For almost 8 years now I live here in the US and I’ve been experiencing so many cultural differences. The Silicon Valley must be a paradise for anthropologists. Here you can probably find every single nationality there is and study them. Naturally I observe the American and German specifics foremost. What is typical for Americans? They are extremely open, informal and friendly. They smile a lot, talk easily to strangers, often sharing personal stories. They are experts in small talk and they think everything is either great or awesome. Asking “How are you?” is simply a greeting and is not a question about your health. These are just a few obvious things, I could probably name many more, but I’m already a bit American, so I don’t have time for that! What do Americans think about Germans though? I can only guess that my friends would probably call me reliable, on time, honest and pretty blunt. They might add competitive and slightly pushy, but I can live with that.
I found an interesting blogpost about stereotypes on southeastschnitzel.com: Why are Americans so…? Why are Germans so…? And I mostly agree that:
Americans think that Germans are stand-offish, reserved, humorless, punctual, reliable, blunt and hard working.
Germans think that Americans are extroverted, loud, open, talkative, money-minded and superficial.
Every single German you’d ask “What is typical American?” will probably call them superficial. After all that time here, I actually know why. Germans have a really hard time to understand the concept of small talk. They don’t appreciate meaningless chitchat, but they fail to understand that an idle chat can make it easier to engage with people you don’t know very well yet. Anyway, I actually come from the only city in Germany where people like to have a casual conversation about weather, the latest football results or how the KVB sucks.
In order to describe the cultural differences between Americans and Germans I found this model about peach and coconut cultures. It seems to be very established and here you can listen to a Tedx talk of Fons Trompenaars who tells you all about it. Americans are considered being the peach and Germans the coconut. I, personally, like the part “but once inside, life-long friends will go to great lengths for one another”. I think it is absolutely true for all my friends in Germany. My ESL teacher at West Valley College already said to me in 2008 (she lived in Cologne for two years, so we had a mutual fondness): “It takes way longer to make a friend in Germany than here, but once you found a friend, it’s yours forever.” While one of my American friends totally agreed to the peach picture. Her first reaction was: “Oh yes, we are totally peaches. We are so easily bruised.”
But:
I personally do not like the picture of the coconut for the Germans too much. I think the shell is too thick. It takes a while to get to know and befriend a German, but I feel that my fellow Germans can also be very friendly and open-minded, at least our generation. You don’t necessarily need a big tool to crack ’em. This wouldn’t work too well with the picture of the coconut. And I really don’t know what the coconut milk is supposed to illustrate??
I would suggest a pineapple instead. Its shell is prickly and a bit harsh, but with a good knife and some effort you get through it and you can find rather sweet pulp and a sturdy core. The green leaves of the crown seem like another shield, but if you pull on them and they’re loose that means the pineapple is ripe and ready for contact. You just need to give the pineapple some time to adjust and to become receptive. 
What do you think? What fruit are you? I’m looking forward to your comments!
