In my very last post of 2019 I mentioned that my family was fortunate enough to have lived in Germany for six months last year. Since travel and moving (literally in our case) outside our comfort zones tick about a bazillion wellness boxes, I thought I’d feature some of my impressions here on the blog. As always, I will do my best to tie these impressions back to one of the Dimensions of Wellness that I am constantly yapping about.
A bit of background on our situation… My husband and I are both college professors. I am adjunct, or part time, which means I work on a need basis (both mine and the university’s). My husband, Joe, was offered a sabbatical after receiving tenure. Given his field of expertise, we made a list of places that might be willing to have a short term researcher. Very long story short, a group in Germany made the short list, they were happy to have Joe, and away we went.
We arrived at a time of year when the weather was good and the days were long. And I mean really long. We don’t think of Germany as being super far north, but when the sun doesn’t fully set until 11:30 at night and is rising again at 3:30am, you are far from the equator. I digress. The point that I am trying to make is that the Germans fully took advantage of this.
By that I mean exercise. One of the first things I noticed living in a completely new country was how much they exercise. And I don’t mean work out. When I say “work out” I have a picture in my head of people going to the gym to grind it out. When I say exercise, the picture is slightly different. A gym can certainly be a part of that, as can high intensity. The difference, at least to me, is that a work out is tolerated for the gainz. Exercise is something to be enjoyed.
We lived close to a sports complex and between the basketball courts, the sand volleyball courts, and the football (sorry, after living in Europe, I can no longer abide by calling it soccer) field, people were out there ALL. THE. TIME. All ages. All abilities. In all kinds of weather. With smiles on their faces.
There were three ways you could walk or jog: on a traditional track, on a brick path, or on a mulch path. The brick and mulch paths ran parallel to each other and also swung right by an outdoor exercise station. This thing wasn’t like anything I have seen in the States. First, it was massive. Second, you could do about a thousand different exercises on it and that was before you added any other equipment.
All of this goodness was within 200 meters of our apartment. And it wasn’t the exception, it was the rule. In Germany, parks, playgrounds, and other areas for outdoor recreation are like Starbucks. If you go three blocks and haven’t seen one, you have wandered into the Upside Down.
The huge availability of recreation basically makes it impossible not to participate. You guys know I love me a good walk or jog outside. It is one of the simplest and best things I do for my mental and physical health. And I definitely took advantage every chance I got. Joe even got in on the fun by being game enough to try his foot at football with some of his co-workers.
Most of the time we saw people exercising with friends or family. It was so common to see friends walking or jogging together that it was easy to stop noticing it. We would see parents bring their kids to exercise with. And if their kids weren’t quite old enough, then Opa and Oma came and watched the kids at the playground while Mom or Dad got a workout in.
Physical activity, especially outside, is ingrained in these kids at a really young age. Within a 5 minute bike ride of our apartment, there were something like 8 different playgrounds. Every single one of them a bit different. Every single one of them meant to encourage kids to run and play. Every single one of them packed. German parents will often take their kids to one playground in the morning, run a few errands, grab lunch, and then start over again in the afternoon.
German kids are required to have special rain gear when they go to krippe (day care) or kindergarten (which runs from ages 3-5). Because they have a saying in Germany: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” Yup, if it’s raining, your kids are still going outside to play. And likely you are, too. Only the most torrential of downpours or freezing temperatures stopped people from exercising outside.
If you are sick of exercise, that’s okay. Just hop on your bike and pedal yourself somewhere. My husband and I made the choice to not have a car the entire six months of our stay. It would have required foreign driver’s licenses and more red tape than it was worth. We rented bikes (and a bike seat for our three year old). And you know what? Not only did we not miss out on a single thing, but we are both in better shape for it.
My husband biked to work (20 minutes one way) almost every single day. In fact, he purchased said special rain gear to wear on the bike so he didn’t have to take the bus. I pedaled myself and the kiddo around all over town. Playgrounds, play dates, activities, errands, you name it, he and I were on the bike.
Biking is so common as means of transportation in Germany that kids get in on the act, too. While in the States we commonly use a tricycle to bridge the gap from a kick toy to two-wheeler with training wheels, they have a different system in Germany that underscores how important biking is. They have little mini bikes called running bikes. These are essentially two wheelers, but without the pedals. The idea is that kids continue to use their feet in opposing motions (running) while learning to properly balance on two wheels. We very often saw German kids our son’s age fully riding two wheel bikes.
Older kids go to bike school to learn the rules of biking on the roads. All so that they can bike with their parents and transport themselves to school. Every morning and early afternoon, we could hear them coming and going. All on bikes.
Where my husband and I live in the States, biking for day to day transport is not an option. And I won’t lie: biking will be one of the things both of us miss. While grocery shopping on a bike certainly offers its challenges, biking was an awesome (and low waste) way of getting around.
None of these things were confined to kids or younger people. Most people walked or biked for their errands if they could. I often saw little gray haired Omas at the market with their pull carts so they could shop for dinner and then walk back home. There would be just as many older people walking and jogging on the track as younger ones.
My very long winded point here is that the Germans seem to have grasped something that we are missing about exercise. Exercise should make you feel good. Strong. Capable. I may not have lost a bunch of weight or set a new bench press PR while I was in Germany. But I can tell you, after pedaling my son around (usually also while balancing groceries) for six months, my legs and lungs are strong and capable. The Germans know what it means to exercise.
Until next time, be well friends!
