Well, I've survived my first week of German class. It turns out the class isn't as scary as I suspected it might be.
I did have a rather unusual experience, though. In abbreviated form, it went pretty much like this:
-Monday morning - Went to German class, Level 5. Teacher was a woman. Had expected a man.
-Monday evening - Realized I was actually registered for Level 3.
-Tuesday morning - Went to German class, Level 3 this time. Took my registration receipt with me. Spoke to teacher (who, yes, was a man). Tried to explain my stupidity. Sat through Level 3. Got very bored. Saw a woman copying my paper. Same woman asked me to sit next to her again the next class period.
-Wednesday morning - Went back to Level 5.
I really have no explanation for why I went to the wrong class on Monday. I guess it's all worked out for the best, though. My speaking level (at least from what I can tell) is closer to that of the students in Level 5, even if I do need to review some things they already know.
Friday, however, was a bit stressful because the man from Level 3 teaches Level 5 on Fridays. I felt a need to prove myself to him, to show that I really could handle a class at a higher level than the one for which the placement test showed I was ready. He didn't express disapproval over my decision to switch classes, though he did mutilate a sentence I volunteered to write on the board. He (and the rest of the class) quickly discovered that I don't remember all the rules about passive voice.
But I guess that's how we learn, right? If I knew everything now I wouldn't need to take the class in the first place.
I've also begun the English Bible studies. Last week I studied with Sylvia, and I think our studies are going to be very interesting. She's been visiting the congregation here for about 3 years, but there seem to be a lot of things she doesn't understand about God and Scripture, and she doesn't realize that she's confused about them. Our studies together should be great eye-openers for both of us.
Also last week I met a woman named Ute for coffee. Hers was one of the messages I returned while Elsa was sick. We had a good "get-to-know-you" conversation and will meet again next week. This coming week I also have an appointment with a woman named Cornelia, who right now is not very keen on the idea of reading the Bible, saying that she's not really religious. She is interested in practicing her English, though, and agreed to meet me for coffee. We'll see how things go. You never know what God has planned.
So far I've only had one person cancel an appointment, and I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of people. Please pray for all the studies that I will not scare anyone away and that God will open whatever doors need to be opened for each of these people.
For my own spiritual enrichment and to prepare me for the English Bible studies, I've begun meeting with Jim once a week for a Bible study. We've been going through the story in the Bible of God's relationship with humanity. The past two weeks we've worked through the Garden of Eden narrative in Genesis 1-3, noticing how God made man differently than the animals; God wanted to make man in "their" image (Gen. 1:26), and one of the ways I think God did that was by breathing "the breath of life" into man (Gen. 2:7). We literally have part of God in us. God didn't do that with any of the animals. We were given a spirit and an imagination that no other creature on earth possesses.
Jim and I also spent quite a while discussing the boundaries God set up for man while still giving him free-will to make decisions; the role the serpent played in the whole story; and how the world (and therefore man) changed with the introduction of sin. My brain is still trying to process a great deal of our conversations because there was a lot I had never thought about before, but I'll post more about our studies as we go further along.
I pray that "you and yours" are well wherever you are and in whatever you may be dealing with. Thank you for your prayers for me and for the work here. I can't express to you what they mean to me! God hears your prayers and is working through them.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Lost in translation
Last Saturday we had a singing seminar at church. Ed Cantrell, an American who works with the congregation in Chemnitz, was kind enough to come share some of his extensive knowledge with us. (By the way, we didn't talk about the use of instruments in the assembly, which is a big issue right now in Germany. Ed thought that required a seminar of its own and so did not cover it here).
A lot of the discussion reinforced what I already believe about singing in the worship assembly, as far as its purpose and technique. We sing to praise God, but we sing also to lift up and encourage one another. If we all sing with our heads stuck in our songbooks, we sing only to ourselves. If we can learn songs well enough to be able to lift our faces and look at the Christians around us, we foster a sense of communal worship of God, which in turn helps promote a sense of brotherhood and fellowship.
