You know how to can get turned off of eggs if you get the egg ick.

I don’t think I do know actually. But here’s an attempt at answering this question anyway:

And bonus, anybody know why that happens?

We are usually very quick at relating sickness or even discomfort to the food we ate at the time or slightly before. This is a very valuable trait to avoid food that is unhealthy or even poisonous. But it’s only based on correlation, so it can turn us off food that is not actually causing the sickness but we just happened to eat at the time.

Are you telling me your fairytale wedding does not include doves hacking out the eyes of your stepsister or your stepmother dancing to her death in shoes of red hot iron? Boooring.

Legendary you say? Relatively unknown outside of Germany (and other German speaking countries) you say?

Let me introduce you to Dschinghis Khan by Dschingis Khan

(99 Luftballons, which was mentioned here before, is arguably the bigger hit that really everyone knows. But I couldn’t resist throwing this out there. It was a huge hit and is still known.)

Ever heard someone say “I really put my foot in my mouth”? That’s what they are trying to find out.

I’m almost of average height for a woman in my country. Even if I thought height mattered, I would have very little reason to feel insecure about it. But since men are on average taller, I still count myself as being part of the short people.

Fair. But there’s no stepladder that will help you mimic my power of sitting comfortably in trains, planes and busses.

They do things the way they want while I’m doing them the way I want. Which is clearly the superior way (though they disagree).

You’re doing neither yourself nor anyone else a favour by being overly shy and reticent. You yourself will enjoy life much more when you are yourself and while not everyone will like you, the ones who don’t often don’t stay in your life long and it’s easier to find people you vibe with if they can see you for who you are.

Granted, I very much did not take this advice as a teenager and even now I’m occasionally too shy. But looking back it was good advice and I really wish I hadn’t wasted so much time and energy on not being negatively noticed by people I didn’t really care about then and who haven’t been in my life for years.

You have to have brown skin to be an economic refugee. Otherwise you’re just an expat making a smart economic move. It’s very different!

I’ve wondered if there is any way to get an US library card as a non-citizen for a while and this thread got me to finally do the research. The Queens Public Library apparently issues cards to non-US-residents for 50$/year. I have yet to look into it more thoroughly and check out the catalogue. But considering the number of Audiobooks I listen to, it seems like a good deal.

The Netherlands in 2100, when all the ice has melted:

(I’m sorry, my friends. You’re welcome to come to Germany, if you promise to bring your superior bike infrastructure.)

I mean… she is also a lesbian woman who raises two sons with a woman from Sri Lanka, yet she is like “A far-right, racist party that favors ‘traditional families’ and has many members with questionable views on women and LGBTQ is where I feel at home.”

I don’t question her motivations anymore, I just assume they are based on hate and opportunism.

So your knowledge of Germany consists in large parts of some populist talking points and yet you jumped at the first opportunity to defend an extremely right-wing party and downplay their policies. That’s… a choice.

And skimmed right past the parts where it says they are also climate change deniers, pro-Russia, anti-Muslim, nationalistic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminist and this part

In early March 2021, most of Germany’s major media outlets reported that the Bundesverfassungsschutz had placed the whole AfD under surveillance as a “suspected extremist group”.

?

Maybe you should scroll a bit slower next time.

The part either you or the sources you read are leaving out is that they are also anti-democratic and not just anti-Islamic terrorism but also anti-Islam. Or more precisely just generally racist.
You either read sources that fell for their bullshit downplaying self-description or you are actively trying to play down their harmful views yourself.

• Fall of Civilisations
• The Thing About Austen
• Revolutions

Also: cleaning. I’ve had flatmates who managed to take the same time for cleaning the bathroom or the kitchen and yet it somehow still wasn’t clean.

When I’m stressed, I like to soak a washing cloth in hot water and then press it on my face with both hands, covering eyes and nose and slowly and deeply breathe through it. I don’t know why I find almost waterboarding myself comforting but it’s incredibly relaxing.
Also, lying on the floor in the middle of my apartment.

Well, it depends… Germany as one country isn’t very old. So the roots of the education system are certainly older than the country. But I’m not sure which parts should be included in this calculation. The education system was very different in different states that are now part of Germany. Then there are Universities that were (at least partly) German back in the day but are not located in today’s Germany. I’m sure the Romans had schools when they hung out here but that’s probably a bit of a stretch. But where exactly are we supposed to draw the line?

This is what, the twentieth time this year he is rumoured to be (almost) dead? I’ll take this with a packet of salt.