Sure, I can think of more creative things than split hairs over that idiotic "what makes you think you're so different". It's just another form of xenophobia towards anything that doesn't fit that Disneyland ideal...but then the culture shock is priceless the minute they step off that plane in Frankfurt. I remember that on the train back from Vienna, I was enjoying a schnapps and a smoke with a rather lively old lady heading for Munich. We were having a good laugh telling stories when a couple of starry-eyed evangelists from California walked in and stared at us like we suddenly had seven heads. Clearly they had just come from the passion play in Oberammergau and were about to ask us not to smoke, when my host protested loudly in her native German, pointing to the "Smoking" symbol- that there be no mistake which country they were in. Of course they fled the scene in an instant. I had to change trains in Munich, so our ways parted there. I had a half an hour so I headed to the kiosk for a herring bun, when suddenly some lost muppet intercepted me, asking me if I could speak English, in a rather demanding voice as she grabbed my arm. She was heading to Heidelberg and wasn't interested in going to the information office for directions. She insisted I read the schedule and take her to the track where the appropriate train would arrive. This was on the same platform as my own connection, so I thought, oh well if that's all she's asking. Family was expecting me in Offenburg within a specific time and these were the days before mobile phones. She had little to say for herself other than being a foreign student in Heidelberg University. She was assuming from my English that I was a fellow American, but to convince her otherwise, clearly required more personal information than I was willing or even allowed to give just anyone. This was after the time the American general Rogers had tried to blackball Kiesling with false accusations of closet homosexuality, and who knows who's kid this was.
This sort of scapegoating is rarely effective in mainland Europe. First of all, what people do in private here is not up for public scrutiny unless it violates the criminal code. Secondly, Kiesling wasn't gay. He simply chose a career instead of family life because it really is difficult to maintain both in a military environment. I'm sure anyone who grew up in one can see that. Needless to say, the allegations only made everyone suspicious of what Rogers was trying to hide in the name of "national security". Yes, he was notorious for that, like so many others before him.
When my train came she tried to stop me from boarding. She had this strange idea that it should be my duty to escort her to Heidelberg. Failing this she tried to tell me it was the only "Christian thing to do". That's when I leered at her, and yanking myself from her clutches, bolted through the open door in an instant. She went into a tirade, like making a scene was going to change anything. Normally people do come to your aid when you appear to be in distress, but her overweening behaviour had everyone avoiding her like the plague. The conductor must have gathered this as he secured the door behind me, shaking his head. Brandishing a cheesy grin at her through the window I waved as the train proceeded away. I could see she was on her best way to getting reported to the station police. My brother had a similar experience in Frankfurt waiting for the train, so it's not as if this was some mere isolated incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment