stereotyped germans

i think i've been here long enough to be able to talk about the german personality and demeanor now, except the work life of course. (i'm still unemployed - and loving it!) before i left home i was told by a few people to watch out for the stereotyped german - cold, uncaring , business orientated blah blah blah... you know the stereotype. since i got here, yes there have been a couple of them that are like that, but as a whole i've found them to be quite pleasant people. they all have their own idiosyncrasies and what have you, which every race has, but i really don't see why people felt the need to warn me. the most obvious stereotyped germans i have come across are definitely in the minority and even then, i see them more as a euro stereotype, rather than a german one. for example the american hating euro. this is understandable. i've only experienced this once, mainly because their first thought was that i am american, but it was mainly because of a communication breakdown, not as a result of anyone's wrong doing. ie 'stupid american doesn't speak my language. hahaha!' to that i say, 'fuck off obnoxious bastard, and the jokes on you cause i'm australian, not american. so you're racist nonsense doesn't really affect me or my people, so hate away, retard!' this made me angry at first. how dare someone call me american, but then later i thought to myself why bother being angry? for one, i'm not american so they can think what they want about them because, as stated above, it doesn't affect my people. and two, doesn't their attitude reflect exactly what they're getting uppity about. the fact that i don't know their language, but at the same time they don't even know my race. it's that old tired adage, racism, homophobia, sexism etc really says more about the person committing the hate crime than it does about the intended victim.

however this is all one incident, everywhere else i go i seem to be either nothing (in a good way, like just another customer), or i seem to be liked cause i'm different. i don't know if this is because i at least try to use my very basic german, or because they can tell i'm different to them and to the usual traveller. a good example of this is yesterday when i went up to famila center (they spell centre like americans, as much as it pains me it is not a spelling mistake). waiting in line to buy my products at the supermarkt i let a guy go in front of me and instantly the woman behind the counter treated me with more kindness than i used to receiving. i know this is probably because of the whole pay it forward/good karma/kill with kindness deal, but had i listened to the german bewarers, it shouldn't have mattered. secondly, i went to the backerei (bakery, obviously) and bought some brotchen (rolls) and sweets (i am not even going to begin to remember how to say the name or spell it - let's just say it begins with quark, ends in en and has about 15 letters between), for the second time in three days. i was served by a different lady than previously and before i could try my german with her, she smiled and treated me very well. she even helped me to pronounce things properly (working in retail for years i have to knack of knowing instantly when someone is humouring me or doesn't want to be there, so i'm a fairly good judge of character), and seemed to take extra care with me. some of you may think that it is all because i 'tried' to speak her language and others may think that it's because she's just a nice person. but the lady i spoke to the time before was exactly the same and both of them were wonderfully nice before i could open my mouth and butcher their language. so again, naysayers of the german people, what are you talking about?

it's not just shopping either, there's a whole world of niceness in the southern part of the country. (i can't talk about the top part because i haven't gotten there yet - soon though. berlin for christmas? sounds great.) there's a custom here from bavaria that allows for complete strangers to sit next to each other at lunch or at a pub and either sit side by side or converse with each other. sounds nice to me. one the other hand though, there is some trepidation talking to me that i have noticed. i tend to think it's because they know i'm not german and may think i'm american, which is as i said above both fine and expected. if you had american bases everywhere in your country, wouldn't you feel a little animosity towards them? i know i would, especially if you were still technically occupied by them until around 1986. i don't know about you, but my hate wouldn't be veiled in a subtle euro way, more a get the fuck away from me american infidel kind a way. alexis seems to think that i might be a rare breed here and that people aren't quite sure where i come from. basically because of how i dress and my skin colour people treat me accordingly. granted i may seem to be american to some, or, as alot of germans have taken me for until i open my mouth, german (which i think is just a guess cause they're unsure). but as alexis pointed out, i'm too pale to be german. they seem to have a yellowish tinge to their skin tone, which i don't have. i'm pure pasty irish/scottish white. particularly now i don't see alot of sun. i'm starting to look like a goth/emo again with my paleness, mainly due to the season and the fact that at 4pm this afternoon it was already dark outside.

but i don't care how people treat me as long is it isn't with rudeness, because i don't know enough german to have a go back and they wouldn't understand me if i was to go off. who gets taught, 'you flaming galah!' or 'pull your head in, fucknut' in english classes? no one. either way, i'm just happy that the warners of the german people were wrong so far. that being said there is a slight coldness, but as i'm used to australians and their 'she'll be right, mate. how's it hangin'?' attitude, i think we might by the different ones here, as not alot of races are as open as ours. but here's looking forward to meeting some more friendly germans and hopefully learning enough duetsch to tell someone off one day for being obnoxious! (if that day ever comes again)

supermarket? not while there's photos to be taken!?!

