Please tell us a little about yourself
My name is Joe Martinez and I’m originally from Glendora, California, a small city nestled against the San Gabriel Mountains about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. I now live in the Seattle, Washington, area and work as a Senior Finance Manager at Microsoft.
How did you decide to enroll in your first GAPP exchange program in 1985?
1985 was my second year in high school, and I was already taking German classes. When I started high school, I was planning to pursue a degree in music, and my mother said, “If you’re going to learn music, you need to learn German.” That's how I got started learning the language. Then, I heard about the GAPP exchange program and I thought it sounded very exciting. I had never been outside the U.S. before.
When you first traveled to Germany, did you have specific expectations what the country and people would be like?
I don’t know if I really had expectations, but the first couple of days I was just so astounded by the experience. I was in a different part of the world, it just seemed so surreal. It was a lot to take in those first few days. While I didn’t have clear expectations, I was ready for everything Germany had to offer.
Was it exciting getting to use the German you had learned?
Yes, my German wasn’t very good at the time but I knew some basic stuff. A lot of Germans actually wanted to speak English, so they could practice, and their English was often much better than my German.
Where did you stay in Germany?
I stayed with a family in Goslar. The student’s name was Rainer. They had an apartment that was built right after World War II in the 1950’s. It was a new experience for me because I had never lived in an apartment, but it was convenient because it was walking distance from our school.
For your school experience, how was learning in Germany different from learning in the United States?
The lessons were similar, but the school itself was a bit confusing. There were actually three different schools all housed in the same building. As far as the teachers went, there was one teacher in particular I thought had an interesting teaching style. I remember he would show the film ‘Gandhi’ all the time, the lessons always seemed to revolve around that movie. We also had a German teacher that came with us from California. She would teach us practical lessons, things that would help us navigate the country. Her name is Juliane Hodjera, she's quite the character. She is in her 90’s now.
Did you travel a lot around Germany?
For sure. I remember one trip in particular when we did a cross-country ski trip near Goslar, right next to the border between East and West Germany. The border was marked with stones, but the fence the East Germans had erected was actually another 50 yards to the east. So there was some territory on the western side of the fence that was actually East Germany. I was skiing, and I wasn’t very good so I was all the way in the back. Then, the people in front of me accidentally went into East German territory. They realized this, and started to turn around and say “Go back, go back!” and I ended up skiing past them. Luckily, I didn’t end up on the East German side, but they certainly did. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any East German guards.
So you were in Germany in the 80’s, during a high period of tension between East and West Germany. What was that like?
Absolutely fascinating. I visited Berlin in 1985, and the English teacher, Hans Adenow, took us to East Berlin for the day. First, we went to the main areas inside the city, then he said “Let's go see something else,” and we went further away from the city center. Because the center was like a showcase, and the further away you got, the more you could see what the East was really like. I remember seeing all these buildings with bullet holes from the war that had never been repaired.
Did you talk to any East Germans?
Yes! I visited Germany again in 1989 and I met two university students who attended Humboldt University in East Berlin. They were studying dentistry. Through them I learned about the changes that were happening in East Berlin in 1989, and how it was becoming difficult to get visas to other eastern countries like Hungary.
You were in Germany on German Unification Day. What was that like?
At the time I was studying at the University of Heidelberg, and all the foreign students had to take a difficult test called ‘Prüfung zum Nachweis Deutscher Sprachkenntnisse’. I actually had to take this test on October 2nd 1990, the day before ‘Tag Der Deutschen’ Einheit (German Unification Day). After the test, we went to Berlin, but arrived after midnight. There were some people still celebrating at the Brandenburg Gate and I saw all this glass on the ground from broken champagne bottles. So I missed the first part of the celebrations, but I did end up getting to celebrate the next day on the 3rd, nearby ‘Unter Den Linden’.
Did you do any other sightseeing during your stay?
Oh yes. On my first trip in 1985, we went to see a salt mine in Goslar the day after we arrived. They were actually storing nuclear waste there, which was fascinating. In one of the salt caverns I picked up a piece of salt and licked it just to see if it really tasted like salt, and it did.
And the salt didn’t have a greenish shimmer to it?
[Laughs] Nope! They said the salt mines were very good for storing nuclear waste, which I found really interesting.
So what are the things you really liked about German culture?
I liked the way you could walk around cities. They didn’t have cars when they built German towns 500 or 1,000 years ago. Make no mistake, I like my car and being able to get around, but there's something so good about walking. I was also very interested in German television. At the time there were only three West German channels. Because we were near East Germany, we also had two East German channels. People told us that all the West Germans watched East German TV because they had good movies, and all East Germans watched West because they wanted to see the news.
What would you say was your most important experience from your time in Germany?
For me, it was just everything to do with Berlin and the wall. Just seeing how those in power can have that much control over people’s lives. That's just not something normal, at least in my experience. It really left an impression on me.
Looking back, how did this experience shape your future path?
Well, I met my wife in Germany. She's originally from Bulgaria but I met her during my year abroad in Heidelberg. She didn’t speak English at the time so I had to speak German with her. Professionally, it had an impact on me because I majored in German in college, and worked in Germany for two years before I got my business degree to expand my skills. Today, many of my co-workers are from different parts of the world and my experiences in Germany help me to relate to them. I know what it is like to be in a different country and some of what they are experiencing in the U.S.
So what would be your advice to someone doing an exchange today?
I think the best advice I can give is to be open to new experiences. Be flexible, ask questions, and just be curious about everything: Home life, school life, the culture. Also, keep a journal and take lots of pictures. Really take the opportunity to try every new thing you can.
