Living overseas in a foreign country is quite different than just traveling there as a tourist. A tourist is just visiting and passes through in a short time. Our experience was different. We took our family and moved there. We had to find a rental house, a car to drive and pass a driving exam to get a foreign driver’s license. We also had to learn how to run a German washing machine and dryer. We had to locate a store to buy things; food, furniture, small appliances, shoes, etc. And we had to figure out where to go to get phone and internet services and other basic utilities hooked up or transferred into our names. And we had to accomplish all of this within a country that spoke a foreign language we did not know. Our one advantage was that since my husband was a contractor to the Department of Defense (DOD), we did have the option to shop on the local military bases.
We had begun learning a bit of German before we actually moved there. We knew a few small words like “nein” for no, “ja” for yes, “mais” for corn and “hallo” for hello. That was about it. Fortunately for us, the German people are patient, gracious and tend to know a little English. Our survival phrase those first few months was, “Sprechen Sie Englisch, Bitte?” (Do you speak English, please?)
And they would usually reply humbly with, “Yes, a little bit.” Well, I am here to say that hands down their “little bit” was more than quite a bit and usually enough to get us pointed in the right direction, standing in the correct line or even get our questions answered completely. We were impressed!
One of the largest differences between America and Germany is their land usage. Germany still has clear cut borders between farms, towns, and forests. There really are no suburbs or urban sprawl in Germany. Thus, Americans drive everywhere while Germans walk. Most Germans live in small towns and villages and they are able to walk almost everywhere within their own town. Germans do own cars, very well-engineered cars, and they use them. However, gasoline (petrol) is tremendously expensive and if they are going somewhere, they often walk or take public transportation.
In our town in Germany we could walk to several bakeries, the library, the bank, the electronics and small appliance shop, the grocery store, the park, the post office and the local ice-cream parlor. There were often limited parking options at these places so it just made sense to walk. It was wonderfully refreshing to use my legs for their God-given purpose on a daily basis. This is the norm in Germany. Now that we are back in the states, I have to get into a car and drive to get to any of the previously mentioned places. Just a week ago Saturday, I found myself in a car driving several miles each way to return a library book, buy one needed item at the grocery store and to return a rented video. I sat in my car at a stoplight while running these errands and looked around at cars full of people in every direction and parking lots full of cars and thought, this is just so wrong. Why can’t we build towns that require the use of our legs anymore?
Then yesterday, our family delivered a meal to some friends with a newborn daughter and four other young children in their family. These particular friends live on acreage in a small town here in our area. They built a house right next door to their parents on the same property. They are a wonderful, fun, young family and my kids like to drive out to their “farm” to visit on occasion. Well, on this particular visit, it just so happens that I managed to slip and twist my ankle on the front door mat and I needed some Ibuprofen for the pain and swelling. My friend was out of Ibuprofen so she called her Mom and her Mom brought me over some Motrin to take instead. But here’s the thing; her Mom actually jumped on a 4-wheeler and drove the Motrin bottle over to me 50 yards away (at most) and back! Now, that is purely, 100%-American. I am almost at a loss for words when it takes a 4-wheeler to deliver a bottle of Motrin next door. Don’t get me wrong, I was thankful she was willing to bring it, but whatever happened to walking? America has got to be the #1 laziest nation on the planet! No wonder we are overwhelming obese as a country. We just do not walk hardly anywhere, any more, unless you count perusing the aisles at Wal-Mart or jaunts to and from the store from the parking lot.
I feel fortunate to know that other people live differently in this respect. This knowledge can be frustrating at times in this drive-through-crazed nation, but somehow there is even some comfort in the outrage at our dependence and wastefulness of oil in connection with the automobile. Somehow I tend to see this absurdity now more clearly. These were the kinds of lessons learned by living in another place on another continent and not just by being a tourist there.
And just to be fair, there were things about America that we missed. We missed Charmin, our double kitchen sink, a washing machine with a 20-minute-washing cycle, having a freezer larger than a breadbox, being able to read the road signs, being able to stand upright at any point in our house including the upstairs without hitting our heads on the ceiling.
But there is great freedom in residing in someone else’s culture, for a time, and just being an observer. It was not our culture so we could simply observe and analyze but we did not have to necessarily partake. This was not our home country thus; we were not going to be here forever so we just did not get too worked up over the small stuff. These are fabulous lessons with terrific parallels for the Christian life. For we, as Christians, are truly living in another culture no matter our home country. We will not be here forever and thus this world is not our home so maybe we should not get too worked up over the small stuff.
Well, even though Germany was not our true home country or culture, we quickly grew fond of their daily pace of life and routine; church bells clanging every hour, everything closing by 6pm and the incredible peaceful and dead quiet of the nights. Thus, it became our home away from home. When we crossed borders into other countries, there was always this sense of relief when we re-entered Germany. It was familiar. We knew what to expect, where to find things, and how to read the road signs. In small and subtle ways, their norms became our norms and we were changed by the experience. I do not think we even realized this until we left and returned home to America, but Germany will forever hold a fondness in our hearts because of this familiarity. It will always be my home away from home this side of heaven.
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