It snowed!!! I love snow. Snow is soooooooooo pretty. Especially when you don't have a car and don't have to deal with the troubles that snow causes. And here, snow is a really good sign--it actually indicates warmth. In this time of year, lack of snow can often be attributed to temperature too cold for snow.
Isn't it cool how no two snowflakes are exactly alike? God makes really cool stuff. Like, way cool. :)
Other than snow, the other topic I want to write about tonight is the choir I'm singing in. I don't think I've talked about it much. Really, up until now it hasn't been that exciting. I mean, I like singing... like, a lot... but the choir is really huge, it's not hard to get into so we're not especially amazing, and you get the point. But, tonight was our first rehearsal with the orchestra (also students, which is cool because I have friends that play in it), and tonight was pretty sweet. The music just sounds weird without the orchestra, and my friends in orchestra said the same about it without the choir. Hearing it all together though was way cool. Especially this incredible work we are singing, Honegger's King David. We sing the German translation, which for me is almost like singing English, which you don't get to do that often in choirs. The work tells the story of David's life through the music and through short spoken sections. It has the effect almost of a musical. The music not only tells the story, but it also responds to it. It's really awesome (despite my lame attempt at describing the awesomeness). I don't think I've ever gotten that into something classical that I've sung. I have sung music I connected with personally in some way before, but never in my own language. Even when you translate the text of something in another language and you sing it with a knowledge of what it means, it's not the same as singing something in your own language.
So, enough rambling, I'm just on sort of a high right now. Man that was awesome. I'm still bummed that I have to miss church this weekend for rehearsals, but I really get to worship through this music! Sweet...
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Winter has... wintered.
That was supposed to be like a knock-off on the phrase "Spring has sprung." I know, not that funny, but I do try. :)
Yep, it's winter now. Below-freezing temperatures for the first time, I think since that little "November Snow" scare I had awhile ago. The nice, though strangely odd, dwelling in the 50's has come to an end, probably thanks to dear old Hurricane Kyrill. It was a beautiful sunny day today, but cold. I was outside around noon, and there were a few frozen puddles that were not melting despite the sunshine. Sigh...
Some pretty snow would be nice though! I've definitely had enough of this constant raining it does here. Snow would be a good alternative.
Other news? Not a whole lot. Plugging away on a presentation I have to give tomorrow about the Integration (or lack thereof) of Muslim Immigrants in Berlin. It is a very interesting topic (which is why I picked it, haha) but a little tough because I took a whole class about Immigrants in Germany (which was more or less a class about Muslim Immigrants in Germany) last year at Penn, which means I'm relatively well-informed on the topic for a non-German, but there are so many directions I could take this project that I just don't know what to pick. And, I'm annoyed that I don't have all the articles and notes I have from my class last year. Oh well.
Not too much else to report on... Oh yeah, on Friday I watched Finding Nemo in Germany with my friends Molly and Elizabeth. The characters are sooooooooo cute in German! Of course, they were cute anyway, but this was a new cuteness. The sea turtles even spoke German with Australian accents! We also rented The Incredibles (in German), but only Molly actually saw it because Elizabeth went home and I fell asleep. This Friday we plan to watch Monsters, Inc. in German.
That's all the news from here...
Yep, it's winter now. Below-freezing temperatures for the first time, I think since that little "November Snow" scare I had awhile ago. The nice, though strangely odd, dwelling in the 50's has come to an end, probably thanks to dear old Hurricane Kyrill. It was a beautiful sunny day today, but cold. I was outside around noon, and there were a few frozen puddles that were not melting despite the sunshine. Sigh...
Some pretty snow would be nice though! I've definitely had enough of this constant raining it does here. Snow would be a good alternative.
Other news? Not a whole lot. Plugging away on a presentation I have to give tomorrow about the Integration (or lack thereof) of Muslim Immigrants in Berlin. It is a very interesting topic (which is why I picked it, haha) but a little tough because I took a whole class about Immigrants in Germany (which was more or less a class about Muslim Immigrants in Germany) last year at Penn, which means I'm relatively well-informed on the topic for a non-German, but there are so many directions I could take this project that I just don't know what to pick. And, I'm annoyed that I don't have all the articles and notes I have from my class last year. Oh well.
Not too much else to report on... Oh yeah, on Friday I watched Finding Nemo in Germany with my friends Molly and Elizabeth. The characters are sooooooooo cute in German! Of course, they were cute anyway, but this was a new cuteness. The sea turtles even spoke German with Australian accents! We also rented The Incredibles (in German), but only Molly actually saw it because Elizabeth went home and I fell asleep. This Friday we plan to watch Monsters, Inc. in German.
That's all the news from here...
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Socialism is cool...?!
Okay, here it is, I just gotta say it... if there's one thing I don't like about Germany, it's the socialist attitudes. Especially at the university. I'm really rather baffled by it and am considering doing further research into this phenomenon during the break.
Elections took place this week at the university for student parliament. What exactly said parliament does or how much power they have, I'm not so sure. I am actually researching this at the moment so that I can write about it at my job. But, interestingly, student parliament elections work just like regular elections here - that is, you don't vote for a person, you vote for a party, and then each party can select a number of representatives to sit in the parliament according to the percentage of the vote that party received. At the university, they don't really have parties, but instead there are "lists" which appear to be about the same thing, but most are much more specialized. There are all kinds of "lists". First of all, there are lists that are associated with the major political parties in Germany, more or less the "Young Democrats", "Young Republicans", "Young Socialists", "Young Libertarians" and "Young Greens". Then there are a number of lists that represent specific majors or areas of study--the med students have one, law students, econ, history, philosophy, etc. Then are other special interest type ones, for gays, lesbians (yes they are separate groups here!), feminists, ethnic minorities, students who have a child, etc., as well as groups fighting for specific issues, primarily students against semester fees.
Basically all of them are incredibly left-ward leaning. The only ones that really aren't are the "Young Republicans" and "Young Libertarians", but they had very little advertising, and other lists actually put out flyers bashing them (as well as the other ones that are tied to political parties). Today, as I was researching all of this (to try to find out what in the world the student parliament actually does, how much power it has, etc. and also to investigate student opinions about this election) for work, I read a newspaper article that upset me more than any newspaper article has upset me in a really long time. It upset me for a number of reasons: very biased handling of an issue in an article that was not written as an opinion article, one-sided interviewing, and just the general shock received when one discovers that the university where one is studying is known as a left-wing stronghold. And by left-wing I don't mean left-wing like we know it in America. I think a lot of Democrats would not like all this either!
I don't get it. I just don't get it. These people expect higher education to fall from the sky into their hands, they don't want to pay a dime for it (and until very recently they never had to), and yet people wonder why so many Germans leave the country to go to college and why German universities are not competitive on the international spectrum. There are many initiatives right now trying to improve the universities--initiatives to bring some level of competition into the German university system, initiatives to streamline course registration and bureaucracy issues, initiatives to standardize (to some extent) diploma requirements so that diplomas can be better understood by international employers and schools... But the students here, at least from all the talk, are so resistant to change! The new diploma requirements set some higher standards, and they say it is an infringement on their freedom. Free higher education for all! is the big campaign. They will fight to the death over these semester fees (which soooooooooo miniscule compared to what it costs to finance higher education! up until now they've gone to college 100% free!!!) and are against the concept of having some universities be better than others (and receive more funding as a reward for accomplishment), but they don't seem to care that their own university is not that good! Maybe they just don't realize it could be better, but it's still... Settling for mediocrity is AOK with them. Heaven forbid a capitalist should enter the scene and suggest some ways to bring improvement.
Higher education costs money. It's a fact. In the U.S., we have never had "free higher education" but it works just fine. If you want to study badly enough, you can. You might have to work for it, but if you've got the grades and the desire to learn, you can go to college. Here? Less than a third of teenagers attend the type of high school that allows one to even study at a university (my thoughts on the split-track high school system another day), and those kids can bust their butts and still not get into the universities because there aren't enough spots. But there's no money to open new universities or expand the ones they have! Why? Because the whole darn thing is financed by the government (i.e. by the absurdly high taxes Germans have to pay) and controlled by the government, and the money's just not in the safe. I don't know what the motivation for these new fees was, but maybe, just maybe, they could go toward improvement of the university...
The kids at the university I attend right now probably had to go through a lot to get here. They represent a very small percentage of Germans who have the chance to study at a university. They cry "free higher education for all" but they don't realize that as long as higher education is "free" in the sense of "government financed", it will never really be free for all, and it will never be able to reach it's full potential.
I'm off my soapbox now. Just had to rant because my university is so disgustingly full of socialist this, socialist that, everything should just be free and I don't believe in that. I don't believe in forced mediocrity. Yes, I want every person to have a chance in society. But it's not happening the way the system works now, and in the meantime I really feel the achievements of so many are being stifled. This country has so much more potential.
In other news: surrived a hurricane last night! Hurricane "Kyrill" came sweeping through Germany yesterday, it was pretty crazy. I mean, I slept through it, but it was all over the news, and my Turkish class ended early yesterday because they decided to shut down the building we were in and send everyone home. On the front page of the newspaper yesterday was a weather map with big BLACK clouds sweeping in. You know that can't be good! But we survived. ;)
Elections took place this week at the university for student parliament. What exactly said parliament does or how much power they have, I'm not so sure. I am actually researching this at the moment so that I can write about it at my job. But, interestingly, student parliament elections work just like regular elections here - that is, you don't vote for a person, you vote for a party, and then each party can select a number of representatives to sit in the parliament according to the percentage of the vote that party received. At the university, they don't really have parties, but instead there are "lists" which appear to be about the same thing, but most are much more specialized. There are all kinds of "lists". First of all, there are lists that are associated with the major political parties in Germany, more or less the "Young Democrats", "Young Republicans", "Young Socialists", "Young Libertarians" and "Young Greens". Then there are a number of lists that represent specific majors or areas of study--the med students have one, law students, econ, history, philosophy, etc. Then are other special interest type ones, for gays, lesbians (yes they are separate groups here!), feminists, ethnic minorities, students who have a child, etc., as well as groups fighting for specific issues, primarily students against semester fees.
Basically all of them are incredibly left-ward leaning. The only ones that really aren't are the "Young Republicans" and "Young Libertarians", but they had very little advertising, and other lists actually put out flyers bashing them (as well as the other ones that are tied to political parties). Today, as I was researching all of this (to try to find out what in the world the student parliament actually does, how much power it has, etc. and also to investigate student opinions about this election) for work, I read a newspaper article that upset me more than any newspaper article has upset me in a really long time. It upset me for a number of reasons: very biased handling of an issue in an article that was not written as an opinion article, one-sided interviewing, and just the general shock received when one discovers that the university where one is studying is known as a left-wing stronghold. And by left-wing I don't mean left-wing like we know it in America. I think a lot of Democrats would not like all this either!
I don't get it. I just don't get it. These people expect higher education to fall from the sky into their hands, they don't want to pay a dime for it (and until very recently they never had to), and yet people wonder why so many Germans leave the country to go to college and why German universities are not competitive on the international spectrum. There are many initiatives right now trying to improve the universities--initiatives to bring some level of competition into the German university system, initiatives to streamline course registration and bureaucracy issues, initiatives to standardize (to some extent) diploma requirements so that diplomas can be better understood by international employers and schools... But the students here, at least from all the talk, are so resistant to change! The new diploma requirements set some higher standards, and they say it is an infringement on their freedom. Free higher education for all! is the big campaign. They will fight to the death over these semester fees (which soooooooooo miniscule compared to what it costs to finance higher education! up until now they've gone to college 100% free!!!) and are against the concept of having some universities be better than others (and receive more funding as a reward for accomplishment), but they don't seem to care that their own university is not that good! Maybe they just don't realize it could be better, but it's still... Settling for mediocrity is AOK with them. Heaven forbid a capitalist should enter the scene and suggest some ways to bring improvement.
Higher education costs money. It's a fact. In the U.S., we have never had "free higher education" but it works just fine. If you want to study badly enough, you can. You might have to work for it, but if you've got the grades and the desire to learn, you can go to college. Here? Less than a third of teenagers attend the type of high school that allows one to even study at a university (my thoughts on the split-track high school system another day), and those kids can bust their butts and still not get into the universities because there aren't enough spots. But there's no money to open new universities or expand the ones they have! Why? Because the whole darn thing is financed by the government (i.e. by the absurdly high taxes Germans have to pay) and controlled by the government, and the money's just not in the safe. I don't know what the motivation for these new fees was, but maybe, just maybe, they could go toward improvement of the university...
