Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - on SF!

[Tess tLhoell]

Hi all!

I thought since we all come from different parts of the world with different cultures and a different every day life we might as well take advantage of this and learn about each other and each other's cultures a bit more.

There is not only one way to do things and maybe we can learn from each other. At least it will be entertaining and interesting to read!

Once a week I will present a new term and you guys can share with us everything that includes that term in your country or the region you come from. It can be general or very specific. Whatever comes to your mind.

Feel free to comment and discuss as you like!

I will start with the term: WATER

I come from Germany.

There are two kinds of water you can purchase in the shops. Fizzy water is the most common water that is drunk here, but we also have 'stilles Wasser' (still water), which is water that is not carbonated. You buy it in bottles.
Of course there are other kinds of water too, flavoured with apple or lemon and so on.

It is not very common here to drink tap water, although it is of course drinkable and tastes quite well.

I'm not sure how other companies handle it, but my boss provides free water for us to consume at work.

In a restaurant when you order water in most cases you will get a small 0,3 l glass bottle with bubbly water and you gotta pay for it. It is not at all common to get tap water in a restaurant. If you ask for tap water in a restaurant you most likely will receive strange looks.

What about where you live?

[Felicity Ellis]

I come from Ireland. It's an island, so we're surrounded by water. I love it and I've always lived within a couple of miles from the coast, and always beside a body of water.

We have still water and fizzy water too, but we call it 'sparkling'. We can drink our tap water but I usually don't. Strangely enough, this evening a boil notice was issued for 600,000 households in the Dublin area. We're not entirely sure why yet, but it's pretty typical of the facilities management in this country. One time we had two weeks of nonstop sunshine during the summer and the government declared we were in a drought.

Unless you stipulate you want bottled water in restaurants here, you'll automatically get tap water!

About fifteen years ago we got so much rain in my area that the river beside us burst its banks and completely flooded us. We were rescued from our own house by boat thanks to the Civil Defence. I got a week off school for that.

[Rayek trLhoell]

I am from Canada.  I have lived in three main locations in my life and the water has been different in all three.

I grew up in Sudbury, Ontario with several lakes within 15 minutes of me.  Ramsey Lake and McCrea Lake most memorable in my mind.

When I lived in McCrea Heights, we were on well water.  The well and sump pump for our well was located in our basement underneath our basement stairs.  It looked like to me, in my youth like just a square hole cut through the cement of our unfinished basement floor that water would hold in.  At least twice a year the basement would flood 2-5 inches.  The only thing we kept in the basement was the washing machine and storage shelved but we couldn't use the bottom shelf due to flooding.

When we moved into Sudbury itself instead of living on the outskirts of the city, we got put onto the city water (taken from the local Rasmey Lake) which was kept up in a huge water tower that was visible across the entire downtown.  It was very much a landmark as much as the Big Nickle monument. (I hear it is gone now - sadness).

This city water I later learned was part of pilot project where the water supply was fluoridated.  It's one of the reasons why my dentist now remarks how strong my teeth are compared to locals here in BC.

For me the lakes nearby were places of recreation - a few man-maintained beaches for building sandcastles, cool water for swimming and cliffs for diving.  Growing up I'd never heard of a water bottle.   I thought nothing of drinking the water from the flowing creeks.  I was just warned not to drink from stagnant water.. or I could end up with 'beaver fever'.

Now in my 40's bottle water is very common.   Store bought bottled waters come in Distilled, Spring and Sparkling.

I once more live in a small rural area.  Lillooet, British Columbia  - located on the bank of the Fraser River.

House hold water here is either via a large artesian well that supports the entire town or via Dickey Creek for those on the Hop Farm area (where I am).

My first few years in Lillooet, every spring our water would become very silty because of spring run-off and we would be put on a 'Boil Alert'.  That stopped when the village built a tiny reservoir on the side of the creek to help settle out the sediments and better chlorine treat the water.  Our water here is very hard with calcium and lime deposits showing on teakettles and in coffeemakers all the time.

To combat this we added a water softener to our household water.  Also after a wildfire in the local area in 2009... where the forest was aerial bombed with fire-retardant... which of course would end up in the surface water we drank.. we opted to buy a Reverse-Osmosis water filter for a drinking water tap.

On the outskirts of the village (where I work) smaller community wells have issues with arsenic levels to the point that my workplace currently is on a Do Not Consume  (and avoid washing with) Advisory.  We bring in bottled water that has been filtered.

