Across cultures: interviewing exchange students at our school
Here are three articles Mr. Büttner’s J1 English students wrote, based on interviews they conducted with two Brazilian and one American student.
Laura, Eloisa and John were asked to talk about themselves, their culture and what they thought about Germany. The articles (one for each student) are our form of saying ‘thank you’ to them for staying with us.
Surprise eggs are illegal - why isn`t Trump?
We got the chance to interview John Huddle, an 18 year old exchange student from the US, who stayed in Germany for three weeks.
We started our interview by asking John, what he liked most about Germany. He responded right away, telling us that everything tasted better here in Germany. So he went ahead and compared German and American eating habits. While in Germany lunch is considered to be the main meal, Americans prefer having a small lunch and a larger dinner. Mentioning food, we were surprised to hear that the very popular ‘surprise eggs’ (Überraschungseier) are banned in some states in the US, because kids could choke on them, if they tried swallowing the egg without opening it – which, incidentally, John tired once, too.
The aspect of daily-life which shocked us the most is that in Maryland, the state John lives in, hunting deer is still very common. In fact John told us, that "guns are easier to get than a drivers license". It`s reasonable to regard John as an expert on this particular topic, considering that he serves in the military, from which he is currently receiving a scholarship for college. John pointed out that Trump wants to make it even easier to get your hands on a gun. In the area where he lives, Trump isn`t very popular, Maryland mainly voted for Clinton. Nowadays people watch more and more news because of him. So you could say that, in a sense, there is an increased interest in politics, but you also have to keep in mind that some news channels are influenced by the president.
To sum up, it can be said that this interview was very interesting for both sides and John was a great interview partner. He could answer every single question - with one exception: If ‘surprise eggs’ are banned - why then is the most dangerous one governing this country? This mystery remains yet to be solved.
Swabian culture-The new export product of Germany?
In January Mr. Büttner’s English course of had the chance to interview Eloisa de Costa, a Brazilian exchange student. She is from the region of Sao Paulo and had already been staying for more than one month.
To start the conversation we asked her about her leisure activities. She told us she does fighting and dancing. When asked, what she liked about Germany, she said she liked Kässpätzle and the fact, that we mix our juices with sparkling water. Schorle, as you would say in Germany. Somebody wanted to know what she found odd about Germany. She answered that in Brazil they walked barefoot at home so wearing house shoes was very strange for her. With regards to our tradition of shaking hands, she mentioned people in Brazil rather gave you a hug, even if they didn’t know each other.
When we asked her about the most striking difference between the two school systems, she said that in Brazil the relationships between pupils and teachers were closer than at German schools.
Eloisa also seemed really impressed by our Öchsle. She reported she had enjoyed the ride on the old train, driving from Warthausen to Ochsenhausen. She had also visited some classic attractions and sights of the region, for example, Schloss Neuschwanstein and the Lake Constance (Bodensee). She added she had even been to the Christmas market in Ulm. “We don’t have something like this in Brazil”, she told us.
To sum up, we had the impression that Eloisa enjoyed her time in Biberach and made some friends here. On the question whether she would come to Germany again, she responded with a sincere ‘Yes’ ... but then added that she also wouldn’t mind if we just exported some of our Swabian culture to Brazil.
Seeing Germany through Brazilian eyes
Do you know anything about Brazil? Well, we didn’t know anything, either. Until we had the opportunity to interview Laura, a Brazilian exchange student from Sao Paulo. She had already spent 40 days in Germany as part of her three-month summer vacation and, therefore, had experienced both cultures.
A big difference between Germany and Brazil in her eyes were the eating habits. Brazilians didn’t eat as much bread and chocolate as we do. Therefore, Laura didn’t understand why German people weren’t fat. When on the other side, there were so many more overweight people in Brazil. Laura actually liked the German food, especially the chocolate, which she said was very cheap.
Another positive thing about Germany she pointed out was the school system that was way better in Germany. The teachers in Brazil weren’t as motivated as their German counterparts because the Brazilian students were very loud. Therefore, the English they taught was pretty bad in comparison to ours. She was very surprised how quiet the German students were.
However, she hopes for change in the upcoming presidential elections, in which you are obligated to vote if you are over 18. She said the whole political system in Brazil needed change, because there was a lot of corruption and inequality between men and women. In addition, another huge problem was crime. There are some parts of Sao Paulo which you shouldn’t walk through after dark. The high crime rate, she added, was connected to the widespread poverty in Brazil.
When talking about Germany, it was very shocking for us to hear that apparently there are still a lot of Brazilians who think that a huge number of German people support Hitler and still believe in the Nazi ideology. However, after we had talked about such serious topics, she mentioned a stereotype that fits perfectly and made us smile: Germans are always too early!
Laura told us, she enjoyed her time in Germany and she wanted to come back soon, maybe to study. We’d like that, too.
