Wie ghet's Ihnin?

Today I decided that I have not had as much cultural experience as I would like. It is very easy to get swept up in the BFA/North American community here and ignore the German community altogether. It's one of the reasons that many of the missionaries who work at the school or with Janz Team can have lived here for 8+ years and know very little German (also most Kandern Germans only speak a dialect of German found here in the southern part of the country). I have two reasons to stay enclosed in the North American community: 1) I don't have much time to take jaunters around town or to visit nearby places. 2) It is more comfortable for me to not venture out. I didn't realize how intimidating it can be to face a culture I cannot communicate with by myself. I didn't have this experience the last time I was here, but I was with a bunch of CU friends then. It is different to take it all on, seemingly alone. Part of my plan to "encounter more German culture" begins with learning more of their language. I've decided to learn one phrase a day. I know that with my time and duration here, I won't be able to learn the language, so I'd rather learn phrases and expressions for conversational German. My phrase today is "How are you?" thus "Wie ghet's Ihnin?" or just "Wie ghet's?"

This morning I took my Harry Potter book 2, a camera, chapstick, and my keys on a walk. We went a route I had done earlier with Maria to Riedlingen. The day was pleasant with a sunny, blue sky and 65 degree weather. The path is most beautiful, about a 20 minute walk both in covered woods and public areas, and I was glad to stop as I liked to take scenic pictures (until my battery died). I stopped at a now favorite spot to read a few chapters and then turned around to head back. My "ground beef" story of today was my path through the golf course. Part of the walking path merges for about 1/4 mile with a golf course path. Being a beautiful day and a German holiday, there were many golfers out and about. Previously, Julie and I had been on another part of the course and had been shooed away with a sharp reprimand for jogging on golfing property. As I wandered off today, I was shooed again. I now realize that this 1/4 mile strip is the only one that non-golfers are allowed to be on.

Once I had that down, on my returning walk, I thought I wouldn't have any more run-ins. Let me digress for a minute: I've been given the impression that Germans are rather curt and direct. My interactions with them thus far have been devoid of pleasant vocal tones, kind smiles, and a desire to understand and be understood. I smile now to think of it, however, because I believe that I provoke most of the curt attitudes I receive. It has been the case several times thus far that when I pass a German who wishes to talk with me, I don't realize they are talking to me (obviously, I don't know what they're saying). It is only at the raised-voice, intentional-tone point that I stop to turn around and see that they were talking to me all along (otherwise, I just think they are talking with whomever they are walking). So, it is no wonder that when I actually give them my "time of day," they are a little perturbed that I seemed to initially ignore them and that I won't even speak their language. Back to today. So I began to enter the 1/4 mile strip again, casually passing some golfers, when they began to talk to me, which I realized the third sentence through. I got the impression that they wanted me to stop as someone was about to tee-off and I would be in the way. I politely waited and began to walk again with the "waiting crowd" up the path. About 30 feet later, the crowd I was with stopped (obviously to tee-off again), but I kept walking because the path went to the side of where they were aiming. However, I again heard a "halt," and turned around to see what was up. The two ladies started speaking in German, but switched to very good English when I told them I didn't speak German. The one was very short and told me to wait till she was done, the other made a partial joke about what type of ball they were using and how much it would hurt if it were to hit me. I appreciated her kind affectation, but gave a covered scowl to the other one. At this rate, I thought I'd never get through the strip. Finally, after both had finished their swings, I quickly walked on, hoping to just get through and stop offending/bothering people and myself. I was grateful when the paths separated again, and I could just enjoy the nature by myself. For a while I was affected by the situation, frustrated that I given an unintentional rude impression to them because of my ignorance. But then I realized that it really wasn't my fault, I hadn't intended to be rude, and laughed to myself. At least I know proper German golfing etiquette now (I wonder if this is American golfing etiquette also? I wouldn't know).

Looking back on the week...

