Meredith

=Katharina Meredith=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12079497"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Katharina Meredith was born in Coberg, Germany and grew up in the Bavaria region. The Germany of Katharina’s childhood was cold and snowy.Year round it would be very cold so she would dress in layers everyday. The food was similar to America, in that it was all meat and potatoes, although not quite as greasy.

When Katharina was 15, she moved with her family to Portugal. Portugal was very different than Germany. In Germany it is very cold and snowy, while in Portugal it was tropic and sunny. Also, she lived by the coast in Portugal.

At the age of 17, she moved to Belize to go to high school. Belize was very different than Portugal or Germany. In Belize she was living on the basics. No television, dirt roads, and no local supermarket. The pace of life was very slow and laid back compared to Germany.

In Belize she met a man named Aaron Meredith and married him. Even though she married in Belize, she came to Kentucky to have a ceremony/celebration with her husbands family. They now have been married now for eight years and have one baby girl, Anamelissa, and another on the way. =Creative Writing=

By: Carey Meredith
Tagebuch Katharina Meredith Diary of Katharina Meredith

1989 habe ich mich in der 1. Klasse in Bayern, Deutschland. Meine Freunde sind wirklich nett und Ich mag meine Lehrer. Jeden Tag sehe ich die hübschen Brunnen und alten Häusern. Meine Eltern sagten, sie sind 200 Jahre alt! Einmal durfte ich in einem Rutsch wurde. Es sah nicht sehr alt, aber es riecht nach Staub und meiner Großmutter Parfüm. Es gibt sehr alte Stühle im Inneren. Sie sind aus Samt, aber sie sind mit Staub bedeckt.

1989 I’m in 1st grade in Bavaria, Germany. My friends are really nice and I like my teachers. Everyday I see the pretty fountains and old houses. My parents said they are 200 years old! One time I was allowed to go inside one. It didn’t look very old, but it smells like dust and my grandma’s perfume. There are very old chairs inside. They are made of velvet, but they are covered with dust.

1990 habe ich nach Portugal verlegt. Es ist wirklich schön hier. Nicht kalt wie Deutschland, aber warm und tropisch. Die Sonne ist schön, auf meiner Haut. Ich kann T-Shirts und Shorts tragen jetzt. Meine Eltern haben mich kleine rosa Sandalen, die so schön sind! Ich liebe sie so sehr, ich trage sie jeden Tag.

1990 I have moved to Portugal. It is really nice here. Not cold like Germany, but warm and tropical. The sun is nice on my skin. I can wear t-shirts and shorts now. My parents got me little pink sandals that are so pretty! I love them so much I wear them everyday.

1992 bin ich in Belize und jetzt ist es so schön! Ich bin 10 Jahre alt und habe bereits zwei Ländern! Ich bin an der Küste leben, so ist es sehr schön. Ich bin praktisch im Dschungel. Es ist eine große Feldweg auf Reisen. Auch wenn ich in einem anderen Land bin, kann ich noch Deutsch sprechen, weil meine Familie tut. Auch meine Nachbarn tun.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1992 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am in Belize now and it is so nice! I am ten years old and I have already been to two countries! I am living on the coast, so it is very beautiful. I am practically living in the jungle. There is one big dirt road to travel on. Even though I am in a different country, I can still speak german because my family does. Also my neighbors do.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2002 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bin ich noch in Belize und ich habe ein sehr netter Mann namens Aaron Meredith erfüllt. Er ist sehr schön und besonders gut aussehend. Er ist im Frieden CORP Er ist in Belize, denn dies ist, wo er stationiert ist. Er ist ein sehr großer amerikanischer Mann und ich hoffe, ich werde ihn sehr.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2002 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am still in Belize and I have met a very nice man named Aaron Meredith. He is very nice and particularly good looking. He is in the peace Corp. He is in Belize because this is where he is stationed. He is a very tall American man and I hope I will be with him forever..

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2005 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">bin ich los, um Aaron zu heiraten! Ich bin sehr glücklich, weil ich ihn sehr viel Liebe und will mit ihm für eine sehr lange Zeit sein. Auch sind wir nach Amerika ziehen um! Dies ist, wo seine Familie lebt. Ich bin sehr aufgeregt, um seine Familie zu treffen. Wir bekommen in Amerika verheiratet.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2005 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am going to get married to Aaron! I am very happy because I love him very much and want to be with him for a very very long time. Also we are moving to America! This is where his family lives. I am very excited to meet his family. We are getting married in America. It is going to be wonderful!

