It's inevitable when I first meet anyone--they ask why we lived in Germany for six years. I give them the standard answer that my husband was in the military. However, I rarely get to share the reason of why we chose to move to Germany.
John was in his fourth and final year of an OB/Gyn residency in Dayton, Ohio. We knew that as soon as he graduated, we were headed into full-time service in the military. The military allowed us to make a list of places we thought we would like to move, although there's no guarantee that a serviceman will actually be sent to any one of those places.
Honestly, I hadn't given it any thought. College, medical school and residency had been all-consuming in our lives. We had been in survival mode for so many years, trying to pay the bills and take care of the kids with too little money and even less time.
John already knew the places where it was possible to work as an OB/Gyn. He had done some time down at Eglin AFB in Florida, and I didn't have any objection to going back there. He had been to some other bases as well, but none that stood out in either of our minds.
Unbeknownst to me, there were openings overseas. I'm not sure how this thought escaped me, because I had grown up hearing the stories of my grandparents living in Europe and Asia. John had it on the mind though and approached me about it. He thought that we should live in Europe so that our kids could learn another language.
The crazy thing? I didn't give it one moment's thought before I said, "yes". Of course that's what we should do.
And that decision goes down as one of the best we have made in our married lives. In fact, that decision had such impact that our lives are now classified as "before Germany" and "in Germany" and "after Germany".
Unbelievably, we got our assignment to Germany. Things in the military are never easy, but that assignment? It just fell in our laps.
Having never lived in a foreign country and never having visited any country but Canada, I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I figured Germany would be more or less the same, just with people speaking German.
Jet lag was my first introduction to foreign travel. When we arrived, I felt as if I had been run over by a train. We took a four-hour bus ride (the White Swan) to our base, and when we arrived, I was amazed to see bushes that I had never seen before. Yes, bushes--as in vegetation. Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore.
The next six years were life-changing. You just don't know how much I wish I had kept a blog back then. I would have had daily experiences to write--driving, traveling, eating, speaking. It was the closest we have ever been as a family. We traveled monthly to whatever location was cheapest--Ireland, Spain, England, Italy. Those were the easiest trips to plan, and the most frequented by our family. If we didn't want to fly, Paris was only four hours away, and at the end of our six year tour, we had been there over fourteen times.
Culturally speaking, my boys already looked German, so that wasn't a problem. From what I hear, the American food that they had packed in their lunches (Ess-box) was quite a hit with the German kids, especially Oreos. A couple of times our family took an entire Thanksgiving meal to the boys' classrooms as an introduction to America.
The craziest part was learning that darn language! If we had chosen to hide on the base like many others, or put our kids in the DODDS schools on base, life would have been so easy. Seriously, it would have been a party, but it would have defeated the whole purpose for us moving there.
Six days after we set food in Deutschland, the boys started German school. Ethan can tell you that it was the hardest experience of his life. There's nothing worse to set you apart socially than walking into the third grade, not knowing a word of German. And I don't believe it ever got easier. When I look back on it, including train rides to and from school, the kids spent half of their waking hours speaking Deutsch, and the other half speaking English (but still doing Hausaufgabe in German). My brain felt fried after sitting in a parent/teacher conference for an hour, concentrating on listening and focusing on responding in German. I can't imagine how tired their minds must have been, and it's no wonder that Ethan had some hard feelings about not attending the American schools on base. In fact, when we visited Pennsylvania, looking for a job "post Germany", I overheard Ethan telling a seminary class that he "hated" Germany. It just about broke my heart, and it reaffirmed my fears that perhaps we had made the wrong choice in ever taking our kids to another land.
Fast forward to any place in time since then. Ethan can't imagine his life without German.
Let me repeat that: Ethan can't imagine his life without German, or Germany for that matter.
Now, when people ask him where he's from, he tells them that his family lives in Pennsylvania, but he grew up in Germany. Not just in words, but in his heart, Germany is his Heimatland, or the land of his fathers.
I can't speak directly for him (I wish he would post about this himself), but I know he can't deny that his experiences there will impact the rest of his life...for good.
I enrolled Ethan in German classes at Penn State when he was in high school, and he was the star of the class. He loved those classes.
Because Ethan applied to numerous liberal arts colleges, he had lots of essays to write. Guess what was the core subject of every essay he wrote. Yep, living in Germany.
Along with International Relations, he's majoring in German. Is it hard? No. Does he love it? Yes.
It got to the point that if Ethan heard anyone speaking German (with a legitimate German accent) anywhere (the metro or bus in Washington DC), he couldn't help but speak with them. As both of my boys tell me, there's nothing more musical to their ears than to hear a native German speaking.
I'm not sure that I ever heard Ethan mention any difficulty in learning Polish on his mission. Why? Because studies have shown that once you have learned a foreign language, learning another one is much easier. From what we hear, Ethan's Polish is pretty amazing.
