Compare And Contrast Essay On Christmas In The Us Vs Germany

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I am usually very hesitant when trying new things especially when I am in a foreign place. I tend to seek what is familiar and comfortable. Two years ago, I had the good fortune to travel to Heidelberg, Germany for a work function for a week during November. It was the start of the Christmas season and the town and market areas were beautiful. As it turned out, my trip that year was a wonderful experience because of the food, culture as well as the shopping experience. As I walked around the beautiful Christmas market area or the Christkindlmarkt, I realized that despite cultural differences, there were also many similarities in the way we celebrate Christmas in the US vs Germany. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea to choose Christmas as my holiday and the US and Germany for my comparison. I wanted to research some of the Christmas traditions between the two countries a bit more to understand the background.
Both the US and Germany celebrate Christmas day on December 25th but Christmas day is the day where folks in the US open Christmas presents whereas Christmas Eve is the day when gifts are exchanged and opened in Germany. Germany also
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Per Trading Economics, the GDP YoY for the US is 1.60% versus Germany which is 1.50%. Another measurement that highlights the difference is the debt-to-GDP ratio. This measurement is the ratio between a countries debt versus GDP (gross domestic product) which measures whether a country that can produce and sell can cover their debts without getting into more debt. These numbers for the US is 104.17%, while Germany is at 71.20%. These numbers can vary slightly based on your source of data but in general, the difference between the two countries is significant. While the YoY ratio is very similar, it is obvious that the debt that the US carries is significantly higher than Germany.

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