So, its hard to believe that I only have two more weeks left here in Bonn. I am really excited for my next place, but I feel like I have finally gotten adjusted this week. I have a relatively constant routine, I’m used to the way things are and where things are, and everything’s not so awkward anymore. My host family is really great, I had a barbecue today with them and felt totally fine conversing with them, minus the usual language barriers, but that’s just how it always is. I’ll talk more about that later, but those are just my general feelings about this week. I feel like I’ve surpassed a mini hump in my adjustment here in Germany, and I feel much better than I did at the beginning of the week for lots of reasons. Anyway, I’ll start my blog now. By the way, I never really proof read these, so I apologize if you grammar Nazis out there are getting irritated.
Klasse
Everything as far as class goes is pretty much routine. It’s pretty difficult most times, and can be boring sometimes, but mostly it keeps my interest if I’m not particularly tired that morning. We always have class from 9 to 1, so I’ve figured out how to keep my tummy happy during and after this time slot. The building that the classrooms are in, the AIB, has a little kitchen where I’ve been storing food that I get from the Netto, this dirt-cheap grocery store, to make sandwiches, ramen noodles, and such. For some reason this place is way cheaper than anything that we have in the US. I take care of lunch for the week for only five Euro, including soda or juice, or whatever I want to drink.
On Monday during class we learned a whole bunch of Schimpfwörter (for, you know, cultural reasons) which was pretty fun. Now I know what the Germans are yelling when I screw something up, or they’re just in a bad mood for some reason, which is nice. I suppose I would have liked to remain blissfully ignorant, however.
The grammar we’re learning is pretty complicated. We’ve been doing things like reflexive verbs and some complicated passive voice stuff, things that we just don’t have in English (we have passive voice, but it uses the same “to be” verb). And some of the German conjunctions can get pretty obnoxious, but so is life. There’s not really a heck of a lot of new vocab for me during class, but I’ve learned quite a bit.
Friday’s class was especially fun. We went to the Hofgarten, a huge field next to the University building, and played games. We did relay races involving German grammar, a German word game, a dictation race, and this game where you have to tie a balloon to your ankle and run around trying to pop the other team’s balloons. Mine popped pretty early on the grass, because I blew it up too much, but it was still fun to watch. If our class didn’t win than we at least had the best spirit. Our classmate made this awesome Griffin mascot on a piece of cardboard with “Anis Advanced Armee” written on it (Ani is our teacher). We all dressed up in black and had black war paint on, or mustaches. Oh and by the way there was this bum who was there for the first half it, who had clearly spent the night there on his skateboard. He was great.
The best part, however was our little scavenger hunt thing afterwards. Our classes had two apples to trade for as much/the coolest stuff we could find. By the way, the stereotype that Germans are not friendly or warm, is totally not true. Most of them were extremely willing to help, or just laughed at us when we told them our assignment. Even if they didn’t have anything good to trade, they still were willing to talk to us for a little bit. Anyway we ended up with some gummies, a pair of shoes, a pair of flip flops (different sizes), and a flower. It was so much fun.
Update: I still don’t have my visa yet, but I have an appointment with this guy in Bonn about it on friday. I hope it’s just a sit down, sign here type of deal, but am extremely worried that it could be a sit down and let us interrogate you for hours in German about your past type of deal. Then they might deport me or something. Or maybe they’ll give me citizenship. That’d be pretty cool, but impossible.
Excursions!
Let’s see, what excursions did I go on this week? On Tuesday we did a little tour of Konrad Adenauer’s house with another set of German kids who were doing some week long camp for German-American relations, I think, just like last week. This time when we ate dinner with them, we played ultimate frisbee with them too, which was super fun. I hadn’t played since we played that one midnight game in the States, so it was refreshing.
On Wednesday I went with a couple people to the Drachenfelz, just for fun. Everybody else had gone there when I was at my brother’s wedding. It’s one of the Sieben Gebirge (seven mountains) on the other side of the Rhein, where you can hike all the way to the top. There’s a castle in the middle of the mountain, and then really old ruins of another one at the very top. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to hike like that, so it was really great.
Thursday was our last tour of Köln with Hartwig and a pretty good one at that. We went to a Gestapo jail, where they kept many prisoners during the war. They were many different nationalities, and were there to get interrogated mostly. Many of them died there. The cells were so tiny, and they used to be filled with thirty or more people at once. All the writing on the walls had been documented and much of it you could walk by and read in both English and German. Overall it was an extremely powerful place, and it made me extremely depressed for the a long time afterward. We visited another church with the Black Madonna in it, and then went to try some Kölnisch Wasser, aka Cologne, the original fragrance named after the city. There’s a fountain in the store where you can just stick your hands in and put it on, or just take a long sniff of it if you prefer. It really clears the sinuses. After that was more bakery tasting, where I had possibly the best pastry that I have ever had. Ever.
I don’t know if this counts as an excursion, but I also went to the grocery store in Tannenbusch Mitte on Friday to get some butter. Before, the store didn’t make any sense to me. There was only fresh fruits and vegetables, cosmetics, drinks, and other cooking stuff, like pots and pans, but no dairy products, dried food, canned food, baking needs, jam, or anything like that. Friday, however I discovered there was a whole other floor in which you have to go all the way to the back of the store to find. It makes so much sense now. . .
Saturday, I went to the Zoo in Köln. German zoos are much more exciting than American zoos, I’ve decided. There are hardly any cages for the safer animals, such as the birds and Giraffes and such, which is pretty funny, considering that totally wouldn’t fly in the US. (haha, get it? Because the birds are always caged there?) Literally there was this closed in room which you had to walk through where there were buzzards just kinda chilling within feet of you. There was even one on the sidewalk, which I just kinda walked past, and it definitely could have bitten me. I love it, it’s great.
Cookies
Wow, I did a lot this week. I attempted on Saturday to bake cookies for the first time, which was initially pretty fail. I didn’t find enough flour, plus I don’t think my host mom has anything to measure stuff with. Measuring is pretty important when it comes to baking, and I was pretty much eyeing everything, plus it was all in grams. So my first cookies were really ugly looking and not really sweet enough at all. Today, my mother pointed me towards where she kept the rest of the flour, which had been recently invaded by ants unfortunately. So, I added some ant-flour which made them a lot thicker and prettier, then I rolled them in sugar before baking which made them sweeter and more impressive looking. Then came the trial. I gave them to my family to try after dinner (we had a barbecue) with some coffee. Great success! My host brother even took some back to his apartment. I also enjoyed how surprised they were that I put the cookies in the oven as balls, and then they flatten out while baking. I thought that was a fairly normal thing, but apparently not.
Ende
That pretty much covers anything and everything that I would want to tell you and you would want to know, I hope. It’s really super fun here, I even found a good hamburger place that reminds me of Bub’s and the notorious Big Ugly. Have you ever listened to Mr. T speak German? You should give it a try. It’s great.
Shout out to Keith and Gayle. Congratulations on being pregnant!
Skez
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