Shit people Say….

This is pretty popular right now, “Shit people say…”, and I would like to bring two to your attention that my husband and I found when looking for the video about “Shit people say in Portland” (which I will post separately).

I would like to begin this post with a video of “Shit People Say…to Germans”, or even more precisely, “Shit Americans that have never been to Europe or remember much from history class say to Germans that come to America”:

Moving beyond the young man’s rather monotonous voice, he makes a good point addressing the stereotypes and utter lack of awareness Americans often have about Germans. I have many friends who would say that this guy is pretty spot on with many of his comments in the video.

Then there is this video, “Shit American Students Say While Studying abroad in Germany” made by a group of college students for a study abroad course. If you notice they made the video to fit the different stages of the The developmental model of intercultural sensitivity I have also written about this before, here. *it is too bad the video no longer exists.

They do a good job of addressing the naive and shuttered outlook in the beginning of the video, stage one. However, I can’t help but be annoyed by their utter lack of awareness for bringing a flippin’ bag along with you when you go to Kaufland. That joke became old after the second time they did it. Other than that, I hope to heaven that what these students went through happened because they had never been outside of the United States. It is nice to see them grow a little by the end of the video. In all, it is a pretty funny video depicting just how unaware many Americans are when they first arrive in Germany/Europe.I understand the point of these videos is to be ironic and funny and while I might not share in all of the sentiment shared by the college students, that doesn’t mean that others have not had a similar experience.

Here is yet another video of “Shit Expats Say”…and while not all of them have been uttered by my husband and/or myself (or the other expats we have met here) it is also pretty funny. The way I see it we are constantly moving along in the stages of intercultural sensitivity. For my husband and I, we struggle when multiple things seem to all go wrong at once. That is when we question why things are not also in English or just simply easier.