Common Threads

Udo and Inga were from Luneburg. They moved to Schöneck, 15 km NE of Frankfurt, to start a family with 3 children. Udo was an engineer and had built their house from the ground up himself. I had started a correspondence with their daughter, Susi, whom I met at camp the year before. Udo, Susi’s father, had sent my mom an invite to ask for me to fly over from the Philippines to visit them in Germany as Susi and I had become really good friends. Our parents had wanted to nurture the unusual friendship we had.

When I arrived, Inga, had made a delicious bundkuchen (bundt cake) to welcome me and we had it with a lovely cup of fruit tea. For the next month, I lived with them as one of their children.

On some days, I would go with Susi to school. We would walk up to the edge of the street to meet the other neighborhood kids and walk together to the school bus at the edge of the village, just past the grocer and the milk farmer’s place.

There were things that I learned to do -such as how to put a duvet cover on a duvet (which was new for me, coming from a tropical country), and I discovered how to eat raclette cheese!
Inga kept a tidy house and made sure that the kids were taken care of. She made sure that we would find good bread in the pantry, as well as cheese and meat in the fridge whenever we got home. Udo took pride in his very efficient bread knife and slice the bread for us. He would hand us the cut bread and we made our own butterbrot (buttered bread/open sandwich) and told stories of what happened during the day. I loved having this meal with them! Sharing with the family was the highlight of the day and this closeness became very important to me. They have become my extended family.

I discovered how similar my culture was with theirs - respect for elders, love for family and hospitality. I saw the beauty of being so different physically and culturally but being so alike at the same time. This family changed my life - I saw the world as a smaller place.