German time

capturing the zeitgeist

Adapting and treadmills

I am incredibly good at adapting. I’m not unique in this. It’s probably something ingrained in all of us, given the survival advantages it offers.

Having been in Germany for over a month, I’ve gotten used to it. I commute to school, walk to the supermarket (almost daily), and I use my computer at the apartment.

In search for some wallet-friendly German street food (a doner box), I walked down a neighboring street which I’ve never walked down. It’s a picturesque street. If you had told me that the picture below was taken in a quaint town, I would have believed you and asked a follow-up question. Where is this and how can I visit it?

Mainz street. Note the cardboard box on the sidewalk at the bottom left of the photo. I took a glass cup from there. It seems like a German norm to giveaway used things on the street. Thank you to the donor.

I’ve barely explored the parts of town that are not on the way to school or a supermarket. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve explored more of Nice, France in two days than I have here.

Being too narrow for cars to roar past, it was the sound of my borrowed Birkenstocks hitting the ground and the faint howl of the wind that occupied that street. I opted to climb up a set of stairs to access a shortcut and I was greeted with a rooftop view of Mainz. I didn’t even know one could see hills from Mainz.

To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.

George Orwell1He probably didn’t mean it in this sense. To find out what he meant, go to the Orwell Foundation.

Town upon a hill.
Stairway to doner.

Before eating dinner, I made a quiet commitment to explore this town: to walk and wander with no plan or destination.

The boys were stunned by the size and grandeur of the West End after their background in a one-room country school. The opulence of having a teacher for each grade made a deep impression on them. It seemed wasteful. But as is true of all humans, they were stunned for one day, admiring on the second, and on the third day could not remember very clearly ever having gone to any other school.

John Steinbeck in East of Eden

One world

When I was a kid, I used to hang around the library often. My parents told me that one reason for moving into the home (of my childhood) was because of the large library nearby. I have clear memories of reading every Tintin comic I could find2A good day would’ve been a day where I found a Tintin which I have not yet read. and reading those thin and generously pictured science books on the dangers of tobacco and alcohol. I have faint memories of my concerned parents asking why I was reading such books. And even fainter memories of discovering books that described the cultures of different countries.3I’m not completely sure I found books on this. I’m an unreliable narrator. The positioning of the cutlery would carry different meanings in Switzerland. One to show that I’m finished with my meal and another to show that I want more. The different meanings of nodding heads in India. These books made it seem like every part of the world was different.

The thing about Swiss cutlery and Indian nodding heads may be true, but I have found that to be the exception and not the rule.

People here use their iPhones to Google places to eat. When they’ve found a place they like, they’ll slide their iPhone back into the pocket of their jeans and walk there on their Nike shoes. At the restaurant, they’ll order a Coke or if they’ve arrived at a cafe, they’ll order an Americano, Latte or Cappucino. While they wait for their food to arrive, they may watch a YouTube video or listen to some music on Spotify. Before leaving, they’ll take out a card that bears the the logo of Visa or Mastercard and use it to pay. There is nothing in this paragraph that reveals where this must be taking place. This could be Mainz, Germany or Houston, Texas or Cairo, Egypt or Perth, Australia, or Singapore.4I would have picked a city in China too, but that would be Baidu not Google. Douyin (TikTok) instead of YouTube. UnionPay, WeChat or AliPay instead of Visa and Mastercard.

Perhaps this is one reason why I like visiting Japan and would someday like to visit Saudi Arabia. In Japan, the differences are more pronounced. Public facing workers provide over-the-top service and friendliness. Train workers habitually point and call at train doors and indicators. Tattoos are treated as taboo and it’s not uncommon for certain businesses to reject inked customers.5Or at least require them to cover up the tattoos. And I’m only scratching the surface.

As for Saudi Arabia, the biggest upfront difference is that people dress differently. The thobe for men and abaya for women. And you undoubtedly know the differences extend further than the clothes. There is a different worldview there — one that is shaped by Islam. The Saudis announce to the world, wherever their national flag flies, that “There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God”. Their weekend is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday.6It seems like there’s an ongoing debate in Saudi Arabia on whether they should change to the “normal” Saturday and Sunday weekend. So this may be another difference that disappears in the future. Closer to home, the Malaysian state of Johor is going to return to the Saturday and Sunday weekend starting from 2025. They had been on the Friday and Saturday weekend since 2014. Read more here from CNA. During the month of Ramadan, the working hours change completely. Year round, businesses close during the five daily prayer times. Again, I’m only scratching the surface and I’ve never visited Saudi Arabia.

