I can't believe I'm finding time to blog again! It's been quite a few weeks since my last one and I have been meaning to write but there was always something else that kept coming up. After Josh and I went to dinner last night and were greeted by our waiter in English, I just knew I needed to find time to write this.
Living here in Germany has been quite an eye opening experience for me. I have never felt unwanted walking into a restaurant or store or been given looks like I have got here. Yes some days I just want to scream to the locals, "I'm a good person, I mean no harm! I just want to eat a darn schnitzel...now stop staring at me and please help me translate this menu!!!!!" But instead I just ignore them (unless I'm feeling very ornery then I give them a HUGE American smile for no reason...I know real childish but I feel good for 1.5 seconds). After many experiences of not feeling welcome and just feeling awkward in general being in a country I don't understand, I had some reflection to do. Well guess what...I'm no better then the Germans that make me feel uncomfortable, no better then the ones who glare at me and no better then the ones who are secretly telling me to leave their country. Yep, I have done that too, in the US.
Now I'm not proud of that realization and it really makes me sad to think I have been so judgmental to strangers. I will admit, not proudly, that I have been annoyed many times that we have to sit through multiple language options when calling the phone company or self conscious and mad when a group of people are around me talking in another language or annoyed when the person in front of me clearly doesn't speak English and is trying to ask a question to a person who clearly doesn't speak their language...yes I have thought in my head, "If you are going to live in this country you should know the language." I know people have their own viewpoints on this subject and I'm not going to bash anyone's thoughts but I'm just going to explain how my view has changed on this. Who knows maybe it will give you a new perspective as well.
I used to be real quick to judge someone who wasn't from America. "Oh they must be here illegally" or "They have lived here for 50 years and still don't know English..grrr". But really I don't know a thing about them. Yes there are plenty of people living in the US illegally and plenty who have lived there for 50 years and still can't speak English but it's not everyone. There are plenty of "Alethea's" in America. Plenty of people legally living in the US that for whatever reason didn't learn English before they moved or they only know a little bit but once they are face to face with an American they freeze or maybe they are working really hard on learning English but they are struggling. Josh and I had a first hand experience the other night with how hard English is to learn. We had to explain to Joslyn how come 'said' and 'paid' are pronounced so differently. YIKES!!! I am so, so, so, so, so thankful for teachers...you guys are all awesome and WAY underpaid! Thank you teachers for all you do!
OK so back to my thoughts. We love living in Germany, I mean REALLY love living in Germany but it's tough when you don't know the language or the culture. Granted I had a couple months before we moved that I could have learned German but I didn't. Why? Because I felt it was more important to hang out with my friends before moving. Lame excuse, I know. So now I sit in Germany struggling. I've come pretty far and can recognize some words, say some words but not even close to putting a full sentence together without sounding...well, American. We have been quite fortunate that many Germans speak English and are incredibly helpful when we ask for help. But we have a long way to go. I remember when living in Puyallup we had a really bad winter one year and there were people that got seriously hurt from putting their BBQ grills's inside their house and turning on the propane tanks to keep warm. So volunteers went door to door in those communities and handed out fliers in their language explaining how unsafe that was because they couldn't read the English warning labels/instructions. Oh boy do I understand that feeling! I get worried that there will be an announcement on the radio or a flyer in our mail that says to stay inside your house because if you step outside you will die and guess who will not be able to read it and will be the first to step outside and who will be the first one to die? Yes that is a far fetched scenario but you get my point. So I'm thankful that those volunteers handed out fliers to those families and saved lives! WAY TO GO USA!!!
