I NEED SOME HELP IN UNDERSTANDING GERMANS.

Liquor stores close at nine ? ! ? ! ? That is tragic. For many of us in certain socio-economic groups, the liquor store functions as an ATM, provided we haven't been obliged to pawn the Smith & Wesson recently . . .

Yekaterinburg??? It is not in Germany, it is in Russia, some 3-4 thousand kilometers East from the easternmost point of Germany (I mean the modern FRG, and not the country in its 1914 borders). Well, the Empress Catherine the Great ( born Sophia Augusta von Anhalt-Zerbst) that the city was named after, was 100 percent German, but the people of this city are mainly Russians.

I smoke a pack a day. <g>

patiodog - I lived in SC for a while - no alchohol on sundays!

that was an "anastasia" reference, stissd. <giggles>

steissd. <blush>

... trying hard to get of the box ... <grins>

Is <grins> a sign of humour, patiodog? Deleted!

Steissd, this gets tedious sometimes. It might help if you assume that almost everything i write is NOT serious, unless there is uncontrovertable textual evidence to the contrary.

Anastasia was the name of one of the daughters of the last Romanov Emperor, Nicholas II. He and the whole crew were murdered in a cellar in Yekaterinburg. However, for many decades after, various claims were made that Anastasia had escaped, including one Russian woman in Paris who dined out for more than a generation on the basis of a claim to be Anastasia.

So, this was just humor . . .

Stasia, the fact that you tripped to the joke immediately leads me to accord you great respect for both intelligence and a well-developed sense of humor . . .

No offense is intended toward you Steissd, but we really need to work on you recognizing irony and humor . . .

beer and wine on sundays. no hard liquor. (oh, god, the hardship i live with!)

germans, by the way, have beer in vending machines, which i think is very civilized. (i seem to remember the same at a gas station in tuscany, but of course the beer is not as good.)

Ah, Setanta, I surely know that the Emperor and his family were executed in Yekaterinburg. But I thought that you have confused this city with some place in Germany (Brandenburg, for example), since its name really sounds German. Hence, my posting.

setanta - I'm a glutton for attention - that's all. <giggles>

requested a gluten-free meal for somebody at a conference once. the invoice showed a "glutton-free" meal. god, i hope they gave her something to eat.

LMAO! serious?

anastasia: <-- also known to be gullible

her allergy? yes, i suspect so. the misspelling? yes, that as well.

mapleleaf, I am *still* curious how the industriousness of east germans changed under communism.

fer serious

If i ordered a glutton free meal, they'd throw me outta the joint . . .

Anastasia,
Under Communist rule in East Berlin, Germans were assured a wage regardless of their efforts. During their state sponsered work sessions, it became commonplace for them to gather, smoke and talk. Little was accomplished. Present day Americans would equate it to a well honed welfare society.

Some years back, I read about the situation. After the fall of the wall, I don't know how the West Berliners integrated them back into the work force.

I've heard about that in communist societies - stories about clerical workers and stuff.

I can see how one might equate that with a lack of industrious spirit. <nods>

East Germans were very industrious in the sports sector (for example) - I hear. And I would imagine that they expressed their (kind of inate, it seems, going by stereotypes) in other ways. For example, thinking of ways to escape from East Berlin. <g> But yeah - I can see how, specifically regarding work culture - that conclusion can be drawn.

(these are just personal observations, I haven't taken the time to form opinions. <winks>)

stasia

Mapleleaf,

The quick answer to how the East German workforce was re-integrated is: it wasn't!

German unemployment is currently running at around 8% (from memory). However, close to the Polish border in former East Germany, some towns have nearly 90% unemployment.

Given the welfare system in place, this causes huge strains on the German economy, which is underperforming other European nations and is therefore close to breaching the terms of the single currency agreement on fiscal deficit.

For more economic/employment data, etc. I suggest you go to the following website:

http://www.economist.com/countries/Germany/

Some content is available only to subscribers, but the factsheets and general data is available to all. If there's a particular article of interest which is subscription only, please pm me.

KP