Why the heck is this post so long?

To start, I’ve a few messages for people back home:

To all of those reading this blog:  Blogger has been freaking out at me for the last two blogs and the formatting isn't working properly; I can't use any more italics, boldface, or underling, so you'll have to forgive me if some of the sentences seem to lack a little umph.


To Lauren Bejzak: Happy birthday! Sorry I didn’t post on your wall or send you a message or something. I thought a tribute here might be a little more welcome than another notification on Facebook. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong though.

To the cast and crew of Pennsbury High School’s “Mikado”: Though I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Deutschland, I am sorry that I couldn’t be there for your show. I have no doubt though, that it was absolutely incredible; like everything you guys put together. Enjoy the rest of your performances, and break a leg!

To all those who have sent me messages to which I have not responded: know that I have read them and I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated them! I have simply lacked the time to write you a worthy response. Hopefully I’ll be able to manage a few this weekend (“hopefully” being the key word).

… Flying back to Germany…

This week was a ton of fun (as usual), if a bit nerve-wracking.

Monday was fairly non-descript. I spoke with my German teacher and the exchange coordinator here about some options for improving my grammar. Then I went to German class, and then to English class, where we got our grammar tests back.

Minus two. Ahhhh well. Nobody’s perfect.

Tuesday was also relatively non-descript. I left McKay at home rather than lug him around (big mistake there), but Volleyball and Math went well.

Especially since Math was canceled.

After school, I went to one of the school clubs for the first time: UNESCO AG.

Now, earlier in the day, I had to find out when and where this club met, which means I had to ask someone-- auf Deutsch. To find this out I went to the teachers room, where everyone kept telling me to wait for the UNESCO teacher, and that “Die AG findet heute bestimmt statt”.  I knew all of the words in that sentence. Why then, did it make absolutely no sense? The answer is that the above translated as “The club definitely finds the city today”.

… I was under the impression Oldenburg had already been discovered. A while ago.

After consulting my dictionary a few hours later, I discovered yet another important word to have under your belt: “stattfinden”—to occur or to happen. People weren’t telling me the club was finding the city. They were telling me the club was definitely going to meet.

Stupid compound words that make no sense… grumble grumble …

When I finally got to UNESCO in the afternoon, the only people there were a couple of 4th/5th graders, a sixth grader, an eighth grader, and the teacher.

And then there was me.

Once again, I introduced myself, gave a short bio, and was asked a few questions by the students. One boy asked a question and, right as I started to answer, the teacher stepped in saying “you need to speak a little slower”.

The boy then proceeded to speak as follows:

“Woooooooord.”

Paaaaaaaaaause.

“Wooooooooooord”

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaause.

”Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooord”.

We all had a good laugh at that one, but I interrupted in order to finish answering the kid’s question.
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but that surprised the teacher rather greatly I think. She didn’t expect me to be able to understand something that was spoken so quickly.

Ha.

Haha.

Haha.

Ha.

Ha!

Ok, so understanding what a 5th grader says is probably not the greatest linguistic challenge in the world, but small successes precede great ones, so I’ll take ‘em gladly when they come.

To continue, UNESCO is basically a world awareness/community service club for the younger grades. They talk about what’s going on which part of the world, and how it affects them, and how, maybe, they could help.

Fantastically enough, we talked about the revolutions going on in Northern Africa.
Now, I love Germany and all things German, but I am equally fascinated by Arabic, northern Africa, and the Middle East. I found the opportunity to learn about this area through German eyes ridiculously awesome. I think the teacher was a bit concerned how I would react at first—the US is, unfortunately, not known for respecting this area of the world a whole lot. That is something I would like change as I go forward—our country’s perspective of the Middle East.

Anyway, while there, we received several papers about the middle east; culture, people, food, history, that sort of thing. Luckily, the material was like those “Eyewitness” books we used to read in Elementary school, so the grammar wasn’t too hard for me to understand--- I just had to spend a lot of time looking words up.

Btdubs, if you ever plan on attempting language immersion, invest in an iPod touch and a good dictionary for it. I had the iPod already, but I bought a dictionary to put on it for about $20 before I left in January.

Best purchase I ever made. Hands down.

The benefit of having this setup is that not only is it easier and less time consuming to look words up, it is a lot less conspicuous than constantly leafing through a dictionary.

