August 29, 2007
CAUTION: ANOTHER LONG POST AHEAD
"I am tired
I am weary
I could sleep for a thousand years
A thousand dreams that would awake me…
Different colors made of tears."
-Velvet Underground
My god am I exhausted. My head hurts. I’m so pitifully frustrated. I have a chronic cough. I blame my German school and its mandatory socializing…..
HERE BEGINS VERY DETAILED SCHOOL-TALK:
I started school on Monday (it’s now Thursday), and let me tell you: it’s DAMN hard to be a foreign exchange student. To start off, the first day Pauline and I rode our bikes to school, about six miles away, uphill both ways, in the snow! (Uh, nix the snow part. ((Luke, I wrote that and then realized those exact words came from you. ARGH MY SUBCONSCIOUS))). I guess I’m pretty out of shape, because I was EXHAUSTED half way there, but Pauline seemed fine riding so far and so quickly and so… uphill. My God. (By the way, on the way to school, she asked me what a baby horse was called in English; I answered “Uh, baby horse?” And then ten minutes later, I correct myself, “PONY!” Chris, maybe you should make me those flashcards of animal names.)
Pauline brought me to principal Herr Roloff, who spoke less English than she did. Somehow we managed a schedule for myself in five minutes, but that wasn’t the end of it. Apparently, we only chose my classes and teachers, but I had no actual specified hours or room numbers yet. These were posted on a bulletain board in the front hall, where crowds of students were gathered for SO LONG. Once we got to the front, Pauline had no idea how to read the 12th grade schedules – and guess what, neither did I. BUT she did ask a girl, Elisabeth, to help me out – which she did. A lot. And she STILL does. We’ve become fairly good friends and she’s incredibly helpful and friendly – she’s also in several of my classes and her English is okay. After about a half hour of standing in front of this small piece of paper, my schedule is written out by Elisabeth, albeit with several empty spaces and some classes without room numbers (such a head ache). I never thought I’d say it, but Centennial is more organized than this school. This GERMAN school, no less! So much for the stereotype of German efficiency…
Every one of my Day 1 classes (we have a different schedule every day a.k.a. head ache #2) had curmudgeons for teachers. All were disinterested in me, and kept speaking flowing German to me, despite my words, “Ich bin eine Austauschschulerin aus Amerika” (I’m a foreign exchange student from America) “Und ich kann nicht so gut Deutsch spechen oder verstehen” (Und I can’t speak or understand such good German). I complain, but I’m very lucky because there’ve been so many helpful students there: Jessica (SO nice, came over to sit by me in Mathe Kurs so I wouldn’t be alone, she said, and she also translated the old man teacher’s words to me) and Elisabeth and Henni (she invited me to her birthday party on Friday! I hope it’s not dancing… :/ ) and Merle (also extremely friendly and helpful) and Annika (very sweet). Basically all of those people have translated teachers’ words QUITE often for me.
Also, you may all be entertained to know that I have German class with 10 year olds. I do not lie. My head is a foot above theirs and my knees hit the underside of the table. BUT, this is also my favorite class. Everyone’s so nice there ☺. But it’s really awkward, because there are 16 year old students who sit in the back of the room to help out with the cute little kids… and with me. Please entertain this visual in your head for a bit. I try to put aside my pride, but, you know, it’s difficult to do so when I have to look off of a 10 year old’s paper to see what we’re supposed to be doing. Luckily, the 16 year old helpers seem down to earth and don’t make fun of me ;) One of them, Ruben, is very friendly and he told me he lives two houses down from mine…
Overall my classes are very awkward in the beginning because my teachers don’t know I speak only a little German – so I give my friends a confused and pitiful look when teachers speak to me and they try to translate. The students pretty much know that I’m an exchange student from America now. It’s a pretty small school. Most of them are passively interested in me, a few are friendly enough to say hi, and some don’t care one way or the other. A lot of them actually speak English really well, but I think they’re shy about it.
