Bye bye, Germany

What will I miss?

• The cobbliest cobble stone lane by my house. It is impossible to walk on in heels, flats, rain... I hate it and love it simultaneously.
• Hearing "Jeden Tag ein bisschen besser" a billion times during a single shopping trip to Rewe.
• Waiting to cross the sidewalk until the light turns green, even though it totally bothers me that no one here jaywalks.
• My wallet weighing as much as my head. Never in my life have I had so many coins at once. It's gonna feel like something is missing.
• My see-through pale skin.... oh wait, kidding! BRING ON THAT SUNSHINE, USA! I'm ready for a sun tan!
• Mixing English words and German words into each of my sentences. Engleutsch, baby.
• German radio traffic reports and pop radio stations. Pop radio DJs also speak Engleutsch... "Das war der US-Amerikanischer Rapper Snoop Dogg mit 'Beautiful'".
• Climbing up cathedral towers.
• Hearing "Vorsicht bei der Einfahrt".
• Late night swims so as to avoid the breaststrokers, old and young but all incapable of circle swimming.
• Kaffee und kuchen with Ginny in Café Blum.
• Open containers.
• Marzipan, marzipan everywhere!
• Brötchen with butter. It just doesn't get better.
• Having no idea how many numbers constitute a telephone number but knowing that it doesn't matter anyway because having a conversation in German over the phone scares the living daylights out of me.
• Throwing away most things in the red waste baskets because I'm still not really sure what blue, green, and yellow are for.
• All of the new, wonderful people I have met along the way... I wish you all continued success and much happiness!

Thanks, Germany. It's been a trip!

Love always.

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.

Ten Months Down

Today is the first day of June, and that means that it is the beginning of a bittersweet month. June is the last full month I will spend in Germany since I leave part way through July. I read through a few of my posts from earlier in this journey of mine, and it is so funny to read posts from November in which I declare that I can't believe I've lived in Germany for 4 months. Time flies. Fast forward, and now it's been exactly 10 months and roughly 3 hours since I stepped off the plane to begin my year here.

I got exactly what I came here for, although for most of the time I've been here it hasn't felt that way. I sought something new, unfamiliar, challenging, and exciting. My evolution as a foreigner has been quite the adventure. I'm incredibly excited to go home-- I'll be honest about that; however, I can already start to feel the nostalgia. I can already sense what I'm going to miss once I step foot back in the States. I'm starting to understand how this journey has changed me, how it has become part of me.

And I have the sneaking suspicion that my return will not be as easy as I imagine it will be. All of these small things that I have encountered in Germany, all of the differences that I have not only experienced but also learned how to be part of or at least live with, will no longer be part of my daily life. There will be the small aspects of American culture that I have forgotten, and I will have to remember how to readjust and reimmerse.

This year has been so sweet and so difficult. The lows were real low. But the highs have been tip top. The next month will be also sweet and difficult, not difficult in terms of cultural assimilation, but difficult because the time is finite. The end of the tunnel is within sight. How could it be that my year in Germany is nearly over? Wow.

I"m, Ö, and other such things

Sometimes when I'm at work, I sit there staring at my keyboard for what feels like minutes on end. It's not because I'm not working, but because I can't ever find any of the symbols. German keyboards are setup juuuuust differently enough from American keyboards that I am now constantly unsure where Z and Y are located, as their locations are swapped. I also now hit Shift everytime I go to use an apostrophe, so now on my American keyboard I type things like I"m and you"re. And I do things like spend minutes looking for the # symbol or pausing my normally fluent typing in order to correctly use the Ä, Ö, and Ü keys. It's messing me up, man!

I also attempted to give a little mini presentation in German the other day. Time constraints and my lack of vocabulary or forethought meant the presentation ended up being given in English. I felt so defeated. I think I've hit some kind of learning wall, and I would really like to pause everything and go back to language school for just one more month. Puh-leeeease? errr, I mean, Bitteeeeee? (That's not "bite", that's "Bitte" pronounced Bih-teh and is German for please.)

And also, Gretchen comes today to visit me. Huzzah! I'm so excited!

Living the life

I walked home in a cloud tonight. Mainz is so foggy in the mornings and evenings nowadays as the weather is starting to warm up to Spring temperatures. I could only see as far as about a block in the fog tonight. Everything looks so different cloaked in the eerie clouds.

My working life in Germany has me seeing things through a whole new perspective. I really take for granted the education that I have, the ease with which I can function in my own society, and my belief I hold in myself and my abilities. I tell you what, it is not easy to make a serious, professional impression with limited language skills and different cultural approaches. I understand 50% of what is said to me in any given sentence or string thereof. I can process another 20% of the meaning from eye contact, context clues, and body language. That leaves me, in any given moment of my work day, and really of my German life, not knowing- I mean truly NOT understanding any part of- the remaining 30%. I can sit in a meeting and know what everyone is talking about and why the issue is important but have no idea whether or not they've come to conclusions, reached solutions, identified other factors, or are mostly just blowing off steam about it. Um, hello, that information is probably essential to my professional success here. 30% is a lot to be missing.

I also keep realizing that sometimes I just don't read signs when I'm out in public because I simply don't know what they say. Isn't that weird? It's like being a child in some ways. I am learning to read comprehensively, I ask people to explain the meaning of words I've never heard, and I definitely need more than 30% improvement on writing grammatically correctly in German. I wanted to use the German equivalent of "embarking on an adventure in Germany" in a sentence the other day, and I chose a verb that I guess technically would translate to embark, but it's meaning implies the kind of grand adventure like the Pilgrims embarked upon... somewhat grander of a scale than I was aiming for. I was mostly referring to my adventures in bagging up my groceries...

