Some genuine tips/hints

As a 35-year-old German female who has lived in the USA and in several cities within Germany, I would like to give you some hints, with no irony/sarcasm/US-bashing/racism/nationalism.
First: Often, it depends on where you are in Germany. Originally, I am from the federal state of Northrhine-Westphalia, about 100 km away from Cologne, and generally, the people there are very open and very friendly. You can go into a pub on your own and start talking to strangers and have a nice evening. On the other hand, when I studied in Mannheim, I experienced the natives there to be very narrow-minded and inapproachable - not to mention their dialect... Even the politeness was different there. I have been raised to hold open doors for others, but in this area, people did not pay any attention to anybody else.

In small villages, people are not used to foreigners, so they might seem reserved to you. In big towns, especially young people are eager to meet foreigners because they think it's "cool" to be acquainted with foreigners.

Of course, the impression you get depends on your people's mentality. If you come from the Mediterranean or South America, you will most probably think that Germans are "cold as fish."
For US-Americans, one tip: Please keep in mind that Germans are straightforward. We do not like the typical American dialogue "How are you?" - "Fiiiine!!!". If we do not feel well, we say so. For me, I really want to know how the other person is, and I expect an honest answer. This is because I am genuinely interested in the other person. If I don't know the other (like a salesperson), I will not ask "How are you?" because if they give a negative answer, this would force me to inquire further, and this would not make any sense with somebody I don't know.
So, in essence, US-Americans try to create a positive atmosphere, which Germans interpret as "being superficial."

In general, I like my country. I am not proud of being German, because it was not my decision to be born German, and because such a sentence is used by Neo-Nazis, which I hate. I see that there is a lot wrong with my home country, but often these are things I cannot really change. Nowadays, especially German youth is really terrible. No education, loud, alcoholics, ignorant, impolite, no respect towards others, aggressive. It has become quite bad within the past 10, 15 years.

Furthermore, Germans love to set up rules for everything. This can be really tiresome, and you might become aggressive about some of the rules. On the other hand, I also see the good about it: Every contract is signed, you can rely on the content, each party knows what to expect. For foreigners, I can imagine it to be very difficult, because there might be some loopholes (e.g. rental agreements) you don't know about, and in the end you are f*cked. As a German, I can say that I feel ashamed for my fellow countrymen if they take foreigners to the cleaners. Please, dear foreigners: Try to develop some initiative, get information off the internet, ask German colleagues to support you. I am sure they will be willing to help.

Final thought: To be honest, this is not the country I grew up in anymore. I am not sure if I want to raise my children in Germany, unless I can afford sending them to a private school... Nevertheless, I am aware that in every country there are bad things, and I do not want to leave my home without trying to change something!

dortmund4ever 03 Jun 2008, 03:10 - Verstoß melden