Monday, June 28, 2010

Patriotism

While we`re on the subject of football, I may as well go right on to talking about patriotism- in Germany the two go hand-in-hand. 

Germany is not a very patriotic country.  It's just not.  I've been here almost a year now and couldn't sing more than a few words of the German national anthem.  In regular times, it's not uncommon to go a few days without seeing a single German flag.  Germany doesn't have a collection of hymns and songs praising its purple mountains majesties, it's grand ol' flag, it fields of grain, pilgrim's pride, its Redwood forests... well, you get the point.

For the last few weeks, though, that's been completely different.

I think it's refreshing.  I think it's quite important to love one's country- I don't mean the Germans don't love Germany, just that they don't show it as much.  Sure, plenty of Germans think that America's pride is excessive and uncalled for, but I really do believe that a sense of 'team spirit' is healthy for a country.

I guess it has something to do with Germany's history- unfortunately, the name of the country still is a little stigmatic, and excessive national pride could be percieved as recoursive.  Germans are much more proud of their region or city- city pride is quite present.

Because of the world cup, though, there are German flags everywhere- on every corner, on every car, worn as capes, on beer cans, in store windows... it's a nice reminder to me not to take the chance of living in a foreign country for granted.

1 comment:

  1. Hye Tim,

    im Sophie from Germany and im going to spend 11/12 in Canada. I just wanted to say ach eigentlich kann ich auch Deutsch schreiben, dass mir dein Blog echt super gefällt, und dass er echt hilft, Deutschland aus Ausländer-Sicht zu verstehen :D Es macht echt Spaß zu lesen, und bei den Sachen mit Beugen & Co musste ich echt lachen. Achja, Verkleinerungsformen sind immer sächlich, und Mädchen kommt ursprünglich von die Maid = die Magd, und dann das Maidchen = das Mädchen XD Obwohl ich nicht glaube, dass dich das interessiert, aber naja :D
    Noch ganz viel Spaß drüben über dem großen Teich, und das das mit der USC alles hinhait und so.
    LG, Sophie

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