a whole new world - Auszug

It was autumn. Raining like always at this time of year in Hamburg. I hated rain. It usually started in late summer and lasted without a single snowflake until March or even April. I often thought of how nice it would be if it could only rain during the night and be sunny when I was outside going to school by bike or just pottering about in the yard. How naive of me. Thinking back there were a lot of naive thoughts that I had and actually still have. Like world peace. Why is it not possible for Presidents to negotiate and talk about their problems in order to find a compromise. Well, I am probably just too dumb to understand that. It is not going to happen. How could it? Everybody is too proud to express their own feelings and thoughts.
But you are quite right. The question is not what is now but what used to be in September of the year 1992.
I was a student of the 10th form of the Gymnasium - the hardest type of school in Germany - in Winsen. I had gone to that school for over three years, every single day without ever missing just one. It was only for me, you know. Education the magic word for gaining money which again is the magic word in our society. And why not? Money is important! I do not want to miss my TV. I want to live in a decent place, if possible in my own house. -I wanted education and believe me I worked a lot, always in order to get a few points more on every exam. And I got rewarded. All those nice looking grades on my score report that everybody admired so much and about which my mother loved to talk to other people.
Wednesday, a nice day because after school we, a group of fifteen people, would met as on every Wednesday in order to play chess. There was more than one good reason for us to attend it. One we liked to talk to each other - it is most of the fun that we have besides our profession: school which everybody takes very seriously, probably for the same reasons as I. The other option that the chess team offered was a good relationship to our principal who was our coach if you can call him that. I would not classify myself as a brown-noser but I have always considered the connections to teachers and especially to the headmaster as a great value.
Since Mr. Adam, our principal, had not come Jan, a friend of mine was telling us some jokes. There was one teacher at our school who always referred to his brother-in-law, no matter what the situation in class was like. Unfortunately, we never did anything much which could have been of a later use to us. He always tells us some stories. Anyway, Jan had funny news. Again this teacher had started a lesson with the words:
"I once knew somebody, actually I think it must have been my brother-in-law..."
So according to Jan, Marko - a real wise guy - had shouted immediately with a very ironic touch:
"Oh, you once knew somebody, hein?"
He got three days of suspension. He deserved it because all the others having laughed about his comment got quite some extra work. But now no teacher can hear us, added Frank, now we can joke about it.
Too late, we could not anymore. Mr. Adam had just entered the room. The rest of the day was not even worth mentioning. I lost every single game I played, two fifty- minute-games, two short ones. When I rode the two miles on my bike in less than six minutes I arrived at my place, a newer house where I live alone with parents.
As I said the rest of the day was just the usual, homework, supper, news and bed. I like being in bed. That is the only place where nobody disturbs me, where I can be alone and where I can think about everything happening in this crazy world full of desease, hunger and violence.
Much to my surprise the next day would bring new, unknown aspects with it which were going to change my life without me noticing it.
After getting up in the morning my mother who had been working in a private school during the afternoons told me that she had to help a student of hers to fill out an application for a school year abroad the day before; -abroad meaning in the United States of America. Since we had just learned at school that the National Gross Product of the USA is about $300 per capita and per year higher than our own I was rather interested which I told my mother. She of course admired my knowledge about pretty exact figures dealing with the economy. So, this became the theme of this morning's conversation with the subtitle: what can we learn from the US.
Amazingly enough the week-end came and my parents asked me:
"Remember the other day when we were debating about this idea? What is your opinion on this matter? You know we have been about this for some time and we agreed that it can only be good for you to realize other points of view in this society. We will not be here forever so you should try to live on your own - practice it we mean. And besides you would not be completely on your own. Most of those students who decide to go to the USA for a year have really nice host families. It would be a nice change for you to live together with one or maybe more kids since you do not have any brothers or sisters. You would have to adopt to a new way of live, be tolerant, become more open minded and flexible."
