Culture Shock in Germany essays

Culture Shock in Germany essays I remember following my mom and dad after we had just arrived in Ramstein, Germany. He had gotten our house procured, and we were heading back to our temporary family barracks near the Vogelweh gym. Living with my dad and mom in Germany was one of those awesome things to do, I was around ten years old at the time, and it was an adventure. As soon as we got home, my parents rushed me to shower and dress up casually. "Matt? Hurry up and get dressed. We're going out to dinner for the first day here. My friend is waiting for us in the local pub." I scrambled along; my mom had just finished also when my dad left the door. So we chased him out. About thirty minutes drive off base, and we were at the pub. Once inside, nothing was out of place. We ordered our food, my dad, and his friend talked and drank German lager, and my mom and I began to meet some other military people. Nearing the end of our dinner, I became completely bewildered. I had that "deer with bright lights in eyes" look. Some guy had gotten drunk; too drunk to stand up, so thinking from American movies about bars I thought the barkeeper was going to through him out. Apparently, I was wrong. He first called the publicist, (policeman) and the polizist called a taxi cab. What amazed me was the friendly, caring behavior of Germans. It startled me to see other's take care of drunkards. The best part is, the policeman would come to the drunkard in the morning and see if he was ok or if the taxi driver had abused him in some way. My experience above is called culture shock. Any disorientation that people feel when they encounter cultures radically different from their own is considered to be the culture shock. The experience I had was definitely of one. Since I am a US citizen, I was not up to seeing the hospitality of German peoples. I still thought that they were inhumane Nazi's, but that's what I thought at the time. US media, (I say the US because American wo...