It is now about my fourth Monat (month) in Deutschland.
How It's Going:
Roller-Coaster-like. Some days I'll find myself completely content with where I am and all that's around me. I'll catch myself smiling for no apparent reason and wanting to go dance around my room to songs on the radio (which are the popular songs on our radios in America). That's right, I'm in love with Germany!
Then of course, there are some days where I feel traurig (sad) as well as completely overwhelmed with this new language constantly surrounding me. Most of the time my feelings vary by moment rather than day.
Schule (school) is pretty tough, but I'm starting to understand so much more than I could at the beginning of this journey. It's fantastic when I can sit there and listen to the teacher, and when he/she is done talking my friend will turn to me, about to explain in English what was happening, and I'll turn to her with a smile on my face and repeat a summarized version in German. Of course, it's not every day or every class that I can do that, but when I can I feel like I'm on top of the world.
My host family is still as wonderful as the beginning. I'm staring to feel more comfortable in the house and being around them. It's good to feel like I have a home to go to. I'm becoming fairly close with my host sisters, in the way that close sisters are, what with tickling, pinching, and messing around with each other. My baby host sister is starting to ask for my help for things that in the beginning she wouldn't let me touch, like pouring her a drink or reading her a book. I find it so sweet.
From the last episode, I still haven't begun to fancy public transportation any more, however nothing of the sort has happened since thankfully.
About the Culture:
A week or so ago, I was with a group of friends during a free period. The bell had just rung and I was saying goodbye to everybody. One of the boys was about to hug me, and seemed very hesitant to. Me, being willing to hug anybody that comes within a foot of me, gave him a hug and said goodbye. Later on, my friend asked me if I had "liked" him. I was immediately taken back by the thought of it, said no, and asked her why she would think so. She told me that she only really hugged the people that she "liked". I checked this later on with my CR, and she said that she too only really hugged people that she liked as more than a friend, although she explained it more as a "good" hug type of hug for those people. People here aren't as open to others as much as Americans are. It's very interesting to observe.
I'm very sorry that my posts have been on the slow side. I hope that once everything becomes a bit easier I can post more often!
I'm going to the Schwarz Wald (Black Forest) this weekend with my host family. I'll let you know how it goes!
-Alexandra
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Public Transportation
Today was probably the longest days I've had in a very, very long time.
A week or two ago, my English teacher had told us that on Monday, today, we were going to meet up at a pub in the next town over and have a quiz night. It seemed odd at the moment, but I'm assuming class meetings happen a lot outside of school. Nevertheless, I figured that it would be really fun and I was hoping the quiz was in English (which is was!).
Before this exciting new adventure (and I mean adventure) took part, I needed to get through 9 "hours" of school before I could follow through with any plans. As History, Biology, and Music went by (2 hours each plus 3 free hours) I was ready for my plans. First, I was to meet a friend who is also from America on this same program at the train station in order to get to the next town over. He's not technically in my English class, or goes to the same school, but it was an informal class meeting and he wanted to go. So we met at the train, with me almost missing my bus in order to get there, and not to mention waiting an hour or so for him to be done with school, and traveled to the next city over. We walked around for a while and decided we should try and find the place where I was supposed to meet my classmates in a couple of hours, just in case something went wrong and we couldn't find it. We had to walk quite a ways, but after asking for directions, we finally found our way. We decided staying there was best, as it wasn't really near any other places with food, and I was getting pretty hungry. So we grabbed food there, played a game of chess, a couple games of tic tac toe, and just hung out for a while. After about 9 or so my classmates and teacher came and the quiz night began. It was over star wars, brain puzzles, sex toys (whether the picture on the screen looked like one or not- I didn't pick the subject), and a couple other topics. There were a total of 25 questions, and my team tied for third place, in which I had to arm wrestle another lady in order to win. I won! Then after that, we had to run in order to catch the bus to go back to the train station. We made it barely in time, and then barely in time for the train. The next part is the part that made the whole day and evening seem very very long.
