So you would think that after two months of bike riding my legs would get stronger... apparently NOT. They are SUPER sore right now! I'm telling you, no matter WHICH direction you happen to be riding your bike, the wind is always blowing against you. I mean, I know that anytime you're riding there's gonna be wind in your face... but seriously, this is ridiculous. We're only about thirty minutes from the North Sea so it's perpetually windy, and it's flat so there are wind tunnels. Sometimes it's so strong that I feel like I can barely keep peddling forward! It is somewhat discouraging.
A few news updates:
I have officially booked a hotel room in Munich for Oktoberfest! Apparently Emily is traveling in a group of 8 and they have two rooms. I tried to find something for two people (she offered to stay somewhere else with me so I wouldn't be alone) but apparently Oktoberfest is popular or something and practically everything even sort of reasonably priced was taken. The only hostel left was called "Hangover Hostel" and cost €70 a night. Um, NO THANKS. Almost everything else was at least €110 a night and outside of the Munich city limits. I was very frustrated, and definitely called my grandma crying (when Mommy and Daddy are out of cell range, one can always count on Grandma!) Apparently God felt sorry for me, so he gave me a hotel room that was €110 for BOTH nights! Yay! That's about $150 and an answer to prayer. Yay God! Also, there's a girl that I went to school with since I was a kid (who is a year younger than me) who is spending this semester in Florence, Italy. She and I were never close, but are friendly enough that we will hopefully meet up in Oktoberfest. I'm definitely hoping to take advantage of the fact that there's someone I *sort of* know in another country so maybe I can visit later :)
I started an evening language course this last Tuesday which will be two nights a week through January (ugh). I'm not SO excited about more school at the moment (I thought graduating meant I was done?!) but it will hopefully help me with articles, cases, and vocab... and all the other stuff I don't know. The first night we got into groups of four and two of the other three girls were Au Pairs- one from Indonesia and one from Hungary. All three were really nice, and I'm crossing my fingers for potential friends.
*Warning: Tangent Approaching in T-Minus Three Paragraphs*
Thursday was an unfortunate night, however. I had a question about the word "einziehen" which means to move (as in from one house to another). I asked if a TV could "einziehen" because I figured, in English, we move ourselves... but we also move our stuff. We can say "Saturday I'm moving into another house" and "Saturday I'm moving my stuff to another house." I wasn't sure, so I asked. The teacher was almost indignant that I thought anything besides a person could "einziehen" move... she said things can only "bewegen" or "transportieren", not "einziehen". I started to explain that I only wondered because I think it's different in English, and then she started a good five minute tangent on the fact that German is different from English, and things are going to be different, and it won't work to directly translate English to German because it doesn't make sense, and the sooner I accept it and get over it the better, and blahblahblah. I had already perceived her to be mostly nice, but a little too snappy in response to things that didn't rub her the right way. She said this to the whole class, but it was obviously directed at me since I was the one who had brought it up. I tried to say "You didn't give me a chance to explain, you didn't understand me correctly" but she was too busy hearing herself talk.
I was so frustrated and embarrased that I looked away, shielded my eyes, and started to cry. Not a lot, but I just couldn't hold it in. Another girl caught my eye and gave me a sympathetic look, while the girl next to me handed me a tissue. This happened in the last fifteen or so minutes of class, so I just kept my head down until it was over, and then bolted. I saw the girl who gave me a sympathetic look and she said that she understood, and that it was really hard with Polish, too.
I am perfectly aware that it doesn't work to directly translate, and I HAVE accepted it. That being said, it isn't any easier!! I've been doing pretty well with thinking in German, but when it comes to a subject that I don't know the words for, my head goes back to English! I've spent 22 years speaking English, and no two months or year in Germany will change that! 'Accepting' the fact that English and German are different is irrelevant- it's not like accepting it will all of the sudden make it easier. What?! It's DIFFERENT?! Now I understand it PERFECTLY! This woman has clearly never spent more than a two-three week vacation in a country with another language. She might know English or French from school, but I can promise you that if she had ever tried to LIVE in a country with another language, that "accepting that languages are different" would get her a whole lot of no-where. The trick isn't knowing they're different- it's figuring out HOW they're different. I tried to ask a question to find out how the words were different, and in return I got an embarrassing lecture. Awesome.
