Culture shock

I was talking to my friend Hannah the other day and she put to words exactly what I’ve been thinking for the last 2 months: This country is really sneaky.

The thing about Germany is that it seems like it is just like Canada. I don’t really find that I get much of a culture shock when I come here because it’s so much like home; with the exception of the hours of operation of most businesses, which are just plain dumb. But every now and then something happens where you just think, “Holy crap! What just happened here?” I think that the most obvious difference, from a Canadian’s perspective, is the way they deal with sex and nudity. It is not at all uncommon to show boobs on TV, regardless of the hour. Or, for another example, I was in Saturn (read: A&B Sound) the other day and there was a special table of adult films. Now, half of me is like, “Good for the Germans! Way to be open about something that is totally natural!” and the other half is like, “Oh my God!! I can’t believe I’m seeing this! Look away, Bari!” Sneaky.

They also are very weird about the way they address other people. They have a formal register and an informal register. They actually use a different pronoun and conjugate the verbs differently when talking to someone you should be formal with/show respect to and when talking to someone you don’t need to (like a good friend or someone much younger than you). I guess that this isn’t that weird except that when you go to the grocery store the nametags don’t say “Alice” or “Jim” they say “Fr. Miller” and “Hr. Schmidt.” I’ve even seen it at Burger King. Sneaky.

I don’t really know what else to say. Most of the time things here are extremely normal, and other times it’s like crossing into a different dimension. It’s sneaky and, quite frankly, it’s a little weird, but more than anything, it’s kind of fun.