As the 4 month anniversary of my return to the Heimatland has passed quietly, I am inspired to share some vignette-style observations about my life among my people so far.
1. Germans to do no like to smile.
Ok, this is a little bit harsh, as a lot of Germans smile regularly, even on a daily basis. My general statement of this nature is based on my average interaction with other Germans (I swear, I have never been more aware of not being of German origin than reentering the country of my citizenship after 13 years!) during mundane activities of daily life, such as the grocery store, the bus stop, the post office, the sidewalk. And based on these interaction, I am realizing that my dazzling smile, displaying my straight (thanks to years of orthodontics!) and unstained (thank God I quit smoking when I did) teeth to my fellow people. More often than not, I am left hanging with my friendly countenance, looking at cold stares, squinted eyes, and maybe, if I am lucky, a quiver of an upper or lower lip, possibly a smirk. What else can a girl ask for?
Now, after this rather critical and possibly cynical view, I would be amiss if I would not mention the many students I work with, who do respond to my smiling, as well as some of the store staff in some of the stores I frequent regularly, such as the veggie and fruit stand 2 minutes from my house.
What can I say? I have, my dear friends, been corrupted by the American public smiling phenomenon and am finding it hard to adjust. Thus, my resolve is to not let the grumpiness get to me, as beneath it are often hearts of gold, courtesy, and kindness, which are great qualities of many Germans, wide and far.
2. The sun does not like Germany.
Seriously, I see the complaints of my Maryland friends, who, after two days of no sunshine, start complaining about the dreariness of grey and cold winter. Hah, you have seen nothing yet!!! Try northern Germany in December... or January.... or February... I swear: the two weeks that +David Conrad May was here over Christmas and New Year's Eve, we saw the sun twice. He left on Sunday, December 6, and after having already been deprived of sunshine for the week prior to his departure, I had to wait for another week to see some golden rays. Finally, last Saturday, the sun shone brightly in my face during my morning run in the cold. It was glorious, and I changed my route around the park several times, so that I could face the sunlight, even though that meant that I had to run up and down that same darn hill several times!
To combat the lack of sunshine, I just started using a light therapy lamp with the lovely name "Melissa." Thus, if you hear me lovingly refer to my new friend Melissa, I am talking about my beautiful lamp. And boy, is she bright! Supposedly, these lights assist with combating the winter blues and make you more energetic. I will keep you posted. So far, day 1 of light therapy, and I can say that I feel pretty good, even motivated enough to write my blog!
3. Forming lines when getting in and out of trains or buses seems a foreign concept in Germany.
Have you ever tried to get off a packed train or bus in a German city? Good luck, and get your boxing gloves out! Otherwise, you will get run over either by overeager and completely self-absorbed teenagers (ok, that might not be typical for Germans, but a developmental side-effect), grumpy elderly men, or inebriated sport fans (yes, Hamburg has two football clubs that play on the weekends, so I get stuck with the fans).
Honestly, this inability to form an organized line or procedure to navigate entering and exiting vehicles of public transportation seems surprising for a people known all over the world for not only embracing organization, but worshipping it. As the Coca-Cole executive C.R. MacNamara (fantastic performance by James Cagney), from Billy Wilder's 1961 classic film One, Two, Three, says: "It's that damned German efficiency." Unfortunately, public behavior around public transportation has not been blessed with this.
Even though these three particular things can grind away at my serenity from time to time, I love being able to ride my bicycle everywhere; the trains and buses are on time - heck, there is even an accurate timetable for every train or bus, and they are pretty darn accurate - and the Northern German sky, when the sun is shining, is as wide and beautiful as you could wish for.
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