cafe creme, bitte

I miss Germany. Lately I've been thinking a lot about Freiburg (it's pretty easy for me to do since I'm sharing with my ministry partners about the last year, which includes the fun of being over there), and I just miss the Germanness of it all. People are so different there, they interact in such a distinctly different way... it's just a refreshing difference in comparison with American culture after having experienced the not-so-fun aspects of campus life in the states.

Don't get me wrong, I do love Americans and our culture, but spending the summer in Germany provided a great change of pace that I will always cherish and long for again. Students' upfront attitudes and openness in discussing sensitive issues was such a great treat for me, and Germans just don't value most of the fake-courtesies of Americans. Of course, that takes a little getting used to... it can be a lot more comfortable at first to be rejected by someone with a fake smile than by someone who really hates what you have to say (and is very blunt about that). Still, I think that in time, I learned to really value that genuine honesty, despite the apparent harshness (and that--however unfair--often is what Germans are remembered for, it seems).

One thing about Germany that I miss most is the simplicity of life, going to a cafe somewhere to spend time with the Lord and people-watch. You order, sit down somewhere, and no one interrupts you, not even at closing time. They know you are able to tell time... and you leave when you're good-and-ready. (Of course, for me, this really never happened since I needed to be back before dark AND had to catch the early streetcar home to make it in time....)

Ah, Deutschland!