Letter of Surrender

One of the reasons I (mostly) enjoy living in other countries is because the learning curve is so high -- every day is a fresh learning experience. I'd like to share with you one of the newest things I have learned about Germany:

Germans are (apparently) very particular about shoes.

Would you like to know how I know?

When someone (no one in particular, really) is moving from one country (let's call it The United States of America) to another country (just for fun, we'll name it Germany)that person is forced to make serious decisions about how many pairs of shoes one packs. With airline weight limits ever stricter, and shoes being both heavy and bulky, one can clearly understand that a young person moving from one country to another would not bring ALL her shoes with, but would choose those that are the most practical and multi-functional.

And so it was that yours truly arrived in Germany with a few dress shoes; snow boots; sandals; running shoes, and bran new, green felt Dansko clogs. Please don't be alarmed at the green felt description. They're actually quite cool -- a gift from my parents upon my graduation from The Sweden Shop across the street from North Park -- a sort of classy remembrance of my roots.

The reader should know that in Europe, people generally do not wear athletic shoes when they are not playing a sport. Thus, my Danskos function as the European equivalent of the French "chaussures de ville" -- the shoes you wear when you go out, go to work, go into town.

Unfortunatley, clogs, in Germany (ESPECIALLY felt ones), like their cousin Birkenstocks (in my defense, I knew this about Berks before I came), are universally considered house shoes. Slippers. NOT for outdoor use.

I've been wearing the equivalent of slippers for three weeks. Green-felt, attention-grabbing house shoes. The Germans are laughing behind my back as I protest explanations of how good they are - ahem- for one's back in the first place. (See HERE).

And so we come to today. Today, March 24th, I needed to help my boss, Dieter, move. (EJE is changing offices buildings this week). Naturally, I wasn't going to wear my Danskos -- clogs are not so good for moving -- one can't be slipping out of a clog while carrying a box of 165 church hymnals down a flight of stairs.

Unfortunately, I could not wear my running shoes, either, since I did ALL my laundry yesterday, we have no dryer, and all my jeans were wet. So, I was forced to wear black dress pants. (Ladies, support me here: you're not walking out of hte house in black dress pants and bright white and blue, refective-light strip Asics, n'est-ce pas?)


So I was faced with a few choices: 1) Snow boots (I think not) 2) Brown boots (with black pants?) 3) Black dress shoes (slip-ons; a no-go), and 3) My JEEP brand green, beige and black sandals (they're closed-toed, a bit like Keens -- roomates, you know the pair I'm talking about, right?) I pulled what I considered a fairly genius move by pairing black pants with a green and black top and a green scarf in my hair to match the green in the shoes. I even added my boho-chic hemp necklance with green pendant.



I am not kidding when I say that EVERYONE I spent more than 10 minutes with today commented on my shoes. (Er, the fact that I wasn't wearing socks). It's the end of March! Past St. Paddy's! The sun shone today! (Okay it rain/snowed intermittently, too, but it was warm enough). SPRING IS COMING! I needed these shoes in order to have sure footin! I feel I have the right to wear sandals.


Apparently not.


Nor should I wear my house shoes around town as if the shopping mall was my living room.

After a long discussion attempting to defend myself (in German) with my two bosses at the youth center where I work, I finally conceded, and humbly took the directions my friend Joerg gave me to the local place where shoes are cool but relatively inexpensive.



Dear Germany,

I apologize for offending you with my choice of footwear.

I promise to do better next time.

Sincerely yours,

Amanda S. Munroe


(Signed, 24 March 2009, Esslingen, Deutschland)

Banana Juice?

Hello All!

Sorry I've been a little late on posting -- just proof that my life is busy here, which is good! That, and that I am tired at the end of every day because my brain is working to understand everything. Not only the language (though that is a lot of it) but also things like street signs or...I don't know...figuring out how long a lunch break is in Germany, when you should or shouldn't shake someone's hand, etc.

Anyway... this will be a quick, because I am on my lunch break and need to hurry up and pack, because I am heading to AUSTRIA for the weekend to ski!

I've never been to Austria. I was on the border, once, but never made it over. Can't wait! (Though I'm a little bit scared about the skiing part. Especially with so many recent ski accidents in the news!) Oh well.

So, a few things I find amusing about Germany:

-A lot of homes have calendars in the bathroom. I suppose this is a convenient place to review upcoming appointments, actually....maybe we should try it in the US?

-Everything feels HEARTY --people, bikes, the breads --- Lordy, they are all whole grain and the cereal aisle in the grocery store....it's a granola-lover's dream come true!!

-At meetings, people drink juice and mineral water. Together. Actually, people just drink juice all the time. I didn't know this about Germany. This is great though, as musli and juice two of my favorite things in the world.

-A popular favorite juice is banana and cherry juice mixed together (we serve this often at t1, the youth center I work at)


I have to get going, but keep your ears tuned for the next post: pictures from ski weekend, and account of how yours truly managed to eat the same Swabish delicacy five times in one week!


love to you!

amanda

Winnenden School Shooting

Thanks to everyone who expressed their concern about the recent school shooting in Germany. Winnenden, where it happenend, is only about 20 minutes away from Esslingen -- not very far at all; very similar kind of town. I've been around as a lot of people have expressed their shock and horror. It hits home especially hard, I think, with those who work so closely with youth. The kid was only 17 years old.

