Meanwhile, back at the France Ranch...

One surprise for me (Dorothy) on this trip is my continuing desire to connect with what is familiar. Our usual strategy when staying in other countries for extended periods is to imbed ourselves in the culture as much as possible. So we thought that we would avoid the base ("American ghetto") and other familiar experiences as much as possible in order to maximize our learning of the German culture.

But yesterday we made a special trip to the Edelweiss (see June 21 post)--just to have some Starbuck's coffee--and for me to find an American woman to talk to! After returning home, I "Skyped" for over an hour with a good friend in Ohio.

I then realized that in visits overseas in recent years (Japan, Taiwan, Trinidad) I had national friends to take me into their world and interpret what was going on, what I was seeing and what people were saying. Although Bob has learned an impressive amount of German in 4 short months, it is far from sufficient for us to have a real conversation with anyone who speaks only German.

So the feelings of being an "alien" in a "foreign" country are very real. They make me long not to return home--we love it here--but to connect with what I know and can comfortably depend on, rather than being in a continuous state of bewilderment.

So the other day in a German supermarket we were so excited to see something "familiar" we had to take a picture of it. However, the woman stocking shelves made it very clear that we had definitely crossed the line into unacceptable behavior!

After our apology I made a very feeble attempt to tell her that mein Brudder (my brother) may have grown these walnuts and that's why we took the photo. I doubt she understood--either my words or my sentiment... 

After returning to the base, we received a gift from our son--a video of a recent family gathering in California (where organic walnuts, not those in the German supermarket, and other organic fruit [like blueberries!] are grown). The video was a needed "breath of fresh air" (figuratively--the air here is wonderful!) and a needed connection to home.

Anyway, back to words. I have always believed (and taught my nursing students) that the words we say are only about 20% of our communication; that body language, facial expression, tone of voice, etc.--the nonverbal component of communication--is even more important. Of course, that is only true when two people speak the same language. If they don't, body language alone just doesn't cut it.

Words are needed to clearly communicate; to transfer the thoughts in one mind and heart to those of another. So we will continue studying the German language and culture (what we don't know) AND stay connected (for our own sanity) to what we do do know.