u/CatCarcharodon

Hey, not American but I had a ton of American friends in my hometown and trying to recreate that community a bit, I'm curious about events/barbecues/anything happening on that day 😆

I miss cornbread!

As in the title, unfortunately the event is sold out – anyway selling a couple of extra tickets? :)

I see it's a trend online to drag "white people" because they don't shower correctly - like not cleaning properly every body part, but only letting the soap slide from the key areas, armpits and genitals, down along the legs.

Because I understand this trend to be primarily an American thing, I wanted to ask the following question:

Given that there are entire countries and cultural areas (Mediterranean countries specifically, but also Arabs, most of Asia...) that have very important and fundamental hygiene practices (like bidet, washing up every time after you have a bowel movement or even after sex) that basically are not a thing in America because bidets are not a thing - be it for white or black people - do black people in the States really have different hygiene practices and they wash differently after a bowel movement?

I'm asking because if you've ever been friends with an Arab or an Italian or an Indian person you will know that, for them, not using a bidet after EACH bowel movement is the most terrible, unthinkable lack of hygiene that they can think of and they think of everyone else as disgusting for not doing it (also if you shower everyday; the problem is not showering after every bowel movement).

Genuinely curious to receive some answers! Are there any things that I'm missing?

When working as freelancers, young people in Germany, or even 30 something year olds, are often taking long vacations, like one or two months to travel in South America o South East Asia. It's very accepted in general by society. Do Swiss people feel the same?

I work for a Swiss employer and we are around 100 freelancers, but I cannot quite understand the work climate, because I haven't met a lot of my colleagues (I work from home). What is your take? Do you feel it's a culturally normal thing to do? Literally EVERY German under 30 goes off on long holidays/gaps at some point...

I'm 33F. Up until a couple of years ago, children weren't in the picture. Then all my female friends started with the announcements.

This might sound very arrogant, but I've always thought that there would be a lot of women in my circle who wouldn't be interested in parenthood, they are fulfilled women who have careers, hobbies, passions. I keep thinking "maybe friend X won't be interested in children after all", I keep hoping, but everytime I am let down. It seems like having children is the norm for everyone, and I mean everyone. Even the ones who were unsure, or not 100% they wanted kids, end up getting pregnant. It seems like it's the default, like it's something that is not questionable, just a natural choice. Knowing I will lose all my female friends is absolutely depressing. But really what surprises me the most is that in the end it seems like EVERYONE ends up with kids, including the ones who were unsure about it for years, including the ones that in their 20s were swearing that they'd never have children.

Sorry for the rant. I would like to hear your experiences and thoughts too. It's so hard being a woman...