QA问答：出国时经历的文化冲击有哪些？_风闻

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回答三 

Innocent Masengo, Travel enthusiast

Location: Germany

Shock: Men eating ice cream.

This may seem petty to most people though. Born and brought up in Africa, I grew up in a predominantly patriarchal society where most of those small, sweet things are considered feminine, the same way the world treats colors. In Uganda, men do not eat lollipops, candy, ice cream, or cake. These things are for children and girls/women.

When I went to stay in Germany in 2016, I became friends with Judy, a German lady from the graduate school I was attending. She made sure I felt at home, showed me around and introduced me to German ‘things’. It was summer (September), so we would ride our bikes to the beach (this was Kiel, the sailing city). One of my biggest shocks was seeing old men munching on ice cream cones.

坐标：德国

冲击事件：男人吃冰淇淋。

但对大多数人来说，这可能显得微不足道。我在非洲出生和长大，成长在一个父权制占主导地位的社会，在那里，大多数小而甜的东西都被认为是女性化的，就像这个世界对待颜色一样。在乌干达，男人不吃棒棒糖、糖果、冰淇淋或蛋糕。这些东西是儿童和女孩、妇女们吃的。

当我2016年去德国的时候，我和我就读的研究生院的一位德国女士朱迪成为了朋友。她让我有种宾至如归的感觉，带我四处参观，给我介绍德国的“事物”。当时是夏天(9月)，所以我们会骑自行车去海滩(这是基尔，帆船之城)。我最震惊的一件事是看到老人们在大嚼冰淇淋甜筒。

In my home country, it is common to see a man and a woman at an ice cream parlor, with the woman eating ice cream while the man is just sitting there, waiting for her to finish. If they offer other snacks or drinks, the man will opt for a coke or tea. He will not touch the ice cream. The woman does not expect him to touch it, either. In fact, you can lose your girlfriend if you are seen eating those little sweet things. You are a sissy. You are immature.

在我的祖国，经常看到一男一女在冰淇淋店，女人吃冰淇淋，而男人只是坐在那里等着她吃完。如果他们提供其他零食或饮料，男人会选择可乐或茶。他不愿碰冰淇淋。女人也不希望他碰它。事实上，如果你被人看到你吃了那些甜食，你可能会失去你的女朋友。因为这意味着你是个娘娘腔，是不成熟的。

Back to Germany. One Saturday afternoon, Judy picked me up so that we could go for our usual ride. As we rode, she suddenly stopped at a corner ice cream shop. I stopped too, as she was always the one leading the way. There were several mostly older couples eating ice cream. I tried not to make eye contact. I felt embarrassed seeing men eating ice cream. Judy ordered two cones. It happened so fast. She was ever so fast in whatever she did (like all Germans). Even while riding, I had to fight hard to keep up with her pace.

回到德国。一个星期六的下午，朱迪来接我，我们像往常一样去兜风。我们骑车时，她突然在街角的一家冰淇淋店前停了下来。我也停了下来，因为她总是在前面领路。有几对夫妇正在吃冰淇淋，其中大部分是年龄较大的夫妇。我尽量不做眼神交流。看到男人们吃冰淇淋，我感到很尴尬。朱迪要了两个蛋筒。事情发生得太快了。她做任何事情都非常快(就像所有德国人一样)。即使在骑马的时候，我也得努力跟上她的步伐。

Judy handed me one of the cones. There I was, holding ice cream that I did not know what to do with. I looked right, then left. Men were munching. Nobody cared. Judy was busy eating hers. I started licking on mine after a couple of minutes, as it had started melting. I felt my masculinity leaving my body. With every lick, I glanced left and right. I prayed that no African would chance to pass by during that ‘torture’. Good enough — Kiel, being far north, has few Africans. After what seemed like an eternity, I finished the ice cream. Judy was impatiently looking at her watch, for she had finished hers about 10 minutes earlier.

朱迪递给我一个蛋筒。我坐在那里，手里拿着我不知道该怎么处理的冰淇淋。我左右看了看。大家都在大快朵颐，没人在意你。朱迪则正忙着吃她的。几分钟后，我开始舔我的杯子，因为冰淇淋已经开始融化了。我感觉我的男子气概离开了我的身体。每舔一下，我就左右扫视一下。我祈祷没有一个非洲人会在这种“折磨”中碰巧经过。还好——基尔在遥远的北方，这里几乎没有非洲人。似乎经历了一段漫长的时间，我终于吃完了冰淇淋。朱迪不耐烦地看了看表，因为她大约十分钟前就吃完了。

That day was, in a way, a liberating experience. We ate several other ‘ice creams’ before winter set in. And I have managed to eat several ‘ice creams’ with my wife and two kids back home without so much discomfort. Of course I get the stares from passersby. And they do bother me a little, but not as much as they would have before the German experience.

在某种程度上，那一天是一次解放的经验。在冬天来临之前，我们又吃了好几种“冰淇淋”。我和妻子还有两个孩子在家里吃了几块“冰淇淋”，也没有感到什么不适。当然，路人会盯着我看。他们确实让我有点烦，但不像德国经历之前那么烦了。