It’s also a lot lighter than lugging a dictionary around.

In my experience, most people in Germany have at least a rudimentary understanding of English, and are dying to try it out. If they see an English speaker struggling with some German, they are more than happy to act as translator for a while.


This would be perfectly fine (I really do appreciate how willing people are to help!!), but it makes learning German a little harder. I, for one, need to hear, say, read and write a word before it really sticks. When everyone is acting as a translator, kind as it is, it makes learning the words more challenging for me--- and there are far too many words to learn for me to accept another challenge!!! The iPod-dictionary is a lifesaver. I’ve literally used it about 100 times a day since I arrived.

At least.

As in most parts of the world, after Tuesday comes Wednesday, and of all the school days this week, Wednesday was probably the most interesting.

I started the day with Physics.


Yups. I still don’t really understand what we’re doing. I know we’re working with Magnetic fields, with resistors, with volts, current, circuits and systems, but I don’t really understand what it is we’re supposed to be learning and understanding from these experiments.


I’m not alone though, any time someone from physics asks how it’s going, I tell them “I understand the German, but not the physics”, and they laugh.

They don’t understand the physics either, and they’re learning it in their native language!

That being said, I’m not sure the boat would be any less sinkable if this class were in English…

Sorry Dad: There is just no way I’m going to be an engineer. Don’t keel over on me: You’ve got still got Morgan!!

And I’m certain Dr. L wouldn’t mind if you chatted with Sara about magnetic fields, integrals, and derivatives every once in a while.


After physics, I usually don’t have another class until after the lunch break. The teacher I have for Politics seems to be sick an awful lot; I hope she gets better soon!!

This week, though I still didn’t have Politics, I did have another class before the lunch break.

German class.

In the seventh grade.

I got there a little early—wasn’t certain how long it would take me to find the right room—and all the students thought, at first, that I was their “Vertraetungslehrerin”—their substitute teacher.

Then I told them I was an exchange student. They were then convinced for several long minutes that I was lost.

I was forced to repeatedly promise them that no I really was in the right place, and yes I really was saying what I meant to say. When the teacher finally came, the class practically knocked her over in their effort to figure out why the heck there was an 18 year old American exchange student in their seventh grade German class.

Not gonna lie, I was starting to share their curiosity; I’m not big on causing a ruckus or being the center of attention.


And at that point, I was definitely both.


After another round of introductions, I discovered that, at this point in time, the class is reading and working with a book, not learning grammar, as I had been told.

Well, at least the book is interesting; something about the Incas.

It turned out alright; the teacher told me I was more than welcome to join the class on a regular basis if I wished. She made the excellent point that, since it was only seventh grade, the German spoken there would probably be a lot easier than the German spoken in the higher grades, where all my other classes are. It’s a fantastic way to solidify and expand my vocabulary base, as opposed to working in the lofty treetops that are the Oberstufe classes.

After German was lunch, and then theater. Basically, I was super lost in Theater. This is the only class where I am still drowning in incomprehension. I misunderstood an aspect of the directions that were given, but didn’t realize that until we were on stage. I tried to inconspicuously clarify things through the girl next to me, but… well, you know me.

Much as I try, “inconspicuous” is not really my forte.

The teacher was understandably a bit miffed with me, as she had asked earlier if I understood everything, which I thought I did. Anyway, I eventually understood what we were supposed to do, and apologized for my misinterpretation after class. After explaining what had me tripped up, my teacher seemed to forgive me.

Theater auf Deutsch is tough; there’s really just no getting around that. The only thing for it right now, is time, and that in turn requires a bit of patience on my part.

Thursday was better. We talked about a new story in English, and my teacher asked me about the new books I’d bought.

Oh, sorry. Forgot to mention that earlier. I bought Fussball-Alarm and Elmar Tuesday afternoon. My English teacher asked if I had read any books in German. I told her I had started Harry Potter, but didn’t get very far.

She literally gasped when I said that. And several people looked at me like I was crazy.

Apparently the grammar there is wicked hard.

Um… thanks for the FYI??

Because of their reaction, I went into the city at the first possible opportunity to buy a book or two. The next time someone asks what I’m reading, I can avoid the awkward staring bit.

Except, I’m reading German at a third grade level. So maybe that whole staring thing won’t completely disappear.

