Big bikes and screenless windows

This post probably couldn't be more different from the last one, but I just have to vent two minor frustrations that I come across pretty much every day here in Berlin.

The first has to do with the size of bicycle Germans ride, and, consequently, I find myself riding. One of our partner churches in western Germany sends us donated bikes for interns and workers - either old bikes people don't want any more, or cheap ones they find at flea markets and such - and so Timo gave me one. My immediate reaction when I tried to get on it was to say that it was too tall for me, and the seat was already as far down as it could go. I have always ridden bikes at the height where I could securely have both feet on the ground while sitting on the seat - maybe not my whole foot flat on the ground, but more than just the very tips of my toes. I assumed this was a general guideline for safety and comfort universally accepted by all. Not so in Germany. Just as I was about to say that I couldn't take the bike Timo offered me because it was too big, another lady in our church who is shorter than me climbed onto her bike that was even taller.

I took the bike anyway, but it was not very comfortable, especially when it came to stopping.
I was pretty irritated at first, and trying to think of who I could trade bikes with so that I could have one that "fit," but then I realized that everyone in Berlin rides bikes that are, from my perspective, too big for them. They do it quite well - much better than I do!, - having mastered the art of balancing their weight on one pedal to get on and off the bike, or even balancing at a stop light by holding onto a lamppost instead of dismounting. But this totally baffles me. It is so much easier to ride a bike that's low enough for you to securely put your feet on the ground while still sitting on the seat. Why do they make it harder on themselves? Perhaps there is some obvious brilliant reason that I'm too dense to figure out, but in the meantime, I'm highly perplexed.

The second issue that perplexes me is that Germans do not have screens on their windows. Let me first say that I love and appreciate the German common sense with regard to air conditioning, which means in most cases that they don't have it. (In Berlin, at least, there are so few days that it's actually needed that it really would be a waste.) Instead, they open their windows to let in the breeze. Lovely. But without screens on the windows, you have bugs. All the time. Right now it seems to be bee season, because in every bakery, there are literally dozens of bees swarming around picking at the Berliners and croissants and Kuchen. At home and at church, the kitchen trash cans are always full of fruit flies to greet you when you throw something away. If we bake cookies or something we have to be extra sure that they are tightly covered by Saran wrap or in a tupperware, because otherwise there will be all sorts of critters flying in to have a bite. Why don't they just use screens? In America, we put screens on all our windows even though we never open our windows because we have (and abuse... but I digress) air conditioning. If you love having your windows open, why not put a screen on it so that you get the breeze without the bugs?

End of rant. I really am very very happy here. It's just fun to muse at the occasional cross-cultural oddities... Next time I'll write on man-capris and socks with sandals. :)
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