Challenges facing a returning Brit after four months away!
So, there was a lot of stuff explained to us before we came out here by the the Lecturers at Bath about cultural awareness, and how life in Germany may be different from life in the UK. Now, it's my turn to return the gesture, and explain the challenges that are facing me, and my fellow assistants on our return to our home country!
The first, and certainly most dangerous, cultural difference between Germany and the UK, is that when you cross a road in Germany you look left first...I'll give you a couple more minutes to think it through before nodding to yourself in agreement......whereas, because in the UK we drive on the left, you look right before you cross. Now, when you're at home you don't give it a second thought, but for about the first two weeks over here, you have to force yourself to think "Look Left, you muppet"...based on this cultural difference alone, I would like to apologise if there are no further blog entries on this blog - it will have been because I will have been killed by the UK being different to the majority of mainland Europe!
Secondly, and this is only applicable if you live outside of London in the UK. All buses over here have a door at the front (as do they at home I know, I'm not dense), but over here that door serves as an entrance only, with a door in the middle of the bus as an exit. Now, it's only a matter of time before I get on a bus at home, press the buzzer, get out of my seat and walk back towards the middle of the bus, before attempting to make it look planned and not like I was being a bit dim. This cultural difference isn't dangerous, but seriously runs the risk of damaging your pride!
During my time over here, you may have noticed that I socialise quite regularly with other English assistants. During these meetings, it's true that we speak 99% of the time in English. This does not however mean that our German suffers, in fact if we didn't speak in English, our English standard would diminish substantially over the time we were out here. Indeed, presently, my English is at a lower standard than when I left...I quite often find my saying English sentences using German word order, which is nowhere near similar for you non-Germanists! Not only has my English proficiency decreased, we, as assistants, have developped our own take on English. We, invariably, interject English sentences with random German words - not out of any attempt at humour...it just seemed to develop out of nowhere. One example of this is that I would find it difficult to say: "We'll meet at the train station"...instead, you're more likely to hear "We'll meet at the [Haupt]Bahnhof" cross my lips - now over hear with other fellow Germanists that's not a problem - we all understand each other, but at home...this could be a problem...I could end up looking a twit!
On the subject of language, I would like to comment on a similar issue. When we, as assistants, do go out together, we find it very easy to pick up on each others' mistakes in English - but we all make similarly stupid mistakes. It is not uncommon for me not to now the English word for common everyday items anymore, but to be able to tell you what it is in German without too much hesitation! This means, that despite English being my Mother Tongue, I may appear as a bit of a foreigner, or just a moron, on my return - if I do, please bear with me...I will get there...it might take a minute or two though!
Another, quite obvious, point is that in Germany the currency is the Euro (€). Now this, in itself, is not too big a problem, you get used to that. But the biggest difference between the Euro and Sterling is the coinage - why, oh why, is Sterling coinage ridiculous shapes? What's wrong with having round coins? I am now at the stage, where I'm recognising the coins by their size in my pocket without having to look. So what I hear you ask? Well, during the holidays I'll be working in a supermarket; and if I'm put on the tills, I'm going to spend the first few minutes just looking at the coins in puzzlement! So, if you see me at the till, and you're paying cash - choose another till!
The final cultural difference, which springs to mind, on this my final evening in Germany before Christmas, is one which I'm entirely guilty of! (I know that's not proper English, but I don't care!) When you wait for a bus at home, you turn up at the bus stop a few minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive at the bus stop, you wait patiently until the bus turns up; which when I was at home could be anything up to 25-30 minutes. You did this in a British way, i.e. without complaining and just accepting that this is the way life is sometimes...and that there's nothing that you can do about it - indeed you, deep down, expected it to happen like that! Now, in Germany, where, generally (although there have been a few exceptions), public transport runs punctually, it is not uncommon to arrive at the bus stop about 2-5 minutes before the bus is scheduled to turn up, and then it starts. The discrete watch checking - until the scheduled bus time passes, then it's acceptable to do it visibly and also sigh in a complaining manner, and after about 2 minutes, it's acceptable to doubt the bus' arrival at all. After 3-4 minutes, you start complaining to other passenger about it. If the bus does turn up with a delay, say about 5-6 minutes, it's as if it's completely ruined your whole schedule for the day! Now, I'm not sure it would be a good idea for me to use public transport in the UK - I'm not quite patient enough anymore!
So, as you can see, whilst it's difficult setting up life in another country, where life is quite different - coming home poses just as many challenges, although they are somewhat more frustrating because 4 months ago, I would have had no problems with any of the challenges listed above!
I'll sign off now from Germany. My next entry will be written from my room in Wiltshire, and be about the trip back. During the holidays I'll be taking up my old job in Morrisons! Check back on the 10th January for the first entry of my time back in Germany!
Auf Wiedersehen, Froehe Weihnachtszeit und ich wuensche Ihnen alles Gut fuer's neue Jahr!
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