“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.”

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.

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.

Cultural assimilation is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which encourages absorption of the minority into the dominant culture. It is opposed to affirmative philosophy (for example, multiculturalism) which recognizes and manages difference.

The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants to a new land, such as the various ethnic groups who have settled in the United States. New customs and attitudes are acquired through contact and communication. The transfer of customs is not simply a one-way process. Each group of immigrants contributes some of its own cultural traits to its new society. Assimilation usually involves a gradual change and takes place in varying degrees; full assimilation occurs when new members of a society become indistinguishable from older members.

She walked slowly down the soggy path. He walked quickly in the opposite direction, rushing to get his uniform out of the run, the green fabric already turning the color of a sodden pine. One step forward, one step back, one step forward, one step back, one step…

“Ach mein Gott!” Annaliese squeaked as she hit the ground.

“Uhhh….inshuntludung Fraulein!”

“Inshuntludung? Iz zat ze beest German you hoff soldier? I sinks you mean ‘entschuldigung’ and ja your apology iz accepted. Help me up, bitte.”

“Right, right, so sorry. Are you ok?” The soldier held out his hand and for the first time Annaliese looked at his face. Overly American and smiling his blonde hair poking out from under his cap, eyes shining green in the remaining light of dusk. Speechless she regained her balance and caught his contagious smile. He took off his cap and introduce himself with a slight bow. She smiled. He took her arm and turned around to walk the direction she had been going. She smiled. Their footsteps match. One step forward, and then another, and another.