On Wednesday evening I returned from holiday in Germany and Denmark. One could include Luxembourg should one find that driving halfway through the country four times and stopping once for petrol as visiting. (Though, to be honest, Luxembourg is only roughly the size of an average English county) It was only a two-week visit, far too brief, but enough to get caught up with most people and visit a few sites.
As some time had passed since my last return visit to Germany the thought of how much would remain recognisable, how much would still make sense naturally came up. The answer was short in coming — home is home and home is, in my case, Germany. I had no difficult in finding my way around, no rough go in any form by the way of communicating with people. My German, despite showing an English influence in inflection and sentence structure, is still recognisably German and the word choice is strictly German. Moreover, I fit in quite well and did not stick out in the least — always reassuring when returning home.
Denmark was wonderful, of course. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at an old friend’s flat which saved me a few quid, Copenhagen hotel prices considered. He took a few days off work to take me around, something which was much appreciated. The city of Copenhagen is beautiful. Not overwhelming, simply pleasant — a nice change from the exaggerated sense of self importance and convoluted grandeur of the USA or China.
We also went to Helsingør, site of Hamlet’s castle (Kronborg/Elisnore) and also an excellent place to see Sweden as well as a day-trip to the southern Jutland to visit another old acquaintance.
It was hard to return to the US, a country I’ve never come to accept as my own or have more than an indifferent acceptance of. Having to go through passport control 5 times was also a bit off-putting. My next trip across the Atlantic, in no more than a few years, will probably be one-way. Home is still home, my home is still Germany. My uncle, a director at the employment office, has already directed me in how to prepare for a job back home and what academic changes I should make.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Good morning Christopher.
(Though, to be honest, Luxembourg is only roughly the size of an average English country). I am struggling to think of more than one English country. Do you mean an average English-speaking country such as USA, Australia, Canada, perhaps? 🙂
Sipu: does what Americans speak still qualify as being English?
Naturally I refer to English-speaking lands of limited mass such as that
tiny jot of land, Canada, or New Zealand’s West Island, commonly known as Australia.
Correction to original text duly made.
G’day Christopher. I think you are suffering from the German disease of heimat – a longing for the homeland, I think it is called and a sentiment resonant in many nations. In Portugal it is saudades even when you are singing fado in a Lisbon nightclub.
I wish you tranquility wherever your travels take you, but expect a mauling from Brisbane re the ‘West Island’ pun. 🙂
OZ
Glad you enjoyed your trip back to Europe, Christopher. Germany is a lovely country, Trier a very attractive town and home is home wherever.
Christopher, you seem to feel that ‘home is where the heart is’ and for now that’s Germany. Maybe down the line, you’ll have other pulls on your heart strings which lead you elswhere.
Sipu, it’s ‘county’, of course.
I’m of the opinion that one can call many places ‘home’. Some people can switch their allegiance – lucky them! Others cannot – even when it is clear that the ‘home’ they left many years ago is not the same as the place that now exists.
I have a problem. After 25 years here – I still feel like a stranger in a strange land – and want to go home to England. When I return to England I feel like a stranger in my homeland and want to go home to Australia.
I don’t regret my decision to come here – although sometimes I regret my decision to stay. There is too much of England in my soul to allow me to become a true Ozzie, and too much Ozzie in my soul to return to England.
Thank you Janus. My attempt at gentle irony was obviously too clumsy to be perceived as such.
It was irony applied with a Doc Martens! 😀
Perhaps, but consider the material I was working with: a German American. No offence Christopher. 🙂
Like it 🙂
Christopher: I agree about Copenhagen and Elsinore. We had a great time there, although it was rather cold.
At least Danish windmills off the coast keep turning most of the time, even though they are still very inefficient! 😦
Boa, “I have a problem. After 25 years here – I still feel like a stranger in a strange land – and want to go home to England. When I return to England I feel like a stranger in my homeland and want to go home to Australia.”
Exactly!! To avoid this conundrum, cherished reader, never leave home. 😮
OZ: the word “Heimat” means “terra”. “Heimweh” is closer to “saudades”.
The German sentiment is not quite as strong as it is in Portugal. If anything there is a longing
to be away from Germany. After that things tend to change. One of my former colleagues, a
short-term expatriate from Germany, returned after a year and a half to her native Bavaria.