The most awkard was actually my French class, LEVEL SIX FRENCH;. and I have had only one and a half years of French, mind you. The (unsympathetic/unfriendly/unwelcoming) French teacher talked to me in fluent French at first and when I tried to speak it back, it came out as an incredible French/German/English hybrid. Learning a language (French) on the side of another, more intensive language-learning (German) is mindblowingly DIFFICULT. My mind treats all these foreign languages the same now; for instance, I said something like “Je vais nach Ascheberg pour ein Jahr.” There is so much wrong with that sentence, I’m embarassed thinking about it…. Anyway, the second day I came into class, that French teacher asked me why I was still there. She then told me to go enjoy the day… outside. So basically I got kicked out of that class because I was wasting my own time, and so I went outside and napped. It’s way too daunting of a task to try to fill in that hour with something else, so I may just leave that hour free…
Oh, and my first English teacher was a pretentious jerk. I think he felt that he needed to prove himself to me or something, but he just came across as arrogant.
Here is an excerpt from our dialogue:
Sir G-something: (in his perfectly british accent) You know, you look far too young to be among this group of students.
Me: No, I’m 17... In one month, I will -
Sir G-something: (interupts me, looks at the class and not at me, and loudly mocks me with pretentious laughter, saying) HAHA so you’re SIXTEEN, you’ll be 17 in one month.
Me: NO, YOU JERK LET ME TALK. I will be 18 in a month.
Sir G-something: (no reponse; he shuffles his papers like he’s doing something better and isn’t really concerned with the conversation)
I may have deviated from the truth in that second to last line… But honest, the rest is verbatum.
Yeah, and I also really don’t know any of my teachers names. It gets lost among their German-speak. I know that guy is Herr (Mr.) Gesteht or something, I don’t know. I don’t care too much, either.
Also, Art class was really bad because there are only 5 students, and the teacher lectured the entire time. Svea (friend) whispered to me, “You can leave” because she saw that I was obviously bored and lost. I think we’re going to the Museum next time – I don’t’ really know though, because I don’t speak German ;)
HERE BEGINS OTHER VARIOUS OBSERVATIONS:
1. I noticed such a shift in my mood after school started. Saturday and Sunday, I felt so incredibly peaceful and my mind was clear and I was loving everything and everyone: my town, my family, etc. But once school started, I was instantly EXTREMELY and constantly fall-asleep-any-second type of tired and I felt on the verge of despair and extreme frustration. I think that is all due to the fact that up until school started, I was amongst people who understood me and my situation. They already knew I didn’t speak German so I didn’t have to explain anything to them. Once school started, I was among people who didn’t know me in the least, who I had to try to explain my situation to, who didn’t care about me, etc. So this unfamiliar social situation and the language and the confusing schedule and the unsympathetic teachers and the mostly indifferent students and my JETLAG (i think) have really taken a toll on me, my mind, and my body…
2. I also notice that in this stressful state, I haven’t been able to apprecaite the beauty of where I am and what I’m doing. I see such BEAUTIFUL shops and homes and landscape everywhere. I realize I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing. But I already take it for granted, it seems like. As dissapointing as it sounds, I feel like I’m just too tired to be impressed or to appreciate these things right now.
3. Yeah, yeah I know this is all just a passing phase, yadda yadda yadda. And it’s an odd sensation to realize that:
Right now, I see these students in front of me but I’m not close with them at all. But soon I KNOW I will be.
Right now, I cannot communicate in German. But soon I KNOW I will be able to.
Right now, I’m mildly miserable. But soon I KNOW I’ll never want to leave.
It’s an odd sensation, because there’s no way I can skip to that next step, even though I KNOW it will come. I just have to wait and endure this chaos first before it all makes sense.
But man. It’s all so mentally straining.
