Know before you go

James is moving from San Francisco to Düsseldorf in a little over three weeks and he's asked me if I have any tips to hand over regarding moving to Germany.

To make this a bit easier on me I'll just assume that you've not lived in Germany before - that way anyone reading this can use the tips. And you expats - feel free to chime in with your own!

1. Carry fifty cents with you at all time. Not only will you need it for the pay toilets but you'll need it to use a shopping cart.
2. Learn to network. Finding someone to hang wallpaper or lay carpet for you is much easier when you learn which of your friends knows the proper people.
   
3. Become a soccer fan. And if you're going to be fan, be a fan of an 1. Liga team. Don't bother with being a fan of Köln unless you like having your team go from 1. to 2. Liga every couple years, plus being as you'll be in Düsseldorf it'll save you torment from your neighbors . Just go for the best and become a Bayern-München fan.
4. Check your calendar twice. Most calendars in Germany start with Monday as being the first day of the week as opposed to American calendars that start with Sunday. Don't just see a date in the middle of the week and automatically assume it's Wednesday - it's probably Thursday.
5. Learn which holidays your state celebrates - not every states has the exact same holidays. Not only will it keep you from showing up to work when you're supposed to be at home but it'll keep you from realizing it's a holiday and you don't have any food in the house. Should that happen, you can find grocery items at the gas station.
6. Alternatiave food purchase site on Sundays and holidays: Video rental stores.
7. Learn the bottle deposit rules. Some bottles go back to specific stores, some go back to any store that uses mehrweg Flaschen and some bottles drinks don't require a deposit.
8. H-milch - the milk that's super heated to kill germs and therefore doesn't need to be refrigerated until it's opened - is okay. It's real milk and it's not weird. You'll be glad you've got H-milch in the house when you realize it's a Sunday and the stores are closed.
9. Check your newspaper or your local cinema's website for their schedule for showing movies in English. Most of the big cinemas show big release movies in original language at least for the first couple weeks after its release.
10. Learn who Thomas Gottschalk, Günther Jauch, Harald Schmidt, Johannes B. Kerner, Dieter Bohlen, Peter Kloeppel, Oliver Geissen, Til Schweiger, Verona Pooth, Michael Schumacher and Franz Beckenbauer are. It's more important than knowing who the Bundeskanzler (or Bundeskanzlerin, as is the case now) is.
11. Don't trust your TV guide 100%, no matter which one you use. Shows start early, start late, end late or aren't even what's listed.
    
12. Most important for someone moving to Düsseldorf: For God's sake it's Helau, not Alaaf!