This of course was exciting news for me. I had the possibility of leaving home for an entire year, a new way of life for twelve months. Since it was only going to be for one year I could try a new way of life, I could fool around and get new experiences without anybody at home knowing it. I would not have to be ashamed of anything. I could pretend to be a completely different person and avoid doing mistakes that I did before since none of all the students whom I was going to meet new my real identity. For sure I would not be able to just go:" Pouf! I am somebody else now. I am Joe cool.", but I could easily make a habit of living with some new principles. I would always be nice to other people and never lie. Coming to think about this it is a lot easier to say than to do. Just think of your neighbor standing at the fence and telling you how nice she thinks she was looking with her new perm. But actually you can hardly force yourself not to laugh about her funny looks, however, just to be polite you agree with her. In this or a comparable case I planned not to say anything at all. That would be honest and polite at the same time and I would not hurt her feelings or blame myself for lying afterwards. But these two principles would be something new to me and I was anxious to see their effect. What would people do if in an argument one did not holler back but just smiled and tried to solve the situation by plain reasoning. Either they could think that they were being made fun of or they would come to the conclusion that communication can avoid a lot of problems. I did not have an answer for that but I was willing to find out. I was going to achieve this goalduring my exchange year; the goal of finding an answer.

The decision was made: One year in the United States. Although it was only autumn at that time and the exchange year would not start until summer in the following year my parents and I agreed that it would only be to my advantage if I mailed the necessary application as early as possible. Thus the organization would have enough time to find a decent host family for me and all those problems like one-year-visa could be taken care of. Beyond that I had - influenced by my parents - made up my mind that I would not come back and repeat the class that I attended in the US. One kind of prejudice had bothered me and my parents all the way along: American schools were said to have a lower standard than the ones in Germany.
Right here at this point I had to make use of my good relationship to my principal. I told him my reasons for going to the USA during the next year and asked him for his permission to skip the eleventh class in Germany. He did not like the idea of that at all and made me aware of the fact that I would miss so much, my  grades in Germany would greatly decrease and my chances to get a job later on..., who knows. Being rather stubborn I told him that high schools can not be that bad because the people who attend them manage to produce a greater value of goods per capita than we in Germany and most important of all, their taxes are lower by roughly twenty per cent. An awkward silence took place and I could see that he did not have any good aspects against mine, however, he was forcing himself to find one. I could feel his anger about this. Loosing in a discussion to a tenthgrader...
This went on for about two minutes but these two minutes seemed like ages. I could not understand why a grown up person always had to be right, even if it was obvious that he or she was not. Trying to be as friendly as I could pretend to be in such a situation I broke the silence by saying:
"What courses do I have to take in order to get credit for this year in Germany?"
Without saying a word he copied a list from a book which was as thick as 'Gone With the Winds' in one edition and gave it to me. I thanked him and wished him a nice day. He nodded. I left and was glad to be out of that hell hole.
When I left this place I was really angry that an adult, those who always claim that they have an answer for everything has so many prejudices against other people, more than I would have ever imagined. I promised myself on that day: I would not repeat grade eleven, my grades would become even better. I will show him what I can do if I want to! He and his damned arrogance! He will see what a student can do, even without him! What does he think he is? God? -In this moment I realized how annoying this guy and his school were. I took my bike in order to go home and much to my surprise that day I was going faster than ever before. I only wanted to forget this man. After all I and the others had done with him and for his chess club... So much for our togetherness.
The following week we were going to have a chess competition against eleven other schools and so I was really thinking about if I should join it or not. Maybe it was time to act like my principal to me and point out to him that since the other schools play worse than our team we should not go there and thus I decided not to attend that competition.
In the end I did not carry my plan out. I did not even mention anything at all. I just played as good as I could, lost two games and won two. But still I had expected a little more corporation from his part. My mind was made up: I would not repeat grade eleven and my marks would not become worse at all.
Obviously I had told my friends about my decision of going to the USA. I was rather shocked when they came up with the same ideas as my principal. Some told me that the people in America were so stupid that they did not even know where Germany was, at least not the exact location. Thinking back just a little bit I gave those people the same problem to solve that I once had:
"What do you think where Vermont is?"
Usually I did not get an answer or some comment like:
Why should I know where Vermont is. Who cares?"
But after saying that they generally did not bother me any more. At the time I was really confused and worried by this kind of reaction but over all it could not have bothered me that much because otherwise I would have canceled my year abroad. But there were not only students with this prejudice. One afternoon I stopped at a friend's house. There I once again had to listen to the same as so many times before. His father came right up to me and asked me if I were at the boarder to 'stupid land'. I pretended not to understand what he was inferring but eventually he gave me this all known question if I had ever heard  about the fact that all the Americans did not know where Germany was. I first of all tried to point out to him that for sure not all Americans had the same knowledge. He - not willing to understand  my point - went on that a colleague of his once sent his daughter to the USA, also for an exchange year. Now after coming back she had problems to adopt to her family and friends again and had even greater problems at school. His answer to my general question that had became a certain myth to me because I had used it so many times before was as I had expected it to be:
"What do I have to do with that? Do be quite truthful with you I do not give a shit about them over there."
