Kapitel Zwei Blog

I would find the German Stare Down to be so diifficult to adjust to. I would be one of those people that would say, "Take a picture. It might last longer." or "What are you looking at?" I would feel so uncomfortable and would have to say something. It would bother me way too much if I did not confront the person staring at me. I also find it stooping very low for one of those starers calling the police for a simple parking ticket. Maybe it is just my American upbringing that taught me not to delve into other people's business.

About the constant complaining. I would probably become tired of all the complaining, but many people over here in the United States complain all the time; it would not be as terrible as the German Stare Down. I complain a lot about my sports teams. That is what fans do. They complain and jump on bandwagons because that is all we can do as fans. We cannot play the game for the players.

It would be fun to challenge the notion that a German is up-to-date with the statistics of his/her native town or city. But then again, they might surprise me and then turn the challenge back onto me. I could not give one statistic of my hometown of Plymouth. I have no idea how many people are in my town, what percentage are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim. As an American, I do not watch many documentaries. If i desire knowledge, I read a book or the newspaper. I can understand why they would fire off all these questions for the statistics. They want to paint a picture of what your town or city would look like based on the information that you gave.

It would take some time to get acclimated to the notion of directness when it comes to dialogue in Germany. I would be somewhat offended if someone asked me if I gained weight or was blunt about not wanting to hang out or something of that nature. However, I understand it and respect it. It annoys me when people play mind games and side-step the real issue at hand. I respect the directness of the Germans.