Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Noelle Turner, born in the states and living for 45 years in Germany talks about cultural differences: “In the beginning, it was a difference, and there are still things that bother me, there are many. It’s just little funny things that they don’t sometimes keep a physical distance, like they walk past you and maybe bump into you and don’t notice it. It’s just how their culture is. You know, for us that would be considered rude. Or like, if you’re talking to one of your friends, or something and they’ll say something like ‘You look really terrible today!’ For me, that’s an insult. And Germans do that in a way to show they care. But it still bothers me, you know, ‘You look really tired.’ And sometimes you feel great, and it makes you feel like ‘Oh, is there something wrong with me today?’ I would never think of telling somebody that they didn’t look good that day. But for them it’s a way of showing that they’re interested in you and that they care about you. But I still get insulted when people say that.”

In this episode, Noelle shares how winning a Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship from Rotary in 1975 while finishing her master’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington opened the door for her to study opera in Germany and learn the German language. She talks about earning the opportunity to stay in then West Germany led to a career as an opera singer. She notes it was her love of musical theater growing up near New York that she developed in high school that enabled her to become the first musical theater professor in Germany because there was no one in Germany with comparable musical theater knowledge and experience as she had acquired from watching a Broadway show every Saturday. She recalls how touched she was when invited to join Rotary 15 years ago because this gave her a way to thank Rotary for the scholarship. She shares the discomfort she felt being the first female member of her club for a full year, a club that included 80 men. She notes she was offered the privilege to serve as club President 5 years later. She notes how serving as club President was a way to thank Rotary for the scholarship. She recounts seizing the opportunity to return to Bloomington, Indiana, in March 2013 to express her gratitude to the Bloomington Rotary club for the scholarship she received in 1975 during her term as President of the Rotary club in Essen, Germany. She recounts being asked by the female District Governor to help start a Rotary Passport club, a club that meets only virtually. She shares with pride that she will become club President on July 1st. While Noelle shares that she retired from her professor position at the Fulkwang University of the Arts five years ago, she feels busy and blessed by opportunities to teach masterclasses and workshops all over Europe in addition to providing private lessons.  

To connect with Noelle, she recommends reaching out to her by email: [email protected]. For those interested in exploring learning from Noelle, she invites you to contact her by email and Noelle will set up a Zoom meeting to have a chat.  She invites you to accept this benevolent Call-to-Action from this quote by Henry David Thoreau “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Noelle invites you to accept others the way they and stay true to your calling.    

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