My information concerns the Czech Republic, so is more appliccable to Central European cultures than Western Europe or the Anglo-sphere.
Because this isn't about the things in Central Europe which delight me, this post may dwell on the negative. It's important to note that these were things which SHOCKED me when I first arrived here 13 years ago. Many of these things have improved or changed since then. But still. For a more positive post see here:
- Shoes off in the house!
This is something that was really hard for me. I was petrified, fearing that I would have foot odor. Later I realized that having shoes off in the house actually reduced foot odor and made for a much cleaner house.
- Frowns mean someone is normal.
I got a little shock the first time I stood in a queue in a Czech supermarket.
I was a little worried that someone would talk to me, making small talk while we were waiting. I mean, it happens all the time in the USA. Some guy comes up to you; you exchange a few words about the weather or the local sports team or whatever. It's just a casual nicety, a way to kill time and not dwell on the mild unpleasantness of standing in line.
I was nervous about it because I didn't speak Czech.
Nothing to worry about actually. Talking to a stranger or even smiling at them is just something a Czech does NOT do. Don't get me wrong: they can be extremely warm and hospitable once you've been introduced to them. Before that, though, there is wall of ice.
I left the supermarket feeling like Europeans were the unhappiest, grumpiest humans alive! Eventually, I got used to it. Now, I get reverse culture shock going back to the states when the barrista starts joking with me.
My American habit of giving a friendly nod or even saying 'hi' to strangers who met my eye brought me some bad consequences here as it tagged me as a foreigner: soon I found myself followed around by some low-lifes trying to get me to give them money, offering me their sisters for sexual favors or whatever. That was really disturbing to me. Nowadays I happily frown and glower like a Czech everywhere I go.
- Cigarette smoking EVERYWHERE;
Pubs so thick with smoke you can hardly see. This is on it's way out now, but it was a big thing when I first moved here. I was a smoker myself at the time, but I remember sitting in a dark, smoky, pub, puffing away and feeling so annoyed at the smoke so thick I could cut it with a machete.
When even the smokers complain, its probably too smoky.- People take care of their houses here; but public property is treated like a dumpster.
Seriously. I've rarely been inside a home in the Czech Republic that wasn't beautifully kept. Czechs with houses spend lots of time in their yards/gardens planting flowers and bushes and keeping it all up: this makes for somebeautiful homes. The houses are built with great attention to detail and constructed to last a century or more. Amazingly well built.
Windows are underlined with rows of cheery flowers and everything just looks great.
Even the smaller flats in the ugly apartment blocks that some people live in are cozy usually comfy and people pay attention to making them look nice and airy. They have a special system where everyone on the floor and building take turns to sweep and keep the entry halls and stairwells spic and span.
But if I go downtown to the centre where the shops are it's a bit of a mess: cigarette butts, wrappings, a bit of graffiti that is never painted over. Lawns in parks or surrounding apartment blocks go unmown for what would be an unacceptable amount of time in the US...
Oh, it could be worse--it's not like those pictures of litter you see in places like China or anything. But it's almost the opposite of the States where some people have very dirty homes, but business areas are so clean you can eat off the streets.
- "No" means "maybe" and "maybe" means "yes" and "yes" is rude.. It's a question of cultural context.
In the American Midwest, if I'm a visitor and someone offers me something, if I want it I say 'yes.' And it's given to me. If I don't want it I say 'No' and its not given to me.
It's all different here. There is a delicate(and to my Midwestern mind, totally useless) dance of offers and polite refusals, followed by counter offers and counter refusals until the visitor finally breaks down and accepts the offer. Because simply accepting something offered at once is considered rude, no matter how desperate you are for it.
. It has to be pushed on you.
Of course it's even worse for Central Europeans visiting the States: there are reports of people actually starving to death because they refused an offer of food freely given and their refusal was immediately accepted by their American host.
- Alcohol.
Alcohol is just part of everyday life here.The Czech Republic boasts the highest per capita consumption of beer in the world.
You'd think that meant they were all alcoholics. But it doesn't. Most people in my experience have a beer or glass of wine or two a night but rarely 'tie one on.' The actual percentage of alcoholics doesn't actually seem any higher here than it does in any American city--maybe even less. Oh, the the kids drink a lot, university students and the like, but no more than American kids.- Boobies on TV. No biggie, but a bit of a shocker!
- Pictures of naked women everywhere.
When I first moved here there were pictures of naked women everywhere. At every bus stop or 'tabak'(newsagents selling magazines and cigarettes and candy bars and stuch). They were in businessmen's offfices. You'd see them on billboards.
Thankfully that kind of thing has faded away. But outside our apartment building downtown there was a big poster of a very big breasted naked woman that sat there for years. Not sure why it was even there. It's gone now.
. But the most striking difference along these lines was in this billboard I saw: It showed a young woman, naked, on her knees cheerfully lapping milk out of a dog bowl. The advertisement was for yogurt.(note this is not the picture above--I couldn't locate it). I gasped when I first saw it. My girlfriend chuckled. I said, "There is NO WAY an advertisment like that would ever be shown in America." "Well, we are not in America."said my girlfriend. Nevertheless, someone must have complained: a week or two later the billboard had been papered over and showed a new picture: a happy family smiling toothily at the camera and eating yogurt.- Exploitation of workers.
When I first moved here I was hanging out with a young crowd; still at university or around that age. I was surprised to find out how badly low-paid workers were treated. Stories of having worked for weeks and then being refused wages, mass sexual harrassment and general abuse of workers were rampant. I've moved into higher social spheres since then and I think that alot of these things have changed in the last decade, but it was clear that the most unfortunate had far less respect for their own labor than in the USA, where many of these practices would have reported to the Better Business Bureau. Maybe this has changed. But the poorest workers here live on shockingly low wages. Happily, the middle class is actually pretty big: most people make the average wage, which is livable and comfortable.
- Strippers in random bars.
In 2003, I was in a disco that was open all night. I had been there several times. Most of the people there were teenagers(18, 19 year olds.) It was about two o'clock. And suddenly, out of the blue, some woman started stripping. And it wasn't like she was drunk and just cutting free. She was a real, bona fide, professional stripper. Everyone sort of formed a circle: women, men, boys, girls, clapping and cheering.
She stripped, danced, did an amazingly acrobatic pole dancing routine and then... it was over. She gathered her clothes and left. A few months later, in a different club in a different town I saw the same thing happen. It was even, I swear, the same woman with different colored hair. To this day I don't know what the hell that was all about. It was pretty shocking, but I enjoyed it.
No comments:
Post a Comment