Comment by mgerullis

5 years ago

It’s funny, I never noticed this. I grew up in Germany and had lived in the US for a year a while back. A few years after I met an American friend here who had been on a euro trip. She went to Prague (not exactly Russia, but culturally close enough I guess) and she said something like: "why are all people there so damn depressed?" I myself had great times in that same city, I never got that feeling. But I realized that there is a big cultural difference. I told her: "That’s how they are. They are still happy and loving people, they just show it differently".

I would never perceive them as being depressed. Interesting how your surrounding culture can change your perception of things.

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mgerullis

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type0  5 years ago

> She went to Prague

Czech people are often brisk in attitude, Berliners on the other hand - that's something else entirely, I wouldn't describe people as unfriendly but everyone acts coldly and mechanically. Could it be that the fractured state of the city made everyone to be like that?

  • mgerullis  5 years ago

    I live in Berlin, raised German. The city is a wild mix and what you are describing I would argue is only applicable to a subset of people. Yes, many people here might seem cold and mechanical. That’s what I and this article have been trying to describe, people with an eastern heritage appear to outsiders this way. To me they do not appear this way, I’ve grown accustomed to this attitude.

    We perceive Americans often as overly talkative and artificially happy. They’re not, it’s just the way they express themselves.

    They might not smile as much in public but they do know how to love, be generous and laugh their asses off, just as westerners do. You’d see that once you get to really know these people.

    But on the other hand I have barely ever seen a place that is also inhabited with very hedonistic people who laugh and feel openly. It’s quite a weird place to be honest.

    Besides my German roots I’m also half Egyptian. Often when western people observe Arabs, they’re gonna think that they are constantly angry. I thought so myself when I was little. But it isn’t true. They have different means of communication and are some of the most welcoming, caring people I’ve ever met.

    All comes down to acceptance. Once you accept the cultural differences you got with that other person and adapt to them, you will not feel them as cold or mechanical.

glogla  5 years ago

> She went to Prague (not exactly Russia, but culturally close enough I guess

FYI those are fighting words in Prague. My people generally hate everything having to do with Russia, after being controlled by the Soviets since 1948 and outright occupied between 1968 to 1989.

  • Arech  5 years ago

    That's correct. But even if one to forget about this, it's still true - Czech culture is very much different from Russian. May be it's even more distinct from American, or even British, but still...