I miss walking into my office and owning what I do and feeling absolutely confident in my ability to handle any situation that comes my way. I miss not being scared of getting a phone call. I miss being able to make small talk easily and having deeper conversations to get to know people. I miss knowing the grammar rules, even if sometimes I don't follow them. I'd like once again to have my full wardrobe of clothes at my disposal, too, just for posterity. 2 suitcases (one big, one normal) worth of clothes gets a tiny bit dull. I miss knowing the appropriate level of professional + friendly + direct + helpful = successful in the workplace.

But I have a hunch, and this is really just a hunch, that when I have wrapped up my job here, I will find that I have become more professional than I was than before I left for Germany. I think I'll find that the barriers I'm stumbling into now are actually not barriers at all but gateways. But that's life though, isn't it? The tough stuff makes us better if we want it to. And of course, the fact that I'm in Germany and working with really excellent people in a great town for a stellar company means that these so-called barriers are actually just signs of the fact that I am living the life.

I am really living the life.

Ein Schottischer Abend an der Uni Mainz

Suffice it to say, I just got home from a most magical 7 hours of volunteer work. I mean it. There was this Scottish evening tonight held at the University, and last week I'd received an email looking for volunteers. "Well, heck!" I thought. "Sign me up!" And, so, volunteer at this cultural evening in Mainz I did.

This evening was "The 253rd Burns Night"-- "ein Schottischer Abend an der Uni Mainz". Yep, I'd never heard of this either. Luckily, Wikipedia has an article about "Burns Supper" which is apparently also sometimes referred to as, you guessed it, Burns Night! It is a celebration of the life of poetry of Robert Burns and traditionally is celebrated around his birthday, which was January 25th. Wikipedia notes that you can celebrate the poet really whenever you please, however. You eat haggis, drink whisky, and make general merriment. Wikipedia even said that the evening "occasionally ends with dancing when ladies are present". There were ladies present tonight, and I will be the first to say, whew! was there ever a lot of dancing. Take all of this info with a grain of salt because 1) I got it from the Wiki, and 2) I didn't read past the introduction paragraphs. However, that summary is pretty spot on with what I saw tonight.

I've never before celebrated anything Scottish using another language (the minister from my childhood is Scottish and wore a kilt every Sunday and to everything noteworthy, so let's agree that I've my fair share of celebrating the Scottish way). I was to begin by helping with the Garderobe-- coat check, or as the signs for the Garderobe also said-- "Cloack Room". Bless the dear heart of the person who made these signs, but it was killing me. And then, I couldn't think of the right way to spell that! I knew "Cloack" was wrong, but with my brain switched into German-mode, I couldn't correctly spell Cloak in my head! "Clock? No. Cloh.... Noooo... Cl. um. erg." Probably took me 10 minutes to remember "C-L-O-A-K". German, you are scrambling my brains!

I was also asked to please help set up the beamer. Uh huh! We had a beamer there! But what does a beamer have to do with Scotland? In Germany, where beamers come from, "beamer" does not mean BMW automobile. Nope, here it means projector! You know, you beam the light onto the wall! I'd have preferred to be in charge of a beamer as we Americans understand it, but I got the projector.

There was much haggis. Much haggis. What? I should reference Wikipedia for this, too? Ok. According to Wiki, haggis is a sheep's "pluck"-- heart, liver, and lungs. It is minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, and mixed with stock. Tradionally it's cooked in the animal's stomach as casing, but you really have no need to be grossed out anymore, because normally now it's cooked in just normal casing. Just your run-of-the-mill bodily organs Mischung. I have to say though, it doesn't taste bad. So when you are offered haggis at some point in your life, forget what you have read here about the contents, and just go for it. You probably maybe might be glad you did.

Oh gosh, and then there was whisky. I think they had 25 different kinds of Scotch, the oldest having aged 18 years. That's the only one I tried (c'mon... I was working!), but there was certainly plenty of whisky enjoyed by the evening's guests. And then came the dancing! Oooo we learned Scottish dances for groups of 6, groups of 2, groups of 50, one big group... and there is a lot of twirling and "swinging your partner", aber ich weiß nicht was "swing your partner" eigentlich auf deutsch heißt. I marched around to "eins-zwo-drei-vier-fünf-sechs-sieben-acht" like a really happy, kind of giggly soldier-dancer. Hilarious. And super fun. And we'd all learn the dance and then before we were allowed to start dancing we'd all have to be correctly and logically lined up because after all, Ordnung muss sein.

I was sure glad I didn't drink whisky and then spin around as many times as I did on that dance floor, or I probably would have tossed up some haggis, to be quite frank. Also, it started snowing! This is the second snowfall Mainz has had this year, and while it wasn't much, it was the good kind with big, fat, fluffy flakes that are ripe for snowman-construction. And that's just what happened on my walk home. 2 very miniature snowmen (one was a snowlady) were constructed and properly named (Roberto and Sofia), and then I mourned the fact that my German cell phone is camera-less. They were picture worthy. I hope they have a nice, snowy night together on the bench where they live.

And now I'm home. Soaking wet ballet flats, tights, socks, and pant-hems. But really loving my Scottish night in Germany.

Plus, I keep starting out the word "Scottish" by spelling it the German way-- "Schot...") and then I have to stop and correct myself. I'm telling you, I have scramble brain from German.

Dear Diary the East: Part III

This is the final installment of my mini-series about traveling in the East over my Christmas holiday. It's three parts in total, so that means it's just as entertaining and well thought created as The Godfather! Am I right?! Except, The Godfather Part III kind of lacks, so hopefully this little adventure through my diary has been better than The Godfather, and all other things that have 3 parts, for that matter. Like Jurassic Park. Ok, Part III... ready, go!

