Ask Lemmy

How much they personally hate/dislike us.

• They've seen too many movies and make unfair assumptions about us and then judge us? Idk.

How racist they are but have no idea they are.

• They ridicule the US for our own brand of terrible racism but seem to be clueless that they and their government have their own vicious and oppressive racism.

How stuck in tradition they are.

• I feel like I don't see a lot of progress in construction, culinary arts, or caste systems (to name a few).

I grew up in Alaska. I live in Germany.

• Germans think air conditioning makes people sick - not because it could be dirty if poorly maintained, but because the chilled air will do... something.
• German cars can't be locked with the driver's door open; German apartments can't be unlocked if the door is closed.
• German tap water is both palatable and safe to drink; almost everyone drinks bottled water.
• In grocery stores, most Germans try to pack the conveyor belt at the checkout as tightly as possible and crowd the next person in line, as if space on the belt isn't a renewable resource.

I've only been to Germany (and technically Ireland but I was just changing planes there) and didn't really find anything to be too weird or different than what I know of living in California. The biggest thing was just how all the normal shops and restaurants closed fairly early (like 6pm) and there was a red light district that opened up around that time. They even had the thing where some of the establishments had naked dancing women in the windows so you can see them from the street. I never actually went in, but I walked the whole block nearly every night when I was there at 19 years old.