The kids at the university I attend right now probably had to go through a lot to get here. They represent a very small percentage of Germans who have the chance to study at a university. They cry "free higher education for all" but they don't realize that as long as higher education is "free" in the sense of "government financed", it will never really be free for all, and it will never be able to reach it's full potential.
I'm off my soapbox now. Just had to rant because my university is so disgustingly full of socialist this, socialist that, everything should just be free and I don't believe in that. I don't believe in forced mediocrity. Yes, I want every person to have a chance in society. But it's not happening the way the system works now, and in the meantime I really feel the achievements of so many are being stifled. This country has so much more potential.
In other news: surrived a hurricane last night! Hurricane "Kyrill" came sweeping through Germany yesterday, it was pretty crazy. I mean, I slept through it, but it was all over the news, and my Turkish class ended early yesterday because they decided to shut down the building we were in and send everyone home. On the front page of the newspaper yesterday was a weather map with big BLACK clouds sweeping in. You know that can't be good! But we survived. ;)
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Back in Berlin
Greetings from Berlin! Here I am, "home" again. It actually feels pretty good to be back here.
My journey back was a little interesting. Everything went as planned, except that my bag didn't make it (but it wasn't lost, it's being delivered today, thankfully!), but it was just like the weirdest day/two days ever. My flight took off from Nashville at 5:15pm on Sunday, and I arrived in Berlin around 4pm (Berlin time) on Monday, having stopped in Detroit and London inbetween. Tobi picked me up from the airport (and was a good sport about waiting with me to figure out what was up with my luggage) and brought me to my apartment, and when I got there, I had less than an hour before I had to leave to go to a film viewing for one of my classes at 6pm. Amazingly, I did not fall asleep during the movie (thanks for British Airways for flying me on a cozy 777 with newly designed economy class seats that have nice foot rests and adjustable lumbar, I slept pretty much that whole 8 hour flight). The movie was actually really good. But long. I mean, L-O-ong! It's actually a made-for-TV film series about the Holocaust, and we watched two parts of it, which lasted altogether almost 4 hours. I had never seen it before, but it's actually American (dubbed over in German) and pretty old. Meryl Streep stars in it, playing a young newly-wed. I spent the first hour of the movie trying to figure out if that was really her and the film was really American--you know, sometimes the lips don't move exactly the way they sound, but when it's an old film, it's hard to tell... Then in one scene a family was singing "Silent Night" and gave themselves away when their mouths said "holy night" while the voices sang "heilige Nacht". Those don't look anything alike.
So I made it through the whole thing, got home, and still thought it was Sunday. I was confused why there were so many people out and about on a Sunday night, and why the subways and buses were running more frequently than usual for a Sunday (when they more or less don't exist). I managed to go to sleep around midnight and woke up feeling better though. First thing in the morning was the class for which we had the film viewing, and the prof was like, "Frau Lordeman, can you give us a recap of what we saw for those who couldn't make it? And what was your impression of it as an American?" My first thought was, "Uhh, I didn't even know what day it was last night, why are you asking me?" but miraculously, German started coming out of my mouth! Alas, I can still speak the language--the two weeks at home didn't seem to deteriorate my language skills much. Just occasionally I think of words in English first instead of German, much like the reverse of what I did at home. Interesting.
One thing I do have to confess though is that I am still majorly missing Mexican food. I ate sooooooo much of it at home, and yet I still crave it. I've indulged myself in Turkish food twice now in the last 24 hours, which is a good substitute not available in the states, but still... anything for some chips and salsa and queso... sigh... I also ate a "sandwich" yesterday, which no one in America would really call a sandwich. It was very disappointing. Gotta go grocery shopping so I can make my own.
On a more positive note, the weather here is GREAT. And by great I mean not freezing, for one thing--around 50 most of the time, actually!--and there is much more sunlight than when I left. This morning was really beautiful and sunny. It's amazing how much that helps me feel better!
Now it's time to get cracking on some homework. Prayer is greatly appreciated for the work I have ahead of me the next two months--namely, 3 huge term papers which at the moment I'm rather scared of. But, there will be many fun things to come as well... just gotta muscle through, like Stelmaszak used to say, haha...
My journey back was a little interesting. Everything went as planned, except that my bag didn't make it (but it wasn't lost, it's being delivered today, thankfully!), but it was just like the weirdest day/two days ever. My flight took off from Nashville at 5:15pm on Sunday, and I arrived in Berlin around 4pm (Berlin time) on Monday, having stopped in Detroit and London inbetween. Tobi picked me up from the airport (and was a good sport about waiting with me to figure out what was up with my luggage) and brought me to my apartment, and when I got there, I had less than an hour before I had to leave to go to a film viewing for one of my classes at 6pm. Amazingly, I did not fall asleep during the movie (thanks for British Airways for flying me on a cozy 777 with newly designed economy class seats that have nice foot rests and adjustable lumbar, I slept pretty much that whole 8 hour flight). The movie was actually really good. But long. I mean, L-O-ong! It's actually a made-for-TV film series about the Holocaust, and we watched two parts of it, which lasted altogether almost 4 hours. I had never seen it before, but it's actually American (dubbed over in German) and pretty old. Meryl Streep stars in it, playing a young newly-wed. I spent the first hour of the movie trying to figure out if that was really her and the film was really American--you know, sometimes the lips don't move exactly the way they sound, but when it's an old film, it's hard to tell... Then in one scene a family was singing "Silent Night" and gave themselves away when their mouths said "holy night" while the voices sang "heilige Nacht". Those don't look anything alike.
So I made it through the whole thing, got home, and still thought it was Sunday. I was confused why there were so many people out and about on a Sunday night, and why the subways and buses were running more frequently than usual for a Sunday (when they more or less don't exist). I managed to go to sleep around midnight and woke up feeling better though. First thing in the morning was the class for which we had the film viewing, and the prof was like, "Frau Lordeman, can you give us a recap of what we saw for those who couldn't make it? And what was your impression of it as an American?" My first thought was, "Uhh, I didn't even know what day it was last night, why are you asking me?" but miraculously, German started coming out of my mouth! Alas, I can still speak the language--the two weeks at home didn't seem to deteriorate my language skills much. Just occasionally I think of words in English first instead of German, much like the reverse of what I did at home. Interesting.
One thing I do have to confess though is that I am still majorly missing Mexican food. I ate sooooooo much of it at home, and yet I still crave it. I've indulged myself in Turkish food twice now in the last 24 hours, which is a good substitute not available in the states, but still... anything for some chips and salsa and queso... sigh... I also ate a "sandwich" yesterday, which no one in America would really call a sandwich. It was very disappointing. Gotta go grocery shopping so I can make my own.
On a more positive note, the weather here is GREAT. And by great I mean not freezing, for one thing--around 50 most of the time, actually!--and there is much more sunlight than when I left. This morning was really beautiful and sunny. It's amazing how much that helps me feel better!
Now it's time to get cracking on some homework. Prayer is greatly appreciated for the work I have ahead of me the next two months--namely, 3 huge term papers which at the moment I'm rather scared of. But, there will be many fun things to come as well... just gotta muscle through, like Stelmaszak used to say, haha...
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Los geht's...
Well, it's time to head back to Berlin, after an incredible two weeks at home. I think I'm ready. I needed this time very badly and God has done more during it than I could've asked for. Things are going to be different. I'm excited about it.
Thanks to all the wonderful Brentwoodians I love who made the last two weeks really special. I will miss y'all tons! Berlin friends... see ya real soon. I'm looking forward to it. :)
Love,Stina
Thanks to all the wonderful Brentwoodians I love who made the last two weeks really special. I will miss y'all tons! Berlin friends... see ya real soon. I'm looking forward to it. :)
Love,Stina
Friday, January 05, 2007
Who is my anonymous blog commenter???
I'm beginning to wonder who's posting "anonymously" on my blog... not sure if the anonymous commenter from the salami post is the same as the anonymous commenter who asked me to bring home a WWI-era tank or airplane for Chrismas are linked, but perhaps... at any rate, I'm curious about both. So, if it's you, fess up!
On another note... life is good. I'll be ready to go back Sunday night, but I've loved my time here. No reverse culture shock. Except that sometimes I think I fumble with words more than I used to--I've stopped inserting random German words into sentences, but sometimes German words come to mind before English words.
Dinner time now, but I will provide a more thorough update on my adventures in Brent-hood sometime soon. :)
On another note... life is good. I'll be ready to go back Sunday night, but I've loved my time here. No reverse culture shock. Except that sometimes I think I fumble with words more than I used to--I've stopped inserting random German words into sentences, but sometimes German words come to mind before English words.
Dinner time now, but I will provide a more thorough update on my adventures in Brent-hood sometime soon. :)
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Highlights of 2006
I'm starting this a little bit early--normally don't do it until Dec. 31, but of course in Germany it IS almost Dec. 31 already, so... whatever. :) I have done this every year for at least the last 5 years, but I've never had a blog that so many people read to use to share it. I like to go back through the year and list the highlights of the last year by month. I try to put down something for every month--some months are just better than other months, you know--because usually even if I don't realize it, God is doing something good in my life all year long.
January: This is always the hardest month for me to list something for. But I do remember being excited to go back to school (Penn) and feeling ready to just be myself for once.
February: February is one of my favorite months of the year--random, I know. Big highlight was the girls' lock-in we had for the girls in Campus Crusade.
March: Turning 20 was cool. Weird at first, but definitely cool. My spring break trip with Campus Crusade was awesome too. That was an incredible week. I also had some awesome recitals for Music 10 (the program at school that allowed me to take private voice lessons for free). I also found out in March that I'd been officially accepted to my study abroad program.
April: April got off to a great start with the Full Measure concert. I read a German book all the way through for the first time, which was exciting, and particularly enjoyed my German and music history classes. I got a random award from the German department. I also went home for Easter and had an awesome little visit.
May: My going-abroad-party was awesome. Fun to see all my friends backed into my little dorm room!
June: Starting working with the teens at church, and muscular dystrophy camp. Both were awesome.
July: Best family Wildwood trip ever! VBS!!!
August: "Game nights" with the teens, and then, of course... arriving in Berlin!
September: Getting involved in my church in Berlin, especially meeting the group that visited from Hessen.
October: Baptisms at my church, kite-flying in the park...
November: 2 Thanksgivings!!! And my trips to Munich and Lübeck.
December: Christmas markets galore! The Christmas season in Germany was awesome, but it's also been sooooooo nice to be home. :)
January: This is always the hardest month for me to list something for. But I do remember being excited to go back to school (Penn) and feeling ready to just be myself for once.
February: February is one of my favorite months of the year--random, I know. Big highlight was the girls' lock-in we had for the girls in Campus Crusade.
March: Turning 20 was cool. Weird at first, but definitely cool. My spring break trip with Campus Crusade was awesome too. That was an incredible week. I also had some awesome recitals for Music 10 (the program at school that allowed me to take private voice lessons for free). I also found out in March that I'd been officially accepted to my study abroad program.
April: April got off to a great start with the Full Measure concert. I read a German book all the way through for the first time, which was exciting, and particularly enjoyed my German and music history classes. I got a random award from the German department. I also went home for Easter and had an awesome little visit.
May: My going-abroad-party was awesome. Fun to see all my friends backed into my little dorm room!
June: Starting working with the teens at church, and muscular dystrophy camp. Both were awesome.
July: Best family Wildwood trip ever! VBS!!!
August: "Game nights" with the teens, and then, of course... arriving in Berlin!
September: Getting involved in my church in Berlin, especially meeting the group that visited from Hessen.
October: Baptisms at my church, kite-flying in the park...
November: 2 Thanksgivings!!! And my trips to Munich and Lübeck.
December: Christmas markets galore! The Christmas season in Germany was awesome, but it's also been sooooooo nice to be home. :)
Monday, December 25, 2006
They took my salami!!!
Well, here I am, back in the USA. It's not really as strange as I thought it would be, it's more just strange to consider the distance. For some reason it's weird to be back here at home and picture my apartment, my church, my friends and everything in Berlin. It's sooooo far away, but it's real and it's a part of me now, and I'm a part of it. It was an interesting thought while I was in Berlin, but somehow it's even more interesting now.
