A Study in Cultures

Having spent 9 days in the US I am now in Wiesbaden, Germany. The hotel has graciously provided each room with Free 56k Internet Service as advertised by the small sign in the room and the 3 pages of poorly photocopied instructions on how to get on line. I foolishly attempted to download a couple of podcasts when I connected. I was booted off. Needless to say, I won't be posting photos until I have something a little faster.

Cultural Study I: Cell phones

Korea
I used my cell phone from work in conjunction with phone cards while in Korea, so I never purchased a phone. Others detail the process as follows.
Purchase process: Walk into store, point to phone. Owner will tell you the price. Pay for phone and a calling card. Leave with functional phone.
Total time: 5 minutes

United States
While in the US I purchased a cheap cell phone with pre-paid minutes so I wouldn't be without a phone. While I didn't need to use it on the 9-hour drive from Maine to DC, it was comforting to have it.
Purchase process: Walk into dealer. Explain what you want. Dealer will pull phone from the back room, put a SIM card in it, ask for some information and your credit card. Dealer will program the phone and hand it to you, ready to use.
Total time: 20 minutes

Germany
This was my adventure today.
Purchase process: Walk into dealer. Explain what you want. Dealer describes that you will need to fork over a small fortune for a phone. Provide credit card and a bank account number in addition to 3 forms and various other paperwork. Wait at least 3 hours for a credit check that will not be run on Sundays. When credit check is complete you may come by and pick up your then-operational phone.
Total time: 4-48 hours

All told, I paid 225 euro ($270) up front and will pay 25 euro ($30) per month for 50 minutes with each additional minute costing me 0.40 euro ($0.48) per minute. I do get free weekend minutes, though. Internet will be an even bigger whammy. If DSL is available where I live I need to pay a 60 euro ($70) activation fee for my phone (apparently you can't get DSL without a landline phone) and 100 euro ($120) activation fee for the DSL and a DSL modem for 80 euro ($95). Then I get to pay at least 16 euro ($20) per month for the phone (that doesn't include actual usage, which costs a few cents per minute, depending on your plan, for local calls) and 25 euro ($30) for DSL 6000. Next month's credit card will be a big one.

Back in the USA

I'm back in Maine, which just received a fresh layer of snow and ice. It's a bit strange being in the house I grew up in which I called "home" for many years after I moved out (and sometimes still do) and yet not be home, nor really have a home. Every time I come back here I see how the area has grown. There are no incremental changes. Complete buildings have been erected and razed. Some places I don't even recognize. I lived here for 15 years. What's really weird, though is that I haven't lived here for over 13 years.