Kultur 5 Jake DeBolt

Heute, der Kultur ist interesant. The first article struck me as little surprise. The Germans strike me as a very self-interest oriented folk. With this in mind, however, the third article really struck me as odd. The restroom cleaning lady getting tipped, while a sensible and noble idea, is almost completely foreign to me. I do feel that cleaning the restrooms is absolutely a tip worthy job, and I almost feel the practice should migrate to the states. Another very interesting article was definitely the second one. Sex being as scandalous as it is, it's surprising how open and how normal sex shops are in Germany. I mean, Spencer's Gifts is pretty close to a sex shop, but the idea of an establishment dedicated entirely to arousal is more foreign than the idea of tipping the restroom cleaning lady. It just seems so overt, but then again it is a part of life. On the topic of sex and sexuality, the fourth article strikes me as interesting, especially because I fit the description of a German man. It's interesting to see how a nation with sex shops next to every Starbucks can be so subtle. It's interesting to compare America to Germany and see how forthcoming we are in terms of courtship. I mean, I'm sure the author is exaggerating a little bit, but I could see some of the ideas in the article making sense. All in all, I enjoyed this chapter's reading, and I feel very informed about the culture of Germany.