The journey was long, but not bad at all. Got to the airport heinously early, so I slept on my bags for like two hours at the gate before I boarded! I slept a lot on the plane too, which was nice. I usually have a very hard time sleeping when I'm traveling (by car, train, plane, whatever) but I lucked out this time. The flight from Berlin to Newark though was funny because it was like a transition from German-speaking-land to English-speaking-land. On the flight I heard both languages and when I checked in with my bags and such, I had no idea what language to speak! They could speak both languages of course, it was just weird because I can speak both too and I wasn't sure which one the Continental Airlines employees in Berlin were more comfortable with. Very strange. Most of them just started speaking English as soon as they saw my American passport, but one the flight attendants on the plane always spoke to me in German. Crazy.
When I got to Newark, I had to go through customs. The big bummer of the day was that they took the nice salami I had bought for my dad. It was really silly. For one, it was made from pork, so it's not like it could've had Mad Cow Disease, and it's COOKED, so if it did have Mad Cow, it wouldn't anymore, and I also felt like saying, "I've eaten stuff like this for 4 months now and I haven't died!" but you know how those American customs people are. Coming into Germany from the States it's no problem, but man, in America, stuff from other countries is poisonous! They weren't even nice about it. They opened up my suitcase, took out the salami, closed up my suitcase and handed it back to me, saying (referring to the salami), "This gets burned." Way to reward me for telling the truth on my customs form! Next time I just won't tell them. :) At least they didn't take my cheese though, which is also for my dad. But the salami was a bummer.
Then I had to try to figure out if I'd cleared the waitlist for my flight from Newark to Atlanta, which I didn't, so I had to get on a train to Philly and then fly with Southwest to Nashville from Philly. It was cool to be in Philly, my college town, if only for a little while. The familiar train station, skyline, all that... pretty cool. From the train station I took a cab to the airport, where I checked in rather quickly and was ready to go.
Oh wait, back up, I forgot something important. When I got to Philly I was really really thirsty, so I bought a bottle of Aquafina water from a vending machine for $1.50, and I drank it, and when I was done, I THREW AWAY THE BOTTLE IN THE (ONE) TRASH CAN!!! No deposit, and no sorting trash into four color-coded bins!!!
On the flight to Philly, there was one again a language transition going on, this time from normal English to Tennessee "English". Three ladies sitting behind me had hilarious Southern accents. So I had some time to really get adjusted!
I made it to Nashville around 8pm (having woken up in Berlin at 5am, which was 10pm the day before in Nashville) and my parents and brother were there waiting. Big time "group hug"!!! When I got there, they were like, "So where do you want to go to dinner?" They didn't have to ask, they already knew the answer--I wanted MEXICAN food, so we went straight to Cozymel's!!! It was sooooooooooooooo good... salsa that doesn't taste like ketchup, yummy queso and chips, chicken enchiladas with beans and Mexican rice... delicious! When I got home, Mom and I wrapped some Christmas gifts, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Uhh, I'm running out of gas, rapidly..." so then it was bedtime. My bed felt soooooo good.
Yesterday I got to go back to my church, BCN, where there was an intense hugging session! The Clarks didn't realize I'd be home in time for the morning service, so they got a little Christmas surprise! The service was awesome, especially since the kids got up and sang a couple of the songs from their Christmas musical. Kimmy was also singing and playing again and sounded awesome. And my goofy pastor was full of his good ol' goofy sermon jokes.
After church, Mom and I met my brother at Qdoba for more Mexican, 'cause I just hadn't had my fill yet, and then we went to Cold Stone for ice cream! I will be working there a little bit while I'm home, so feel free to come by and visit and enjoy the holiday special flavors--Candy Cane and Dark Chocolate Peppermint (delicious!). Mom and I had our annual Christmas viewing of It's A Wonderful Life, then I wrapped some more Christmas presents. None of us were very hungry (we ate a lot at Qdoba!) so we just had some leftover homemade soup for dinner, then opened the traditional Christmas Eve gifts and then watched Elf. I fell asleep during it, I was exhausted! I got some great gifts though! Brother and I each actually opened two (my brother's good at convincing the parents!), and I got some great jewelry made by my cousin-in-law Heather and some comfy PJ/sweatpants from my mom.
Now, it's Christmas morning, but my silly little brother won't wake up so we can open presents! It's almost noon and he's STILL in bed! Silly brother...
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Friends in Berlin, I miss you tons; can't wait to reunite in January, although it will be cold and dark. (I'm loving the sunshine here!) Friends in B'hood--CALL ME so we can get together! Much love to all o' y'all!!! :)
The journey was long, but not bad at all. Got to the airport heinously early, so I slept on my bags for like two hours at the gate before I boarded! I slept a lot on the plane too, which was nice. I usually have a very hard time sleeping when I'm traveling (by car, train, plane, whatever) but I lucked out this time. The flight from Berlin to Newark though was funny because it was like a transition from German-speaking-land to English-speaking-land. On the flight I heard both languages and when I checked in with my bags and such, I had no idea what language to speak! They could speak both languages of course, it was just weird because I can speak both too and I wasn't sure which one the Continental Airlines employees in Berlin were more comfortable with. Very strange. Most of them just started speaking English as soon as they saw my American passport, but one the flight attendants on the plane always spoke to me in German. Crazy.
When I got to Newark, I had to go through customs. The big bummer of the day was that they took the nice salami I had bought for my dad. It was really silly. For one, it was made from pork, so it's not like it could've had Mad Cow Disease, and it's COOKED, so if it did have Mad Cow, it wouldn't anymore, and I also felt like saying, "I've eaten stuff like this for 4 months now and I haven't died!" but you know how those American customs people are. Coming into Germany from the States it's no problem, but man, in America, stuff from other countries is poisonous! They weren't even nice about it. They opened up my suitcase, took out the salami, closed up my suitcase and handed it back to me, saying (referring to the salami), "This gets burned." Way to reward me for telling the truth on my customs form! Next time I just won't tell them. :) At least they didn't take my cheese though, which is also for my dad. But the salami was a bummer.
Then I had to try to figure out if I'd cleared the waitlist for my flight from Newark to Atlanta, which I didn't, so I had to get on a train to Philly and then fly with Southwest to Nashville from Philly. It was cool to be in Philly, my college town, if only for a little while. The familiar train station, skyline, all that... pretty cool. From the train station I took a cab to the airport, where I checked in rather quickly and was ready to go.
Oh wait, back up, I forgot something important. When I got to Philly I was really really thirsty, so I bought a bottle of Aquafina water from a vending machine for $1.50, and I drank it, and when I was done, I THREW AWAY THE BOTTLE IN THE (ONE) TRASH CAN!!! No deposit, and no sorting trash into four color-coded bins!!!
On the flight to Philly, there was one again a language transition going on, this time from normal English to Tennessee "English". Three ladies sitting behind me had hilarious Southern accents. So I had some time to really get adjusted!
I made it to Nashville around 8pm (having woken up in Berlin at 5am, which was 10pm the day before in Nashville) and my parents and brother were there waiting. Big time "group hug"!!! When I got there, they were like, "So where do you want to go to dinner?" They didn't have to ask, they already knew the answer--I wanted MEXICAN food, so we went straight to Cozymel's!!! It was sooooooooooooooo good... salsa that doesn't taste like ketchup, yummy queso and chips, chicken enchiladas with beans and Mexican rice... delicious! When I got home, Mom and I wrapped some Christmas gifts, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Uhh, I'm running out of gas, rapidly..." so then it was bedtime. My bed felt soooooo good.
Yesterday I got to go back to my church, BCN, where there was an intense hugging session! The Clarks didn't realize I'd be home in time for the morning service, so they got a little Christmas surprise! The service was awesome, especially since the kids got up and sang a couple of the songs from their Christmas musical. Kimmy was also singing and playing again and sounded awesome. And my goofy pastor was full of his good ol' goofy sermon jokes.
After church, Mom and I met my brother at Qdoba for more Mexican, 'cause I just hadn't had my fill yet, and then we went to Cold Stone for ice cream! I will be working there a little bit while I'm home, so feel free to come by and visit and enjoy the holiday special flavors--Candy Cane and Dark Chocolate Peppermint (delicious!). Mom and I had our annual Christmas viewing of It's A Wonderful Life, then I wrapped some more Christmas presents. None of us were very hungry (we ate a lot at Qdoba!) so we just had some leftover homemade soup for dinner, then opened the traditional Christmas Eve gifts and then watched Elf. I fell asleep during it, I was exhausted! I got some great gifts though! Brother and I each actually opened two (my brother's good at convincing the parents!), and I got some great jewelry made by my cousin-in-law Heather and some comfy PJ/sweatpants from my mom.
Now, it's Christmas morning, but my silly little brother won't wake up so we can open presents! It's almost noon and he's STILL in bed! Silly brother...
Merry Christmas everyone!!! Friends in Berlin, I miss you tons; can't wait to reunite in January, although it will be cold and dark. (I'm loving the sunshine here!) Friends in B'hood--CALL ME so we can get together! Much love to all o' y'all!!! :)
Sunday, December 17, 2006
One week left...
It is so weird to think that in one week, I will be back in the States. I'm definitely excited, but I have no idea what it will be like to be back in an English-speaking country for two weeks! So weird. But so cool.
Things I'm looking forward to:
Uhhh my FAMILY 'cause they rock
Going back to BCN!
My Christmas tree at home
Giving people Christmas presents from Germany
Binu!
Eating food that my mommy made :)
Mexican food
Ordering ice water in restaurants without getting weird looks, and getting free refills on sodas!
Cold Stone ice cream
Showing people pictures from my adventures (although they're already on this blog... but some people don't keep up:)
Hugs :)
Things I wish I could bring home from Germany:
The Christmas markets! I'm a big fan. Lebkuchen hearts, roasted nuts, all kinds of goodies that are bad for you, dozens of stands selling cute Christmas things, scarves, funny hats, etc., kids riding ferris wheels and such...
Special friends here... God's been good to me :)
Other than Christmas shopping and thoughts of heading home, there really hasn't been much going on here lately. Spent the day with Molly baking Christmas cookies... last night we watched Mean Girls, which was pretty funny. What was also funny: the German subtitles, which we turned on just for the heck of it. Some interesting translations!
I also finally finished my carpentry projects... almost... I built my desk, which was waiting half-built in my room for me to borrow a hammer from someone (finally did). I also hung up pictures and my new white board, which is cool and makes the room less boring. Only problem is this silly chair I bought... there are two pieces that just won't go together! Molly and I tried it together last night--we both sat on the darn thing at the same time, but our combined weight was not enough. Maybe it would be enough now that we've eaten so many Christmas cookies, but...
Oh yeah, I also saw that Christmas movie, The Nativity Story. It was pretty good. I saw it in German with Manu. We were the only two people in the theatre. Of course, we did see it at 11pm on a Wednesday night... yeah we're cool like that.
Actually, funny story--I ended up spending the night at the Heimlichs' that night because it was so late, and in the morning Robert went to kindergarten (which is preschool here), and Manu was still asleep, so it was just Emily and Timo, who was working in his office on the computer. I was already awake but still in bed, when all of a sudden the door opened very slowly and a little face peeked in... "Kee-nah...!" Soooooo funny! What a great way to wake up in the morning. :)
I think that's really all the news... definitely excited to head home. By the way, LAST CALL for anyone who wants anything from Germany! Seriously, anything except a car, let me know! I will have plenty of room in my suitcase!
Much love to everyone. Looking forward to seeing some of you very soon. :)
Things I'm looking forward to:
Uhhh my FAMILY 'cause they rock
Going back to BCN!
My Christmas tree at home
Giving people Christmas presents from Germany
Binu!
Eating food that my mommy made :)
Mexican food
Ordering ice water in restaurants without getting weird looks, and getting free refills on sodas!
Cold Stone ice cream
Showing people pictures from my adventures (although they're already on this blog... but some people don't keep up:)
Hugs :)
Things I wish I could bring home from Germany:
The Christmas markets! I'm a big fan. Lebkuchen hearts, roasted nuts, all kinds of goodies that are bad for you, dozens of stands selling cute Christmas things, scarves, funny hats, etc., kids riding ferris wheels and such...
