Mom, Dad, I'm German...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uynI0gLxA7w

It was a good read and a heart warming one. Congratulation to your Einbürgerung!

Others have talked about many aspects of the life annd integration process in Germany. But one thing I’m missing from your post is what did you do to your German colleagues and friends? How did you treat them?

It’s certainly interesting to know but I think it’s also an important aspect we often forget.

Willkommen in Hamburg! Was a fun read. Seems like you were extremely lucky with your company and flat mate. I know a lot of immigrants working in logistics and they'd tell a different story. It's cool to see that it can work out positively too.

Keep in mind that OP is a trained professional with a good education and dealing with Germans in a professional environment. I guess all people with an academic background or comparable. It changes a lot when going outside of this „bubble“ for both sides. Working class blue collared ppl are less open and also a lot of untrained immigrants that hoped to chase a dream now working as Uber drivers or food couriers.

> Across from our office there was an Italian restaurant where we went for pizza sometimes. The pizzas were very tasty and huge, and it was the only place that sold half a pizza.

Immediately knew which restaurant (franchise) he is talking about here :D

Saying that you love rules is insanity - no you don't, nobody does nor should LOVE rules. Some of the rules in Germany not long ago was to put people in furnaces - do you love those rules ?! What you love is predictability, when everyone is stopping at the light, navigating a city becomes easier because it's predictable. Our brains love predictability that's why we love habits - it's comforting and we don't have to be on fight or flight all the time. So again to you and to people in the comments - you don't love rules, nor should you ... what you should do is follow the rules that make sense, challenge those that don't and break those that prevent you from doing what is right.

Author seems to adjust well. It gets tricky when high trust and low trust cultures mix and that is seen as an opportunity to be exploited. ie not paying train fares because nobody checks. That breaks the high trust model

> Something simple like waiting at a red light even when there are no cars takes away the work of deciding whether to cross.

Someone gets it. It reduces mental load tremendously which is kinda important when you are a pedestrian surrounded by motor traffic. But of course you think there is no car coming because you didn't see one, right? So why not jaywalk this time? But what if your perception played a trick on you and your conclusion turns out to be false? When you are fatigued by the constant state of vigilance, doubt and self-assurance, in the end you are more likely to overlook the car that is coming round the corner. Jaywalking is for short term gains, but might have bad consequences in the long run. Your attention and vigilance is a scarce and valuable resource.

And what's the rush anyway?

Sounds to me like the author worked at XING / NewWork SE which was a particularly nice German company to work with during their heyday.

Welcome to my home country, glad it worked well for you. Regarding the far rights and how they are againts immigrants, this is 100% not against immigrants like you who integrate and are a valuable member of the german community. There are still a lot of illegal immigrants who have no intention of working here, just want to take benefit of the social system and send the money home or just come to germany to be criminal, sadly that is still a real problem.