I've been back from Germany & Austria for almost a week now and have been meaning to post something about my trip. I started to once while we were in Vienna, but I didn't get very far. In many ways I'm at a loss as to what to write. My son and I had a wonderful trip together. We started in Stuttgart, then moved on to a little town outside of Munich called Tutzing. From there we went to Vienna, Austria for a few days before ending up in Berlin. We did a lot in a short period of time. It was exhausting, but fantastic and definitely not long enough!
I wish I had kept a journal during the trip. I took tons of pictures and sent emails home, which chronicled the events of our journey, but not the feelings. The feelings and emotions are much harder to capture.
I spent three very formative years of my childhood in Germany. We moved back to Virginia when I was 12. A part of me has remained strongly tied to those years and experiences. Much like Marice so eloquently articulated, I was one of those TCKs, not sure of where I fit in--not German, but not exactly like the rest of the American kids at my school in Vienna, VA.
Having the chance to show my son where I grew up and meeting my old friends was a wonderful experience, but yet I once again realize that I'm out of place. I am an American, but I love Germany, but then in Germany I don't blend like a native, that's for sure. My German is more than a little rusty and culturally things have changed quite a bit and so have I. On the other hand, it was like returning home. Familiar smells awakened memories of going to the bakery near our house in Stuttgart for warm, fresh bread and those cookies with the chocolate filling. Alex had one of those while we were in Tutzing. I took a bite and it tasted just how I remembered.
But the trip was not without frustrations. As I already mentioned, my language skills proved to be inadequate at times. I struggled to communicate what I wanted or needed more than a few times, even for something as simple as wanting to pay cash for our hotel. Wie sagt man "cash" auf Deutsch? More often than not, it was amusing, but nonetheless it bothered me that I couldn't say the things I wanted to say. And now more than ever, I want to go back!
~Kelly F.
On the subject of learning languages, it seems like anyone can study a language forever, but when they're thrown into the native country you're thrown back to Chapter 1 of your first book. I don't know if it's shyness or just shock, but either way, one week of practice in Germany is worth maybe a year of classes. Go back and you'll have two years' worth. Either way, I would love to visit the place.
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