Concentration Camps in Italy?

[Dill]

(12-28-2017, 08:50 AM)hollodero Wrote: OK, Waldorf schools sure are a different cup of tea, one I wouldn't know much about. "Normal" teachers wouldn't stay in contact wih former pupil's parents for years, and calling those teachers "Du" would sound quite inappropriate to me. I never stayed in touch with any exchange student either. The experience you had sure was fine, but sure isn't typical.

??? We were residents of Germany, domiciled there for a decade, paid German taxes etc. That might make a difference in the eyes of her class/teacher. She was also popular, elected Klassensprecherin, etc. And more fluent in German than English. So maybe she wasn't perceived as an exchange student/temporary foreigner. As a foreigner it was/is still not always clear to me what was atypical. I assumed my daughter's experience was more typical. Maybe not.

Some aspects of our situation made relations with others atypcial. My wife was an opera singer, an esteemed profession in Europe. We got lots of invitations. And because we were "liberal" Americans we were easy to socialize with. I may have told you my daughter was treated for Leukemia in Heidelberg. We met many other parents and become very close with some over two years of treatment. But we were the only parents who also socialized with doctors and staff. My wife got the chief doctor and several others a box at the Nationaltheater for a performance. Some had us over for dinner and we reciprocated. The psychologist and her husband, an economics professor, became long term friends. One of the doctors even visited us in the states years later.  This might explain our experience with the home room teachers as well.  We violated norms and broke existing patterns, sure; sometimes we were aware of this, sometimes not. (By the way, we are still close to two families. We have exchanged several visits. Last year my wife went back for a funeral. I know other Americans who have retained connections over decades as well.) 

Also, I don't know if you have kids. You might see teachers differently when you are "partners" helping your child.  

(12-28-2017, 08:50 AM)hollodero Wrote: Oh, most certainly. My generation is way more willing to use "du", in a private social gathering only a few people would seriously consider otherwise. For my parents' generation, that was and is completely different.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend's father. I told him that German in old movies seemed clearer, more "gepflegt" than in contemporary movies and television. (I loved watching Krimis like Tatort). He told me that people commonly used to speak that way, with higher standards, were more articulate, with larger vocabularies. Not only was linguistic formality more respected, he claims, but people enunciated more correctly and used proper declension.  He was Prussian, by the way.