In case you’re keeping score at home, here’s the nitty gritty for my journey this weekend:
Rotary booked me a flight from Frankfurt to Dresden (I’m the only scholar here for whom they did this – everyone else had to find their own train tickets), and I leave at 9am. It’s only an hour flight, subsequently putting me in Dresden at 10am, where I will be met by my host counselor. I will be staying with his family for the weekend until I can move into my dorm Monday morning. He’s married with three kids, ages 15, 18, and 20, so it should be a good weekend and they (at least he) seem like great people. It is such a comfort just to know that someone is there waiting for me on the other end – it makes a huge difference.
Since nothing is ever open on the weekends here, my first two weekdays will be crazy nuts. I have to move into my dorm, open a bank account, register for classes, and apply for my student visa – but I can’t register before I apply for my visa, and I can’t get a bank account before I register, but there’s no telling how long it will take to get a visa. Wednesday is a national holiday, Thursday is international student orientation, I’ll take the weekend to get settled, and then Monday classes begin!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
One Month Reflection
Time to leave Frankfurt. That means that this coming Saturday I will have been in Germany for one month. It has definitely been the hardest month of my life, with plenty of ups and downs and learning experiences as I have truly had to rely only on myself as I begin to navigate and live in this foreign country. It’s only been one month, but I feel like I have been here a year already.
It has been a transition month to ease me into the real deal, which begins when I set foot in Dresden. Although I have physically been in Germany, all my friends thus far are Americans with varying levels of German proficiency, so we all speak English because it is less awkward among us all. I have been speaking more English than I will speak in the next ten months, even though right now I am speaking German more often than I ever have in my life. It is nothing compared to what is coming up, and I can pretty much kiss the English language goodbye starting Saturday, except to communicate with you fine people. “They” say it takes three months to totally acclimate yourself to a language, so I estimate Christmastime will be when I finally speak naturally (or at least more so than now).
There has been a lot of pressure to travel a lot now (I think we have put it on ourselves), while we still have the chance and we’re still not busy, but very few of us have actually gone notable places thus far. At this point my biggest urge was to just get settled and feel comfortable here before I start learning and exploring even more places, so that’s what I did. Who knows – when I get ready to end this year I may look back on this month as a missed opportunity to do more things and go more places- but for now I’m glad I have eased myself into things.
I can navigate the train system, correctly order food in restaurants and chat with store clerks, and function enough to get by. I can understand TV shows and generally process newspapers. After nine years of classroom language instruction my practical everyday skills are lacking according to my standards for myself, which has been a point of frustration for me. This month has also been just more classroom instruction with very little application. I’m tired of grammar worksheets and vocabulary lists, and I’m ready to use what I’m learning in a “real” setting. On the other hand, I am so unbelievably grateful to my beginning German teachers, Frau Howe and Frau Schneider. They got me off to a great start, taught things right the first time, and gave me a strong fundamental knowledge of grammar and usage that have been easy to build upon, especially as we have reviewed concepts this month that I haven’t discussed since I sat in their classes in 7th-10th grade - yet still remember their instruction so strongly.
(by the way I have already noticed that my English grammar is getting screwed up as I think more and more in the German style, so if I have long run-on sentences with verbs in funny places, please pardon me!)
Without a doubt, the hardest thing about this month was the almost cold turkey of communication with the States. I won’t lie, most of this month I was extremely homesick and only mildly content with the state of things, but I know it would have been easier had I had a steady internet connection or any way to have access to people I care about. It was hard not to have constant access to the people I was used to seeing and talking to on a regular basis. Mom asked me the other day if I was getting enough sleep at night (what a mom question to ask hehe), and my response was “I don’t have internet, phone, or cable tv – there’s nothing else better to do!” I loathed the waiting until Monday (or paying at the internet café) to check the Dawgs score, and having little allotments of internet time per day but a huge list of things I needed to do and people to email, and only having Skype access in the café and a crowded lobby and only at certain times of day, and having a cell phone that only calls 2 people (whom I spend all day every day with, so it doesn’t really matter) and can’t make or receive calls to anyone I wanted. I have four friends in this city, and although they are wonderful people, we can only do so much for each other, and only for so long.
For a billion reasons, everything will be better in Dresden. Starting with the most obvious, I will have stable internet. I will be able to settle down in a place and stay there, and know that the friends I make will be around for more than a few weeks – and also I will be in a situation that is conducive to making friends and meeting people, which was so opposite from here. I will have a host counselor and an entire Rotary club that I know will help me and with whom I can’t wait to be involved. I will be able to play my oboe again (hopefully!), and will return to studying music and learning language, instead of just studying language.
It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed my time in Frankfurt – it’s a gorgeous city with a lot of culture and interesting facets, and the wonderful contrast between traditional and modern. It is an international city (25% of the population is not German) and has made for a good transition, and it gave me the experience of getting to know more than one city in my tenure here. I was thrilled to spend the month bonding with other Rotary students, and have that circle to experience these transitions together and compare notes for the future. I don’t even want to think what it would have been like if I had arrived to Germany now, and experienced this rough transition and assimilation period while also starting classes and getting into the university life. As much as I feel like I still have to learn, I know I learned a whole great big bunch this month and I am grateful for this time of cushioning.
It has been a transition month to ease me into the real deal, which begins when I set foot in Dresden. Although I have physically been in Germany, all my friends thus far are Americans with varying levels of German proficiency, so we all speak English because it is less awkward among us all. I have been speaking more English than I will speak in the next ten months, even though right now I am speaking German more often than I ever have in my life. It is nothing compared to what is coming up, and I can pretty much kiss the English language goodbye starting Saturday, except to communicate with you fine people. “They” say it takes three months to totally acclimate yourself to a language, so I estimate Christmastime will be when I finally speak naturally (or at least more so than now).
There has been a lot of pressure to travel a lot now (I think we have put it on ourselves), while we still have the chance and we’re still not busy, but very few of us have actually gone notable places thus far. At this point my biggest urge was to just get settled and feel comfortable here before I start learning and exploring even more places, so that’s what I did. Who knows – when I get ready to end this year I may look back on this month as a missed opportunity to do more things and go more places- but for now I’m glad I have eased myself into things.
I can navigate the train system, correctly order food in restaurants and chat with store clerks, and function enough to get by. I can understand TV shows and generally process newspapers. After nine years of classroom language instruction my practical everyday skills are lacking according to my standards for myself, which has been a point of frustration for me. This month has also been just more classroom instruction with very little application. I’m tired of grammar worksheets and vocabulary lists, and I’m ready to use what I’m learning in a “real” setting. On the other hand, I am so unbelievably grateful to my beginning German teachers, Frau Howe and Frau Schneider. They got me off to a great start, taught things right the first time, and gave me a strong fundamental knowledge of grammar and usage that have been easy to build upon, especially as we have reviewed concepts this month that I haven’t discussed since I sat in their classes in 7th-10th grade - yet still remember their instruction so strongly.
(by the way I have already noticed that my English grammar is getting screwed up as I think more and more in the German style, so if I have long run-on sentences with verbs in funny places, please pardon me!)