We moved into our apartment on base about 6 weeks ago. We don't have many options for internet or phone here. One company would take weeks and weeks to come out, are expensive and have a bad reputation but everything is in English (your billing statement, instructions, etc). Our other option was a company that is cheaper, good rep and could be out to our place in 2 weeks but it's in German. Well I'm all about saving money and I have an electronically smart husband so we went with the cheap company. So 2 weeks later Josh started hooking up our DSL (yep that is as fast as it gets on our base!) and it took him forever because everything is set up in German! He had his laptop set up with google translate and was typing up the instructions on his laptop and waiting for the translation in English so he could set everything up for our desktop...it took 5 times as long...but it's cheaper! At one point Josh needed to call the company. He dialed, listened for a bit and hung up the phone and said he had no idea what the recording said. My immediate response was, "They didn't have a press 2 for English option?" Nope they sure didn't. It wasn't that big of a deal as he just had to drive to the actual store and talk with them in person (they are super nice and have English speaking employees) but it sure would have been easier to just have an English option :)
With all that blubbering I guess what I'm getting at is, don't judge someone just because they aren't American and speak English. When we go to a restaurant (like last night) that has a menu in English or we are greeted in English or can communicate in English we just want to hug them and thank the restaurant for making our day! *To my Stuttgart friends-Auld Rogue, an Irish Pub, on Hautpstrasse is amazing* We can breathe a sigh of relief when we are handed an English menu or when the waiter or cook speaks English and we don't have to whip out our translator/translator cards to figure out if the sauce, meat, fries, etc are celiac friendly for Joslyn's safety. It's just a nice feeling to feel welcome.
So the next time you are around a group of people talking in a different language, don't assume they are talking about you or trying to annoy you on purpose. They are just excited and happy to be in company of people who understand them! When we visited the Hohenzollern Castle a couple months ago, we were standing in line to get tickets and a woman, her husband and kids looked at us and said, "We are American too." I wanted to cry, hug them and keep them in my pocket so I always had another American family with me :) So we all just stood around yakking away, laughing and just enjoying each others company while being surrounded by Germans who were clearly not enjoying our annoying American accents!
Or the next time you have to call a company and you get annoyed that there are other language options, just remember that at some point there will be a 31 year old mom, who is living in America because her husbands job moved them, who will want to cry when she hears the "press 2 for..." option. That little recording will make her day, it will make her feel closer to her real home and it will make her realize that America is a nice, welcoming country.
Please don't get me wrong, I do not feel like Germany needs to have English menus, recordings, etc. I do not expect Germany to cater to us Americans and I don't feel like I deserve it at all. In fact Germany has been a pretty easy transition as they do offer so many options for Americans and for the English speaking public. I just realized how much I love Germany for doing those little things yet while living in America those little things were annoyances. I just didn't understand before but now I do.
I've said it before and I will say it again. I know God is working on me here. He is bringing my weaknesses to the surface so I can work on them and ultimately be a better reflection of Him. I don't know what His plan is for me for the next 3 years or what is in store for me back in the states but I do know that I will leave Germany with a much different, much more open mind then I had before.
Living here in Germany has been quite an eye opening experience for me. I have never felt unwanted walking into a restaurant or store or been given looks like I have got here. Yes some days I just want to scream to the locals, "I'm a good person, I mean no harm! I just want to eat a darn schnitzel...now stop staring at me and please help me translate this menu!!!!!" But instead I just ignore them (unless I'm feeling very ornery then I give them a HUGE American smile for no reason...I know real childish but I feel good for 1.5 seconds). After many experiences of not feeling welcome and just feeling awkward in general being in a country I don't understand, I had some reflection to do. Well guess what...I'm no better then the Germans that make me feel uncomfortable, no better then the ones who glare at me and no better then the ones who are secretly telling me to leave their country. Yep, I have done that too, in the US.
Now I'm not proud of that realization and it really makes me sad to think I have been so judgmental to strangers. I will admit, not proudly, that I have been annoyed many times that we have to sit through multiple language options when calling the phone company or self conscious and mad when a group of people are around me talking in another language or annoyed when the person in front of me clearly doesn't speak English and is trying to ask a question to a person who clearly doesn't speak their language...yes I have thought in my head, "If you are going to live in this country you should know the language." I know people have their own viewpoints on this subject and I'm not going to bash anyone's thoughts but I'm just going to explain how my view has changed on this. Who knows maybe it will give you a new perspective as well.
I used to be real quick to judge someone who wasn't from America. "Oh they must be here illegally" or "They have lived here for 50 years and still don't know English..grrr". But really I don't know a thing about them. Yes there are plenty of people living in the US illegally and plenty who have lived there for 50 years and still can't speak English but it's not everyone. There are plenty of "Alethea's" in America. Plenty of people legally living in the US that for whatever reason didn't learn English before they moved or they only know a little bit but once they are face to face with an American they freeze or maybe they are working really hard on learning English but they are struggling. Josh and I had a first hand experience the other night with how hard English is to learn. We had to explain to Joslyn how come 'said' and 'paid' are pronounced so differently. YIKES!!! I am so, so, so, so, so thankful for teachers...you guys are all awesome and WAY underpaid! Thank you teachers for all you do!
