SERIES Cultural ambassadors (Cross-culture email connection)

I have initiated a swap on swap-bot that might help to increase intercultural knowledge and understanding and broaden our horizons. Every participant will be an ambassador for his country and give his own subjective view on a number of issues. Some questions are optional, some are mandatory. During the next two weeks I will publish their stories anonymously.

Here the swap-rules for everybody again:

Swap requirements:

There will only be one swapper from each country (post your country in the comments). You will send the same email to 6 people that contains:

• a description of what you eat for breakfast
• a short description of a typical work day
• a description of your favorite day off (weekend or holiday)
• a short description of your country and its position in the world, including something you like about it and something you don't like
• a list of languages (optional: dialects) that are spoken in your country

Also please pick three or more of these:

• a description of the most common ethnic minorities in your country and how they are viewed
• a list of the three most important holidays of your country and how they are cebrated.
• description of some national specialties/products
• a description of the role of men and women in your country
• a famous person from your country and what she/he is famous for
• a type of craft that is typical for your country (doesn't have to be typical ONLY for your country)
• the role of religion in your country

Tell me if you think I've forgotten interesting aspects in the comments.

Important:

This is a swap for cultural understanding. That means please don't sign up if you are a) easily offended or b) like to piss people off ;-) Be mindful about other perspectives and remember that you might be paired with somebody from a country that is at war with yours or has a high level of state propaganda and censorship (and don't assume yours hasn't...). This is why I would discourage any further contact between participants apart from purely positive friendship or penpal request. Don't go spamming someone because you didn't like their country or their answers (or there will be consequences)!

Visit to the Netherlands - part 1

I just returned from a weekend trip to visit a Dutch friend of mine in Den Haag. The first day was pouring rain, the Sunday on the other hand was the first real nice and warm day of 2010. People were sitting outside enjoying themselves. We took a walk around the city and buried ourselves in bookshops (it was the end of the National Book Week).
My friend used to live in Groningen, which is just 2 h drive from my home town. Nevertheless, the differences due to each country's language and government are striking.

I noticed differences in the small things that you see:
- more bicycles & bike lanes (even in the middle of the street)
- different colors or form for certain signs, for mailboxes, traffic light posts, trams, taxis, road markings, supermarkets
- red brick houses (which we have in the North as well) with white trimming:

- an outdoor pissoir you'd never see in Germany (as far as I know)
- more smaller shops than big chains, also in bookshops
- many people are quite tall and skinny (even taller than Germans)

But I could also see differences in the big things. My friend is moving into a house with his girlfriend, for example. She owns the flat and she is about 27. My reaction was "Wow, she made it. She must earn an incredible amount of money to be able to afford a house at this age." My friend was surprised and asked when we would finally decide to buy a house. Then we realized the cultural misunderstanding. In Germany getting mortgage and a house is difficult and expensive. In the Netherlands on the other hand it is much easier and common for people who just started working. This means the whole order of achievements for people who attended university is different with regard to their personal phases in life.

In Germany the order often is:

1. Moving out
2. Studies
3. Car
4. Work
5. Marriage
6. House, Kids (depends which is first)

In the Netherlands it is often:

1. Moving out
2. Studies
3. Work
4. House
5. Car
6. Marriage
7. Kids

There are plenty of exceptions, of course. Still, my fiancé and I are not planning to buy a house soon even though we are getting married, whereas my Dutch friend's  relationship is still quite new and he will soon be sharing the cost of paying for a house. Student loans are also much easier to get in the Netherlands than in Germany.
And all that even though the Dutch border is just 1.5 hours drive from my place... Luckily my friend and I feel very connected on a personal level...

Next time I will talk about the things that were quite similar in both countries.

What's the regular order of life phases in your country? And is it hard for young people to own a house? Do you like it that way?

Very British

Playing with stereotypes is often very funny. Especially when it is done by stereotyped people themselves. When in London for the first time I found this awesome ad on the wall of the underground. Harrods really did a great job with this one.

