Donnerstag, Oktober 27, 2005
--insert corny 'Life is Wonderful' title here--
Sorry about the absence of blogging! Gotta get my butt back in gear :)
Wed, Thurs, and Fri were great days. I am spectacularly happy here!
On Wednesday I hung out with Henrik in the morning. Over vacation (which I will post about soon!) I introduced him to Sudoku (the awesome logic game taking over the world). In Sardinia, I would often bring German homework down to the beach, and Henrik would take a break from the water to lie by my blanket and 'help.' (I, of course, had to search through my book to find stuff he could help with & that I could explain to him in pidgin German! Native speakers are awesome for knowing the genders of words tho. I didn't have my dictionary, but Henrik could quickly tell me if a word was 'der,' 'die,' or 'das.') He came over once while I was doing SuDoku, but I like to do the really difficult puzzles so when I was finished we switched over to an easier one and he 'helped' until he got frustrated. Back at the hotel I realized that I had also brought another SuDoku book with me, this one had puzzles that only used the numbers 1-4 or 1-6. I gave some to Henrik and he really liked them, so on Wednesday he came down to my room to do some more. He is getting really good! (I found myself feeling almost competitive, which is a bit pathetic...) It was cool to introduce SuDoku to someone though :). Now I have gotten CousinKate & Henrik!
Wednesday evening I decided to run to German class--about 4 miles away, no biggie. I packed my books and a change of clothes (and body spray and deodorant!) in my little pink backpack and took off. I had a horrible headache in the AM that had disappeared but came back with a vengeance during the run. I thought I was going to die. I had to stop and walk, even sit down and close my eyes for a minute. Finally I gave in and walked over to an Apotheke to buy some aspirin. We have this aspirin that dissolves on your tongue--it's not too bad and feels almost like alka seltzer. Sucked some down then realized I was going to be laaaate and hauled bootie to class--already feeling a little better (which is ridiculous, I know). The funny thing is, I ran to Deutsch class on both Wed & Thurs and called myself the 'smelly kid' (think Big Daddy with Adam Sandler). Running to class and only toweling off would undoubtedly make me the 'smelly kid' in the US--although, the 'towelling off' option here is something I never really explored at WM. I would just go to my friends' rooms post-workout and plop down or head over to the WRC and work on my thesis--sweat and all. I think it used to make my Little Susan laugh and cringe simultaneously... like 'Haha Heather is so clueless' + 'Eww... Heather is so clueless.' Here in Deutschland, I don't think running-shower=smellykid. Different standards... eek.
Thursday I got to teach my class again. A dog chased me while I was biking to the UBahn @ Kurze-Kamp-Strasse which does not make me happy. I am already wary of dogs and it becomes even scarier when they are big (as it seems 99% of the dogs here are) and don't speak the same language as you (you know what I mean!). So this dog runs after me (eek!!) and it takes me a few minutes to finally get some German out...'Stop' but it is pronounced 'Shtop!' That did it ;-) Thursday's Uni class is smaller, but still good... Not 'in love' with anyone in this class (opposed to Tues&Fri) but everyone seemed pretty cool. I felt soooo bad Thursday night though. I got superfrustrated in my Deutsch class. Why don't these people just get it??? I definitely grumbled aloud at one point, and when I went to talk to my prof after class (about getting a German tandem-buddy & seeing if there are any English positions opened at the Bildungsverein) he asked if everything was ok. I had to apologize profusely but he was chill. He understood why I was frustrated, and we talked about the differences between everyone in class. I mean, I have taken another language and I just graduated from Uni--I am in learning 'mode.' Some of the Turkish or Thai women in my course are not used to learning. This is new for them. Of course I knew that, but when you spend 1/2 hour struggling through articles... (OK, and I am an evil bit**, happy??) Oh... speaking of Thai women, Lars told me that many Thai women in Germany are here because old, unmarried German men go to Thailand and 'get them.' I don't know if it is a service or what, but both women in my class are married to olllld German men. One showed us pics of her kids (who she had to leave in Thailand!) and then showed us pictures of her husband. Wow. Their wedding was a traditional Thai wedding, and this German guy just looked sooo weird in this outfit. Can you imagine marrying someone you couldn't even talk to and having to leave your children? It is really tragic. What must their lives have been like to make these old German men so attractive?