When Ethan came home off his mission, he was discouraged about his German speaking ability. He just couldn't remember a lot of the vocabulary because Polish naturally popped into his head. In fact, he was thinking about studying Polish instead of German in college. He applied for a job at the Missionary Training Center (MTC), and on his application, he said that he spoke both Polish and German and would be willing to teach either (although he hoped for Polish). After a phone interview in German for a German teaching job, Ethan called me up in despair. The interview was supposed to last 10-15 minutes, but his had hardly been seven--he knew the guy could hear how choppy his German was. Too, he hadn't been able to remember the word for "opportunity" auf Deutsch and felt completely disheartened. He wouldn't be invited to teach based on that interview.
What a surprise when he was called about a job interview at the MTC a day after we had arrived in Provo. And then he was offered another job within days. Turns out, the MTC wanted him to teach German to senior missionaries. Why? Because when he was interviewed on the phone (you know, the disheartening interview mit keine Gelegenheit), the interviewer decided that Ethan needed to be classified as a native German speaker because his German was so excellent, and that he should be placed with more advanced speakers. The interviewer hadn't needed 10-15 minutes to evaluate Ethan's German speaking ability; he knew immediately how stellar Ethan was.
And this is where I have to take a moment and wipe away a tear. I don't think we have yet seen in every way that the decision, made so long ago to move to Germany, will impact my children for good. Ethan has completely embraced every Gelegenheit that the BYU German department has to offer, including Wednesday movie night! Avatar, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Hunger Games, all in German--I would venture to say it's one of his favorite activities at school.
He loves his German class. Talking about German culture? Shoot, he's lived German culture.
Too, he can hold his own when it comes to any discussion regarding Europe--current politics, history, the effects of religion in history. He knows a lot, and I can't imagine he would know quite so much if his interest hadn't been piqued as a child.
I would like to say that the moment has come full circle, but I have a feeling that there are more blessings to come. We had no idea why we felt inspired to move there. If we were given a decision to make like that today, there would be much discussion about it, and it wouldn't be made so quickly. I cannot deny that we were sent there for a divine purpose. To quote Mark's favorite scripture (found in Proverbs 3: 5-6): Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
There is no question in any of our minds that the Lord directed us to Germany. We have been blessed more times than I can count because of that decision.
John was in his fourth and final year of an OB/Gyn residency in Dayton, Ohio. We knew that as soon as he graduated, we were headed into full-time service in the military. The military allowed us to make a list of places we thought we would like to move, although there's no guarantee that a serviceman will actually be sent to any one of those places.
Honestly, I hadn't given it any thought. College, medical school and residency had been all-consuming in our lives. We had been in survival mode for so many years, trying to pay the bills and take care of the kids with too little money and even less time.
John already knew the places where it was possible to work as an OB/Gyn. He had done some time down at Eglin AFB in Florida, and I didn't have any objection to going back there. He had been to some other bases as well, but none that stood out in either of our minds.
Unbeknownst to me, there were openings overseas. I'm not sure how this thought escaped me, because I had grown up hearing the stories of my grandparents living in Europe and Asia. John had it on the mind though and approached me about it. He thought that we should live in Europe so that our kids could learn another language.
The crazy thing? I didn't give it one moment's thought before I said, "yes". Of course that's what we should do.
And that decision goes down as one of the best we have made in our married lives. In fact, that decision had such impact that our lives are now classified as "before Germany" and "in Germany" and "after Germany".
Unbelievably, we got our assignment to Germany. Things in the military are never easy, but that assignment? It just fell in our laps.
Having never lived in a foreign country and never having visited any country but Canada, I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I figured Germany would be more or less the same, just with people speaking German.
Jet lag was my first introduction to foreign travel. When we arrived, I felt as if I had been run over by a train. We took a four-hour bus ride (the White Swan) to our base, and when we arrived, I was amazed to see bushes that I had never seen before. Yes, bushes--as in vegetation. Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore.
The next six years were life-changing. You just don't know how much I wish I had kept a blog back then. I would have had daily experiences to write--driving, traveling, eating, speaking. It was the closest we have ever been as a family. We traveled monthly to whatever location was cheapest--Ireland, Spain, England, Italy. Those were the easiest trips to plan, and the most frequented by our family. If we didn't want to fly, Paris was only four hours away, and at the end of our six year tour, we had been there over fourteen times.
Culturally speaking, my boys already looked German, so that wasn't a problem. From what I hear, the American food that they had packed in their lunches (Ess-box) was quite a hit with the German kids, especially Oreos. A couple of times our family took an entire Thanksgiving meal to the boys' classrooms as an introduction to America.
The craziest part was learning that darn language! If we had chosen to hide on the base like many others, or put our kids in the DODDS schools on base, life would have been so easy. Seriously, it would have been a party, but it would have defeated the whole purpose for us moving there.