i was suppose to go to the supermarket this morning and pick up some things. after a disastrous attempt at going to buy shampoo and conditioner yesterday, (it took me twenty minutes to distinguish the conditioner from other hair care products - i laughed insanely the whole time, and i think the woman behind the counter thought i was high. i would have thought i was high.) this was not a trip i was looking forward to. i was almost fearing it to tell you the truth. i know how to say how much is that? and so forth, so it wasn't going to be too bad, but i just had this feeling i'd be there for hours trying to find the things i needed. and without annoying the staff by having them drag me around like a blind dog, i was walking with some trepidation. however, after asking the guy at reception where the nearest supermarket is i was off. but before you can say zeig heil mein fuhrer! i veered away from the path and was lost in a mass of old-school buildings in the middle of a fancy residential area of frankfurt taking happy snaps of buildings. so i still haven't gone to the supermarket. haha. but i have some brilliant shots, which to be honest isn't that hard when you're in a town that looks like the opening credits to La Law and schindler's list had a fucked up baby.

my walk went for about two hours, which makes my future 2 hour walk with the hostel kind of redundant, but i'm going anyway. it's a chance to see things i missed, get the names of things i saw already (if you are a friend of mine on facebook, look at my frankfurt pics - i have no idea what half the things i was looking at were. they're very pretty though!), and, most importantly, make some new friends. it's kind of hard to do that here, when you're avoiding americans, aussies and everyone else speaks different languages and is afraid to talk. apparently the thing to do is smile and nod and say hi very quickly before running away. i'm not having a go, because i've done it too! (there was this one guy though, and this is a complete by the by, who came in this morning wearing an american jacket with USA written on it and all the stars and stripes and usual fanfare that adorns such patriotic nonsense that america spews. how many friends do think he'll get? i'd wager not many if he keeps that jacket on. is he aware that america bombed the fuck outta this town? that's like going to hiroshima and wearing a USA hoodie. yeah, thanks for the atomic blast, all our children's children have cancer you bastards!)

anyway, two things happened to me on my walk this morning. one amusing and one creepy. the amusing thing is i was mistaken for a german by an old lady. she looked at me at asked for directions in german - a whole lot of german. (before i go on, please be aware that i don't know how to spell big german words. and they have a lot of them) i responded in german by saying, 'enschuldigung, mein duestcher nicht so gut. sprechen sie englisch?' she responded, 'nein.' and then a shitload more german before walking away. now, it was about two blocks down the street when i realised that what i had said was literally, 'apologies, my german woman is not so good.' i giggled to myself and realised hey, she understood me despite my incorrectness so my german can't be that bad. it gave me some hope for later on when i will have no option but to speak german.

the second and creepy thing that happened, was when i was walking through a statue filled park, taking photos and enjoying the serenity, i noticed a guy apparently peeing in the bushes. now i thought nothing of this, because hey, every guy once in a while has had to go the bathroom at a time when there's been no toilets (that's another thing, frankfurt seems to have no public toilets. unless of course they don't have pictures, only words saying toilet? interesting...), but as i was walking past another guy walked past me and straight up to him. now walking guy grabbed a cigarette out of peeing guy's mouth, lit his own cigarette with the end, before putting it back in peeing guy's mouth. nothing that strange, well okay, it is strange, but i'm in europe, so hey, stranger things are bound to happen. now this would have been fine if that's all that happened, but it wasn't. walking guy, from behind, then looks over peeing guy's shoulder and at his dick. he then stands directly beside peeing guy and undoes his pants. peeing guy then smiles and does a 'reach across'. it is this point where i realise peeing guy is actually MASTURBATING GUY!!! now what kind of country is it, where at 11 in the morning you can pick up another man in the thinly spaced bushes of a public park, where people are constantly walking past, none of whom seemed shocked or frightened or disgusted. it was as if this is a normal occurrence here. just to let you know, on the other side of the thinly spaced bushes is a main road. a jam-packed, full of little german cars main road. and anyone who's been to frankfurt knows that if it's a main road, it is a busy as fuck main road. cause everywhere else is one way and incredibly small. think the movie ronin with robert de niro.

anyway, that's it for now. the one thing i learned about germany so far today, is that apparently you can do anything you want and no one cares. which i must say, gives me hope for the future. especially with the nightlife. hehehe...