Without a doubt, the hardest thing about this month was the almost cold turkey of communication with the States. I won’t lie, most of this month I was extremely homesick and only mildly content with the state of things, but I know it would have been easier had I had a steady internet connection or any way to have access to people I care about. It was hard not to have constant access to the people I was used to seeing and talking to on a regular basis. Mom asked me the other day if I was getting enough sleep at night (what a mom question to ask hehe), and my response was “I don’t have internet, phone, or cable tv – there’s nothing else better to do!” I loathed the waiting until Monday (or paying at the internet café) to check the Dawgs score, and having little allotments of internet time per day but a huge list of things I needed to do and people to email, and only having Skype access in the café and a crowded lobby and only at certain times of day, and having a cell phone that only calls 2 people (whom I spend all day every day with, so it doesn’t really matter) and can’t make or receive calls to anyone I wanted. I have four friends in this city, and although they are wonderful people, we can only do so much for each other, and only for so long.
For a billion reasons, everything will be better in Dresden. Starting with the most obvious, I will have stable internet. I will be able to settle down in a place and stay there, and know that the friends I make will be around for more than a few weeks – and also I will be in a situation that is conducive to making friends and meeting people, which was so opposite from here. I will have a host counselor and an entire Rotary club that I know will help me and with whom I can’t wait to be involved. I will be able to play my oboe again (hopefully!), and will return to studying music and learning language, instead of just studying language.
It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed my time in Frankfurt – it’s a gorgeous city with a lot of culture and interesting facets, and the wonderful contrast between traditional and modern. It is an international city (25% of the population is not German) and has made for a good transition, and it gave me the experience of getting to know more than one city in my tenure here. I was thrilled to spend the month bonding with other Rotary students, and have that circle to experience these transitions together and compare notes for the future. I don’t even want to think what it would have been like if I had arrived to Germany now, and experienced this rough transition and assimilation period while also starting classes and getting into the university life. As much as I feel like I still have to learn, I know I learned a whole great big bunch this month and I am grateful for this time of cushioning.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
More About those Crazy Germans
Even though Germany is a completely civilized and “western” country, it still has plenty of dramatic cultural differences that have been hard for me to adjust to. I have chronicled several of them already (including the post before this), and there will continue to be dozens more as I navigate further.
I have a love-hate relationship with public transportation (at least now while I have an American mind frame). Now is the first time in my +16 life that I haven’t had a car, but it’s also the first time I have not needed one. The transportation system is thorough and regular enough that it is completely possible to get everywhere without cars, but my impatient American perspective comes in when I look at my watch when I go from place to place and realize it takes 45-60 minutes to go a distance I could drive in 20. I’m sure I will settle down and relax soon enough.
At these street festivals I have spoken of, and several other streetside restaurants, food and drink is served in dishes and glassware instead of the American plastic tradition. For obvious reasons it is quite economical. The point of mention with this tradition is all these places also charge you a “Pfand,” or deposit, for the dishes, costing about 1 Euro. That way, you get your money back if you return it, but if you don’t bring it back you’ve already paid them for it.
In addition to dishes, we also pay Pfand on all plastic or glass bottles of liquid we buy. As part of Germany’s crazy recycling policies, they charge an extra 25-50 cents on every bottle of water, wine, beer, juice, etc. If you bring the empty bottle back to the store they give you your money back, but if not, the money is lost.
The stereotype of body odor is true. Some people just smell bad. It isn’t so much a suffocating odor from complete lack of deodorant as it is just potent enough to indicate inadequate or insufficient amounts. I know Americans have an obsession with cleanliness and odor (or lack thereof), but there could be worse things to find important!
I have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the older generation of Germans, and how willing and patient they are with us. The younger generation, the teenagers to early thirty-somethings, is for the most part sullen and brooding, or at least not friendly to strangers – or maybe I’m just used to Southern hospitality. I’m sure the attitude will change in the university setting.
In addition, the Germans have a very different sense of humor than Americans. They are very literal people and don’t necessarily enjoy sarcasm or slapstick comedy, which are two things Americans specialize in. While at the film museum last weekend I sat and watched a clip of a Laurel and Hardy type silent film, and the Americans in the audience were hysterically laughing, but everyone else sort of watched quizzically. I have yet to figure out what they DO find funny – it’s just a cultural difference. It is also hard to accept the fact that I don’t know how to tell jokes in German or how to be funny in German.
I figured a way to “cheat” the system for the laundry machines; or maybe that was how they were intended to be used in the first place but the message never was relayed to us. As long as there is little down time between loads, the machines can be restarted on a new cycle without inserting more coins, thus making it 5 euros total, not 5 euros per load.
You have to search hard, but sodium free non-carbonated water in big bottles does exist. If you’re lucky, it exists for 45 cents at the grocery store – otherwise you pay 2 euros for tiny bottles. And it is true, water in restaurants is often more expensive than wine and beer.
It’s true that they don’t provide bags at grocery stores, so you have to bring your own. Groceries are incredibly cheap, though, and I’ve heard it’s even better in the east. They also rarely take credit cards anywhere, meaning that I always have to carry cash – so different from the States, where no one ever has cash and we always pay with cards. It is more secure to use cards, and you always have receipts and paper trails, but then again look at the credit problems people can rack up from always charging everything.
Not a cultural observation, but one of the things I have been most grateful for having has been a sewing kit. Several holes have manifested themselves recently on shirts, pants, and jackets, and I have been so glad to have a sewing kit amongst my stuff.
And the strange one to end it with – Germany does observe daylight savings time too, but guess when we fall back? This weekend. That’s right, for the month of October I will be 7 hours (or 8, or 9 depending on where you are) ahead instead of the normal 6. Then when you fall back, we’ll be back to normal. Whatever!
I have a love-hate relationship with public transportation (at least now while I have an American mind frame). Now is the first time in my +16 life that I haven’t had a car, but it’s also the first time I have not needed one. The transportation system is thorough and regular enough that it is completely possible to get everywhere without cars, but my impatient American perspective comes in when I look at my watch when I go from place to place and realize it takes 45-60 minutes to go a distance I could drive in 20. I’m sure I will settle down and relax soon enough.
At these street festivals I have spoken of, and several other streetside restaurants, food and drink is served in dishes and glassware instead of the American plastic tradition. For obvious reasons it is quite economical. The point of mention with this tradition is all these places also charge you a “Pfand,” or deposit, for the dishes, costing about 1 Euro. That way, you get your money back if you return it, but if you don’t bring it back you’ve already paid them for it.
In addition to dishes, we also pay Pfand on all plastic or glass bottles of liquid we buy. As part of Germany’s crazy recycling policies, they charge an extra 25-50 cents on every bottle of water, wine, beer, juice, etc. If you bring the empty bottle back to the store they give you your money back, but if not, the money is lost.
The stereotype of body odor is true. Some people just smell bad. It isn’t so much a suffocating odor from complete lack of deodorant as it is just potent enough to indicate inadequate or insufficient amounts. I know Americans have an obsession with cleanliness and odor (or lack thereof), but there could be worse things to find important!
I have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the older generation of Germans, and how willing and patient they are with us. The younger generation, the teenagers to early thirty-somethings, is for the most part sullen and brooding, or at least not friendly to strangers – or maybe I’m just used to Southern hospitality. I’m sure the attitude will change in the university setting.