Dickey Creek waterfall 2 km from my home:

Where my husband grew up in Heart, Ontario household water is metered and you have to pay a fee like you would your electricity. 

[John Saxon]

I'm from London (the one in the United Kingdom, not Canada). Like Flick in Eire, we're surrounded by water. And we have a not-undeserved reputation for boiling it, adding a small bag of dried leaves into a pot, leaving it for several minutes to diffuse before pouring into a cup (saucer optional) or mug, adding minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, before stirring in sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates to taste.

Perfect.

[Rayek trLhoell]

I enjoyed this so I am throwing out another term that has been cropping up on site in at least two simms :  wedding

[Tess tLhoell]

Still to the term: water

I come from Ireland. It's an island, so we're surrounded by water. I love it and I've always lived within a couple of miles from the coast, and always beside a body of water.

We have still water and fizzy water too, but we call it 'sparkling'. We can drink our tap water but I usually don't. Strangely enough, this evening a boil notice was issued for 600,000 households in the Dublin area. We're not entirely sure why yet, but it's pretty typical of the facilities management in this country. One time we had two weeks of nonstop sunshine during the summer and the government declared we were in a drought.

Unless you stipulate you want bottled water in restaurants here, you'll automatically get tap water!

About fifteen years ago we got so much rain in my area that the river beside us burst its banks and completely flooded us. We were rescued from our own house by boat thanks to the Civil Defence. I got a week off school for that.

Oh man, living near the coast sounds awesome! I always preferred the sea over mountains. Germany has access to the sea too, but it's in the North of Germany (the North sea) and in the East of Germany (Baltic sea). Ususally my husband and I will visit the Baltic sea for vacation, we just think the Baltic sea is more beautiful than the North sea.

I live in Cologne in Germany and the Rhine runs though the city.

It's not uncommon that the Rhine, which runs through the city Cologne where I live, burst its banks in the rainy months, but since there is a lot of green around it usually won't reach inhabited land. But wow, having to get rescued by boat sounds scary!

I am from Canada.  I have lived in three main locations in my life and the water has been different in all three.

I grew up in Sudbury, Ontario with several lakes within 15 minutes of me.  Ramsey Lake and McCrea Lake most memorable in my mind.

When I lived in McCrea Heights, we were on well water.  The well and sump pump for our well was located in our basement underneath our basement stairs.  It looked like to me, in my youth like just a square hole cut through the cement of our unfinished basement floor that water would hold in.  At least twice a year the basement would flood 2-5 inches.  The only thing we kept in the basement was the washing machine and storage shelved but we couldn't use the bottom shelf due to flooding.

When we moved into Sudbury itself instead of living on the outskirts of the city, we got put onto the city water (taken from the local Rasmey Lake) which was kept up in a huge water tower that was visible across the entire downtown.  It was very much a landmark as much as the Big Nickle monument. (I hear it is gone now - sadness).

This city water I later learned was part of pilot project where the water supply was fluoridated.  It's one of the reasons why my dentist now remarks how strong my teeth are compared to locals here in BC.

For me the lakes nearby were places of recreation - a few man-maintained beaches for building sandcastles, cool water for swimming and cliffs for diving.  Growing up I'd never heard of a water bottle.   I thought nothing of drinking the water from the flowing creeks.  I was just warned not to drink from stagnant water.. or I could end up with 'beaver fever'.

Now in my 40's bottle water is very common.   Store bought bottled waters come in Distilled, Spring and Sparkling.

I once more live in a small rural area.  Lillooet, British Columbia  - located on the bank of the Fraser River.

House hold water here is either via a large artesian well that supports the entire town or via Dickey Creek for those on the Hop Farm area (where I am).

My first few years in Lillooet, every spring our water would become very silty because of spring run-off and we would be put on a 'Boil Alert'.  That stopped when the village built a tiny reservoir on the side of the creek to help settle out the sediments and better chlorine treat the water.  Our water here is very hard with calcium and lime deposits showing on teakettles and in coffeemakers all the time.

To combat this we added a water softener to our household water.  Also after a wildfire in the local area in 2009... where the forest was aerial bombed with fire-retardant... which of course would end up in the surface water we drank.. we opted to buy a Reverse-Osmosis water filter for a drinking water tap.

