Culture Shock

We’ve been here almost six months now. They say it takes 6-9 months to reach the low point in culture shock, from which you begin to emerge and start functioning better and better in your new culture.

Praise God that a lot of the adjustments are behind us now! I have learned to steer four-wheel drive shopping carts (as long as I remember not to wear slippery shoes). I can answer the phone without breaking a sweat. I have finally figured out what the cashier always asks before I swipe my card. My nose has adjusted to all the new smells (not bad smells, just totally unexpected - not your average Target or Walmart smell). Having German friends over – a piece of cake. Navigating subways alone – all in a day's work. Sorting trash into six different categories – all the better. 

The hardest thing about culture shock now is this general feeling that we are not one of them. (And now we have the papers to prove it!)

The way it sounds in my head goes something like this:

I just did something wrong, but what was it?

Should I ask him to repeat again, or should I just smile and nod? 

How do I tell her that’s not what I really meant to say?

Are they starring, or is it just in my head?

Some days I have all the confidence and motivation to use every morsel of German I've got (and then some) to get a conversation going with a neighbor. But on other days, people around us look like ghosts to me. I’m a missionary here to tell them about Jesus, but I don't even look them in the eye in case they'll say something I don't understand and... there goes my “ordinary German woman” cover.

That's just where I am right now. I keep telling myself that we are not here just to blend in. We are here because we have something these people need. If blending in culturally does help us to get that across, we'll study our German till the neighbor's cows come home. And on the spiritual level, we are here as lights on lampstands, and no baskets allowed.  How's my candle holding out these days? That's the bigger question. Matthew 6:14-16 

All that to say, I wonder how God is ever going to use us among the Germans, but that is on His shoulders. All we have to do is be faithful today.

Pray that we won’t forget why we are here. 

Aufenthaltsgenehmigung

Big word, long process, but just a little thing for God.

We are now legal aliens!


...But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'  Daniel 4:35

Language School

The kids are coming out with some German words and sentences. It's cute. They sound so German. Much better accent than I can muster. Lucy is the one always asking me (or telling me!) what things mean in German. And with Caleb, it’s all very unintentional. He accidentally says something to me in German, and when I turn away from the kitchen counter and say, “Hey! You just said that in German!” he runs away with his hand over his mouth.

Language school is rolling along. My class meets mornings, and Daniel goes afternoons. We each travel an hour by foot, bus, and train to get to class. After my class Daniel meets me in the train station with the kids. He passes them off to me. I ride with them home. He goes on to his class. It's pretty crazy, but it's worked unbelievably well so far. Yeah, I wish they didn't have to spend two hours of their day on busses and trains, but that's just the cost of us learning German right now. I keep reminding myself that this is temporary. 

German class is way too much fun. I absolutely love my classmates and teacher. Talk about being in the same boat! We're from a dozen different nations and have moved to Germany for a dozen different reasons, but we all have one major thing in common: we desperately need to learn how to talk over here. Somehow I ended up in a class with the friendliest, cutest, craziest cluster of foreigners in Germany. I love them all. Our teacher is excellent. Incredible instructor and amazing person. She's somebody with a heart as big as the North Sea.

So that's the latest on language school!

Pray that the novelty of the buses and trains won’t wear off for the kids.

Pray that we will look up more words in the dictionary – stay inquisitive.