First off, let me tell you that I had a plan to go home. I was to go on the train to the station that I had met my friend, then go with my friends to a bus stop semi-nearby and from there go home on a ruf-taxi, which is free because I have a max-ticket, which is a bus pass that works on a lot of the buses that surround me. So there was a little confusion in which train to go on. My friend picked out a train that he seemed pretty sure of, and I had lost the group of people that I was also with, but I figured that they were just on a different car. However, not too long after our train had left we realized our mistake. At the same time that I got a call from one of the girls that I had been with before we got on the train, my friend that I was with made an upset-looking face along with an "uh oh". We were on the wrong train. Not a problem, right? Get out on the next stop, take a train back to where we just left from, then take another train back to the other station that we planned to go to. Good theory. No ruf-taxi after I think 11:30, and the next train that was coming was due for after that time. Great. I talked with my friends for a long time over the phone, which proved to be a little bit of a challenge as our languages are different, and decided the best plan to get home, which ended up to be way too late for my liking.
So, I am now home.
I had to figure out the public transportation system on my own at some point and time right?
A week or two ago, my English teacher had told us that on Monday, today, we were going to meet up at a pub in the next town over and have a quiz night. It seemed odd at the moment, but I'm assuming class meetings happen a lot outside of school. Nevertheless, I figured that it would be really fun and I was hoping the quiz was in English (which is was!).
Before this exciting new adventure (and I mean adventure) took part, I needed to get through 9 "hours" of school before I could follow through with any plans. As History, Biology, and Music went by (2 hours each plus 3 free hours) I was ready for my plans. First, I was to meet a friend who is also from America on this same program at the train station in order to get to the next town over. He's not technically in my English class, or goes to the same school, but it was an informal class meeting and he wanted to go. So we met at the train, with me almost missing my bus in order to get there, and not to mention waiting an hour or so for him to be done with school, and traveled to the next city over. We walked around for a while and decided we should try and find the place where I was supposed to meet my classmates in a couple of hours, just in case something went wrong and we couldn't find it. We had to walk quite a ways, but after asking for directions, we finally found our way. We decided staying there was best, as it wasn't really near any other places with food, and I was getting pretty hungry. So we grabbed food there, played a game of chess, a couple games of tic tac toe, and just hung out for a while. After about 9 or so my classmates and teacher came and the quiz night began. It was over star wars, brain puzzles, sex toys (whether the picture on the screen looked like one or not- I didn't pick the subject), and a couple other topics. There were a total of 25 questions, and my team tied for third place, in which I had to arm wrestle another lady in order to win. I won! Then after that, we had to run in order to catch the bus to go back to the train station. We made it barely in time, and then barely in time for the train. The next part is the part that made the whole day and evening seem very very long.
First off, let me tell you that I had a plan to go home. I was to go on the train to the station that I had met my friend, then go with my friends to a bus stop semi-nearby and from there go home on a ruf-taxi, which is free because I have a max-ticket, which is a bus pass that works on a lot of the buses that surround me. So there was a little confusion in which train to go on. My friend picked out a train that he seemed pretty sure of, and I had lost the group of people that I was also with, but I figured that they were just on a different car. However, not too long after our train had left we realized our mistake. At the same time that I got a call from one of the girls that I had been with before we got on the train, my friend that I was with made an upset-looking face along with an "uh oh". We were on the wrong train. Not a problem, right? Get out on the next stop, take a train back to where we just left from, then take another train back to the other station that we planned to go to. Good theory. No ruf-taxi after I think 11:30, and the next train that was coming was due for after that time. Great. I talked with my friends for a long time over the phone, which proved to be a little bit of a challenge as our languages are different, and decided the best plan to get home, which ended up to be way too late for my liking.
So, I am now home.
I had to figure out the public transportation system on my own at some point and time right?
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