Juni 7th, 2009
How much would you have to pay for a tomato ketchup sachet in a fast food outlet and an how much for a nice ice cream in an ice cream parlour? Well, I guess in most countries of the world, the ketchup would come for free. In the US you even get about 8 sachets in your bag by default, regardless of what you order. And and ice cream would cost somewhere around EUR 1.-, at least in Germany.
Not so in Denmark. At least in ‘Sunset Blvd.’ - apparently the Danish McDonalds - you have to pay an additional 1.5 DKK (corresponding to about EUR 0.20) for a small sachet of 15 ml Heinz ketchup. For a second flavour in your ice cone, however, you have to pay only 2 DKK (about EUR 0.25) on top of your DKK 18 (EUR 2.50) for the first flavour.
So next time you are in Denmark, rather have your french fries with ice cream, that’s much better value for money! But you should make sure that you do not pay with your credit card. Otherwise you will be charged 3% on top! Another Danish speciality… 
Posted in Reise, travel | Comments Off
November 13th, 2008
Posted in Uncategorized, Reise, travel | Comments Off
März 2nd, 2008
In 2008, the initiative ‘Deutschland, Land der Ideen’ (’Germany, Land of Ideas’), promoted by the German President and sponsored by the Deutsche Bank, awards 365+1 companies, institutes and organizations as a “Special Venue in the Land of Ideas”. With its Venture Support concept, Sitewards became one of the “Special Venues” in the Land of Ideas 2008.
-Congratulations! 
Posted in kshitij | No Comments »
Februar 6th, 2008
Yesterday morning I was walking to work when a police woman, standing next to her parked car and a parking meter, addressed me:
‘Excuse me, could you maybe break a ten Euro note? A five Euro note and a few coins would be great.’
I dug up my purse from my hand bag and handed her a five Euro note as well as five Euros in coins.
‘Oh, thank you so much, that’s lovely… I just don’t want to get a ticket again!’
:-)
Posted in Mannheim & Surroundings | No Comments »
Januar 30th, 2008
The latest study commissioned by our minister Horst Seehofer confirmed what we all have known for ages: The Germans are fat and becoming fatter and fatter. Half of the female and two-thirds of the male population are overweight. Germans are fatter than any other Europeans. Not surprising either: Less educated people with lower incomes tend to be much more often overweight than highly educated people with higher incomes. Medical expenses for diseases and medical conditions caused by malnutrition amount to 70 billion Euros!
One often heard explanation, especially by radio station callers: Less educated people are not able to afford healthy food. - THIS IS COMPLETE NONSENSE! The truth: For not more than EUR 70.- per person per month you can easily live on a healthy diet. And registering your kid at the local sports club is much cheaper than buying the DVDs and computer games which make them sit in front of the TV/computer all day and finally make them grow fat. ‘The inconvenient truth’ so to say is simply that people are too lazy live a healthy lifestyle.
Fat people directly cost our health care system more than EUR 70 billion per year! And why do I have to subsidize other people’s self-inflicted obesity with all associated medical problems? Why isn’t there any risk loading scheme for obese people? Why shouldn’t someone who drinks, smokes or lives on a very unhealthy diet pay himself for the consequences? Well, the answer is that our society - or at least the majority of it, including many of our politicians - think this wold be against our principle of solidarity or simply ‘unfair’.
You don’t understand why it should be unfair if you don’t want to pay for your neighbour’s excesses? Welcome to the club! You seem to belong to the few people with some common sense in this country…
Posted in Thoughts | No Comments »
Januar 5th, 2008
… in the home country of the automobile.
Tourists coming to Germany are allowed to drive cars on German roads as long as they hold a driving license from their home country. This right expires after 6 months. Foreigner who want to drive even more than 6 months after they have entered the country have to pass the German theory and road test to obtain a German driving license.
This regulation is almost the same in most countries. So far, so good. But how does it look in practice?
1.) You go to the German automobile association to have your driving license translated into German. Of course their branch is situated at a place which is easy to reach by car, but difficult to reach by public transport. You have to go there at least three times because they make mistakes. Costs: EUR 40.-
2.) You find yourself a driving school where you can take a few lessons and then pass the two tests. Costs: approx. EUR 500.-
3.) Then you fill in your driving license form together with some other forms at the local car registration office. As you might guess, that place is unreachable by public transport. I guess no one ever realized that people who need to register their car obviously cannot use it to get there. Costs: EUR 43.40
At the office, someone will then explain to you that they have to confiscate your Indian (or whatever nationality) driving license ‘because it is forbidden by law to have two’.
And what do you do when you go back to India on holidays? You use your German one. The only problem: The Indian one includes motorcycles, the German one does not. So you effectively loose the right to drive them by getting a German license.
And what do you do when you go back to India for a longer period? Well, then you are allowed to drive for 6 months or something with your German license. And after that? Well, then you make your license again, this time in India. You again pay for that. You finally come out with two licenses which is forbidden in Germany by law, but nobody will know. And of course you wasted quite a bit of money thanks to our bureaucracy!
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Dezember 19th, 2007
After not writing for months I have something special today: ‘Die Zeit’ (a big German weekly newspaper) online is presenting a new Bollywood movie! Take a close look at this! You might know the new movie star…
Posted in kshitij | No Comments »
