"Ordnung"

"Ordnung" in German means that everything is in "order." Meaning everything is going the way it should be, organized, planned thoughtfully etc. In Germany 99.9% of the time (atleast in Bamberg) all is in order. Things make sense - they are carefully thought out, and "alle ist im ordnung." It is quite surprising though, because as soon as you leave the German Border - it all changes. In France, Belgium, Italy, Czech, Poland etc. (not so much Austria) you see instantly all of the things that are not "in order." Pot holes in roads, trash on the side, fields in disarray, people not following traffic rules etc, We always joke, "this wouldn't happen if we were in Germany." A perfect example of this is when before crossing the English Channel, we had to wait in a long traffic line to go through customs (first the French Border Patrol, and then in a few feet, the English Border patrol, and then a few feet later, the Ferry Company took our reservation. After going through the long line, and BOTH border controls, the French Ferry Company worker told us that that we were too early, and would have to turn around, and go out and come back through the entire thing again. If this was in Germany, they would have had detailed signs explaining how it worked BEFORE going through customs OR they would have allowed you to park your car on the inside at a bier garten with a playground or something in order to pass the short time. It seems like such a simple thought process, but often that "common sense" is just not evident. We love it when alle ist im "Ordnung!"