Just wrapped up a 2-week stint in Europe. Spent a lot of time walking with the girl around touristy (and non-touristy) parts of a few cities. Realized what each of us were good at (me, not very much except for finding places to eat). Completely abandoned the diet.
High note of the trip was probably a private dinner in Paris with Chef Jean-Yves (seriously go check it out.) Low note was either 1) getting yelled at by the Pegida guy in Munich to "Wenn man im Deutschland ist, muss man Deutsch sprechen". I told him "Danzig ist so" but I don't think he knew his history well enough to get it... or 2) watching some Chinese tourists clear the shelves of a DM store of skin supplements and cram the supplements into a giant suitcase right at the checkout aisle... fucking embarrassing.
Also read The Proud Tower by Tuchman, Hillbilly Elegy by Vance, and How Asia Works by Studwell. Good pieces all. Collected some random thoughts, laid out in no particular order below:
There is a room in Emperor Franz-Joseph's apartments in Vienna where he sent the telegrams that launched World War I. It's a neat, well-organized and well-preserved room, and you can almost imagine the disciplined old Emperor trundling in before the sun rose (as he usually did) to review his day's activities and read dispatches from his dedicated civil service. But one August morning, Franz-Joseph - widowed husband and bereaved father - learned in that room his nephew was the latest casualty of the Balkan knot, and none of the old man's discipline, or skill of his diplomatic corps, or the inventiveness and commercial energy of his Empire could give him confidence in untying it.
Perhaps Franz-Joseph might have circled his eyes around the room, and perhaps he might have understood, in a fleeting moment, why he could only cut, and not untie, that knot: The telegraph itself, atop a desk originally used by Metternich; the 18th and 19th century furniture in the glow of new electric lamps; the post where a guard with a bolt-action Mauser loaded with spitzer-tipped smokeless cartridges stood, while dressed in a bright uniform for his commander to spot him through gunsmoke. Over the two centuries preceding him, the most inventive continent the world had seen had filled his room with anachronisms; those anachronisms were building up social tension between classes and between nationalities in his Empire; those tensions were boiling over and forcing his hands - hands that, through newly installed electric lights, would plunge the European continent into thirty years of darkness.
If you look at European palace cookware, stare at enough Flemish paintings, and then watch Yanxi Gonglue, you start to understand one reason why Europe industrialized before Asia; Europe learned how to transition from technological deepening in the service of a royal palace and nobility ("the Palace economy") to skills/capital-deepening for a mass market, with tiers of consumption dictated by market-driven control of resources and productivity, while Asia kept its skills and capital-deepening in-house within palace artisans / Asian "firms" never transitioned to the mass market until the dynastic system collapsed altogether.
Hypothesis: Countries develop best when each oncoming wave of skills and capital-deepening happens in a new, disruptive socioeconomic structure, whether that be a new crop of companies or a new type of economic structure altogether.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the WWW at the Swiss ECRN; there are tons of good universities in the EU churning out lots of IT talent; the EU had better-than-average internet connectivity for most of the past two decades; the EU had much better political conditions than China did for business and investment. So why are there no European webscale companies? And can Europe avoid that fate with blockchain?
Trump is a bigger problem for the European project than he is for China. China's political superstructure is not threatened by American trade frictions, but Europe's political superstructure is.
European food is really, really good. Why don't Chinese people have a better / more sophisticated appreciation of it?
I am truly blessed to be dating someone who seems to know what I am thinking without me bringing it up. But that doesn't mean I should take her ability to guess my thoughts for granted. Communication is important. So if you're reading this... I love you, and thanks for putting up with me ^_^.
Germans yelling at foreigners for not speaking german sadly seems to be a thing. I've witnessed it lots of times. But still, most Germans don't do that. Most Germans are also able to speak/understand English. Just say "Lecken Sie mich am Arsch." if it should happen again.
Yeah, i also want to apologize for the yelling asshole. Sadly, we seem to have a bit of a right-wing asshole infection again. I very much hope it doesn't get as serious as the last time.
However, not all Germans are like that. I hope you also had some positive experiences here. I am extremely saddened by the fact that some asshole made your trip worse, just because he is to xenophobic to realize that we don't live in 1936 anymore.
If it helps, i (as a German) had a similar experience here in Munich (where i have been living for years now), which generally is an extremely open and friendly city. Some guy in a train shouted at me and called me a "Saupreis" for not understanding what he was saying because he was talking in too strong of a bavarian accent. As a bit of an explanation, for some people in Bavaria, everyone who is from a place slightly further to the north than they are is a "prussian", and if they are angry at them, he is a "Saupreis", a sow-prussian.
(This was a very singular incident, and i don't want to give the impression that shouting at people for language reasons is a thing that germans just always do).
I am happy that you enjoyed the rest of your trip!
Without knowing the situation, I do find it incredibly rude when tourists (here in Barcelona) just instantly start speaking (loudly) in English and expect everybody to just understand and answer. No "excuse me, do you speak English". Most of hte time not even an "excuse me". Rather, just and instant "WHERE ARE THE GAUDI BUILDINGS?!" and then they get insulted if you don't give them instructions. And I'm not even a local...
