After a period of hesitation "das Zögern", I decided to write the last post of my CrossCulture in Stuttgart.
The idea to extend the post job beyond CrossCulture internship is attractive. However, I decided to bring this blog to its end and keep it as a nice diary of my internship. In addition to that, if I made it and went back to Germany for study I'll maybe create a separated blog or simply come back to write here. I better quote "Let's save tomorrow's troubles for tomorrow!"
For now, I'm sure to write the last related post to my internship "das Praktikum" in Stuttgart.
I wanted to write an 'epilogue' for my blog a weeks ago, but I was busy to do so. First I had to finish writing my final report about the whole internship for ifa (I'll post a link for the report whenever they post it to their reports section of ifa website). Then I had to apply for a new visa to Germany. Also in the meanwhile, I did't have a fixed resident place to really head about writing the epilogue!
So, as a concluding post "das Schlusskapitel, vielleicht kann man die Schlusspost sagen!" I'll write shortly about subjects I find them interesting and forgot to mention them earlier.
1- Wie Spät ist es?!
"What time is it there?!"
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| Stuttgart town hall clock. Source: JuergenG |
Surprisingly for me this question was actually a 99% mutual question, that I've been asked from everyone from homeland ever talked to me when I was in Germany!
Whenever they talked with me, either by call or text chatting, this question must comes to speech always. I can barely understand what's really interesting about knowing what's the time in Stuttgart..
In the first time, maybe it is normal to ask, but when the same person ask it in every time we meet.. this became really funny :D
But hey you, if you think I'm overdoing, would you find it funny is when I answer: it's (...) o'clock.
The other sometimes say: Day or Night? *__*
2- Did you meet Yemenis!
This was the second most common question to be asked by my fellows, but can't be compared to time's question for sure :))
This question I could get it, even though I didn't like it. I answered with no all the time, so the next direct question would mostly be:
Ok.. what about Arabs?
Me: Good bye my friend!
.....
If you are wondering about the other most common questions I've been asked, here are some ordered from most to least:
How is Germany??
Did you see SNOW??
Have you already been to a night club??
What are you eating there??
Have you ever been racially attacked?!
Does the electricity ever cut there?? hahahahah :D
What's your new girlfriend name??
and others I can't really write, SORRY! :P
3- How is Germany?
I've mentioned this above as the third rank. Then it climbed to rank No.1 as soon I landed back in Yemen, logically!
I don't like such kind of questions because I simply don't like to put a judgment on people, places, fish, dogs..etc!!
Yes, I know it's a simple normal question. The problem is just when people are expecting an answer, that convince a preconception already printed in their minds. How comes?
For example, if I answered:
It's a beautiful..little bit cold, however, you will enjoy hanging out.. People are generally nice, everyone take cares of himself...Yes, Yes..it's really good!
The questioner say (CONDEMNED): Really?? Just that?!!
You have no idea how many people said: Just that??
They expect me to be much much more excited.
Well, I understand this, so no hard feeling..
Of course, this would be much worse when you answer this question face to face. By time I created a sarcastic answer and just answer:
Hmm, just like Yafa (my birthplace) plus a state of law "Rechtsstaat"!!
4- Die Ampel!
In my previous stereotype about Germans, the traffic lights are highly respected..no, i repeat HIGHLY respected. So before I went to Germany, I was thinking that I'll never see anyone cross the red light. I mean here the pedestrians and not the cars. When it comes to cars, I never saw anyone breaking the traffic rules.
By the way, it's good to mention that this attitude is one of the 50 steps you have to learn to become a German accoring to the funny book "How to be German" or "Wie man Deutscher wird".
So, that was my deep-rooted idea. Well, it's "kind of" true, but never like I imagined.
To explain better I'd say it's highly dependent on the time!
In the morning, 95% of Germans pedestrains are stick to the rules.
In the after noon, 90% of Germans are stick to the rules too..
In the evening, amazingly it drops to maybe 80%!
After midnight, confidently I'd say less than 50% follow the traffic light rules.
However, I must clear three related-facts:
First:
Anyone crosses the red light, he/she does it when the road is already free from cars, of course. So don't expect to hear the sound of the break..at all!
Second:
Anyone would never do it (even after midnight) if there was a kid around to see. It's about being a role model for children, as Ragnar told me once :)
Third:
The above mentioned percentages are not statistically proved. It's merely based on my own pure psychic impression. :P
Something else related to the traffic lights was interesting for me to see, is the traffic light of the DDR in Berlin. I had a previous idea about the subject from EUROMAX and was nice to see them live in Berlin :))
Now I discover a reasonable explanation for this reputation!!
I'm pretty sure that whoever says German are socially cold, he/she must had spent his time in German inside trains, or wider, inside the public transportation "das öffentliche Verkehrsmittel"..!!