Special friends here... God's been good to me :)
Other than Christmas shopping and thoughts of heading home, there really hasn't been much going on here lately. Spent the day with Molly baking Christmas cookies... last night we watched Mean Girls, which was pretty funny. What was also funny: the German subtitles, which we turned on just for the heck of it. Some interesting translations!
I also finally finished my carpentry projects... almost... I built my desk, which was waiting half-built in my room for me to borrow a hammer from someone (finally did). I also hung up pictures and my new white board, which is cool and makes the room less boring. Only problem is this silly chair I bought... there are two pieces that just won't go together! Molly and I tried it together last night--we both sat on the darn thing at the same time, but our combined weight was not enough. Maybe it would be enough now that we've eaten so many Christmas cookies, but...
Oh yeah, I also saw that Christmas movie, The Nativity Story. It was pretty good. I saw it in German with Manu. We were the only two people in the theatre. Of course, we did see it at 11pm on a Wednesday night... yeah we're cool like that.
Actually, funny story--I ended up spending the night at the Heimlichs' that night because it was so late, and in the morning Robert went to kindergarten (which is preschool here), and Manu was still asleep, so it was just Emily and Timo, who was working in his office on the computer. I was already awake but still in bed, when all of a sudden the door opened very slowly and a little face peeked in... "Kee-nah...!" Soooooo funny! What a great way to wake up in the morning. :)
I think that's really all the news... definitely excited to head home. By the way, LAST CALL for anyone who wants anything from Germany! Seriously, anything except a car, let me know! I will have plenty of room in my suitcase!
Much love to everyone. Looking forward to seeing some of you very soon. :)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Cultural differences... or is it something deeper?
I had a really interesting conversation with Tobi today. I don't remember exactly how it started, but it was about conversation... haha yes, a conversation about conversation...
I've noticed that in conversations with other people, Tobi tends to ask much more direct questions /slash/ deeper questions. It is commonly known that in America, "How are you?" is not usually a real question, it's just a polite greeting (the proper response is, "Good, you?" or, if you're a college student, "I'm okay, a little tired, how are you?"). In Germany and many other countries, however, it's not just a greeting--it's a real question. Yes, people then ask this question a bit more selectively, but when they ask it, they are (generally) genuinely interested in the person's response, which can be as thorough or concise as one chooses.
Consequently, I've found that in Germany people come to "deeper" subject matters more quickly than they do back home in the States. Particularly with friends, people pretty much skip the small talk. There isn't really a pressure to share more about one's personal life than one really wishes to share, but there's an understanding that when someone asks how you are, they want to know how you really are. They're not just trying to pass the time by exchanging formalities.
I find that people here also then tend to be more open about the "heavier" subjects which are seldom discussed in America. Today a couple in the church had their niece with them, who is about our age and had a baby between 11th and 12th grade. The baby wasn't there, so we wouldn't have known if she hadn't told us, but just through normal conversation it came up and she said it rather openly and talked about some of the difficult decisions she has to make right now. I was struck not only by her openness, but also by Tobi's genuine interest, the way he asked questions not to probe, but because he cared somehow. He did the same thing when we went to dinner with my friend Suzy after she went with us to the church in Prenzlauer Berg. He asked her very freely, "What did you think of the service tonight?" and "Did you grow up with any kind of religion in your family?" without it being some hushed subject matter that one only brought up subtly or else simply avoided. And seeing his genuine interest, she opened up and shared a lot with us. It was as simple as that.
It made me ask myself, "Why do I always make it so complicated?" Why do I find such questions so awkward, and when I ask someone how they're doing, am I really interested in their response?
It also made me wonder how the question "How are you?" got to be just a polite thing to say in the U.S. What does it say about us that we've somehow hidden ourselves behind the small talk? Why are we so afraid of people's answers? Another thing I've found somewhat striking here is that my pastor here will frequently ask me on a Sunday afternoon what I thought of the service that morning. Tobi asks me that too. And neither of them just want to hear me say, "It was good." Even if it would bring criticism, they're interested. I think that is something to be valued.
How would my life--how would our lives--be different, if we weren't afraid to ask? If we wanted to ask? If we were so genuinely interested?
I've noticed that in conversations with other people, Tobi tends to ask much more direct questions /slash/ deeper questions. It is commonly known that in America, "How are you?" is not usually a real question, it's just a polite greeting (the proper response is, "Good, you?" or, if you're a college student, "I'm okay, a little tired, how are you?"). In Germany and many other countries, however, it's not just a greeting--it's a real question. Yes, people then ask this question a bit more selectively, but when they ask it, they are (generally) genuinely interested in the person's response, which can be as thorough or concise as one chooses.
Consequently, I've found that in Germany people come to "deeper" subject matters more quickly than they do back home in the States. Particularly with friends, people pretty much skip the small talk. There isn't really a pressure to share more about one's personal life than one really wishes to share, but there's an understanding that when someone asks how you are, they want to know how you really are. They're not just trying to pass the time by exchanging formalities.
I find that people here also then tend to be more open about the "heavier" subjects which are seldom discussed in America. Today a couple in the church had their niece with them, who is about our age and had a baby between 11th and 12th grade. The baby wasn't there, so we wouldn't have known if she hadn't told us, but just through normal conversation it came up and she said it rather openly and talked about some of the difficult decisions she has to make right now. I was struck not only by her openness, but also by Tobi's genuine interest, the way he asked questions not to probe, but because he cared somehow. He did the same thing when we went to dinner with my friend Suzy after she went with us to the church in Prenzlauer Berg. He asked her very freely, "What did you think of the service tonight?" and "Did you grow up with any kind of religion in your family?" without it being some hushed subject matter that one only brought up subtly or else simply avoided. And seeing his genuine interest, she opened up and shared a lot with us. It was as simple as that.
It made me ask myself, "Why do I always make it so complicated?" Why do I find such questions so awkward, and when I ask someone how they're doing, am I really interested in their response?
It also made me wonder how the question "How are you?" got to be just a polite thing to say in the U.S. What does it say about us that we've somehow hidden ourselves behind the small talk? Why are we so afraid of people's answers? Another thing I've found somewhat striking here is that my pastor here will frequently ask me on a Sunday afternoon what I thought of the service that morning. Tobi asks me that too. And neither of them just want to hear me say, "It was good." Even if it would bring criticism, they're interested. I think that is something to be valued.
How would my life--how would our lives--be different, if we weren't afraid to ask? If we wanted to ask? If we were so genuinely interested?
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Marzipan, anyone?
Oh goodness. It's really strange to have sooooooooo much going on, then all of a sudden... nothing! Strange but very nice!! My biggest "concern" right now is Christmas-shopping. Bummer. (Hehe)
So... I had a ginormous presentation on Tuesday. Actually I'm exaggerating, it wasn't ginormous, but it was my first big "project" I've had to do for a class here. It went very well. Only one mildly embarrassing moment when I read a quote and then realized at the end of it that it was not the quote I wanted to read, and I couldn't find the one I wanted to read. Oops. But my classmates were nice and didn't like boo me or anything, haha. Prof said he liked my thesis, thought my presentation was good and that my German was also good (nice little bonus there). And it was a good start on the big paper I'll have to write for the end of the semester, so that was cool.
Once that was over, I got to make an Advent wreath at church! One thing I think is really cool in Germany is that arts and crafts are not just for kids (or really crafty talented moms). Arts and crafts are for everybody. Our church kicked off the Christmas season by making Advent wreaths together. Cool huh? Making a wreath is actually not that hard, just kinda prickly. =)
Then, on Wednesday, I got in a bus and headed about 3.5 hours north to Lübeck. My German teacher, Karolin, from Penn last semester, grew up there, and she is actually teaching in Cambridge now but brought a small group of students on a trip to visit her hometown, in particular the Christmas market. It was really nice. For one, it was totally a vacation because my presentation was over and I felt like I'd earned it, for another, it was so cool to see Karolin, she's really funny, and the kids from Cambridge were fun too. They speak German with British accents and it's really cute. And Lübeck was sooooo pretty. In the middle ages it was like one of the biggest harbor towns along the Baltic--much bigger than Hamburg--and what's remarkable is how many buildings and such and have been preserved in their original, very old, very German (and if you ask me, very pretty/cute) forms. I will upload my pictures soon and then edit this post with a link to them, so stay tuned.
Edit: here's the link for the photos. :)
by stinaberlin
The Christmas market was fun. I think the whole Christmas market tradition is really cool. Picture like a small-scale fair, plus lots of booths for buying Christmas-y stuff (lots of self-made crafty stuff), and TONS of German roasted nuts, Glühwein (mulled wine, accompanied by the alcohol-free kiddie version), licorice, little things calls Muzen which are basically little pockets of funnel cake dough that are fried and topped with powdered sugar, and of course sausage and pretzels and all that really German stuff. And yes, a few amusement rides for the kids. So cute! The place was literally packed with people sipping Glühwein from their souvenir mugs (you pay 3.50 € for a mug of Glühwein, then if you don't want to keep your mug you can bring it back and they give you 1.50€ back, or you can just keep it as a souvenir, like I did! Where can you get a mug for 1.50€?) and just being merry. What a great tradition. I can't wait to go to the Christmas markets here in Berlin--there's a couple of different ones. Fun fun.
Oh yeah, about the title of my post... so, Lübeck is like the Marzipan Capital of the World... or at least of Germany, or so I perceived it. Lübeck has this big famous marzipan shop called Niederegger, and they seriously sell marzipan in every variety imaginable. I can actually buy Niederegger marzipan in my grocery store here in Berlin here. I think marzipan is a pretty big deal here in Germany. So, my question is... do any of you guys like marzipan? 'Cuz I'd be totally happy to bring some back, particularly something funny made out of a marzipan (like a potato, haha!). Lemme know.
After I got back I didn't have to do much. Spent the day yesterday with the Heimlichs, pretty chill. Their little girl Emily, who is 2 zears old, calls me "Keena" now. Cute cute. And, Manu gave me like the coolest present ever--cilantro!!! And it's like in a pot, so it will like grow and such and I will have more and more cilantro. Now I can make salsa that doesn't taste like ketchup!!! Woohoo!!!
And now, I'm here at the church, just chilling until a prayer meeting tonight. It's weird not to have any particular project hanging over my head. Weird, but nice.
One more thing: I come home for Christmas in 3 weeks. Weird. I'm excited of course to see everyone, but I have no idea what it will be like to be back in the US. It will be interesting to see. Hopefully I'll get used to speaking English all the time and won't keep saying all the goofy things I tend to say in English here. I already get made fun of enough for my "Philly accent". My "Berlin accent" is likely to sound much more ridiculous.
For now, a lovely day/evening to everyone. Post comments!!! They make me smile!!!
So... I had a ginormous presentation on Tuesday. Actually I'm exaggerating, it wasn't ginormous, but it was my first big "project" I've had to do for a class here. It went very well. Only one mildly embarrassing moment when I read a quote and then realized at the end of it that it was not the quote I wanted to read, and I couldn't find the one I wanted to read. Oops. But my classmates were nice and didn't like boo me or anything, haha. Prof said he liked my thesis, thought my presentation was good and that my German was also good (nice little bonus there). And it was a good start on the big paper I'll have to write for the end of the semester, so that was cool.
Once that was over, I got to make an Advent wreath at church! One thing I think is really cool in Germany is that arts and crafts are not just for kids (or really crafty talented moms). Arts and crafts are for everybody. Our church kicked off the Christmas season by making Advent wreaths together. Cool huh? Making a wreath is actually not that hard, just kinda prickly. =)
Then, on Wednesday, I got in a bus and headed about 3.5 hours north to Lübeck. My German teacher, Karolin, from Penn last semester, grew up there, and she is actually teaching in Cambridge now but brought a small group of students on a trip to visit her hometown, in particular the Christmas market. It was really nice. For one, it was totally a vacation because my presentation was over and I felt like I'd earned it, for another, it was so cool to see Karolin, she's really funny, and the kids from Cambridge were fun too. They speak German with British accents and it's really cute. And Lübeck was sooooo pretty. In the middle ages it was like one of the biggest harbor towns along the Baltic--much bigger than Hamburg--and what's remarkable is how many buildings and such and have been preserved in their original, very old, very German (and if you ask me, very pretty/cute) forms. I will upload my pictures soon and then edit this post with a link to them, so stay tuned.