In addition, the Germans have a very different sense of humor than Americans. They are very literal people and don’t necessarily enjoy sarcasm or slapstick comedy, which are two things Americans specialize in. While at the film museum last weekend I sat and watched a clip of a Laurel and Hardy type silent film, and the Americans in the audience were hysterically laughing, but everyone else sort of watched quizzically. I have yet to figure out what they DO find funny – it’s just a cultural difference. It is also hard to accept the fact that I don’t know how to tell jokes in German or how to be funny in German.
I figured a way to “cheat” the system for the laundry machines; or maybe that was how they were intended to be used in the first place but the message never was relayed to us. As long as there is little down time between loads, the machines can be restarted on a new cycle without inserting more coins, thus making it 5 euros total, not 5 euros per load.
You have to search hard, but sodium free non-carbonated water in big bottles does exist. If you’re lucky, it exists for 45 cents at the grocery store – otherwise you pay 2 euros for tiny bottles. And it is true, water in restaurants is often more expensive than wine and beer.
It’s true that they don’t provide bags at grocery stores, so you have to bring your own. Groceries are incredibly cheap, though, and I’ve heard it’s even better in the east. They also rarely take credit cards anywhere, meaning that I always have to carry cash – so different from the States, where no one ever has cash and we always pay with cards. It is more secure to use cards, and you always have receipts and paper trails, but then again look at the credit problems people can rack up from always charging everything.
Not a cultural observation, but one of the things I have been most grateful for having has been a sewing kit. Several holes have manifested themselves recently on shirts, pants, and jackets, and I have been so glad to have a sewing kit amongst my stuff.
And the strange one to end it with – Germany does observe daylight savings time too, but guess when we fall back? This weekend. That’s right, for the month of October I will be 7 hours (or 8, or 9 depending on where you are) ahead instead of the normal 6. Then when you fall back, we’ll be back to normal. Whatever!
Is their legal system really better?
The legal system and healthcare system are also drastically different here, but I have yet to decide if it’s for better or worse. My teacher told us a few stories that left me speechless:
1. My teacher has the national healthcare plan, which pays for care under physicians who belong to this national healthcare system. One of these doctors referred her to a private practitioner, and the insurance company told her they’d cover what they would normally pay a doctor on their plan, and she’d have to cover the rest. After her visit to the doctor, for about 50 minutes of talking/consultation and drawing blood for tests, she was billed 70 euros. Way cheaper than the States, right? The insurance company, true to their word of covering as much as they pay the other doctors, reimbursed her 6 euros.
Costs seem to be lower because they don’t have the same problems with malpractice insurance here as they do at home, as proven by the next story:
2. A few years ago she ended up in the hospital with awful stomach pains, and she suspected it was her appendix. The doctor told her no and sent her to the gynecology department instead. Meanwhile, waiting to see the next doctor, her appendix burst – and it took another seven hours to get her into surgery. Enraged, and rightly so, she decided to sue the hospital. When her lawyer went in search of her medical records, it turned out that the records were lost and nothing was on file anymore. End of story.
Afterward she told this story to an American friend whose brother coincidentally had the same incident happen in the States. He sued – and was awarded 4 million dollars.
But what happens when you actually have the paperwork, and do get the opportunity to take something to court?
3. Returning from a trip, my teacher boarded a train on her way home. The station was dark and the train, for some reason, had the internal lights off and was pitch black inside. She was carrying one suitcase in each hand and tripped over the bike rack on the floor of the train, fell forward, and hit her head – bad. She had a concussion, slipped vertebrae, and severe bruising, and missed 5 weeks of work for recovery. This time, her lawyer said, they’d be able to make a great case. They took it to court and won, and she got a large sum of……..3,000 euros. According to the lawyer she was extremely lucky, because another judge could have said “what’s wrong with you, couldn’t you see that there was a bike rack on the floor?”
1. My teacher has the national healthcare plan, which pays for care under physicians who belong to this national healthcare system. One of these doctors referred her to a private practitioner, and the insurance company told her they’d cover what they would normally pay a doctor on their plan, and she’d have to cover the rest. After her visit to the doctor, for about 50 minutes of talking/consultation and drawing blood for tests, she was billed 70 euros. Way cheaper than the States, right? The insurance company, true to their word of covering as much as they pay the other doctors, reimbursed her 6 euros.
Costs seem to be lower because they don’t have the same problems with malpractice insurance here as they do at home, as proven by the next story:
2. A few years ago she ended up in the hospital with awful stomach pains, and she suspected it was her appendix. The doctor told her no and sent her to the gynecology department instead. Meanwhile, waiting to see the next doctor, her appendix burst – and it took another seven hours to get her into surgery. Enraged, and rightly so, she decided to sue the hospital. When her lawyer went in search of her medical records, it turned out that the records were lost and nothing was on file anymore. End of story.
Afterward she told this story to an American friend whose brother coincidentally had the same incident happen in the States. He sued – and was awarded 4 million dollars.
But what happens when you actually have the paperwork, and do get the opportunity to take something to court?
3. Returning from a trip, my teacher boarded a train on her way home. The station was dark and the train, for some reason, had the internal lights off and was pitch black inside. She was carrying one suitcase in each hand and tripped over the bike rack on the floor of the train, fell forward, and hit her head – bad. She had a concussion, slipped vertebrae, and severe bruising, and missed 5 weeks of work for recovery. This time, her lawyer said, they’d be able to make a great case. They took it to court and won, and she got a large sum of……..3,000 euros. According to the lawyer she was extremely lucky, because another judge could have said “what’s wrong with you, couldn’t you see that there was a bike rack on the floor?”
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Last Frankfurter Weekend and Yom Kippur
Like plans tend to do, this weekend was full of changing plans. It was our last weekend in
The weather was beautiful, and the really cool thing about European culture is they do a lot of stuff outside in the city and just relax and enjoy themselves. Saturday and Sunday we ate lunch on the riverbank, laid in the sun, fed the swans, and unwound. The whole city was out and about because it was so gosh darn gorgeous, including some cool flea markets and lots of people on boats in the river.
I also went to a few museums too; Anna and Raoul bought a 2-day museum pass (Frankfurt has about 15-20 museums on about every subject imaginable, and for 10 euros you can buy a pass to go to them all) and the second day they took me along as their “daughter” as we visited the culture museum, film museum, and architecture museum. I got my culture for the week.
Saturday was Yom Kippur, so I decided to go to the synagogue here. It was my first time in an orthodox synagogue, much less a German orthodox synagogue on Yom Kippur, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Ashlee and the other Anna had never been to a synagogue and wanted to come with me, and I was really happy to bring them along except for the fact that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
We went to the Westend Synagogue, the main temple in
The inside was breathtaking. The bima and ark are huge with a giant mosaic wall and very ornate edging on everything. All seats are dark wood, and the ark probably had about eight different scrolls. The dome was the highlight, filled with a gradient blue mosaic that made it look twice as high and deep as it really is, and there was a giant crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the dome. The original synagogue was destroyed in the war and this one was rebuilt in the 1950s.