It is now the 27^th in Germany. Christmas is officially over, and I have survived my first Christmas away from my family. We have celebrated Heiligabend, first Christmas, and second Christmas, and now today is like any other Tuesday. Except, of course, that I’m on another train. I’ve clocked about 10 hours of train travel, and I’m about to clock 7 more to end my trip. The Erzgebirge folks are serious about wood. Christmastime here means that everyone decorates with all of the wooden figurines that they have from over the years, which is a lot. I mean, a lot. The thing is, it’s not too much though. It just looks and feels like Christmas everywhere you go.

Anja, Michael, and I walked around Pfaffroda this morning. It is rural here in a way that reminds me of a hilly-er North Woods of Wisconsin. And it was cold outside so that the air was biting at my ears and I could feel them turning red, but it was really nice. It really felt like winter, like Christmastime. I like seeing where people grew up, meeting their old friends, seeing how their families communicate or how they pass the time. It’s interesting to see what each person takes pride in regarding their home town. Things an ordinary visitor might surpass become very important when a local can explain the history or the background. It got me thinking what would I point out from each of my “homes”. Chicago is easy. The tourist stops are abundant, there are huge museums, drinks at the top of the John Hancock, Michigan Avenue, sports venues, restaurants—you name it. Hawaii is easy, too. Anyone in their right mind can figure out how to enjoy Hawaii. DC is also easy. Monuments, museums, historical spots, nature walks (let’s be real- that’s Virginia), markets, restaurants… but what about Casper?

If any of my friends from here travel to visit Wyoming some day, what would I take pride in? If they come during the summer there might be a rodeo to attend. Then there is the mountain with the Braille Trail, Bridle Trail, Waterfall, Nordic Skiing, Hogadon, Camping or even lunch in Beartrap Meadow. We can drive out to places like Hell’s Half Acre, Independence Rock, or Hell’s Gate (is that what that one gap in those rocks is, or did I just make up a really scary name for that?). Something I take pride in is how much space there is in Wyoming, and I think it’s something that people don’t understand unless they experience it firsthand. We’d therefore have to do the reaaaaally boring drive from Casper to Thermopolis through Shoshoni (it's only boring until Shoshoni and then woah! Wind River Canyon! Gorgeous!). We could drive to and through Yellowstone and swing past the gorgeous Tetons. I guess I take pride in the State as a whole, and I’d most want to share its expansiveness with my visitors. That includes any visitor I'd have from either US Coast-- the middle is just as good, and you're crazy if you dismiss it before experiencing it. There is a lot to be said for life on either coast, but there is just as much to be said for the states holding you together in the middle.

Well, the ol’ computer is about to die—another downfall to electronic journaling. It’s my time to sign off from the East. I’m going through Chemnitz and Leipzig and can hopefully get a quick peek at both before sleeping on the train to Mainz. It’s been a good Christmas trip. Totally different, but I’ve met lovely families and had experiences that I may never have again. But next year, I’ll be home for Christmas, and not just in my dreams.

Until Mainz…

Seiffen

Dear Diary the East: Part II

I started yesterday in sharing a bit from my Word document diary about traveling between 2 very different towns in Germany over Christmas. Here is the next little bit about my time in the East.

Ok, so, woah. I am really in a completely different part of Germany. I mean, I bought chocolate wafers in the Czech Republic today, so yeah, different. We went to a town that maybe starts with an E and I’m sorry but it’s 4am, and I just can’t remember. Seiffen? Does that sound like it could be the German word for plural soap to anyone else? This is the tourist stop for any tourist in the Erzgebirge. Surprisingly, Erzgebirge is not a word that “spell check” thinks is wrong. Huh. Anyway, the town is full of shops that sell the hand-made woodwork that is sold in the Weihnachtsmärkte throughout Germany. The amount of nugat cookies I’m eating from my Lebkuchen box that I got for Christmas is nothing compared to how much hand carved and hand painted wood was in that town. And there were lights in every window, a pretty, octagonal church that inspires the woodworkers, and really I must say it just made me feel Christmasy. While it was absolutely wonderful being in Luckenwalde for Christmas, I wasn't totally 'in the spirit'. But checking out that town, where snow still laid and glowing wood adorned each window, put me in the spirit.

And then we went to Micha’s house and it felt like family. Like really distant relatives. But you know, I have Peter and Traudel. They are as distant a relative as one can have without losing track of someone, and they’re totally awesome.

Tonight I also learned, and this is important incase I ever refer to anyone this way, but “Spitze” means “dude, you’re top notch!” but “spitz” means horny. So, more sex from Germany. Surprise. Which, by the way, reminds me to talk about the fact that German TV makes me uncomfortable even though I come from a society that thinks of itself as open and free. Um, false. Swear words? Sex? Gimme a break. We are so censored, but I guess I don’t necessarily hate that. I also don’t own a TV and haven’t in a long time, so what do I know about censorship on TV.

I think I also have the loosest plans ever in the works that would take me to Prague. Yahoo! Lets goooo!

For future reference, nugat cookies do not get rid of hiccups, no matter how many (all of) from the bag you eat. Shoot. But in other news, I was tested tonight and can in fact name all 50 states, so I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.

The land of wafers and, as seen behind me, gas stations!

Half way, dudes!

It's official. I am half way done with this year in Germany. Wait, what? What's that sound? Oh, that would be time flying.

I am pleased to announced that I still wear the same size pants, despite my new environment where the bratwurst grows on trees and everything tastes better with double the butter. I am also pleased to announce that while my verb vocabulary is still relatively small, I often feel quite at ease in the new language. I have made new friends and increased the number of countries I've visited from 3 to 9. That's an average of one new country a month, kids. Not bad for a budget traveler, huh? I think I could write a pretty funny book by now, but I probably won't.

So then, 6 more to go. More countries, more friends, more verbs to learn, and more surprises around the bend.

Don't worry, USA. You're still my #1 love.