I could imagine Germans having a similar reaction. However, if you were just minding your own business, then he's just a dick. And dicks do exist and I'm sorry you had to meet one. My experience in Germany has always been that they are quite open to tourists, as long as you behave politely. Of course, I do speak a bit of German, but in my experience, Germans don't mind switching to English if they see you struggle.
I have had very pleasant times when I went to Munich twice in my life, even in the first time there, I got lost trying to find some hostal, and a very old woman who barely spoke English helped me out, and guided me to the door of the place, lovely woman btw.
My time in Japan was very pleasant. Locals went out of there way to help me get a charger or find the train. Usually in English but I understood enough basic Japanese to understand.
On September 30 2018 21:41 Acrofales wrote: Without knowing the situation, I do find it incredibly rude when tourists (here in Barcelona) just instantly start speaking (loudly) in English and expect everybody to just understand and answer. No "excuse me, do you speak English". Most of hte time not even an "excuse me". Rather, just and instant "WHERE ARE THE GAUDI BUILDINGS?!" and then they get insulted if you don't give them instructions. And I'm not even a local...
I could imagine Germans having a similar reaction. However, if you were just minding your own business, then he's just a dick. And dicks do exist and I'm sorry you had to meet one. My experience in Germany has always been that they are quite open to tourists, as long as you behave politely. Of course, I do speak a bit of German, but in my experience, Germans don't mind switching to English if they see you struggle.
Good point - my gf and I were just talking between ourselves, when the Pegida guy went up and asked us a random question about Islam; then asked us if we knew German.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
Classic quotations aside, it seems to be a thing in many European countries that non-natives (even visiting ones) should immediately, almost automatically, be nearly fluent in the language of the land. It's helpful, to be sure, but English is so widespread and good English education is so prevalent in most of Europe that it's a little conceited to expect the local language to be as accessible. Especially if you're not barging in on someone, and it doesn't seem like you were.
I don't think that is very true. Maybe if you are in the countryside, but so far in the cities i have never had problems in any country by simply speaking english to people. Similarly, most people will not have a problem with you speaking english to them in Germany. Strange angry Pegida guy described above aside, most people are totally fine with that.
On October 02 2018 04:51 Simberto wrote: I don't think that is very true. Maybe if you are in the countryside, but so far in the cities i have never had problems in any country by simply speaking english to people. Similarly, most people will not have a problem with you speaking english to them in Germany. Strange angry Pegida guy described above aside, most people are totally fine with that.
Imprecise generalization, I suppose. I also haven't really encountered it in bigger cities, but I vacationed a lot in small towns with my family when I was younger and seem to remember a certain hostility to non-fluent guests in various places. It also seems to be something that's going away regardless, though, since it gradually got better as we went. No matter how I interpret it though, the aforementioned angry Pedida guy doesn't seem very pleasant to deal with
I have the problem, that whenever I try to speak German and don't understand from the first time, people are too kind and switch immediately to English. The only problem I had with language here was when I just arrived to Germany, in Bürgeramt.
Yes, German cosmetics is very popular among Chinese, confirmed before by my Chinese friend.
On October 05 2018 05:16 ne4aJIb wrote: I have the problem, that whenever I try to speak German and don't understand from the first time, people are too kind and switch immediately to English. The only problem I had with language here was when I just arrived to Germany, in Bürgeramt.
Yes, German cosmetics is very popular among Chinese, confirmed before by my Chinese friend.
Oh yes, german bureaucracy is very well-known for the fact that they for inexplicable reasons completely refuse to speak any language other than german.
Regarding the WWW point, I'm interested if there has been any studies into just how much of an economic benefit the U.S. received in post WW2 migration. In a non trivial amount of cases, it genuinely looks like anyone who was anyone in that particular field that wasn't British ended up in America.
Given just how many Tech companies were created in the 50s-80s, and just how many tech companies are from second generation migrants, it must have surely left it's mark across Europe.
Regarding cuisine, in Australia, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, there is a rapidly growing population of immigrants from Asia. Some have created some truly magnificent fusions of European and Asian dishes. Tetsuya's is an excellent example, combining Japanese and French cuisine.
On October 07 2018 20:23 bo1b wrote: Regarding the WWW point, I'm interested if there has been any studies into just how much of an economic benefit the U.S. received in post WW2 migration. In a non trivial amount of cases, it genuinely looks like anyone who was anyone in that particular field that wasn't British ended up in America.
Given just how many Tech companies were created in the 50s-80s, and just how many tech companies are from second generation migrants, it must have surely left it's mark across Europe.
Indeed. Though one could argue that besides the talent shift, there were systemic factors at play as well. Would be hard to gather the data that proves / disproves it one way or the other though.
Regarding cuisine, in Australia, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, there is a rapidly growing population of immigrants from Asia. Some have created some truly magnificent fusions of European and Asian dishes. Tetsuya's is an excellent example, combining Japanese and French cuisine.
EPT
