Zooming Into the Future

Dear Jordan,

Today, I took a ride on the German subway, the U-Bahn.  This gave me an opportunity to sit and observe the people of our host country.  I had many initial impressions, here are some.

In terms of style, one thing the Germans love are tattoos.  It is amazing to see how many different people have tattoos.  Another thing popular here in Germany are short shorts, specifically jean shorts.  The shorts are always tight. The default haircut here among middle aged and older men is a part down the middle of the top, with the hair going down and back.

Behavior-wise, the Germans are quiet, very quiet.  Whenever the was a lull in our party’s conversation, I felt as if we were the only ones talking.  The natives are not afraid to stare, and are rather brazen about it.

While the majority of Germans are clearly white, Arabs seem to make up a very significant percentage of the population here.  I wonder how many of them were born here/immigrants. In terms of those like the majority of our program, there are very few black people here.  The ones who are are African. I do not say this as a bad thing, this is what I expected from a European country.

While we were on the train today, a couple of us were playing with a stranger’s baby.  I will assume the boy is Muslim since his mother was wearing a hijab. While we did this, an older German couple was watching us amusingly.  Some black Americans were playing with a little Muslim boy while some older Germans were entertained. I thought that moment was special. It served as a reminder that while around the world we are all different.

Sincerely,

Jordan