We found out on Monday that we are definitely going home. The kids were ecstatic. I have mixed feelings about it. Brad and I were prepared to stay a little longer if the opportunity came up. We have all learned so much from this experience.
In particular, I would have stayed because I think staying affords an excellent opportunity to raise well-rounded children. Not that I can't do that at home, but being here really shows a different lifestyle/perspective that is difficult to convey at home.
Here are some of my key take-away's from living here. Most of these you will read and think, well I already knew that...but being here DRIVES IT HOME in a way that I've never experienced before. It's almost like you have been looking through a dirty lens and you knew it was dirty all along but then it's cleaned off and you can finally see clearly for the first time and everything looks different.
- America's in-your-face marketing affects people even more than I ever realized. For instance, I have much, much less desire to buy things here. It just doesn't come up as often. I find myself content with what I have and not much need to buy the latest and greatest. Obviously, this extends to the kids as well. The other day Mary King started asking me where were all the catalogs and TV commercials so that she will know what to put on her Christmas list! ha! The constant barrage that invades us at home and in the stores and in the news, too is really, really, really over the top. It is sickening actually. Even more than that, it's not just direct marketing that affects us, but maybe even more so is what is going on IN the marketplace. For instance, things are always readily at your fingertips. You can get EXACTLY what you want, exactly when you want it - instant gratification is the American way. Stores such as Target and Wal-Mart are designed to make buying so completely simple that things just practically fall into your cart. The marketing at these stores is hard to ignore. It pulls in even the most discerning of customers. This simply does not happen here. If you need something here, you may actually have to go to a separate store to find it, or order it. And when you do find it, there are NOT going to be 40 options to choose from. It's usually one, maybe two choices. You can really see this play out at the grocery stores. The food selections are immense in the US. You could spend weeks lost in the cereal aisle alone.
- America's portrayal of women in marketing is frightening- particularly for mothers of girls. It has been so refreshing not to hear/see/read weight loss ads for 4 months. Not only refreshing, but internal thought changing. Equally refreshing is not seeing the constant flow of airbrushed women's "perfect" bodies around every corner. I never knew, while in the US, that this had an affect on me. It never even consciously bothered me. The thing that has really come to surface for me is just how prevalent it is in the US after being somewhere where the attitude toward women is markedly different. The affect this has on a person (particularly young girls/women) on their body image is heartbreaking. It is no wonder to me that the US has, by far, the highest rate of eating disorders of any country worldwide. How do I protect my daughter from this issue that is present in our country?
It's not just the unachievable body/quick fix dieting issue (ahem, instant gratification), but in general nakedness and human (esp women's) bodies are much more "accepted" in Europe. Nakedness in itself just does not equal sexuality. Because of this, they are more open to nakedeness in public - like women breastfeeding. This is perfectly acceptable here (and in most other countries). And I am not talking about hiding under a blanket breastfeeding either like we are forced to do in the US. In addition, they are much more open about sex here. It's not so "taboo" to discuss. It's like it's just a natural part of life...imagine that! All of this equates into less overt and constant sexualizing of women's bodies which leads to poor body/self image in our young girls.
- The amount of trash we create in the US is extraordinary. I know, another one of those, yeah I already knew that...but REALLY we are so unbelievably in the dark ages when it comes to waste production and recycling. Obviously, a big part of this ties in directly with item 1. We simply consume much more than most countries. And the companies that produce those products we consume are in such competition to sell their products they create bigger and better packaging to sell it to you. In Europe, every effort is made, even by the manufacturers to create less waste. The peer pressure, if you will, is on creating less waste, not on bigger, better, faster packaging and marketing. On the post-consumption end, we are really far behind as well. Our apartment in the city has a bin each (picked up weekly by the city) for biodgradeable goods, paper, glass (sorted by color), packaging (basically all other packaging - including tin) and one very small bin for "trash" (everything else). This trash bin is half the size of the one we use at home and is used by four families in my building. It is picked up weekly and we have never once needed more than that for our trash. In addition, the grocery stores here have recycling machines. They actually charge you a "deposit" when you buy plastic water bottles or bottled beer. For instance, we buy our beer in a plastic reusable crate. We put the empty bottles back in the crate and then we take the crate to the grocery where I put the whole crate at once into a machine and get a voucher for about 5euros back that I can use in the store. For that amount of money, I ALWAYS recycle all my plastic and glass. Furthermore, regarding the sorted bins above, if you don't recycle properly you can actually get ticketed!! When I first got here, I was annoyed by all this. I thought, how over the top! Now, I think back to how things are in the US and I really can't believe that's how we do it. Now I see how relatively easy it is to cut my trash production by about 75% especially since the government/overall system here in Germany supports it, requires it even.
- We are so far removed from our food source. "Eating local" isn't a trendy, granola thing to do. It is THE way to eat. Even the basic grocery stores have mostly locally grown, in season produce. The lettuce is dirty and looks like it just got plucked from the garden. There are things you cannot get year-round. There are markets around town every day of the week. Vendors come who sell their specialty. The cheese guy, the turkey family, the deli truck, etc. They all come with fresh, good, local food and it is heavenly. I called to order my Thanksgiving turkey from one of these people on Monday before Thanksgiving. They said they don't have any ready but that they would slaughter one for me tomorrow and I can pick it up Thursday morning. Now that is fresh, my friends.
- We live in our cars.
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