Talk politics.

My observations had nothing to do with living in houses and using electricity. I compared the developmental level of East Germany with that of West Germany. East Germany lagged about as far behind as did the US. There some areas of exception that fascinated me such as the continued use of steam locomotives and the use of manual labor in some jobs that have been mechanized in the US. The quality of public housing appeared to be roughly the same, except that the East German tenements appeared to be a bit better maintained.