Who here lives in Europe?

Wow, it feels good to read so much positive stuff.
Normally people who havent been to Germany yet have a lot of prejudices.
All this talk about we are all racists can be very annoying.
I grew up when Berlin was still devided in East/West and had an American, English and French sector where all the soldiers lived. That was an interesting multicultural time.

Wow, you can make Black Forest Cherry cake??? If you wouldnt live so far away, I would so invite you over for coffee now

 

U4ever,what were your feelings when the wall fell? I saw it on TV and it was happiness. Oh yes, had you heard of any stories of Black men defected to the Eastern part?

 

I know this might sound a little odd but it was scary to me.
I didnt have any relatives in the DDR so those people were all just strangers.
It was like a mass invasion in the beginning. People from the eastern part were getting 100 German Marks as a welcome gesture and they all wanted to spend it on stuff they didnt have before. The stores were full, the shelfs were empty. It was like when they announce a natural desaster and everybody is running to the store hoarding food. Very crazy.
But of course there were a lot family reunions going on and a movement the called "we are the folk". People were feeling powerful to finally have eliminated the old regime.

Explain that second question please? What do you mean by "Black men defected to the Eastern part"? Typo?

 

Some Black soldiers went to the East because of either the racism from the US Army or had a East German girlfriend. I read it from a book written in the late 40's by William Gardner Smith.

 

Isnt this prejudice toward Germans mainly an English/German thing?

I personally like Germany and I am always received hospitably.

I usually travel to Germany often, haven't been since last year due to recession. I will be going at the end of this month Koln (Cologne??) to pick up a HGV. This is my business I export vehicles to Ghana.

 

Yeah, you might be right.

But when I was in Ft. Myers/FL (That was 1999 or 2002 I think) an older guy at a store had the nerve to ask me if we still had communism in Berlin.
I was like WTF???

Im from the part of Berlin that NEVER had communism, but even the Eastern part ended that after '89......

So you are going to Köln. Haven't been there yet but I know Düsseldorf.

How are you gonna bring that vehicle from Köln to Ghana? Dont tell me you drive all the way down to Spain (Algeciras) and take the ferry to Tanger???

 

I find it hard to believe some people think there was still a wall in Berlin especially in the States. That man must had no tv or lived in a cave.

 

Members in Europe

I'm in Turkey at the moment, but I have lived in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and the UK (in no necessary order) and have spent enough time in other locations outside the US to say angels and devils live amongst us everywhere. I have had good and bad experiences everywhere I've been. Some racially based (in a 5 star restaurant in Rome, a young girl dining with her parents, came to my table and asked me if "it hurt"... When I asked her what she meant {in Italian, of course} she explained that Black people were burned by God as punishment. She then asked me where my tail was, explaining that her parents told her all Black people have tails...) In other places, I have been denied entrance to clubs that were "full" until the next 30 or 40 couples/singles (all white/local?) were allowed entrance, even when I had a date who spoke the language if I didn't. Some sentiment isn't/wasn't about my Blackness, but about my being an American in a place where the US isn't/wasn't popular. Daayyyyuuuummm. I'm rambling... For Brothers going anywhere outside their comfort zone, take no preconceived notions and feel the place for yourselves. I'm talking like a man of experience, and make no mistake, I have been around the block, but it is what you make of it, wherever you go. Electronic media has touched even the most impoverished areas of the world and the Rap/Hip Hop culture has become a universal expression along with the stereotypes and hypes... While I'm definitely not Moses, my only advice is to leave any place you go better than you found it....

 

Where abouts? My family is from/lives in Izmir and then I have a few cousins in Istanbul.

 

Mission,has that woman heard of Charles Darwin? I find it hard to believe such people believe in that nonsense of Blacks having tails.

 

Inner Beauty,

I'm living in Antalya now, having spent the last 4 years here, but have lived in Istanbul and spent a considerable amount of time in Izmir (Alsancak was a happy hangout), and lesser, but enough time in Ankara to know that it's too cold in the winter for a Brother who likes warm weather and the barely there styles the women bring out in Istanbul, Izmir and "down South"... Istanbul has become too crowded, too problematic, and too expensive to appreciate. I almost moved from Istanbul to Izmir, but music and fate converged in Antalya...

Soulthinker:

My experience in Italy happened in 1990... The parents were probably my age, but passing on folklore taught them by their parents, and bred by fear and ignorance... The girl was innocent enough and only sought to solve a puzzle that went against the faulty logic she was taught... As for Darwinism in Rome, next door to the country-state called the Vatican, in a country that is devotedly Catholic and where the Pope has the first, middle, and last word... I liken acceptance of Darwinism there to the warm reception Darwinism gets amongst Bible thumping holy rollers in the States. The devout believers blindly follow doctrine without questioning the premise... While I believe ignorance, prejudice and hate will always exist side by side with knowledge, tolerance, and love... isms and fanatical believers under the umbrella of that thing called religion will continue to separate, isolate, and divide even the wisest of the wise from truth, whatever that truth be... The pendulum swings continuously, and the loudest voices usually hold sway.... but... just because you've silenced a man (no sexual slight intended to our women), doesn't mean you've changed his/her mind...

On the European map in Turkey...

 

Thank you for sharing. I hope my peoples are treating you right....

 

How are you gonna bring that vehicle from Köln to Ghana? Dont tell me you drive all the way down to Spain (Algeciras) and take the ferry to Tanger???[/QUOTE]

I will drive to Rotterdam or Zebrugge and bring it to England on Ferry, load it with things to sell in Ghana then export it from Tilbury by RoRo ship.

I have not been to Berlin Area but would like to perhaps soon. I am looking into export directly from Hamburg.

 

Wise words, this would make a good topic but I guess it or similar has already been done.

pps Inner Beauty, liking the figure on your thumb photo (I am hip guy when it comes to women, their hips not my being fly!!!:smt118)

 

LOL!

Thank you my Jewish Brutha!

 

Inner Beauty: You don't even have to worry, Your peoples (our peoples) have really treated me well...for the most part, Turkey has been my paradise, the place I couldn't find in the states to be me... I feel 99% Turk after being adopted by so many gracious hosts... I'm invited to duguns (there's no yumusak g on this laptop, lmbao), sunnets, cay, tavla.... seen the contrasts of old school and new school Turkey converge and stay separated... I think I'm treated better than most foreigners, but I also speak the language and have, to some degree, tried to dissolve the mysteries of the world according to this Black man... I'm not blinded by the light, but I can definitely see better with it... Oh and yeah, I echo the comments about your hips! Without trying to be disrespectful, hmmmmmmm....

BlackCohen:
You are more than right... We're not to recreate the wheel, only ride on em without getting a flat... lol:smt102

 

That's really good to hear. Sounds like you're living the life and that you're happy. Some of my family is progressive, some are old-fashioned too....

Thank you about my hips, no disrespect taken.

 

Marco Polo

I think I'll throw myself in the 'European' pool too, even if no-one notices. I'm from London, England. You probably all know this already but it's very, very diverse down here (except for where I live, about 90% black). Wouldn't mind travelling more around Europe one day, have so far been to Italy and France so far (albeit only briefly to both countries). Ah well...

*...continues skinny-dipping...*

 

Had you gone to any other Euro nation GBritguy?

 

Only Italy and France, but briefly in Italy because we touched down en-route to Nigeria (that's what happens when you fly with Alitalia), then again it was in the '90s. Any recommendations Soulthinker? I'm considering Spain or Portugal...