Kultur Kapitel 8

The purpose of reading about any society's culture is to gain an understanding of the differences between the lifestyles of foreign people and us. But when we read about different places and people, the picture that we get of their lives is usually superficial-what they eat, where they live, etc. I focused on two articles for this assignment, the one about illness and the one about saunas. It surprised me that people in Germany have totally different symptoms and cultural conventions for given medical conditions. I've never caught a cold from a draft, but many illnesses in Germany are blamed on them. I've never worn a scarf if i have a sore throat, and if I saw someone walking around in midst of summer wearing a scarf I'd probably think that they were a tad bit crazy. But that is a widely used and accepted solution in Germany. Furthermore, the ideas that most Germans have with regards to antibiotics are vastly different. They have no issues with popping them like Tic Tacs, while Americans generally stick to the intended or perscribed dosage. The sauna is also an obsession of the Germans which we in America do not possess. It is seen as a skin treatment, which in Europe is very important. When I went to Israel, many of the European tourists went to the Dead Sea because of the exfoliating effects of the mud. Furthermore, it is a social construct, an equalizer, symbolized by the general unisex nudity. Overall, learning about the social and physical habits of Germans was fascinating.