On the outskirts of the village (where I work) smaller community wells have issues with arsenic levels to the point that my workplace currently is on a Do Not Consume  (and avoid washing with) Advisory.  We bring in bottled water that has been filtered.

Dickey Creek waterfall 2 km from my home:

Where my husband grew up in Heart, Ontario household water is metered and you have to pay a fee like you would your electricity.

Wow! Now, for me – a 'city girl' – this sounds rather adventurous!

To have your basement flooded twice a year, oh well. That sounds annoying! To read that your teeth are so strong because of fluoridated water is amazing! I never heard of that.

Your stories how you grew up near the lakes, drinking from the water from the flowing creeks, swimming and cliff diving, wow. This is something I can imagine at all. But it sounds awesome.

The water in Cologne is very hard too and I totally feel you, we have lime deposits in the coffeemakers and the water kettles all the time. The thing with the water softener is very interesting though. How do you add it to your water? Do you have access to the water tanks or something?

The waterfall looks beautiful Thanks for adding all those pictures, I love them!

Metered water?? Again something I've never heard of. What happens if you can't pay the fee? Will you be cut off water supply then? I imagine that to be very expensive, water is used for many things. Not only for cooking, but also for washing, the toilet and so on.

I'm from London (the one in the United Kingdom, not Canada). Like Flick in Eire, we're surrounded by water. And we have a not-undeserved reputation for boiling it, adding a small bag of dried leaves into a pot, leaving it for several minutes to diffuse before pouring into a cup (saucer optional) or mug, adding minute globules of fat suspended in a solution of casein, before stirring in sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates to taste.

Perfect.

That is nicely described, I love it.

[Tess tLhoell]

I enjoyed this so I am throwing out another term that has been cropping up on site in at least two simms :  wedding

Thank you for starting us off with a new term!

Wedding, where to start.

To get married in Germany you have to go to the city's civil register office, there you will get your date. Getting married at weekends (starting from Friday noon til Sunday) will cost you more than getting married in the week.

The couple can each designate a witness to the marriage. Usually it's a family member or a very close friend. They will sit right next to the bride and groom and have to signature a document that they have witnessed that the couple has been getting married.

The civil marriage is a must, you're only legally married if you've had the ceremony at the civil register office and the marriage has been registered by the marriage registrar. You can have a church wedding addionally to that, but a church marriage alone is not legally valid.

Most couples will have the civil marriage and after that the weddig party. Usually there is a difference of people who attend the civil marriage and who attends the wedding celebration. Generally anyone who knows the bridal couple can come to the register office at the time of their wedding and attend the marriage. But to the party afterwards is where you get invited by the bridal couple and you should only attend the celebration there if you've got an invitation.

The register office in Cologne is in the Historic Town Hall.

This is one of the chambers inside the Town Hall. It's the one where my husband and I got married:

The marriage registrar will give a little speech, it will be about twenty minutes or so. After that the registrar will collect the personal data of the bridal couple, confirming that it's really the persons that are getting married that want to get married. You have to sign a document, and so do the witnesses to the marriage that the bridal couple have designated. Then the marriage ceremony itself is held, exchange of rings and the obligatory kiss after they have been declared husband and wife.

After that the couple and their friends/family linger on the square in front of the Town Hall, everyone has a glass of champagne and/or a bite to eat to celebrate the freshly married couple. The drinks/foods are brought by family/friends.

After that the bridal couple usually seperates and has a wedding photo shooting, usually they hire a photograph and drive to place they have selected (a park/castle/forest, just anywhere they like) to take wedding pictures.

In the meantime the friends and family that are invited to the wedding celebration afterwards are making their way to the location. It's usually in the late afternoon, around 4 or 5pm. Family or some of the closest friends will already be there and welcome the wedding guests, traditionally it's champagne or orange juice for the children or those who don't want to drink alcohol. It is also very common to mix champagne and orange juice. Along with that there will be offered finger food.

Once the wedding couple arrives at the location there's big cheering and soon dinner starts. It's depending on the location - if you're in a location that has a restaurant or professional kitchen attached, you can offer a proper dinner with servers serving the meals. It is more common though to have caterer bring the food and have a buffet. Another very common option is that the each of the guests contributes to the buffet and brings something home made. That is less expensive and usually the guests are happy to bring something self made for the buffet. Traditionally the bridal couple will get to chose their food from the buffet first before the guests come and help themselves.

