Leading up to the stay-at-home restrictions here in Germany, I noticed #Hamsterkäufe was trending on Twitter.

Translated into ‘hamster buying’ I had to find out what this meant, wondering if hamsters were the new pet craze in Germany. As I scrolled through #Hamsterkäufe tweets, I saw pictures of hamsters with stuffed cheeks and empty grocery shelves.

I learned a new German word. Hamsterkäufe means hoarding, but in true German style they take the word one step further to make it more literal. Hoarding…like a hamster.

So it seemed, according to Twitter, that Germans were going crazy buying toilet paper, pasta, and canned goods (except vegan stew). It was one of those things you chuckle at, but a few days later it became my new reality while grocery shopping…there was not a square to spare!

(Remember when people use to write on bathroom walls? ‘Here I sit, broken hearted. Paid a dime and only farted.’)

But not just toilet paper, the pasta shelves were bare, and there was no flour or yeast. In the land that sells the freshest most delicious buns and bread on every street corner, Germans were going to start baking their own 🤔?

A friend sent me a text image over WhatsApp that read: “In Germany there are shortages of toilet paper … In France condoms and red wine are becoming scarce in the supermarket… Every nation spends the end of the world differently. 🤷‍♂️

At least this hamster hoards nutritiously

A week ago, a package arrived. Ten packages of popcorn…kernels. Hubby meant to buy microwave popcorn because, strange as it sounds, it’s generally not easy to find here, hamsters or no hamsters. But I’m sure the Amazon employee that packed that order laughed out loud at the idiot who would choose popcorn kernels to hoard.

Germans are now being told to stop buying like hamsters. My online bio delivery service states this plea on their website, and grocery stores are putting up signs like this one»»

I’ll translate:

This is Karl.
Karl shops normally.
Karl does not panic and also thinks of his fellow human beings.

Be smart.
Don’t be a hamster.
Be like Karl.

So, there you have it. Be like Karl or my brother with a C.

And if you have any flour, please mail a bag to Germany.