Listen to Brenda tell this story on her podcast channel
“What are you doing?” my sister asks me, with a face that implies that I’m out of my mind.
“Trying to open the window,” I reply, lifting my chin just a tad.
“Why?”
“To air out.”
“We don’t air out. We have central air conditioning.”
I gave up. Their windows hadn’t been opened in years, and I was in danger of breaking the latch. And my sister already thought I was slightly off my rocker.
Once again I was reminded of the only semi-voluntary process of Germanification that I was undergoing. The first thing a German will do when entering a room is open all the windows, regardless of the time of year. To a German, the air inside is always stuffy unless it is olfactorily indistinguishable from its outside counterpart. Or to quote my mother-in-law, “Es stinkt!”
I first learned about this phenomenon while living with my then-boyfriend (now husband) and his parents. It was January, and we had just finished dinner and were sitting around the table, basking in the warmth and satisfaction of a good meal. The streets were covered with snow and it was 10° below zero. I should remark that this was in Celsius since knowing this makes it instantly feel colder…
