[Mz]

Culture shock. I was a military wife and lived in Germany for a bit less than four years. I had to deal with some culture shock when I first got there, but not nearly as bad as many Americans who go there: My mother is German, I already spoke some German, I knew from family stories that the furniture and stuff is different.

One of the big issues Americans have with German homes: "The refrigerator is the size of a dorm refrigerator!!!!" This weirds out many Americans like it's the end of the world or something. Oh, and let's not get into the fact that many apartments are "unfurnished"* -- by that, they mean there is no refrigerator or stove or kitchen cabinets or light fixtures (just wires sticking out the ceiling) or kitchen sink (just a tap sticking out the wall). Germans move into rentals and buy appliances, kitchen cabinets, etc. The American housing office would cut deals with landlords and go in and supply the sink, stove, frig (an American style frig), etc. If you aren't military and don't have a housing office bridging some of these issues for you, hey, you get to cope on your own with the difference between what is normal in the US and what is normal in other places.

If you aren't up for that, yeah, run back to the US and continue to measure "civilization" solely in terms of (your concept of) material wealth, without regard to food quality, actual culture, local history and so on. Please do so quickly, before doing yet more damage to the public image other nations have of us "ugly Americans".

* This was more than 2 decades ago. I have no idea if things have changed since then. Feel free to give an update if you have more current info.

[Uchikoma]

99% is still unfurnished, most Germans I know would never rent a furnished place unless they are students.

Update: A kitchen is often the exception.

[Mz]

Most American rentals are unfurnished, but it comes with a fully outfitted kitchen and bathroom(s). The bedrooms and dining room typically have light fixtures in the middle of the ceiling. The only room without lights is typically the living room. We also have closets which are a great deal less common in Europe.

Another big difference is that most American apartments have "wall to wall carpeting", something apparently so unusual in other countries that I often have to explain what on earth that means to foreign friends (the carpet is installed as part of the floor and nailed down). In your typical American apartment, you have vinyl flooring in front of the front door, in the bathrooms and in the kitchen. All other areas have wall to wall carpeting. From what I gather, wood, tile or similar flooring is far more common in other countries. I have respiratory problems and allergies. I wish I could find an apartment here with wood floors. Wall to wall carpeting is something I loathe. In the US, if you want wood and tile floors throughout the home to accommodate allergies and respiratory problems, you pretty much have buy your own house (or possibly live in New York, which I have no plans to do). In fact, wall to wall carpeting is so common here that even if you buy a house, you probably either have to rip out carpeting and install your own flooring or have the house custom built.

I am betting that the lack of carpeting is something the author of this article would view as proof of being "a dive"/slum. Lack of carpeting does occur in some older American homes, often ones which were never upgraded. So it tends to get interpreted by Americans as a mark of poverty. Given my health issues, I tend to side more with some of my foreign friends who are sometimes appalled at the idea of wall to wall carpeting and find the idea disgusting and unclean.

Last, I will note that I have lived in five different US states and every rental market has its quirks. I lived from age 3 to age 20 in the same town. When I first left home, moving to another part of the US was something of a shock as well. In short, anyone who feels strongly that the rental/housing market should behave X way should just stay where they are. (It won't stay the same where they are either, but the changes are likely to be more gradual and thus less shocking than moving elsewhere.)

Peace.

[hollerith]

>In the US, if you want wood and tile floors throughout the home to accommodate allergies and respiratory problems, you pretty much have buy your own house (or possibly live in New York, which I have no plans to do).

Wood floors are plentiful in San Francisco, too, because there's a lot of pre-WWII housing.

[Mz]

Thanks. San Francisco is the only large city I have ever visited that I wished I could live in. (Granted, I haven't visited many large cities outside the US.) But even in most large US cities, wood floors in rentals seems to generally not be the norm. (Anyone with hard data, please correct me if I'm wrong.)