The service itself, in the beginning, was exactly as I expected. It was 100% in Hebrew, going page for page through the Siddur. The rabbi, cantor, and all the men prayed and sang more or less in unison, but not a single woman was praying or making any kind of sound. I chimed in when I knew the song, but I was the only one. There were some Hassids present as well, which was cool to watch them doven. As is common in all synagogues I’ve been to, there was also an underlying layer of chatting and small talk along with whatever was going on – that aspect was shocking to my guoyam friends, but I just had to chuckle and say “Jews love to talk!”
As the morning progressed more people started to come in, and by about 11:30 the women’s section was almost full. It coincided with the time when they took the Torah out of the ark, which in reform services means the long stretch is over and it’s getting close to the end – so I was slightly confused as to why everyone was showing up then. The strange thing, though, was what happened after they took the Torah around the room – there was a bit of down time while they got it back to the bima to read, and the now-full sanctuary exploded in chatter. Not so unusual yet - but they opened the scroll, the rabbi called the Aliyas, they read, and the chatter never stopped. The only way I knew the Torah was actually being read was by leaning over the railing and watching – I couldn’t hear anything. At an orthodox synagogue. I didn’t quite know how to process that.
By this time it was about noon, my friends were both having allergic reactions to the overwhelming amount of perfume present, and I knew the service wasn’t ending any time soon, so we decided to call it a day. Definitely a learning experience and an interesting trip.
Friday, September 21, 2007
One more week down
I don't really have much to report, but I guess I should post an entry anyway to let you know I'm alive.
This week didn't have any major events. We had two Goethe excursions I mentioned on my last entry- one to a local pub, and one to the Goethe house.
The pub was neat because all the food was ordered for us, and it was basically a pitcher of apple wine and a huge platter of meat. Imagine a way to prepare pork, and it was probably on this platter. Can't put up pictures now because I'm at school, but look for them soon.
The Goethe house was Germany's equivalent of visiting Stratford-upon Avon, except it was destroyed in the war and rebuilt about 50 years ago. They did a good job of making it look old and beautiful, but I couldn't get it out of my mind that the house was relatively new.
Other than that, we stumbled upon another random German street fair - this one for the occasion of the Vernal Equinox (of course...I'd throw a festival for that one too...), but the coolest part about this one was not the ever-present apple wine and wurst, or the petting zoo, or the American cockroaches on display in a jar because people here don't know what they look like, or the pumpkin and strawberry wine - the best part of the festival was the booth that sold gluten-free buns for their bratwurst.
That's right, bratwurst with gluten-free buns. Oh happy day. Needless to say, we're probably going back there for dinner tonight.
On deck for the weekend is still TBA. It's my last weekend in Frankfurt! The original plan was to go to Würzburg tomorrow to see Chris McCain's old stomping grounds, but then I realized that tomorrow is Yom Kippur and I already missed one shot to go to a German synagogue for the holidays. It's an orthodox synagogue, so I have no idea what to expect. Then, we realized that Oktoberfest starts this weekend (even though October isn't for another week and a bit), and this weekend is really my only opportunity to go because I start school as soon as I get to Dresden. The only problem is, because we waited so late to buy train tickets, they now cost about €160, plus the cost of stuff when you get there (but I can't drink beer, so it wouldn't be SO bad). So we'll see if we actually end up biting the bullet and paying through the nose to go, just to say we went. If we go, it will be a day trip on Sunday.
Otherwise, good luck to the Dawgs this weekend against Bama and happy birthday to Erin (and Heather on Sunday!)
This week didn't have any major events. We had two Goethe excursions I mentioned on my last entry- one to a local pub, and one to the Goethe house.
The pub was neat because all the food was ordered for us, and it was basically a pitcher of apple wine and a huge platter of meat. Imagine a way to prepare pork, and it was probably on this platter. Can't put up pictures now because I'm at school, but look for them soon.
The Goethe house was Germany's equivalent of visiting Stratford-upon Avon, except it was destroyed in the war and rebuilt about 50 years ago. They did a good job of making it look old and beautiful, but I couldn't get it out of my mind that the house was relatively new.
Other than that, we stumbled upon another random German street fair - this one for the occasion of the Vernal Equinox (of course...I'd throw a festival for that one too...), but the coolest part about this one was not the ever-present apple wine and wurst, or the petting zoo, or the American cockroaches on display in a jar because people here don't know what they look like, or the pumpkin and strawberry wine - the best part of the festival was the booth that sold gluten-free buns for their bratwurst.
That's right, bratwurst with gluten-free buns. Oh happy day. Needless to say, we're probably going back there for dinner tonight.
On deck for the weekend is still TBA. It's my last weekend in Frankfurt! The original plan was to go to Würzburg tomorrow to see Chris McCain's old stomping grounds, but then I realized that tomorrow is Yom Kippur and I already missed one shot to go to a German synagogue for the holidays. It's an orthodox synagogue, so I have no idea what to expect. Then, we realized that Oktoberfest starts this weekend (even though October isn't for another week and a bit), and this weekend is really my only opportunity to go because I start school as soon as I get to Dresden. The only problem is, because we waited so late to buy train tickets, they now cost about €160, plus the cost of stuff when you get there (but I can't drink beer, so it wouldn't be SO bad). So we'll see if we actually end up biting the bullet and paying through the nose to go, just to say we went. If we go, it will be a day trip on Sunday.
Otherwise, good luck to the Dawgs this weekend against Bama and happy birthday to Erin (and Heather on Sunday!)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Busy busy!
I guess I haven’t reporting much of what I’ve actually been lately, but rather just sharing funny stories and current events. I actually have been quite busy, and now will do my best to fill you in! (Note: there are lots of photo links on this page, and I also added more pictures to the original photo album - here's that link again)
Goethe Institut puts on several after-hours activities for the students to show us around, get us acquainted to the city, and give us a cultural education. TUESDAY we went to the university here in Frankfurt (ironically also the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University) and toured the campus. It was pretty cool, not much to report because the campus doesn’t have a central location like we’re used to at UGA, and it’s still summer break for the students so nothing was going on.
WEDNESDAY we went to the Museum of Modern Art. Visual art is something I think I would really like if I knew what I was looking at, especially as much as I love analyzing music and music history, but I don’t know the first thing about the genre and don’t know how to digest or interpret what I look at. Luckily we had a tour guide, even though I had to process an art lecture in German as I was trying to digest the art too, and one of the other Rotary scholars is actually an art student! She and I had some good discussions about some of the works we saw and I learned a lot too.
FRIDAY, not on a Goethe excursion, a group of us found out about a salsa-dancing event through another international school in town. On our way to the school we stumbled upon a street festival. The Germans like their street festivals – it seems that every day of the week there is a different one in a different place in town, at different times of the day, and for no apparent reason. They serve wine and beer as much as you can drink, with picnic tables and stand-up tables, lots of wurst, and sometimes other novelty foods. They’re always busting at the seams with people, and they just eat and drink and be merry until late. Seriously – I’ve been to about 5-6 of these festivals in the 2.5 weeks I’ve been here. Picture link here!
