German culture

This isn't a very exciting picture, but it actually says quite a lot about German culture. If you look carefully at the bottom of the tree, you may see what looks like a little plastic bow. It's actually a baggie tied onto the tree with 2 Euros in it. You see, last Saturday was "Christbaum" (Christmas tree) pick-up day. It was official. It was on the calendar. A tractor hauling a trailer filled with kids (and eventually lots of trees) putted through town picking up all the trees that were carefully put on the street for just that - pick-up. It is an event which occurs every year at exactly the same time. Like all good Germans, we have the official calendar in our home which tells us which days to put our recycling bags out, which days to put out our carboard, paper, metal, old wood, and the biggie, "Sperrmüll" (old household items). If you make an appointment, you can even put out your old appliances and someone will come and pick them up. Of course, every Monday the standard issue garbage cans with the bar codes all go out and the truck with the built-in scanner picks them all up with its automated arm. No men running behind or beside. It's all a study in efficiency.