Every hotel in Germany we stayed at had a very tiny wall which did not keep the water from splashing out. Even some of our friends had a tub with a detachable shower head and no curtain or stall. We found this very confusing but were too embarrassed to ask for an explanation. Buildings: I did notice there is a very different attitude. Here in the US people try to spend as little money as possible and aren't as worried about quality because they probably aren't going to live there for more than a decade or so. "Let the next owner worry about it." But in Germany everyone seemed concerned with making sure the material would last and was of good quality. I asked about the slate tile roofs and my friend said, "Why would I spend money on something that only lasts 20-30 years when I could put something on the roof that lasts 200 years?"

You two are just the cutest!!! I loved listening to you talking. It was fun and interesting, and i wished i was sitting there with you joining the conversation. I am a 70 ye@r old "Oma", who was born in Berlin. My parents imigrated to Canada in 1955, where i still live. I LOVE Canada, but am very interested in hearing about the differences in more resent times. Keep up the great work! I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to hearing more from you two! Hugs!

When we were stationed in West Germany in the 1980s, there were only the "show and smell" toilets. I didn't know that they switched to a bowl. Also we saw a lot of the old toilets with the tank high on the wall.

I am originally from California, and masonry/concrete structures are radically unsafe due to earthquake problems. One can do masonry, but the reinforcements required are quite impractically expensive for residences.

In 1980, living in Stuttgart, we had the chain from ceiling to flush!!! Crazy!!

I live in USA in New England. Bedroom: My husband and I have our own blankets, always have. He sleeps with one comforter all year and I use a quilt and a weighted blanket and in the winter throw on a fleece and feather blanket as well! I need those blackout curtains. We throw blankets over the blinds to make it extra dark. Bathroom: I wish we had different buttons for flushing. I also wish I could clean under the toilet. It would make cleaning the bathroom so much easier. Laundry: We have a washer and dryer, but also dry clothes by hanging them. We use the dryer in the winter because the clothes would freeze if put outside. And in the summer, we use the dryer if the pollen count is high or if they are spreading manure. Kitchen: We don't have a disposal, we do compost. Outside: I wonder if we use yard/lawn (I tend to just say "going outside") instead of garden because where I live, a garden is where you grow food, or you may have a flower garden. But a yard or lawn is just grass. I enjoyed your video a lot. When we visited Germany, and I don't know if this is typical in houses, but the towel warmer was a new feature to us, and to have the entire floor tiled and connected to the shower area, which I think is called a wet bathroom in the US. We did not stay any place that had a tub. Wondering how common bathtubs are (it's a must have for me). Have you seen videos of Japanese laundry and bathrooms? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d5yYpKuinLOwo5c.html

We have a king size bed, with shared linens, but I have a twin size electric blanket on my side because I get cold. It's perfect! And we each have two pillows, as my husband changes his mind during the night about the firmness he wants. Interesting video! Thank you and hope y'all are safe!

I'm in Canada, my boyfriend and I do both. I have a blanket of my own on top of the blanket we share that way I can be covered no matter what.

In Austria we have often in the Big Apartment buildings an washer and dryer in the celler.

For me probably biggest difference is building materials. House foundations of armed concrete and dug deep into earth, concrete walls you break with pneumatic jackhammer, durability minimum 100years, building with stone. But also we have heavy winds throughout the year so everything must be done well. And no walls/fences around yards. That makes me nervous :D My family is middle of house renovation as we speak (delayed by crorona). Took them 6 days to break 5 m of concrete floor with pneumatic hammer to change sewage pipe, had to dug 70cm deep. House is 56 years old, but that makes me happy. My personal little bunker lol

I love this kind of videos! Please make more of them

My partner and I have separate blankets. He sleeps with like 6 blankets and I sleep with one.