Six days after we set food in Deutschland, the boys started German school. Ethan can tell you that it was the hardest experience of his life. There's nothing worse to set you apart socially than walking into the third grade, not knowing a word of German. And I don't believe it ever got easier. When I look back on it, including train rides to and from school, the kids spent half of their waking hours speaking Deutsch, and the other half speaking English (but still doing Hausaufgabe in German). My brain felt fried after sitting in a parent/teacher conference for an hour, concentrating on listening and focusing on responding in German. I can't imagine how tired their minds must have been, and it's no wonder that Ethan had some hard feelings about not attending the American schools on base. In fact, when we visited Pennsylvania, looking for a job "post Germany", I overheard Ethan telling a seminary class that he "hated" Germany. It just about broke my heart, and it reaffirmed my fears that perhaps we had made the wrong choice in ever taking our kids to another land.
Fast forward to any place in time since then. Ethan can't imagine his life without German.
Let me repeat that: Ethan can't imagine his life without German, or Germany for that matter.
Now, when people ask him where he's from, he tells them that his family lives in Pennsylvania, but he grew up in Germany. Not just in words, but in his heart, Germany is his Heimatland, or the land of his fathers.
I can't speak directly for him (I wish he would post about this himself), but I know he can't deny that his experiences there will impact the rest of his life...for good.
I enrolled Ethan in German classes at Penn State when he was in high school, and he was the star of the class. He loved those classes.
Because Ethan applied to numerous liberal arts colleges, he had lots of essays to write. Guess what was the core subject of every essay he wrote. Yep, living in Germany.
Along with International Relations, he's majoring in German. Is it hard? No. Does he love it? Yes.
It got to the point that if Ethan heard anyone speaking German (with a legitimate German accent) anywhere (the metro or bus in Washington DC), he couldn't help but speak with them. As both of my boys tell me, there's nothing more musical to their ears than to hear a native German speaking.
I'm not sure that I ever heard Ethan mention any difficulty in learning Polish on his mission. Why? Because studies have shown that once you have learned a foreign language, learning another one is much easier. From what we hear, Ethan's Polish is pretty amazing.
When Ethan came home off his mission, he was discouraged about his German speaking ability. He just couldn't remember a lot of the vocabulary because Polish naturally popped into his head. In fact, he was thinking about studying Polish instead of German in college. He applied for a job at the Missionary Training Center (MTC), and on his application, he said that he spoke both Polish and German and would be willing to teach either (although he hoped for Polish). After a phone interview in German for a German teaching job, Ethan called me up in despair. The interview was supposed to last 10-15 minutes, but his had hardly been seven--he knew the guy could hear how choppy his German was. Too, he hadn't been able to remember the word for "opportunity" auf Deutsch and felt completely disheartened. He wouldn't be invited to teach based on that interview.
What a surprise when he was called about a job interview at the MTC a day after we had arrived in Provo. And then he was offered another job within days. Turns out, the MTC wanted him to teach German to senior missionaries. Why? Because when he was interviewed on the phone (you know, the disheartening interview mit keine Gelegenheit), the interviewer decided that Ethan needed to be classified as a native German speaker because his German was so excellent, and that he should be placed with more advanced speakers. The interviewer hadn't needed 10-15 minutes to evaluate Ethan's German speaking ability; he knew immediately how stellar Ethan was.
And this is where I have to take a moment and wipe away a tear. I don't think we have yet seen in every way that the decision, made so long ago to move to Germany, will impact my children for good. Ethan has completely embraced every Gelegenheit that the BYU German department has to offer, including Wednesday movie night! Avatar, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Hunger Games, all in German--I would venture to say it's one of his favorite activities at school.
He loves his German class. Talking about German culture? Shoot, he's lived German culture.
Too, he can hold his own when it comes to any discussion regarding Europe--current politics, history, the effects of religion in history. He knows a lot, and I can't imagine he would know quite so much if his interest hadn't been piqued as a child.
I would like to say that the moment has come full circle, but I have a feeling that there are more blessings to come. We had no idea why we felt inspired to move there. If we were given a decision to make like that today, there would be much discussion about it, and it wouldn't be made so quickly. I cannot deny that we were sent there for a divine purpose. To quote Mark's favorite scripture (found in Proverbs 3: 5-6): Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
There is no question in any of our minds that the Lord directed us to Germany. We have been blessed more times than I can count because of that decision.
Awwww, thanks Mama! That was an awesome post.
ReplyDeleteCan I just say how glad I am that your family chose Germany? You were an example to us way back then and you are again now as we try our best to navigate through German schools and culture. We love you!
ReplyDeleteI love Germany and I loved it more being there with my great wife and cute kids, look how cute they are!
ReplyDelete