Important announcements

I have a couple of announcements to make today.  Firstly, I am banned, forever more, from blogging about Gaia again.  This makes life slightly easier, admittedly.  I may, just may, mention her in passing, but only occasionally.

Secondly, I have officially transferred my hirsutical allegiance to Hanni the local hairdresser.  I am full to bursting with all the humble pie I have eaten, and I have a fantastic haircut to boot.  Hanni is everything a coiffeuse should be - friendly, chatty without being irritating, delivers the goods, makes you feel great about yourself.  Only one small part of our exchange yesterday unsettled me.  We were chatting about how I was adapting to life in a new place - again.  So I gave my standard, much-practised reply, that I will always be 'the foreigner', and just have to live with it, people have been very kind and welcoming, etc, etc.  Hanni said, but you're not really a foreigner, though, are you.  I shot her a questioning look from under the heat-lamp.  Well, she said.  English, Italian, Austrian.... that's not foreign.  Not really.  Are you trying to say I'd have it harder if I came from Eastern Europe, I mused.  Even there would be ok for me, pontificated Hanni, but if you were Turkish - now, that would be really foreign!  Why, I asked, immediately regretting it.  Hanni thought this was obvious.  It is not being a Christian that makes someone foreign, or more crucially, being a Muslim.

I was stunned into silence by this oh-so-softly-delivered xenophobic declaration.  Luckily, at that moment, the timer on my heat-lamp beeped and thus, a natural break prevented me from having to comment, which is just as well, all things considered.  I felt a mixture of relief and gratitude, for not being perceived as foreign enough to be ostracised, pity for those who are, and amazement that some people still think it is acceptable to make sweeping statements of prejudice.  The scary thing is, there is no meanness involved.  They don't question their beliefs - not for a second.  I know there are those who think like this the world over.  In the main, they are happy in their ignorance.  Best let them be. But sometimes, just sometimes, I feel deeply disturbed by the barely discernible current of racism that pervades life in rural Bavaria.

Despite this fleeting feeling of unease, the fact remains I've found a good hairdresser, which as any woman will tell you is worth its weight in gold.  Still on the lookout for non-threatening dentist and un-creepy gynaecologist - applications on a postcard please!