Edit: here's the link for the photos. :)
by stinaberlin
The Christmas market was fun. I think the whole Christmas market tradition is really cool. Picture like a small-scale fair, plus lots of booths for buying Christmas-y stuff (lots of self-made crafty stuff), and TONS of German roasted nuts, Glühwein (mulled wine, accompanied by the alcohol-free kiddie version), licorice, little things calls Muzen which are basically little pockets of funnel cake dough that are fried and topped with powdered sugar, and of course sausage and pretzels and all that really German stuff. And yes, a few amusement rides for the kids. So cute! The place was literally packed with people sipping Glühwein from their souvenir mugs (you pay 3.50 € for a mug of Glühwein, then if you don't want to keep your mug you can bring it back and they give you 1.50€ back, or you can just keep it as a souvenir, like I did! Where can you get a mug for 1.50€?) and just being merry. What a great tradition. I can't wait to go to the Christmas markets here in Berlin--there's a couple of different ones. Fun fun.
Oh yeah, about the title of my post... so, Lübeck is like the Marzipan Capital of the World... or at least of Germany, or so I perceived it. Lübeck has this big famous marzipan shop called Niederegger, and they seriously sell marzipan in every variety imaginable. I can actually buy Niederegger marzipan in my grocery store here in Berlin here. I think marzipan is a pretty big deal here in Germany. So, my question is... do any of you guys like marzipan? 'Cuz I'd be totally happy to bring some back, particularly something funny made out of a marzipan (like a potato, haha!). Lemme know.
After I got back I didn't have to do much. Spent the day yesterday with the Heimlichs, pretty chill. Their little girl Emily, who is 2 zears old, calls me "Keena" now. Cute cute. And, Manu gave me like the coolest present ever--cilantro!!! And it's like in a pot, so it will like grow and such and I will have more and more cilantro. Now I can make salsa that doesn't taste like ketchup!!! Woohoo!!!
And now, I'm here at the church, just chilling until a prayer meeting tonight. It's weird not to have any particular project hanging over my head. Weird, but nice.
One more thing: I come home for Christmas in 3 weeks. Weird. I'm excited of course to see everyone, but I have no idea what it will be like to be back in the US. It will be interesting to see. Hopefully I'll get used to speaking English all the time and won't keep saying all the goofy things I tend to say in English here. I already get made fun of enough for my "Philly accent". My "Berlin accent" is likely to sound much more ridiculous.
For now, a lovely day/evening to everyone. Post comments!!! They make me smile!!!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Slacker
Hello everyone,
Man, I am such a blog slacker. Sorry for those who've been checking my blog and finding nothing new for however many weeks.
First things first--I have pictures from Munich!!!
by stinaberlin
We had an incredible trip. It was an excursion for the BCGS program. We stayed in a youth hostel right across the street from the central train station. The agenda included an opera (La Traviata--soprano was AMAZING!!! such a hard role!!!), a tour of the city with a focus on Hitler/WW2 history (very interesting), 3 different art museum visits (too many if you ask me, but they got progressively better and the last one was awesome!!!), and plenty of time for shopping and stroling along in such amazingly pretty areas as the English Gardens and the famous Marienplatz (where the big glockenspiel is!). To top it all off, we had ridiculously amazing weather... At night in the 50s maybe, during the day in the upper 60s. I only needed a real coat at night--the rest of the time a sweatshirt was plenty if not too much. (For you mathematicians who want to calculate more precisely, the papers said we had lows around 13 and highs around 18 Celsius.)
After getting back things were relatively low-key again, just trying to catch up on all that I missed. Oh yeah, when I got back, the "other roommate" had finally moved out, so I finally have my room now!! It's still a work in progress but I'll send pictures soon. The best part about it is that I have a double-size bed, which is quite a luxury for not being at home. =)
Last Sunday was really really really cool. The church celebrated it's 1st birthday, so we had everything all decorated like a birthday party with colorful balloons and streamers EVERYWHERE. The kids loved it!!! At one part of the service the kids brought in different "presents" that were reminders of different blessings from throughout the last year. A small choir from a nearby music school heard about our celebration and asked if they could come sing for us, and that was really cool. It was such a cool opportunity to share with them all that God has done in our church in the last year. Then, in addition to that, I officially became a member, along with a couple other people. That meant I got to share my testimony, which was an incredible experience. I think it was the most fluently I have ever spoken German before. I didn't have to think about the language, the words were just there and I was able to just speak freely. It was really awesome.
Afterward we had a ridiculous potluck feast... I of course ate way too much. Pastor's wife even made American birthday cake and we put candles on it let the kids blow them out. It was lots of fun. I spent the rest of the day at pastor's house, went to an evening service at another church with Tobi (there's a church in the area with tons of people our age, and it's a nice chance for us to go to a service where we can just sit back a bit and soak it all in, rather than having to run slides/play guitar/lead children's church/sing/etc), then afterward a prayer meeting back in Pankow. An incredible day, but at the end of it I was exhausted!
Then this past week was relatively normal, just with the added stress of trying to catch up from the week before and trying to prepare for a presentation I have to do on Tuesday. I'm nervous, but fortunately my prof is really nice and gave me some good tips. My presentation is about the influence of Western television on East Germany. About 80% of East Germans could receive West German TV, and it was never really expressly forbidden to watch it in East Germany, probably because it would've been really difficult to enforce. The effect of it though is pretty interesting...
Of course, Thursday was Thanksgiving, but no holiday for me. =( Germans didn't have pilgrims and Indians, unfortunately. =) But, the director of BCGS invited us all over for an incredible Thanksgiving dinner! Then, on top of that, pastor's wife thought it would be fun to have a Thanksgiving dinner at the church, so yesterday (Friday) I had a second Thanksgiving!!! Both were very nice. Who would've thought that in Germany I'd get to have two Thanksgivings?
Here's a really exciting piece of news too: My brother got into his first-choice college!!! He's going to Columbia College in Chicago to study composition and eventually film-scoring. He found out on Tuesday and left me a message on my cell phone. I am so excited!!! Of course, it's really strange to think about my little baby brother being all grown up... but he's awesome. =) Mom's birthday was Wednesday too so we got to chat, which was great. I wish my family could just get on an airplane right now and come visit me!
What else...? I can't think of anything in particular. Life is pretty good. School is frustrating sometimes--hard to motivate myself since it's hard to keep the long-term goals in mind when I'm bogged down in short-term stuff--and I definitely think the university system here has been my biggest culture shock. But it's getting better.
Oh yeah! Totally random, but people ask me all the time if I dream in German now or in English. The answer is both--not both separately, but both together. In fact I frequently dream that I'm somewhere and I can't figure out what language I'm supposed to be speaking--I always try to speak German to Amerians and English to Germans and I keep getting confused. But the other night, for the first time, I dreamt that someone who can't speak German at all spoke to me in German! (It was my high school choir director, for those who are curious.) First she was speaking English, then all of a sudden switched to German, and when I woke up I was slightly weirded out. Since then it hasn't happened again but if I meet any of you non-German-speakers in my dreams speaking German, I'll be sure to tell you. =)
Okay, enough silliness. Back to work. Much love to all!!!
Man, I am such a blog slacker. Sorry for those who've been checking my blog and finding nothing new for however many weeks.
First things first--I have pictures from Munich!!!
by stinaberlin
We had an incredible trip. It was an excursion for the BCGS program. We stayed in a youth hostel right across the street from the central train station. The agenda included an opera (La Traviata--soprano was AMAZING!!! such a hard role!!!), a tour of the city with a focus on Hitler/WW2 history (very interesting), 3 different art museum visits (too many if you ask me, but they got progressively better and the last one was awesome!!!), and plenty of time for shopping and stroling along in such amazingly pretty areas as the English Gardens and the famous Marienplatz (where the big glockenspiel is!). To top it all off, we had ridiculously amazing weather... At night in the 50s maybe, during the day in the upper 60s. I only needed a real coat at night--the rest of the time a sweatshirt was plenty if not too much. (For you mathematicians who want to calculate more precisely, the papers said we had lows around 13 and highs around 18 Celsius.)
After getting back things were relatively low-key again, just trying to catch up on all that I missed. Oh yeah, when I got back, the "other roommate" had finally moved out, so I finally have my room now!! It's still a work in progress but I'll send pictures soon. The best part about it is that I have a double-size bed, which is quite a luxury for not being at home. =)
Last Sunday was really really really cool. The church celebrated it's 1st birthday, so we had everything all decorated like a birthday party with colorful balloons and streamers EVERYWHERE. The kids loved it!!! At one part of the service the kids brought in different "presents" that were reminders of different blessings from throughout the last year. A small choir from a nearby music school heard about our celebration and asked if they could come sing for us, and that was really cool. It was such a cool opportunity to share with them all that God has done in our church in the last year. Then, in addition to that, I officially became a member, along with a couple other people. That meant I got to share my testimony, which was an incredible experience. I think it was the most fluently I have ever spoken German before. I didn't have to think about the language, the words were just there and I was able to just speak freely. It was really awesome.
Afterward we had a ridiculous potluck feast... I of course ate way too much. Pastor's wife even made American birthday cake and we put candles on it let the kids blow them out. It was lots of fun. I spent the rest of the day at pastor's house, went to an evening service at another church with Tobi (there's a church in the area with tons of people our age, and it's a nice chance for us to go to a service where we can just sit back a bit and soak it all in, rather than having to run slides/play guitar/lead children's church/sing/etc), then afterward a prayer meeting back in Pankow. An incredible day, but at the end of it I was exhausted!
Then this past week was relatively normal, just with the added stress of trying to catch up from the week before and trying to prepare for a presentation I have to do on Tuesday. I'm nervous, but fortunately my prof is really nice and gave me some good tips. My presentation is about the influence of Western television on East Germany. About 80% of East Germans could receive West German TV, and it was never really expressly forbidden to watch it in East Germany, probably because it would've been really difficult to enforce. The effect of it though is pretty interesting...
Of course, Thursday was Thanksgiving, but no holiday for me. =( Germans didn't have pilgrims and Indians, unfortunately. =) But, the director of BCGS invited us all over for an incredible Thanksgiving dinner! Then, on top of that, pastor's wife thought it would be fun to have a Thanksgiving dinner at the church, so yesterday (Friday) I had a second Thanksgiving!!! Both were very nice. Who would've thought that in Germany I'd get to have two Thanksgivings?
Here's a really exciting piece of news too: My brother got into his first-choice college!!! He's going to Columbia College in Chicago to study composition and eventually film-scoring. He found out on Tuesday and left me a message on my cell phone. I am so excited!!! Of course, it's really strange to think about my little baby brother being all grown up... but he's awesome. =) Mom's birthday was Wednesday too so we got to chat, which was great. I wish my family could just get on an airplane right now and come visit me!
What else...? I can't think of anything in particular. Life is pretty good. School is frustrating sometimes--hard to motivate myself since it's hard to keep the long-term goals in mind when I'm bogged down in short-term stuff--and I definitely think the university system here has been my biggest culture shock. But it's getting better.
Oh yeah! Totally random, but people ask me all the time if I dream in German now or in English. The answer is both--not both separately, but both together. In fact I frequently dream that I'm somewhere and I can't figure out what language I'm supposed to be speaking--I always try to speak German to Amerians and English to Germans and I keep getting confused. But the other night, for the first time, I dreamt that someone who can't speak German at all spoke to me in German! (It was my high school choir director, for those who are curious.) First she was speaking English, then all of a sudden switched to German, and when I woke up I was slightly weirded out. Since then it hasn't happened again but if I meet any of you non-German-speakers in my dreams speaking German, I'll be sure to tell you. =)
Okay, enough silliness. Back to work. Much love to all!!!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
At least they have good cough drops
'Stina is sick. =( Yeah, kind of a bummer. Fortunatey, it happened at an O.K. time--I'm not missing anything too important. I just missed one day of work (yesterday). I'm pretty sure I will be well enough to lead worship at church again tomorrow, and I definitely think I will be well enough to go on the Munich trip with BCGS on Tuesday.
What do I have? Sore throat, headache, that sort of thing. Yesterday I was actually afraid it might be laryngitis because the pain was really deep in my throat, but today it's much better, so it's probably just some random virus. I did go to the doctor yesterday. That was interesting. He didn't really do any of the normal stuff doctors do every time you go to the doctor--weigh you, measure you, check your blood pressure, listen to your heart/lungs, take your temperature, look in your ears. When I came in, he just said, "What can I do for you?" I told him what was wrong, and he looked at my throat and felt my lymph nodes, and then he wrote me a prescription. I don't know exactly what he prescribed me, actually. One thing is a sort of pain-killer/fever reducer which he said will also help with the inflammation. He also prescribed to me some stuff to gurgle, which is amazing--it makes my throat feel so good!!! And did I mention that both drugs together only cost me 8 Euros? Crazy.
