Gemütlichkeit and سلطنة عُمان

Jurgen is an exchange student from Germany. At about 6'5" he towers over most of the other students in the hallway. He smiles almost constantly, like the cat that just swallowed the mouse, and talks incessantly. The stereotype of German students, foreign students in general, is that they are hardworking, serious, nose to the grindstone, and far better than American students. Jurgen is a jokester and takes humor well; he dishes it also. When his work rarely was finished in class, my only observation was that I must have gotten the most lazy student in all of Germany.

This didn't phase Jurgen at all. "I am. All my teachers in Germany say the same. I'm very proud of that fact." So now, I have the proudest, laziest student in all of Germany who talks incessantly. He has quickly made friends, constantly asks for exceptions to the rules, for himself, of course, and sees it almost as a duty to see how many dates he can go on. The rules at his hosts' home are a bit restrictive for him. And, of course, he views the restriction on students his age from having alcohol as outright ridiculous.

In the same host home is Muti, an exchange student from Oman. He couldn't be more different from Jurgen. He is small in stature and rather disappears in the hallways. He is reserved and almost overly polite. Everything is communicated in a very quiet, paced voice, followed by "Yes, sir." and "Thank you, sir." He is a diligent student, although sometimes he doesn't complete work because of difficulty understanding the reading or the directions, but is too reticent to ask. Jurgen and others try to include Muti in activities and getting out of the house; Jurgen says that Muti spends most of his time communicating with friends in Oman from the computer chat. Jurgen is also overt about discussions of politics and religion, while Muti tends to keep opinions to himself.

There isn't so much a clash of civilizations in that US History class, as a crash course on culture. Jurgen and Muti add significantly to the learning experiences and perspectives in the room. They are also learning about American culture, for good or ill. These two have definite views on immigration and on the view of the United States from other parts of the world. Every day, in some way, we shatter stereotypes in that room. But we also build up prejudices in some ways, because for the majority of students, Jurgen and Muti have now become representatives of their culture and countries in ways that no individual should have to bear. Suddenly, Germans are "like" Jurgen, and Omanis, and Arabs, are "like" Muti. And, alternatively, their experiences are becoming what America is, and what Americans are like.

The demographics of that room: 22 girls, 13 boys, 4 Hispanic, 1 Omani, 1 German, 10 Black, 14 Caucasian, 1 Indonesian, 2 Asian (both Khmi), 1 disabled, 4 "multiethnic". Assimilationists are uncomfortable with the ambiguity of opinion, religion, shattered stereotypes and new prejudices, language, and culture in that US History class, and see it as one of the central goals of public education to melt that pot into the mainstream.

A brief description of New Netherland, (now New York) completed on August 3, 1646.

"On the island of Manhate, and in its environs, there may well be four or five hundred men of different sects and nations: the Director General told me that there were men of eighteen different languages . . ."
--Isaac Jogues, 1607-1646