4. I also wanted to explain how different transportation is here. I realize that teens and just the general populous of Americans REALLY take their cars for granted (at least compared to what I'm observing here...). Truly, there are nearly one hundred bikes parked at my school daily. EVEN WHEN IT RAINS. I know only one guy who drives to school. When I told my friend I was taking the train home, she said, "What, are you too lazy to ride your bike?" I think THAT remark sums up the situation well. But really, Germans walk or ride their bike SO much more here - it's just natural to them. They'd say, why take a car when you could just as easily walk and enjoy outside for a little while? I get to school either by bike (very hard), by bus (must walk a bit), or by train (must walk a little further). ALL the options require physical excerise (a good thing). I think I'll consider walking/biking much more when I get back to the USA.
PEACE,
jennyg
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Day 1 - Day 3
[NOTE: You wanted a post, you GOT A POST! A damn long one at that….]
Ich glaube, dass ich in den Traum bin.
I’m sitting on a hammock outside my German house admist Pflaumen (Plum; a new favorite word), Pfirsichen (Peach), and Äpfel trees. I’m looking at beautiful German houses that have small yards and big gardens. There are cows (!!!) mooing behind me (HOLSTEINS?), but I can’t see them. Neighbors are speaking German (mhmm, of all things) to my left, and to my right, my host brother, Jakob (Ya-cub) and his friend are sneaking around the yard watching me. Der Himmel is blau und die Sonne scheint (HA! This was the only German phrase I could say a few weeks ago… It means: The sky is blue and the sun shines). The temperature is about 60 F, absolutely schön. People pass by on bikes every few minutes – there are MANY more bikers here than in Champaign. My dad would hate it… There are even bikers on the Autoban!
I really cannot believe I am here. I think I’m in a dream. Although, it may just be the jetlag that has me in a daze.
…
SO, two days ago around 10am Ascheberg time (3am Champaign time), I walked out of Hamburg Airport’s baggage claim with my Rotary students and co-travelers, Allison and Barbara, to see American flags waving and a sign from afar reading, “ALLISON”. But then I look directly in front of me to see Pauline squint at me, then give me huge eyes of recognition. THEN I see Pauline hold sign for me: “WILLKOMMEN JENNY!” with Blumen (flowers) drawn around my name. I had been debating beforehand whether to hug or shake hands with my new Host Family (I hear Germans aren’t very prone to hugs) and which few German words I’d mutter… But I ended up frantically repeating “Hallo! Hallo!” and offered hugs. Pauline and Jakob gave me unsure, loose hugs first, so I did the same to Markus – my host dad – only to receive an incredibly tight one from him! He then got the car while Pauline, Jakob, and I silently and awkwardly stood outside waiting. Smiles were all around, though. I took several photos with them. Ja, ich kann nicht so gut Deutsch sprechen!
My huge bags barely fit into the trunk of Markus’ TINY car (a stickshift, Besty! That was the first German word I asked about.. But I forget it now). The ride home from Hamburg actually looked a lot like Champaign: lots of flat land, corn, regular old resaurants, some buildings – just a normal city, only the streets are much narrower. The ride home was also my first experience with German speaking… Luckily (and unluckily), my host father insists on speaking ONLY German to me; he has Pauline and Jakob do the same, even though they all speak fairly good English. They don’t follow this rule completely, though – they often have sympathy for me and my bewildered face.
Yesterday Ulrike (my host mom who lives in another town), Markus, Pauline, Jakob, and I went to the Baltic Sea a.k.a Der Ostsee. It was just like Lake Michigan’s beach, only the water was WARMER, a little bit salty, and, oh yeah, there are also JELLY FISH SWIMMING EVERYWHERE. Jakob threw one at me!!!!! I had never touched a jellyfish before, but I hope to do so again very soon… It feels like a slimy plastic bag with water inside. I was a little freaked out at first because Ulrike said, “Only the red ones are poisonous.” But low and behold, the very first jellyfish I see is a red one!........