They also have some really great cough drops here. I have some really yummy ones that are raspberry flavored and just sort of keep your throat moist, and then some other great ones with Menthol that do the whole tingy thing while actually tasting good at the same time. =) In addition to that, I have had the most incredible variety of fruit juices to choose from--I found some peach-banana nectar that seriously has magical powers. Yummy and it feels sooooooo good on my throat.
So, really, that's all the news from here. Not much else is new. I'm feeling a lot better today but I'm stuck inside, which is kind of a bummer. I'm kinda bored. Fortunately it's a nasty day so at least I don't feel like I'm missing out by not being able to go outside. Tomorrow is my last Sunday leading worship--I believe I will be well enough to do it--and pastor and his family are coming home this weekend, which is good. I'm excited to have them back. There's some fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks.
Random observation--without Thanksgiving, I think Halloween signals to Germans that it's Christmas time, because there's already an unbelievable amount of Christmas stuff around. Christmas decorations, Christmas displays in stores, Lebkuchen everywhere... Hey, I can't complain! I'm up for Christmas starting early!
Something else random--I finally was able to find cheddar cheese and skim milk. Two things I thought didn't exist in Germany. Very exciting. Now I just need to find a decent salsa--the stuff I bought tastes like ketchup. (Yuck.)
Okay, sorry for the boring post. I'm bored... Send me emails! Post a comment! Tell me an exciting story about your life! Much love to all. =)
What do I have? Sore throat, headache, that sort of thing. Yesterday I was actually afraid it might be laryngitis because the pain was really deep in my throat, but today it's much better, so it's probably just some random virus. I did go to the doctor yesterday. That was interesting. He didn't really do any of the normal stuff doctors do every time you go to the doctor--weigh you, measure you, check your blood pressure, listen to your heart/lungs, take your temperature, look in your ears. When I came in, he just said, "What can I do for you?" I told him what was wrong, and he looked at my throat and felt my lymph nodes, and then he wrote me a prescription. I don't know exactly what he prescribed me, actually. One thing is a sort of pain-killer/fever reducer which he said will also help with the inflammation. He also prescribed to me some stuff to gurgle, which is amazing--it makes my throat feel so good!!! And did I mention that both drugs together only cost me 8 Euros? Crazy.
They also have some really great cough drops here. I have some really yummy ones that are raspberry flavored and just sort of keep your throat moist, and then some other great ones with Menthol that do the whole tingy thing while actually tasting good at the same time. =) In addition to that, I have had the most incredible variety of fruit juices to choose from--I found some peach-banana nectar that seriously has magical powers. Yummy and it feels sooooooo good on my throat.
So, really, that's all the news from here. Not much else is new. I'm feeling a lot better today but I'm stuck inside, which is kind of a bummer. I'm kinda bored. Fortunately it's a nasty day so at least I don't feel like I'm missing out by not being able to go outside. Tomorrow is my last Sunday leading worship--I believe I will be well enough to do it--and pastor and his family are coming home this weekend, which is good. I'm excited to have them back. There's some fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks.
Random observation--without Thanksgiving, I think Halloween signals to Germans that it's Christmas time, because there's already an unbelievable amount of Christmas stuff around. Christmas decorations, Christmas displays in stores, Lebkuchen everywhere... Hey, I can't complain! I'm up for Christmas starting early!
Something else random--I finally was able to find cheddar cheese and skim milk. Two things I thought didn't exist in Germany. Very exciting. Now I just need to find a decent salsa--the stuff I bought tastes like ketchup. (Yuck.)
Okay, sorry for the boring post. I'm bored... Send me emails! Post a comment! Tell me an exciting story about your life! Much love to all. =)
Thursday, November 02, 2006
November Snow... ?!?!?!?!?!
Say what? Yep, that's right... Berlin freakin' SNOWED on me!!! I was on my way to a small group in Pankow last night, and all of a sudden I looked up, and there was WHITE STUFF falling from the sky. I thought maybe I'd gone crazy, but then later during the small group it snowed a little more. Nothing that really stuck, but still... it was November 1st!!! The day after Halloween!!! What!?!??!!?!??!
Anyways, some other crazy happenings:
After small group Tobi and I stopped by the Heimlichs to pick up my Turkish book which I left there over the weekend, and on the way, we saw TWO Trabis!!! (For those who don't know, a Trabi is the kind of car everyone drove in East Germany back in those days. They're really quite funny little cars.) I didn't know anyone actually owned a Trabi anymore, but then in one night I saw two!!! Tobi thought I was just weird, but I had to stop and check them out. As if they were in a museum or something. (I'm allowed to be a tourist once in awhile.)
Tuesday night was choir practice. I missed practice last week, so maybe I missed something, but something very strange happened. Practice ended an hour early, and within 5 minutes it was transformed into a party. Beer, wine, food out the wazoo... yeah, I was totally baffled. Germans.
Yesterday in my history class, I actually heard someone use the phrase, "It's all sausage to me." Translation: It's all the same to me. Same=sausage. Doesn't get any more German than that.
Anyways, some other crazy happenings:
After small group Tobi and I stopped by the Heimlichs to pick up my Turkish book which I left there over the weekend, and on the way, we saw TWO Trabis!!! (For those who don't know, a Trabi is the kind of car everyone drove in East Germany back in those days. They're really quite funny little cars.) I didn't know anyone actually owned a Trabi anymore, but then in one night I saw two!!! Tobi thought I was just weird, but I had to stop and check them out. As if they were in a museum or something. (I'm allowed to be a tourist once in awhile.)
Tuesday night was choir practice. I missed practice last week, so maybe I missed something, but something very strange happened. Practice ended an hour early, and within 5 minutes it was transformed into a party. Beer, wine, food out the wazoo... yeah, I was totally baffled. Germans.
Yesterday in my history class, I actually heard someone use the phrase, "It's all sausage to me." Translation: It's all the same to me. Same=sausage. Doesn't get any more German than that.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Photos updated
Hello friends,
just thought I'd let you know I updated my photo album on Webshots of my apartment. It now shows my kitchen and more pics of my room, plus I added captions. :)
http://community.webshots.com/user/stinaberlin?vhost=community
just thought I'd let you know I updated my photo album on Webshots of my apartment. It now shows my kitchen and more pics of my room, plus I added captions. :)
http://community.webshots.com/user/stinaberlin?vhost=community
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Attack of the Pink Fuzz
Yes, I did pick that title just because I thought it would be a funny title. But I didn't just make it up out of nowhere. I really am being attacked by pink fuzz. Magenta, to be precise.
What is the source of this fuzz? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but there are several suspects. At the top of the list is the magenta chenille blanket I bought at Ikea. Chenille is somewhat infamous for spreading fuzz. I also have a magenta sweatshirt-jacket that could be contributing to the problem, as well as some pinkish purple towels. For the record, I washed all of these, but yet the fuzz remains. The room I'm living in right now has a hardwood floor (and is tiny, remember), and when I set my bag down on the floor and then pick it up, there's pink fuzz all over it. Once I move out (in a week, I hope!) I will vacuum it, but right now it's just too tight in there with my stuff.
Anyways... let's discuss some real news. Namely, the weekend. I had to finish a paper for the language practicum, so that came first. But I also went to a little "housewarming" party at my friend Matt's apartment--the whole BCGS clan has discussed having housewarming parties in all of our new apartments, and Matt was the first to make it happen. At the party we played German Taboo (spelled Tabu) which was hilarious, but of course we had to pass on like half of the cards either because of language or cultural differences that left us totally stumped. The "keine Ahnung" ("no clue") stack got pretty big! It was still fun though. This weekend is a Halloween party at Molly and Andrew's, and I already what I'm going as... but I want it to be a surprise. You'll have to wait for the pictures.
Sunday was pretty awesome, as usual. Great service, then spent the day at the Heimlichs (pastor's house) so I could use the internet with the convenience of wonderful company. :) I worked on my Full Measure arrangement ("Someday" by Nichole Nordeman) and also put some finishing touches on my paper. Tobi came over after awhile and graciously helped me with some grammatical corrections. We also had a hilarious conversation about Berliner dialect and Bavarian dialect. After that Tobi and I went back to the church for a prayer meeting, after which we ate dinner at the super yummy Chinese restaurant underneath our church (we're on the second floor). After that we worked on planning the music for the service for this coming Sunday because the Heimlichs are out of town. By the time we were done with that it was so late I had to ride the "Night-Bus" home. What other people do that late on a Sunday night, I really don't know!
It was no problem though because I don't have class on Mondays. :) So I slept in, printed my paper and turned it in, ran some other errands, and then ended up eating dinner at the nice Italian restaurant nextdoor to my apartment. Jeannie and her mom know the people that work there really well, and actually right now they are doing us a big favor--we only have one key between the two of us for the front door to the apartment, so whoever leaves the apartment last drops off the key there so that whoever comes home first can pick it up there. The people there are super friendly and I actually ended up chatting for awhile with them on Monday, after which they offered me a cup of coffee "on the house". After finishing my coffee I realized how late it was, so I just ate dinner there too. They have really good minestrone soup. :)
After that was music practice at church. It went okay. It's just hard because I just really don't have nearly enough piano or guitar experience to lead worship, but there's no one else to do it! Another women plays about as much guitar and piano as I do, so it works out between the two of us but it's a little shaky. I just don't want to distract people from worshiping. Please pray for me if you think of it!
Not too much else "special" to report on... visited another history class today that I really liked--problem is, I don't need another history class, I need a literature class! But I also visited a lit class today that is a possibility. I went to the Bibel Kreis yesterday too. There was actually a guy there who couldn't speak much German, so the girl from Vanderbilt was translating the whole time. She did an amazing job, but there was one hilarious moment when she got almost all the way through a sentence and then suddenly said, "Wait, what was my verb?" Classic.
That's all for now I believe... post comments! They make me smile. :)
What is the source of this fuzz? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but there are several suspects. At the top of the list is the magenta chenille blanket I bought at Ikea. Chenille is somewhat infamous for spreading fuzz. I also have a magenta sweatshirt-jacket that could be contributing to the problem, as well as some pinkish purple towels. For the record, I washed all of these, but yet the fuzz remains. The room I'm living in right now has a hardwood floor (and is tiny, remember), and when I set my bag down on the floor and then pick it up, there's pink fuzz all over it. Once I move out (in a week, I hope!) I will vacuum it, but right now it's just too tight in there with my stuff.
Anyways... let's discuss some real news. Namely, the weekend. I had to finish a paper for the language practicum, so that came first. But I also went to a little "housewarming" party at my friend Matt's apartment--the whole BCGS clan has discussed having housewarming parties in all of our new apartments, and Matt was the first to make it happen. At the party we played German Taboo (spelled Tabu) which was hilarious, but of course we had to pass on like half of the cards either because of language or cultural differences that left us totally stumped. The "keine Ahnung" ("no clue") stack got pretty big! It was still fun though. This weekend is a Halloween party at Molly and Andrew's, and I already what I'm going as... but I want it to be a surprise. You'll have to wait for the pictures.
Sunday was pretty awesome, as usual. Great service, then spent the day at the Heimlichs (pastor's house) so I could use the internet with the convenience of wonderful company. :) I worked on my Full Measure arrangement ("Someday" by Nichole Nordeman) and also put some finishing touches on my paper. Tobi came over after awhile and graciously helped me with some grammatical corrections. We also had a hilarious conversation about Berliner dialect and Bavarian dialect. After that Tobi and I went back to the church for a prayer meeting, after which we ate dinner at the super yummy Chinese restaurant underneath our church (we're on the second floor). After that we worked on planning the music for the service for this coming Sunday because the Heimlichs are out of town. By the time we were done with that it was so late I had to ride the "Night-Bus" home. What other people do that late on a Sunday night, I really don't know!
