Sometimes it hits me, quite painfully actually, that we have
been here for just over a year and there are still situations where I make
cultural faux-pas. I guess I assumed this would not be hard for me. I grew up
in Germany, right? This should be easy. But lo and behold I suck at this.
There
are so many times when I say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and afterwards
I just cringe at my stupidity and cultural insensitivity. At our cultural
assimilation class, we were told that we can expect some extra grace during
this first time, since we are foreigners and might get away with a few things.
But time and time again I feel like this might not apply to me since people
assume I should have no problem in that field. Well, I do. So extra grace
required, right here please.
I’ve started watching a show on NETFLIX. It’s from the 90’s
and takes place in the Australian outback. Do I need to say more? It speaks for
itself, that John refuses to watch it with me because it’s too 90’s. It’s about
a cattle ranch in the outback, run by just women. One of them, the lead characters
half sister, had been raised in the city, but after inheriting half of the
ranch after her father’s death returned to country living. And she sucks at it.
She does not know how to behave, what to say and not to say, or how to act
around the animals. This gets her into quite some trouble. It’s funny of course
but also tragic and quite unfair because this isn’t really her fault. She is
just ignorant of how things are done in the outback. She does not know any better,
no one has taught her the proper “country etiquette”. I can relate to her. It
seems that whenever I get confident and think I got stuff figured out,
something comes along to throw me off my game. I wish there was a pause button
in everyday life. A button I could press and put everything on hold, get an experts opinion, and then proceed with
my day. Sadly there is not. There is only GRACE and FORGIVENESS and I am in need
of a lot of those now a days.
And as the show progresses, you root for her, she
really makes an effort to belong, to learn from people and to step out of her
comfort zone. And this is why we are here. I too will learn. I want to. I want
to belong. I care about the people here, therefore I want to see the world
through their eyes. This is a learning process and I know I have people in my
life who cheer me on and root for me and celebrate the small victories of
cultural assimilation me with.
Other than that, we are doing all right. I am sorry I have
been neglecting this blog for quite some time. Life is busy and gets in the way
of leisurely sitting down with a cup of tea and writing deep meaningful blog
entries. So for now, this is all you get. Ramblings about the outback.