During or after the dinner there will be speeches for the bridal couple. After that they are supposed to lead the dance. Traditionally it's a waltz. The guests will gather around the dance floor and the bridal couple will have their wedding dance. Ther will be slow romantic music to dance and usually the bridal couple's parents and other cuples join the bridal couple on the dance floor, the others applaude. After that anyone who wants can join them dancing, there will be proper party music then.

Some couples like to just have the music going and dance all night, other like to have some games or funny sketches in between. That goes on until midnight.

Traditionally at midnight they will have the wedding cake. It usually is a cake of several tiers. On top there is a wedding couple figurine which the couple may keep.

After that it's usually only dancing til the cows come home. It's not uncommon for the wedding couple to 'sneak off' sooner or later after they had the cake and let their guests celebrate as long as they want.

I bet there are a thousand things I forgot to mention here 

[Rayek trLhoell]

In Canada wedding ceremonies can be civil or religious.  Marriages may be performed by members of the clergy, marriage commissioners, judges, justices of the peace or clerks of the court (depending on the laws of each province and territory).

For both civil weddings and some religious weddings, applying for a marriage license is necessary and must be done prior to the wedding itself.  In some provinces the wedding can be performed immediately after obtaining the application, others require a wait period of up to 20 days.  Applications are only valid between 30 days to 3 months depending on province again.  The requirements for application vary from province to province.  In some religions a marriage license is not necessary if a Publication of Bann is announced. (The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" /bænz/, are the public announcement in a Christian parish church or in the town council of an impending marriage between two specified persons.)

My own wedding though performed by a Mormon priest was done not in a temple (and not done as a celestial marriage).

For my own wedding, I put in the application a month before.  I had to apply at the Town Hall

Marriages can be performed in various places, civil or religious.  In or out of the courthouse or church.  My own was held outside on the Elks Hall lawn on a beautiful Sunday September day (after the usual 3 hrs Mormon church service).  The month and date of the wedding was special for us because it was the anniversary of our first date - September 12th.   July is a more common wedding month... but as I'd been celebrating the 12th for the past 8 years - I didn't want to have to remember a new date.  LOL

Many weddings are themed.   I've attended Rustic, Christmas and even Star Trek themed weddings. (I'll see if I can find my photos of this and add them in here later).

Mine was Medieval Peasant-style.  For me that meant having friends or family do as much of the wedding prep as possible.

As such my mother sewed my wedding outfit.  I sewed my husband's tabard, shirt and pants and even leather booties and that of his groomsmen.  My bridesmaids all were provided their gown patterns and I purchased their fabric in different colours.  Mine was blue, my maid of honour was green and I had two other bridesmaids one in burgundy and one in rust.  I matched the mens' outfits with my bridesmaids.

I followed the 'someone old, something new, something borrowed and something blue' tradition.   My mother sewed her wedding veil (which her mother had kept as a keepsake all these years for her) onto my hat with a long veil beneath giving it a layered effect. My something old. (Now my other has both veils stored so that if my daughter ever marries she can have the option of using it and added a third even longer veil layer.)  I purchased new earrings for the wedding which I wore for the first time that day.  My something new.  My maid of honour lent me her silver necklace - as my something borrowed and my dress was my something blue.

We followed the tradition of 'not seeing the bride before the wedding'.   As such my Mom and Bridesmaids spent the early morning together getting ready at our place. While my fiancé at stayed at a friends the night before and got ready from there. (I'd been living with my fiancé for 8 years at that point so it was odd not to be with him the night before).

I arrived at the Hall where the wedding was held about a half hour before the wedding, going in the back way so my fiancé wouldn't see me.  It's common in Lillooet for the bride (sometimes the groom) to arrive at a wedding on horseback.  (Lots of ranches in the area where I live).  I drove myself and my maid of honour in my truck.

The father of the bride often 'gives away' the bride.  For my wedding processional, I was 'piped down the aisle' by a close family friend.

All weddings have an exchange of vows, and an acknowledgement or 'I Do'.   Our priest gave a 20 minute speech about the importance of keeping love alive in the relationship in the years ahead.  But the most important part of the ceremony is the signing of the marriage licence, which must be witnessed by two others. Usually those witnesses are the BestMan and Maid of Honour.

After the exchanging of rings and vows, and saying our 'I do's', we were declared husband and wife, and a prompted to kiss.