2011 Highlight Reel: Part II

Woah! You guys- it's already mid-January. I was so good about posting my 2011 review (Part One) a few days early, and then BOOM- 2012 is here and I got too busy to remember to post about the second half of last year. Goodness gracious. If 2012 keeps up at this pace, then it might as well already be next Halloween.

Anyway, to round out the past year, here is the latter half of my 2011 in highlight form. Then we can move along to catching up on 2012.


Ok, I left you at the part where I made it back to Wyoming to spend 3 weeks with my family before heading back to DC and taking off for my new German life. There is something about those wide open Western skies that simply make life look even better than it is. I got lots of time with my family to catch up about things, laugh, swim with my brother, see a couple friends, play with my dear ol' dog, and stress out to my mom about the upcoming move (she is the world's best listener, advice giver, and hugger). I spent my favorite holiday, the 4th of July, at Alcova Lake with Eli and then watched the big fireworks display in town that night. It was so refreshing to not be driving across I-80 in Nebraska like I was for July 4th, 2010!

My birthday isn't until the end of August, but my family gathered to celebrate me a month early. We played games on the mountain and ate cake and had general merriment. While out West, I also had the opportunity to accompany my aunt Heidi and my Omi to Rapid City, South Dakota. Travel within travel within travel? It was fun to have the time just with them-- very rare! In Casper, I woke up early one morning to go watch a hot air balloon launch alongside my mom and aunt Marilyn. Whenever life offers you an opportunity to see or do something unique, wake up early and go do it! It was a beautiful sight. I even had time to drive with my dog, Wrigley, down to Medicine Bow to meet Becca for a sparkling grape juice and dessert day! Listen, there aren't many places halfway between Laramie and Casper that serve as a nice meeting spot, so we got silly and created our own picnic out there in the boonies. It was wonderful time with a wonderful friend. Plus, the drive back afforded me the opportunity to snap a few photos of that wild land.

I headed back to DC towards the end of July to see all of my people one last time before I was up and away. Luckily for me, COWPIE- the annual Wyoming State Society extravaganza- was scheduled for my very last night in the States. That's a mechanical bull-riding, whiskey drinking, heck of a farewell! It didn't feel like enough time, but then adventure was calling. It's not ever easy to leave the people, but I know I met great people in DC, and I'll see them all again.


And then, and THEN, I got on an airplane and when I woke up, I was in a land far away from the Stars and Stripes. I could only read some of the signs (Germany has lots of signs in English), and I had jet lag like WOAH. I met 75 unique people- all wonderful- and we were shuttled off to places we'd probably never been.

I spent 2 months in Radolfzell on beautiful Lake Constance learning the language, learning about my new friends, learning the ins and outs of German life including things like having to be a rapid-fire grocery-bagger in order to prevent a stress-related heart attack everytime I went shopping, and how to have a diet that consisted primarily of pork products and cheese- with extra butter, of course. I lived with a host family who did not speak English (well, I think my host sister did, but she's good at pretending like she doesn't!) and so I couldn't really communicate with them for basically the entire first month. Consequently, my charades abilities improved ten-fold!

escargot!

While there, I was blessed to have the opportunity to explore outside of the town as well. I made trips to: the Reichenau for a wine fest where we got poured on (rain, not wine. though, probably wine, too) and where I met some stellar Germans, Zürich, the Seenachtsfest in Konstanz/Kreuzlingen for fireworks, Paris to ring in my 25th year of life, Lindau and Bregenz with Mickey for a great day, connected with Peter and Traudel- my family in Switzerland, attended the Altstadtfest in Radolfzell, journied through Liechtenstein with Joe, Mickey, and Tyco, toured the Fürstenberg Beer Brewery, Strassbourg, France, Oktoberfest (THE Oktoberfest), and Ulm to climb the world's tallest church steeple. My fellow Radolfzellers and I ran a charity 5-k and celebrated Thanksgiving together in September. I think we were all a bit sad to leave one another at the end of September, but the time had come to seperate and spread out over Germany to see how we could each stand on our own two feet. And I moved to...

Mainz! Mainz is Germany's wine capital. Um, hello! Here I come! Upon arrival, it didn't take me long to realize that I actually had no idea what was going on with anything. German University functions seemingly far differently from that of University in the States, and I was caught way off guard. Plus, I missed all of the orientation by not getting there until October, so I was like a chicken running around with my head cut off. So much English was being used around me in school, that I made the decision to join an organization called "Fremde werden Freunde"- strangers become friends (yep, I'm the stranger- it's quite apparent, too). I was hoping it would give me the opportunity to use my German more. I hit it off with my non-Fremde, Anja, and I'm so glad because she is a dear friend now!

The rest I really will give to you in highlight form, or else you really will be reading forever (if you haven't already given up!). I went to Köln for a Bon Iver concert with Mickey and spent the night homeless in the Frankfurt airport. I happened upon a Greek restaurant in the mountains when trying, unsuccessfully, to stay in the town of Wiesbaden on Allerheiligen. I explored the fall colors with Ginny in the little towns along the Rhein like Oberwesel and Bacharach, which we walked between, but turns out they're like 9 kilometers apart. 9 km is more than a couple minutes walk like I had told Ginny they were. Oops.

11/11 here is the start of Karneval, the fifth season of pure silliness, but in the US it's Veteran's Day, and I celebrated in my new life but was reflective upon my old life and, I am happy to declare, future life as an American.

EMMA came for Thanksgiving and her birthday! We put 1500km on a brand new rental car in 3 days and experienced the start of the Christmas season in Germany! That girls knows how to adventure, lemme tell ya. We pranced through the Alps, sampled Glühwein from everywhere, toured Neuschwanstein, chatted, caught up with life, and reconnected. It was a gift to me to have such a close friend here when I was struggling to feel success in my everyday life, and I am forever thankful that she had the time and motivation to be here for a whirlwind 5 days!

