Today we woke up early to go sing at the Middle School in Neustiff. We performed in a gym but they had set it up nicely in order to accommodate us. We got a much better reaction from the kids. As I mentioned in my last note, we had noticed that this headmaster was much more welcoming then the last one, so that was reflected with the kids too. After we preformed our concert I was able to talk with a teacher who said that they were never expecting us to preform so well. This was very nice to hear. They even gave us money for it, which was very unexpected. And I got to talk with some of the children. They were very eager to know if I preferred Barcelona to Madrid or to tell me how to say certain words in German. It was a lot of fun and much more
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During this reception I was able to really get a feel for the culture and interact with the Austrians one on one. One person in particular that Will and I grew close to was Josef’s son Raphael. He was only 15 years old but he was very mature for his age. We talked about his experience with the choir with the church, with his school and we also talked a lot about fußball. He invited us to come play with him this weekend if we had time. It was amazing to interact with the people of Fulpmes. They are so kind and respectful. From my reading I knew that all social interactions are firstly formal, and it was encouraging to be treated like an adult by people I had just met. In comparing to America I found that the people are much nicer and generous as a whole. I don’t know what to attribute it to but everyone seems very forgiving if you accidentally do something wrong, and it makes it easier to adapt to the culture when people are understanding. I just realized that adapting to a culture could sometimes be just as much work for those who are native to the culture as it is for the newcomers. If they are understanding and willing to forgive then the newcomer can learn and not worry about being made fun of or constantly criticized, and learn from their mistakes instead of being ostracized for
During this reception I was able to really get a feel for the culture and interact with the Austrians one on one. One person in particular that Will and I grew close to was Josef’s son Raphael. He was only 15 years old but he was very mature for his age. We talked about his experience with the choir with the church, with his school and we also talked a lot about fußball. He invited us to come play with him this weekend if we had time. It was amazing to interact with the people of Fulpmes. They are so kind and respectful. From my reading I knew that all social interactions are firstly formal, and it was encouraging to be treated like an adult by people I had just met. In comparing to America I found that the people are much nicer and generous as a whole. I don’t know what to attribute it to but everyone seems very forgiving if you accidentally do something wrong, and it makes it easier to adapt to the culture when people are understanding. I just realized that adapting to a culture could sometimes be just as much work for those who are native to the culture as it is for the newcomers. If they are understanding and willing to forgive then the newcomer can learn and not worry about being made fun of or constantly criticized, and learn from their mistakes instead of being ostracized for