Following the ceremony, the wedding party lined up on the lawn and greeted/thanked each and every one of the guests that attended who moved along in a sort of queue.  After this, the wedding party hopped into our decorated vehicles to do a drive through town with our guests following.  It's tradition to honk your horns and wave to people on the streets.   (Passerby's wave back and other drivers will honk in return in a sort of 'Congratulations'.) (Will look for a pick of our decorated truck... no limousine for me - though that is considered common.)

Once all the guests had been greeted, the wedding party and those who wanted to attend the 'photo shoot' all drove out to the lake where tons of photos were taken of the Bride, the Groom, the Couple, the Bridal party, the Groomsmen,  the Brides family, the Grooms family, etc.. etc..

We held our reception at the Elks Hall and had it decorated that morning by friends.  We had a buffet lunch.  Myself and my mother cooked/prepared the foods that were served at the lunch reception, the day before.  (This is not typical.  Usually receptions are catered.)

The wedding party sat at a head table and guests (those same ones that attended the wedding) were invited to join us in homemade sandwiches, cut vegetables, cheese and crackers, baked lasagna, turkey and all sorts of foods I'd prepared the day before.  (My wedding was not a large wedding maybe 50 to 75 people so it wasn't too large of a meal to do though I did need to borrow a friends oven to help with cooking a 2nd turkey.)

In addition, 6 months before the wedding, we'd begun making our own wine, and bottling it to serve for 'toasting only' at the reception.

Toasting is common - making your own wine not so much.  During the reception, if guests want to see the married couple kiss, they will tap a fork against the side of their wine glass... this will be followed suit by other guests until the entire room is tapping their glasses in a sort of building crescendo and they do not stop until the couple kisses.

At our wedding guests were invited to stand at an open mic to say their congratulations, to reminisce about some special time with either the bride, groom or couple.   Some sang, some read poetry.  I also put out parchment paper and ink and quills, and pencils on the tables for guests to write to us or draw us something.  (This gave us great keepsakes afterwards).

Most receptions are held at night but because our wedding was on a Sunday and several guests needed to travel back 4+ hours for work the next day we had ours in the early afternoon.  Despite the early hour, I still tried to hold a dance of sorts.

The first dance was for just my husband and myself and I picked out 'our song' - Let Your Love Flow.  We then did a Father/Daughter and Son/Mother dance to start and then invited the rest of the wedding party up to finish the song with us.  This is common for most receptions.

Several pop rock songs were played to encourage dancing but being the middle of the day that didn't go well except by me and my bridemaids.  We love to dance - anytime, anywhere.

After about 10 songs I had the hired DJ (my one concession to having things done only by friends and family - I didn't want to have a friend miss out on enjoying the reception because they had to DJ the event), play a medieval bransle - the Maltese Bransle.  I then gathered up my wedding party to teach everyone the dance.  I encouraged everyone to join in but only got about half compliance.

After that, the songs were all medieval and were quiet background music to the other activities that a were planned - like the tossing of the garter belt to the unmarried men, the throwing of bridal bouquet to the unmarried women, and the cutting of the wedding cake.

It's tradition for the first cut to the wedding cake to be done by the married couple both holding the knife.  The couple then feeds eat other a small piece of cake.   The cake for my wedding was made by a friend of the family.

As this was not catered, the wedding party after the reception helped clean up the hall.   This is not typical.  Usually the bride and groom will leave the reception and go off on their own.  We stayed to clean up the hall and then socialized until our out of town guests had to leave.

I'm certain there are many other traditions I've forgotten to mention.  But I think that's the general gist of it.

[Judith Eastman]

On the topic of weddings:

In Israel, where I come from, weddings are required to be religious.
For Jews, the religious authority governing marriage is the Orthodox Rabbinate. Of the three major streams of Judaism (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox), this is the strictest one.
Consequently, the preparations for marriage, and the marriage itself, are governed by strict Jewish religious law.

