Letter 13-2007. What I appreciate about Germany -and Norway.

22^nd July 2007

Dear friends,

Normally I think that German and Norwegian cultures are quite similar. Sometimes I find differences. Often I do not know what I find best, but I do have some preferences.

In the beginning of my stay I did not always understand what made it heavy and difficult to read specialist literature. Now I have found some characteristic elements:

In primary school (or was it lower secondary school) we learnt not to make hybrid paragraphs. Hybrid paragraph is what I have just made (after „some common elements:“), to illustrate, but I shudder just by seeing that I have done it. It is difficult to see where new paragraphs begin when they neither have a tab nor an empty line to separate from the last paragraph. Some newer books have understood that hybrid paragraphs are heavy, and offer nice, real paragraphs. Several students still keep the old bad habit. „Here is a bad student,“ I thought the first time I got a paper from a student in my hand in a seminar. Later I have understood that the poor student had probably not learnt to write real paragraphs. I have got more such papers in my hand this semester. Thanks to Norwegian teachers knowing how to teach important details.

Something else making specialist literature difficult, is the heavy sentences. I have not made a scientific analysis. But I think that the sentences in Norwegian specialist literature are 2-3 lines long. 10 lines or half a page is not uncommon in German. One of my kitchen mates told about a friend who had handed in a draught of a scientific paper. He had probably written almost as I would have done (or had as my goal); short understandable sentences. The advisor just shook his head. The content was OK, but the form was far from scientific. He was told to make three sentences to one and subordinate clauses to participles, so that it was heavier. The German students who feel well with English, say that English theology is much easier than German, and I guess it is as dependent on the form as the content. Thanks to Norwegian professors who understand that the quality do not connect with the length of the sentences.

When I am now telling about what I appreciate about Norway, I can also mention how you address or speak of others. I have earlier said something about the problem knowing when to use „Sie“ and when „Du“. Professors are clear „Sie“ candidates. But that they always also must be „Professor Doctor“ I find unnecessery. Everybody understands that you have a doctor's degree when you are a professor, so why must it be expressed every time someone speaks of this professor? I might have too little respect for these professors, that is not my wish. I find respect important, and I think we in Norway often have too little. But I am not so fond of titles. I love my surname, but I prefer being called Hanne rather than Frau Tommelstad, as has been the case in the seminars this semester.

So I have something to look forward to when I come back to Norway. But there are also elements with the study life in Germany I will miss. The student canteen („Mensa“) is cheap and good. I might have eaten twice in the canteen at MF. I can therefore not say anything about the quality there. In Leipzig there are more canteens, more so called „interim“, as the main building of the university is being destroyed since before I came, and the new is not built until the 600 years jubilee in 2009. There are always more than one dish to choose from, and a fancy information screen shows what you can choose, the categories (sort of meat, fish, vegetarian) and price they are. I have so far not found anything I do not like (OK, I am not the most fastidious), and there is much exciting and tasty. The price is one third of that in Oslo, though I do not think that Norwegian student have three times as much money (though I also here do not have a scientific analysis). The result has been that I have eaten in the mensa almost every day, and again I am used to a warm meeal in the middle of the day, as in Bangladesh and Palestine.

Something else I have got used to, is a bicycle friendly town. In addition to being flat, Leipzig is made for bikers. The garage here at ES is full of bicycles, and there is normally a lot of bicycles outside the faculty. It is faster to go by bike than by the tram, and you are much freer. Separate lines for bikers between the cars and the pedestrians, and own traffic lights, make me as biker feel welcome in the city. Here Oslo has something to learn. Public transport is not necessarily cheap though. The train prices are almost as in Norway, but there is a weekend ticket which is good: Up to five persons can travel together inside Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen at one ticket. It is not a good offer when I travel alone, but it makes it possible for groups to get around in a cheap way, and I have been to Torgau and Dresden this way.

Besides my studies I have often been in Thomaskirche. It is close to TF, and as I have mentioned, it is the music church. I have started the mental process of changing from enjoying church music of the best quality to being able to appreciate nothing-but-normal-music. It might take some time, but it will work. Anyway I am happy that I could listen to all this.

At last: Handshaking is a German speciality that I still do not have quite in me, but I find it great. It is normal to shake hands when meeting and leaving. Eventually I have understood what it means for the people in nursing homes when the pastor shakes hands with everybody present before the devotion (right, I found it a bit strange when I had my practical training). The pastor in ESG here is especially careful greeting everybody coming to evenings and meetings, and it has given me a good feeling of being seen.

Grateful greetings from Hanne.