Anyway, we stumbled upon a festival that seemed to be celebrating the French – they served French wine, French food, and French music (except they played “Rock Around the Clock” with French words). There was even a bona fide polka band. The we went “salsa dancing,” put in quotes because the teacher failed to show up so no one really knew how to salsa dance – it was a bunch of international students, mostly Americans, a few French, Italian, Finnish, and Asians. It was fun, but not much more interesting than that.
SATURDAY; Another Goethe excursion took us to the little town of Marburg, about an hour north of Frankfurt. It is a beautiful town, with buildings dating back to the 14th century! The inner city is all from the 14th-18th century. We also saw the oldest synagogue in Europe, uncovered from the old Jewish ghetto area in the 13th-14th century. We went on a city tour, and also enjoyed eating lunch and drinking cappuccinos at tables outside. There was also a castle from this same time period, so of course we climbed the mountain and saw the castle. What a view! Follow this link to pictures of Marburg. (Take note – most of my pictures have captions or explanations, so click on the individual ones to read what they are. I won’t take up space here!)
SUNDAY: Car aficionados beware, this next story will make you intensely jealous. Every two years Frankfurt hosts one of the largest auto shows in the world, and it just so happened that this famous show took place this weekend. The only bad part is it takes about three days to go through thoroughly, but we only had today, so it was a pretty quick trip. It has ten buildings’ worth of show rooms (several of them are multiple stories), test drives, go-carts, off-road tests, and an entire outside exhibit.
That being said, we saw every show room, but had to say no to all the test drives. I am in awe. I am by no means abundant with car knowledge, but I’m pretty sure I saw almost every car on the market these days, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Maserati, Porsche, and dozens of others. The lengths these companies go through to put up displays were just as amazing as the cars themselves. The most extreme thing I saw was acrobats, yes, trapeze artists, actually, for the Volkswagen exhibit. Suddenly the lights dimmed, music started playing, and these people soared up in the air and started spinning and twirling in an effort to advertise for VW.
The bad news is, halfway through the afternoon I accidentally deleted all the pictures on my camera. I was deleting a few to open up space on my memory card and accidentally hit “delete all,” and almost pitched a temper tantrum in the middle of the show room. The good news is, Anna and Ashlee still had all their pictures, so I got all of theirs. We were able to backtrack a little bit to retake some of the really important ones. I didn’t get everything back, but I still ended up with almost 300 pictures at the end of the day.
I took pictures of and with all these fancy cars, and lots of pictures of anything that looked cool. I got to sit inside a Porsche racecar and a Smart Car, too. They had lots of concept cars and eco-friendly cars, too. I surprised myself by actually knowing more than I expected about what I was looking at – I guess that’s what comes with spending time with people who constantly talk about cars. This knowledge isn’t a bad thing!
Of course I didn't post all 300 pictures, but I did post a lot. I'm relying on Chris to go through and identify them all - I can tell you who made them, but not much more than that. Here's album 1 and album 2.
COMING UP this week Goethe events include a “Frankfurter Evening” where they show us all the good local places and local secrets of ways to spend time, and a tour of the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe house. Goethe is Germany’s equivalent of Shakespeare, and he grew up here in Frankfurt. This weekend I will probably head to Würzburg to visit Chris McCain’s old stomping grounds.
Life’s busy, but good! I still hate not having consistent internet, but I love hearing from you guys! Thanks for keeping up this far!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
An Adventure in Clothes-Washing
Today I really needed to do laundry. Our apartment building has washers and dryers but they use special tokens, so you have to go to another building to buy these tokens to use the machines. It costs 3 and 2 euros for the washer and dryer respectively, so every load of laundry costs 5 euros. Whoa! I complained about UGA being expensive!
Let me preface this story by saying that I like to pride myself as someone who possesses a reasonable amount of common sense and an ability to problem-solve.
So Ashlee and I went to this other apartment building today to purchase our coins. The lady in the office buzzed us in the door via an intercom, but when we got inside the building we couldn’t for the life of us figure out where this office was. We looked in every door on the first floor, second floor, and basement, thinking that it couldn’t be anywhere else, but no luck. We went back outside, re-buzzed the office, and Ashlee asked for directions, but a car drove by as she answered so we didn’t hear it. Back to square one. We finally got in the elevator in hopes that there would be a sign or something, and sure enough there was – the office is on the FOURTH floor of this building.
Upon return to our building, we went to the basement to find these washing machines. We walked into the room and saw a ping-pong table, lots of bikes, and two locked metal doors (with no signs) that look like utility closets. Definitely no washing machines. After finding a friend and asking him exactly where they were, it turns out that the laundry room is behind one of the locked doors, and we must use our room keys to open the door. Oh, right, because I usually attempt to unlock random doors with my room key!
I finally got in the room, figured out how to use this strange washing machine, put it on the setting I want, put my clothes in, I’m good to go. I remembered clearly that the UGA washing machines take 37 minutes, so in about 34 I headed back downstairs to wait on my clothes. They were still happily spinning away on the “main wash” cycle, so I returned upstairs. About 20 minutes later I checked on them again – still on “main wash.” At this point it’s been an hour, my clothes are still sudsy, and they still have to rinse and spin! I sat and stared at the washer dumbfoundedly, pushed some buttons to see what they would do (nothing), and watched the washing machine next to mine cycle through wash-rinse-spin-end, wondering what I was doing wrong. I turned the dials to the same setting as that other washer – no luck. Luckily the owner of those clothes came into the room as I was guessing the washing machine was broken and I was going to have to rinse everything in my kitchen sink.
As it turns out, the washing machine was not broken. If left to their own devices they take approximately 2 hours to go through the whole wash cycle, unless you manually turn the dial to “rinse” – which I had in fact done, except I didn’t reset the dial before I adjusted the settings.
I doubt my clothes will ever again be so clean.
Let me preface this story by saying that I like to pride myself as someone who possesses a reasonable amount of common sense and an ability to problem-solve.
So Ashlee and I went to this other apartment building today to purchase our coins. The lady in the office buzzed us in the door via an intercom, but when we got inside the building we couldn’t for the life of us figure out where this office was. We looked in every door on the first floor, second floor, and basement, thinking that it couldn’t be anywhere else, but no luck. We went back outside, re-buzzed the office, and Ashlee asked for directions, but a car drove by as she answered so we didn’t hear it. Back to square one. We finally got in the elevator in hopes that there would be a sign or something, and sure enough there was – the office is on the FOURTH floor of this building.
Upon return to our building, we went to the basement to find these washing machines. We walked into the room and saw a ping-pong table, lots of bikes, and two locked metal doors (with no signs) that look like utility closets. Definitely no washing machines. After finding a friend and asking him exactly where they were, it turns out that the laundry room is behind one of the locked doors, and we must use our room keys to open the door. Oh, right, because I usually attempt to unlock random doors with my room key!
I finally got in the room, figured out how to use this strange washing machine, put it on the setting I want, put my clothes in, I’m good to go. I remembered clearly that the UGA washing machines take 37 minutes, so in about 34 I headed back downstairs to wait on my clothes. They were still happily spinning away on the “main wash” cycle, so I returned upstairs. About 20 minutes later I checked on them again – still on “main wash.” At this point it’s been an hour, my clothes are still sudsy, and they still have to rinse and spin! I sat and stared at the washer dumbfoundedly, pushed some buttons to see what they would do (nothing), and watched the washing machine next to mine cycle through wash-rinse-spin-end, wondering what I was doing wrong. I turned the dials to the same setting as that other washer – no luck. Luckily the owner of those clothes came into the room as I was guessing the washing machine was broken and I was going to have to rinse everything in my kitchen sink.