My next visitor came only a few short days after Emma left and was here for 2 weeks! Including the time we spent in Mainz, we managed to make it to Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and France as well as some of Germany's bigger cities. We were hosted by Geoff and his host family in Munich, and drank beers in the famed Hofbräuhaus!

Before I knew it, Christmas was here, though really the whole month of December felt like Christmas. The Germans really know how to put some Christmas spirit into the air. They just open Christmas markets- Weihnachtsmärkte- eeevverrryywheerreee and then they drink Glühwein all month long, even in the pouring rain, and everyone is jolly and cheery and a little buzzed and it's really magical. I was thrilled to accept an invitation to Christmas with Bettina and her family in Luckenwalde. We listened to her dad's favorite traditional German Christmas CD repeatedly, had coffee and cookies, opened presents, set up the tree, made Christmas stars with her aunt and Oma, and went for a long Christmas day swim! It was really special to have a family to spend the holiday with, and I felt at home with Bettina's.

On second Christmas, a day we should really have in the States, I traveled to the Erzgebirge to visit Anja and her family. The area is mountainous and populated with small towns. It is famous for its hand-carved wooden goods, mostly Christmas pieces. If you ever come across something wooden, Christmasy, and made in Germany, it probably came from here. I was made to feel at home not only by her family but by her boyfriend's family. I met her childhood friends and went for a walk around the town before I left, with Anja and Michael as tourguides. The best tour guides. It is somewhere I maybe otherwise would never have gone, and I am SO glad I went.


Two days later, Katie came to visit me! We took off nearly immediately after she had landed for Belgium. After meeting a few of Belgium's least-savory people on a series of train rides to Antwerp, we were ready to ring in the new year! There are few ways better to end one year and start the next than in a country famous for beer and chocolate and with such a dear friend.

So now we see what 2012 brings. Or perhaps, if we don't like what the year brings, we make our own luck this year. Mine will certainly once more be full of moves and uncertainty, but what fun is life if we don't allow it to change us a bit? 2011 assuredly changed me, but it also showed me that my life is full of steadfast friends and great adventure.

Best wishes to all of you throughout this year! 

Christmas Eve, German style!

I am here. Christmas in Germany, not far from Berlin. As a matter of fact, Bettina and I went to Berlin today to find that all the museums are closed. But it was cold, rainy, fun never the less, and I am happy to be back with her family at their warm house. Stockings are hanging that her sister has brought here from the States The tree was decorated today- as is tradition- and boasts beautiful candle lights and tinsel. As we awaited our train out of Berlin this afternoon, Bettina asked me my favorite thing about Christmas. It's the whole experience really, how calm and peaceful and magical the day seems. Seeing my family happy and not in a rush to be anywhere or meet deadlines. I told her that I love eating grapefruit on Christmas morning. I really do. And we went on a hunt for grapefruit. God bless the Berlin Hauptbahnhof for not only have a grocery store that sells grapefruit, but AMERICAN grapefruit! Product of the red, white, and blue, baby! So tomorrow morning- as is tradition- I will eat a grapefruit with my breakfast. Mmmmmmm happy.

Tonight- as is German tradition- is presents. So lovely to have a family to spend Christmas with and who is willing to share their traditions with me.

To my family: I miss you, I love you, and I'm thinking of home. xoxoxoooo!

Schwimmen ab 11 Uhr

On Thursday, after a looong day of doing my best at remembering how to actually do schoolwork (but, ughhhh I could be eating cake instead!), I badly needed to move. I could not get myself to the pool fast enough. The only problem was that it was 9:45pm when I was done working, and the pool closes at 11. By the time I walked there and changed, it'd be 10:15pm, and I'd only have 30 minutes to swim before it was time to get out, rinse off, and make my way back. Not enough time. But then I remembered! It's Wednesday! On Wednesdays, the pool is open until midnight. "Hooray!", I declared, and I headed out the door.

Upon arriving to the pool, I remembered that it was in fact Thursday. With a sad face and disgruntled manner, I shuffled the mile back to my house. Ok, I didn't shuffle. I walked at my normal spritely pace. And I wasn't wearing a sad face. I was wearing an "I'm cold" face. But inside I was feeling grumbly, I tell you!

I had been really excited to swim during the 11 o'clock hour. Would I get a lane to myself?! Would I get the whole pool to myself?! Who knows, but I became really delighted at the idea of ending a day with a late night swim. Their website states that every Friday the pool is open till 2am. 2AM! "Well for Pete's sake, that's my night!", I thought. And so it was planned.

After school on Friday, turning down an invitation for drinks from some lovely fellow students, I made my way home to eat dinner, and anticipate my midnight swim. Oh boy, oh boy! Well, oh boy is right. Read on.

I got to the pool at 11:30pm, wondering what it was even like to sign in to go swimming so late. The lady at the desk looked at me as though surprised to see that I had entered the building with the intention of gaining access to the facilities. The following conversation went something like this, though keep in mind, this was all in German so I'm questioning everything that's happening the whole time- thinking something is really wrong with my listening comprehension skills.

"Hello" 

"Cool... the pool's empty! Here's my pass." 

"Only naked." 

"What? No I... what? I'm here to swim laps? Back and forth? You're open until 2." 

"Only if you're swimming naked." 

"I can only swim laps naked?"

"Fridays."

"Naked?"

She gestures a charade to imply without clothing. 

"You can swim laps but you have to do so naked."

I look in towards the pool to see that its only patron is a middle aged man. No offense to middle aged men, but you know... I'm good. 

 "What time makes everything naked?" 

(I used the verb "machen" because that's just what my language skills happened to spit out.)

"Starting at 11pm Fridays."

"Ok cool. Have a nice evening."