Back to English class though. Because the book is called “Fussball- Alarm”—soccer alarm—people made the assumption that I really like soccer.

Wow. What a leap.

There had been a Bayern Muenchen game the night before, so we talked about that too.

As it turns out, nobody in Oldenburg really likes Bayern Muenchen because they’re really really good.

I don’t like them because Mark van Bommel plays there. As far as I’m concerned, his red card is what cost Holland the world cup title!!

On the brighter side though, Bayern Muenchen is somewhat redeemed by the fact that Arjen Robben (another member of Holland’s national squad) also plays there. And he’s freaking awesome.

The game was made even more interesting by the fact that Wesley Sneijder—yet another member of the Holland national team-- was there too: playing for the other side!

It was a good game, but I had school the next day so I only got to see the first half.

After English/soccer, I went to Math, where were supposed to do something with something that I didn’t understand at all. I tried a bit, then gave up and read some more from Fussball-Alarm.

I know. I felt guilty, but there were kids who actually needed to learn the Math, whereas I need to learn the German. I didn’t want to commandeer my math teacher for the whole period (because that’s what it would have taken probably) when he could’ve been helping the rest of the class, who’ll need this for their Abitur next year.

It’s not like I sat there and went on facebook for an hour and a half. I read some more pages from my book, studied some vocab, looked over some grammar, and listened to the conversations around me. I made good use of the time, I promise!

After Math came German: biggest success of the week. I spoke in class.

--Cue the hallelujah chorus please.

We were examining another poem, and looking for different schemes and tropes. There was a big long list of them all in our book, and almost every single one had the same name as in English. The other girls in my group were chatting about this and that, but I didn’t understand enough of what was said to turn it into a coherent story, so I started examining the poem.

I found an oxymoron in line 6. Snow is not warm, and sand in not usually cold. Oxymoron ahoy!!

The only bad part about this is that the kids in my group didn’t believe I had found something at first. Yups. Like the seventh graders, they at first thought that I must be mistaken.

Upon further examination though, they saw I was right. So I presented the oxymoron to the class, where everyone was slightly stunned that I spoke to the class as a whole.

Then my finding was challenged. The other groups had it labeled as “inversion” rather than oxymoron. Their justification?

Line 6 was used in the book as an example for inversion.

…There were 3 other people in my group OK? I was the only non-native German speaker. And, in the end, the teacher said my idea was also correct.

After German we had our lunch break, and then Art, where we discussed the Youth-Centers that we had designed.

Someone pointed mine out, saying they found the shape of the building really interesting and unusual. I then had to raise my hand and claim ownership of the piece, and listen to my art teacher tell me how, yes it was good, but there were only three big rooms, which wasn’t organized enough for all the stuff I had going on.

At this point, of course, I had a huge frog in my throat, and could do little more than mumble and nod with a deer-in-headlights expression.

Oh yes. It was a very interesting art class.

Friday morning I went to the 7th grade German class again, but they had a test, so I read some more from Fussball- Alarm.

In Physics we ate cake, and –

Yes, we ate cake.

And then our teacher showed us something with several pieces of bulky equipment and a dot of light. Again, I’m not certain what the physics were, but it was pretty cool lights show.

After physics was History, and I did bring McKay this time. But, of course, Friday was the one day I didn’t need him.

Go figure.

After Geschichte I went home and kind of chilled about the house a bit. It was nice; the week (as you can see from all the writing I’ve done) was a bit hectic.

I will continue a bit into what we did yesterday simply because it was so much fun, and so interesting. Usually I would wait until next week’s blog, but in this one case? I’ll make an exception.

Yesterday we lounged about the house in the morning, but in the afternoon my host mom and I went to Dangast, a town on the coast of the Jadebusen sound. I had been there three years ago with my host family for the three week exchange but, because my German was still so limited at that point, we spoke entirely in English, and I asked merely for some German definitions of the more crucial terms.

Dangast was where I learned the word for “Rainbow”.

That first exchange trip is a different story though. The point I wanted to make was that, last time I was there, almost everything was spoken in English.

But this time around? It was all German. The only bit of English used was to translate the word for “Port-city”.

