Initial Steps
Germany. Land of kamikaze bicycle riders and yes, it's true, Beer. Cannot say with full authority if this constitutes All of Germany, or just my current Bavarian state. How can one describe a past memory fused into current reality. Am equally fascinated and confounded by it all.
I feel as if I should by virtue of DNA and childhood memories, "understand" it all, and yet, my genes have mutated. America has crept into my bloodstream via 4th of July barbecues and constitutional beliefs waved rakishly by Uncle Sam over broken years.
Such a "well-behaved" society, and no valium in sight. Guten Morgens float after me from strangers as I walk the neighborhood and city. Am told this is however, a persona restricted to this area. Munich, that is. Berlin, rife with clashing and gnashing does not flow this far.
We have begun our initial cultural submersion with the usual unexpected challenges and gaffes. The surest way to immerse, stumble and eventually Learn a culture is - to shop. Odd, but true! All the familiar labels, directions and known cultural guidelines are stripped away and one is reduced to the visual picture and a positive, daring decision. Eeny Meeny Minny Mo... Take the simple task of buying Milk. Full or skim. In every country, not only does it Look different, Sound different, many times it IS different. (India for example. A good example of Ask NO questions regarding sources...)
Here, we were astonished by 5 + options! Am Not going to ask what the cows eat or do here to provide such complexity. Add to this other basic household requirements of laundry, school items and just plain -stuff, and you know why shopping can become exhausting Work. Why finding Root-Beer can cause one to mentally dance in the aisle as if with a long lost lover. A kiss of the familiar.
It would be easy to hide in the expat community. The temptation, at the end of frustrating day is there. Dangling like the proverbial carrot. But our eyes would be different then. We would see out of a Glass Darkly. Somehow, the madness of falling down the rabbit-hole, Alice-like is more enticing. It offers unexpected surprises, White and Red Queens and Cheshire cats abound.
Some days, we grow taller, others' we shrink back into ourselves.
There are "easy" road, and "hard" paths. But, if we do not wander off the beaten path, will we ever truly understand ourselves or, others?
I feel as if I should by virtue of DNA and childhood memories, "understand" it all, and yet, my genes have mutated. America has crept into my bloodstream via 4th of July barbecues and constitutional beliefs waved rakishly by Uncle Sam over broken years.
Such a "well-behaved" society, and no valium in sight. Guten Morgens float after me from strangers as I walk the neighborhood and city. Am told this is however, a persona restricted to this area. Munich, that is. Berlin, rife with clashing and gnashing does not flow this far.
We have begun our initial cultural submersion with the usual unexpected challenges and gaffes. The surest way to immerse, stumble and eventually Learn a culture is - to shop. Odd, but true! All the familiar labels, directions and known cultural guidelines are stripped away and one is reduced to the visual picture and a positive, daring decision. Eeny Meeny Minny Mo... Take the simple task of buying Milk. Full or skim. In every country, not only does it Look different, Sound different, many times it IS different. (India for example. A good example of Ask NO questions regarding sources...)
Here, we were astonished by 5 + options! Am Not going to ask what the cows eat or do here to provide such complexity. Add to this other basic household requirements of laundry, school items and just plain -stuff, and you know why shopping can become exhausting Work. Why finding Root-Beer can cause one to mentally dance in the aisle as if with a long lost lover. A kiss of the familiar.
It would be easy to hide in the expat community. The temptation, at the end of frustrating day is there. Dangling like the proverbial carrot. But our eyes would be different then. We would see out of a Glass Darkly. Somehow, the madness of falling down the rabbit-hole, Alice-like is more enticing. It offers unexpected surprises, White and Red Queens and Cheshire cats abound.
Some days, we grow taller, others' we shrink back into ourselves.
There are "easy" road, and "hard" paths. But, if we do not wander off the beaten path, will we ever truly understand ourselves or, others?
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