Ok,
So Friday began in a fairly sleepy way. Woke up. Checked my email. Sent emails out. The usual crap (viz. the "I'm trying to stay here and, therefore looking for employment opportunities but haven't found anything possible yet" routine). Later, I walked for about 6 miles; that was a lot of fun. I then spent hours in a cafe speaking to a Swiss (who, thank heavens spoke normal German as opposed to Swiss German) guy about political crap. He was funny and quite ironical. By early evening, I planned to go to one of the many cool gay nightclubs. I know they stay open late (e.g., some don't close till the afternoon) so I took a nap in order to make sure I could stay out for the appropriate hours (till approx. 6:00). I misread the magazine with the clubs, however, and ended up at the right spot, wrong night. It was a hetero night. MASSIVE BUMMER. Halfway cute guys, but everyone too str8.
Anywho, on the way out of the club, I got into a discussion with a guy I'd met inside. Somehow the issue of AVP (aliens v. predator) came up and the guy (about 25 years old or less) said that he'd never heard of it or any of the Aliens series. I was dumbfounded. So, I asked the German guy next to him and he, of course, had heard of the series. I mentioned that probably everyone in the U.S. has heard of the Alien movies. Then, the guy behind the coat return counter (asian immigrant) explains that the german guy doesn't know about the Aliens series because, "we're not in the U.S". He said this with a snotty attitude, the asian immigrant dude. Anywho, I told him that our not being in the U.S. didn't seem to have stopped his club from playing American music (ok, music, house music, that originated in the U.S.) nor did it stop their film theaters from showing almost exclusively Hollywood movies. But, hey, who's counting.
When I took my leave of these three guys (or the two, minus the nasty asian immigrant dude), they instructed me in the proper way to shake hands when saying goodbye to a "cool" german. You shake hands, and then pull the guy in with the one-armed hug thingy. These guys were completely scandalized (and a bit offended even) when I informed them that this gesture hailed from............you guessed it, the U.S. Specifically, black men have been greeting each other this way for decades. Ok, perhaps not decades, but a real long time. But the poor ill-informed German boys refused to believe that some super cool german guy didn't create this gesture. Ha Ha. They wish. Some super cool German guy saw it in one of those American films these guys apparently do not watch (because they're in Germany, where American films are not shown, and mana falls from heaven).
So, total bust on the club thing. That said, the night (or, rather, the morning) did end with me meeting a cute (though slightly girly manish, I mean like both, at the same time) Dutch guy and his not so patient friend. I guess it must suck to be stuck waiting for your friend while he talks to someone who has no interest in you (and, likely, vice versa). These two have let an apartment right across (I mean, directly across) the street. So, although we have no real means of communicating expeditiously with each other, we traded email addresses and I told them what bell to ring for our apt. We'll see if it happens (I'm not holding my breath, and told them that as well). That was Friday into Saturday morning.
Mal schauen was heute bringt!!
We'll see what today brings!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
George, sometimes it astounds me, the things you argue about, the strangers you argue with, and how you manage to exit such discussions without some german foot up your ass. There's no possible way you could ever make the argument that some handshake was "copied" by hipster germans from black america. Telling germans their culture is irrelevant or only a cheap knock off of yours really won't get you any cultural sensitivity points.
ReplyDeleteWhoever this anonymous is is an absolute idiot. And an idiot who apparently knows nothing about the profusion of African American culture around the world. Moreover, the person cannot read. I certainly did not suggest that German culture is not relevant. However, it's obvious that Mr. Anonymous has not traveled to germany (either ever, or recently). All of the movies at the nearest movie house are American releases (except like 2 German animated films). ALL of the Music that I have heard has either been American or was inspired by an American initiated musical genre (house is absolutely an American music genre and electronic music has most of its roots in the U.S. and some more limited roots in Germany). So, in conclusion, Mr. Anonymous needs to get a clue and bone up on the hegemony that has been American culture before taking exception to statements the veracity of which he obviously has clue. Enough Said.
ReplyDelete