Random Friday Musings
Friday, July 15, 2011 at 20:05 Cultural Misunderstanding Averted:
On the walk back from buying groceries today, I noticed a woman shaking her closed fist in the face of a homeless man. My first reaction was shock. My second to realize that I was completely wrong and she was actually giving him encouragement and wishing him some luck by closing her fist around her thumb and making the German gesture for good luck.
(To wish someone luck in the native way, close your fist around your thumb, squeeze it and say Ich drücke dir die Daumen!)
Happy Surprises:
It's been a long week and hard to keep up with everything. I finally got everything under control last night and was left with a manageable workload instead of a to do list longer at the end of each day. And after two days of travel, I was just tired. So, I skipped the whole getting up and getting dressed part of the morning and just stayed in bed for a couple of hours with my laptop and coffee. (I travel or work from home...it doesn't matter how I look on those days)
So when the doorbell rings at 10am, I'm suprised and not dressed to answer the door. I throw a robe on over my pajamas and quickly answer it to find a wonderful surprise - a "care package" from one of my best friends in the world (from Singapore, to be exact). We met in business school, bonded one night at dinner over a shared love of pink snakeskin, I joined her and a couple others for a trip to Paris, and that was that....we realized we were like sisters that the stork had been dropped off on other sides of the world.
Among other wonderful goodies (pineapple tarts!!!) was a book that will inspire some serious exploration. Living in Germany and in close proximity to Vienna and Italy makes trying many of these things very possible!
An Ettiquette Dilemma:
So what's the ettiquette on how to drink wine on a train? Drinking beer out of the bottle is quite common on German trains, and it seems like a tall boy (or two) is in order for many of the men commuting home at night on the LIRR. But how does one drink wine?
I typically take the train to Frankfurt once a week - sometimes there and back on the same day, making it a very long day. Lately I've been tired but can't sleep, and too bored/tired to read or play games on my Kindle. (Herr J thinks I need a PlayStation portable or something...he might be right).
So I decided a glass of red wine might be a good way to relax, and if I were lucky, perhaps to induce a nap. They do sell little bottles in the train station, but they don't have plastic cups. I felt a little weird drinking it out of the bottle. OK, I felt a LOT weird - enough that last week I didn't get wine because it seemed weird. This week, I decided I didn't care what people thought and went for it. I felt good about that decision when I realized that the girl in the seat next to me didn't seem to care about not having showered in a few days!
Reader Comments (6)
Sorry to hear about your long train days. A couple of suggestions for the wine; a collapsible plastic wine glass in your purse, or the small box wines.
I feel weird drinking Weizen out of a bottle -- even at a picnic setting. I would feel really weird drinking wine of the bottle too; train or otherwise.
Earlier in my career here in Germany, an officemate-turned-dear-friend tried to gently tell me that it looks more professional not to drink bottled water from the bottle at my desk (the 750ml or greater size). Implication being, of course, that I should pour bottled water into a glass or cup or something instead of drinking it out of the bottle directly. Since then, I've been pretty self-conscious about that; at least while in the office.
I just don't get how some (many!) in Germany (Europe?) just don't seem to know or care that they stink. Shouldn't the population density and shrunken personal space bubbles as compared to North Americans have raised B.O. awareness? Or did those factors result in the opposite, smelly effect?
I just don't get how some (many!) in Germany (Europe?) just don't seem to know or care that they stink. Shouldn't the population density and shrunken personal space bubbles as compared to North Americans have raised B.O. awareness? Or did those factors result in the opposite, smelly effect?
Comment:
I know, this is just an opinion, and yes this blog is not thought to be read by Germans, but interestingly a lot do
and of course feel very much offendet by comments like this.
I mean who wants to read that a lot of Germans stink??
This blog is actually free of any personal opinion toward German people that it stands out of all the generalisation you
find in most publications about Americans-Germans. This is it what makes it so interesting and loving.
Thanks Frau A. Herr J. keep it up
a fan
palim
Thanks for the suggestion on the cup, though I think if I start bringing a collapsible cup so that I can drink on the train I'm going to feel bad about myself in a different way ;) Perhaps next time I'll just buy wine on the train, which come with a plastic glass. So much for being frugal and buying it in the store!
Cliff, Glad to hear I'm not alone in feeling weird drinking from the bottle. Though maybe the feeling about Weizen is just that you're attuned to the proper way to drink Weizen....you must have the special pour to get the proper head on it.
My 2 cents on the subject is that I recognize that not every culture sees deodorant use as a daily necessity, whereas we are obsessive about in the US. But I've found Germans (at least in Munich) to be quite similar to Americans in wanting to mask bodily odor. Not all of Europe feels that way though...it's not the norm where I grew up, but I guess I can see the logic how in some cultures it's preferred to smell like a human rather than perfume or odorless. Especially for men. Not so sure that women can get away with it, but men are supposed to smell "manly." I guess traditionally women were supposed to stay out of the heat and spend our days bathing and applying Eau de Cologne and being delicate little flowers while the men were out doing manly work and getting sweaty.
Interestingly when I lived in Thailand, it was the American/British/Aussie backpackers who didn't shower for days at a time in the hot, hot climate or wash clothes often who smelled pretty rank. Not someone you wanted to sit next to in a theater! Because of that stereotype, I guess I'm extra careful when I travel to make sure I don't smell bad and perpetuate that stereotype.
I know I just should let it go, o.k. anyway I have to put in just one more comment.
How by all means did you get such an opinion,
""Not so sure that women can get away with it, but men are supposed to smell "manly." I guess traditionally women were supposed to stay out of the heat and spend our days bathing and applying Eau de Cologne and being delicate little flowers while the men were out doing manly work and getting sweaty. ""
this sounds out of "" gone with the wind" or something comparable. No, Frau A. there are people here as well as over in US
and around the world who are clean and smell clean, with or without Deo, body powder or whatever.
And sweaty Hikers may Australian, or Germans or Americans........
This culture is as clean as any comparable modern western culture. I know what I am saying having lived around the US
and Europe.
I am sorry for being obnoxious , I am off now,
Palim
My "Gone with the Wind" description is definitely a throwback to old times, not a description of life today.
My point mainly was that not every culture in the world thinks that normal bodily odor is a bad thing. It's not necessarily a question of being modern or unclean, but a question of different cultural norms. And I'm speaking about the world in general, not specifically Europe. I definitely do NOT think the German culture thinks this way - whether or not it's a person who naturally smells clean or someone who needs help from products, my impression is that Germans do care very much about hygiene. In some cases possible more than some comparable Western cultures...
Sorry for the confusion on the "hikers" - by "backpackers", I meant those travelling around for months at a time living out of a backpack. Not those who are actually hiking and walking for hours (or climbing a mountain for several days). Admittedly it's difficult to find proper facilities while travelling on a budget - however I've known many who take great pains to keep clean while travelling and also seen too many who just didn't care and created a bad stereotype of Western travellers in southeast Asia. Of course you're right that we all get sweaty hiking! But that's to be expected