So, strike 2 on the swim. I guess I'm just meant to swim at the same time as everyone except for that one naked dude. Maybe I would have swam naked, but the thought of swimming laps with nothing but a cap and goggles just makes me want to die of laughter and also of awkwardness. This incident mostly just confirmed my theory that, when in Germany, one should expect nudity and sexual references to reveal themselves whenever, where ever.  More importantly, the lesson I learned is to never turn down the opportunity for a German beer. The alternative will be disappointing.

Where am I?

A week ago today, I found myself sitting in Athenos restaurant somewhere in the Taunus Mountains North of Wiesbaden, Germany. I was alone, the only patron of the establishent, eating pita bread and drinking Greek white wine. The sun had been down for nearly an hour, though it was only just past 6pm. I was surrounded by an laughable amount of both pictures of Greece and duck figurines. The only thing in my bag, other than my camera and wallet, was my journal. If ever there were a time to make an entry, this was probably it.

That day, November 1st, was Allerheiligen- probably better known in English as All Saints Day. It's a Catholic holiday (maybe also Anglican?), and while I'm not Catholic, I do have family graves in Wiesbaden. What better day to head to a cemetery than this one? And what better time to get there than late afternoon before the sun is down but as it's thinking about getting dark out? There are candles on every plot in the cemetery and each candle is lit on Allerheiligen. I wanted pictures of this, since we have family pictures in daytime, but none at dusk of which I'm aware.

Well, since I have a knack for creating adventures, planned or otherwise, this was no exception. I arrived at the Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof just in time to miss my #6 bus to the cemetery. I had no idea that it ran every 15 minutes, and that if I had been patient I could have gotten a coffee and then hopped the next bus. Instead, I had researched beforehand what line to take, and the 272 had a stop a couple blocks away. I got on the 272 and explained to the driver in German that I was trying to get to this place but I don't know what the right stop is that will get me closest to it and will you please help me? "mumble mumble mumble sit down" was basically the response. (Normally it's not that the person is mumbling but a mixture of dialect meets my inability to always make sense of the words flying at me in German.) I figured that he meant me to sit down near to the front so that he could point out to me the right stop when we got there. This is something that is not out of the ordinary for a bus driver to do in the US. Or, at least, that's my experience. Well, I was wrong. I knew I'd recognize the neighborhood. It's at the top of a hill, and I could recognize the cemetery and I could recognize a flower shop across the street. Using memories, I was sure I could figure out the right stop. Sure enough, I recognized all of it as we blew down the street- swoosh went the flower shop past the window, swoosh went the cemetery out windows on the other side of the bus, and down the highway we went. Oh crap.

"No worries," I thought. I like to walk, so I would just walk from the next stop. I pressed the "let me off at the next place please" button, and some lady looked at me like I was crazy. What? Then I looked around the bus and realized that half the passengers had nodded off. This bus was not stopping any time soon. Oh gosh, here we go. Up into the Taunus Mountains the bus roared. Too far to walk back. The sun went down. It was cold outside. And even if I were crazy and did want to walk back, there were no sidewalks and we were going reeeaalllyyy fast.

Well, the bus finally did stop about 10 minutes later. I was about 6.5 miles past my intended destination. The only thing I could see were 2 houses, 4 streetlights, and one bus stop on the other side of the highway. On the other side, the schedule informed me that the 272 was done running for the evening, but in one hour I could catch a different bus back into Wiesbaden. One hour. Welp, might as well see what's in the place, wherever I am. "This Place" turned out to be Neuhof and what was in it turned out to be not much, but there was Athenos.

Following in someone's footsteps, obviously

I made friends with the hostess/bar tender/waitress and told her all about why I was there. I ate pita, drank wine, wrote a little, and left again with best wishes for catching the right bus this time from the employee. If you ever find yourself in this place, I recommend trying out the local Greek establishment. And I'll have to try again to make it to the cemetery (which I did once it was pitch black and I started walking down some totally dark road next to it and decided that was a terrible, terrible idea and horror movie plot waiting to happen and then turned right around, found the main gate, and realized it was, for good reason, closed after dark). Turns out the number 6 bus goes right from the MAINZ Hauptbahnhof to the cemetery in Wiesbaden. Figures it's that easy :)

Wine at Athenos and just 2 of the many wall hangings

Cemetery. Um, maybe later.

Vino at my table for one

Hey pita brot!

I wanted to go here to start with

I took the number 6 home from the cemetery that I didn't visit. Geez.

I will not be defeated.

Moving is hard. Moving is so hard. I know from quite a few experiences in doing so that it always turns out OK. Everywhere becomes home to me, and so far in life I've always ended up loving wherever it is that I live. Even Laramie (that's right- I have a very special place in my heart for that windy, icy, snowy, freeeezing cold, high plains, slightly isolated, and completely wonderful town).

This is by far the hardest move I've ever made. In hindsight, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The funny thing is that it's not the language barrier or being on a different continent than normal that is difficult for me. I mean, yeah, my German language skills stink, but the German people are more than patient and I forever love them for that. No, what is most difficult is that I am battling homesickness for my working life. Isn't that weird? I missed it when I first got here, but everything was so new and fresh and I was constantly distracted by all sorts of adventures that I didn't really have time to think about how much I miss being an adult. How did this happen?

I don't feel old. I don't look old (errr?). I act like I've always acted. I don't feel like a kid either, and I shouldn't. What I miss is earning my way through my adventurous life. I get the greatest opportunities, I really do, and I'm so lucky, but I am out of my element here in Germany. So how do I create this life I love leading when I'm really starting from scratch? When I don't know how the society works? When I seem to be missing a vital piece of culture I'm living in?

