I’ve been home now for one week, back from my short stay in Germany. I wanted to expand a little on the trip and lessons learned. Warning, this is a long post……..
Lesson 1: Prepare for the unexpected. I went to Germany expecting to be picked up at the airport and transported to my destination by a “chauffeur” of the company I was visiting. It turned out that my premonitions of doom were fulfilled when I arrived and waited at the airport for 3 hours without anyone there to take me to my destination (about 90 minutes away). I was forced to rent a vehicle and drive myself there. I was not carrying any phone numbers for people to contact (because I didn’t have those numbers) so I was on my own and had no one to tell I was stuck. I did not have the directions printed to indicate how to get where I was going. I had to get online, which thank God Wi-Fi at the airport works very well, do some searching and write my directions out by hand (how sad is that!). Luckily I had my map of Germany with me to provide some assistance.
Lesson 2: No matter what you think you know; you don’t know anything. I made a trip to Germany 2 years ago with a colleague. I knew we (he was the driver, I was the navigator) were driving to our destination. I used the time leading up to the trip to get familiar with German road signs & rules of the road (for example, on the Autobahn, it is illegal to pass on the right) and take some CD language courses to be ready for the trip. This time, I didn’t think I was driving and I thought my language skills were still okay so I didn’t prepare as well. I WAS WRONG! I had to dive in without water wings and it was a struggle. I was never fluent in German (although I could ask where the toilet was, you know useful stuff like that) but where before I could get by in many situations provided people spoke slowly or repeated themselves until the “duh” look left my face. This trip I don’t think the “duh” look ever left my face. It didn’t stop me from trying, but it made for a very uneasy feeling the entire time.
Lesson 3: Despite any ineptitude with a language, it makes a big difference to try and speak the language as opposed to expecting people to speak English. I found it very difficult to remain in “German” mode once someone spoke to me in English. I made an effort and it seemed to make a difference when attempting the language before returning to English. I wasn’t always successful but it’s the only way to learn. It’s strange how your perspective changes when you’re the “alien” in the country.
Lesson 4: Step outside your comfort zone. On my last visit, we were taken care of every night, someone to take us out to dinner and ensure we got to see the local sights. This trip was much different; I was on my own all but one evening. Being slightly introverted it wasn’t much of a problem being by myself, it was forcing myself out amongst the locals to eat and walk through town playing the American tourist. I hate eating by myself, I always feel like Steve Martin in “The Lonely Guy” movie where he would walk into the restaurant and ask for a table for one and all of a sudden a spotlight shines on him as he is escorted through the center of the establishment with everyone looking at him. I know it doesn’t happen but sometimes it feels that way. Knowing that in less than 1 year I’ll be diving in to a totally different culture (and I’ll stand out a little more than I did in Germany), I spent more time doing things I might not have done in the past to try and experience the local flavor. In years past I would’ve never stopped in Heidelberg on my way back to Frankfurt just to take a walk around. I’ve never really taken the time on trips to stop and see/appreciate the area; I’ve always been on a schedule and eager to get to my final destination, missing the journey.
Lesson 1: Prepare for the unexpected. I went to Germany expecting to be picked up at the airport and transported to my destination by a “chauffeur” of the company I was visiting. It turned out that my premonitions of doom were fulfilled when I arrived and waited at the airport for 3 hours without anyone there to take me to my destination (about 90 minutes away). I was forced to rent a vehicle and drive myself there. I was not carrying any phone numbers for people to contact (because I didn’t have those numbers) so I was on my own and had no one to tell I was stuck. I did not have the directions printed to indicate how to get where I was going. I had to get online, which thank God Wi-Fi at the airport works very well, do some searching and write my directions out by hand (how sad is that!). Luckily I had my map of Germany with me to provide some assistance.
Lesson 2: No matter what you think you know; you don’t know anything. I made a trip to Germany 2 years ago with a colleague. I knew we (he was the driver, I was the navigator) were driving to our destination. I used the time leading up to the trip to get familiar with German road signs & rules of the road (for example, on the Autobahn, it is illegal to pass on the right) and take some CD language courses to be ready for the trip. This time, I didn’t think I was driving and I thought my language skills were still okay so I didn’t prepare as well. I WAS WRONG! I had to dive in without water wings and it was a struggle. I was never fluent in German (although I could ask where the toilet was, you know useful stuff like that) but where before I could get by in many situations provided people spoke slowly or repeated themselves until the “duh” look left my face. This trip I don’t think the “duh” look ever left my face. It didn’t stop me from trying, but it made for a very uneasy feeling the entire time.
Lesson 3: Despite any ineptitude with a language, it makes a big difference to try and speak the language as opposed to expecting people to speak English. I found it very difficult to remain in “German” mode once someone spoke to me in English. I made an effort and it seemed to make a difference when attempting the language before returning to English. I wasn’t always successful but it’s the only way to learn. It’s strange how your perspective changes when you’re the “alien” in the country.
Lesson 4: Step outside your comfort zone. On my last visit, we were taken care of every night, someone to take us out to dinner and ensure we got to see the local sights. This trip was much different; I was on my own all but one evening. Being slightly introverted it wasn’t much of a problem being by myself, it was forcing myself out amongst the locals to eat and walk through town playing the American tourist. I hate eating by myself, I always feel like Steve Martin in “The Lonely Guy” movie where he would walk into the restaurant and ask for a table for one and all of a sudden a spotlight shines on him as he is escorted through the center of the establishment with everyone looking at him. I know it doesn’t happen but sometimes it feels that way. Knowing that in less than 1 year I’ll be diving in to a totally different culture (and I’ll stand out a little more than I did in Germany), I spent more time doing things I might not have done in the past to try and experience the local flavor. In years past I would’ve never stopped in Heidelberg on my way back to Frankfurt just to take a walk around. I’ve never really taken the time on trips to stop and see/appreciate the area; I’ve always been on a schedule and eager to get to my final destination, missing the journey.
I’ve attached some photos of Eberbach to provide some glimpse into the area. This is a photo of the area immediately around the Krone-Post Hotel. The building directly in front is another hotel, with several restaurants in this area, the tables in front are where you go to have a beer, eat and sit down to enjoy the evening with friends. The smaller building to the right of the hotel is one of the older buildings in the town.
In this photo note the stone walls and the gate covered with ivy. These walls are part of the original city walls built to protect the town from invaders, the homes are built into these walls. The gate is one of the original entry points into the town, now it’s a tight squeeze to fit your car through. The building on the left was built in 1570 the one to the right shortly thereafter.
Blending the old with the new, notice the satellite dishes located on apartments just outside of the “old city” walls.
The streets are not very wide which is okay when the majority of the vehicles are very small. Walking on the sidewalks, you feel you’re going to become a statistic.
Finally, I wanted to post more photos of the local wildlife. My earlier post mentioned the plastic wild boars around town, below is a compilation of those images just to show the ones I found walking around the town.
Like many things in life, the negatives all seem to fall away and we remember all the positive things. Even some things that may seem negative can turn around for you, like having to rent a car and get myself to my destination. If I had been chauffeured around; I would have never been able to see Heidelberg, the castles along the drive and spend as much time getting to see the area on my own. I would've missed out. See Lesson 4, I prefer structure and stability but that didn't prevent me from spending a moment to take a look around and see what there was to see.
Posts
2 comments:
The painted boars are just like the painted "dawgs" in Athens, Georgia.... :) Very Cool!!!!!
Post a Comment