I really don't know if this is also the case in other countries because Germany is my first foreign country I visit. For me, it's totally different from back home.
In Yemen, people really like to be really talkative in public transportation (the accurate word is 'general' transportation because it's all private here and not owned by the state and also the transportation in Yemen means only buses).
In Germany I've seen few people talking with each other in trains or buses and mostly are when the passengers are together. Everyone is either reading, listen to music or just staring at other people. For a moment you really playback the stereotyping about coldness in your mind for seconds.
By time I found myself used to it and stopped thinking about it. Actually I found it really nice to sit quietly and read something or do whatever you like. In Yemen I used to like talking in buses or at least listening. Since I came back from Germany, I become cold as Germans :D hahaha
I put the headphones (even not playing any music) most of the time to avoid directing the speech to me and read anything.
Of course when it comes to the social coldness thing, and as I've said it before, it's really matter of how you want to see people. From my experience, Germans are so kind and by time I've never felt hesitated to start a conversation with anyone because I've always got a very encouraging responses.
Since I mentioned the transportation, I'd like to show you a pictures I took on Christmas in U-Bahn. I'm sorry the picture is not clear, because the U-bahn was full and I just 'snatched' the picture without striking the eyes. You can see it's lines of a poem for a moorish Spanish poet calls Abu Jafar bin Said. The poem is written in original Arabic and its German translation. I saw many poems in the U-bahn from many languages translated to German. I really like the idea a lot :)
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| Stuttgart U-Bahn poems |
6- Reading, reading, reading..
I'd name Germany as "der Bücherland" or the land of books! Not because there're a lot of books, but I think it's the heaven for any one loves books, me one of them.
I was surprised to see just how crowded the bookstores are, literally like shopping malls. I was really fascinated by that!!
I know it's the same in many countries but still there's something is special here about books.
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| Books I bought and others I borrowed |
Ragnar told me something about how books prices are fixed for all book-sellers in Germany. In addition to other laws which regulate the books market.
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| My long-waited Kindle :)) |
Thanks God I'm not that good in German, otherwise I'd have spent a lot of money on books! I'm weak when it comes to book and would buy all I can. The language barrier was my lifebuoy "der Rettungsring" that saved my pocket money :P
I got many books and also I bought myself Kindle e-reader. I wanted to get one since the first model came out. I'm very pleased I got it finally.. in the Bücherland ;)
BTW "übrigens" I finished reading two books totally inside the public transportation. Quietness in trains is divine "göttlich" !
7- Beggars & Refugees!
Before going to Stuttgart, I've imagined the negative things I'd find there. However, to see poor people begging money never crossed my mind.
In a poor Yemen you find them in every corner, but in a rich country like Germany!
That was a small surprise to me. Despite the fact that most of the beggars in streets are coming from other poorer countries in Europe.. it remains something odd for me. I was thinking it's illegal to beg money, I'm not sure, but I saw people begging in the main street of Stuttgart "Königstraße" and in S-Bahn too.
That leads me to another subject, the refugees situation. Pascale, an ifa holder from Germany and a journalist, told me when we met in the CrossCulture Workshop about a hunger strike in a refugees camp in Berlin. Actually I had the chance to visit that camp when I was in Berlin with Hans and Sandra. I don't know if I have the right to criticize the official attitude toward refugees because each country has its own laws, beside I'm from a country which is surely not famous of its human rights. However, like Pascale said: It's a shame, we're a rich country and we can do a lot to help these people (...).
8- Cultural events
In additions to events I've written about in Jugendwerk. I'd to mention a musical events I'm very happy that I could attend :))
One I've spoken about was with dear Sandra in Berlin. The second musical event was in Liederhalle, Stuttgart.
Dear Dorothee, whom I got to know her in Berlin, is a musician and she was gonna play that night in Liederhalle. She kindly asked me if I'd like to go...of course I would!! :)
I was there with Dorothee parents and also other friends of her. I'm grateful for dear Hans for that night, danke schön!
That night was... just fantastic!
I was not allowed to record a video or take any pictures, but in the end when they finished, I saw some audience taking pictures, so I did as well.
9- Dinner for one!
Well, this tip also was mentioned in How to be a German as a very strange unexpected German tradition on New Year's Eve. This short British movie is a "must watch" tradition for many Germans every year..again and again!!
I thought it's interesting to mention this in my blog, although, after watching it, I couldn't find a reason why Germans like it that much!
10- Good bye..
There're nothing more to say. Just wanna thank you for being patient enough to finish my longest-latest post ;)
I wanna deeply thank everyone took a part in my whole CrossCulture experience by any means.. starting from Yemen to Germany and not ending here in my blog.. Thank you very much for everything.
Liebesgrüße aus Aden,
Thabet