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2006 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Amerika ist so ganz anders als irgendwo habe ich noch nie gewesen! Es ist sehr schön, aber es ist auch sehr seltsam. Das Tempo des Lebens ist hier so schnell zu Belize verglichen. Auch ist es nicht so kalt, aber es ist nicht wie Belize. Aaron’s Familie ist so nett.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2006 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">America is so different from anywhere I have ever been before! It is very nice but it is also very strange. The pace of life here is so fast compared to Belize. Also it is not that cold but it is not like Belize. Aaron’s family is so nice. I meet his pare

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2011 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Ubuntu; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I haben so viel Englisch gelernt, seit ich hierher zog. Ich kann mit meinen Nichten und Neffen zu sprechen. Auch mein kleines Mädchen, Anamelissa, ist so schön. Sie ist mein kleines Mädchen. Wir haben eine weitere auf dem Weg zu und wir sind sehr gespannt auf unser neues Baby zu sehen.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2011 <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have learned so much English since I moved here. I can talk with my nieces and nephews. Also my baby girl, Anamelissa, is so beautiful. She is my baby girl. We have another on the way too and we are very excited to see our new baby.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What is your name?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Katherina Meredith.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: How do you spell it?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: K-A-T-H-A-R-I-N-A.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What country were you born in?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katherina:Germany.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What is the name of the area or town you were born in?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katherina:I was born in Coberg but I grew up in Bavaria.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: And how do you spell that?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katherina: C-O-B-E-R-G and B-A-V-A-R-I-N-A. Oh no N, sorry.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey:How old were you when your family immigrated to the US? Or you come here did you come here alone?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Uh I was 21, I came with my husband.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: Where did you immigrate to here in the US?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: First Kentucky, then Cincinnati.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What are some reasons you immigrated here?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: I got married in Belize to my husband, who is American and he was in the peace Corp and when his time was up we tried to go anywhere in the world and but he got a job back in the states so we went to the states.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So are there any differences about Germany and here? Like what are the houses like and how are they different?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: It’s very different because most of Germany it’s very cold in the winter so the house are built very steady, they’re usually built to last a few hundred of years so they’re built of bricks or cement blocks very sturdy built. So basically a house will, even the wooden ones will often stay 300 or 200 years old some of them are 400 500 years old. Well that”s not quite as common well the idea is that they are built to last where as here they’re often uh built to last 100 years tops.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: Did you go to school here?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Yeah I went to elementary in Germany and college here in the states and high school in Belize. So the public school in Germany I found very different they are funded state wide not by city district even so it’s much more equal in terms of the funding available to the school not like the school on this side of town is good and the school on this side of town bad so it’s much more equal.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: Here or there?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: In the states oh sorry in Germany it was much more equal so it was a bit of a shock to come to the states and find out that you had to move somewhere and look out for a school district that is not the case in Germany typically the schools were pretty evenly good in all areas.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So what about the food like how was it different?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina:Yeah it’s very different but not as different as lets say a country in Asia or South America. It’s uh all just like potatoes and meat and things like that. Uh mostly it’s not quite as processed. So that’s different and that was a bit of a shocker. Also people don’t drink as many soft drinksand food isn’t as processed and people don’t I mean people yeah eat snacks just the same but not quite as many so food is uh more in it’s natural form. So coming here my stomach was hurting for three months straight before I adjusted and knew what not to eat. It’s just everything here is much greasier and um so it took some getting used to.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: And how long did that last?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: 3 months and then I just knew what to cut out of my diet.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey:So what about religion?