I actually feel very comfortable with everyone already. My impression of Markus from Pauline’s emails was that he is very busy, regal, and impersonal, but that is so far from the truth. She called him “verplant”, which I now understand well – he is VERY organized. The house is spotless and he explained that everyone helps out around the house ZUSAMMEN (together). Things are done very meticulously around here, but not impossibly so. This procedure is just very different from my own home ;). Love ya, Mom. But anyway, Markus is actually VERY playful, friendly, and informal: when we were at the Baltic Sea, he built a sand castle by himself, and chased around Pauline and Jakob. He also insists that I call him “du” (informal) instead of “Sie” (formal). He’s very energetic and he also looooooves to cook. Steve, I haven’t asked him about the German recipes yet – mainly because I don’t know the word for recipe ;). He gardens and listens to (loud) music… It’s American, I think, but it sounds like bad 80s tunes.. :/ I wake up to it every morning, haha. It’s funny, though, when he was explaining some things to me, he said “You can listen to music, but please not too loud. Actually, I listen to music, and when I do, I like to listen LOUD. So you can too.”
Pauline is very sweet and she speaks VERY FAST German… It’s difficult to hang out with just her because we can’t really communicate. But today her two friends, Hania #1 and Hania #2, came over and I hung out all day with them. First we rode our bikes to a small store to get FOUR cartons of ice cream… Hania #1 and I both rode on the back of two separate bikes (a flat spot where baskets normally go.. very uncomfortable, VERY fun) while Hania #2 and Pauline drove the bikes. Later we went swimming in a large lake in my town. The weather was pretty cool and cloudy, but they didn’t seem to think twice about it. The two Hanias are both really cool – they’re very patient with my bad German and Hania #1 is actually the most helpful person yet. She’s SO nice and thoughtful of how I’m feeling in a situation – actually more so than Pauline. She also corrects me a lot, and guides me slowly through sentences, like: Wir raufen sie immer “Puppy” (We call her always “Puppy”) – They asked me about my dog’s name…
The language! Everyone has been extremely patient with my lack of understanding – no one really gets irritated. I have my token phrases such as:
Was bedeut ___ auf Deutsch? (What means ___ in German?)
Wie sagt man ___ auf Deutsch? (How does one say ___ in German?)
Ich verstehe nicht. (I don’t understand)
Langsamer, bitte. (Slower, please)
My family usually always speak German to me, and I normally use the above phrases to guide myself through their sentences. When I’m with Pauline and her friends, they tend to offer me some English sometimes, but still fairly rarely ;). I can form sentences with present tense, simple past tense, and very limited vocabulary. But I’m afraid they’ll soon find my inability to understand German quite old, and will stop talking to me in general. Like on the way home from Kiel today, Pauline was talking to her friends in the back seat, and I was sitting quietly with Ulrike in the front. BUT, on the happier side, I think already I can understand more German – with context, hand motions, and overall getting used to hearing it. ALSO, even though it’s only been two days, my English is already bad!!! I tried to talk to an American today, and I couldn’t think of words like “seagull”, and just my normal English flow is now corrupted…. So much for writing college essays while I’m here :/ So if I word something oddly in here or my grammer is bad, now you know why.
Food! For breakfast we eat DELICIOUS bread (Brot) with jelly or nutella or peanutbutter, lots of water (Wasser), juice, and LOTS of fruit (Obst) from outside (Draußen). Lunch is the biggest meal of the day – we’ve had pasta/vegetables, potatoes/meat/peas, and home-made pizza. Tim convinced me that I’m going to get FAT, and he may be right, because Germans eat A LOT and very FAST. But the thing is, almost all the food I’ve eaten has been SO healthy! It’s been only fresh fruit, fresh bread, jams, all home-made meals. I haven’t had ANY sodas while here, not even juice. I’ve only drunk water! Also, even the desserts are fruit-centered: home-made apple mousse, home-made plum cake… And there is always dessert after lunch, and there are many other dessert times during the day. Recently when I was merely picking at a piece of plum cake instead of going right after it, my host father said I didn’t have to eat it if I didn’t like it. I said I did! I’m just so full….. And that was the truth, man. Also… the cheese is delicious ;).
