Kultur 3

As someone who likes to stay organized and avoid as much paperwork as possible, the German obsession of documenting every official aspect of life is very intimidating. Especially now that documents are becoming more and more electronic and paper is being used less and less, for convenience and environmental reasons, the German way of continually creating and hording documents is somewhat baffling. On the other hand, there have been numerous instances where I wish that I had all of my personal documents more accessible and organized, and Germans seem to know how to remedy that.

It's interesting that Germans have a code for neighborly-ness. There are definitely times that I feel like my neighborhood should instate quiet hours (my house's quiet hours don't start until midnight). Very rarely do people see eye to eye on how to act as neighbors, so having a code of conduct can be very beneficial, but it also creates rules that can, and will be, broken.

Patriotism is a weird thing nowadays. In America, a lack of patriotism is seen as being anti-American. Yet, being overly-patriotic is not viewed positively. When a country has both shame and pride, it is difficult to find a middle ground for patriotism. Germany is in a similar situation in that their shame from Hitler's reign makes German patriotism, mainly flag-flying, particularly sensitive. It would be interesting to see what other countries experience similar traits.