I am the kind of person who, when I do something, I do it with all of my heart and all of my determination. And I like to do things well. No, I can't stand not giving what I do my full attention and effort. Probably to a fault, because sometimes this keeps me from attempting things at all when I am unsure that I can produce the best possible outcome. If I'm not sure of myself, I stop caring so that I don't have to justify a less-than-the-best result.

Example: We ran a 5k for charity in Radolfzell as a team (all 18 of us!). I am not a good runner, and I don't enjoy it, but I certainly was going to run. All that was asked of us was to run at least 1 or 3 laps (each being 1.33 km), but I'm not going to start a race and not cross the finish line. I also knew that I probably couldn't actually run a 5k (I know, I know... but put me in a pool instead...) so I treated it as though I didn't care about it, and therefore I could justify stopping to walk 3 times instead of pushing through the pain and making it to the end. Nothing wrong with walking, except it wasn't the best I could do. It wasn't the best of my ability. I didn't allow myself to attempt the challenge before me.

And I can feel the same thing happening to my German life. It's a challenge that's defeating me in the first quarter of the game. But I have some game changing plays in the book, and it's beyond time to make the call. There are still 3 more quarters to play, and I'm going to be in for every snap. I'm going to be back in the States before I know it, in the midst of earning my way, and wishing I had more time here. I will not let this move I've made become a defeat... when it comes time to leave Germany, I'm going to be leaving a piece of my heart here.

I walked home from school today, the long way, thinking things through and deciding how I was going to make a great life here while I could. I turned a corner, and there was a girl, probably about 9 years old, about half a block ahead of me intently picking up something from the ground. Curious, as I kept walking nearer down the sidewalk, I saw that she had a fistful of pretty little wildflowers that she was diligently collecting from the ragged grass along the sidewalk where cars park outside of houses. I had to smile. One of the joys of my childhood was picking dandelion bouquets on my walk home from elementary school to bring home to my mom. In the Autumn, I'd bring her bouquets of collected, fallen leaves (only the prettiest). I wonder if this girl's mom was the recipient of today's wildflower bouquet. I picked the next little yellow flowers I saw, and walked the rest of the way home with a smile on my face knowing that Germany was going to be just fine. It simply deserves my diligence and absolutely requires my hard work. But what good things come without a challenge?

SACHERTORTE

I found it! Oh dear readers, the Torte (cake) in Germany I hold in higher regard than beer. AH yes, I just said that. Don't get me wrong, the beer here can be positively phenomenal, plus it's all brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot (purity law, and thank you Wikipedia for the link), but I'd rather have a piece of Torte any day over a beer. I've been searching for Sachertorte. It's a pretty standard variety of Torte, originally from Austria. It's chocolate cake, not too sweet, with a layer of apricot marmalade in the middle. However, it has so far proved elusive. Until yesterday!

Ginny and I went to Café Blum in Mainz. The original Café Blum is in neighboring Wiesbaden, and I have fond memories of outings there with my family in years past. When I visited their website yesterday to see if the café was still in the same place, I discovered that one other location had been opened-- one in Mainz! Holy smokes, it was meant to be! The weather was nice enough to still sit outside, too. Not only did they have Sachertorte, but so many other gorgeously created treats and cakes. There will have to be other visits to Café Blum for me. It was truly lovely (and delectable!).

Interesting Guesses

“But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” 

-Bill Bryson Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

This pretty well sums up my every day over here, more or less. Also, if you're looking for a good, entertaining read, this is it! While reading this book, I'd literally chuckle out loud. Often while reading in a coffee shop, probably to the dismay of those around me. Check it out- I promise you won't regret the read!

Guten Morgen!

When I was 13, my friend Katie and I went off to summer camp for two weeks in Minnesota. This wasn't your average summer camp though. Oh no. We ate rolls with Nutella for breakfast because the Müsli tasted like icky grown up food. We sang songs about... well, I don't really know since they were all in German. One was about an elephant in a spider's web though. I do remember We went and visited the neighboring Norwegian summer camp, and we attempted playing poker with gummy bears as chips with our cabin mates. Yes, we went to German language summer camp! We learned words and phrases like "Veranstaltungstunde" and "Ich möchte fünf Mark, bitte" (I'd like 5 German Marks ($) please). With this DM5 everyday, I could purchase delectable ice cream, gummy bears, or whatever German junk food cuisine my little heart was set on. The counselors speak nothing but German, so it's kind of like a language immersion deal, except that the other few hundred kids around you are speaking English. So, you know. We also tried our hand at yodeling. Now that I'm in Germany, I wish I had put more effort into the yodeling seminar. I think that's something that could come in handy. Then if I ever get into trouble here, I could yodel for help!

So life here isn't really like German summer camp was. I mean, I can totally go get fresh rolls everyday, and I could buy a jar of Nutella except for that I'd eat the whole thing and then the fact that I don't have the metabolism of a 13 year old anymore would surface in a way that I don't want to see. I seem to have plenty of Freizeit (free time) but there are no choices that someone else has arranged on behalf of my happiness... like a canoeing trip (ok there were leaches like WOAH in that lake, so I didn't canoe anyway), pottery hour, or hide and go seek at night oh GOSH that was so fun. At least as Europe slowly slips into recession, my exchange rate is getting a little better.

This is turning into quite the ramble of a post. I guess I'm just celebrating my new found internet access! Let's all cheers to that real fast. Now, I'm going to continue with my free time and sip my freshly pressed coffee out of my oversized Mainzel Männchen mug and appreciate the fact that today I woke up on my own accord and not to camp counselors giggling, singing, and yelling into the cabin window... "GUTEN MORGEN HAUS LINZ!!!" And then proceeding to sing Britney Spears songs until our entire cabin was awake. No no, this morning I am choosing to listen to German radio, which for me as a non-native speaker (and I use the term speaker lightly here) is really kind of a lot like a morning greeting of the same manner, actually. Ich möchte... genau was ich habe.