Granted, my German wasn’t perfect, but I was able to clearly and effectively communicate every point I wanted to. This wasn’t a small success for me: it was a big one. Going to Dangast, even though it was a little grey and rainy, was a really fantastic way to spend my Saturday. It was… a very interesting experience to see just how far I’ve come with the language. Something about being in that same spot, eating a bit of cake and drinking a cup of coffee at the same café, it was remarkably easy to recall that day in June, three years ago, when my host family had first shown me around the town. Sunny and warm, with just a gentle breeze, but hardly a word of German from me. This time around, it was grey, cold, fairly windy, and just a bit rainy, but hardly a word of English from me.

One thing I learned from Physics is that supposedly there is no pot of gold waiting at the end of a rainbow, but after Dangast yesterday? I beg to differ.

I’m heading out for coffee with some friends in a bit, and I’m going to attempt to reclaim my packages from the Post Office tomorrow, but other than that there’s not much planned for this week.

Over and out,

Shannon

What is this "sleep" of which you speak?

Philladelphia: home of the Eagles, the Phillies, and the
world’s best cheese steaks.

But no longer home of the world’s most dedicated fans.  That title definitely belongs to Oldenburg.

Last week, I assumed that Oldenburg basketball fans could not possibly be crazier than Philly fans. No way!!  We had Eagles Court.  We threw bottles at Aerosmith.  Our Governor called our football team “wussies” and was practically impeached. 

Nobody does crazy like we do crazy.

That’s what I thought, but I will admit (on this one occasion) that I was wrong. 

Oldenburg basketball fans are definitely crazier. 

No!  Wait!  Let me explain!!

This is a compliment people; we Philadelphians are darn proud of our insanity and, though we have been proud to hold the title “World’s Craziest Fan Base”, we now reverently bestow it upon
Oldenburg.

Oldenburg game day is AWESOME.  These people come with face paint.  They come with jerseys.  They come with scarves.  They come with hair dye.  They come with DRUMS.  They come with blue and yellow socks for Pete’s sake.

In Oldenburg, “team spirit” knows no bounds.

As such, it will surprise absolutely nobody that I fit right in.  Say “Hallo” to the newest EWE Baskets fan. 

Crazy socks and all.

OK, enough with the culture:  time to hit the books.  Or just run into a wall.  It all depends on how much sense you’re making out of the books.

Other than German class, school was relatively uneventful last week.  On Monday, we talked about the Baroque era, and a poem by Martin Opitz (There’s a media player that will read it for you here).  The Baroque thing I understood.  The poem? Not so much.

To be honest though, people seemed fairly impressed that I even tried to make sense of it.

On Thursday we continued the discussion of the poem, and were told to rewrite it from a feminine perspective.  We were asked to present our poems to the class, and my group wanted me to read ours aloud.

Now, I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I have a thing about reading out loud things that I do not actually understand.  When I asked what our poem was about I was told, and I quote:

“It’s not bad.  A little explicit maybe, but really OK.”

…

……….

Yeah.  I didn’t read the poem.
Hey, it could have been worse; they could’ve easily told me it was about singing birds and sunflowers
or something, and I would have been none the wiser.  Thank goodness for kind classmates.

Now to the many reasons as to why my blog posting is a bit late this week:  I have had one heck of a
weekend!!!!!!!!

Friday night I went to a friend’s house and had “raclette”.  Essentially, it’s the German version of Fondue, but cooler.  Like Fondue, everyone gets to choose what they want to eat, but unlike Fondue, Raclette does not revolve around cheese and meat (though there is some of that as well).  With Raclette, there are tons of different types not only of cheese and meat, but of vegetables, bread, and even some fruit.  Everyone gets their own little pan and wooden spatula, both of which are about palm sized.  In the center of the table, within easy reach of all, is a… well… hmm.  It’s kind of hard to describe…

Oh just look at the picture below.

This photo, by the way, isn't mine.  I was having so much fun I completely forgot I had even brought my camera.  Anyway, in between the two metal boards there’s a miniature oven, and that is where you place your food to cook. 

You can make just about anything with Raclette; miniature pizzas, bacon wrap things, grilled vegetables, grilled cheese.  In any case, it all boils down to one word:

HolyMolyWasThatDelicious.

All through the evening we talked, chatted, and generally had a blast.  I was even able to converse about politics, albeit in very halting, fractured sentences.  After dinner and desert-- another delicious concoction, this time with whipped cream and raspberries— we watched some of the Eurovision Contest, which is super popular here.

