An interview with Cindy Cidro Rozenmeier.
World Wind Even an interview with Cindy Cidro Rosenmeier is a multi-cultural experience. During our three-hour chat at a local café, the Philippines-born English language instructor and international event organizer introduced me to her Belarus-born boyfriend — who provided the Italian-owned locale’s piano music for the evening — a young Japanese violin virtuoso and a Filipino/English couple. “I am admittedly a people collector,” boasts the 44-year-old, flashing her engaging smile. Rosenmeier made her way to greater Munich via Manila, where she was raised in a family of diplomats and international businessmen. “Marriage and child-rearing in the Philippines is different than in the West,” explains Rosenmeier, “When we marry it’s for life. There are no divorces in the Philippines! Kids are brought up by a whole clan. My brother, aunt or cousin could just as well be a parental figure to me.” With the support of the global-minded family, Rosenmeier traveled to South Asia and Japan as a Youth Ambassador of Goodwill before attending Far Eastern University in Manila, where she majored in broadcast journalism — a degree she has benefited from but never used professionally. During her college years, Rosenmeier helped coordinate exchange programs for the Asian Youth Development Association, which led, finally, to a post-grad assignment as Goodwill Ambassador to Germany. During a stay in Bavaria in 1980, then Cynthia Madeja-Cidro dated a Regensburg lawyer she’d met in the Phillipines. “I deepened the cultural exchange by staying and marrying a German,” laughs Rosenmeier. Opting for the “family first” plan, she put her career aspirations on hold to have children. “My three kids are my life.” But after ten years of living the life of an underutilized housewife — “he wanted me to sit back enjoy our wealth, but that just wasn’t me” — Rosenmeier faced what Filipinos just don’t do: divorce. “My youngest wasn’t even a year old, and I didn’t have a pfennig, but I took the kids and moved to a monastery until I could get on my feet.” Today, Rosenmeier is more on than off those toes. In describing her many activities, the charismatic self-starter breaks her life into percentages. She is 20 percent language instructor for Inlingua at Sendlinger Tor: “My students and I have a ball! I like to demonstrate all the different accents for them. I tell them when you’re in America,” demonstrates Rosenmeier in perfect regional accents, “never say ‘g’day’ or ‘bloody awful.’” 20 percent lecturer: “I speak at embassies and foundations regarding cross-cultural matters for the Asia-bound.” 20 percent marketing guru: “Top firms hire me to advise them in selling to Asia.” 5 percent translator: “I do court transcriptions in five Filipino dialects.” and 20 percent event coordinator: “I work with German cities or towns who wish to promote inter-cultural understanding. Be it a concert or workshop, I choose only artists who incorporate ‘friendship, peace and love’ into their work. Those who wish to use these non-profit forums for commercial gains are unwelcome.” Rosenmeier’s success in this field began in 1995, when she collaborated with ex-Bundesminister Herzog’s wife, Christiane, on the International Women’s Festival held in Fürstenfeldbruck. “I gathered women with hidden talents from five continents for that one,” beams Rosenmeier. Subsequent world gatherings added to her tab include this year’s Deutsch-Philippinischer-Freundeskreis-sponsored evenings — the “Easter Special” which featured international musical acts, and the “Centennial Fiesta” in Heidelberg, which celebrated 100 years of Philippine independence. What does Rosenmeier do with her last 15 percent? “Private life,” giggles the overachiever, “although I must tell you, Filipinos don’t have hobbies. Our work is our hobby, our hobby our work.” That being the case, Rosenmeier’s pastimes consist of cooking, fashion designing, career counseling, teaching Hawaiian and Tahitian dance, lecturing on traditional Chinese medicine, and stopping to hire street musicians on Marienplatz for her shows. Obviously a positive thinker, Rosenmeier is “a believer. I feel like I’ve had golden sand sprinkled on my head.” The world revolves around her, and, in this case, that’s a good thing. <<< liz vannah