Foreigners

Who is a foreigner?  I know I sometimes feel like one here, but then I remember that I have lived over half of my life in Germany.  On trips to the States I often have the reverse sensation, slipping right back into the culture I grew up with, but there are just as many moments on my visits where I recognize how European I have actually become.

Yesterday I met a woman new to me in our congregation.  Our church merged with another a few years ago, the one she was connected to while living in Mainz and after being absent for several years, she has recently come back.  Except for her beautiful dark looks, nothing about her gives away her Mideastern birthplace.  I do not know her whole story, but apparently she came to Germany as a teenager with her brother, and after quickly learning the language, she also immersed herself in the culture.  Is she a foreigner?

What about the kids in the after-school program I help out with on Mondays?  Most of them have a "migrant background" and their parents speak little or no German.  But the children certainly act very similar to their German counterparts.  Yes, most of them celebrate Muslim rather than Christian holidays and their command of the German language (especially in the written form) is not always perfect, but one could say the same of many Germans.

Definitely an interesting question.  I guess it boils down to basically two things -- the legal aspect and how you perceive yourself.  For me the first concept is clear:  applying for a German passport would mean surrendering my American one, a step I am not (yet) willing to take, even if my American citizenship occasionally causes some extra red tape.  The perception part is somewhat more ambiguous.  I have always considered myself "American" and the older I get, the stronger I feel my roots pulling inside.  At the same time, for the last 25 years my daily life has revolved around a country, language and culture that were once new and strange, but now feel as comfortable as my favorite pair of shoes. Ofcourse some days the shoes don't seem to fit just right either.


Do I feel foreign here?  Mostly not.  Do I feel German?  Most definetly not.  Still chilling in that inbetween never-never land........................