Kultur Kapitel 8

The first article describes the difference between American and German cultures when it comes to how to cool down a room.  Interestingly enough, there is a huge difference!  Although both cultures will purposefully in the summer open up their houses in order to let cool air in, Germans tend to frown upon opening windows willy nilly.  The author calls it “draftofobia”, which is clearly a made up term but describes the negative feeling accurately.  It is very interesting to me that the distinction is so clear in Germany between a refreshing breeze and an irritating draft.

The second article is written on the topic of German diseases and how they differ from the ailments we know and love.  There are many ailments in Germany that simply do not exist in other places in the world.  For example, Hörsturz (acute hearing loss), is a common malady caused by stress or work load.  A sudden loss of hearing caused by stress has never been heard of anywhere else in the world.  Also interesting is the difference in coping with sickness.  In America we tend to simply take antibiotics and medicine to get our illness to leave.  A German would prefer, however, to stay away from this sort of riff raff and beat the thing himself.  Respectable, but rather ridiculous!

The popularity and social impact of saunas in Germany is the topic of the third article.  In America we may sit in a sauna once or twice after a cool swim or exhausting work out, but we rarely make a trip of it.  Never once has a business meeting (to my knowledge) been done clothed merely in a towel covered in sweat.  This is most likely because it sounds absurd to do such a thing for us Westerners, but it actually is not particularly uncommon in Germany.  Saunas are far more popular in German culture, most likely due to the comfort or possibly the nudity.  IN a sauna everyone is treated equally unless ones naked actions cause otherwise.  A wealthy man, a homeless man, all can be seen in the same way.