August 2010     Just came home to California after 3 weeks in Germany with the family. Here’s what I learned:                                        Stumbling off the plane in Dusseldorf after a 9 hour flight- (husband) Thomas and I juggled bags, stroller, baby EJ in her car seat, and 8 year old Allie. None of us slept on the plane.  Least of all EJ, who seemed determined that no other passengers should sleep either.           First thing we noticed, walking down the gangway- it was hot as hell.  Germany was in the midst of a heat wave.  As it turned out, the heat lasted the entire three weeks we were there, and it was called “unprecedented” in strength and duration.   Just another sign that the global climate is shifting faster and harder than most people are willing to admit.            Anyway, in a herd of passengers, we trooped along hallways and down stairs to the passport control area.  The ceiling was ripped open. Big fat silver snakes of ducting running this way and that promised climate control at some point in the future. Meanwhile, we waited, and we sweated, like packed animals, for our passports to be processed.           Now, baby EJ’s passport is, unfortunately, mico-chipped.  All new U.S. passports are now, and the reason for this is, which I quote from the State Department, “The electronic chip in the back cover enables the new passport book to carry a duplicate electronic copy of all information from the data page. Use of the electronic format provides the traveler the additional security protections inherent in chip technology.”             Huh?  Exactly WTF are the additional security protections inherent in chip technology?             There’s also an enticing statement about moving quickly through passport control with this chipped passport- processing is done by electronic readers instead of waiting in lines quite like the cluster I was standing in.  And yet, within the forty-five minutes we waited while German authorities scrutinized every non EU passport, I had plenty of time to look around.  There were no electronic passport readers.           Finally, we made it outside. The Dusseldorf airport is a madhouse.  In the mob of milling people and honking cars, I spotted a cab big enough for all our crap and the four of us. I spoke to the driver in German and arranged transportation to the town of Ratingen. He was surly. He communicated in nod and grunt and avoided eye contact.  I was wondering, maybe he doesn’t want to take us, maybe it’s too close, or too far, or we have too much stuff, maybe he doesn’t like Americans.             Because I went to Germany every year when I was a kid and stayed with my grandparents who didn’t speak English, I learned to speak German fairly well.  I’ve noticed things changing over the years- notably a huge shift in attitude toward the USA.  Germans used to love anything American.  They still talked about how the Americans “saved them” during the war by winning against Hitler. My Mother’s first taste of bubblegum came from a US soldier, who also gave her hungry family rations to eat.  In the seventies and eighties, if people found out I was from the USA, they would ask tons of questions, practice broken English, and admire my jeans.             All that changed with President Bush II.  The outrage and sympathy expressed after 9-11 gradually gave rise to disbelief and then fury as Bush’s policies took form.  By the end of his second term, I was actually subject to political rants from total strangers.  They could understand him being elected once, anybody can make a mistake. But twice? What was wrong with Americans?           When Obama was elected, Germans had renewed faith in the American people.   But the last time I visited was before the economic crash, so I was ready for anything. I got into the cab’s passenger seat with a smile for the driver, wondering what his beef was and why we seemed to trigger it. He ignored me.  Until, that is, I turned to talk to my husband who sat behind me.           The driver looked at me, startled, and asked, “You’re not German?” When I said no, that we were American, he beamed, welcomed us to Dusseldorf, then proceeded to spill his guts for the entire twenty five minute ride to Ratingen.           He was Turkish, a Muslim. First thing he did was apologize for 9-11, saying many Muslims were devastated by that attack, and that by no means do Muslims hate America, and how he wished Americans knew that most Muslims were not terrorists but peace loving individuals.              Then he told me his story- and why he was so angry became quite clear.  He had been in Germany for 20 years.  He and his Turkish friends had learned the language, worked hard, and tried to integrate into German society. But to no avail, they still felt like outsiders.  He expressed a grief and animosity toward the German unwillingness to include them in society, for always calling them foreigners, auslander, even though they had lived and worked there for decades, many doing menial jobs the Germans don’t want to do.               He told me many Turkish people eventually give up on Germany and return home, saying they would rather face economic hardship than prejudice.  Germany is a heavily Christian culture, he said, and Muslim foreigners were not welcome.  He was also pointing at the history of prejudice within Germany- most notably what happened to the Jewish people during WWII.           Now, I’m from Southern California.  It’s hard to find someone without a strong opinion one way or the other about illegal Mexican immigration, a passionate debate that rings very similar to this one.           I also have German friends, and I’ve heard their side of this auslander issue.   What makes immigration more acute in Germany is the socialist aspect of that government.  The free benefits immigrants get from German taxes are mind boggling, even by US standards- they are educated, they get health benefits, jobs, etc.  Many Germans feel that they’re being bled to death for the benefit of the foreigners.  There is a 19% sales tax on all goods, just for starters, and the government takes a huge whack of every paycheck to keep up this socialist government and its benefits.           Meanwhile the cost of living is also mind-boggling by American standards.  We had a hard time living there for 3 weeks, and we stayed in a private home and not a hotel for most of that time.  Part of this high cost of living can be traced back to the reunification of East and West Germany, and the rest is often attributed to the year 2000, when the Euro took the place of the Deutschmark.  The way the exchange was done wound up doubling prices for goods and services overnight.             As a result, in German families, both parents have to work.  If they do have children, they only have one or two because it’s just too expensive to have more.  The 6 week summer vacation from school is a hassle because parents cannot take that time off work and camps are astronomically expensive.  Grandparents step in to help, they each take a week off work to spend with the child, and in this way, parents patchwork childcare together for the vacation. And because they can’t even spend time with their kids, they say sacrifice too much for the benefit of immigrants.           Now, factor in how the EU is looking to Germany to help bail them out.  With Germans working hard and saving like crazy in hopes to retire some day, they have a hard time thinking they’re going to be supporting countries where the retirement age is 55.  Countries like Greece, Spain, and Italy are seen as slackers, people who live in the moment and don’t plan for the future.  It’s a deep rooted part of German society to save for a rainy day- the poverty after WWII is still fresh in peoples’ minds.  Plus, Germans cite the millions they paid out as reparation for their part in WWII- so to now ask them to help other countries is causing serious animosity.            One more piece to this puzzle- as a result of the high prices of everything, there is a healthy black market. People are constantly coming up with ways to avoid paying taxes.  For example, we got a washer and dryer delivered for my mother’s condo- it was delivered after 5 p.m., and all cash.  The German government is now actively working with the EU to block this black market in every way they can- the obvious way is to eventually eliminate cash from the marketplace.  I heard rumor that the EU governments are working together on a system where a micro-chipped card is used for all transactions, like a bank card or credit card, I suppose- so that the government can keep track of everything and get their taxes.             And here’s where I perked up to listen, because it seemed to tie my observations together: German news says crime is a huge issue, that thieves on crime sprees travel in busses from countries like Poland and former Soviet nations into Germany, coming in gangs to steal and kill.  Now, crime would drop significantly in a cashless society- where every transaction is tracked and logged by banks- so much for selling stolen goods, right?  The idea that outsiders come to steal from Germans only inflames the already strained relationship between the German people and the foreigners who live amongst them.                     I smell a setup.  It’s possible that within a few years, the EU will go cashless, and everybody will be happy about it.           And what about us, here in the USA? What scenario could make us willingly get rid of cash and the ability to buy and sell without government oversight? I have a theory…and I’m writing that scenario into the sequel to The Thief of Sacred.  Stay tuned!