15 years
Well... hostels are populated by middle class kids from rich western countries. Our "enemies" are all dirt poor countries where people can´t possibly afford to travel.
Richard Schirrmann and Hostels
The Ideal Hostel
I was reading about Richard Schirrmann in Wikipedia. Here is an interesting story from World War I:
In December 1915, “When the Christmas bells sounded in the villages of the Vosges behind the lines .. something fantastically unmilitary occurred. German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities; they visited each other through disused trench tunnels, and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, biscuits and ham. This suited them so well that they remained good friends even after Christmas was over.” Schirrmann was in a regiment holding a position on the Bernhardstein, one of the mountains of the Vosges, and separated from the French troops by a narrow no-man’s-land, which his account says was “strewn with shattered trees, the ground ploughed up by shellfire, a wilderness of earth, tree-roots and tattered uniforms.” Military discipline was soon restored, but Schirrmann pondered over the incident, and whether “thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other.”
Interesting story...
Have you seen times when people who are supposed to be "enemies" get together on friendly terms in a hostel?
- Comments
15 years
I had a good laugh when the manager of another hostel in Munich told me the guy who prepares their breakfast is an Iraqi biochemist and how much he loves it to tell this every American guest! :D
15 years
Well... hostels are populated by middle class kids from rich western countries. Our "enemies" are all dirt poor countries where people can´t possibly afford to travel.
Probably true...
I remember one evening at a hostel where there were 2 Israelis, an Egyptian, an American and an Iraqi. They were all playing Arabic and Turkish songs together on Turkish banjo (cümbüş), guitar and Egyptian tablah. The Iraqi was listening off to the side and not really participating, but it was an interesting night that seemed like it wouldn't normally happen outside of a hostel...
15 years
We had an Iranian guy stay with us for a week or two, he was not traveling but applying for citizenship, and was new to town. He did exchange work for awhile and was always polite and social, visiting the hostel occasionally to pay a social call after he moved out. It fells good to help out a perfect stranger, I suppose that is why we are in this line of work.
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