As it turns out, the washing machine was not broken. If left to their own devices they take approximately 2 hours to go through the whole wash cycle, unless you manually turn the dial to “rinse” – which I had in fact done, except I didn’t reset the dial before I adjusted the settings.
I doubt my clothes will ever again be so clean.
Monday, September 10, 2007
More on the Jewish theme
When I went to read the paper today, the front page story was an event that happened Friday evening (unlike American papers, Monday is the big news day, not Sunday).
Friday evening, on his way home from synagogue, the local rabbi was stabbed in the stomach by an anonymous (possibly middle eastern) young man. Witnesses to the scene heard him shout "du Scheiß-Jude, ich stech' dich jetzt ab!" and the only explanation is a random act of antisemitism.
The interesting part to the story is that the entire city of Frankfurt is up in arms over this tragedy. There were several articles in the paper about how everyone is shocked, and how Frankfurt prided itself in such a large and healthy Jewish population, and how the city has (almost always) had a relatively positive relationship with the Jews. My last post was about the poignant war memorials, and I have seen a few more since I last posted pictures. Before my arrival I was wary about how the German population reacts to Jews, especially with the High Holy Days approaching, but so far I have been pleased.
The article discussed this event in context of the ever-present Middle Eastern conflict, and antisemitism vs. radical Islam, which made it seem that the German-borne antisemitism is not prevalent these days. It is always possible that the newspaper portrays the stories in a slanted light, but this time, at least here in the very modern and cosmopolitan city of Frankfurt, I don't think so.
I've been here for almost two weeks now, and this is already the second major incident that has occured (the first being the busted terrorist plot on the airport and military base). It is all so much more real here - rather than just reading about it in papers, these terrorist acts are happening in the city where I live. Despite it all, however, the environment and the streets of the city itself feel so much more safe than Atlanta. I have never remotely feared for my safety while being out and about, which is such an interesting contrast. The large-scale violence from terrorism is much closer, but the street crimes and overall local violence is almost none.
I promise I am taking care of myself and watching out for my safety, no matter how unthreatened I may feel.
Friday evening, on his way home from synagogue, the local rabbi was stabbed in the stomach by an anonymous (possibly middle eastern) young man. Witnesses to the scene heard him shout "du Scheiß-Jude, ich stech' dich jetzt ab!" and the only explanation is a random act of antisemitism.
The interesting part to the story is that the entire city of Frankfurt is up in arms over this tragedy. There were several articles in the paper about how everyone is shocked, and how Frankfurt prided itself in such a large and healthy Jewish population, and how the city has (almost always) had a relatively positive relationship with the Jews. My last post was about the poignant war memorials, and I have seen a few more since I last posted pictures. Before my arrival I was wary about how the German population reacts to Jews, especially with the High Holy Days approaching, but so far I have been pleased.
The article discussed this event in context of the ever-present Middle Eastern conflict, and antisemitism vs. radical Islam, which made it seem that the German-borne antisemitism is not prevalent these days. It is always possible that the newspaper portrays the stories in a slanted light, but this time, at least here in the very modern and cosmopolitan city of Frankfurt, I don't think so.
I've been here for almost two weeks now, and this is already the second major incident that has occured (the first being the busted terrorist plot on the airport and military base). It is all so much more real here - rather than just reading about it in papers, these terrorist acts are happening in the city where I live. Despite it all, however, the environment and the streets of the city itself feel so much more safe than Atlanta. I have never remotely feared for my safety while being out and about, which is such an interesting contrast. The large-scale violence from terrorism is much closer, but the street crimes and overall local violence is almost none.
I promise I am taking care of myself and watching out for my safety, no matter how unthreatened I may feel.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Jewish Museum
By far the most monumental thing I have done in Frankfurt thus far is visit the Jewish museum and cemetery. Many people have asked me, especially family members, “why Germany? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I worry about a young Jewish girl going there for so long.” My answer has always been that aside from the fact that I study the language, I want to make amends and be part of the healing process. We’ll never be able to get over that stigma until we make new memories and stories to replace the old ones, by facing the pain and dealing with it. This museum was definitely important for that.
It was a neat exhibit that chronicled the existence and development of Frankfurt’s Jewish population from the first records around 1100 up until post-WWII. There were lots of pretty artifacts that I put in my photo album, but there are a couple that are worth mentioning right now. This first one was a wall in the museum that lists thousands of names of lost or dead Frankfurter Jews from the war.
I then went to the other half of the museum across town, which housed the ruins of the old Jewish Ghetto
(from the 1700-1800s) and the cemetery. The story behind the ruins is that they were uncovered while doing construction on another project, so the builders preserved the ruins and built the building on top. Behind the building is the old cemetery, which is now walled off and sealed behind a locked gate. There was a beautiful memorial with small plaques in the wall for each of the names from the other display. This is also the memorial from the old synagogue that was destroyed in the war. (see my photo album for more pictures of all of this).
There was another stone on her name before I put one there – that means someone else came to visit before I did.
It was a neat exhibit that chronicled the existence and development of Frankfurt’s Jewish population from the first records around 1100 up until post-WWII. There were lots of pretty artifacts that I put in my photo album, but there are a couple that are worth mentioning right now. This first one was a wall in the museum that lists thousands of names of lost or dead Frankfurter Jews from the war.
While searching, I found this.
Hm.
I then went to the other half of the museum across town, which housed the ruins of the old Jewish Ghetto
(from the 1700-1800s) and the cemetery. The story behind the ruins is that they were uncovered while doing construction on another project, so the builders preserved the ruins and built the building on top. Behind the building is the old cemetery, which is now walled off and sealed behind a locked gate. There was a beautiful memorial with small plaques in the wall for each of the names from the other display. This is also the memorial from the old synagogue that was destroyed in the war. (see my photo album for more pictures of all of this).There was another stone on her name before I put one there – that means someone else came to visit before I did.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Another new experience
Today I experienced something else that has never before happened to me, culture shock aside.
I almost ran out of clean socks.
For as long as I can remember, I have always owned more socks than I have space for and more than I have ever been able to go through a drawer of. I own them in every color, every pattern, every design. I am known for my creative socks, and receive them often as gifts, so the collection grows. Running out of clean socks has never been an issue...
Until now, when I had such limited packing room. I packed a gallon-bag full, but I have already almost gone through my supply. I still have a few pairs of clean ones, never fear, but I wasnt going to last through the weekend. I had planned on doing laundry today because we don't have class on Friday afternoons, but it turns out that I can't get tokens for the laundromat on Friday afternoons; thus I was stuck washing socks in the sink to have enough to last until I can do laundry for real. That part was the culture shock - Americans, or at least American college students, use their Friday afternoons to take care of all the "extra" stuff that doesn't get done during the week - what do you mean I can't do laundry this weekend? Oh well....
I almost ran out of clean socks.