The biggest surprise of the day for me occurred after the seminar was over. Six or seven of us stayed around for awhile to sing together, and Ed asked us to choose which songs to sing. As we turned to one song, I noticed the song on the next page was a German translation of "There is Power in the Blood" by Lewis E. Jones. As I've said before, singing in German is not easy for me because I have trouble reading the music, pronouncing the words, and understanding the text all at the same time. So, when we finished the song, I requested "There is Power in the Blood," knowing that we would sing in German but relishing the opportunity to sing a hymn for which I at least know the music.
As the other people looked at the song, one of the German women scrunched up her face and literally shuddered in disgust. "I don't like this song," she declared.
When we asked why, she said, "It reminds me of the Nazis and killing people." I was appalled. How could a hymn celebrating the saving power of Jesus' crucifixion remind someone of the atrocities of the Holocaust? To add to my shock, another woman agreed with her.
Apparently, the German translation is...lacking. The translator (who is not named) seems to have focused on translating the words instead of the hymn's overall feeling; the meaning of the English words, which is transferred when a person tries to do a word-for-word translation, just doesn't work in German. Besides that, the rhythm of the German doesn't fit the music all that well.
But most offensive for Germans today are the words themselves. The first half of the refrain literally means "It is power, power, wonderful power in the blood." The slight difference between the "There is" in the original English and the "It is" in the German translation has a big impact. The German seems to connote that it is the blood itself that is powerful instead of what the blood symbolizes, as the English implies. Hence the connection for Germans to needless bloodshed associated, at least in this country, with the Nazi regime.
We did end up singing the song, but the whole experience taught me a couple things:
1) Be more aware of what people and their country have experienced. The past helped make those people who they are today. For Germans, the events of the late 1930s and the 1940s still impact their lives today. They seem to be ashamed of what their country did, and therefore don't have pride in their country (except, of course, when it comes to soccer), and anything that sounds nationalistic brings back horrible memories.
2) Meaning, not words, is important in translation. Another reason being able to somewhat think in German is helpful.
A lot of the discussion reinforced what I already believe about singing in the worship assembly, as far as its purpose and technique. We sing to praise God, but we sing also to lift up and encourage one another. If we all sing with our heads stuck in our songbooks, we sing only to ourselves. If we can learn songs well enough to be able to lift our faces and look at the Christians around us, we foster a sense of communal worship of God, which in turn helps promote a sense of brotherhood and fellowship.
The biggest surprise of the day for me occurred after the seminar was over. Six or seven of us stayed around for awhile to sing together, and Ed asked us to choose which songs to sing. As we turned to one song, I noticed the song on the next page was a German translation of "There is Power in the Blood" by Lewis E. Jones. As I've said before, singing in German is not easy for me because I have trouble reading the music, pronouncing the words, and understanding the text all at the same time. So, when we finished the song, I requested "There is Power in the Blood," knowing that we would sing in German but relishing the opportunity to sing a hymn for which I at least know the music.
As the other people looked at the song, one of the German women scrunched up her face and literally shuddered in disgust. "I don't like this song," she declared.
When we asked why, she said, "It reminds me of the Nazis and killing people." I was appalled. How could a hymn celebrating the saving power of Jesus' crucifixion remind someone of the atrocities of the Holocaust? To add to my shock, another woman agreed with her.
Apparently, the German translation is...lacking. The translator (who is not named) seems to have focused on translating the words instead of the hymn's overall feeling; the meaning of the English words, which is transferred when a person tries to do a word-for-word translation, just doesn't work in German. Besides that, the rhythm of the German doesn't fit the music all that well.
But most offensive for Germans today are the words themselves. The first half of the refrain literally means "It is power, power, wonderful power in the blood." The slight difference between the "There is" in the original English and the "It is" in the German translation has a big impact. The German seems to connote that it is the blood itself that is powerful instead of what the blood symbolizes, as the English implies. Hence the connection for Germans to needless bloodshed associated, at least in this country, with the Nazi regime.
We did end up singing the song, but the whole experience taught me a couple things:
1) Be more aware of what people and their country have experienced. The past helped make those people who they are today. For Germans, the events of the late 1930s and the 1940s still impact their lives today. They seem to be ashamed of what their country did, and therefore don't have pride in their country (except, of course, when it comes to soccer), and anything that sounds nationalistic brings back horrible memories.