Tuesday, at t1, (the youth center where I work) Uli, (she's partly in-charge of t1) put up a big piece of paper on the wall and left out markers and art supplies so that our kids had a chance to respond to what happened. It was a good, hands-off way to let them express themselves, I think. A lot of them talked about it in their classrooms at school, so I think they may have been on overload.


This is a bizarre statement to write, but school shootings haven't occured as frequently in Germany as they have in the US, so people here are perhaps more substantialy phased by the occurance.


Please pray for the people of Winnenden, Tim Kretschner's family, and the youth workers in Baden-Wurttemberg as we recover from this crisis.

Gold Bless You!

amanda

First week in Germany

Hallo Zusammen!
......which means hello everyone. My deepest apologies for not writing sooner. It has been a crazy ride. As you know already, my flight to Atlanta was canceled on Friday, meaning I had one extra night in GR with my family. Frustrating, but OK in the end, as I got a direct flight to Stuttgart out of the deal. Had some nice seat partners on my flights, and even arrived early!

PHOTOS:

(Click the caption bubble on the left to see captions, click the Picasa icon on the right to go to the website with my photos [bigger pictures])


Etienne picked me up at the airport and we were right away back to our old tricks -- he drove and I read the map and gave directions -- never mind that I just flew over the ocean for 8+ hours, never mind that I'm not used to European street signs, not to mention that I can't read German!

With our combined intelligences we finally arrived in a nice park in Stuttgart where we could walk around and talk, and later went to lunch and into the pedestrian downtown area. The weather was beautiful and I was reminded of how, in Europe, you can have 500 + people in one place and still have quiet.

On the other hand, I will venture that Germans seem to me much more expressive (louder) than the French. Take example #1, Valerian, my coordinator at CVJM (the Y)...

After tea and some delicious cakes at the Bullard-Werner household (my compliments to Dieter and Nancy on your baking skills and thanks to American friend John for your pleasant company!), I moved into my new room at the Y and met Valerian. Valerian is like a kinder version of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He's big and strong and happy and he has dark hair and often wears a red shirt. He (understandably) coordinates the sport aspects of the Y in Esslingen.

Dieter, my other "boss" is not quite as high-energy as Valerian, but he is no less kind. Dieter sort of reminds me of my Uncle Cliff. Tall and lank, and his hair is sometimes messy but who cares because he is overwhelmingly encouraging, sympathetic, wise, and also goofy. I think I am lucky to have such a balance between two wonderful coordinators!

I'll work M/W/F at CVJM (where I'm living), and T/Th with EJE [you can see more info about each on the links on the side of the page]. I am still learning a million new things every day, so I will save my "job description" for another, shorter post (when I know more what I'm doing!)

EVERYONE here has been so welcoming. I am telling you, if you are going to travel the world, the way to do it is visiting Christians. It has worked really well for me. Each person I've met here is excited that I'm here, incredibly patient with my slow-coming German, and just plain joyful.

Esslingen, the town, is gorgeous. The downtown pedestrian center dates from the middle ages and the half-timbered houses and cobblestone streets are breathtaking. This is only one of the reasons, I think, that so many people I've met grew up in Esslingen and have chosen to stay her. It's a GOOD place to live!

I have so much to tell you, but I know this is getting long, so I'll end with a few ways I've seen God this week. (Thanks for praying for me -- I can feel those prayers. Keep them up, I need them!)

1) Of course, the reception I've been given by absolutely everyone. Ah! They are amazing!

2) Taking the bus home from one of EJE's youth centers on Tuesday, I noticed a sign denoting Esslingen's "Sister Cities."
I laughed out loud when I saw the city in the USA - Sheboygan. Ha! Perhaps Sheboygan, WI, since Cheboygan, MI is spelled with a C. All the same, it made me think of my family and Mackinac Island and I was overjoyed.

Then I laughed a 2nd time because Udine was the Italian sister city! Udine is the town where my best friend Bess worked as a missionary teaching English last year, and is one of three whole cities I've ever visited in Italy. Would you belive it? This is God reminding me of who is praying for me, I thought.

3) On a similar note, one of the china plates in the mis-matched kitcenware that I share with my 5 roommates has a picture of "Chatsworth House, Derbyshire" on it, which is an old English manor a few minutes away from my friend Becky's house in Staffordshire. Her Mom (er, Mum) is always bringing visitors there, says Becky, and it is my most cherished desire to visit one day! (Also, Kiera Knightly's new film The Duchess was vilemed there).

4) This one is a bit more embarassing. It happened on Wednesday, one of my crazy days when I was running from meeting to meeting. I was coming back from the EJE because I was invited for lunch at Valerian's family's house. I got slightly turned around, and spent at least 10 minutes walking up and down one side street that happened to be about 50 meters off from their street, but which I was certain was correct. After said 10 minutes walking around like a chicken with its head cut off, I started praying that God would help me find the house, because I was bordering on late (which is NOT kosher in Deutschland, as I knew, but was more keenly made aware of Thursday when I missed my bus). Anyway, I wandered and wandered, trying to think, without a cell phone, what I was going to do if I didn't make it, if Valerian would come searching for me (after all, I was walking in a 10m circle), or if I'd end up rudely standing them up and totally embarassing myself.

Finally, as is headed down one street which I thought led to another that would turn into the street their house was on. I stopped in my tracks and thie door was in front of me. I am not kidding you when I say I had NO inclination that the door was there. I was completely turned around in my orientation. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter book - medival European town, doors appearing out of nowhere, you know the drill...

God's grace is good.

Thanks for praying for me keep me updated on your lives, pl;ease!

More to come soon.

Bis Bald!

Amanda