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina:Uh yeah it’s different I mean for one thing Christianity a lot of people in Germany don’t go to church actually I’d say the vast majority doesn’t but it’s such a historic part for example everybody celebrates Christmas ah nobody like the majority of people don’t believe in God but they still celebrate it because it’s part of traditionIt’s not like when I came to the states it was just the big height of oh we have to call it holidays we can’t call it Christmas (waves hands) and all of that. And the political correctness and there was just a different because in Germany it’s “like well of course you call it merry Christmas” cause that’s what we’ve been celebrating for hundreds of years it doesn’t matter cause it’s less of a religious holiday now, it’s just a tradition sothat was different. But also churches in the States is way less intermingled than Germany. It was interesting to see how strong church interacted with politics here in the U.S.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So how are the politics different, here or there?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: I think that thebasic difference starts out that you don’t have the immense amount of funding that’s allowed in the states for each politicianif you’re rich enough basically you can run for public office, that doesn’t happen in Germany. For one thing the emphasis is put way more in education so politicians have to be educated and people are much more interested in that.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What was the most difficult thing to adjust to?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Well because I didn’t come straight from Germany, I was in Belize first for 8 years, and living pretty far off in the jungle too, we were living very, very basic and life there was very slow and we had one big road that has 2 lanes and all of the roads were not paved so it was all a very different pace of life so coming to the states the biggest overwhelming thing was how quick everything moved. Had I come directly from Germany that wouldn’t have been such a big deal because things moved very quickly there too, it’s similar. But since I came from Central America, Belize specifically, everything just moved too quickly, it was too fast, and it took me some real time to get used to that just the fast pace of life again.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So what are some things you miss the most about Germany?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: I think mostly it was the way everything looked. I’d say your people here are much more affectionate and nicer so I don’t think that I can’t really say I miss the people much. Even though sometimes I miss having discussions and like in Germany it’s much more just, talk about things and discuss things, it’s not an argument, it’s a discussion. And people regularly have discussions over dinner with friends so you can freely talk about anything you please, like politics, religion, race, and the regular, whatever it is you can talk it quite freely it’s not (pauses) offensive. Vs. here in the states, especially here in the south I felt like uh a lot of subject of taboo but that doesn’t obviously make them go away it’s just like ignoring the elephant in the room so I had to watch a lot of what I said here and just be much more, holding myself back so every now and then I would just miss a good dinner discussion about everything going on in the world. So that I would miss. But also just that everything very old it’s just any city you go there is this big old fountains and castles and it just looks beautiful and there’s pedestrian areas in every city where you can go shopping and you could just he ease of walking through a city I found very hard to US cities and mostly you’d have to drive places because you couldn’t get around on foot and I really enjoyed that in Europe just everything was much closer together so you can walk and also you can just hop in your, drive 2 hours and you’re in a different country. I really miss that like yeah. That old type of culture.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So what are some things you like the most about the US and dislike the most?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: 1 of the biggest things I like are the people. Especially now that I’m a parent people are incredibly nice, friendly, and um,. . . just helpful and people talk to you right away make you feel at home, and that made it easier to adjust even though it was different than my culture and I had to get used to it at first but that made it easier. Also things here are not as bureaucratic so I’m a photographer and I couldn't do that in Germany, I couldn't just study 1 thing and work as another. I studied psychology then I became a photographer later. And in Germany you have to, if you study something and that's your track or you go through vocational school and it’s very hard to switch. Pretty much everything is very ridged. Even to start your own business is very hard. So to be a photographer I would have had all this training, follow very specific rules verses here I can just decide “ oh that's what I want to do and if I'm good enough and people like my style then I'll make it,” so that's a lot of flexibility here in the work force that you don't have in Germany.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So what did you dislike most?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: It was very hard at first because people would constantly be like “oh let’s have you over for dinner or let’s do something” and they would just put it out there to be polite or something but I actually felt that but then they’d never call again and I would take people by their word. I’d be like “okay let’s go out for dinner, seems like we have something in common” or whatever, but then they’d never call again and it was a bit hard to get used to that. Because it felt superficial at first because I was “well you said you wanted to go out to dinner with me, so why aren’t we making plans?” That's the very German way it’s like “ let’s meet for dinner okay how about next Tuesday, 8:00 okay, you do this, I'll bring this.” That's very superficial to me at first until I just realized it was a cultural thing and, again, didn't take it as serious. That's hard a lot of the I think coming from a country that's much more social and uh equal, uh, maybe to a fault even, it was very hard living being able to live in good neighborhood that's nice but it’s very hard a few miles down to see the houses fall apart, you know the school system is bad, you know people who live there are caught, must be in a cycle, and it’s very hard to get out of. And just to see that sort of inequality within one city, a few hundred different neighborhoods that all and if you’re born into one of them you start out of a bad place in life. It’s much harder to go somewhere and that was very shocking, the inequality and that had a lot to do with race but also money, at first I thought it was mostly race but now I think it’s equal amount of well if you have the money, you’re in a good spot, regardless of race um, yeah that took some real getting used to and it still makes me very uncomfortable to live in a nice house because, again, in Germany it’s much more equal. So I felt uncomfortable living in a nice house when people very close by really struggle in life.