Saying Goodbye

I suspect it might be difficult for my daughter to understand, but saying goodbye in the early 1980s was quite different than a farewell in the 2020s. Obviously there was no public internet available, but also remember how expensive long distance calling was then. The long distance telephone company battles had yet to begin. Remember in the few years after that had begun, when you would 'enter a contest' that was actually a form to switch your long distance carrier? I was burned by that once. Anyway, it would be hard to keep contact with German friends via telephone. My parents thought it was pricey to call Germany from the States. It was even more expensive for Germans to phone us.

Other than Lindy, I don't know which exchange friends kept contact after we left Germany. 

Before that, though, I remember a goodbye in Mainz at the Hauptbahnhof. A few of the exchange students took the ride with us to Frankfurt, including Funda. Here's a photo of Ann horsing around with Funda at the Frankfurt Flughafen. These two made a sweet connection with one another.

Funda tripping up Ann. 

I remember Andres, Chris's exchange partner telling me that after we leave, "I think it will be boring in Mainz." While I'm sure things slowed down socially among those classmates - and, by the way, did they ever gather again following our departure? Which ones kept in contact, I wonder? Did any? - I imagine the parents and the other family members could breathe a sigh of relief. As a middle-aged guy, I know that although it's fun to have guests, it also can be exhausting after a while. Imagine have a teenager(s), and then getting one more for a month. That's a lot of angst for one household.

I do remember saying goodbye to Funda and, after walking towards our flight, crying for a moment. 

I wrote Rudiger at least a few letters, and I remember sending postcards to the Besch family. I don't remember much correspondence in return. Funda and I kept up correspondence until sometime during my freshman year in college, which would have been either late 1983 or early 1984. At the time I was still taking German classes at UW-Madison, so drafting simple letters in German wasn't too difficult. When I took a German literature class and I was always a chapter behind as I struggled mightily with the vocabulary, I decided my study of German had to come to an end. It was frustrating, plowing through my Langenscheidt's dictionary every evening while reading Der geteilte Himmel (the Divided Sky). I couldn't figure out what was going on in the story. 

This was a difficult goodbye for a few reasons. For one, we had become close with our German hosts. For many of us, the novelty of German life was also something we weren't eager to let go of so soon. It also should have been clear at the time, but we were probably more focused on Germany and our new friends, but we would soon miss hanging out with the other American students so much. Remember, we had German class in common with our American classmates, but beyond the exchange, most of us wouldn't normally hang out together. Sure, I was already friends with Peter, Clint and Chris. Sure, I would seen John and Dave and Kathy G. at parties. Ann had her swimming friends, while Mike and Liz would go back to East. Besides Mike, I never saw the East High students again. Lindy would be back among her choir friends and Diana and Barb had their posse. Anyway, we wouldn't have a reason to all hang out together again, so that, too, was a loss.

Here's another photo from departure day:

Peter (giving his Joey Ramone face), (exchange partner) Michael, Dave and John.