Many of you have perhaps had the great experience of talking about what it will be like in a new place. Some well-meaning and more-experienced person might explain, for instance, how Germans (as a whole) view this or that cultural thing that may be quite normal in America. So we listen because its interesting and we certainly don't want to offend anyone. But upon arriving in the new area we find that these little rules hardly apply. For instance, some travel guide said that German people, women in particular, rarely ever wear short shorts like they do in America...quite untrue. We have seen a fair share of women (and men, sadly) wearing the same kind of short shorts that they do back home.
So, like many of you travelers have already discovered, culture these days is quite a relative term. What is German? American? French? As far as I can discern with any accuracy, there is little about behavior that is drastically different between these places. For a long time America was considered a "melting pot" but Germany seems just as varied as far as different cultures. There are a ton of Persian (Iranian) people here, as well as Russian and Ukranians living here. Italian or Mediterranean people (and their obligatory restaurants) are quite common, and, of course, many different Asian peoples and their delicious food as well can be found frequently.
Of course, this is not to say that there are particular differences. But these differences are rarely universal or exceedingly common to all people here, as much as they are just a different way of doing things that seem perfectly reasonable given the environment. So all this goes to say that its been pretty hard to say one thing confidently and universally about Germans or Germany. Germans are nice, polite, calm, easy-going, but some are also rude, busy, stressed-out, duplicitous, just like Americans. Some foods are more common here like schnitzel and a variety of breads, but its not like Germans have dynamically different taste-buds--these things taste just fine to Americans too! Even concerning popular culture, Germany is heavily influenced by America and Japan, so that most of the kids we've met love hip-hop/rap and read mangas all day long. If there's one huge difference that stands out to me its that whereas football and/or basketball is king in American sport mentality, it is of course soccer (foosball) here that dominates everyone's sports entertainment. Whereas on espn in America we're lucky if we get the occasional soccer highlight, that's practically all there is on their sports networks.
But why do I feel so alien here? Why is it that the longer I am here the more I miss home, the more I feel uncomfortable, like an outsider--even though I'm starting to speak and understand their language with a little proficiency? Even though teenagers experience and like the same things I experienced and liked? Video games, sports, high school dramatics, etc... Why is it so uncomfortable here? There does indeed exist something different here, foreign to myself and my native land. And this something is precisely where culture exists.
To me, it seems that this "something" is the land itself. I find myself talking to people about "Texas" all the time: telling them about what its like in Texas, what Texans are like, etc... Of course I'm talking in general terms and about my idealized view of what a Texan is/should be like, but there is something about Texas that I identify with, that makes me comfortable, that I feel like I know things there and am very savvy. I can understand the sub-text behind people's language there much better, whereas here the goal is simply to pragmatically communicate.
It is not just a foreign language, it is a people used to doing slightly different things for their entire lifetimes, to the point that when people living in Germany do this thing or say that thing I can understand maybe what's happening on the outside, or what is literally being said, but I lack the ability to see nuance, to see those subtle little things that are so important to the ways human beings live. I have to emphasize that the alienation goes beyond language, but language is often the biggest barrier so let me give a short illustration and then move on.
I wrote a small 10 minute speech for the Lord's Supper out here in English first, then had to suffer the painful process of translating it into German. Bill, the missionary out here, helped me tremendously, but I ended up saying something in German quite different than how I said it English. I certainly communicated the same basic ideas, but the way in which they were said in German was very elementary and lacked subtltety and nuance, quite opposite to the way I like to write things in English. My English version had this subtlety, this flow and beauty that was ripped away when translated. This is not to say one cannot write beautifully in German, but instead that its impossible to say something that is beautifully in English in the German language to German people. So to summarize, existence for a person at home is "loaded." It is filled with much more than words and actions, it has understand and recognition, it relates itself far more than in a simple pragmatic way, but rather it relates itself to our identity. Whereas in a foreign place, existence is (until we have really integrated) not "loaded" or "unloaded" it is rather empty and basic.
And this is the kind of feeling I think the psalmist was experiencing when he wrote:
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
I look forward to the times when I can live a more "loaded" life among people who I understand a bit more, and in a land which I feel much more comfortable in, but I also think there is much to be said and gained about really experiencing this kind of exile. It would be enough if it helps us to realize just how alien we actually are in our own land, just how separated we are from the great moral pillars we imagine ourselves to be. Just how deeply the God-relationship gives meaning and fullness to life when we confess our emptiness.