The wedding ceremony itself is performed by the bride and groom, under a traditional ceremonial canopy - a huppah. The groom places a ring on the bride's finger and recites a blessing, a process known as "kiddushin" (consecration). Other blessings are said by the rabbi presiding, and relatives of the bride and groom.
The bride does not explicitly accept or reject the groom. She is free to run away at any time, and by staying through it all, she is presumed to accept entry into the marriage.
At the conclusion, the groom loudly crashes a wineglass with his foot, which draws loud cheers from those in attendance, and then leaves with the bride for a religiously-mandated time alone together in a closed room; at this point, they are religiously expected to, ahem, skoodilypoop (though this is not enforced). After this time elapses, many couples opt to rejoin their guests for more celebration.
Both before and after the ceremony, there is food, mingling, entertainment, and so on. On account of the warm climate, and the fact that this is one of only a handful of occasions in his life when the Israeli groom wears a suit, weddings are usually held in the evenings.
As alluded to earlier, Israel follows a relaxed dress code in all things, including weddings. Other than the bride (who wears a white dress and a veil), the groom (who usually wears a suit), and the Orthodox Rabbi (who wears a black suit and a ceremonial woolen undershirt as he always does), many attendees can be seen in shorts, sandals, etc.

Those who cannot (because they are of different faiths, and/or the same gender), and/or do not wish to go through the Orthodox hoops, can enter a civil marriage abroad. The most common locations for this are nearby Greece and Cyprus. Such couples can also opt to have a ceremony of any kind they desire, either at that location, or back home in Israel. Under Israeli law, marriages lawfully entered into abroad are recognized by Israeli authorities. Many couples find a round-trip flight to Athens to be worth it for avoiding the Rabbinate.

Yet other couples will have a non-Orthodox ceremony in Israel, without being formally wedded abroad. They are not recognized by the state as actually married, which has some adverse legal implications, but this is still an increasingly common choice.

The monopoly of the religious establishment is the subject of much controversy, and is a point of contention between Israel's secular (who wish to allow civil unions as an alternative to religious ones) and religious communities (who wish to maintain their monopoly).

I should note, in the interest of fairness, that non-Orthodox Jews do not agree with the rigid practices of the Rabbinate, both with regard to the insistence on ceremony, and with regard to the legitimacy of interfaith marriages and same-sex ones.

The RPed wedding between Judy and Max represents a Reform Jewish wedding ceremony, with come components of the traditional Jewish rituals present, but just as many absent. In Israel of 2019, theirs would not be a legally valid union, but it still provides a reference point of sorts.

[Kyle Briggs]

I got married sooooooooo long ago that I don't know what is required now a days. I have enjoyed reading about the ways it's done in other countries though.

For Germany, I actually attended a wedding when I was stationed over there back in 1991. I remember being in one of those chambers for the ceremony.

I've been to a Wiccan ceremony as well. It was really cool.

Some people get married by a Justice of the piece. They can get married anywhere. My son had his wedding in a big, fancy hotel. My wife and I got married in our back yard.

As every where, you have the big church with a Priest wedding.

And last of all, you have the Ordained Minister thing where anyone can get "ordained" online and then perform marriages. I laugh at this one because I have no religious preference and was able to get ordained because we weren't sure if the man who was going to perform my son's wedding would be able to make it.

[Tess tLhoell]

Alright, folks! Time to get this little thread here back on track.

The next term will be: Shops/Shopping

Let's see what differences we will reveal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many different supermarktes for grocery shopping (Aldi, Lidl, REWE, Edeka, Netto ... are the most common I'd say). I guess it's like everywhere else in the world, here you can buy your daily groceries ...
Often there are independant bakeries enclosed inside the grocery store where fresh bread, self-made cakes and pastries can be purchased. It is also not uncommong that bigger supermarkts have butchery inside - sometimes also cheesery and fresh fish-selling counter - for the customers to get fresh products instead of packaged goods.

Grocery stores usually are open from Monday to Saturday from 6.00 or 7.00 am til 9 or 10 pm. Sundays all shops are closed (except for shops at airports or central trail stations). Sundays in Germany are considered to be for relaxing and spending time with the family.
Shops selling other wares (clothes, tools ... etc) are usually open from 10 pm til 8 pm.

It is still very common in Germany to pay with cash although I'd assume the majority pays by card by now. It's not that long ago that you only were able to pay by card when you purchased wares that exceeded a certain amount - usually 5 Euro. But that starts to become rare too.

To help you shopping, there are shopping carts. They are attached to each other by a chain and you have to put in a coin (50 cents, 1 Euro or 2 Euro) to detatch the cart from the others so you can use it for shopping. After you're done shopping you will connect the chain to the other unused carts and receive the money back. This is to discourage people stealing the carts. That is made difficult by an technology in these carts that will make the wheels block and stop turning if the cart is being taken off the shop's property.

