Cultural Diversity

I have made some new friends, from my intensive language class.  It's a good way to make the transition into a new country, that's for sure.  I love the cultural diversity.  Classes consist of up to twelve students and in mine there was me, the only native English speaker, a Brazilian, two Romanians, two French, an Italian, Portugese, Filippino, Thai, Russian and a guy from New York.  Of all those, some of us are meeting outside classes for meals on a semi-regular basis.  I am particularly good friends with the Brazilian, French, and Russian students.  They all speak fluent English which is both lucky and unlucky for me.  Occasionally, when our teacher was away, we would join another class where there was a Columbian, Palestinian, and several Italians.  Occasionally we talk about customs in our respective countries; festivals, laws, and similarities and differences between languages. 

When P and I first arrived here we attended a day of 'intercultural awareness' training.  This consisted of listening to an Egyptian man who had lived here for 15 years, teaching us about the norms of German culture and differences between Germany and the UK.  He could tailor it to us because we were the only ones there.  Anyway, it was so interesting that at the end of the day I asked him how it was possible to become a trainer in intercultural awareness.  By that time he knew a little about me and he said that external consultants were always needed, and I had the perfect background experience to become one of them.  I was used to regularly training small and large groups of people from all education levels and backgrounds, I am a specialist in communication problems as a speech and language therapist, I had travelled to more than 50 countries, many on my own, and stayed with locals in numerous different cultures.  Plus I am fascinated by personality and cultural differences and how understanding these can make a world of difference to our social relationships with others. 

So while I am waiting to send my CV (in Germany you have to send your CV for everything, even applying for a course) I am excited by this prospect.  It may be too expensive and take too long, but I'm hopeful…I truly believe that if cultures understood one another better, there would be less prejudice, less racism, fewer wars.  I know I'm an idealist, but this seems nothing more than logic to me.  I think every policy maker from every country should, as a right of passage, travel to several other countries and stay with locals (and perhaps a translator) for a year at the beginning of their careers.  Preferably countries where cultures are vastly different from their own.  Of course, there is always the risk that this could backfire and they could have a bad experience, but from what I have seen and known the good experiences far outweigh the bad, especially if you stay away for long enough.  Failing this, then maybe it should be mandatory for politicians to stay in countries known for what they seem to have 'got right'.  I think here of places like Denmark and their health, education and social welfare policies.  Or Iceland for completely turning around their youth culture's proclivity for drinking, smoking and taking drugs.  But I am no politican and perhaps I'm just spouting nonsense in the wind…

Now I am going to feed the crows that visit me daily and who eye the apple and the scraps of meat I put out in the snow, just for them, before turning their beaks up at the apple and taking off with the meat.  They are very funny with neighbours' cats.  Not in the least bothered, they hop just out of reach, luring the cats further and further away from their eating area and then, when the cats are at a good distance the crows fly back to the food and eat it in peace.  Clever birds.