OK so back to my thoughts. We love living in Germany, I mean REALLY love living in Germany but it's tough when you don't know the language or the culture. Granted I had a couple months before we moved that I could have learned German but I didn't. Why? Because I felt it was more important to hang out with my friends before moving. Lame excuse, I know. So now I sit in Germany struggling. I've come pretty far and can recognize some words, say some words but not even close to putting a full sentence together without sounding...well, American. We have been quite fortunate that many Germans speak English and are incredibly helpful when we ask for help. But we have a long way to go. I remember when living in Puyallup we had a really bad winter one year and there were people that got seriously hurt from putting their BBQ grills's inside their house and turning on the propane tanks to keep warm. So volunteers went door to door in those communities and handed out fliers in their language explaining how unsafe that was because they couldn't read the English warning labels/instructions. Oh boy do I understand that feeling! I get worried that there will be an announcement on the radio or a flyer in our mail that says to stay inside your house because if you step outside you will die and guess who will not be able to read it and will be the first to step outside and who will be the first one to die? Yes that is a far fetched scenario but you get my point. So I'm thankful that those volunteers handed out fliers to those families and saved lives! WAY TO GO USA!!!
We moved into our apartment on base about 6 weeks ago. We don't have many options for internet or phone here. One company would take weeks and weeks to come out, are expensive and have a bad reputation but everything is in English (your billing statement, instructions, etc). Our other option was a company that is cheaper, good rep and could be out to our place in 2 weeks but it's in German. Well I'm all about saving money and I have an electronically smart husband so we went with the cheap company. So 2 weeks later Josh started hooking up our DSL (yep that is as fast as it gets on our base!) and it took him forever because everything is set up in German! He had his laptop set up with google translate and was typing up the instructions on his laptop and waiting for the translation in English so he could set everything up for our desktop...it took 5 times as long...but it's cheaper! At one point Josh needed to call the company. He dialed, listened for a bit and hung up the phone and said he had no idea what the recording said. My immediate response was, "They didn't have a press 2 for English option?" Nope they sure didn't. It wasn't that big of a deal as he just had to drive to the actual store and talk with them in person (they are super nice and have English speaking employees) but it sure would have been easier to just have an English option :)
With all that blubbering I guess what I'm getting at is, don't judge someone just because they aren't American and speak English. When we go to a restaurant (like last night) that has a menu in English or we are greeted in English or can communicate in English we just want to hug them and thank the restaurant for making our day! *To my Stuttgart friends-Auld Rogue, an Irish Pub, on Hautpstrasse is amazing* We can breathe a sigh of relief when we are handed an English menu or when the waiter or cook speaks English and we don't have to whip out our translator/translator cards to figure out if the sauce, meat, fries, etc are celiac friendly for Joslyn's safety. It's just a nice feeling to feel welcome.
So the next time you are around a group of people talking in a different language, don't assume they are talking about you or trying to annoy you on purpose. They are just excited and happy to be in company of people who understand them! When we visited the Hohenzollern Castle a couple months ago, we were standing in line to get tickets and a woman, her husband and kids looked at us and said, "We are American too." I wanted to cry, hug them and keep them in my pocket so I always had another American family with me :) So we all just stood around yakking away, laughing and just enjoying each others company while being surrounded by Germans who were clearly not enjoying our annoying American accents!
Or the next time you have to call a company and you get annoyed that there are other language options, just remember that at some point there will be a 31 year old mom, who is living in America because her husbands job moved them, who will want to cry when she hears the "press 2 for..." option. That little recording will make her day, it will make her feel closer to her real home and it will make her realize that America is a nice, welcoming country.
Please don't get me wrong, I do not feel like Germany needs to have English menus, recordings, etc. I do not expect Germany to cater to us Americans and I don't feel like I deserve it at all. In fact Germany has been a pretty easy transition as they do offer so many options for Americans and for the English speaking public. I just realized how much I love Germany for doing those little things yet while living in America those little things were annoyances. I just didn't understand before but now I do.
I've said it before and I will say it again. I know God is working on me here. He is bringing my weaknesses to the surface so I can work on them and ultimately be a better reflection of Him. I don't know what His plan is for me for the next 3 years or what is in store for me back in the states but I do know that I will leave Germany with a much different, much more open mind then I had before.