Perhaps this level of global homogenization is why travelers give so much attention on the one area that has resisted it — food. The family-run diner in New Orleans, Louisiana is not going to sell the same dishes as the family-run stall in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Homogenization is seeping in though. The bleeding of family-run restaurants and shops against global franchises. Supermarkets which ought to reflect the cuisine of the local area now carry packaged food from the same few conglomerates: Nestle, PepsiCo, and Kraft Heinz.7I don’t support differentiation for the sake of it. If there are clearly better practices, then other places should follow suit. Obviously I’m not upset that most countries in the world are the same in the sense that women are allowed to vote for their political leaders (in places where voting is practiced). And I can also imagine how a place that only sells food of the local area would be a net negative to its local residents.

Pardon my French

Before coming to Germany and over a Bah Kut Teh lunch, my friend gave me a 10-minute crash course on the roots of the English language. Although I’ve been speaking it as long as I can remember, I’ve never dived into the history of this language. I know we speak it in large part because Singapore and Malaysia were British colonies. And after Singapore’s independence, the founding Prime Minister made the politically unpopular choice of making English our working language.

English as our working language has prevented conflicts arising between our different races and given us a competitive advantage because it is the international language of business and diplomacy, of science and technology.

Lee Kuan Yew in From Third World to First the Singapore Story (2000)

But I know next to nothing about the history of the English language itself; on the origin of English words or how our unorthodox grammatical rules came about. Surrounded by English in Singapore,8and by other languages like Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil that do not share the same roots as English I was a fish that didn’t know I was in water.

Over here though, since German and French roughly use the same Latin alphabet, I can make educated guesses on what those foreign words mean. That started a nascent interest in looking up the etymology of the corresponding English word. For example, all these English words we use to describe animal meats — beef, pork, mutton, venison, and veal — all of them have French origins. Then the alternative words of cow, pig, sheep, deer, and calf have Old English origins.

In other words, animals alive in the barnyard tended to keep their Anglo-Saxon names. When they were prepared as foods, they were given French derived names.

Whether we know it or not, we’re expressing a fact about life in medieval England that’s embedded in the words we use everyday. A very clear picture of who was serving whom.

Words of the Year: 1066 by Merriam-Webster

Postcards from Nice, France

Thanks for reading till the end. Here are some chronologically ordered photos from my trip to Nice, France. And some music you can listen to while you scroll through the photos.

Another sign of homogenization: the German supermarkets I frequent in Mainz play English language music.
From Mainz, Germany.
To Paris, France.
The sights and smells of Paris.
Since it was raining the whole day, I couldn’t spend the day in parks and I had already been to the larger museums. So I decided to hunker down in a cafe with my Kindle. I thought this was a local coffee spot, but I unknowingly contributed to the homogenization I had written about above — it’s actually a coffee brand from Brazil with franchises in 20 countries.
My night train from Paris to Nice. The French train stations have a cool jingle that is played before announcements.
My bed onboard. The cabin has six beds and I was at the top bed. I was rocked to sleep that night.
Sunrise in the south of France.
The view out the window.
The clear skies allowed the sun to paint on the city’s houses.
If this isn’t Nice, I don’t know what is.
“Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.” – Ikkyu.
The morning market.
Blue skies and seas in the town of Eze.
I sat in the corner of this reflective space for an hour or so to wait for one of the two public buses that bring you back down to Nice or to the train station that connects to Nice. I guess I vacationed like a retiree here. Lots of sitting, reading, and doing nothing.

Comments? Text or email me.

The dominance and network effects of the English language is yet another sign of homogenization. Small languages fade away and the ten most spoken languages solidify their standing. Exchange students like myself probably contribute to that. Whether you’re from Poland or the Philippines, we use English to talk to one another. And unless we can learn a language in six months, we’ll use English to talk to the locals.

9 minute read. Writing time: ~110 minutes. Editing time: ~40 mins.

First published:
October 18, 2024

Last updated:

Footnotes
  • 1
    He probably didn’t mean it in this sense. To find out what he meant, go to the Orwell Foundation.
  • 2
    A good day would’ve been a day where I found a Tintin which I have not yet read.
  • 3
    I’m not completely sure I found books on this. I’m an unreliable narrator.
  • 4
    I would have picked a city in China too, but that would be Baidu not Google. Douyin (TikTok) instead of YouTube. UnionPay, WeChat or AliPay instead of Visa and Mastercard.
  • 5
    Or at least require them to cover up the tattoos.
  • 6
    It seems like there’s an ongoing debate in Saudi Arabia on whether they should change to the “normal” Saturday and Sunday weekend. So this may be another difference that disappears in the future. Closer to home, the Malaysian state of Johor is going to return to the Saturday and Sunday weekend starting from 2025. They had been on the Friday and Saturday weekend since 2014. Read more here from CNA.
  • 7
    I don’t support differentiation for the sake of it. If there are clearly better practices, then other places should follow suit. Obviously I’m not upset that most countries in the world are the same in the sense that women are allowed to vote for their political leaders (in places where voting is practiced). And I can also imagine how a place that only sells food of the local area would be a net negative to its local residents.
  • 8
    and by other languages like Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil that do not share the same roots as English