Funkhaus Europa - Listen to the world

I am very happy to live in a part of Germany that has an intercultural radio station. They are broadcasting in Berlin, Bremen and parts of the area around Cologne. All their hosts have an international background of some kind. Their topics also focus on international news and issues of interest to "people with migrational backgrounds" as they are called politically correct in Germany now. What I enjoy most is that they play songs from different countries in a wild mix. And they have playlists. Another feature is that they offer shows in the native languages of different ethnic groups. Lucky for me these are around the less frequented times early in the morning and in the evening. There is half an hour of BBC world, Radio France, Radiopolis (Greek), Café Alaturka (Turkish), Balkanizer as well as Gospels on Sunday morning and many more. They also support world music acts and concerts in Germany.
I really like this diversity, even though that means that I can't always tune in to my favorite radio station (as I don't speak Greek, for example).
Have a look here or even stream if you understand German. Here are some songs that are amongst their most played:
Amadou and Mariam: Mbife (A couple of blind musicians from Mali, Africa's most important musical region. The song is really powerful)
Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un ma dit (Mrs. President of France so to say... Very sexy voice)
R-wan: a-pic (Nice french mix with gypsy violins)

Let me know how you like the songs. Do you also have radio stations that feature native language programs?

Wine or Olive Oil or what

Yesterday my future father in law invited me to one of his seminars on olive oil tasting. I didn't know, but bitter, spicy (as in hot) and fruity are the three only "desired" tastes of olive oil. The smell of pickled olives was supposed to be bad, just as obvious things such as musty, sour and rancid. I usually have 2-3 olive oils on hand as I love to cook so it was really interesting.
My future hubbie's father is also into wine (he owns a small wine cellar), which is quite normal in many countries. On the whole, however, it seems that it it is very different for each country which food/drink we concentrate on or even obsess over. In Germany people have tons of different kinds of bread and beer. I've heard a few people in the US recite all 100 or something flavors of the big ice cream companies. I also realized that I've got no clue which things are popular in countries that are a bit further off the beaten track. Asia? Middle East? Africa? Can you contribute any experience when it comes to other countries?

letter size

Most of you will know that the paper sizes in different countries are completely different. When using swap-bot there was a European swapper who suggested using A5 paper, which is A4 paper folded exactly half. A discussion ensued with some Americans who had no idea what size that was. I tried explaining by using half a letter format, and giving the side measures. However, one of the swappers thought that I meant quarter A4 paper as that's what you get when you take half of BOTH side measures, which I understand. I was taken aback that something so simple as paper size could be so complicated. In Europe I've only ever seen DIN-format paper (mostly A5,A4 and A3) and now I've received US letter format for the first time. Here's a good article on wikipedia about the different sizes. I have also included a photo of both pages side by side, to illustrate the difference.
The one with the book on it is the US letter size. Having different sized paper feels significant, or am I blowing it up? I'd like to have the letter format for creative processes as it seems less portrait-kind. For letter writing and text documents I like A4 as the lines are shorter. I wonder what you think.

Full Metal Village

I just watched a very sweet documentary by a Korean Woman who portrays a tiny German village that hosts a huge heavy metal festival once a year. Here's the link to imdb (not very detailed).Is that intercultural? It sure is. Living in a city I had no clue what living in the country means. Director Cho shows not only how the village is affected by the festival, but also just simply what is important to the villagers, what they want from life and love. She talks to couples who have been married over 25 years and the local teenagers who sometimes feel alienated and controlled by the older generations. One of the older ladies goes on holiday each time the festival comes around. She is worried of the devil-worshipping, chicken-slaughtering metalheads, whereas other senior citizens help the festivalgoers reach their parking space, or supply food, souvenirs or even alcohol. It is not mentioned in the movie, but the local grocery store makes as much profit during the Wacken festival as it makes during the rest of the year...
So generational, cultural and religious viewpoints make a really interesting intercultural movie that is quite funny at times as well.