THE DEPARTMENT STORE ENCOUNTER: As I was attending class on basic German phrases I decided to sink my teeth into learning this foreign language just a bit more. I had discovered early on that not knowing how to communicate with my hosts in Germany was not making my stay any easier. The job came first since I was not there of my own choice. I had been lucky to be sitting in Friedberg instead of on the front lines of Vietnam. Our unit, like many others, had soldiers coming right out of Vietnam and stationed with us at Ray Barracks. Some of their war stories left little to imagine as to the horror that wartime could bring. But, here we were safe, or at least, as safe as anyone could be in a non-wartime country. I had already learned some of the basic words and phrases first. Then I remember learning “shit” in German. Not a particularly attractive word but used a lot by everyone. However, and I have to admit this, the phrase I was more interested in learning first was, “where is the airport”, thus, given me a direction to go. (I figured In order to go back to the States you should definitely learn this phrase.) Then I needed to know the phrases to buy a train ticket, to and from somewhere. Also important if you wanted to find yourself back to Friedberg and on time for that early morning formation and roll-call. I remember when I first arrived in Germany on a flight from Kennedy Airport in New York. I arrived at Frankfurt am Main airport at some ungodly hour of the morning. I had been waiting for my port of call for 4 days at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Finally when they had my orders to go, I couldn’t have been happier. At least I wouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing anymore. My orders had originally been for some unit in desperate need of an “orderly room clerk” in Stuttgart. I had already asked around to some of the staff as to where in Germany that was, North, South, East or West. I had set myself up for where I would be going and at the last minute my orders were changed to Friedberg. I have never been happier since. My first journey from the safety of my room in the barracks was to go downtown in this small town. I had taken a taxi downtown and saw the department store on the east side of the street. Just down from there, actually before I got that far down was a bakery and also a bread shop. It seemed everything had its own store. Meat in one shop, breads in another, pastries in yet another. I thought the concept was pretty neat. But the big department store really caught my eye and so I made it my first stop. Going inside the front door of the store I saw bins of vinyl records all stacked upright in large display boxes. The covers were almost all in English and they were almost all USA country music. The difference in these albums and those you would buy in the states were pretty significant. The up to date country hits were listed on the album covers but they were being sung by artists no American ever heard of. Original artists or artists who made the songs famous were not the singers of their own songs. I was strange to me. It was as though they had been from the black market or something. But, they were all professionally made, including nice artwork for the jackets and so on. I guess if you got someone to sing the same songs as the original artists did, that was ok and good enough. I never did figure it out though. There was a second floor to the department store as I saw an escalator going up to the landing. But, when I decided to come down, there was only stairs to take. It was weird. Maybe they hadn’t figured out how to go down yet, but it sure seemed ultra-modern. I will never forget that. My guess is the down escalator wasn’t in the same area, or maybe there was an elevator somewhere. Nevertheless, I took the stairs. Besides, at this point I was only 18 and plenty healthy. I could do stairs all day long. As I found myself downstairs I decided to ask a store clerk if she spoke English. Of course I used my newfound German language to do so. “Sprechen Sie Englisch?“ As the elderly clerk rose her head up to answer me she said in English, and with a very heavy Germany ancient, “I don’t need to speak English, I am in Deutschland.“ Tooshay ! She was absolutely right of course, and so our very brief conversation ended with very little said by either of us. At least I knew how to thank her and I did. “ Danke “, I replied as I turned myself away from her. It may have been taken as rudeness but I was satisfied that she was absolutely right to stand her ground. I was the visitor there, and I soon learned more of her language. It had been several months before I ventured into that department store again. But, I do remember the day I did. I was on a mission to find that lady I had met on my first trip into the store. It didn’t take long and I found her in the far right corner on the first floor. I couldn’t wait to speak to her, in her own language. It wasn’t much but I had to make the effort. I did. I walked right up to her and told her good morning. “guten Morgen.“ She looked up to see my smiling American face, and said, “guten Morgen“. “ wo ist die Haar-Produkte?“ I said boldly. I was looking for shampoo. She kindly pointed me in the right direction and just before I left she said to me, “You have learned some German, I see.“ I responded in German as she had just spoken to me in English. I think we both had a new understanding amongst us and hadn’t even tried to explain it. It was refreshing to say the least. She had once reminded me that she didn’t need to speak English, but when I came back using some of her language she abliged me with my own. My hard core view of what I thought she was like had just melted into the bottomless pit of anger I held after our first exchange. She had been right all along. But with her grace and understanding she had complimented herself to me, by speaking English. I picture her all the time. Sort of old, to me anyway, her tattered face and deep wrinkles showing a person who had not only lived a long time, but had gone through a lot in her life. Now and again our encounter is refreshened in my mind when I meet new people. It’s just another good example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. She was a quiet pleasing and lovely person, and I had taken her first response the wrong way. She taught me a valuable lessen in life. I use it still today. Thanks Frau.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 21:06:23 +0000
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