Immigrants to Germany

Immigrants to Germany are a diverse bunch as I'm finding out from my Intensive German Language Course.  Many of the immigrants to Germany in my course had sky rocketing careers in their home country.  We have a doctor from Guatemala who moved to Germany to be with her German husband.  She would need to do two additional years of schooling in Germany to practice medicine here so is exploring other career options.
 
 We also have an engineer from Russia, who told me that he is famous in Russia, but wouldn't tell me what he was famous for when I asked.   He wrote down his name and told me to Google it.  The anticipation was killing me as I rushed home to do so - only to find out that there were several people with his name and no photos.  I narrowed it down to:  a figure skating choreographer, a professional football player or an I.T. guy   (most likely given that he was an engineer).  I reported this to him the next day.  The next day he did not seem amused when I asked him if he was a figure skating choreographer, but still gave in and said that he was THE top technical trainer in Russia for a well known computer software company.  Admirable yes, but I was secretly hoping he was the figure skating choreographer, who really was "famous". 

There is also a Brazilian immigrant to Germany who moved her with her German husband but despite her good career in Brazil says that in Germany "she is just a haus frau" (house wife).  While many immigrants to Germany have moved here because of a German spouse, and now find themselves creating a new identity for themselves, myself included, the immigrant to Germany story I find the most endearing is that of a 57 year old Ukrainian man.  He moved his entire family to Germany, because his youngest son suffers from a serious illness and Germany has the best doctors in the world to treat this particular illness.  When I asked him how long he and his family will be here, his shoulders slumped and he said it depends on his son....he left the sentence unfinished but the meaning couldn't have been clearer.  Despite his worries, he always has a smile on his face and a joke ready at hand.  Of all the immigrants to Germany in my class, I admire him the most. 

Being an immigrant to Germany, or to anywhere else for that matter means that everything you were in your home country becomes forgotten as you struggle to order a meal in a restaurant or read the sign saying the washroom is closed.  With a university graduate education, I would never have thought as myself as illiterate, but in Germany I am gulp...illiterate.   Being an immigrant to Germany is the most humbling experience I have ever had (including being an immigrant in S.Korea and Thailand as well), but also the most character building.  I'm finding that the lives of immigrants to Germany are beyond fascinating as are the reasons people immigrate to Germany.   Feel free to share your immigrant experience in the comments below