Fun fact.
We’ve technically been in this new apartment in Germany for roughly two months, and it was only yesterday that we figured out how to register and pay for electricity. 🤦♀️ Good news, we can backdate it. 😆
I say technically back in Germany because we arrived from Ecuador and almost immediately left for the United States. We had about ten days in Germany to get into and set up our new apartment, and then we flew home for Christmas.
Those first few days after we arrived were roughhh… We landed on December 13th. We got the keys to the apartment and went to a Christmas party for Shane’s lab on the 14th. Then, we moved all our stuff in on the 15th. Truth be told, we don’t have much stuff. We also don’t have a car. So, we had to rent a moving van to bring what felt like entirely too much crap from our storage unit to the new apartment. Did I mention the apartment is on the top floor?
On top of that, we don’t have much stuff! So, we were off to Ikea and other stops for, oh, ya know, a bed to sleep in! It was a busy few days… all the while speaking Spanish to the Germans and getting really strange looks. ha.
Plus side, we reinstated our annual Christmas market visit. 😁
Then, on Christmas Day we were off to the US!
Spoiler alert. Traveling on Christmas was not as magical as the movies make it seem, to our disappointment! Maybe it was just the Munich airport, or we happened to end up in the wrong terminals, but they weren’t decorated, there was no holiday music, and people were generally grumpy (in hindsight, it makes sense). Doesn’t matter. The flights were cheap, and we spent a wonderful month at home with family and friends!
Shane’s been back to work for nearly a month now, and we’re readjusting to life in Germany. Leaving Ecuador, we were both concerned that Germany would feel a bit boring or that we wouldn’t enjoy being there. At this point, I think it’s safe to say we feel completely neutral about it. I’ve talked about this before, but in Ecuador, I feel like I had daily moments of “I love this country” or something to that effect. So far, I haven’t hated being back, but I also haven’t been over-the-top happy to be back. Just somewhere in the middle.
Honestly, it feels like we lived two separate lives, which I guess, in a way, we did. Imagine an avatar in the Sims game, where you can just pick them up and place them where you want. This is how I feel. Someone picked me up and placed me in Ecuador, where we created this new life based on a new culture, new rules, and new experiences. Consequently, you become a slightly different version of yourself–an Ecuadorian version.
Shane said he was Daniel, said with a Spanish accent, for example (which is actually true; he generally went by his first name, Daniel, instead of Shane, which was hard to pronounce for a lot of people. “Buenos dias Shaun-ey!“).
Now, my avatar has been picked up and placed back in Germany, where I’m back to the European version of me. We moved back to the same city, same neighborhood, and same job (for Shane). Did Ecuador even exist?!
Ok, obviously, it did, and that’s dramatic, but hopefully you see my point.
We’ve had a few reverse culture shocks, I’d say. First, the daylight. We were so accustomed to our 12-hour light-dark cycle that I could immediately tell what time it was based on the light when I woke up. When we arrived in Germany, the sunrise was at 8 am and sunset at 4:20 pm. It was a shock when I woke up that first morning at 7:30 am, assumed it was 5:30 am, and quickly found out it was two hours later than I thought!
Also, so many people smoke! I mean, there are cigarette dispensers at the bus stops. I completely forgot about this. And the water is so hard, and the air is so dry! Coming from the jungle, I think my body went into panic mode the first week, with all the moisture sucked out of my skin. Because of the hardness of the water, we’ve bought filters for the shower and the washing machine, which brings me to my next shock—the immediate availability of everything! I mean, I bought a TV for our apartment online and picked it up two hours later, and we’ve ordered from Amazon with next-day delivery more than I’d prefer.
I think our biggest reverse culture shock, though, is how outside of society we feel now that we’re back and don’t speak German. Finally, in Spanish, we could understand random conversations in the street and confidently manage nearly any interaction; we were living life in Spanish. Here, we don’t say more than “good morning” or “hello” to our neighbors because we can’t. We can both read enough German to navigate signs and basic necessities, but I couldn’t form a full sentence to order at a restaurant, for example (smiling, nodding, and pointing is a life-saver). You inherently feel more isolated when you don’t speak the language, which is something I forgot after spending 2+ years building my Spanish capacity. On the other hand, we only have a year, maybe a bit more, in Germany before we’re off to who knows where, and I know the effort it takes for me to properly learn a language. I’m just not sure I have it in me for such a temporary period.
There have been some fun things about being back in Germany, however! It’s been enjoyable putting the apartment together. I can genuinely say that I like our apartment, especially compared to our basement apartment with no kitchen and no windows to the outside world. We were super excited about buying rugs and a vacuum cleaner (is that called getting old?). And, after 12 years together, we finally bought our first couch! 😆
We’re also getting back into running, which, quite frankly, was boring in Tena because the only good place to run was laps in the park. Our apartment is essentially next to the large city park with trails and a river, and Munich is known for its green space, which makes running interesting! I also can’t complain about the availability of ingredients and the selection at the grocery stores, which has made cooking fun again (however, black beans are weirdly hard to find). Honestly, I really can’t complain.
Anyway, that’s our little life update. We’ve mostly just been re-setting our routines and readjusting to European life. Soon, we’ll be making a quick trip to the Netherlands to visit friends and pick up the last of our things. So, until then…
Tschüss,
The Shwits 