Working Abroad: A Cultural Experience

By Neil Janes (AYF 18-19)

When I first signed up to live abroad for a year, I had no idea what to expect. As part of a personal exploration, academic major requirement and a desire to travel after taking two years of German at college, I decided to study abroad in Freiburg, Germany for my graduating year. I had been to Germany once, could ask where the toilet is and could vaguely order a beverage, so I knew I was prepared. Even better, upon talking to an alumn of the AYF program, I found out most courses only had class once or twice a week! Perfect!

Looking back at this year, I have no way to put all it into words. I think it’s all the little things you couldn’t expect that remain with you. The culture shock (the fact that the doors don’t open properly), the German dialect that sounds like a totally different language (my German speaking Grandmother still makes fun of me for it) and that the beer here is not as good as it is in the United States (my VERY unpopular opinion), are all things that still amaze me.

Asked to write a blog post to succinctly explain part of my life here in Germany, I find it an impossible and contradictory task. You can encounter so much in a year of study abroad and to explain even a portion that, without experiencing it firsthand, would take a lifetime. However, one of the things I always mention, when people ask me how my year abroad is going and what, actually, I am doing as classes only happen once a week, is working in the community.

If you had asked me a year ago, if I thought that working would be one of the highlights of my cultural experiences here in Germany – and the fact that I found a job at all still amazes me! – I would have called you crazy. The truth is, working here has allowed me to see some of the fundamental differences between our two cultures and has also given me the ability to afford more expensive bread (always a good thing).

I currently work at one of the most stereotyped, American-adopted German places there is – a Biergarten. This Biergarten is connected to one of the fanciest, haute-cuisine type places in Freiburg. In terms of the view, our Biergarten can’t be beat! It is located on the Schlossberg, a 1500 foot hill that belongs to the Black Forest and has so much history attached to it, it even has its own Wikipedia page (the page describes our Biergarten as a “very charming beer-garden under chestnut trees”).

So, what is it like working in a foreign country? If I’m being honest, it feels similar to working in the United States. After a short adjustment period (the so-called “Probeschicht”, where you work a shift without pay to see if the job is right for you) many of the appliances and processes are familiar, albeit with bizarre German names. Our Biergarten has about four different areas where you can work: Logistik, Zapfen, Kasse and Küche. Logistics is the all-around handy person, the unsung behind-the-scenes hero, who does everything from washing glasses, baking pretzels and bread rolls to changing kegs.

Kasse and Zapfen work side by side, a two-person tag-team effort to staff the cash register and tap the beer and other beverages. In a rush and on big days, these positions are staffed by the most experienced people, and honestly, these positions scare me the most. As a rather uneducated (but still somehow college-graduated) American student, doing quick math, in German, with someone else’s money as they stare you down absolutely horrifies me. To make matters worse Germany is a cash society, and they do bizarre things with cash payments that make no sense in my American brain. For most Germans, this is an easy task and the flow of cash between the register and the customer is smooth. Zapfen, or tapping the beers, is also quite stressful. All German glasses have a little line right before the rim, to indicate how much beer to head ratio you’re supposed to have. What can I say, they’re an organized people.

Mostly, I seem to find myself in the Küche. The Biergarten kitchen serves an inordinate amount of food, from the typical Pommes und Schnitzel to chicken breasts with different kinds of salad and these Alsatian pizza specialties, called Flammkuchen. It’s hot work, especially during the summer heatwaves of 100° F, but there’s nothing better than the satisfaction it can bring, especially when munching on pilfered fries (to taste if they’re properly salted) and the cracked Flammkuchen that we can’t serve.

The biggest difference I’ve found in the work environments stems from a magical word, a word that is so powerful, it’s secretly whispered by the staff, and once declared by the boss all chaos breaks loose. That word is “Feierabend.” At the end of the night, maybe 1 a.m., the Biergarten is populated only by students, partiers, and those who haven’t figured out yet how mad their significant other is going to be at them in the morning. At this point the employees all make a mad dash to clock out, but the taps remain open. See, here in Germany, employees are treated like people, paid the base minimum wage, and tips are considered “drinking money”. After a shift at the Biergarten you’re allowed to have a drink until the boss turns off the taps. And you better believe the boss is right next to you, appreciating the good times, resting their feet and enjoying the peace after a long shift of work.

Neil shared his story via the AYF Alumni Profiles Project page. We welcome your contribution to our communal story telling!