One of the biggest adjustments to being in Germany, was getting used to the culture. In Japan, everyone is super nice and nobody wants to shame you by pointing out that you did something wrong. If you did something wrong in Japan, the Japanese often wouldn't tell you or just fix it for you right away. In Germany, however, Germans want to ensure you know the system and follow it. So, if you do something wrong, they point it out and make sure you know that you're wrong and there's a different way to do it. Germans also stare. In America, we stare, but we try to go unnoticed. So... it was a little stressful in Germany, knowing that people watch your every move and will openly point out wrongdoings. Add to the fact that German isn't the nicest sounding language, and you've got potentially stressful situations when you don't know what to do or how to do something.
Overall, I feel like I've adjusted to the culture and I'm not as intimidated by the culture as when I first moved here.
I came across this picture on Facebook this week, and thought it was super funny!
1 comment:
Beth,
I love your writing and your wonderful photos. It's so interesting the way you perceived different aspects of the Japanese and German way of doing things. I've experienced the smiling and nodding of a Japanese person who I thought was saying yes to a suggestion of mine, but found out the next day that they were thinking no, no, no, but couldn't say it. It may or may not be true that there is a German cultural ethos that lends them to be more direct. However, there are definite benefits to knowing where you stand with someone. My daughter Suzan might tell you about Mrs. Klein, our neighbor who observed and noted everything that went on up and down our block in Mahopac, New York, but she was really kind and doing us all a service. We would all be safer in our communities if we had more people like that who felt it was their duty as neighbors to look out for each other.
I'm Irish through and through, but I was adopted by a woman who was German through and through. She could be a little cool or a little tough at times, but I always knew I could count on her, something many children do not have in their parents today. In my recent post, one paragraph highlights the way she made our house a home.
So glad to have found your blog. Sounds like you have a beautiful ministry.
Good luck!
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