Guten Morgen, Welt!

A German Language bit of awesomeness

Balletttanzerin

(Ballet dancer)

Schifffahrt

(A travel by ship)

Rollläden

(A type of window blinds)

Fitnessstudio

(Fitness Studio)

Nussschnecken

(Pastry, rolled like a cinnamon roll or "snail")

German is not my mother tongue; therefore, as I learn it, I can find many things about the language that make no sense and that frustrate me to no end. Perhaps my favorite thing about the German language however, nay, perhaps the BEST thing that happens in this language is the triple letter. The Germans tend to combine many words into one very long word that means something else. Very rarely, the combined words are such that 3 of the same letter get put next to each other. So far as I can tell, this phenomenon does not occur in the English language. But it's the greatest, and, English Language, I have a recommendation for you. Be more like German, and put a silly amount of the same letter together in your words! It's so fun! I always keep my eyes out for these word delicacies. Fitnessstudio is the most recent find, and the collection of awesome words is growing, slowly but surrrely (see, wouldn't it be more fun if that were really spelled with 3 r's?!).

love always.

Gebrunching

There are so many funny things happening in my life right now. The thing is, they're not really funny things like roll-on-the-floor-and-die-laughing funny but more like "what the WHAT is going on right now" funny. My program here has a saying: "It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different." Yeah. Hit the nail on the head with that one. I like to sit and think of it's-not-good-it's-not-bad's. Like, it's not good, it's not bad, it's just that the lack of time given to a shopper to pack up their food at the grocery store after a purchase before the next person's food starts getting shmooshed into yours... is just different. For me, it gives me a heart attack. I have not yet aquired German efficiency with things like paying for and packing up my groceries.

One of my funnies is some new vocab from my language class. I hope particularly that this appeals to my DC people because that city is particularly fond of having brunch. In German, you have "der Brunch". This is a noun. Ok. However, this is also a verb. "ich brunche" is the act of presently brunching. "I'm brunching", bascially. You can also have already brunched, past tense. "ich habe gebruncht". Gebruncht? Did you gebrunch today? I didn't gebrunch today. I might brunch tomorrow. I don't know why this entertains me so, but it really, really does.

I'm finding that I learn best when laughing or singing. I think this is not a widely accepted way to learn in Germany. When I'm being really serious and trying really hard all day long to improve, it seems like I learn 2 words and then immediately lose one I had already known. COME ON ALREADY. Can't I just skip straight to the fluency part? I'm going to start throwing up articles, prepositions, and pronouns here soon, probably.

The bees here are really aggressive. Like, REALLY aggressive. It's disconcerting at best. I think they could be like Hitchcock's "The Birds" if they really wanted to. Don't tell them though because with their level of aggression and their German bee efficiency, I think we'd be conquered quickly over here.

That is all. Have a wunderschoen weekend!

The Mayflower and it's relevance in my German life

Ok, my lovely readership... I'm currently chatting with meine Fruende Gretchen, and the whole conversation warrants a posting here (OK, the Rotwein might be influencing my decisions right now, too). I have, in particular, 3 subjects about my experience so far in Germany that I'd like to comment on, all of which Gretchen and I have also just addressed "heute Abend".

ONE) There are so many Bäckerei. These are bakeries. Get used to this word because I am Elisabeth and I love a good roll with butter, croissant, small piece of plum cake, elephant ears dipped in chocolate... Oh mein Gott...

And I am in my "honeymoon phase" here, which means that I have my vacation brain on and I look at those goodies and think, "Yeah of course I'll try that!". That is a recipe for fatness and being broke, my friends. Two things I'd like to try hard to avoid. So, I just bought a bunch of lettuce and tomatoes and stuff for healthy living. It was a successful trip to the grocery (Kaufland, ja!) even though I messed up, forgot to weigh a cucumber, and could not remember for the life of me the name of "cucumber", I was able to follow the directions of the cashier "auf Deutsch" for fixing my error, so you know, small victories, right? Gretchen mentioned that she loved the cheese, rolls, and various wursts that they serve for breakfast here. We chatted about how this will make us have big butts, but all the walking and biking is sure to tone the legs, soooooo when I return, I will be "shapes". Please love me anyhow.

TWO) As awesome as this is, all 4 of my days here so far are honestly mostly me being overwhelmed and sad and things moving a hundred miles (kilometers?) per hour when I'm working really hard at moving 10kph. But I will get there, and as I told Miss Gretchen, the little moments where I stop and look around and don't care how hard this is... they are pure gold.

I'm not about to pretend like I'm doing a good job of being consistently happy though, because I'm not.

 

THREE) German beds are ridiculous. RI-DI-CU-LOUS. They are comfortable and not in anyway 3rd world or anything, but you know what, they don't have topsheets! Nope! It's a mattress, a fitted sheet (or I assume it is, but I haven't inspected this closely), and a, hmmm, how do I put this? It's not a comforter because it's not big enough. The blanket on top is like a duvet that is exactly (I mean EXACTLY) the size of the top of the bed. The cherry on top is a big, square, flat as all get out pillow. If you fold it in half, it makes something similar to the size of a US pillow. I don't mind sleeping with my feet out of the cover, but a pillow is an intimate part of my being. I take pillows very personally. I explained to Gretchen that in elementary, whenever we had to do the "if you were on the mayflower and could only bring 3 things, what would you bring" things, I'd ALWAYS list my pillow. My packing list for this move to Germany should have been no exception. Gah! Wie sachts man "pillow" auf Deutsch? Das (Kopf)kissen. (Head) cushion. Cute. I just looked that up in my German-English, Deutsch- Englisch... you know what, let's just call it my "lifeline".

 

But really, I'm good here. Life could only be sweeter if I were a German language master, and that's precisely why I am where I am. Soon enough, soon enough. 

Love always.