It was no problem though because I don't have class on Mondays. :) So I slept in, printed my paper and turned it in, ran some other errands, and then ended up eating dinner at the nice Italian restaurant nextdoor to my apartment. Jeannie and her mom know the people that work there really well, and actually right now they are doing us a big favor--we only have one key between the two of us for the front door to the apartment, so whoever leaves the apartment last drops off the key there so that whoever comes home first can pick it up there. The people there are super friendly and I actually ended up chatting for awhile with them on Monday, after which they offered me a cup of coffee "on the house". After finishing my coffee I realized how late it was, so I just ate dinner there too. They have really good minestrone soup. :)
After that was music practice at church. It went okay. It's just hard because I just really don't have nearly enough piano or guitar experience to lead worship, but there's no one else to do it! Another women plays about as much guitar and piano as I do, so it works out between the two of us but it's a little shaky. I just don't want to distract people from worshiping. Please pray for me if you think of it!
Not too much else "special" to report on... visited another history class today that I really liked--problem is, I don't need another history class, I need a literature class! But I also visited a lit class today that is a possibility. I went to the Bibel Kreis yesterday too. There was actually a guy there who couldn't speak much German, so the girl from Vanderbilt was translating the whole time. She did an amazing job, but there was one hilarious moment when she got almost all the way through a sentence and then suddenly said, "Wait, what was my verb?" Classic.
That's all for now I believe... post comments! They make me smile. :)
Saturday, October 21, 2006
So, I made it through the first week of classes. It doesn't really feel like I went through a normal first week of class because I'm still in the process of visiting classes and trying to decide which ones to take--it's a much harder decision than at Penn. Nonetheless it was a pretty tiring week, especially since I also had to write a 5-page paper this week as my last assignment for the language practicum. I thought I'd have plenty of free time to take my time with it, but my free time likes to pull a disappearing act on me. But I really can't complain--I guess I should've just expected for things to be crazier than normal, you know, being in a foreign country and all...heh...
Here's what I've experienced so far:
A boring, hard to understand, and "Whoa, I know absolutely nothing about German literature" lecture (not going to take this one!)
A really fun history seminar called Television and History--cool prof, met some nice people, only bad thing about it is it's at 8 am!!! In Berlin, in the WINTER!!!!! It is a long, cold, dark trek to class Tuesday mornings... but I think I still want to take the class.
Great Turkish class. It's actually Turkish 2, and I already took Turkish 1 and 2 at Penn, but I forgot a lot and it's a little bit different taking it in German, so I definitely think this is the right level for me right now. I'd rather go back and repeat a few things so that I really learn it well than try to just dive in over my head. Teacher and classmates are really nice, and I actually really like learning Turkish in German, at least so far. I'm actually probably more excited about Turkish right now than anything else!
The course offered through BCGS, which is about the relationship between Germany and the Middle East. I think it'll be interesting and we already know the prof really well, and he's fun.
I also went to a seminar on Kleist (a German author) but I didn't really get too much of a feel for the class because all the prof did was introduce himself, discuss a few logistical things, and said, "Okay, see ya next week!" So I still don't know about that one. Nice thing is, a girl from BCGS who knows a lot more about German lit than I do is taking the course.
In addition to that, I auditioned (and got into) a big choir for students from the FU and the technical university, and that was pretty cool. Very similar to the Choral Society at Penn, which I actually dropped out of after the first few weeks. The thing that's tough about it is that I love singing and I miss choir a lot, but it's just not the same when there's not a whole lot of meaning behind it. With music I always have to ask myself why I'm doing it, and if it's just for the sake of performance, it's not really worth it to me. So, these thoughts are definitely coming up again about this choir here, but I do feel a little more inclined to stick with it this time because it is a cultural experience as well. And I just don't know how much I will have to take voice lessons, especially this semester, and in a choir I can at least keep my voice in shape. We'll see.
Speaking of not having much time this semester, I do have some exciting news--I got than internship! The people I will work with are really nice, and I'm excited about the opportunity. I'll have three main jobs--writing short articles in English for American students preparing to study at the FU, translating articles for a monthly newsletter/magazine that they want to be able to offer in German and in English, and researching various topics that would be relevant for exchange students at the FU. What's nice about it is that it'll only be 5-10 hours a week, flexible scheduling, and it's only for 6 weeks--after 6 weeks I can keep working there if everything is going well, but if it's too much, I'm not obligated. I think that's pretty cool. And, it pays 10€ an hour... with no taxes!!!
Probably my last piece of news is that I am going to become a member of my church here. My pastor asked me about it, and I couldn't really think of a reason not to, so I'm going to do it. I'm really super excited about being part of a church family here--it still amazes me constantly.
Well, I'm hungry, so I think I'll be signing off for now... oh yeah, I have uploaded pictures!!! I have pictures of my apartment (unfortunately right now they're just of my little tiny room where I'm living until November), pictures from Stettin/Sczcecin, and from kite-flying. Here are the links:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/554842136YKXoiY (Just realized this one is incomplete... the photo of my kitchen is missing, and also the photos that show how my bed comes out of the wall...)
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554846580nbmFeY
http://travel.webshots.com/album/554992735bzyTYO
Much love to everyone!!!
Here's what I've experienced so far:
A boring, hard to understand, and "Whoa, I know absolutely nothing about German literature" lecture (not going to take this one!)
A really fun history seminar called Television and History--cool prof, met some nice people, only bad thing about it is it's at 8 am!!! In Berlin, in the WINTER!!!!! It is a long, cold, dark trek to class Tuesday mornings... but I think I still want to take the class.
Great Turkish class. It's actually Turkish 2, and I already took Turkish 1 and 2 at Penn, but I forgot a lot and it's a little bit different taking it in German, so I definitely think this is the right level for me right now. I'd rather go back and repeat a few things so that I really learn it well than try to just dive in over my head. Teacher and classmates are really nice, and I actually really like learning Turkish in German, at least so far. I'm actually probably more excited about Turkish right now than anything else!
The course offered through BCGS, which is about the relationship between Germany and the Middle East. I think it'll be interesting and we already know the prof really well, and he's fun.
I also went to a seminar on Kleist (a German author) but I didn't really get too much of a feel for the class because all the prof did was introduce himself, discuss a few logistical things, and said, "Okay, see ya next week!" So I still don't know about that one. Nice thing is, a girl from BCGS who knows a lot more about German lit than I do is taking the course.
In addition to that, I auditioned (and got into) a big choir for students from the FU and the technical university, and that was pretty cool. Very similar to the Choral Society at Penn, which I actually dropped out of after the first few weeks. The thing that's tough about it is that I love singing and I miss choir a lot, but it's just not the same when there's not a whole lot of meaning behind it. With music I always have to ask myself why I'm doing it, and if it's just for the sake of performance, it's not really worth it to me. So, these thoughts are definitely coming up again about this choir here, but I do feel a little more inclined to stick with it this time because it is a cultural experience as well. And I just don't know how much I will have to take voice lessons, especially this semester, and in a choir I can at least keep my voice in shape. We'll see.
Speaking of not having much time this semester, I do have some exciting news--I got than internship! The people I will work with are really nice, and I'm excited about the opportunity. I'll have three main jobs--writing short articles in English for American students preparing to study at the FU, translating articles for a monthly newsletter/magazine that they want to be able to offer in German and in English, and researching various topics that would be relevant for exchange students at the FU. What's nice about it is that it'll only be 5-10 hours a week, flexible scheduling, and it's only for 6 weeks--after 6 weeks I can keep working there if everything is going well, but if it's too much, I'm not obligated. I think that's pretty cool. And, it pays 10€ an hour... with no taxes!!!
Probably my last piece of news is that I am going to become a member of my church here. My pastor asked me about it, and I couldn't really think of a reason not to, so I'm going to do it. I'm really super excited about being part of a church family here--it still amazes me constantly.
Well, I'm hungry, so I think I'll be signing off for now... oh yeah, I have uploaded pictures!!! I have pictures of my apartment (unfortunately right now they're just of my little tiny room where I'm living until November), pictures from Stettin/Sczcecin, and from kite-flying. Here are the links:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/554842136YKXoiY (Just realized this one is incomplete... the photo of my kitchen is missing, and also the photos that show how my bed comes out of the wall...)
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554846580nbmFeY
http://travel.webshots.com/album/554992735bzyTYO
Much love to everyone!!!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Abendmahl, Kite-flying, Hoopla!, Cosi fan tutte, Heimweh, Paid internship?!?!, Bibel Kreis
Yikes, much to update on... I think I will organize it into chapters. :)
Abendmahl.
I had Communion for the first time here on Sunday. It was pretty cool. Communioon for me is always a reminder of two major things: first of all, Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and second of all, that we are all one body in Christ. Sharing in Communion at a church in Germany was just awesome... it reminded me how cool it is that Jesus paid the price for the sins of all men all over the world, and all over the world we have brothers and sisters in Christ.
Kite-flying.
After church on Sunday, a really nice family invited me over for the afternoon to eat lunch with them, fly kites in the park, and then have Abendbrot as well. It was so much fun!!! I don't think I've ever realy flown a kite in the US, but it was so much fun and it was the perfect day for it. It was really windy, and we went to this park that has this big open hillside. I seriously think everyone in Berlin was there flying kites that day! I'd never seen so many. Also, the kids in the family (age 7 and 9) were super sweet. I had tons of fun. I am so thankful for all these nice families here!
Hoopla!
This is my new favorite German word. Gmail says it whenever something goes wrong, like if you try to send an email but youÄve lost your connection or something. But I never heard a real person say it until Sunday in the park. Whenever the kite would come crashing down to the ground, they'd say, "Hoopla!"
Cosi fan tutte.
On Monday night, we went to the opera! It was totally awesome. We saw Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) at the Komische Oper (Comic Opera? Comedic Opera? Don't know what it is in English) and it was hilarious. They did a German translation and then through in some modern twists. We had a great time. The soprano was also totally amazing and made me realy want to get back to voice lessons!
Heimweh.
The German word for Hmesickness. I had a little bit of it this week, but I think it really had more to do with the fact that I was super tired. What's really interesting though is that I actually had a couple dreams this week in which for some reason I went home early, and in my dreams I was totally bummed not to be in Germany anymore and speaking German. I guess it was a reminder to be thankful for my opportunities here. I really love Berlin, I mainly just wish that everyone I love back home was here too! Such is life... :)
Paid internship?!?!
One little thing that helped cheer me up this week: My teacher for the language practicum told me this week that a woman from Distributed Campus--a web service for international students at the FU--is looking to hire a student to conduct interviews with international students and write and translate texts relevant to international students at the FU. He told me he recommended me to her and gave me her contact information so I could write to her. I did of course, and I sent her my German resume!, and she wrote me back saying she thought I sounded like a great candidate and she wanted to schedule a time next week to meet with me. How cool is that? I never expected anything like that and I was flattered that my teacher thought of me for the position.
Bibel Kreis.
Today I went to a Bible study (or Bibel Kreis, literally "Bible circle") at the FU. It's a smal group of students but it was a great time of worship and Bible study. I really enjoyed spending time with some German Christians my age, and I also met an American grad student from Vanderbilt who happens to know my German tutor from high school! We enjoyed the time and are going to try to coordinate our schedules so we can find a good time for Bible study during the semester.
Other stuff.
Classes start next week, and I'm kinda nervous. I really don't know what I want to take. Fortunatey I have awhile to "shop around" before I have to officially decide, but it's still kinda stressful and scary. However, the language practicum is over, and though I enjoyed it, it feels good to have completed it. Things are about to start picking up here. Real classes for one thing, but also extracurricular stuff... I plan to audition for a choir next week, and I might also look into taking voice lessons. We'll see how everything goes. Pictures are still on the way--I need to find an internet cafe where I can use my laptop and have faster internet. I miss you all and I hope to hear from everyone soon--don't forget that you don't have to have a Blgger account to post a comment here on my blog. Much love to everyone!!
Abendmahl.
I had Communion for the first time here on Sunday. It was pretty cool. Communioon for me is always a reminder of two major things: first of all, Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and second of all, that we are all one body in Christ. Sharing in Communion at a church in Germany was just awesome... it reminded me how cool it is that Jesus paid the price for the sins of all men all over the world, and all over the world we have brothers and sisters in Christ.
Kite-flying.
After church on Sunday, a really nice family invited me over for the afternoon to eat lunch with them, fly kites in the park, and then have Abendbrot as well. It was so much fun!!! I don't think I've ever realy flown a kite in the US, but it was so much fun and it was the perfect day for it. It was really windy, and we went to this park that has this big open hillside. I seriously think everyone in Berlin was there flying kites that day! I'd never seen so many. Also, the kids in the family (age 7 and 9) were super sweet. I had tons of fun. I am so thankful for all these nice families here!