My town! I had been a bit concerned about the small size of my town before, but now I am absolutely in love with it. I went for a walk by myself yesterday, and there are open green fields everywhere, cows, a windmill (!), and father away there’s a windfarm (!!luke!!). We went to Kiel today, a big city, and it just is not as beautiful as a small town. In my Ascheberg, you can ride your bike everywhere: to the nice little food shops, two different lakes, or just enjoy the scenery around. I really really really really love the aesthetic of my town – just the sight of these close-together German neighborhoods make me melt. There is a lot of orange, I notice: the brick sidewalks, the orange roofs, the orange brick houses, orange flowers… Ja.
Sleep! My jetlag really wasn’t that bad. I mean, on the first night, I went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 9am. Other than that, my sleeping schedule has been fairly regular, and I feel that I’m already used to the time change. Maybe my fatigue just hasn’t caught up to me yet, though.
School! I start school on Monday, and I think I’m signing up for classes that morning at 6.45. They know that I’m done with high school in America, so I told Markus that I want to take “Spaß Klassen” (fun classes!). So basically that means: german, english, french, geography, art, and history. They don’t have many electives here, I guess. Also, I met my Rotary counselor today (Mom, it changed from Olaf Hahn to a man named Hanz Smid – he also said that I don’t need to do anything about my alien registration or insurance. I promise! But then again, he doesn’t speak any English….). With Hanz was his former exchange student, Ryan, who’s from Michigan. Ryan said that Plön (city I go to school in) has a lot of great activities – he took sailing. But I can’t imagine learning to sail without learning German first…
I was only homesick the first day when I tried to nap – all I could feel when I closed my eyes was slight panic and a disconnection with everything I knew. But that quickly passed once I socialized more with my NEW family…. Sorry, Goodwines ;) Also, I think Ulrike helps me out a lot, just by giving me a hug every time she sees me. It reminds me of my own mom. Yeah, I can see that sheepish grin on your face now, mom…. ;)
Oh yeah, and one weird thing here is that my sense of cardinal direction is off, I think. But it seems to me that the sun rises from the opposite side than in America, DOES THIS MAKES SENSE?! I don’t want to appear stupid, but honestly it feels that way. When I wake up, the position of the sun makes it feel like 4:00pm, not 10am…
Um and it’s nice here also because it’s very acceptable to wear the same close more than one day in a row ;) Which is good for me because once I de-packed everything (told you my english was bad), I seem to have much less than I thought. And remember for next time, it’s better to bring along PRACTICAL clothing items, instead of clothing items that are stylish…. :/ Did I just call them “clothing items”? Do people say that? Ugh… I don’t even know anymore.
Yeah, yeah I know: too much detail. And I’m sure you think I couldn’t have forgotten anything, but there’s still much more to say. I guess I’ll save that for another day, though. If you have any specific questions, leave a comment, and I’ll try to address that subject in another post! I love and miss you all!!!!!!! MUAH!
Viele Grüße,
-jennyg
Ich glaube, dass ich in den Traum bin.
I’m sitting on a hammock outside my German house admist Pflaumen (Plum; a new favorite word), Pfirsichen (Peach), and Äpfel trees. I’m looking at beautiful German houses that have small yards and big gardens. There are cows (!!!) mooing behind me (HOLSTEINS?), but I can’t see them. Neighbors are speaking German (mhmm, of all things) to my left, and to my right, my host brother, Jakob (Ya-cub) and his friend are sneaking around the yard watching me. Der Himmel is blau und die Sonne scheint (HA! This was the only German phrase I could say a few weeks ago… It means: The sky is blue and the sun shines). The temperature is about 60 F, absolutely schön. People pass by on bikes every few minutes – there are MANY more bikers here than in Champaign. My dad would hate it… There are even bikers on the Autoban!
I really cannot believe I am here. I think I’m in a dream. Although, it may just be the jetlag that has me in a daze.