For as long as I can remember, I have always owned more socks than I have space for and more than I have ever been able to go through a drawer of. I own them in every color, every pattern, every design. I am known for my creative socks, and receive them often as gifts, so the collection grows. Running out of clean socks has never been an issue...
Until now, when I had such limited packing room. I packed a gallon-bag full, but I have already almost gone through my supply. I still have a few pairs of clean ones, never fear, but I wasnt going to last through the weekend. I had planned on doing laundry today because we don't have class on Friday afternoons, but it turns out that I can't get tokens for the laundromat on Friday afternoons; thus I was stuck washing socks in the sink to have enough to last until I can do laundry for real. That part was the culture shock - Americans, or at least American college students, use their Friday afternoons to take care of all the "extra" stuff that doesn't get done during the week - what do you mean I can't do laundry this weekend? Oh well....
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Pictures....
Still no success at uploading pictures to my aforementioned website, but I WAS able to put them on Facebook at an internet cafe (it didn't have the software for the other method). Here are the links to my first two albums, that I have configured for public access:
Frankfurt!
Jewish Museum (story to follow in next entry)
Other than that, things are pretty chill over here. My new friend Ashlee (from Russelville, Arkansas) and I are sticking together and battling the culture shock, homesickness, and general adjustment together, and I'm really lucky to have met up with her. Not only is she good company, but she's a Rotary scholar too, and after Frankfurt she's heading to Heidelberg for the year. We're alive and well, and that's about it!
Frankfurt!
Jewish Museum (story to follow in next entry)
Other than that, things are pretty chill over here. My new friend Ashlee (from Russelville, Arkansas) and I are sticking together and battling the culture shock, homesickness, and general adjustment together, and I'm really lucky to have met up with her. Not only is she good company, but she's a Rotary scholar too, and after Frankfurt she's heading to Heidelberg for the year. We're alive and well, and that's about it!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
What's it like to study in a language school?
Interesting. Very different from all previous language training I have had.
Yes I have studied German for several years, and even though I make plenty of mistakes I thought I had a pretty good handle on it, but then I tried to communicate with Japanese and Italian people who don't speak English, only their mother-tongue and German, and it threw off my foundation.
I had no idea how americanized my German had become over the years, and how many wrong phrases and idioms I knew, only because I unintentionally used American phrases in the German language. Before this week I had never spoken German with anyone who didn't also speak English, who knew exactly what I was trying to say and what I meant. Sure, I took German literature courses at UGA and did just fine, and had to write papers all the time - I thought I was proficient enough, but now we're going back and making sure every word of every sentence we say or write is perfect. It amazes me how much I got away with and how much I just glazed over instead of going in depth to correct things according to (not americanized!) German standards.
That being said, life here otherwise is pretty good now that I have finally settled down somewhere. Internet is still sparse, and I have taken pictures of my new residence but until I can hook up my own computer to the internet I won't be able to post them. I have my own room and a tiny little kitchen and bathroom of my own, and I have officially unpacked my suitcases. I am as settled in as I am gonna get. I'm at the language school from about 9-5 every day, and all the people in my class are also Rotary scholars! There are a couple of us from USA (Arkansas and San Francisco), some from Japan and Korea, then two ladies from France and Italy (they arent scholars, though). It's wonderful to finally meet people and have friends to eat meals with and ride the bus with and talk with - even though I was only here four days before this, it felt like absolutely forever.
That's about it for now - obviously we're all safe here even though all that terrorist-stuff happened at the airport and the base.
Yes I have studied German for several years, and even though I make plenty of mistakes I thought I had a pretty good handle on it, but then I tried to communicate with Japanese and Italian people who don't speak English, only their mother-tongue and German, and it threw off my foundation.
I had no idea how americanized my German had become over the years, and how many wrong phrases and idioms I knew, only because I unintentionally used American phrases in the German language. Before this week I had never spoken German with anyone who didn't also speak English, who knew exactly what I was trying to say and what I meant. Sure, I took German literature courses at UGA and did just fine, and had to write papers all the time - I thought I was proficient enough, but now we're going back and making sure every word of every sentence we say or write is perfect. It amazes me how much I got away with and how much I just glazed over instead of going in depth to correct things according to (not americanized!) German standards.
That being said, life here otherwise is pretty good now that I have finally settled down somewhere. Internet is still sparse, and I have taken pictures of my new residence but until I can hook up my own computer to the internet I won't be able to post them. I have my own room and a tiny little kitchen and bathroom of my own, and I have officially unpacked my suitcases. I am as settled in as I am gonna get. I'm at the language school from about 9-5 every day, and all the people in my class are also Rotary scholars! There are a couple of us from USA (Arkansas and San Francisco), some from Japan and Korea, then two ladies from France and Italy (they arent scholars, though). It's wonderful to finally meet people and have friends to eat meals with and ride the bus with and talk with - even though I was only here four days before this, it felt like absolutely forever.
That's about it for now - obviously we're all safe here even though all that terrorist-stuff happened at the airport and the base.
Monday, September 3, 2007
The next few weeks
I'm still alive and well, but postings will be sparse the next few weeks because my internet setup is not so good. I don't have internet in my housing, and as of now I can't get internet in the Goethe building (but hopefully I'll get that fixed soon), so right now I'm posting (quickly) from the computer lab. I'll do what I can, but right now it looks like it's gonna be slim!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
A Comedy of Errors
Well today started after 12 hours of sleep, after which I still felt exhausted. I went to bed at 9 last night, and set my alarm only as an afterthought, thinking that there was no way I would sleep all the way until 7:45. After it went off in the morning and I reset it for 8, I thought I hit snooze, but the next time I saw consciousness it was already 9 and I still felt like I had been run over by a truck. I got myself showered and ate breakfast, still not feeling well at all. I could barely touch food but downed several glasses of water until I couldn’t touch that either, and felt like I could lose my cookies and felt tingly and cloudy like I had a tiny fever. I went back to bed after breakfast and slept a little more, and finally felt better. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to dehydration with jetlag – water is so hard to get here (bottles are really expensive and water fountains are unheard of), and it is hard for me to handle because I am the person who never leaves the house without a water bottle (seriously…ask my roommates). On top of that, a lot of the water is carbonated mineral water – yuck!
The real purpose of today’s post is to relay the comedy of errors I experienced today as I attempted to look, act, and talk like a German, and it didn’t go so well. It all started this morning with an awkward “is it coffee, is it tea, where’s the pot, where does the water go” extravaganza at breakfast where there really isn’t much more to tell than that. Next, I went to a Vodafone store and bought a cell phone and the guy told me I spoke good German, which made me happy, so I then asked him how to use the subway/streetcar system to get to the Goethe Institut, because I had tried to figure it out yesterday but to no avail. His answer was, “well I always drive, so I can tell you how to walk there!” Fortunately it wasn’t far, and it was a beautiful walk.
Did I mention that there are stoplights for all crosswalks, even where there are no traffic lights? And these people all wait until the light turns “green” to go, regardless of whether there are any cars coming or not. I learned that one the hard way, by looking like an idiot when I jumped the gun before the light actually turned.
