Breaking Down Stereotypes...or not.

So as I am here in Berlin, I am learning where the German stereotypes come from. Some of them have been broken down. For example, everyone thinks that Germans are highly organized and efficient. My thoughts: Yes, this is true, but only to an extent. Take a look at the whole system of signing up for classes. In my opinion, I don't find it efficient at all, nor do I find it organized. Showing up to a class that has been cancelled until November 4 and having no prior notice is not what I would call efficient.

Another stereotype is that Germans can be very cold people, or rather, very rude. I suppose this is true for just about any nationality (Americans are loud & obnoxious, the French are pushy, the Chinese are pushy in a different way, etc. So it all is some form of being rude), but for the Germans, I am understanding why it seems to be true in some instances. When Alex, Cam, Rob, and I went to the movies, we had to pick our seats when we bought the tickets. (I met Rob through the Middlebury Language School and met Cam through Rob here.) When we got to the theater, our seats were occupied, and the woman there was snippy, to say the least. She basically told us it doesn't matter where your tickets say you sit, but it was in a very abrupt manner that came off as being, well, bitchy.

I think last night epitomizes what someone would think of "German rudeness." I don't mean to offend anyone, but the guy we encountered last night was just a dick. I don't usually use that to describe people, especially in writing. However, read on.

Alex, Cam, Devin (she goes to Sarah Lawrence but is going through the Midd program), and I were standing outside this bar, The Pip's, waiting for Zoey and Meredith. Alex had a beer in her hand and was finishing it before we went inside, so the 4 of us were just standing around talking. Devin said, "Hey, there's a guy standing in the window giving us looks." Cam, Alex, and I turned around not so subtly to see this man giving us dirty looks from a second story window. (Which is actually considered the first floor here, but regardless.) He left the window and we continued to chat.

And suddenly water just fell out of the sky. Not rain, but a bucket's worth. We all turned around again to see the guy in the window, and indeed, it was a bucket's worth of water. When we looked, the guy threw another bucket of water on us. As if one wasn't enough? He hadn't even shouted anything to the extent of "Shut up" or "Go away," and it wouldn't have even mattered if it was in a foreign language because we would've understood the tone. No forewarning of any kind. After the two buckets were thrown on us, other Germans walking by just shouted, "Arschloch!" and whatever, which was very kind of them.

See, so this just furthers the stereotype of being rude. I realize that this guy was just a total asshole anyway, but who seriously throws 2 buckets of water on people, when it is only 11 pm on a Friday night in a neighborhood that is filled with bars? Additionally, he didn't even say anything! Could we get more passive aggressive? If you don't want to hear people outside talking at night, don't live near a bar, jack ass. Perhaps I would be a little more understanding if it was 2 am and he gave some sort of forewarning, but it wasn't the case.

However, on a completely different note, I suggest that everyone read Alex's blog entry for today (Oct. 22, titled "Honestly, wouldn't one bucket have sufficed?"). She wrote out some funny stories that Cam told us last night and they are pretty funny. I've come to the conclusion that Cam is probably one of the most quotable people, orelse he just has the most ridiculous stories. I'm not sure which.