The entire last year people were staring at me because I was driving a big truck. Girls don´t drive trucks especially not in Africa and South America. In the United States I had to find out that this is different. Here (in Arizona) people stare at me when I am riding a bike. Riding bikes is something for kids or doing workout. If you are riding your bike to the shopping mall and coming home with several bags on your handles people do stare at you. I haven´t found out what they are really thinking about me: Maybe they think I must be really poor not owning a car or they just think I am crazy…
“Have a great holiday” – this is what you hear these days everywhere. And every single time I ask myself for a second: I am not going on holidays? argh – oh, that´s their synonym for christmas… In the end I don´t care how you call christmas. But I do ask myself why the president of the United States mentions God in every single speach he directs to the Nation but at the same time it is not political correct to wish someone a merry christmas?
I should not forget to mention the countless plastic bags, paper plates and styrofoam cups. I have never been a fundamental environmental freak. And every single time I went shopping in Germany I forgot to take bags and had to buy plastic bags…And I don´t even know if you waste more energy and ressources washing up your dishes and using detergents or throwing away your plates and cups. But for some reason I started taking bags to go shopping. And everytime I am at the checkout I feel guilty confusing the checkout girl or guy. They are puzzled as they have to break up their “scanning and packing things in plastic bags routine”.
Not to mention my frustration asking for “normal milk”. What is “normal milk”? Well, I meant milk without any additional vitamins and non-fat reduced. But when I was thinking about my question I realised that “normal” is a pretty vague description: In Germany we usually dont drink milk directly from the cow either… (which some of my friends here assumed when I was talking about normal milk)
So I guess the definition of “normal” or “crazy” is a matter of where you are coming from. But some things I will always judge. And hopefully this will then be a political judgement or let´s say: A judgment derived from my values…