2) Meaning, not words, is important in translation. Another reason being able to somewhat think in German is helpful.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Exciting steps forward
Well, I feel like I've hardly been home for the past week, but there's been a lot of progress recently, both in my struggles to get acclimated and in my work here.
Last week Jim, Elsa, and I wrote newspaper ads and created flyers advertising English Bible studies. We decided to have the people call Elsa since the German could be a problem for me, especially since it would be on the phone. Several people called expressing interest, but after about the first day, Elsa lost her voice. So, calls have been piling up on their answering machine.
Today I went to their house to work on Jim's library, and Elsa told me (okay, whispered to me) that she thought it would be good for me to return the phone calls since, according to her doctor, it could be another week before she can talk. I had a brief moment of panic...and then agreed with her. If this is going to get up and running, then I have to step out of my comfort zone and make the phone calls.
So, Elsa went through her routine with me, telling me what questions to anticipate and how to respond to them. She had all the phone numbers listed for me and gave me the notes she had taken while talking with the first few callers. I was doing really well...until she said, "Let me go get the phone and you can get to work." That's when the panic really hit.
I said a quick prayer, tried to squash the panic just a bit, and got to work. I ended up making appointments with two women to meet next week, and another woman said that not only is she interested in doing the studies, but her boyfriend and his son are also interested. I also have an appointment to study with Sylvia on Tuesday morning. Last Friday we had an "English movie night" at Jim and Elsa's house, and two people there also expressed interest in doing the studies.
So, I'm quickly ending up with lots of potential "students." I was really excited this afternoon after making the calls and getting a positive response from several people. It was nice to see some quantifiable progress. I'm really trying not to have any expectations, though. My goals are just to form friendships with people (Germans in general are very formal and don't open up to people who are not family or close friends) and to plant seeds. That's all I can do. God will make the seeds grow into what He wants them to be.
Also this week:
-I helped clean and organize the basement and kitchen of the church building in an effort to get the building ready to sell.
-I went to Braunschweig with Jim and the Abercrombies for our monthly visit with the congregation there. The trip is always exhausting, both physically and mentally, but it's more than worth it. The congregation there only has 9 members, and they love having us there to worship with them.
-I babysat three times for Mimi and Rüdi, once so they could attend a meeting for planning the remodeling of the new church building, and twice so that Mimi could work on plans for the ladies' retreat that's coming up next weekend. There's a lot that I can't do here, either because of my language skills or because of lack of expertise, but if I can watch someone's children so that they are able to do the work, then I feel like I'm involved in the work as well.
-I worked two afternoons in Jim's library. Every book he owns should now have his name stamped inside and a label on the spine, and all the books that needed to be reshelved are back in their respective homes. Now I'm waiting for Jim to finish transferring his database to a new computer, and then I'll begin cataloguing. Jim apparently hasn't had a chance to do any cataloguing in quite a few years. I'd estimate that there are about 1,000 books waiting for call numbers and entry into the database. I think there's a lot of work ahead.
-We had a baptism at church last Sunday! Aaron, the 10-year old son of Michael, who's been visiting here for a while, decided after discussions with his parents and Jim and Elsa to take on the Lord in baptism. According to Jim, Aaron's baptism brings the total number of baptized believers in the congregation up to 35. We're really in need of the new building, though, because I counted 58 people at services two Sundays ago, and there was no more room for extra chairs.
Another exciting thing for me lately has been my observation that I'm not having to work as hard to understand German. I guess you could say I'm learning to think in German instead of just in English. Being able to think in German makes life SO MUCH EASIER. When I was thinking only in English, I had to constantly translate in my head, and I perpetually felt mentally exhausted. Now I can have a conversation (albeit not yet about anything remotely complex) at a reasonably natural speed.
I think I first noticed my "break-through" two weeks ago. I attended a seminar at church that was led by Josef Achatz from the congregation in Augsburg. Topic: personal evangelism. Very apropos, considering that's what I've come here to do.
