It's a small story that I noted last week.....Bavarian folks were forced into making up an emergency housing situation for 200 Syrian refugees. It was a hastily-planned deal.....they ended up taking a local town's gym that was connected to the local school (the Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium, Pocking, Bavaria). It's a quick decision and has no real cost impact upon the community (meaning 'free'). As for how long this deal will last? No one really said, or at least the news journalists haven't gotten around to asking the long-term plan. I'd take a guess that this will be a three-month deal.
Why any of this is worth an essay? Well.....in the process of announcing this to the local folks and making up a short-term school policy.....the political folks and the school folks noted that local parents need to review how their girls are dressed and make sure it's not too inappropriate for these incoming Middle Eastern folks and their conservative views. If it sounds comical....well....that's the way it came across in their written correspondence. Some folks have questioned the suggestion here of inappropriate dress or the necessity of a dress code.
Behind all of this is what I commented on last year....a large crowd of people entering into a country which has moved on into history, culture, and behavior.....leaving the Middle Eastern crowd at least one generation behind....maybe even a hundred years behind. Oddly, you have a fair number of people who lived in urban areas of their former country and seen modern cultural differences. These people won't be shocked or complain. The others? Well.....if you choose to live in a very conservative lifestyle.....coming to Germany would be the wrong decision to make.
From day one, you will have to adjust your behavior to the idea that German female bureaucrats will be part of your process. German women will dress in a generally acceptable fashion, with ten-percent challenging the accepted trends. Alcohol and beer will be readily available and drunk on the street. Heavy-metal music is fairly popular in Germany. Roughly fifty-percent of Germany aren't very religious and ten-percent of society will let you know they aren't into any religion. If you were looking for shock value for some poor naive individual arriving and being dismayed.....I'd say Germany rates as a ten on a scale of one to ten.
So, I get to the beef of this short essay. Wherever you go in life.....you end up as a guest. And a guest has to settle for some behavioral changes in himself or herself to fit the occasion. If you aren't guest-material.....you'd best start to think about limiting your travels or to be fairly picking on your hosts.
A guest has to accept things.....as they are. English food is typically bland. French women dress between tramps, fashion models, and Goddesses. Dutch people likely orderly style. Italians put zest into every single home-cooked dinner. Germans drink beer like it's their last day on Earth. And Swedes like the color of red on just about everything. If this bothers you.....then you aren't good guest material.
Readjusting is part of life. If you haven't done much of this.....well....you might want to prepare yourself and accept what comes.
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