At this point he did not know in what an awkward situation he had just gotten himself, but it would be a long time until he and I were able to realize that, more than two years his son would have to stay back, not me. But I did not forget his or anybody's concern, I would have if it had been honest caring but it was not; I could feel that all along. It was nothing but a combination of lack of knowledge, fear of being just second best and a certain type of prejudice which is only due to gossip.
I did not say anything further. I chilled it. Would it do any good if I started arguing or anything like that. Why should I care about other people's opinion. Maybe it was because I did not want to be a looser who went to a nation which is said to have lower standards than Germany. But coming to think about it the definition of a standard is relative and who could possibly be the superior person better than everybody else and thus have the ability to make this necessary definition. Certainly not my friend's father.
Just a week after all these incidences had taken place I received a letter from my co-ordinator to whom I had been assigned. I was really impressed. Not only by those incredible nice pictures which came along with the letter but also  by what I read in it. Neatly typed, no doubt that it was on an old fashioned typewriter, but there was not a mistake in this letter, not even a correction. The pictures were not just pretty, they were gorgeous. On them I could see a garden, no a yard. Actually both at the same time. Flowers, a German Shepherd, and an old, probably former farmhouse. Everything seemed so spread out, organized, neat and really beautiful.
"So that now is America" ,I said to myself, "the nation of crime, pollution, disorganization and without a culture, at least that is what they all said."
Inside I was just celebrating my first victory: All those pessimists around me are wrong, I knew it. I never really talked to my parents about it, actually with nobody. It was like in a poker game. Right now was the moment when I had picked my first card up: it was an As. But there were more cards to come, five more, and it would take time, a long time until I could pick up the last card in order to celebrate my triumph - if it would be a triumph.
Roughly two more weeks passed until our first orientation meeting, organized by the company with which I was going to take part in this adventure. We, my parents and I, went to the meeting together in order to ask for the solution to all possible and impossible problems. It was only for my sake. Before I came into this room where more or less two hundred people were going to be sitting I had made up in my mind this picture of all the other students. I expected them to be tolerant, open-minded and willing to go to the USA for an entire year. I cannot even tell you how much I was surprised when I could not help overhearing a few conversations between parents and others between students. Not only that most of those pupils knew exactly what they were going to do if they happened not to like their host brother but there were also a lot of them who did not want to leave home and whose parents had basically talked them into taking part in this program. Obviously other exchange students before us could not have behaved in completely different ways, and if so, what would the opinion Americans had on German exchange students be like? It is difficult to describe what I felt at that moment. It was as if a whole world fell apart, the world of being treated in a friendly way by US citizens. Under the present circumstances I would not have blamed anybody for having a lot of prejudices against exchange students as well as against Germany. I would find out about it and make the best possible out of it - in less than four months.
Since January I had been writing several letters to my co-ordinator in the US. This way I got to know a lot about him and his life, for example he was an English teacher, unmarried, had hosted five other exchange students before me and had a lovely house and huge yard. I had started to like that man and everything about and around him. That is also the reason why I was so excited to received a letter on the 1st of April saying that he would like to take me as his own exchange student. So I was going to be in good hands, nothing to worry about.
The last thing that happened in Germany which is probably worth mentioning is my fare-well party. It was a really fun night and most of my class mates came. We were dancing, talking, kidding each other, eating Bratwurst and even had a bottle of beer each, something about which my parents were not very pleased. And I do not blame them. It should be possible to have fun without drinking alcohol. Actually that was nothing we were talking about that night. It was going to be the last one for over a year so we amused ourselves and why not after all we had done together: going places and - studying.
The day for which I had been waiting for so long finally came. Hamburg airport, my parents, two suitcases, a backpack and I. There is not much to say, I guess. I was not sad because I knew where I was going to live for the next year, at least I thought so at the time. My Dad took a final picture of me with all the luggage in front of the airport building and I went to the check in counter. Where will I be after the seven-hour-trip? What will the weather be like? I did not have a clue but I would find out rather soon.

Wenn Du kostenlos weiterlesen möchtest - kein Problem. Lade Dir einfach das komplette Buch herunter. Zum Download