Germany vs. America?

Currently, I decided not to pursue the German language. Well, not in Germany anyway. I am a perfectionist and would probably have spent the entire rest of my visit studying if I would have continued. I didn’t want to stress out about studying and wanted to enjoy the rest of my time here. Plus my heart wasn’t in it. When I was in German class, I was really wishing it was Spanish instead. I have learned common phrases and enough to get me by and that’s all I really wanted to know anyway. My brother told me I really should be learning Chinese because those people are the ones taking over the world. :)

The class wasn’t a total loss though, I learned a ton of German history and the basics of the language. Also on the way out, I saw a flyer for an American-German Choir so I decided to go! Two days later, I took the train, and arrived at Vereinsheim Chorgemeinschaft Stuttgart-Munster Choir loft. The place was filled with older ladies and gentleman who were all passionate about singing. It was awesome! A lady named Franny took me under her wing. Introduced me to everyone, sat me in the alto section and gave me the music that we were singing which included John Rutter’s Christmas Carols as well as a variety of German pieces. The choir was getting ready for a Christmas concert so I just jumped in and followed suit. It was a fun, very fast practice. Although, the choir director was really stern which made me very thankful for having Mr. Philpot (the coolest H.S. choir director around).The music was so beautiful and I can’t wait to listen to the concert they invited me to on Sunday! I made many new older friends that night which is great. When I meet Germans, I always like to ask them what they think of America. One lady said that the only place she ever saw in the USA was Detroit, Michigan. We both then laughed REALLY hard and she said, “There must be prettier cities.” lol Another lady chimed in with“Americans are very friendly, always on the go, make perfect housewife’s, not very cultured though.”

I, then asked her what she liked best about Germany and she replied the culture. It’s a big thing here in German to be ‘cultured.’ She continued by saying that in America, we have really big televisions but not much good news on to watch and it seems people hardly watch the news anyway or read the newspaper. From the outside looking in, I can see that. In Germany, American pop culture and the entertainment industries are HUGE. They know about all the celebrities, have American movies/television shows; American music plays on the radio, etc. That’s what we’re known for. They also REALLY love Obama. I am willing to bet 8/10 Germans could tell me about all the latest happenings in America. BUT if I were to ask an American about Germany, possibly 4/10 would have some idea of what was going on here.

Everyone also always asked me what people in America think about Germans/Germany. So I need your input, please. What do you think about the people, the culture? What first comes to mind when the word Germany is mentioned? Let me know! It would be interesting to find out.

I think being here, people try to compare the US and Germany but I don’t really believe that they can be compared. BECAUSE if you compare them, you are saying one is better than the other. That one holds more or less value. I don’t see it that way. I see the countries as being extremely different. Different types of people with different history as well as different customs. BUT that’s what makes my travel to Germany SO exciting and what makes Germans travel to America!

As far as life goes, Leila continues to make it so great. I know I will miss her so much. This 7 year old just exuberates joy and I can’t help but catch the beam when she’s around. She makes me laugh so hard. We play this game of finding words that are the same in English and German (ie- Hamburger ist Hamburger, Pizza ist Pizza).So far it’s only been food. lol She also teaches me lots more German then I learned in the class. Leila is very outgoing and loves to talk to EVERYONE…has to be the Murillo in her. The other day, I took the kids to the museum and she let everyone know that they need to speak English because I am an American and come from the USA and that I’m her cousin and am 23…..so pretty much my whole life story in a 5 min time period. Anyway it was funny because as I was purchasing a postcard she told the lady to speak English to me as I paid. When I was finished the man behind me told the cashier, “Deutsch bitte (German please).” ha! we all cracked up.

Alex is funny, too. He thinks that he can get away with things just because I might not understand. He doesn’t like the fact that I know more German and am catching on to what he is saying. I got him into reading The Diary of the Wimpy Kid series and he loves it which is great. I think those books are hilarious and perfect for kids his age. It’s hard to explain but I feel as if his personality is different when he speaks German then when he is speaking English. Is that even possible? Anyway, he reminds me of my brothers because all he talks about is video games. His obsession with Stars Wars has lead him into hoping that when he has kids, he has a little boy with blue eyes and blonde hair so he can name him Luke. lol But right now he is too busy being a Jedi. I love it! 12 year olds are hilarious.

I hope you all are having a great week! Thanks for reading my rant. The food blog is currently still in the works and will be coming your way soon!

All my love.

-L

ps...All my pictures are random and don't really have anything to do with what I'm talking about but this one I love because the school children are learning about traffic safety this week and get to wear these super cool neon vest. :)