It’s now only 12 days until we leave for Germany, and I can’t stop imagining what living there is going to be like. Of all the differences that I noticed on our short visit there, the one I am most concerned about is the silence. Immediately after we landed in Frankfurt we departed the plane onto a bus and experienced the eerie quiet. No one was talking loudly and excitedly to each other or on their phones, no children were screaming after almost eight hours on a plane… Mr. Meena and I were looking at each other in confusion. We encountered the same quiet in the airport, on the streets of Schweinfurt in the evening, in restaurants, and inside our hotel room. I’ve even read that some Germans won’t shower late in the evening because of the noise.
I keep taking stock of my daily volume and wondering how I’m going to be a good neighbor in Germany. There are so many times that the volume knob of my household is turned way up. Usually the culprit is Koopa (my pet parakeet), because when he is happy he is chirping, tweeting, and singing. I talk loudly back to him because I want to encourage a happy and healthy bird. I tend to turn up the TV or the stereo when I’m working in the house. Mr. Meena and I often play video games and watch movies late in the evening with our sound system doing a great job. It’s quite normal for us to do something loud like vacuuming or running the blender at night. If taking a shower is considered loud, how am I going to live up to the German expectations? Perhaps our walls here are just unusually thick and I have been spoiled.
I’m so used to the noise. I always sleep with a fan on full blast and I spent years working in labs where the machines make quite the racket. My air conditioning or heat is almost always running in the background and I live right next to a major interstate. I’m afraid I’ll go a bit insane when my background noise is removed. In fact, we never leave Koopa home alone without music or something else playing because I’ve read that silence in nature generally signifies oncoming danger. Birds left in a quiet room can become nervous and anxious. Maybe it’s just evolution that has made me prefer noise.
At least we have both invested in a pair of real headphones, so I can be loud in my private world in that way.
Is there a time when it was hard for you to be quiet?
Oh I had to laugh but you're right – the Germans are a generally quiet people! Hope you are settling in OK (am just off to read your newer posts!)
Haha yes, there is so much silence here! The hotel we live in now is on one of the main roads in Schweinfurt, so it is louder than the place we stayed when we visited. But we have been informed that the quiet hours start at 9pm, no exceptions :).