Learning German

Today we went to a German language class. We weren't exactly looking forward to an 8-4 class, however we were incredibily surprised at how much fun we had. The teacher is an older German lady who is hilarious and liked to sing classic country music songs. She taught the class how to say numbers, months, and food items. The class taught her English slang like, "homeboy" and "making out." Besides language lessons, we also had culture lessons, sharing and explaining some of the perplexing, quirky, and sometimes seemingly rude things in the German culture.

For instance, our teacher likened our gesture of smiling at everyone we meet, no matter our real mood, as a form of 'cultural discipline,' and a way of picking an American out of a crowd fairly easily. Germans have a similar 'cultural discipline,' yet are much more stoic, and do not share any sort of facial expression with you at all. The attitude is that "I do not want to involve you in my problems, situations, or emotions." So the German who may appear to look at you without smiling when you meet on the sidewalk isn't being rude- he's being considerate! It's these type of things, however small they are, that give you a better perspective on our own culture.

The day of instruction finished off with the teacher professing profound admiration for U.S. servicemembers as a holdover for gratitude dating from World War II. She shared stories from her girlhood of American tanks rolling through her village and being lifted up to ride on them for a bit, or the Americans handing out food at a local school, and more recently for the dedication required for the Berlin Airlift, which she said the schoolchildren called "raisin bombers," due to the amount of Sunmaid raisin boxes in airlifted care packages which were heartily welcomed as a snack treat by kids. She also said the change in mindset the Americans (and only the Americans) had brought about during peace negotiations among the allies was a much-needed change that helped change the cycle of violence in Europe from major wars every 30 years or so (thus every generation experienced war at least once) to one where no major war has occurred in Europe in over 50 years now.

Lucy the dog has had the opportunity to meet many dogs. The trend here is that most Germans walk their dog off the leash, and the dog follows along at his master's side. The master carries the leash and attaches it when neccessary. (like when they meet Lucy) Needless to say, Lucy has a long way to go to ever reach that point, IF she ever reaches that point. But she has made remarkable progress with all the time, attention, and dog-walking going on. Dogs are truly welcome everywhere here, and Lucy got to go with us to get a Belgian waffle. She stood and peacefully watched people go by in the restaurant, and after a while, one of the guys working behind the counter brought a dog dish full of water out for Lucy. "On the house." :)

One more note for those of you who read car magazines- we saw the new Mercedes Benz C-class in camouflage regalia, just like you see in the "spy pictures" in the car magazines. Mercedes has several facets of their business here, including headquarters, so it's highly likely they were doing some final testing before rolling out the model for the new year.