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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Hausschuhe

One of the things I've learned about German etiquette, is that you don't have to ask if you need take your shoes off when you enter someones house, you just do, ALWAYS. However the Germans are kinda crazy about keeping everything covered.(Hence the scarf madness, seriously everyone wears them all the time.) So they're very big fans of of slippers, or house shoes as they call them. So naturally they do not expect their guests to walk around in socks, you would get sick! So most Germans keep extra pairs of slippers sitting around in their entryway, just for guests. In one store I even saw a kinda bag you hang on the wall just for your "guest slippers." I think that's just really awesome, I think it makes a people feel so much more comfortable. I keep thinking should buy one of those and try to bring it back to America, but I think a lot of Americans would find that weird. But it definitely keeps your carpets cleaner.

4 comments:

starletblaze said...

So even in stores you take off shoes! Wow that is really different. I wouldn't like it though, I LOVE to go barefoot. Have a happy germany thanksgiving!

Kira said...

Actually, the store was just selling the slipper bag. People do keep their shoes on in stores, sorry if that was not clear

Mickell Gehret said...

That is hilarious. Hawaii is the exact same way. You ALWAYS take off your shoes before going into someones house. My mom always had a bag of socks for my brothers friends to put on when they came in! Anyway, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas Kira! Love ya!

Jon said...

Hope they have some foot sprays too! Sharing slippers?!?

Oh, and my brother said much the same about Hungary. They also have a fear about getting sick from being too cold, so they rarely use air conditioning or even open the windows in the summer and certainly don't put ice in drinks when it's hot outside! My mom said even drinks in the fridge weren't that cold since they seemed to keep the refrigerators at higher temps than we do. Mmmmm luke-warm pop sure hits the spot when it's 95 F and humid!