You are expected to pack your groceries yourself, there is nobody who will do that for you. Especially in Aldi and Lidl grocery stores, the counters are 'cut off', so you have to be quick to put your groceries into your cart (or bag if you didn't take a cart) or everything will pile up on that little space. Here's a pic:

That's really annoying and stressy sometimes. Bags are provided to purchase to pack your groceries in it, plastic bags though have been banned from the shops. You can buy re-usable bags, paper bags or canvas pouches.

You are not allowed to take your dog into the grocery store, they have to stay outside.
Small talk usually isn't a thing in grocery stores. You greet the cashier but that usually is everything of verbal interaction you do with the cashier. I think small talk isn't a thing in Germany generally, at least with strangers xD But tat might be a topic for another time.

[Rayek trLhoell]

When I first moved to Lillooet, there were 2 grocery stores and 2 small convenience stores in town.   Now we only have 1 large grocery store (Buy-Low Foods) it is a moderate chain store perhaps with 12 stores across BC usually in the smaller town.  We don't have the population to support the large companies like Safeway, Save-On or Superstore.

We also have one convenience store on the outskirts of town (Country Store) where things are just slightly more expensive but it saves the 5 minute drive - or I can walk it.  Recently the native communities further out have open up gas station/convenience stores of their own but those are out of the way for me so I don't really shop there much.

At the Buy-Low you can purchase fresh produce brought in from across BC and the world - where as the Country Store tends to sell local and organic goods more.   We also have shopping carts though ours haven't been modernized to lock yet.

With Covid-19 new measures have been put into place.  We are greeted at the entrance by a staff member and encouraged to make use of their supply of hand sanitizer.  Depending on how busy the store already is we are allowed entrance or asked to wait off to the side at appropriately distanced markers on the ground.  Sanitized carts are available and once inside the floor has been marked with stickers directing you on which way to travel the store.   This prevents other customers from getting into your 6 ft personal space.

The produce however is all open air  with a sign reminding you to remember to wash your fruits and vegetables prior to handling and eating (always a wise thing).   The Buy-Low has an in-store bakery, and butcher-shop but most popular items are already out on display for purchase.  If there is something specific you can request it but it's likely you will need to pick it up the next day.

The store is laid out with the produce, meat and dairy along the outer walls and the processed foods in the center in aisles.

At the till, you have the option of bagging yourself with your own reusable bags or having it bagged for you (but using plastic bags).   I bring my own bags.   The conveyor and till area are sprayed down between each customer now.

Because we are a small community, it's not uncommon to be waiting a moment or two while the person in front of you socializes with the store staff.   I've been known to sneak hug (prior to covid) with a friend behind the till if there wasn't a line-up behind me.   We generally talk about our kids progress in school or the latest activity going on at the Rec Center.   Going to shopping becomes a very social thing.   Folks will run into several acquaintances and share gossip whenever they go out.  Especially now.  Thankfully most maintain that 2 meter social distancing space... but not all.

Because so far in Lillooet we have yet to have a single case of covid (knock on wood) people here don't tend to wear masks yet.   But I can see it becoming more prevalent slowly.

Prior to Covid we did have a bakery/coffee shop but it hasn't been open since mid-March... with BC moving onto Stage 2 of Economic reopening... maybe we will have option available to us again soon.  Their fresh made breads were amazing!

Sadly I don't have any pictures on this work computer (shh)  but I'll see about adding some in when I'm back on my personal laptop.

Oh forgot a part... Pets are generally frowned on in the grocery store but I've seen some folks carry their pet (rabbit and toy poodle mainly) into the store and they haven't been kicked out but people do stare.   Humorously, there is a 'hitching' post for horses outside.  Rural community - we got lots of horses.  But I myself have never seen it used. 

[Solluk]

Agua

I grew up in South Florida, in a city called Hialeah which was once known for its horse-racing, but is now mostly known as being a Cuban-American enclave next to the larger city of Miami, which is also known as being a Cuban-American enclave.  And in fact, you can enter neighborhoods in both cities where the language spoken, and even the visible advertisements, are in Spanish rather than English.

