As the summer has progressed and my departure date has approached, I have thought more and more about how different things will be in Berlin as compared to what I am used to in the United States. Some things are really obvious, like the dominant language being German rather than English. But other things are not so obvious. Standards of modesty, behavior in public, work ethic, etc. might all be different. For example, in Germany it is not uncommon for strangers to share a table at a restaurant if it is crowded. The very thought of doing this myself or having a stranger suddenly sit down at the table I am sitting at fills me with great anxiety. In the United States, people simply do not invade the space of others like that. We have different cultural traditions, foods, and stories.
As I think about going to Germany for the next two years, it is very tempting to downplay our differences. It is very easy to say, "Oh, Germany is a modern Western city composed primarily of white people. There are not so many differences." And to an extent that is true. I think the United States is more similar to Germany than it is to China or Saudi Arabia or Liberia. Maybe that is because the population of the United States is largely composed of Western European immigrants. But to minimize or discount those differences would be folly. The transition from the cultural norms of the U.S. to those of Berlin is going to be a rocky road, with many mistakes likely to occur. My prayer is that I will enter in to the culture of Berlin with openness and a willingness to ask questions and learn.
A vivid picture of this cultural displacement comes in the form of one of my favorite videos, "An American Coach in London." (Be aware, the video contains a certain "W-word" that is more offensive in British contexts than it is in ours, but it may offend you as well). The video was produced by NBC Sports prior to the 2013 season of the Barclays Premier League, the top soccer league in England. The main character is an American named Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis) who becomes the head coach of the Tottenham Hotspur, a team in the Premier League. Coach Lasso doesn't have a good understanding of British culture, and he certainly doesn't understand soccer. He doesn't know how offside works, how large the goals are, or even who the other teams are. He isn't aware that games can end in ties, and that there are no playoffs. Coach Lasso quickly sees that this is not the football that he is used to, and at first he responds well. To learn the teams, he plays a flash card game with his assistant coach and makes associations between what he does know and what he doesn't. His assistant coach shows Manchester United, Liverpool, Cardiff City, Manchester City, and West Ham United. Lasso compares them to the Dallas Cowboys, also the Dallas Cowboys, Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, Jennifer Lawrence, and pickup trucks.He tries to learn the rules of soccer by playing the FIFA video game (this worked well for me actually). He asks a lot of "What" and "Who" questions, like "What is offside," and "Who is that player?" Asking questions in an unknown situation is a good first response. Coach Lasso must also be praised for his ability to make mistakes and keep on truckin'. No matter how many mistakes he makes in learning the rules and culture of soccer, he never goes into a shell. He keeps on doing the job he was hired to do.
On the other hand, Coach Lasso doesn't ask a lot of "Why" questions. He never seeks to truly understand why things are the way they are. In addition, he keeps assuming that things are as they are in American football. He is completely unable to recognize that things are different from what he has always known until his assistant coach or a reporter points it out to him. Then he asks his "What" and "Who" questions, but at no point does he attempt to proactively ask questions or seek to understand. One of the major themes that I got from pre-field training and the online course before that was the idea that I need to be really open to what is going on around me. I need to be paying attention to see how people order food, or stand in line, or how people greet each other. I have to be willing to make mistakes in my speech and my actions, otherwise I risk curling up into a ball and doing and saying nothing. I just finished a book called "Being White: Finding Our Place in a Multi-ethnic World." The book is primarily focused on the interaction between white Americans and minority groups in America, but it was valuable in teaching me about the background that I come from. Understanding my own culture and the way I see the world will be important as I try to traverse the culture of Berlin. Without being able to recognize why things are the way they are in my own culture, I won't be able to go beyond even the most shallow understanding of what it means to be from Berlin. Like Coach Lasso, I may struggle to even see the difference at times.
In some ways I want to be bold like Coach Lasso. I want to be able to keep moving forward, unafraid of making mistakes. But unlike Coach Lasso, I want to understand. I want to proactively ask questions before I make mistakes. I want to watch and observe how others do things. And I certainly don't want to assume that things are as they are in America. Coach Lasso takes a job in a sport where he doesn't understand the rules. In some ways I have done the same. But I pray that I take Coach Lasso's boldness, and leave the rest. I pray that I enter a new culture as Christ would want me to.
Amen.