Guinness extra stout: even better when shared with friends.
A post continuing the story of our Irish trip is now long overdue. Since we came back I’ve been thinking about Germany, the reasons that led us here and the constant displacement we feel in this country.
Observing how similar the Irish are to Brazilians in terms of personal relationships and behavior towards others was a serious wake up call as to how we had, after a year living in Bremen, unwillingly absorbed some German manners.
Sharing is maybe the most important thing in Brazilian culture: we share food, we share drinks, burdens and happiness. If a person next to you has a problem there is nothing more natural than trying your best to help, be it giving out your seat to an old woman on the bus or helping a struggling girl carry her heavy luggage. Until moving to Germany these small, caring gestures towards strangers were something to be expected: nothing more obvious than trying to help your fellow man, right?
Wrong.
Or at least wrong if you’re in Germany. Something that caught my attention right away was how people seemed either amazingly delighted or completely ignorant when we did anything remotely nice for them. Old ladies would either refuse vehemently or thank effusively while being incredibly surprised if we tried to give them our seats on the tram; most people would pretend that nothing happened if you ever stopped to hold a door for them, passing right by you without a single thankful word. These things were extremely frustrating at first, but we hung on to our culture and kept on behaving like we always did, trying to ignore the German coldness.
However, as hard as you may try to keep behaving in a considerate way towards others, in an environment where the most important word seems to be “me” instead of “us” you will eventually absorb some of the very same behaviors that bug you so much. We realized that in Ireland, when we bought a Guinness mustard and didn’t even think about sharing it with the lovely friends who were hosting us; instead we decided to take it back home to enjoy it by ourselves. Very sad, lonely and selfish attitude. The mustard ended up being thrown in the trash by airport security scan employees, as it was stored on our hand luggage. It was a good lesson on how selfish we had unwillingly turned.
The Irish, much like Brazilians, share. Food, drinks, whatever you have, you share it. If you want to share your music you can play it on the street; if you want to share your joy you can dance. Until this trip I had no idea how much I missed this; being free to express your feelings, to say what you mean, to make jokes and bond with complete strangers, to enjoy the company of real people instead of surrounding yourself with expensive stuff.
Dublin Dublin, I love you so...
Germany, in my experience, is all about comfort and individualism. The most common attitude I observed in Germans is that “What is mine is MINE”. MY personal space. What I want. What I need.
Everything here is designed so you have to deal with other human beings as little as possible. All your basic needs will always be covered; in Germany you will always have a good house, good food and good health care, even if you’re unemployed. Most of the population, though, can afford much, much more than basic needs: big cars, fancy gadgets, the latest ipod. Homes have solid, expensive furniture. Supermarkets sell expensive delicacies from France, Italy or more exotic destinations. Kids own the most modern video game consoles available.
I can’t say that Germans are wrong. Everyone likes comfort; I know I like it a lot and it would be really hypocritical of me to condemn anyone because of that. However, what I learned in this first year here is that, as much as having money and comfort feels good, it never feels as good as it does when you can share what you have – even if it’s very little or very silly, like a joke, a song or a single beer bottle – with other people. No money in this world can pay for the pleasure of sharing.
So, in honor to that, here’s something that you NEED to try if you’re ever in Dublin, and that you will almost certainly – unless you’re a hungry beast – share: Leo Burdocks’ Traditional Fish & Chips.
Notice the size of the thing (each bag was almost as heavy as a baby) and Pedro's "challenge accepted" face
The thing is HUGE and will keep you going until the end of the day even if you eat half of it. It certainly did it for me and Pedro. Gustavo there, on the right, tried to eat his by himself, but failed miserably and left a whole bunch of delicious fries uneaten.
See what I'm talking about?
The whole thing is delicious. Delicious in a way that kinda made me want to have two stomachs, so I could eat more of it. Is that too weird?
Leo Burdocks is very well known in Dublin (the cab driver on the way to the airport talked about it too!) and from what I heard they currently have two locations; we ate at the one near Christchurch:
Leo Burdocks: 2 Werburgh Street, Christchurch, Dublin 8
http://www.burdocks.ie/
Enjoy!
