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Leaving Germany behind, Annaliese sailed towards a new beginning in a place she had only received postcards from. The shore grew more distant by the minute, each layer of morning mist separating her from her homeland. Excitement and expectation welled up in her guts, a visceral flood. She only had two suitcases. One in each hand, grasping tightly, the only familiar thing left for her to hold onto. Life was changing, flowing like the waves that lapped the sides of the first boat she had ever ridden on. All she wanted was to be American. All she wanted was to be German. Her chest ached with the knowledge of a conflicted conscious. She imaged the look on Charlie’s face when she got off the boat and everything felt right.

“The minute they arrive at the train station or get off the ferry and glimpse the wide streets and the wasteful lamps lighting them, they know they are born for it.”

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Table 4.1  The Cultural Readjustment Rating Scale

1. The type of food eaten.
2. The type of clothes worn.
3. How punctual most people are.
4. Ideas about what offends people.
5. Language spoken.
6. How ambitious people are
7. Personal cleanliness of most people.
8. The general pace of life.
9. The amount of privacy I would have.
10. My own financial state.
11. Type of recreational and leisure activities.
12. How parents treat their children.
13. The sense of obligation and closeness felt among family members.
14. The amount of body contact such as touching and standing close.
15. The subjects that should not be discussed in normal conversations.
16. The number of people of your own race.
17. The degree of intimacy and friendliness between married and unmarried women.
18. How free and independent women seem to be.
19. Sleeping practices such as amount of time, time of day, and sleeping arrangement.
20. General standard of living.
21. Ideas about friendship-the way people act and feel towards friends.
22. The number of people of your religious faith.
23. How formal or informal people are.
24. Your own opportunities for social contact.
25. The degree to which your good intentions are misunderstood by others.
26. The number of people who live in the community.
27. Ideas about what is funny.
28. Ideas about what is sad.
29. How much friendliness and hospitality people express.
30. The amount of reserve people express in their relationships with others.
31. Eating practices such as amount of food, time of eating, and ways of eating.
32. Type of transportation used.
33. The way people take care of material possessions.

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Everything is new here. New people, new places, new voices, new accents, new songs, new clothes, new cars, new life…

16

The Soul selects her own Society —
Then — shuts the Door —
To her divine Majority —
Present no more —

Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —
At her low Gate —
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat —

I've known her — from an ample nation —
Choose One —
Then — close the Valves of her attention —
Like Stone —

15

Charlie left our little town. Leaving behind the a broken country and my broken heart and my broken dreams of escaping. I was unsure if the promises he made of love would ever be kept. I went back to my old routines, waking up with die Kinder surrounding me. The weather was turning warmer but now I felt cold on the inside, despite the dawn sun rising. Then the letter came…

Meine Liebe,

Everyday I miss you more. Being home is wonderful, but the experience is incomplete without you with me. I my hand aches every time I walk on a Tennessee path, the emptiness of it reminding me of your absence. I have decided you should come to America. You will love it here. Everyone dreams of living here. Your English is very good and I know a bunch of other fellas who have German wives that you could help you learn even more. I think you’ll appreciate what I’ve enclosed. What I mean to say is…I was wondering if you might…Annaliese my pen quivers with hesitation and anticipation. Willst Du mich heiraten?

Hopefully Yours,

C

The ring fell from the package with a slick squish on the muddy path. As I slipped it onto my finger, a star spangled banner flashed before my eyes.

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