The Accidental Housewife
In English we have invented politically correct terms like “homemaker” and “domestic engineer.” We even have amusing words like “domestic goddess.” But in German there is only one word for what I am: Hausfrau and it literally translates to what I call myself these days and that is simply “housewife.”
It wasn’t always that way. I went to, and graduated from, both undergraduate and graduate school. When I received my MLS (Master of Library Science) an “MRS” was the last thing on my mind. After graduate school I went to work and acquired all the responsibilities and headaches of a full-fledged professional.
After I got married I had every intention of finding a job, even though I landed overseas in a country where I didn’t speak the language. But fate has a way of taking you where you never planned to go.
My education and training were so specialized, that without realizing it I had made myself overeducated and under-qualified for too many jobs. And the jobs that I was technically educated for were practically out of reach because they were few and I lacked the necessary language skills and proper “German” credentials.
Even after the hours of language lessons were over the job hunt didn’t get any easier. My résumé was translated and reformatted. The necessary documents were collected and whenever I saw one of the rare advertisements for a library-related position, I applied. But I never got anything more than formal, impersonal rejection letters.
As the weeks passed into months and finally into years, I fell into a comfortable routine of making dinner, running errands, and doing the laundry. I seldom looked at job advertisements anymore and one day I faced the truth: I had turned into a housewife. The fact hit me in the face like a bucket of ice water, but what surprised me even more was that I found that I didn’t really regret what I had inadvertently become.
