| Cultural Differences
In the last couple of days I have run across two interesting cultural differences between Germany and America. The first is that in playing two-player games, such as chess or squash, in Germany the loser gets to start the next game. In my experience, in the US the winner always gets to start the next game. The reasoning here in Germany is that the loser lost, so he or she obviously needs the advantage of going first in the next game. In the US, I learned that the right to start the next game is a spoil of war. I find this difference endlessly fascinating.
The other difference is just amusing. In the US, unless you live out on a farm somewhere, it's not socially acceptable to let your cat roam around the neighborhood. Cats are indoor animals. Letting a cat out just lets the animal get scratched up in fights and kill friendly woodland critters, and gives the fool thing ample opportunity to get run over. Here in Bavaria, unless you live right beside a major highway, it's considered cruel not to let your cat roam around the neighborhood. Cats are outdoor animals, and the odds of them getting run over are relatively small.
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