From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Thu Jan 23 2003 - 21:28:09 MST
Kai Becker wrote:
>
> Am Donnerstag, 23. Januar 2003 20:12 schrieb Michael M. Butler:
> > I'll spare you all the funny stuff that happened to me in Germany,
> > except for the fact that people kept telling me I couldn't be from
> > California because I had no tan... :)
>
> *g* stereotypes all the way, I know. If you ever come to Germany, I'll be
> happy to show you how many different regions even this country has.
>
> There's a wonderful series of books about stereotypes and clichees of
> several countires, called "Culture Shock". It was very funny to read
> about our own habits, seen through the eyes of a foreigner.
>
> Kai
>
> --
> == Kai M. Becker == kmb@kai-m-becker.de == Bremen, Germany ==
> "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
I have yet to visit Germany. I did live and work in the Naples, Italy area
for three years assigned to Allied Forces South. Today I met a 64 y.o.
American gentleman who has a German son-in-law in Bavaria. The German s-i-l
is quite favorable towards America and Americans; however his brother has a
poor opinion of America. This is true diversity. The latter fellow is
self-made business owner (music stores) and wealthy. He thinks Americans
are low-brows.
We discussed this issue at length today. The 64 y.o. is from Florida, the
second fellow is from Oklahoma and I am from Indiana. Each had served three
tours in Germany and they were enthusiastic about meeting German people,
visiting museums, taking a trip to Switzerland with a Germany family, etc.
My family has German ancestry. My mother was born in Haubstadt, that is,
Haubstadt, Indiana [;>))]. In elementary school I sang songs in German and
English - O Tannenbaum.
I agree that cultural habits are humorous. My wife of 30 years is
Thai-Chinese and I always insist this is an intercultural marriage and not
that tired American cliche - interracial marriage.
German fascination with the American West and Native Americans is well known.
There are several dozen Germans living either seasonally or full-time in the
nearby tourist trap - Tombstone. I discovered this while recruiting and
crewing for Census 2000.
Just some observations that are hopefully without political bent.
Terry
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
------------
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans,
Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Feb 02 2003 - 21:26:02 MST