Forget different blankets. I have my own bedroom. Lol

The differences in homes in Europe vs the US is very interesting to me! Homes in California are "stick built" meaning we use 2" x 4" lumber studs spaced about 16" apart. Between the studs you run electrical and plumbing through the walls and insulation batts are placed between the studs for heat and sound insulation. Attached to the studs are large sheets of drywall or sheetrock which is typically about 3/4" thick. Wooden houses sway and bend when earthquakes hit, and our light frame roofs are anchored to the load bearing walls with steel straps. Exterior walls are reinforced with additional wooden sheathing. Brick or stone buildings crumble and crush their occupants during earthquakes, like when San Francisco was mostly destroyed in 1906 because buildings were still built out of brick at that time. Our homes here now are built on steel rebar reinforced concrete slabs and the walls are bolted / anchored to the slab to help prevent them from toppling over. A nice benefit to a concrete slab is that it keeps the house a bit cooler in the hot summers and is very quiet to walk on. Concrete slabs are expensive to build and pour. Plumbing pipes are laid into the slab before it is poured. The most expensive parts of our homes to build are the slab and the roof, but for the most part the value of the home is in the land the home is built on. For example a single detached home on a medium sized lot with backyard in southern California might sell for $600,000 us dollars but that same home would only cost about $200,000 in building materials and labor to build if the land was already owned. A big factor in how much the land is worth is what school district the land lies in. Families want to live where their children can attend better public schools and will often pay a quite a bit more for a home in a good school district versus a comparable home in a district with poorly rated schools.

My boyfriend and I (both not born in Germany, but raised there) got 1 big 2.20x2.20m blanket 😍 love it. Greetings from Bavaria

You see the more "modern" toilets in US commercial buildings and the "older" ones in homes. Possibly because we are a DIY nation and changing the toilet or doing any plumbing is easier with a "floor" toilet than a "wall" toilet IMHO

We also have our own blankets, I am hot all the time, so I have a thin blanket, my hubby is cool, he has a comforter and blanket.

Here in France, the standard size blanket is 2,20 m x 2,40 m and then I went home and my father gave me this 1,35m x 2m blanket for their guest couch ... lots of cold limbs that night.

I am an American and when I found out about 10 years ago that 2 mattresses in one bed was a thing, I was shocked but amazed, my husband and I now have this set up I love it! And the blanket question, we have always used separate blankets.

Lol as a girl how do you clean properly without a detachable shower head, I need one and I'm american 😂 This video was very helpful I want to move to Germany and I want to know what to expect

Great video 👍 In the summer you can put shutters down and leave open windows. It's going to looks like a den, but believe me, the fresh air you going to have from it is better than aircon. And there will be enough sun coming true ☀️ I learned this from my mum ❤

I just found you guys!! Hallo from Canada! My husband and I share a huge quilt but we also each have our own minky blanket to snuggle with.

My German grandma actually had a garbage disposal, apparently it used to be a thing in big house in the past. It has been illegal to use or install new ones for many years now since the trash goes into the sewage and plugs up the pipes and attracts rats.

I'm alone and have two blankets and a pillow for side sleepers... And a normal one for tge head

I’m in America and my house has always had a detachable shower head... I can’t imagine having a fixed one unless I’m in a hotel

I’m from New Orleans, and when you rent houses (vs apartments), you often have to bring your own fridge, but I have only rented once in which I had to bring my own stove. Usually, you have to have your own washer and dryer.

Duvets for each person is a must! We started using individual duvets when we lived in Germany!

About the insulation: In German, the word for insulation is Isolierung, but as a verb, but isolating and insulating share the word isolieren. In fact, Isolation is sometimes used for Insulation though it more commonly means isolation, just like in English. And since the English word isolation is written exactly like the German word Isolation, it's a bit of a false friend and a translation trap between English and German.

You didn't talk about the public toilets in Germany where the seat spins around and a sponge pops out and wipes the seat when you flush.

My husband and I have always used 2 different blankets even when we were dating. I love it!

During my rental years in NYC, occasionally I've had to supply a stove, a fridge, or a window AC (always lived in pre war buildings) and in more townish settings elsewhere, a washer/dryer (hook ups only present--NYC never even had the hook ups) but never a whole kitchen. I've never rented anywhere that had a dishwasher and then went and bought a house that didn't have one either!

When I was an exchange student in Germany I missed the screens in the windows.

Minnesota, USA: King Size, 1 fitted sheet, 1 loose sheet, many blankets ( 1 for me, several for my bride), and a comforter. Interesting post. Thanks. MSJ

In America the Challosien are called Rollaway Shutters😉we have them but mostly on coastal areas😊Love what you guys do and the subject’s

I often use a separate blanket, it depends on the weather or if I’m just feeling cold. I put it under the other covers on the bed. My favorite is an inexpensive, super soft and warm throw-sized one.