Na ja....

::notice: FIRST, this post was written four days ago; so much has already changed. also, this post was originally much longer and wittier, etc. but somehow i DELETED it, to my IMMENSE displeasure (i spent over an hour writing the original one, then probably an hour more REwriting it.. the things i do for you!:::




THEY HAVE SLUGS AS BIG AS YOUR HAND.
EVERYWHERE.

In other news, things are normalizing for me here in Deutschland, I suppose. Honestly, these days are passing frighteningly quickly. That’s not to say I’m keeping busy doing much. Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve talked with other foreign exchange friends of mine in Rotary, and they say the same: they’re often bored and lonely. That’s true for me in varying degrees. I’ve got a lot of free time because I’m taking gradually fewer and fewer academic classes in school. I have joined a few clubs, though. Having clubs within the school is a new concept for them, I guess. But these past two weeks, my friends invited me to Basketball club and I also found out there is a Photography club by myself. During basketball, it happened that I fit the stereotype of the Great American Basketball Player, hahaha. To be honest though, that’s not saying much amongst these folks :X. I was top scorer in our CO-ED scrimmage! It was a bit of an ego-boost. And I realized how much I miss basketball from my St. Matt’s / Coach Welch days… I became increasingly nostalgic, and I think that set off a whole realm of nostalgia ☹
But anyway, photography was great. The teacher, Herr (Wolfgang) Buchholtz is weird and friendly, probably the friendliest teacher I’ve met so far. I told him about how I didn’t take art anymore because it was all (German) talk, NO ACTION – as in: no art-making. So he said that I could join his class and he’d speak a little bit of English for my sake. But for people like Betsy and Colleen, I’ll explain what we did in photog a bit more: we made those “photos” where you take a bunch of random objects, put it on photo paper, put all that under the projector light for a few seconds, and then you get the shapes of the objects in white on the black background. But I memember you made those in Adv. photog, Lena. Yeah, I made a few of those with an extremely friendly and hyper girl, Nina, who speaks really good English (bad thing). Lately I realize that I’ve become too dependent on English; or maybe other people are too dependent on speaking English to me. Either way, I’ve started to tell people to speak more German with me. I feel like my German learning has reached a sort of plateau; either that, or else I’m just too focused on wanting to learn ALL German in one fell swoop that I ignore the gradual progress I make. But right now I can’t imagine that I’ll ever learn all these weird verbs and super long nouns.
Bahumbug……..so, the other day my new “tutor”, Frau Dose, (who helps me with my schedule) told me that my schedule needs yet another change. We had just changed it so that I took more German courses with the younger kids, and less 12th grade academic ones – or so I thought. But Frau Dose told me today 12th grade teachers have asked why I’m not showing up to class, to which I said, “uhhhhhhhhh, what?” That’s a change, because back when I did go, most teachers asked me why the heck I was there – “You understand nothing, you’re wasting your time!” Now Frau Dose and Herr Rolloff (principal) want to put me into 11th grade classes, which I do NOT understand. I can’t imagine that would solve any problems; I don’t see how I’d understand much more in a grade only one year younger. And all the friends I’ve made are in the 12th grade, man! I hope that I can express my thoughts on this idea…. djkflas; MISCOMMUNICATIONSSSS!

Oh! But I love my these 5th grade German classes (are 10 year olds in fifth grade?). The German in these classes is slower and simpler, so I understand so much more. I also somehow managed to choose the right seat in this class – right next to the coolest and nicest kids: Miles and Jakob. Really, these kids are so patient with my German and so friendly and helpful. Yesterday I found two dimes in my backpack and presented the glorious American Coinage in the palms of these youth, and they ate it right up.

Miles closely inspected his dime for the rest of the hour (Herr Pasch to the left):


Was noch….. My host dad has been in Norway for a week, so Pauline and I are here alone. HAHAHA, story: Yesterday I was getting a bike from the shed, hoping to go for a nice ride, but the key to the door of the shed that leads to the street would NOT turn. I fiddled with that for maybe 3 whole minutes, so determined, when all of a sudden I hear an angry man’s quick-speaking German voice on the other side of the door, addressing me. I froze. Then I went back inside without saying a word. This was partly because I was startled and I was too exhausted to explain the situation to him in German. Also because I am a coward. So I get inside and a few minutes later, I hear a man’s voice calling, rambling:
Man: WER IST IN DEN HAUS? (WHO IS IN THE HOUSE?)
Me: (I decide to approach the voice) Hallo, entschuldigung, ich kann nicht viel Deutsch verstehen. Kennen Sie English?
Man: (in very broken English) Ah, English then. I am the neighbor and I thought the man was gone for a week. I work in my garden and I just hear noises. I thought, it had been so quiet house, but then I hear noises so I come to look. Who are you?

I realized halfway through the conversation that he was holding an open knife; I assumed he intentionally brought it over from his gardening business in case I was a threatening thief. Instead he found a small, blonde, pony-tailed and frightened American girl.


Oh yeah, one more thing. The other day Ulrike (host mom – love her a million) and Mario (her boyfriend – really great guy) took me to Eurtin, a nearby town. In this town there’s an Oak tree in the middle of this forest where apparently folks come to find love. See, people are supposed to write letters to the address of this tree, the letters are placed in a hole, then people climb a ladder and pick one out. Viola, you’ve found the love of your life, easy no? My (real) mom says someone should stick in a letter that just says “eharmony.com”





Ulrike and Mario at the café beside the enormous winding lake in Eurtin…. (The weather was so perfectly fall-like)



LOVE,
jennyg


P.S.

What a weird way to welcome walkers into your shop (oddly situated mannequin in front of a shop in Eurtin)