I had a really fascinating conversation with a couple Germans. I'd
always wondered what Germany thought about what happened during WWII
(and before that for that question). Although, before I start, I have
to warn you that you do not want to get in a political discussion with
Europeans right now because it inevitably turns to President Bush..but
more on that later. Anyway, back to WWII. Basically, and not
surprisingly, it seems like their attitude was, "we screwed it up."
It was kind of funny. I was expecting a little shame or
justification. But instead, they didn't offer any excuses or
apologies. They messed up, learned and moved on. They are still a
little sensitive about the Nazi thing, but that's kind of
understandable. For example, I saw a bunch of teenage punks yesterday
and they all had anti-swastikas patches sewn somewhere on their
clothes. Well, the Germans asked me what I thought about the war in
Iraq expecting some type of response although I'm not sure exactly
what it was that they thought I would say. I explained why I thought
that it was initially a good idea, but how it turned sour becuase of
politics. I explained the whole election issue and what my opinions
are about the US political situation globally. They were very
surprised that I had actually thought about the whole thing. They
said that I sounded like I know what I was talking about. I was a
little offended that they view Americans as non-thinking extensions of
TV talkshows. It really is sad that the vast minority of extremists
cast such a large shadow on everyone else.

Oh, here's something kind of fun. I went to a movie yesterday. In
Germany, they dub everything. Even the Jerry Springer show is dubbed.
It amazes me every time I see something like that, but they're
actually pretty good at it. Of course, the mouth movements aren't
perfect, but it's pretty close most of the time. Anyway, we saw
Robots and it was kind of cool. I missed a good portion of the jokes,
but I caught a lot of the dialog. Maybe about 25%--not a lot but
enough to enjoy the story. It got me kind of excited because I
remember being at that stage as a missionary and how quickly it gets
better from there. I don't know if I'll ever be able to speak German,
but with a little practice, I could at least read and understand it.