For as frustrating and difficult as life in Germany often can be it’s well-organised and predicable.
There’s something to that. More than that, it’s not really that bad when the alternatives are seen.
Janus: I have a tendency to go native wherever I am, other than in the USA. If I wind up in the Netherlands,
in Denmark, Sweden, regardless it wouldn’t take long for me to learn the language and find a comfortable routine. What’s hardest is being so impossibly far away from family and old friends that I hardly get to see them.
Boadicea: think of your position as a blessing in a way. You have one foot firmly in Australia and one firmly in the UK. That you realise that you don’t fully go either way is a sign that you’re staying true to yourself while going along with your daily reality. It’s a sign of being well-balanced.
Sipu: no, you were right. I wrote “country” instead of “county” and changed it when you brought it to my attention. It’s not the German way to let mistakes remain after finding them. Perhaps the irony is that certain people didn’t note the irony in my response.
Back in the early seventies when we were first in Canada (got there August 1969), was quite a busy time for new arrivals, many nerds were being hired by Canadian companies from various European Countries. In the large open office where I shared a desk (previously the cafeteria) Canadians were a tiny minority, French, British and Germans were the top three counties represented among the 50 odd slaves therein. We had a tidy percentage of regretful immigrants for the first few years, with much discussion about the lack of Pubs, Rugby, or Train Spotting etc.(well not so much about the latter). A few took what at that time we called “The $5,000 cure” This involved selling everything and moving back to the country of origin. For many of them it also involved becoming rapidly disenchanted with what they found and returning six months or a year later. We were never seriously tempted and even had some difficulty uprooting ourselves a decade later to move to the US. Obviously after more than thirty years here, this is now the only home for me. I have few long term friends in Canada (curiously enough mostly clustered on Vancouver Island a stones throw from Mrs. O’s domicile). I know no-one in the UK outside of my remaining siblings and two or three school and university mates who have stayed in touch for forty years. I am off for my annual visit to Wales in February, it will be pleasant to be there for my sister’s 70th birthday. But I shall be glad to get back to the creek in mid-March.
Aha, Christopher – the difference between the ‘homeland’ itself and ‘longings for the homeland’. Thank you for the clarification as my German was never too satisfactory. 🙂
I feel sorry for Boadicea, though. Whereas I shall never be Portuguese, Portugal is my home now and they will carry me out of The Cave one day paws skyward, God willing. I visited Liverpool, the city of my birth, a couple of years ago and did not recognise most of it. I have no saudades for England nor for my heimat although I would defend it against all comers.
OZ
Lobo: not to worry, German is an exceptionally technical and difficult language.
It was not difficult for me to go back to Germany. It is what it is and Germans do not
like to change too much, nor do Germans tolerate disorder for very long. That is one of the
nice things about the more demanding, difficult sides of the German character. There will be
no difficulties so long as one does not act out and cause problems.
My family and friends were a bit nervous about my coming, even if they could still communicate
with me remained unclear to them. There was no difficulty and that I hold onto my German passport
like a starved dog clenches a prime cut of wild boar in its jaws allows them to greater accept that I
will likely return.
I too understand this need to be ‘the other end’. I have been in the USA on and off since 76. I think I prefer Wales but economically it just doesn’t work!
Having said that I do think that you are more likely to be a bit happier in a place that is more like home. I have found the Pacific NW to be far more to my liking than Texas or Atlanta, both of which I found ghastly.
I have found that having a familiar climate, familiar plants and animals (farm) has been comforting.
Needless to say fresh raspberries, strawberries and blueberries on the doorstep in abundance helps!
Bo’s #7 hits the spot bang on.
Chris, I do think you are unfortunate in living in California, from a distance I would have thought that nothing about the place would be particularly congenial to you. I do think were you to move up North a bit, say Portland and above you might be a bit happier. People seem to be a bit more rational up here. I expect it is the amount of rain!!!! We have quite a few Californians up here, mainly white retirees who have fled the prices, drug wars and heat, most of them are somewhat weird by local standards.