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: Do you think it was hard to grow up here, being from another country?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: I think it’s always different when you’re the outsider. In one hand if you're a foreigner, depending on where you're from, you get a bit of a celebrity status in the US cause everybody’s like oh you’ve got an accent or where are you from and blah blah blah and chat you up, so in one way it’s nice, I mean my experience at least was nice, maybe because I'm very outgoing and I like to chat with people. On the other hand it also is just different, it takes a while to get used to. You don't quite know how people act at parties, you don't quite know how this and that works. And you don't quite know how the school system works. It was a bit of struggle getting used to American college. So it’s mixed but I do really think it stretched me out, make me more as a person than if I had stayed where I grew up in the first place so I'm happy I'm here, that I experienced this.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So do you think things have changed for immigrants from Germany since you came here?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Nah I mean that's eight years ago so I don't think much has changed, in that short period of time. Generally I would have liked for my brother to come over. He would really like to live in the states for a few years, and some of my other relatives would to and it’s just difficult, the immigration process I think uh I know it’s such a hot topic about illegal immigration and everything and speaking for myself and my brother, who would like to come here, you know, legally, it’s so hard, the legal immigration process now and it’s a real pain and while I sympathise with everyone that's come here illegally and doesn't want to be deported or thrown out, I mean I completely understand that cause they live here now or were born here even, at the sane time it’s seems very unfair for those of us who want to go through the legal part and have nothing but heartache over that. And Sebastian {brother} might not even be able to come because he wants to apply legally and I wish that they would make the legal immigration easier so that people wouldn't so tempted to do the illegal part.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: So your brother didn't come to America?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: No he visited a few times but so far well he’s in Germany now getting his degree finished, and after that he might try again. But yeah it’s very hard to immigrate.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: What traditions from your birth country do you still celebrate?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: There’s a few things cause I grew up in Bavaria which is the Catholic part of Germany so, again, we didn't really go to church or anything but we just grew up with the traditions. So there is St. Martin’s day which is a saint that gave his cloak to a beggar who was freezing basically but what we do is we make lanterns, put little candles in them, put them on sticks, and then walk around the whole village singing several songs that center around St. Martin and the lights and candles and so that was really fun and we’ve done that once or twice since I've been here now that we have a kid, cause it’s really more for kids. But I think a lot of the traditions we are going to do a lot more now that we have a child. A lot of these traditions are more fun for children. For example Santa Clause or St. Nicholas in Germany is on the 5th or 6th of December not on Christmas. So we will probably continue that. You have to polish your boots, put them outside, and they get filled with nuts and stuff. So we will do some of those things and we definitely have October fest every October we throw a big October fest in our backyard lots of other Germans, but mostly friends and neighbors.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carey: Are there freedoms here that are different from Germany?

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Katharina: Yeah I think it mostly goes back again to the job thing. But it is getting more and more like Germany cause so many people now have bachelors now you have to get a masters more people have a masters you have to get a Ph.D. to stay on top of it. Basically the idea still is that if you stay on top of it you can’t really get any better after a while.

ANALYSIS
<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">America looks great from the outside. It is the land where it is said that anyone can become anything. But once here, we discover that although there are equal rights, things are not always equal. Kat talked about how Germany was a more socialist country and certain things really are more equal. In Germany everyone’s education is free. In America she can find in one town very nice houses on one end of the street while on the other end of the street she knows that the school system is not properly funded, kids are not getting the education they need, people’s houses were falling apart. Kat feels very uncomfortable living in a nice house while she knows that her neighbors are having a very hard time. She is a very loving person, which makes it so difficult for her to see people struggling, especially when they are so close to her house.