Why are there so many Americans here?

Now that I've been back in America for 36 hours, I want to talk about what is shocking to me so far. The variety here is nuts. Just nuts. But it's the best kind of crazy ever. Today for lunch I had chicken salad and also a bagel with cream cheese because, hey! I was in NYC, and I haven't had a bagel for a year, OK? I also am really enjoying having my American cell phone that reaches 98% of the people I love through multiple different functions at any given times. And the best part about that? I don't have to worry about what the cost per minute or text is! See ya never, 9cent texts!

Also, I've noticed we have A/C in just about every place. So, environmentally conscious Europeans, yes, you're right, the "Klima Anlage" is everywhere, but you know what? IT IS HOT HERE. I mean it. I've been sweaty for about 35 hours now. Plus, in places like Wyoming it gets hot but the air is dry, and so we don't have A/C in my house there because guess what-- we can live without it. But here on the East Coast, my feet are cold because otherwise I'd actually just be a puddle and you'd never see me again.

The biggest shocker though is all of the English around me! I'm so used to, if I hear American English being spoken, automatically thinking, "Oh my gosh! Americans! I wonder where they're from and what they're doing here." I'm used to the conversations around me being in German and as such not paying attention to background noises. But I can understand everyone here. It's really, really, really a strange feeling. I can't really describe it.

The index cards

I am in ultimate packing mode here in Germany, since my time is nearly up, and I'll be on an airplane heading West before I know it. Most everything is already packed up, minus the truckload of books I've managed to accumulate over the last year. They're heavy! I should probably just leave most of them here, but parting with a book is sometimes kinda hard for me.

Everything is off my walls, leaving them sad and plain. And the only time that I got a little teary during the whole packing up process was when I took down all of the things that I'd taped up all over my place when I got to Mainz in a determined effort to keep learning German. My formal language training was only 2 months long, and it was only during that time that I had a chance to try to figure out how to properly construct sentences in German. Since October, it's just been a learn-as-you-go sort of operation, picking up a bit of "Umgangssprache" and just taking my best shot in the dark when it comes to using the proper article and coordinating adjective ending. Once I'd moved in and organized stuff on my shelves, I labeled everything. Red ink for the feminine article "die", blue ink for the masculine article "der", green for the neutral "das", and yellow for plural. With verbs, I tried to label if they were used with a certain preposition and whether the noun that followed should be in nominative, accusative, or dative case.

Those are some of the labels I took down from around my room. It made me get a little teary to do so because these silly little pieces of paper are what my year was all about. 12 months gone in the blink of an eye. The majority of moments that I had here were big challenges. There were definitely times that I wanted to give up- times that I had to pull myself up by my bootstraps and just keep on going. It's funny how being in the thick of something difficult can be so tiring, but when you finally emerge on the other side and see what you're capable of, the sun shines even brighter. Ok ok, the sun doesn't shine all too often here, but you know what I mean...

Fourth Thing

I have a treat for you-- especially if you are a native German speaker. Gather 'round!

I met Mickey Mangan through the fellowship program that has taken us both to Germany for the year. Upon our arrival here last August, we were both part of the lucky crew that got sent to the town of Radolfzell on Lake Constance for 2 months of language school. Mickey and I both came into the program with little knowledge of the language, and so I had the privilege of spending the whole time there in the same class as Mickey.

Being the creative genius that he is - and that's just the simple truth - Mickey had the idea to create a weekly talk show to record the progress of his language learning. Each week he posts a new episode of "The Lernen to Talk Show" on his blog, Fourth Thing. Each 'sode is about 5 minutes long.

My language skills progressed at about the same rate as Mickey's did to begin with, and now I get to see where he has progressed and I haven't and vice versa. It's a good documentation of what learning a language is like. Also, Mickey has a zest for life and is one of the most consistently enthusiastic people I know. The passion that he has for the things he undertakes is one of his best attributes, and it shows in his work.

If you're a German native speaker, you'll probably get an even bigger kick out of this than us non-native speakers. Mickey goes through the trouble to make notes of the various errors that occur throughout each episode, but as a native speaker, you'll hear them right away. Sometime the mistakes are adjective endings, but sometimes it's the difference between saying "sausages"- "Würste"- and "deserts"- "Wüsten" (see Episode 27 in which he tries to explain the board game Settlers of Catan to a couple friends).

You can access every episode chronologically by clicking here. It is amazing to see how far he has come since Episode One! Gut gemacht, Mickey. Lass nicht locker!

...and now I give you Episode 1 of the Lernen to Talk Show, filmed in Dulles airport on July 31, 2011 as our group is about to fly away for a year of life "auf Deutsch" in Germany.

Prague, Pictures from Day 1

May 1st is a Public Holiday for many of the countries in Europe. Know what that means?! No work! Know how I celebrated? By getting some sort of stomach flu. But also by going to Prague. Hey, my time is running out here, and there is no "other chance". Now or never!

So, despite not really getting to try much of the local cuisine, swinging between feeling 30% and 80% healthy at any given moment over the entire long weekend, and probably coming out of it with a bit of dehydration, I am so glad I went!

Anja, Micha, and Nadja were my travel companions. We stayed in a cute vacation apartment rental that Anja found and had a total of 48 to enjoy the city. Days were filled with looking at gorgeous buildings, walking, having ice cream, looking at maps, pretending to read Czech, lots of picture taking, and for me... trying to decide what language my brain was functioning in. Traveling in the Czech Republic with Germans whilst my brain is filled with the excitement and wants to express everything (something I can really only do in English, when it comes down to it).

aaaaaaaaand I just wrote a really good blog post. Spent time writing to you about my trip, about using English when traveling, etc etc etc, and unfortunately my HP computer has the touchiest, stupidest touchpad of all time and as I was wrapping up, the blog post deleted everything until what I have written above there. You have got to be kidding me. Ok, instead, pictures from Day One with the promise of more to follow later. More words on travels later... I have to pack to go to Nice tomorrow :)

Doch, doch, doch, doch

Doch!
Yes, (I do / did / have / had / am / was / will / would / shall / should / can / could / may / might!) [contradicting a negative question]



How's that for a useful word!


Also, here is the message that came in my Italian Nestlé chocolate today... " Non rendere vani i tuoi sforzi, pazienta ancora un attimo!" meaning, "Do not allow your efforts to be in vain, have just a little more patience!"