The contest is essentially “American Idol”, but for all of Europe.  Every country chooses a group/artist to sing at the Contest and represent them.  I’m not really sure how the elimination/selection process works, but whoever ends up winning, their nation gets to host the next Eurovision contest.  Germany won last year, and is hosting this year’s contest at a soccer stadium in Dusseldorf.  The stadium holds a decent number of people; about 36,000.

And every single ticket has already been sold.

Like I said, it’s pretty popular.

To continue, Germany’s candidate this year is Lena.  Nope.  Just Lena.  She’s only about 19 years old, but she won last year’s contest and is going again this year to sing "Taken by a Stranger".

No.  Don’t keep reading until you watch the video.

“Taken” is pretty good I think, and so is the album she’s got on Amazon.

I promise I’ll stop hyper linking now.  I just get a little overexcited when I figure
out how to use technology...

To sum up:  Lena is really good, the song she’s singing for Eurovision is really good, and Germany is really excited for the contest (held in May I think).

Friday was a blast (like I said), and Saturday I had a soccer game with my team.  We lost 2 to
nothing.  I was the goalkeeper.  

I know, not exactly a fantastic debut.  

I did, however, block an overhead shot (top right corner, parried it over.  Very difficult when you’re as short as I am), and a breakaway play in which I literally got stabbed in the back—by someone’s toe.

OK, you can stop smiling now; it’s really not that entertaining; it bloody well hurt. 

I was pretty tired after the game, but caught up with some friends in the city later on anyway.  I
got home really late (or really early, depending on how you look at it), and was too tired on Sunday to write anything worthy of being posted. 

There you go: excuse for late paper?

Too. Much. Fun.

I must now repeat what I said before: much as I enjoy keeping in touch with everyone, I am not in Germany simply to write funny stories back to y’all.

Though, the habit has proved quite therapeutic.  Which reminds me:

Mom, Dad, you couldn’t have named my sister something other than “Morgan”??  No offense intended, it’s just… well…

I now have one word with three meanings!! 

For those of you who don’t know, “Morgen” is the word for both “tomorrow” and “morning” in German. 

It also happens to be the name of my little sister.  Oh no, it’s not at all confusing or anything.

My nose just grew about 4 feet long.  Suffice it to say that, once again, Senor Padilla’s advice proved true.  Due to several embarrassing instances, I am always sure to ask “Morgan my sister? Or Morgen as in Tuesday? Or Morgen as in four hours ago? 

Now to this week’s agenda: watch more TV, eat Doulna, and figure out why the heck the post office is holding my packages hostage.

Point number one:  I mentioned earlier that I had dinner at a friend’s house on Friday, but what I didn’t mention was that she has a twin sister who studied in Washington last year.   She asked me how everything was going and how I was coping with the language, and she seemed very surprised that I wasn’t watching more TV.

Really, with the look she gave me… I’ve never felt so guilty about not watching TV in my life!

But she was right; watching TV is actually a fantastic way to improve my listening skills.  Remember “supersonic speed”?? Yeah, that’s how fast people on TV talk; you don’t realize it though, until McDreamy (or was it McSteamy???) starts talking in German.

But then again, those of you who can keep those characters straight probably aren’t paying attention to the dialogue anyway…

Point number two:  Doulna is the Turkish version of a Gyro, but WAY tastier.  It is one of the many awesome things that Germany has to offer, but the US does not.  

And after a month here, I still haven't eaten any.  Really, where are my priorities these days??

I wonder if they’ll figure out a way to commute between Germany and the US in the future; I’d looooove some Doulna for lunch, but I’m really missing those Saturday morning bagels from RJs...

Last point:  Seeing as I flew into Amsterdam, Holland and then took a train to Germany, the number of bags I could take with me across the pond was basically cut in half.  After I had packed my suitcase and carry-ons, I packed a few boxes to send via the post.  These were rush shipped about a week after I arrived in Germany, which means that I should have had them last week.  At the latest.

Yeah, I got one package on Saturday.  It was the last package my parents shipped: 3
shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of socks, a bag, and McKay.

Now, as relieved as I am to see McKay again (how did I ever live without him!), I would really love to receive that big package of clothing  so I could mix up my wardrobe a bit.

C’mon.  If I’m concerned about my wardrobe (and I have no fashion sense to speak of), then you know it’s bad. 