Wednesday and Thursday went smoothly. The senior class left for their week-long trip to Rome on Thursday night. I was surprised by myself at the end of 7th period. When the final school bell rang, all the seniors excitedly got up and began talking and running for the door. The way they were so excited to leave school and move on to something new reminded me of what senior year graduations are like. Especially at a boarding school or college, this time is difficult because everyone knows they won't ever see most of their classmates again. While this wasn't the-last-schoolday-of-the-year day, the excitement and anticipation felt the same. For a few seconds, I got a wave of sadness to see them go. I have only known them for two weeks, and really haven't even begun to develop relationships with them, and yet the parting was bittersweet. I thought to how hard it must be to see your seniors leave when you are the full-time teacher and have known many of the students and their siblings/parents for many years (as in Jill's case). It's the same feeling you get when a sports season ends and you say goodbye to the team, or when any significant phase of your life ends. Yes, you're excited about what's coming next, but you realize too that you'll never be in that place with those people with these feelings again. My few seconds of sorrow and nostalgia were insignificant really, but it did make me think more about transitions, attachments, and opportunities.

Friday was concentration camp field day for the 10th graders. We traveled about 1.5 hours away from Kandern into France. This concentration camp, Natzweiler-Struthof, was the only one located in France and was a labor camp, not a death camp. It's relatively small compared to most and was used mainly to house French and German resistance, though there were some Jews/Poles/Gypsies, etc. This is the first time I'd been to an actual concentration camp. I was unsure as to how it would affect me since I have read a lot about the Holocaust, been to several memorials/museums, and am familiar with what went on. The visit was more sobering than I expected. It's hard to describe, I will partially try, but it's more like you have to be there, to see and know for yourself. Basically, I realized that I was standing on the ground and in the buildings where some of the cruelest and most heinous acts were committed. I heard about the specific scientific experiments that were performed and saw the instruments and "furniture" used to commit them. I viewed the crematorium and the ash pit used to "make room" for more. I saw the rooms and heard vividly described the scenarios where people were lined up and shot. I saw the hangman's noose and learned of the sadistic mental games the SS played on those intermed there. Probably the most startling part of the trip was when we visited the gas chamber. An anatomical "doctor" studying nearby wanted specimens to study, hoping to find a genetic difference between races that would prove an inferior and superior race. He "ordered" Gypsies and Jews from Natzweiler who were gassed and then "stored" in vats, which we saw, to be shipped to the doctor. Being there, seeing the pictures, hearing the stories, and knowing that all this happened but 50 years ago made me (and the 10th graders) really pause to reflect on and consider what man is capable of. It is of course not pleasant to see, and there were times I wanted to plug my ears and not know, but I knew I needed to know. History affects the future, for those who care to look. It is imporant to know what man has done and is capable of, lest later generation think they are any better and will do things any differently.

Another interesting part of this trip was hearing about the war from the German perspective. Allow me this disclaimer: what I am about to discuss has nothing to do with who was right and who was wrong or where blame should be placed. It is simply an observation on the commonality of humanity.

Several of the chaperones had fathers and aunts and uncles who were in the war, serving (often by force) as Nazis or in the SS. These chaperones talked about their German relatives in the war. They told how few veterans talked about what happened as many were forced to do what they did, and experienced, though in a different way, severe emotional scarring also. More than the German economy and politics was left in ruins after the war. I left with unanswerable questions and thoughts about how all of this came about. Previously I had only ever thought about the Jewish perspective or the American perspective, but now I also realize that many Germans were suffering, confused, and hopeless as well. I left with a new perspective, thinking less about the importance of sides, and who did what, but rather about the sorrows of all mankind and the corruption of power. I'm not at all trying to say that what was done in the concentration camps was somehow less grievous because of the cost the German people suffered. I simply added another perspective to what I already knew: to separate the country from the individual. On both sides, the sense of loss and the question of "why?" haunted those who survived the war.

This week gave me both funny and sobering exeriences. I was glad for both. The weekend holds much lesson planning and study. I want to know Hamlet backwards and forwards before I begin teaching it full time a week from now.

Also, I went to McDonalds!!