Now that I've officially vented it, I'm going to do my best to let it go. I don't know if the teacher saw me crying, and hopefully most of the class only saw that I was frustrated. My guess is that her responses to me will continue to be a little snappier than I would like, but that as far as she's concerned it basically was a non-incident.
All I'm saying is that I may be 22 years old, but I'm a new student in a new country with a new language and my skin is about as thick as a five year old's right now... and she could've tried a little patience.
On a much lighter note, today at church I saw one of the people I met at the church's youth service (the one with the Bono interview) and she invited me to come to the youth group that night. I had seen it in the bulletin, but thought it was for high schoolers. She said it was for people around age 20, give or take a few years... so even though tonight was also another English church service, I decided to go to the youth group since I had already had some mild success with people there.
Well, in a group of probably 16-20, there were ages 29 (Samantha, the girl I had previously met and kind of conducted the group), 24, 23, 22 (me), 21, 20, and then the rest between 16 and 19 (we went around and introduced ourselves, ages, and whether we were students, working, etc). They had a guest who was going to lead us in theater games, and who I had actually just met earlier during the regular church service. There were also two girls from Gospel Choir, so that was good to at least recognize people. I tend to be an outgoing person, but teenagers make me about as nervous now as they did when I was in high school. Thankfully, everybody was really friendly.
We did a few activities that involved basic interaction, but then the interactions progressed and I felt thoroughly awkward. They knew each other, for the most part, and were able to be really outgoing and themselves. We then did a few things in pairs, and presented them. That was a little rough, because I definitely went twice out of three times. I was pretty self conscious of my German, but I think it went well over-all. The second time I was paired with Samantha, and she went out of her way to be friendly and helpful with me. She had asked me if I had lost something, and I said "Oh yeah, I guess I lost an Euro" but it was really only a penny, so when she was like "Oh, and Euro" then I said "Oh, not a whole Euro, only 1 cent... I'm from the USA and I still find German money really confusing." People laughed, in a good way, so that made me feel good.
The last game was with participants where everyone else watched. It was improv, so it was good that I had the excuse of not knowing the language well enough to participate. I find improv incredibly intimidating and happen to think that I'm AWFUL at it, so then I got to just sit out. We did the game twice, and while the first one was about as entertaining as improv for beginners tends to be, the second one went really well. I couldn't understand almost anything that they said, but I understood the situations and the dynamics of the skit from tone of voice, body language, and a few words here and there. I was definitely impressed with some of the people- they were actually acting, and not like the kids in my theatrics class when we do skits :)
Afterwards, the guy who led the games (Micha) asked me how much I understood (he translated a bit, but most of what he translated was what I already understood...) and I said "Well, really none of the words... but I understood the situations." He was really kind, and said that I was "gifted" with acting. I mean, I know I'm not bad or anything, but it felt good to hear such a nice compliment :) He said it was good that I was outgoing and made some contact with the other people, and I told him that I'm really trying to put myself out there and meet new people. He said he'd be willing to get coffee sometime on the weekend, so we exchanged emails. It's a little sad that the only information I've exchanged so far has been with people ages 35+, but I'm happy to meet with really any people. Plus, I find it less intimidating to talk with people older than me. I'm always worried about making a good impression with people my age and hoping for validation and approval, but for some reason I'm much more confident and myself with people who are about ten years or more older than me.
In short, tonight was a successful night :)
Lastly, this next weekend we'll be going to Bremerhaven, which is a nearby port town. It is of particular interest because a) I will meet Frank's parents (and maybe brother & family?), and b) my mom and grandpa are SUPER into genealogy and our German ancestors left Germany from Bremerhaven to come to America. Mom, don't worry- anticipate pictures.
Things to pray for!
-making friends from church and the language course (and really anywhere!)
-that things will be normal and not weird at my language course because of last Thursday
-that I will be able to buy a cheap train ticket to Munich
-that my leg muscles will get stronger so I can ride my bike against the (ever-present) wind
-that I will have enough energy for the coming week- it's gonna be a doozy
Feel free to let me know how you are! I am always eager for contact of any kind, and would love to hear how it's going back home- especially with those patient enough to read my blog ;)
LG,
~Julia~