Oye, post office:  aren’t you going to give me a list of demands or something??

On the agenda for this weekend?  Another Baskets game (YEAH!!), physics (NOO!!), and some stuff I haven’t planned yet.  That’s all for now.

Over and out,
Shannon

When crawling under a rock isn't an acceptable solution....

To start with:  Thank you Senor Padilla!

Yes.  I am talking about my Spanish 1 teacher.  In my blog about my stay in Germany.

“WHAT?!!  There MUST be an explanation for this!” you say?  Take a chill pill.  For once, there is a method to my madness.

Senor Padilla is the one who gave me what has turned out to be some of the best advice I have ever received:

“When you learn a foreign language, you have to be prepared to stick your foot, in your mouth. 

--Deep breathe--

“A lot.”

It was his advice that has gotten me through the week.  In the week of the Whirlwind, much as I listened and studied all the German that was around me, I didn’t really speak that much outside of the house. 

This week, I grew a spine and did speak outside the house, and tried to expand the boundaries of what I already know.  But what I said?  Well, let’s just say it wasn’t always what I meant….

Earlier this week, I tried to say “I am going to take my dry laundry, and put it away”.  What I really said?

“I am going to dry my laundry and put it away”.  In English?  Perfectly fine.  In German?  Not so much.  This came across as:

“Shannon is going to whirl her laundry around by hand until it is dry.  After she is done ignoring the dryer down the hall, she will put her laundry in her room”.

Although she knew what I meant, Holy MOLY did this make my host mom laugh!!  At first, she just smiled, held back a chuckle, and said “that’s fine, you go right ahead”.  After some prodding-- I had OBVIOUSLY said something funny and, really? I doubt that laundry is that funny in any language-- she told me what I had done wrong.

Apparently, a dropped verb here and there is a big deal… who knew?

As for school, I learned a very important word this week:

“Ausfallen” as in “alles faellt aus”.

FIVE of my classes this week were canceled.  FIVE.  Apparently, there’s a bug going around and we don’t get substitute teachers when the permanent ones get sick (tough luck Gleeks.  I know.  I miss Gwyneth too).

On Wedenesday I was supposed to have Physics, Politiks, and Theater.  I had Theater. 

Alright alright, only two classes.  That’s not so bad.

On Thursday this week, I was supposed to have English, Math, German, and Art.

Yeah.  I had Math.  Then I went into the city with a girl from my Physics and Politics class, and had coffee with her and a bunch of her friends.  I still didn’t say much, but said enough to look silly.  Or maybe they thought I was being anti-social?? I’m not really sure.  The whole “first impression” bit didn’t go very well…

Luckily, one of the girls there had studied English abroad last year, and totally got why I wasn’t saying… well, anything really.  She told us a story about a word that exists in German, but not at all in English and how, when she tried to use the word in English, it led to hilarity between her and her friends.  I won’t repeat the story word for word as it is not really my story to tell.  Suffice it to say, that it was nice someone understood the reason for my silence.

As far as my actual classes go, I no longer feel like an English word being beaten up by German words in a crossword puzzle; I am now able to consistently distinguish one word from another when people are speaking.  To rephrase: German no longer sounds like onebiglongword unless it is onebiglongword. 

On the non-language side of things, I have proved once and for all that I definitely have the Kehoe sense of direction.

IE: None. 

The school I attend here is literally ¼ the size of the one at home, but I keep getting lost!  It doesn’t help matters that some classes get canceled, while others just get moved, and I have no idea how to read (or say) the “Vertraetungsplan”, which states what class is where. 

As such, I was super late to German on Monday.  And Volleyball on Tuesday. 

And Theater on Wednesday. 

After that, I decided it was best to find someone in my class before my class actually started.... 

On the less embarrassing side of life, I’ve got some exciting news: someone is coming to visit soon!!  The less exciting news?  He’s dead. 

It’s Juan de Pareja, the man on the cover of my AP Euro book.  The reason he’s coming?

Well, McKay is coming.  Poor guy doesn’t really have a choice.

For those of you who don’t know, “McKay” is the nickname Pennsbury students give to their AP Euro textbook.  Yes.  We love him so much he is treated like part of the family.

Well, except for the whole highlighting bit.