Wed, Thurs, and Fri were great days. I am spectacularly happy here!
On Wednesday I hung out with Henrik in the morning. Over vacation (which I will post about soon!) I introduced him to Sudoku (the awesome logic game taking over the world). In Sardinia, I would often bring German homework down to the beach, and Henrik would take a break from the water to lie by my blanket and 'help.' (I, of course, had to search through my book to find stuff he could help with & that I could explain to him in pidgin German! Native speakers are awesome for knowing the genders of words tho. I didn't have my dictionary, but Henrik could quickly tell me if a word was 'der,' 'die,' or 'das.') He came over once while I was doing SuDoku, but I like to do the really difficult puzzles so when I was finished we switched over to an easier one and he 'helped' until he got frustrated. Back at the hotel I realized that I had also brought another SuDoku book with me, this one had puzzles that only used the numbers 1-4 or 1-6. I gave some to Henrik and he really liked them, so on Wednesday he came down to my room to do some more. He is getting really good! (I found myself feeling almost competitive, which is a bit pathetic...) It was cool to introduce SuDoku to someone though :). Now I have gotten CousinKate & Henrik!
Wednesday evening I decided to run to German class--about 4 miles away, no biggie. I packed my books and a change of clothes (and body spray and deodorant!) in my little pink backpack and took off. I had a horrible headache in the AM that had disappeared but came back with a vengeance during the run. I thought I was going to die. I had to stop and walk, even sit down and close my eyes for a minute. Finally I gave in and walked over to an Apotheke to buy some aspirin. We have this aspirin that dissolves on your tongue--it's not too bad and feels almost like alka seltzer. Sucked some down then realized I was going to be laaaate and hauled bootie to class--already feeling a little better (which is ridiculous, I know). The funny thing is, I ran to Deutsch class on both Wed & Thurs and called myself the 'smelly kid' (think Big Daddy with Adam Sandler). Running to class and only toweling off would undoubtedly make me the 'smelly kid' in the US--although, the 'towelling off' option here is something I never really explored at WM. I would just go to my friends' rooms post-workout and plop down or head over to the WRC and work on my thesis--sweat and all. I think it used to make my Little Susan laugh and cringe simultaneously... like 'Haha Heather is so clueless' + 'Eww... Heather is so clueless.' Here in Deutschland, I don't think running-shower=smellykid. Different standards... eek.
Thursday I got to teach my class again. A dog chased me while I was biking to the UBahn @ Kurze-Kamp-Strasse which does not make me happy. I am already wary of dogs and it becomes even scarier when they are big (as it seems 99% of the dogs here are) and don't speak the same language as you (you know what I mean!). So this dog runs after me (eek!!) and it takes me a few minutes to finally get some German out...'Stop' but it is pronounced 'Shtop!' That did it ;-) Thursday's Uni class is smaller, but still good... Not 'in love' with anyone in this class (opposed to Tues&Fri) but everyone seemed pretty cool. I felt soooo bad Thursday night though. I got superfrustrated in my Deutsch class. Why don't these people just get it??? I definitely grumbled aloud at one point, and when I went to talk to my prof after class (about getting a German tandem-buddy & seeing if there are any English positions opened at the Bildungsverein) he asked if everything was ok. I had to apologize profusely but he was chill. He understood why I was frustrated, and we talked about the differences between everyone in class. I mean, I have taken another language and I just graduated from Uni--I am in learning 'mode.' Some of the Turkish or Thai women in my course are not used to learning. This is new for them. Of course I knew that, but when you spend 1/2 hour struggling through articles... (OK, and I am an evil bit**, happy??) Oh... speaking of Thai women, Lars told me that many Thai women in Germany are here because old, unmarried German men go to Thailand and 'get them.' I don't know if it is a service or what, but both women in my class are married to olllld German men. One showed us pics of her kids (who she had to leave in Thailand!) and then showed us pictures of her husband. Wow. Their wedding was a traditional Thai wedding, and this German guy just looked sooo weird in this outfit. Can you imagine marrying someone you couldn't even talk to and having to leave your children? It is really tragic. What must their lives have been like to make these old German men so attractive?
# posted by Heather @ 11:13 PM 
