Cheryl on the Web

I’ve decided that having a German place of residence doesn’t mean that I really live in Germany, and no amount of German class is going to change that. I mean, apart from the address on my mail, it would be hard to know exactly what country I’m in. You know, saying “Good evening”, “Bye”, and “Can I have a plastic sack with that?” in German in the supermarket on a weekly basis is not enough to convince me that I live in Germany. Even the lack of fresh vegetables in the supermarket, the crazy number of holidays, the mandatory recycling of plastic, and the lack of speed limit on the highway don’t really give me the German feeling. I mean, all these things can be found in various other countries as well, and I can’t really identify any of them with Germany.

That’s the crux of the problem: I can’t identify anything with Germany. And it’s not because I’m a recluse (at least not by choice), it’s just because I have no familiarity with anyone or anything German, with the significant exception of my lovely neighbor who - for good or for bad - speaks better “American” than I do and therefore does not count. At least not at the moment. For the rest, there are no Germans in my department at work; the neighbors above us are also not German; most of the people we socialize with through Tim’s work either aren’t German or the conversation and interaction is always in that multi-culti English mode because of the work connection.

I would find it really handy to speak German 100% fluently (which is really the only reason I’m taking the course) but I admit that I am beginning to feel a sense of futility, because language and integration go hand in hand - it’s hard to get one going without the other. I will learn a lot in my German class, but as with most things: practice makes perfect, and without practice .. well, you know :)