you're an asian in Germany right? so what's it like there for you? do you have to deal with much racism?
I'm Eurasian. My dad was half Japanese half Chinese, my mother is first generation Kiwi with Celtic-French parents. Doesn't mean shit here though. Apart from the fact that I'm 6' tall, I'm as asian as can be to the locals.
I have met some terrific people here, but yes, racism is at a 1950's level and I've been on the receiving end of it quite often. I live in a fairly small place though - the cities may be different.
In the last month I've...
...walked into a cafe and had people exclaim loudly that it suddenly stinks of soy sauce (heard this a few times before).
...gone to the butchers and been told 'I don't sell dogmeat'
...gone to a hairdresser and had some guy say 'Hey - we didn't order any Chinese takeaway'.
Of course, to the Germans, this is hysterically funny and everyone else who's present bursts out laughing.
I don't help much. Once the butcher was finished trying to be funny I told him it was fine - I was after cat meat that day anyway. Of course, THAT'S not anything to laugh at.
If you mention the war, or the Holocaust, that's a catastrophe. I once overheard a couple commenting on my wife and wondering what her problem was that she couldn't find a German guy and had to bring an Asian into the country and that our kids would ruin their society. I turned to them and said 'Yes - this is the country that made the jewish people feel so welcome isn't it' and i very nearly had to contend with the police coming.
Racism is here. I was hoping to move to Thailand later this year but that fell through so I'm here for a little while longer. Many Germans would be horrified to hear some of the things I hear - and they're the ones I try and spend my time with, but yes, racism is not unusual. It's a xenophobic country - as a rule,they don't like anything too different here.