Once I got to the Goethe Institut I asked them directions to get to my housing building for the next month, and the lady told me I needed to take a streetcar. I asked her how to navigate the system to buy a ticket and get there, and she told me to buy a Month-pass because I’ll be riding it a lot, and to go into the train station (right across the street) to buy it. Easy enough, right? Well, all of the ticket machines in the station are automated (i.e. no one to answer questions), and you are supposed to push buttons to indicate your destination. Easy enough….except the destination this lady told me is not listed! And there is no option to buy a monthly pass! I read and re-read the maps, examined every button on that machine, looked around for friendly-looking people to ask (but everyone was in a hurry – it was lunch hour), and after a very long time I finally gave up and went back to Goethe to get play-by-play instructions. Luckily one of the ladies was on her way to the train station too, so she took me and pointed me in the right direction – as it turns out, you have to go to a different place and stand in line to talk to a person to buy the monthly pass, and the reason there is no destination listed is because it is good for all destinations and all methods for 30 days. Whew.
Referring back to the point of my crosswalk story of jumping the gun: when I went to board the proper streetcar it was (unbeknownst to me) stopped about 20 feet in front of its official stop. The doors were open so I got on, but no one else was on it, and when the guys in uniform up front gave me a funny look I realized they were doing some work on something in the front. I sat down anyway, figuring I was the only one who wanted this route. After they got it going again, it drove the extra 20 feet, reopened the doors, and dozens of people got on – they were just waiting it to get to the “official” boarding place, rather than just get on when the doors were open. Who knew? Try that on campus transit!
Ordering food has been especially hard, because it is in a hurried setting where you have to know exactly what you want, say it all quickly, and move on so the next person can order. It all has a rhythm, but I haven’t yet been able to master it. Every such transaction has been stressful so far, especially because I don’t know what kind or type of food each menu item is. Twice today the person from whom I ordered looked at me and said “huh?” as I tried to say what I want. Who knew that the kind of “cup” you get ice cream in is a different word than the “cup” you put liquid in?
Last but not least, when I was too tired to walk any further and decided to call it a night, I decided to take advantage of my monthly pass and take the subway home. Not only did it turn out that I would have to transfer trains a few stops ahead, but I learned the hard way that U-bahns and S-bahns are both underground but are different kinds of trains with different routes, and they are named by their ultimate destinations – which is fine if you know the surrounding area, but totally unhelpful to someone who just wants to know the next few stops on the line. I almost ended up completely lost and on completely wrong trains three times, but eventually made it home without actually making any errors.
The good news is, every ride will be less scary than my two encounters today with public transportation. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any take-home maps! Right now the simplicity of MARTA is actually appealing – at least it’s easy to know where you’re going!
Yesterday afternoon I saw a Rotary Club sign on the door of the hotel next door to mine (how convenient!), so I went in to ask when their meetings were. As goes my luck, they had had a meeting at 12:30 earlier that day. Where was I at 12:30? Sitting in the sandwich shop across the street. Oh well…..
My legs and feet hurt, because I literally haven’t stopped walking (except for my two aforementioned trips) over the past two days, and will probably do the same for the next two. (yes, mom, I’ve been wearing good shoes).Maybe I should stretch tomorrow. At least it’s good exercise!
The real purpose of today’s post is to relay the comedy of errors I experienced today as I attempted to look, act, and talk like a German, and it didn’t go so well. It all started this morning with an awkward “is it coffee, is it tea, where’s the pot, where does the water go” extravaganza at breakfast where there really isn’t much more to tell than that. Next, I went to a Vodafone store and bought a cell phone and the guy told me I spoke good German, which made me happy, so I then asked him how to use the subway/streetcar system to get to the Goethe Institut, because I had tried to figure it out yesterday but to no avail. His answer was, “well I always drive, so I can tell you how to walk there!” Fortunately it wasn’t far, and it was a beautiful walk.
Did I mention that there are stoplights for all crosswalks, even where there are no traffic lights? And these people all wait until the light turns “green” to go, regardless of whether there are any cars coming or not. I learned that one the hard way, by looking like an idiot when I jumped the gun before the light actually turned.
Once I got to the Goethe Institut I asked them directions to get to my housing building for the next month, and the lady told me I needed to take a streetcar. I asked her how to navigate the system to buy a ticket and get there, and she told me to buy a Month-pass because I’ll be riding it a lot, and to go into the train station (right across the street) to buy it. Easy enough, right? Well, all of the ticket machines in the station are automated (i.e. no one to answer questions), and you are supposed to push buttons to indicate your destination. Easy enough….except the destination this lady told me is not listed! And there is no option to buy a monthly pass! I read and re-read the maps, examined every button on that machine, looked around for friendly-looking people to ask (but everyone was in a hurry – it was lunch hour), and after a very long time I finally gave up and went back to Goethe to get play-by-play instructions. Luckily one of the ladies was on her way to the train station too, so she took me and pointed me in the right direction – as it turns out, you have to go to a different place and stand in line to talk to a person to buy the monthly pass, and the reason there is no destination listed is because it is good for all destinations and all methods for 30 days. Whew.
Referring back to the point of my crosswalk story of jumping the gun: when I went to board the proper streetcar it was (unbeknownst to me) stopped about 20 feet in front of its official stop. The doors were open so I got on, but no one else was on it, and when the guys in uniform up front gave me a funny look I realized they were doing some work on something in the front. I sat down anyway, figuring I was the only one who wanted this route. After they got it going again, it drove the extra 20 feet, reopened the doors, and dozens of people got on – they were just waiting it to get to the “official” boarding place, rather than just get on when the doors were open. Who knew? Try that on campus transit!
Ordering food has been especially hard, because it is in a hurried setting where you have to know exactly what you want, say it all quickly, and move on so the next person can order. It all has a rhythm, but I haven’t yet been able to master it. Every such transaction has been stressful so far, especially because I don’t know what kind or type of food each menu item is. Twice today the person from whom I ordered looked at me and said “huh?” as I tried to say what I want. Who knew that the kind of “cup” you get ice cream in is a different word than the “cup” you put liquid in?
Last but not least, when I was too tired to walk any further and decided to call it a night, I decided to take advantage of my monthly pass and take the subway home. Not only did it turn out that I would have to transfer trains a few stops ahead, but I learned the hard way that U-bahns and S-bahns are both underground but are different kinds of trains with different routes, and they are named by their ultimate destinations – which is fine if you know the surrounding area, but totally unhelpful to someone who just wants to know the next few stops on the line. I almost ended up completely lost and on completely wrong trains three times, but eventually made it home without actually making any errors.
The good news is, every ride will be less scary than my two encounters today with public transportation. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any take-home maps! Right now the simplicity of MARTA is actually appealing – at least it’s easy to know where you’re going!
Yesterday afternoon I saw a Rotary Club sign on the door of the hotel next door to mine (how convenient!), so I went in to ask when their meetings were. As goes my luck, they had had a meeting at 12:30 earlier that day. Where was I at 12:30? Sitting in the sandwich shop across the street. Oh well…..
My legs and feet hurt, because I literally haven’t stopped walking (except for my two aforementioned trips) over the past two days, and will probably do the same for the next two. (yes, mom, I’ve been wearing good shoes).Maybe I should stretch tomorrow. At least it’s good exercise!
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