…
SO, two days ago around 10am Ascheberg time (3am Champaign time), I walked out of Hamburg Airport’s baggage claim with my Rotary students and co-travelers, Allison and Barbara, to see American flags waving and a sign from afar reading, “ALLISON”. But then I look directly in front of me to see Pauline squint at me, then give me huge eyes of recognition. THEN I see Pauline hold sign for me: “WILLKOMMEN JENNY!” with Blumen (flowers) drawn around my name. I had been debating beforehand whether to hug or shake hands with my new Host Family (I hear Germans aren’t very prone to hugs) and which few German words I’d mutter… But I ended up frantically repeating “Hallo! Hallo!” and offered hugs. Pauline and Jakob gave me unsure, loose hugs first, so I did the same to Markus – my host dad – only to receive an incredibly tight one from him! He then got the car while Pauline, Jakob, and I silently and awkwardly stood outside waiting. Smiles were all around, though. I took several photos with them. Ja, ich kann nicht so gut Deutsch sprechen!
My huge bags barely fit into the trunk of Markus’ TINY car (a stickshift, Besty! That was the first German word I asked about.. But I forget it now). The ride home from Hamburg actually looked a lot like Champaign: lots of flat land, corn, regular old resaurants, some buildings – just a normal city, only the streets are much narrower. The ride home was also my first experience with German speaking… Luckily (and unluckily), my host father insists on speaking ONLY German to me; he has Pauline and Jakob do the same, even though they all speak fairly good English. They don’t follow this rule completely, though – they often have sympathy for me and my bewildered face.
Yesterday Ulrike (my host mom who lives in another town), Markus, Pauline, Jakob, and I went to the Baltic Sea a.k.a Der Ostsee. It was just like Lake Michigan’s beach, only the water was WARMER, a little bit salty, and, oh yeah, there are also JELLY FISH SWIMMING EVERYWHERE. Jakob threw one at me!!!!! I had never touched a jellyfish before, but I hope to do so again very soon… It feels like a slimy plastic bag with water inside. I was a little freaked out at first because Ulrike said, “Only the red ones are poisonous.” But low and behold, the very first jellyfish I see is a red one!........
I actually feel very comfortable with everyone already. My impression of Markus from Pauline’s emails was that he is very busy, regal, and impersonal, but that is so far from the truth. She called him “verplant”, which I now understand well – he is VERY organized. The house is spotless and he explained that everyone helps out around the house ZUSAMMEN (together). Things are done very meticulously around here, but not impossibly so. This procedure is just very different from my own home ;). Love ya, Mom. But anyway, Markus is actually VERY playful, friendly, and informal: when we were at the Baltic Sea, he built a sand castle by himself, and chased around Pauline and Jakob. He also insists that I call him “du” (informal) instead of “Sie” (formal). He’s very energetic and he also looooooves to cook. Steve, I haven’t asked him about the German recipes yet – mainly because I don’t know the word for recipe ;). He gardens and listens to (loud) music… It’s American, I think, but it sounds like bad 80s tunes.. :/ I wake up to it every morning, haha. It’s funny, though, when he was explaining some things to me, he said “You can listen to music, but please not too loud. Actually, I listen to music, and when I do, I like to listen LOUD. So you can too.”
Pauline is very sweet and she speaks VERY FAST German… It’s difficult to hang out with just her because we can’t really communicate. But today her two friends, Hania #1 and Hania #2, came over and I hung out all day with them. First we rode our bikes to a small store to get FOUR cartons of ice cream… Hania #1 and I both rode on the back of two separate bikes (a flat spot where baskets normally go.. very uncomfortable, VERY fun) while Hania #2 and Pauline drove the bikes. Later we went swimming in a large lake in my town. The weather was pretty cool and cloudy, but they didn’t seem to think twice about it. The two Hanias are both really cool – they’re very patient with my bad German and Hania #1 is actually the most helpful person yet. She’s SO nice and thoughtful of how I’m feeling in a situation – actually more so than Pauline. She also corrects me a lot, and guides me slowly through sentences, like: Wir raufen sie immer “Puppy” (We call her always “Puppy”) – They asked me about my dog’s name…
The language! Everyone has been extremely patient with my lack of understanding – no one really gets irritated. I have my token phrases such as:
Was bedeut ___ auf Deutsch? (What means ___ in German?)
Wie sagt man ___ auf Deutsch? (How does one say ___ in German?)
