Skin Head Paradox

Yes there are some still roaming in Deutschland. I won't talk about the ones we have back home in Portugal or France, as I consider them even more stupid than the ones living here. It makes no sense for me to defend the arian theory of German pure Blood being someone from another country. Surely a too difficult task for those brains. Instead, I'll talk about an anachronism I saw last Friday at a concert with the brazilian band Sepultura in Erfurt (yes they did came to play in Centrum!). Sepultura, two more bands from the US and one from Spain came along in a a very Worldwide concert.

As from another time and space a typical neo-nazi was in the middle of the crowd. He wouldn't have been spotted easily if it wasn't for the red flashy t-shirt proudly announcing Arian Deutschland something. Was he looking for trouble or even, paradoxically, wanted to just listen to some non-aric music? I am not sure, but what I am sure of is that he was stupid. Most of them are anyway. But this one won the Oscar for it. Or Should I say the Berlin Bear? I have big difficulties understanding the fact that a follower of the Nazi doctrine would be paying twentyfive euros to go to a concert full of Ausländer bands. What is the point of being Ultra-Nationalist when you do or join something foreigner related. Like neo-nazis riding Harley's (after all it was born in the US), or International (yeah, true!) Neo-Nazis meeting in Lisbon or other cities, or using clothes made in Pakistan or wherever else than in Germany. I can understand pride and the feeling of belonging proudly to a specific nation as a sociological need. As long as other cultures could be seen from the same perspective not depreciating others. But all the hatred around rejecting all that is not "national", not recognizing the value and importance of diversity, is unnatural.

When the Spanish Band Hamlet finished, he shouted the already classic "Auslander Raus!" being totally ignored by all the other fans around. In the perfect indifference he searched for some reaction whom never came. Germans and non Germans around were just enjoying the music with beer or some others alcoholic beverages not providing to this obviously confused man the attention he wanted. Hopefully he wasn't drunk enough to pick up a fight so he kept on going around drinking beer and posing proudly with his red T-shirt. If this, of those of his kind are the "White-pride", well it sucks to be white.

Sausage and Beer

All countries have traditions. Portugal has codfish and wine, France has cheese and wine, Italy has pasta and wine... and Germany has Sausage and beer. I can't recall a visited German city without it (I didn't travel so much inside Germany but I know a good deal of them) or an event where I couldn't find them both. Even in a Wine Fair. Any cultural manifestation has it here.From Christmas to Christmas there will be sausage. And beer. Amazingly we can find as many type of sausages as France has cheeses or Portugal ways to do codfish. I know, I am repeating myself. As much as I can see sausages in a day. For breakfast, lunch, the afternoon break, dinner, or a snack. All the time and everywhere. It's for me unbelievable how many sausages they could eat a day. Everyday.

I can't hide that the "Thüringer Bratwurst" is the King of the sausages and they can really make it tasty. Aber, not all the time. I wonder how they can see us, Portuguese, with the ... yes you know, codfish or the French with... yeah, you got it. I know I eat more fish myself in a year than half of this citys' local population but can I consider myself addicted to it? Never mind. Let's get back to the sausages. Most stereotypes are taken from facts, and I believe they are just master lines of the cataloging of other cultures in a way to difference them from others and, especially, our own. Some clichés are important to point, as much as the baguette is bound to French people as much is also the sausage and beer for the germans I know. Simultaneously symbols and rituals of these local icons are in each German city I have been. A way of living, an integration mark to blend in.

Take a sausage.

Feel your German side.

Windows

Opening a window to get some fresh air is quite normal. It's refreshing and allows air to circulate for five minutes. It Sounds good indeed. But "fresh" and "five minutes" seems to be very different from my own concept of it. During winter, usually around minus twenty Celsius degrees, all the windows have to be open. For the all day. Which Creates a wind whirlpool quite deranging when you prefer not to work with your parka on.

Funny is that would only happen in winter time, when we can freeze to death at work. What I found very impolite is the fact that nobody thinks of others doing so and keep in maintaining the window open, whatever the opinion of the surrounding colleagues. It reaches peaks of unreasonableness when we have colleagues from the other side of the room opening the window on the opposite side, leaving them with the fresh air required but leaving the others in front of an open draft where all the wind meets.

Worse than this situation is when the fellow worker near you open the window whom is in the AOE (Area of Effect) of both and go for a break! And close it when he/she comes back. The first time I was surprised and thought:

- Whhhhattt??????

But ok, once is only once. Until it occurs enough times to be called a modus operandi. What is wrong with them? Is the world just a place where they have not to share? Is the end of communism the start of an Egocentric Dictatorship? Why is it so hard to see, accept and interact with other without the ME first?

Once more I don't see concessions made, even if I am not a big fan of windows opening in general.I obviously accept it open for a period of time. That way, I think, both parts can be happy. As we live in a shared environment it's better to be aware of all persons thoughs, that's what I call socializing.

Smile!

Smiling is part of being happy. Or just keeping a positive attitude. Looking into life is also taking a peak at our future so, better to take it with a smile. Don't you think? As a habit out of good disposition and stubbornness or plain happiness I smile most of the time. Reflection of my current way of seeing life and what lies ahead. Life is a gift, I can't think of any other way to take it. That's why I can't understand why the common unsmile, thankfully not so much in younger generations, occurs.

I look at the human faces and I see smile wrinkles. But inverted. Sad or not, seriousness is mandatory and no expression of any feeling is allowed. In fact, I had a game with my wonderful girlfriend during Christmas. Each time we went out to do our shopping we counted the smiles on the faces we crossed. For a morning shopping the average was seven. As a shop seller has to please clients, many smiles could be disqualified. As an example, how is it not possible to get the Christmas spirit going; even atheists should be carried away by the global good mood. I only saw those same faces happy with some Glühwein in their hands. Otherwise it was with a sausage and/or a beer. Of course this is not a rule and hopefully many (but not so many) locals smile. I'm not sure how well they are seen by their peers but I get the feeling that showing emotions is a sign of weakness. Especially good ones. Last time I saw that was in last day V episode. In a typical day I'm on the tram to work and I can't see signs of life in there, almost no sounds, just unsmiling commuters. At any time of the day, this is the same. Except in the late trains when the alcohol speaks louder and tongues untie. Then I can hear laughs, speeches, teasing, verbal aggression, a kind of a tutti frutti of emotions long constrained behind the curtains of an imaginary ward. In this little city, I could make some parallelisms with movies like Gattaca and Equilibrium (except for the priesthood style). This apparent lack of emotions leads me to think people are not feeling anything. I wonder some times if they are happy. Could they? Can they now?

On the opposite side we have the "too loud", "making noises" and "talking all the time". That's the Ausländer squad. For me it is disturbing to see excessive smile and loudness also, but a middle point would be appreciated. I understand better why foreign women are so much appreciated here. They smile, laugh and well, behave "normally". The way I see it, most of people are attracted to happy others. So if sad faces are up to make any possible attempt of social interaction to go away - congratulations, it works!