I make no pretenses of having left the seminar with complete understanding of what was said, but I can say that I understood much more than I thought I would. Granted, the fact that I had previous knowledge of the topic probably helped.
At one point in the seminar, Josef presented questions that non-believers might have about the Bible, and he decided to give us practice answering them. I tried to hide, but he eventually came to me and asked, "Woher nahm Kain seine Frau?" (Where did Cain find his wife?)
A moment later I heard myself saying, "Adam und Eva hatten andere Kinder, und vielleicht war seine Frau eine Schwester von ihm." (Adam and Eve had other children, and perhaps his [Cain's] wife was one of his sisters.) I was surprised at how almost effortlessly the answer came. I didn't have to think about it for a long time, and I didn't have to formulate the answer in English and translate it to German.
At the end of the seminar on Saturday, after I'd sat through almost seven hours of German conversation that day, I got a big smile, a pat on the back, and a "Congratulations! You made it!" from Elsa. Until that point I'd only been able to handle about two hours of steady German before my brain would begin turning to mush. Looking back I think that was because I was working so hard to translate everything. Now that my brain can switch back and forth to some degree, I don't have to find some excuse to escape after a couple hours.
A few people have asked me why I worry about improving my German when I only plan to be here for two years. My answer is this: To really connect with people, you have to speak to them in the language of their hearts. No mission work in a foreign culture can be truly effective unless it's paired with language study. People here may be able to speak English, but that's only an intellectual language for them; they feel in German. When I can speak to them in German, I show them that I respect them and their culture, and they therefore are more receptive to what I have to say.
So, my language progress is just as important as any other work I do here. Without it I wouldn't be able to do very much. I sure wouldn't be able to do babysitting, considering that I haven't yet met any bilingual 3-year olds. :-)
Last week Jim, Elsa, and I wrote newspaper ads and created flyers advertising English Bible studies. We decided to have the people call Elsa since the German could be a problem for me, especially since it would be on the phone. Several people called expressing interest, but after about the first day, Elsa lost her voice. So, calls have been piling up on their answering machine.
Today I went to their house to work on Jim's library, and Elsa told me (okay, whispered to me) that she thought it would be good for me to return the phone calls since, according to her doctor, it could be another week before she can talk. I had a brief moment of panic...and then agreed with her. If this is going to get up and running, then I have to step out of my comfort zone and make the phone calls.
So, Elsa went through her routine with me, telling me what questions to anticipate and how to respond to them. She had all the phone numbers listed for me and gave me the notes she had taken while talking with the first few callers. I was doing really well...until she said, "Let me go get the phone and you can get to work." That's when the panic really hit.
I said a quick prayer, tried to squash the panic just a bit, and got to work. I ended up making appointments with two women to meet next week, and another woman said that not only is she interested in doing the studies, but her boyfriend and his son are also interested. I also have an appointment to study with Sylvia on Tuesday morning. Last Friday we had an "English movie night" at Jim and Elsa's house, and two people there also expressed interest in doing the studies.
So, I'm quickly ending up with lots of potential "students." I was really excited this afternoon after making the calls and getting a positive response from several people. It was nice to see some quantifiable progress. I'm really trying not to have any expectations, though. My goals are just to form friendships with people (Germans in general are very formal and don't open up to people who are not family or close friends) and to plant seeds. That's all I can do. God will make the seeds grow into what He wants them to be.
Also this week:
-I helped clean and organize the basement and kitchen of the church building in an effort to get the building ready to sell.
-I went to Braunschweig with Jim and the Abercrombies for our monthly visit with the congregation there. The trip is always exhausting, both physically and mentally, but it's more than worth it. The congregation there only has 9 members, and they love having us there to worship with them.
-I babysat three times for Mimi and Rüdi, once so they could attend a meeting for planning the remodeling of the new church building, and twice so that Mimi could work on plans for the ladies' retreat that's coming up next weekend. There's a lot that I can't do here, either because of my language skills or because of lack of expertise, but if I can watch someone's children so that they are able to do the work, then I feel like I'm involved in the work as well.