I don’t speak a word of German but have spent a lot of time travelling there in the 80s. It is so stunningly different and superior to California I understand your need to return, but do check out very carefully that you can actually live on the local salary in anywhere near the style to which you have become accustomed.
“….I hold onto my German passport like a starved dog clenches a prime cut of wild boar in its jaws….”
That intense, eh? I know the feeling.
😀
OZ
CO: I am familiar with the Pacific Northwest having gone there on occasion. My personal view of the place and most of the people there is somewhat less favourable than your view of Muslims.
I preferred the Midwest. The weather is wretched but the people are as good as they come.
Being so far away from everyone and everything is growing quite tiresome. I’ve never really
grown very deep roots here. I’m at the point in my life now where I have to decide which way to go.
There is no reason not to return and no reason to stay.
Lobo: if it’s to be done, it should be done correctly, eh?
That said, the Consulate General has notified me that my new passport
has arrived and can be picked up at any time. I am looking forward to seeing it
as I strongly resemble a kangaroo in the picture.
Chris, you need to go. If you don’t you will spend years kicking yourself!
Go, try it, but travel light at first. You can always ship things subsequently when you have settled.
We left our home in store for two years before we shipped the first time we came here in 76.
Having moved a home across the Atlantic now 5 times I know just excruciatingly expensive it can get!!
Not to be countenanced unless you really are going to stay longish term.
PS am amused at your reaction to North Westerners! Mind you agree as far as Seattle is concerned!
Christopher – I have a distant memory of you writing once about relocating to Australia. Go for it! Forget ‘Mer’i’cah and even Europe and, when you get there, forget Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. Go for Queensland in general or Brisbane in particular if you like the urban scene. You’ll never regret it and I expect post cards.
OZ
Interesting trip, Christopher. It seems to have given you a direction; which is no bad thing. So absolutely worthwhile, although I was unsure that it was a trip that you were looking forward to.
Thank you for the postcards; much appreciated.
CO: my father’s younger brother also happens to reside in Washington State with his brood. Another reason to stay far, far away.
Other than an overwhelming number of books I have very little to bring with me.
Lobo, meu lobo: I’ve grown too tired to want to start a whole new life. I’ve done it a few times already and don’t care to do it again. It’s nothing against Australia, I just don’t want to do anything that drastic anymore.
As for SS Obamatanic, it’s sinking and I have no desire to go down with it.
Minty: no, initially I wasn’t. It was a lot of money I didn’t wish to spend. In the end it was nice, though. Very much.
Christopher – You are, by all accounts, a young(ish) bloke. Forget the Obamatanic by all means, but forget Europe too. Australia beckons for a man of vision and you’ll never regret it. Bearsy, Boadicea, Bilby and Cuprum would back me up on this, I am sure. I’m very happy where I am, but if I were younger I know where I’d be heading.
OZ
… and if you go to Adelaide, there are lots of Germans around; Hahndorf’s a good starting point. 🙂
Lobo: frankly, I doubt Australia would even take me. As a visitor, yes. As a resident, no.
I’ve dealt with enough uncertainty and do not wish to deal with much more. I still have full
rights in Germany. Any privileges in Australia would not come easily.
As for family and friends… California is already too far away. Australia is even worse.
This distance is too much for me, being able to see my loved ones only every 4 or 5 years
is irksome. If you think that I’m a man of vision you’ll be sorely disappointed.
I simply want nothing more than a quiet life with no great surprises and an occasional holiday to Scandinavia, Portugal, the UK, Netherlands, or Japan.
Strangely, Australia was the one country I visited in biz that made me home-sick for England. Probably the architecture.
How lucky am I then? Wherever I lay my hat is my home as someone once sung. I’ve resided in too many places to call anywhere home, even though I am only 39. I thought for a long time the Surrey village in which I spent most of my first 17 years would be home, but I have no desire to pop back there now – I haven’t been there at all since 1993. Home is where I am now, but if I move again, which I will I’m sure sooner rather than later, I will call that home. I guess having no rellies living anywhere near where it all started means no reason to return and so no longing.
Christopher – you have so many choices ahead! The world is great – try as many places as you can! Although I’m not a wise old sage yet, I reckon either your career or a partner, or both, will be the greatest pull on where you end up calling home!