When I was a child, many children would drink water straight out of a garden hose, the kitchen sink, or use a public fountain that was nothing more than a pipe with a spigot at the local park.  Florida is not only surrounded by the ocean on three sides, but it is blessed with a natural aquifer that provides a delicious natural water supply.  Unfortunately, mismanagement of that natural water supply means that sea-water is steadily encroaching into the aquifer, and by now the quality of water in South Florida is no longer as good as in my youth.  It is like any heavily treated water found anywhere else in the nation, and bottled water is the modern fad with few people electing to drink anything that comes out of the fawcet.

Excursions to the beach and into the ocean are fairly common, as we have easy access to the ocean.  The beaches are crowded and of international interest to tourists.  Expensive hotels have exclusive access to portions of the beach, while the public beaches are universally in high demand.  The difference in quality between private and public beaches is profound.

Shopping

The nearby ocean means that there is a large availability of fresh seafood in South Florida, with even minor corner cafes sometimes sporting excellent seafood that was caught within the past 24 hours.  The 'catch of the day' is generally a literal term in my hometown.

Nowadays, the big chain supermarkets and superstores are encroaching on small businesses, but you can still find many Spanish grocery stores where everyone speaks Spanish, the products often have Spanish labels, and the foods themselves are Cuban cultural favorites not always stocked by the major supermarket brands.

Cuban bakeries litter my hometown, with featured items like Cuban Bread, which is similar to but not identical to French Bread, and is often prepared into a kind of toast which is buttered and squashed and heated in 'la plancha' or heated press.  This preparation flattens the bread, gives its outside crust a crispy quality, and leaves the buttered interior soft and delicious.  You can also find favorites like Cuban Empanadas, which have a different quality to the Empanadas found in Mexico or other Spanish speaking cultures, being most similar to the preparation in Puerto Rico.

Weddings

Weddings tend to be a big deal in Cuban culture, and attract widespread and little-known relatives from far and wide to attend.  Family is vitally important to the Cuban identity, with multiple generations remaining close together, and sometimes even living in the same house.  This is becoming less prevalent in modern times, as our modern way of life and increasing individual prosperity allows families to more easily disperse and break apart.

The two biggest features of Cuban-American weddings are food and music, and with music comes dancing.   I am not a dancer, and it is impossible to realize how integral music and dancing is to the Cuban way of life until you are someone who does not dance in a culture of dancers.  The music is often in spanish, and it always has a good beat.  The food is always excellent.  Cubans enjoy sweet and savory dishes which are frequently fried and always delicious.   Some weddings- from those who descend from families that lived on the coast of Cuba- enjoy a rice dish called paella that seems to have every conceivable creature from the ocean chopped up and cooked within it.  I think of it as probably being analogous to the Gumbo popular in New Orleans.   I do not like paella much, as there is usually a fish eyeball in there somewhere to look at me while I try to eat it, and I am not a big sea food fan anyway.

[Kirok]

Agua

I grew up in South Florida, in a city called Hialeah which was once known for its horse-racing, but is now mostly known as being a Cuban-American enclave next to the larger city of Miami, which is also known as being a Cuban-American enclave.  And in fact, you can enter neighborhoods in both cities where the language spoken, and even the visible advertisements, are in Spanish rather than English.

When I was a child, many children would drink water straight out of a garden hose, the kitchen sink, or use a public fountain that was nothing more than a pipe with a spigot at the local park.  Florida is not only surrounded by the ocean on three sides, but it is blessed with a natural aquifer that provides a delicious natural water supply.  Unfortunately, mismanagement of that natural water supply means that sea-water is steadily encroaching into the aquifer, and by now the quality of water in South Florida is no longer as good as in my youth.  It is like any heavily treated water found anywhere else in the nation, and bottled water is the modern fad with few people electing to drink anything that comes out of the fawcet.

Excursions to the beach and into the ocean are fairly common, as we have easy access to the ocean.  The beaches are crowded and of international interest to tourists.  Expensive hotels have exclusive access to portions of the beach, while the public beaches are universally in high demand.  The difference in quality between private and public beaches is profound.

I'm still on water

I grew up in the midwest.  We had a man made pond in the back yard where we swam.  A creek nearby were we played  and a river with in a 15 minute drive where the family fished.

I now live in central Florida surrounded by multiple lakes.  There are river's nearby.   I'm between two oceans.

The biggest difference I've notice since moving here is that the rain seems to come from all directions at different times.  Sometimes from the east, sometimes the west, sometime the south,...  In the Midwest, on the other hand, rain typically only came from the west.