Culture Shock.

I mentioned on Facebook a week or two ago that I was dealing with culture shock, and thought I should elaborate a bit on what kind of culture shock I'm experiencing. Yes, I lived in Berlin for a year already and there really shouldn't be any surprises, right? Well, there are some surprises, just different ones. Ones that have less to do with the country and more to do with... deeper stuff. (For the most part. ;) I'll start with the most superficial types of culture shock and work my way to the more serious ones.

1. If I hear one more German start talking about American food being fatty, I'm going to throw Nutella and sausage at him and dunk him in his own whole milk. (Just kidding.) Yes, we Americans eat some fatty things, like hamburgers and French fries and fried chicken. But for one thing, it's not like we eat that stuff every day. I certainly don't. Those are occasional splurges, not the norm. For another, America's problem of obesity has a lot to do with how much we eat, not just what we eat. And lastly... let's compare German food. Germans eat plenty of French fries themselves. Schnitzel? Not exactly good for your heart. Their meat (especially pork) is usually fattier. Skim milk is an oddity, and I don't think I've ever seen fat-free yoghurt. And if you compare the nutritional values of Nutella and peanut butter, you will find very close caloric values, but peanut butter, though it has more fat, has less sugar and a lot more protein. And finally... we Americans do not feel the need to butter EVERYTHING. When I buy a German sandwich, all I taste is the butter (they usually pre-make them so I have no choice except to peace out and go to Subway instead). At Abendbrot recently, I was teased for NOT putting butter on my bread before adding cream cheese. Can someone explain this to me? My cream cheese does not need butter! But enough about that for now... The bottom line is, after awhile, it gets a little old to keep hearing people questioning everything people from your country do (as if all Americans were the same). But I don't take it personally. I just have to vent once in awhile. :)

2. The German government will pay for everything. This doesn't really affect me too much at the moment, but as I consider the possibility of staying in Germany long-term, there is one thing that I prefer to avoid if at all possible: German taxes. I just can't imagine buying into a system of government like this, where the government makes so many decisions for you and pays for things I believe people ought to work for and earn. Won't go into any specifics because I don't want to offend German readers. But I have a serious problem with some of the things I've heard or read about.

3. Teachers at my school complain day-in, day-out, even though they have it SO easy compared to American teachers. The teacher I work with is at school from 8 till 1 or 2 at the latest, and having to teach 5 periods in a day is rough. My teachers back home were at school with their kids all day, from 8 to 3, then usually stayed an hour or so to prepare for the next day or grade homework. When I taught science camp, I was with my kids from 9 to 4 with an hour lunch break in the middle. With the rowdier classes, there's a lot of frustration if there's not an Erzieher (a sort of teacher-aide, hard to explain) with her in the room. I'm used to much rowdier kids all by myself. You can imagine how annoying the complaining gets! And even if I didn't have anything to compare it to, at the end of the day, complaining helps nothing. If there's a problem, let's talk about it and come up with a way to solve it. (On a similar note - at our school, teachers sort of give up at a certain point if their kids aren't learning things. Our 5th graders don't know their multiplication tables, and the teachers insist they can't force the kids to learn them, so they go on. I know it's harder with students with this kind of background, but there's got to be a way to put a little pressure on these kids to learn something that essential.)

4. Political (in)correctness. I hear things at school from teachers that an American would never say, certainly not in front of a classroom of students. It really kills me when I hear something like, "Now the problem is that our kids here don't know the German __ or the Turkish __," in front of the students. And even behind closed doors there is a lot that shocks me - the uproar over kids who were fasting during Ramadan (which happens every year, by the way!), or over kids who won't eat the cafeteria food (which frequently includes meat) because of religious reasons. The kids from my church all have vegetarian options at their schools every day, but this idea is considered absurd at my school. Is it really that hard to serve something without meat every day? Even if you disagree with a religion or a culture, is it really helpful for students to be constantly put into conflicts of conscience at school? Does it help the learning process for children to feel like they have to choose between doing what their parents want and doing what their teachers want?

In addition to these sort of German-American culture shock issues, I'm also experiencing culture shock in a less "national" way, much like I did when I returned to the States from my year studying in Berlin. These are times when I'm really aware of the different "culture" I've received through Christ.

One of them also has to do with school: I really love every single one of my students. Some kids are tougher than others; some classes are tougher than others; but I love them all and want to give all them everything I can. This is apparently pretty abnormal. Most people seem to want to give only where they are sure of seeing results, and only to those who have "earned" it. I get this vibe at school a lot. They give up because they don't see results, it doesn't seem worth it. Or they don't try with some who are particularly strong-willed against the teacher. When I worked at the science center I struggled with this and God did a great thing - He taught me how to love one of my most difficult kids. I don't ever want to lose that ability.

The other one is a toughy. It's a shock simply because I have no idea what to think or do (if anything). We've had some conflict in our church. I'm not involved and don't know any details, but it's been extremely heavy on my heart. It kills me to know that people I love have hurt each other. I'm sure it's (more or less) "normal," and as far as I know, much has been done to bring about reconciliation. But it still breaks my heart to think about it. Conflicts in other places have never bothered me the same way. It's so hard. I feel sort of sick about it, because the body of Christ is sick and needs healing. But I do believe we have a faithful Healer. (*Update 10/12: Since I originally wrote this post there have been even more improvements. God is faithful!)

Wow, that was a pretty heavy blog post. I really am doing very well here and I'm extremely happy to be where I am, no matter what! All of this is just stimulating lots of thoughts and questions about the future and what I'm really here for. I guess we'll find out in due time...
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