25 Habits You Formed in Germany That Will Never Work in Malaysia

I recently read 60 Habits You Formed In Japan That Will Never Work In Your Country from Shen Lim, one of the most famous Malaysian blogger who study in Kyoto, Japan. Although I don't live in Japan which I'm hoping I do, a few things are the same about my life here in Germany. I keep saying the sentences "That's true!" and "Yup, it is!" when I read the article. Thanks Shen for writing it back in English! (the original post is in chinese)

So based on Shen's article, here is my 25 Habits You Formed in Germany That Will Never Work in Malaysia

1. Forgot how to lock the door.
Simply because the nature of the door. Every house's door here lock itself immediately from outside after I close it. You can't open a door from outside without a key although it is not locked.

2. Drink the tap water whenever feel thirsty.
This is usually the case when I travel but at home (for drinking water) I just take the water from the tap and filled it it a water filter before I drink it. I only cook the water when I want to drink hot beverages.

3. Never double check the quality of the purchased product on the spot, even laptop. 

Because if the product has some damages to it, the seller will gladly change and give you a new one without questioning you! I could even return/change the clothes I buy if I don't like it!

4. Never look around while crossing the road.

Because pedestrian ALWAYS has the right-of-way. But be sure to cross the road at zebra crossing

5. Become a Recycle Maniac

Every rubbish here is sorted according to its recycle group. Yellow for the plastic and packaging, blue for paper, dark green for bio-waste (uncooked vegetable & meat), and black for the rest of the waste. Some bottle/glass requires you to refund it at the supermarket. 

6. Started to think that piracy is illegal.

On my behalf, i only do this in Germany since you could be sue for downloading movie and songs through torrent. Malaysia is my download heaven!

7. Bring and empty bottle for toilet use. 

Toilets here don't have any water hose or bidets. the only have toilets paper. The thought of doing one business without any water is for me very unhygienic. So for me is either use any empty bottle I have or a fold-able bottle which I recently bought at a flea market.

8. Think that a clean city is a basic human need.

9. Abandoned the belief of “cheap-things-are-all-bad”. Because Euro Shop things are really cheap but excellent! (Never walk into this kind of shop. You will force yourself to believe that you need an extra calender!)

10. Got used to waiting for public transportation according to the schedule.

They are 99% punctual with a deviation of plus-minus 3-5 minutes in certain cases. 

11. Always wait for people to disembark from from tram/train/subway before getting in.

I did this when I first went to Malaysia after 2 years in Germany. The result : I got pushed and yell "Oi, melanguk apa. masuk la cepat!" (What are you waiting for. Just hurry up and enter the train!) Seriously, I can't survive in Malaysia with this habit especially during peak hours and at busy stations.

12. Never worry even though the bag zip is open. Even leave it at the seat while away to order coffee. 

Most of them just tell me about my unzip bag or kindly zip it for me (rare case). I even left my bag on shopping cart all the time, even when I go to get something.

13. Mixed German word while speaking English or Malay.

I sometime reach to a stage where I can no longer translate the word to Malay. for example Besichtigungstermin

14. Keep saying "Achso" as a response. 

My friend once said " Could you stop that? Its annoying and I don't understand what it means". Some of them even mock me. :-(

"Achso" is equivalent to "Oh, I see..." 

15. Stand by right hand side at the escalator, letting people pass by left hand side.

16. Wait until the light turns green even though there is no cars on the road.

Sadly most pedestrian crossing light in Malaysia don't function very well. And yet the driver blames the pedestrian and vice versa. Huh.

17. Greet Public Servant nicely.

It usually starts with Hallo/Gruß Gott/ Guten Tag and ends with Tschuss followed by Schönen Tag noch or Schönes Wochenende. I once said Hello and Bye to a cashier at Giant and she looked at me weirdly.

18. Never bother about the bills because everything is done online and with standing order every first/last day of the month

19. Don't have cash in wallet because debit card or EC-Karte is widely used

20. DB Navigator become the main app when travelling inside Germany

21. Drinks coffee after every meals.

22. Slowly become a vegetarian or eats only seafood at a restaurant (for Muslim)

23. Eat Chicken and Meat literally everyday because they are cheaper than seafood.

24. Enjoying Student specialty and price.

25. Bring my own bag to supermarket

Because every plastic bags here cost a few cent. If I forget my shopping bag, I usually grab empty box from the milk shelf.