Ich verstehe nicht. (I don’t understand)
Langsamer, bitte. (Slower, please)
My family usually always speak German to me, and I normally use the above phrases to guide myself through their sentences. When I’m with Pauline and her friends, they tend to offer me some English sometimes, but still fairly rarely ;). I can form sentences with present tense, simple past tense, and very limited vocabulary. But I’m afraid they’ll soon find my inability to understand German quite old, and will stop talking to me in general. Like on the way home from Kiel today, Pauline was talking to her friends in the back seat, and I was sitting quietly with Ulrike in the front. BUT, on the happier side, I think already I can understand more German – with context, hand motions, and overall getting used to hearing it. ALSO, even though it’s only been two days, my English is already bad!!! I tried to talk to an American today, and I couldn’t think of words like “seagull”, and just my normal English flow is now corrupted…. So much for writing college essays while I’m here :/ So if I word something oddly in here or my grammer is bad, now you know why.
Food! For breakfast we eat DELICIOUS bread (Brot) with jelly or nutella or peanutbutter, lots of water (Wasser), juice, and LOTS of fruit (Obst) from outside (Draußen). Lunch is the biggest meal of the day – we’ve had pasta/vegetables, potatoes/meat/peas, and home-made pizza. Tim convinced me that I’m going to get FAT, and he may be right, because Germans eat A LOT and very FAST. But the thing is, almost all the food I’ve eaten has been SO healthy! It’s been only fresh fruit, fresh bread, jams, all home-made meals. I haven’t had ANY sodas while here, not even juice. I’ve only drunk water! Also, even the desserts are fruit-centered: home-made apple mousse, home-made plum cake… And there is always dessert after lunch, and there are many other dessert times during the day. Recently when I was merely picking at a piece of plum cake instead of going right after it, my host father said I didn’t have to eat it if I didn’t like it. I said I did! I’m just so full….. And that was the truth, man. Also… the cheese is delicious ;).
My town! I had been a bit concerned about the small size of my town before, but now I am absolutely in love with it. I went for a walk by myself yesterday, and there are open green fields everywhere, cows, a windmill (!), and father away there’s a windfarm (!!luke!!). We went to Kiel today, a big city, and it just is not as beautiful as a small town. In my Ascheberg, you can ride your bike everywhere: to the nice little food shops, two different lakes, or just enjoy the scenery around. I really really really really love the aesthetic of my town – just the sight of these close-together German neighborhoods make me melt. There is a lot of orange, I notice: the brick sidewalks, the orange roofs, the orange brick houses, orange flowers… Ja.
Sleep! My jetlag really wasn’t that bad. I mean, on the first night, I went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 9am. Other than that, my sleeping schedule has been fairly regular, and I feel that I’m already used to the time change. Maybe my fatigue just hasn’t caught up to me yet, though.
School! I start school on Monday, and I think I’m signing up for classes that morning at 6.45. They know that I’m done with high school in America, so I told Markus that I want to take “Spaß Klassen” (fun classes!). So basically that means: german, english, french, geography, art, and history. They don’t have many electives here, I guess. Also, I met my Rotary counselor today (Mom, it changed from Olaf Hahn to a man named Hanz Smid – he also said that I don’t need to do anything about my alien registration or insurance. I promise! But then again, he doesn’t speak any English….). With Hanz was his former exchange student, Ryan, who’s from Michigan. Ryan said that Plön (city I go to school in) has a lot of great activities – he took sailing. But I can’t imagine learning to sail without learning German first…
I was only homesick the first day when I tried to nap – all I could feel when I closed my eyes was slight panic and a disconnection with everything I knew. But that quickly passed once I socialized more with my NEW family…. Sorry, Goodwines ;) Also, I think Ulrike helps me out a lot, just by giving me a hug every time she sees me. It reminds me of my own mom. Yeah, I can see that sheepish grin on your face now, mom…. ;)
Oh yeah, and one weird thing here is that my sense of cardinal direction is off, I think. But it seems to me that the sun rises from the opposite side than in America, DOES THIS MAKES SENSE?! I don’t want to appear stupid, but honestly it feels that way. When I wake up, the position of the sun makes it feel like 4:00pm, not 10am…
Um and it’s nice here also because it’s very acceptable to wear the same close more than one day in a row ;) Which is good for me because once I de-packed everything (told you my english was bad), I seem to have much less than I thought. And remember for next time, it’s better to bring along PRACTICAL clothing items, instead of clothing items that are stylish…. :/ Did I just call them “clothing items”? Do people say that? Ugh… I don’t even know anymore.
