February 21

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

Romans 15:7

Going to Germany/Austria was my first trip to Europe. Rog and I planned our own itinerary and
packed up one backpack each, and just went. It’s been one of my favorite memories.
One of the things that made it such a great memory, were the German restaurants. I know,
seems weird that we traveled halfway around the world with all the history and culture of
Europe, and this is one of the biggest things we remember. Let me explain.

The first few times we ate in Germany, were so annoying for us. I mean, in our culture, it’s
normal to eat in a rush so we can move on to the next more important experience. In Germany,
we’d sit at a table for an hour while being ignored, and finally have to call the server over so we
could order our meal. In fact, it was so annoying to us that after a few times of experiencing the
same treatment in different restaurants, in different cities, we finally asked our server about it.

Our server explained that in Germany, once you’ve been seated at a table, that table is yours for
the evening, to relax and enjoy yourself for as long as you want. The servers leave you alone
unless you call them to your table so you can enjoy the evening uninterrupted. We could sit as
long as we wanted and enjoy each other’s company, and no one bothered us. We made the
decision when to order food, or more to drinks, or dessert, by catching the attention of our
server when we were ready.

We came to love mealtimes in the restaurants of Germany, not just for the food, but just to sit
and decompress, and soak in the experience. What started out as being such an annoyance
turned into something that helped make our trip so much more enriching and memorable.
It was all about acceptance and being able to see this situation through German eyes. What
was annoying and disrespectful in our culture, was really meant to show caring and respect
from others in the German culture. Because we accepted their ways, this became a treasured
experience we will always remember with fondness.