March 1998
Profiles of New Beginnings
xpatriate comes from the Latin ex patria and refers to a person living outside his own country. It is a word charged with various meanings, a label that conceals as much as it reveals. It implies strength, decisiveness and courage. It is, after all, not easy to put down roots in a new country. Expatriate has connotations of romance, inter-cultural marriages and the adventure of starting over in a new and unfamiliar place. In recognition of Women's Day (March 8), Dee Pattee has profiled three expatriate women who have responded to the challenge of changing continents in unique ways. All of them have one thing in common: they are transplants who took to heart the phrase, "Bloom where you're planted."
VIRTUAL SLEUTH
Jane Monjar Bayer had a number of exciting careers before coming to Germany. She was an aerospace engineer at Rockwell International where she worked on the on B-1 bomber. At McDonnell Douglas, Jane was a flight test engineer. Later she flew a corporate jet for a private company.
Now Jane runs "Factfinders," a technical and business information research company. She searches the Internet for customers who range from aerospace and telecommunications agencies to new computer companies, or individuals who simply don't want to do their own electronic sleuthing. "I can pretty much find any information you need - if it is public," she says.
Jane's assignments have covered a wide variety of subjects: she has listed the top 500 companies in Germany by sales and industry, compiled a dictionary of space terms and found fax numbers for everyone named Müller, the most common name in Germany. Other assignments have covered fields as varied as medicine, crime and telecommunications. "I feel my education and training in engineering and other technical fields helped prepare me for this new career."
Working at home is ideal for Jane, who has a four year-old daughter named Kathrin. She enjoys combining a career and motherhood. Jane met her German husband when she came to Munich as a tourist six years ago. Their talents and interests (he is a space systems engineer) seem to merge perfectly. In addition to running her own business (Factfinders@trans.net), Jane is the secretary of the American-German Business Club. The one thing she misses about her old life is flying and dreams of resuming her favorite leisure activity. "One day I would like to have my own plane and teach my daughter to fly," says Jane.
DO THE LOCOMOTION
The romance of train travel hasn't worn thin for Amy Cohen, who gets to watch the sun rise over Lake Starnberg and sees the Bavarian countryside glide by the cab of her S-Bahn train. Since November, 1997 when she passed the rigorous six-month training program, Amy has been driving the S2 to Holzkirchen or the S6 to Tutzing. Her route varies each shift. "Sometimes it is really calm and peaceful. You're out seeing the beautiful countryside early in the morning before most people are up."
Amy came to Munich to study German literature. "I didn't know a volt from an ampere and absolutely nothing about motors or transformers," says the young American. She married Walter Schmitt, a German engineering student in 1993 and following the birth of her daughter, set out to find a job to finance her studies at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
Amy started as a Zugbegleiter, the conductor who checks the doors at each stop and keeps an eye on the passengers. "My railroad pals suggested I become an engineer. I had none of the usual qualifications," she says. She failed the examination the first time she took it but convinced the officials to let her retake the test.
On her second try, Amy not only passed the test, she was at the top of her class. The slim, 165 cm-tall American has no problems doing what most of her colleagues still consider a man's job. "I did some training to strengthen my arms," she says. "The entire machinery is underneath the train in compartments. When we uncouple trains and the mechanism called a Schaku doesn't spring back as it's meant to, the engineer has to get onto the track and deal with it manually. That takes some strength but now I can do it."
MAPLE LEAF ACTIVIST
If the Canadian maple leaf has a higher profile in Munich these days, you can chalk it up to Gina Buffone-Hartl, a one-woman cheering section for Canada. Gina wasted no time in establishing herself in Munich.
In the past two years, Gina has founded the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW), established Canadian children's play groups, an English language story hour at the library and organized Munich's first-ever Canada Day (July 1) picnic in the Englischer Garten. She has also made her presence known at the Munich Rathaus where she has lobbied for human rights and the status of women.
The CFUW was one of the first organizations to promote sections for nonsmokers in Munich restaurants. On a global scale, the CFUW actively supports Amnesty International, Mothers Against Nuclear Power, Greenpeace, and the permanent banning of land mines. "What's the use of having a university degree if we don't get involved?" says Gina.
Gina, who speaks English, German and Italian, is married, has a four-year old daughter and works full time as a translator in a software company. She still makes time for all her club work and has lead the CFUW in writing protest letters to governments and politicians in order to improve the status of women worldwide. "My goal is to give women a chance to get involved," she says.
Munich Found invites readers to contribute suggestions for this column.