Hoopla!
This is my new favorite German word. Gmail says it whenever something goes wrong, like if you try to send an email but youÄve lost your connection or something. But I never heard a real person say it until Sunday in the park. Whenever the kite would come crashing down to the ground, they'd say, "Hoopla!"
Cosi fan tutte.
On Monday night, we went to the opera! It was totally awesome. We saw Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) at the Komische Oper (Comic Opera? Comedic Opera? Don't know what it is in English) and it was hilarious. They did a German translation and then through in some modern twists. We had a great time. The soprano was also totally amazing and made me realy want to get back to voice lessons!
Heimweh.
The German word for Hmesickness. I had a little bit of it this week, but I think it really had more to do with the fact that I was super tired. What's really interesting though is that I actually had a couple dreams this week in which for some reason I went home early, and in my dreams I was totally bummed not to be in Germany anymore and speaking German. I guess it was a reminder to be thankful for my opportunities here. I really love Berlin, I mainly just wish that everyone I love back home was here too! Such is life... :)
Paid internship?!?!
One little thing that helped cheer me up this week: My teacher for the language practicum told me this week that a woman from Distributed Campus--a web service for international students at the FU--is looking to hire a student to conduct interviews with international students and write and translate texts relevant to international students at the FU. He told me he recommended me to her and gave me her contact information so I could write to her. I did of course, and I sent her my German resume!, and she wrote me back saying she thought I sounded like a great candidate and she wanted to schedule a time next week to meet with me. How cool is that? I never expected anything like that and I was flattered that my teacher thought of me for the position.
Bibel Kreis.
Today I went to a Bible study (or Bibel Kreis, literally "Bible circle") at the FU. It's a smal group of students but it was a great time of worship and Bible study. I really enjoyed spending time with some German Christians my age, and I also met an American grad student from Vanderbilt who happens to know my German tutor from high school! We enjoyed the time and are going to try to coordinate our schedules so we can find a good time for Bible study during the semester.
Other stuff.
Classes start next week, and I'm kinda nervous. I really don't know what I want to take. Fortunatey I have awhile to "shop around" before I have to officially decide, but it's still kinda stressful and scary. However, the language practicum is over, and though I enjoyed it, it feels good to have completed it. Things are about to start picking up here. Real classes for one thing, but also extracurricular stuff... I plan to audition for a choir next week, and I might also look into taking voice lessons. We'll see how everything goes. Pictures are still on the way--I need to find an internet cafe where I can use my laptop and have faster internet. I miss you all and I hope to hear from everyone soon--don't forget that you don't have to have a Blgger account to post a comment here on my blog. Much love to everyone!!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Day of German One-ness, Poland, and a German lesson from a 3-year-old
I.E., my week. :) It's been a rather exciting week, so there's much to update on...
Monday was my last day with my host family. Oddly enough, they weren't home for dinner, so I got to go out with some friends to celebrate the Day of German Unity ("Tag der deutschen Einheit"--"Einheit" actually means one-ness) in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The actual holiday was Tuesday, but Germans know how to party, so they made it a four-day weekend event. :) It was actually WAY cool. Especially to be celebrating that in Berlin. In front of the Brandenburg Gate there were all these tents set up for beer, sweets, souvenirs, etc., and there was also a big stage for a band and even a ferris wheel! We had a lot of fun an dI bught a cool t-shirt with the Berlin "Ampelmann" (stoplight-man) on it. That's the little green guy above my picture on the right. The "walk" and "don't walk" lights in East Berlin were different from those in West Berlin, and it just so happens that the East German ones were super cute. Instead of a lame little stick-figure, he's a plump little guy who looks rather jolly, wearing his little hat and crossing the street. His red counterpart is also cute - the shirt has the green guy on the front and the red on the back. Anyways, sorry for the tangent, but today the East-Berlin Ampelmann is just a symbol for Berlin as a whole - there are even some East-Berlin stoplights now in west Berlin! - and a rather trendy one at that. I think it's cute. :) I should also mention there was a whole tent devoted to Haribo candies. They had everything! Oh yeah, and you know those German roasted nuts you can buy sometimes at the mall? They actually are German! They had them at the celebration and they were soooooo good.
Tuesday we didn't have class because of the holiday, so most of us used the day to move into our new apartments. That went really well. My roommate, Jeannie, is so nice!!! Her parents live only 5 minutes away, so her mom was actually there too to write up the rent contract and stuff. She was super nice too. She treated us to lunch at the little Italian/pizza place just down the street from us. They know all the people that work there practically like family and they were all super nice and interested in where I came from and all that. It was really fun.
My apartment is also pretty cool. Right now I am actually not living in my room. The guy who has been living there found out he had to stay an extra month right after Jeannie said I could have the room, so for October I pay only half rent and I'm living in the spare third room, which is too tiny to live in for a year but no big deal for a month. During the year we'll use it for eating meals and for extra closet space, but right now it's my room. My bed comes out of the wall. It's so cool. It's kind of annoying that I have to put my bed away before I can access the clothes in my closet (photos coming soon!), but it's also a good thing for me because it means that once I get up and get dressed, I can't lay back down in my bed and fall asleep again! (Mom, you should've thought of that years ago!!) Jeannie also brought me an extra TV they had at their house, so I have my own TV for the first time ever. Only problem is, TV is way more tempting here because I can convince myself it's "homework". :) Other than moving in I didn't really do much. I thought we might go back to Brandenburg Gate but everyone else was also busy moving in and getting settled. Late that night I heard people setting off fireworks. I think that's so cool.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. Then on Friday, we of course had an "excursion," this time to Poland! We went to Stettin, which is the German spelling for Sczcecin, pronounced something like "shchehcheen". Yes, that's correct... a "sh" and a "ch" put together. The weather was terrible but we still had a good time. The city is really pretty and has a cool history - it's really close to the German border and located on the Ostsee (the Baltic Sea?). In olden days it was part of the German state of Pommerania, then of course later it was conquered by Hitler and then ruled by Communism under the control of the USSR. History has made it's mark on Stettin - we saw super-old churches and a palace (one church was built in the 12th century!) but also tons of buildings that serve as evidence of WWII and Communism... buidings that were used for Communist headquarters, buildings that just barely survived WWII and haven't been renovated... pretty amazing. After a tour of the city and a boat ride around the harbor (which were unfortunately cold and rainy), we ate at an awesome Russian restaurant. Then we had about an hour and a half of free time, so we went to the mall because stuff in Poland is cheap. :) Fortunately one of the girls in BCGS is Polish, so she was our translator for the day and got us around where we needed to go. We were all very thankful for her! Don't worry, photos from the trip are on the way.
Today I went over to the church to practice the music for tomorrow morning, and that was fun. I've gotten to learn a bunch of cool German worship songs. :) Afterward Manu invited me over for lunch, and I actually ended up spending the whole afternoon there. Lunch was nice, and I also got to play with their little ones, particularly Robert, their 3-year-old. We put together puzzles, which was cool because this one puzzle was of Noah's ark with all the animals, and Robert got to teach me the names of all the animals I didn't know. So I had a German lesson from a 3-year-old. :) Manu and I also had some great conversations, which was really nice. Then Tobi dropped by and offered to take me with him to Ikea, since both of us had stuff we needed to buy there. That was a fun trip. Ikea is nuts.
And now, here I am, back at my apartment. Doing laundry... yippee. :) Special shout-out to Alan, it's his birthday today!!! Much love to everyone... I've got some postcards I want to send, hopefully one of these days I'll quit being lazy and actually send them. :)
Monday was my last day with my host family. Oddly enough, they weren't home for dinner, so I got to go out with some friends to celebrate the Day of German Unity ("Tag der deutschen Einheit"--"Einheit" actually means one-ness) in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The actual holiday was Tuesday, but Germans know how to party, so they made it a four-day weekend event. :) It was actually WAY cool. Especially to be celebrating that in Berlin. In front of the Brandenburg Gate there were all these tents set up for beer, sweets, souvenirs, etc., and there was also a big stage for a band and even a ferris wheel! We had a lot of fun an dI bught a cool t-shirt with the Berlin "Ampelmann" (stoplight-man) on it. That's the little green guy above my picture on the right. The "walk" and "don't walk" lights in East Berlin were different from those in West Berlin, and it just so happens that the East German ones were super cute. Instead of a lame little stick-figure, he's a plump little guy who looks rather jolly, wearing his little hat and crossing the street. His red counterpart is also cute - the shirt has the green guy on the front and the red on the back. Anyways, sorry for the tangent, but today the East-Berlin Ampelmann is just a symbol for Berlin as a whole - there are even some East-Berlin stoplights now in west Berlin! - and a rather trendy one at that. I think it's cute. :) I should also mention there was a whole tent devoted to Haribo candies. They had everything! Oh yeah, and you know those German roasted nuts you can buy sometimes at the mall? They actually are German! They had them at the celebration and they were soooooo good.
Tuesday we didn't have class because of the holiday, so most of us used the day to move into our new apartments. That went really well. My roommate, Jeannie, is so nice!!! Her parents live only 5 minutes away, so her mom was actually there too to write up the rent contract and stuff. She was super nice too. She treated us to lunch at the little Italian/pizza place just down the street from us. They know all the people that work there practically like family and they were all super nice and interested in where I came from and all that. It was really fun.
My apartment is also pretty cool. Right now I am actually not living in my room. The guy who has been living there found out he had to stay an extra month right after Jeannie said I could have the room, so for October I pay only half rent and I'm living in the spare third room, which is too tiny to live in for a year but no big deal for a month. During the year we'll use it for eating meals and for extra closet space, but right now it's my room. My bed comes out of the wall. It's so cool. It's kind of annoying that I have to put my bed away before I can access the clothes in my closet (photos coming soon!), but it's also a good thing for me because it means that once I get up and get dressed, I can't lay back down in my bed and fall asleep again! (Mom, you should've thought of that years ago!!) Jeannie also brought me an extra TV they had at their house, so I have my own TV for the first time ever. Only problem is, TV is way more tempting here because I can convince myself it's "homework". :) Other than moving in I didn't really do much. I thought we might go back to Brandenburg Gate but everyone else was also busy moving in and getting settled. Late that night I heard people setting off fireworks. I think that's so cool.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. Then on Friday, we of course had an "excursion," this time to Poland! We went to Stettin, which is the German spelling for Sczcecin, pronounced something like "shchehcheen". Yes, that's correct... a "sh" and a "ch" put together. The weather was terrible but we still had a good time. The city is really pretty and has a cool history - it's really close to the German border and located on the Ostsee (the Baltic Sea?). In olden days it was part of the German state of Pommerania, then of course later it was conquered by Hitler and then ruled by Communism under the control of the USSR. History has made it's mark on Stettin - we saw super-old churches and a palace (one church was built in the 12th century!) but also tons of buildings that serve as evidence of WWII and Communism... buidings that were used for Communist headquarters, buildings that just barely survived WWII and haven't been renovated... pretty amazing. After a tour of the city and a boat ride around the harbor (which were unfortunately cold and rainy), we ate at an awesome Russian restaurant. Then we had about an hour and a half of free time, so we went to the mall because stuff in Poland is cheap. :) Fortunately one of the girls in BCGS is Polish, so she was our translator for the day and got us around where we needed to go. We were all very thankful for her! Don't worry, photos from the trip are on the way.
Today I went over to the church to practice the music for tomorrow morning, and that was fun. I've gotten to learn a bunch of cool German worship songs. :) Afterward Manu invited me over for lunch, and I actually ended up spending the whole afternoon there. Lunch was nice, and I also got to play with their little ones, particularly Robert, their 3-year-old. We put together puzzles, which was cool because this one puzzle was of Noah's ark with all the animals, and Robert got to teach me the names of all the animals I didn't know. So I had a German lesson from a 3-year-old. :) Manu and I also had some great conversations, which was really nice. Then Tobi dropped by and offered to take me with him to Ikea, since both of us had stuff we needed to buy there. That was a fun trip. Ikea is nuts.
And now, here I am, back at my apartment. Doing laundry... yippee. :) Special shout-out to Alan, it's his birthday today!!! Much love to everyone... I've got some postcards I want to send, hopefully one of these days I'll quit being lazy and actually send them. :)
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