Vorweg: Unser Eindruck ist positiv und wir sind von den Naturschönheiten überwältigt.
am 01.09.2022 fuhren wir südlich von Vancouver über die Grenze zwischen Kanada und den USA. Hiermit beendeten wir unser Kanada Abenteuer und starten in das USA Abenteuer.
Aufgrund unseres Besuchs in Alaska bleiben uns jetzt noch 7 Wochen um die Westküste und das Innland zu erkunden. Hierzu aber später mehr.
Was uns als aller erstes auffiel ist das Thema Armut und Drogenkonsum.
Dies beides war in Kanada schon allgegenwärtig und ich muss es zugeben, es hat uns ein wenig verstört. Wie kann ein so reiches Land so viele Menschen in die Drogenabhängigkeit und Armut verlieren?! Während unserer Reise konnten wir den Ursachen nicht auf den Grund gehen, wodurch uns hier nichts anderes übrig bleibt als es zu akzeptieren und versuchen die Hintergründe in Erfahrung zu bringen. Wir halten Euch auf dem Laufenden.
Wir wurden oft gewarnt. In Portland dann aber von der schieren Masse an Obdachlosen und dem völlig offenen Drogenhandel und -Konsum, auch von harten Drogen, überrascht. Nie hätten wir gedacht das es so etwas in einem so reichen Land noch gibt, dies übertraf die Situation in Kanada um ein Vielfaches.
Für heute lassen wir dies erst einmal so stehen und nutzen die nächsten 7 Wochen um diese Situation besser zu verstehen.
Wie soll es auch sein, es gab natürlich auch schöne erste Eindrücke.
Was uns besonders Auffiel waren die gepflegten klein Städte und Dörfer und die recht hohe Zahl an Farmshops bzw. Farmstands. Beides hat uns sehr gefreut und zu fast schon exzessive Einkäufen bewegt. Zudem ist in den USA der Diesel und das Mobilfunknetz etwas günstiger als in Kanada. Es reihen sich auch einige gute Einkaufsmöglichkeiten in die Liste der positiven Dinge, wie z.B. Trader Joe`s und Aldi ein, bei denen es viele bekannte Produkte und allgemeine Produkte zu besseren Preisen gibt. Zudem sind wir weiterhin von den unglaublich schönen Nationalparks und der Natur drum herum beeindruckt.
Moin!
It was a great pleasure to meet you both in the iconic Griffith Park of Los Angeles. You are the second people that I have tried conversing in German with and I found it very helpful for my learning, so thank you. I was so happy to have noticed that the Outdoor Cookies sticker on your vehicle had a German website on it. I otherwise might not have met you both. I can read at the B2 level, but my listening and speaking skills are still A1/A2, as you could probably tell. I think a visit to Germany would help those other skills catch up pretty quickly, however I would need a full itinerary on such a visit, and therefore trip would cost a small fortune I think, and thus I still haven’t done it yet, even after having learned a substantial amount of the language, haha. Perhaps in a few years I will have the funds for a proper visit.
Yes, it’s very troubling to see the drug problem, particularly in the northwestern region but throughout the country as well. Many people attribute this to the decriminalization of the ‚hard‘ drugs in that region.
I think it also has to do with how the economic planning is done in the USA, and in particular, the lack of ethics in the planning.
I like the personal care products that Aldi offers and regularly get them, and I like Aldi a lot generally, but especially the products in its ‚Aldi Finds‘ aisle.
I found it fascinating, our discussion about the War in Ukraine, the Car Industry and Energy Infrastructure, and I would love to learn more about your perspective on these topics.
War in Ukraine:
I saw that Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently went to China and said that he tried to get the Chinese to pressure Russia to stop it’s war. However I still think, as I mentioned in our talk, that the fastest way to end the war is to twist the arm of the USA and NATO into acknowledging Putin’s victory and let him have the portion of Ukraine that he believes is composed of mostly Russians or people who believe they are Russian, so that Europe can have it’s energy back. The USA seems to be turning into the new Bolshevik Soviet Union, and I think it’s very cruel of the USA to pressure Europe to go without energy for it’s own geopolitical goals.
Also, it was really funny to see Annalena Baerbock mad at Scholz for going to China. I heard that it was initially believed that he was going there to make a trade deal, and then he said after the trip that he was trying to pressure China to oppose Russia hehehe.
Car Industry:
Yes I drive a Japanese car and not a German or American car, entirely because I wasn’t aware that the VW Jetta hybrid was sold in the USA, however it is very surprising that this is the only hybrid offered here in the USA from the German car brands. Who knows, maybe I will do an exchange before the car market dips, haha. After having worked at VW for many years, what is something about VW cars that you think too few people appreciate? BTW, I like the overall design of diesels better than standard ICE vehicles, because it is mechanically simpler and therefore less likely to break; for the smaller diesel engines anyway. The large diesel engines for trucks seem to have issues that are specific to their size. Dieselgate does not detract me from VW at all, and I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
Energy Crisis:
The following link has some interesting figures about Germany’s energy production and consumption https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy-consumption-and-power-mix-charts
According to the charts, Germany’s energy production doesn’t rely very much on Gas and oil and this is encouraging given the supply chain interruption, because the factories will probably still be able to operate without too much interruption. However in the second half of the linked site, it shows that more than half of Germany’s energy consumption is of Oil and gas. I’ve also heard that Germany get’s most of it’s oil and gas from Russia, especially oil, and so this an extremely troubling problem that the individual consumers within Germany are faced with.
I would be overjoyed to hear from you, on this very blog, or by email.
Best,
Matthew Wipplinger
hobsonmatthew771@gmail.com
Hi Matthew,
thanks a lot for your feedback to our discussion in LA.
I will contact you on E-Mail the next days.
Best Regards
Kai