My family from Vietnam visited me last year in Germany. I took some days off to show my family around, from trying German cuisine to going to the Christmas market, and so on. One time, while driving on the highway, my mother told me, “T-Rex, the road signs in Germany are really well organized. After every street, there will be a sign to guide the driver on how to proceed.” Even though she does not understand German, she was able to comprehend most of the signs because she learned and obtained a car driving license in Vietnam.
When I returned to the office after the holiday, the first question my German colleague asked me was, “What is your parents’ impression of Germany?” I began to tell the story. For my dad, he was impressed with the train system in Germany – so modern, convenient, and punctual. If you ask a German about their opinion of the trains, you may hear different opinions, but my dad was so excited about it that he wanted to take the train to the airport for flying back to Vietnam. As for my mom, I shared the story about road signs, and my colleagues confirmed that there are enough signs for every street, sometimes even too many π. However, she was happy to hear that my parents had good experiences in Germany.
I have never driven a car in Vietnam because I don’t own one π. With a motorbike, I can go almost anywhere I want to, and it’s convenient, especially when navigating the small corners of Ho Chi Minh City. When I was studying in Germany in 2019, I mostly walked to the university or took a bus. I didn’t pay much attention to road signs then. Recently, I decided to learn to get a driving license, and since then, I’ve started to notice more about road signs. This habit became deep-rooted in me to the extent that when I was on vacation in Crete, I began to notice the road signs there while the taxi driver drove me from the airport to the hotel. I noticed something odd. The road signs there seemed to be shorter than the ones in Germany. Out of curiosity, I tested both by taking pictures and comparing their heights with mine π. Below are the pictures; you can clearly see my observations, right?