-I worked two afternoons in Jim's library. Every book he owns should now have his name stamped inside and a label on the spine, and all the books that needed to be reshelved are back in their respective homes. Now I'm waiting for Jim to finish transferring his database to a new computer, and then I'll begin cataloguing. Jim apparently hasn't had a chance to do any cataloguing in quite a few years. I'd estimate that there are about 1,000 books waiting for call numbers and entry into the database. I think there's a lot of work ahead.
-We had a baptism at church last Sunday! Aaron, the 10-year old son of Michael, who's been visiting here for a while, decided after discussions with his parents and Jim and Elsa to take on the Lord in baptism. According to Jim, Aaron's baptism brings the total number of baptized believers in the congregation up to 35. We're really in need of the new building, though, because I counted 58 people at services two Sundays ago, and there was no more room for extra chairs.
Another exciting thing for me lately has been my observation that I'm not having to work as hard to understand German. I guess you could say I'm learning to think in German instead of just in English. Being able to think in German makes life SO MUCH EASIER. When I was thinking only in English, I had to constantly translate in my head, and I perpetually felt mentally exhausted. Now I can have a conversation (albeit not yet about anything remotely complex) at a reasonably natural speed.
I think I first noticed my "break-through" two weeks ago. I attended a seminar at church that was led by Josef Achatz from the congregation in Augsburg. Topic: personal evangelism. Very apropos, considering that's what I've come here to do.
I make no pretenses of having left the seminar with complete understanding of what was said, but I can say that I understood much more than I thought I would. Granted, the fact that I had previous knowledge of the topic probably helped.
At one point in the seminar, Josef presented questions that non-believers might have about the Bible, and he decided to give us practice answering them. I tried to hide, but he eventually came to me and asked, "Woher nahm Kain seine Frau?" (Where did Cain find his wife?)
A moment later I heard myself saying, "Adam und Eva hatten andere Kinder, und vielleicht war seine Frau eine Schwester von ihm." (Adam and Eve had other children, and perhaps his [Cain's] wife was one of his sisters.) I was surprised at how almost effortlessly the answer came. I didn't have to think about it for a long time, and I didn't have to formulate the answer in English and translate it to German.
At the end of the seminar on Saturday, after I'd sat through almost seven hours of German conversation that day, I got a big smile, a pat on the back, and a "Congratulations! You made it!" from Elsa. Until that point I'd only been able to handle about two hours of steady German before my brain would begin turning to mush. Looking back I think that was because I was working so hard to translate everything. Now that my brain can switch back and forth to some degree, I don't have to find some excuse to escape after a couple hours.
A few people have asked me why I worry about improving my German when I only plan to be here for two years. My answer is this: To really connect with people, you have to speak to them in the language of their hearts. No mission work in a foreign culture can be truly effective unless it's paired with language study. People here may be able to speak English, but that's only an intellectual language for them; they feel in German. When I can speak to them in German, I show them that I respect them and their culture, and they therefore are more receptive to what I have to say.
So, my language progress is just as important as any other work I do here. Without it I wouldn't be able to do very much. I sure wouldn't be able to do babysitting, considering that I haven't yet met any bilingual 3-year olds. :-)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
My new favorite thing
I got a washing machine! Never in my life have I been so excited about the opportunity to wash clothes.It's used but it still runs great. I got it from an appliance store that came highly recommended by Elsa. The store apparently was opened by two brothers after one became upset at the dishonesty of the company where he was working. Elsa took me to the store last week, and one of the brothers recommended a used "Miele," which he described as the "Mercedes of washing machines." According to him, Mieles will easily last 20 years, so he saw this washer as still dependable even though it's about 8 years old. He also said they would buy it back from me when I leave Bremen in 2 years, which I thought said something about his trust in the machine and gives me one less thing to worry about getting rid of when I leave.
So, I got the Miele. And I love it. :-) No more hiking across town to do my laundry.
They even gave me - at no cost - a part I needed that the last renters apparently took with them when they moved out.
So, if you ever find yourself in Bremen and in need of a household appliance, I suggest you visit the Vural brothers. You can tell them I sent you.
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