Yeah, yeah I know: too much detail. And I’m sure you think I couldn’t have forgotten anything, but there’s still much more to say. I guess I’ll save that for another day, though. If you have any specific questions, leave a comment, and I’ll try to address that subject in another post! I love and miss you all!!!!!!! MUAH!
Viele Grüße,
-jennyg
Monday, August 20, 2007
Two days left and counting...
Howdy, everyone! Oh - too American of a greeting, huh?
Unveiled before you is the new blog that I plan to update while living in Germany as a Rotary exchange student for one year. If you'd like, you can bookmark the web address: www.jennygermany.blogspot.com and stay updated on my journey...
For the next several months, I will be living with the Hahn family in Ascheberg, Germany (population: 5,000); four miles away, however, is Plön (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plön) where I will be going to school as a Senior. My host family consists of 14 year old Pauline, 12 year old Jakob, and parents Ulrike and Markus. My host-parents are actually separated: the mother lives in Plön and the father in Ascheberg. Their 16 year old daughter, Katharina, will actually be in Indiana for one year as an exchange student as well. My family, specifically Pauline, is already EXTREMELY loving toward me, sending me emails and photos - Pauline's easily accepted me as her older sister already and Ulrike has emailed me, calling me her "American daughter", and inviting me to go to Spain with the family in October!! - So much for Oktoberfest...
I leave tomorrow evening for O'Hare; my flight leaves at 1pm on Wednesday, the 22nd. I go from O'Hare to St. Paul to Amsterdam to Hamburg, and unfortunately I have virtually NO experience with airports... so wish me luck! Fortunately, I think I'll be meeting up with a fellow Rotary student who has the same travel plan I do - all the way to Hamburg.
PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! They'll give me motivation to keep writing. In order to do so, click on the link under my text that reads "0 comments" with the little pencil next to it and it'll bring you to the comments pages.
Also, if you'd like my Host Family's address, please email me at: jennygoodwine@gmail.com
PEACE!
jennyg
Unveiled before you is the new blog that I plan to update while living in Germany as a Rotary exchange student for one year. If you'd like, you can bookmark the web address: www.jennygermany.blogspot.com and stay updated on my journey...
For the next several months, I will be living with the Hahn family in Ascheberg, Germany (population: 5,000); four miles away, however, is Plön (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plön) where I will be going to school as a Senior. My host family consists of 14 year old Pauline, 12 year old Jakob, and parents Ulrike and Markus. My host-parents are actually separated: the mother lives in Plön and the father in Ascheberg. Their 16 year old daughter, Katharina, will actually be in Indiana for one year as an exchange student as well. My family, specifically Pauline, is already EXTREMELY loving toward me, sending me emails and photos - Pauline's easily accepted me as her older sister already and Ulrike has emailed me, calling me her "American daughter", and inviting me to go to Spain with the family in October!! - So much for Oktoberfest...
I leave tomorrow evening for O'Hare; my flight leaves at 1pm on Wednesday, the 22nd. I go from O'Hare to St. Paul to Amsterdam to Hamburg, and unfortunately I have virtually NO experience with airports... so wish me luck! Fortunately, I think I'll be meeting up with a fellow Rotary student who has the same travel plan I do - all the way to Hamburg.
PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! They'll give me motivation to keep writing. In order to do so, click on the link under my text that reads "0 comments" with the little pencil next to it and it'll bring you to the comments pages.
Also, if you'd like my Host Family's address, please email me at: jennygoodwine@gmail.com
PEACE!
jennyg
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