Life in Bremen: a cultural experience in more ways than one

Since coming to Bremen in October, I've learned a lot about German culture.

I've eaten a lot of new foods; adjusted to not smiling at and greeting people I pass on the sidewalk; accepted the frenzy created whenever the Werder Bremen soccer team plays at home (and only a couple streets from my apartment, mind you); learned to expect banks and many stores to be closed for lunch between 12:00 and 1:30; and realized that abrupt and seemingly harsh and unsympathetic remarks from people are not intended at personal attacks on me.

I anticipated being confronted with things like that. What I didn't expect, though, was how much I'd learn about the cultures of other countries.

My German class has opened the world for me. From what I can figure, the 21 people in the class come from 17 different countries on 5 different continents. There are 5 women from the Ukraine, but the rest of the students are sole representatives of their countries. Only one person besides me claims English as their native language, and he's from Nigeria. A few others, like those from Albania, China, Spain, and the Ivory Coast, studied English at some point and can speak some, but for the most part, we're all connected by German.

Every day in class we wind up discussing something from someone's home culture. The Chinese woman is very vocal, and we've had several discussions about the food choices in her home country (they really do eat dogs, but only ones that are raised on farms) and frustrations she's experienced with the communist government. We've talked about the roles of women in the average household in the Ivory Coast. We've compared Spanish and German television programs. We've determined the proper way to slaughter animals so that Iraqis (presumably all Muslims?) can eat them. We've even had a rather unpleasant conversation about public health practices in Nigeria. All of this, by the way, is in German, which only adds an extra dimension of interestingness to the experience.

I've also been getting to know Soyoung, a young Korean woman who was in one of Mark's German classes. Her boyfriend, Sang-mo, was in Bremen for a visit a couple weeks ago, and he and Soyoung made Korean food for Mark, Karen, and me. During that meal the Abercrombies and I learned a lot about Korean culture, ranging from the requirement that young men serve two years in the military (Sang-mo just finished his service) to how to make kimchi.

And for the record, that night I ate my entire meal using only chopsticks, a first for me. That alone was a learning experience...for me, that is. For the others my feeble efforts were more along the lines of a comedy routine.