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I’ll admit it. I was jealous of Christian. Christian, with his long history of ethnic traditions and the procession of five-syllable ancestral surnames, their Italian dishes and homemade pastas.
We didn’t have any of that. We were solid, boring German farmers–Germans who didn’t even know what schnitzel and noodles were, much less how to make them.
I went on a German heritage reclamation binge, searching online for recipes I could make my own, only to discover, to my chagrin, that I don’t like German food. (Except for Schnitzel & noodles. What’s not to like there?) I tried to listen to Wagner and Strauss, but the truth is I’m a French- and Russian-classical music kind of girl. Give me Rachmaninov or Stravinsky any day. I could go the rest of my life without hearing Bach and be perfectly content. I’m German in my analytical skills, in my straight-laced, serious outlook on life, but in terms of culture, I’m not German at all.
And then one day, amid a barrage of now-forgotten frustrations, a word escaped my lips–a word I’d heard out of my dad’s mouth a thousand times if I’d heard it once, intermixed with exclamations of annoyance like, “Aw, foot!”
“Awk!” I said.
(As an aside, it looks ridiculous in typeface.)
And a light bulb flashed.
I raced back to seven years of music history classes, of operas and art songs filled with this bizarre exclamation that went: Ach! You know, with that long gutteral khhhhhhh in the back of the mouth. Every time I saw it in the music, I rolled my eyes. What an affectation! Who would actually say something like that: “Ach!”?
Uh…(raises hand). I would, it turns out. I do.
It may not be a long, proud tradition of culinary and enological excellence…but by golly, I’ve found my German connection at last.
Kathleen M. Basi 
I travel with the idea that I’m a temporary resident, not just a tourist. So I’m in Munich and I was determined to find local fare and flavor. I found it. I read the menu. I walked across the street to Planet Hollywood.
However, if I ever find a “goolash” soup recipe like the dish I tasted at the Pear in Salzburg, I’ll eat nothing else for the rest of my life. Yum.
Love this post. You always manage to make a seemingly ordinary moment into something truly special.
my husband makes fun of me all the time for saying “ach.” It’s no wonder I say it. I heard it often from my mother.
I love this. My dad’s father had German parents, but my mom’s side was all Cajun, and those traditions pretty much trumped all the other heritage in my raising. It was/is fine with me, I love gumbo. But I also love hearing the German language so much and wish I had more connection to that side. I took one semester in college but it was HARD! Ach! Perhaps I will have to reclaim that phrase, myself.
p.s. you don’t like BACH?? how….? wha…? Does not compute. 😉
German is such a fascinating language. The way they just compound words into long strings of unpronounceable cool-ness. My favorite word is “gesamkunstwerke.” Assuming I spelled it correctly from the recesses of a mind that hasn’t had music history in over a decade, it means “total art work” and means that one person does the whole kit & caboodle. It came from Wagner, who did libretto, music, scoring himself.
As for Bach…sorry. He has his moments. I like some of them. But give me the lush romantics any day. 🙂
hilarious! I love german beer and the way they put mayonnaise and mustards on their fries or chips. I have visited Frankfurt a few time and became quite a connoisseur of beer lol
Our family has some cool history! Not everyone has our cool German heritage or the ability to say that they have had relatives go to Germany to research our ancestors!
P.S. Grandpa Gene always says “Ach!” when he makes a silly move when we play cards. 🙂
Yes, our family does have cool history…just not the cool ethnic traditions! 🙂 (except for “ach”)
i’m married to a german (with 1/4 swede thrown in for neuroticism) and other than being lutheran and speaking the language fluently, i can’t he does anything ethnic. our parish has an oktoberfest to raise money every year and neither of us could eat the food, jon because he’s vegetarian and me because everything would have triggered my ibs.
I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry over that one!
Such coincidence that you publish this TODAY! This week in my Spanish classes my students are talking about their heritage and family culture. A lot of “mutt” kids whose families have been here for generations feel at a disadvantage… But then I gave my “sample” … and one of my examples was “Ach!” as a leftover of our heritage language.
Love Castle Neuschwanstein!!! Was my favorite of the places we went in Germany.
“I could go the rest of my life without hearing Bach and be perfectly content.” Blimey! (That’s an English one for you.) Not even a cello concerto? They make me weep!
OHHHH….I’ve visited Neuschwanstein! Beautiful castle!
You don’t like German food??? Say it isn’t so!! You need to go visiting a REAL German place. Schnitzel, Doners, Garlic potatoes, eis, brotchen, German bratwurst…..I miss the food over there.
It’s the sweet & sour thing I don’t like. 🙂
I love your post. I seem to be saying this to everyone. Visiting from WOE a day late 😉
Dude….you’re in my mind.
I, too, went to my Italian and Irish friends’ homes and came home with an intense jealousy of my lack of heritage. As a fellow German, girl, you know.
It turns out that I have a subtle, Lutheran-stoic heritage. But since we’re “don’t want to make a big fuss, you know” it’s hard to see.
Love this post.
I’m 3/4 German a love German beer, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, and Mahler, but also the Russians you named, and totally hate German food. Pretzels are great, though except now I’m gluten free so no munching on that salty snack.
Your “ach” story made me laugh. My grandmother’s family spoke German and she taught me the little song, “Ach du lieber, Augestin, alles ist weg, weg, weg!” She lent me her German book from grade school where I learned about the donkey, “Der Esel” and could understand the German before age 10. Ach, what memories you’ve stirred up with this post!
Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