Like I said last week, I’m taking AP Euro again here in Germany, and it’s been proven that you re-learn faster from materials that you have already referenced, than from materials you are reading for the first time.

I’ve already read McKay twice.  I think I should relearn what little I have forgotten fairly quickly, don’t you??

Now to the culture bit (I know, great transition there).

It may surprise some of you to know that, in Germany, the big meal of the day is lunch, not breakfast or dinner.  Other than the two days that I have afternoon classes, I eat lunch with my host mom and my host brother every day, and my host mom cooks something up for lunch just like my mom in the US would do for dinner. 

Come to think of it, my host family and I have sat down to eat just about every meal together.  Every meal.  I know that, for me, it was a little surprising when I realized that.  In the US, we’re always running around; my family considers the week a success when we eat 2 meals together; between homework, work, extra curriculars, and exhaustion, there’s just not enough time for a sit-down dinner. 

To be clear, I’m not trying to say that this is good, or bad, or anything at all really.  I’m merely trying to point out some differences between German and American culture that I find interesting.

Lastly, social stuff:  Last weekend I met up with a friend I had hosted in the US for a three week exchange, and she, I, and a few other friends (some from the same exchange, and some I had never met before) went to the supermarket and bought some food to cook in a Wok.

Wok=Stir Fry.  I think.  

Anyway, I’d never cooked with a Wok before, but I had a ton of fun trying it for the first time.  We spoke some English, but mostly German (hahaha!  Success! Sort of.)  I understood EVERYTHING in the Supermarket.  I’m not talking just basic points, I mean EVERYTHING.  As in EVERY WORD. 

It. Was. AWESOME.

Then we went to my friend’s house and chopped and stirred and cooked in the kitchen.  

I understood most of what was said there, and the few things I didn’t were rephrased once or twice until I did.

We ate some DELISCIOUS vegetables and noodles with a super-yummy sauce, and then we chilled in the basement and ate desert. 

Huh.  That’s where I got lost. This was no longer “let’s speak a tad slower than usual so Shannon can understand”.  This was no longer “eh, Shannon seems to be getting everything, let’s try normal speed”.  This was GIRL TALK.  For those of you who don’t know, this means SUPERSONIC speed. 

Yeah.  I got nothin’.

I still had an absolute blast, and the others were really good about gauging how confused I was (my face was the confuse-a-dometer).  When the gauge got too strained, they stopped, explained in English, we laughed, and continued on.

I repeat: It was a BLAST!  And those carrots were definitely worth all the effort it took to chop them.

The Weekend Forecast:  EWE Baskets basketball game on Saturday, and Soccer on Sunday.

The Basketball team here is a HUGE deal.  No, like it’s a reallybigfreakingdeal.  EVERYONE who can get a ticket goes to see these games.  From what I’ve seen, Oldenburg loves the Baskets like Philly loves the Eagles.

But Oldenburgers are much more well behaved. 

I think.

Last thing, I’ve started making flashcards on Quizlet of all the words I’m learning.  Check ‘em out here:

http://quizlet.com/user/fusion/

You made need to get an account to view them.  Don’t worry.  It’s free.

Well, that’s really it for now.  I’ll give you another update next weekend.

Over and out,

Shannon

The Whirlwind

For those of you who are not familiar with the German school system, I shall quickly sum it up.  The rest of you, feel free to skip ahead. 

There are four different types of German high schools.  The first is the Gymnasium, essentially the AP level of things.  Then there’s the Realschule; honors level.  Then the Hauptschule; parallel or Tech school.  Lastly, there’s the “Gesamtschule” which is a combination of all three schools, and not very common.  I attend the Gymnasium, where those in the 12^th and 13^th grades are now frantically preparing for their Abbitur. 

This would a Heart of Darkness “The Horror!  The Horror!” moment.

The closest thing we have to an Abbitur is an AP Exam, and even those are no true comparison.  The most I will say is that the Abbitur is very, very difficult and very, very stressful.  It is essentially an exit exam from the High School, and only given at the Gymnasium.  The Abbitur decides your future; it decides if you have a future.  Your grade on it will determine what fields you can pursue in college, and what colleges will even look at your application. 

Yeah, not exactly singing cherubs and stuff. 

 As far as the school schedule goes, it changes from day to day.  For example, my schedule:

Monday: two free periods, then double German and double English.

Tuesday: Double history, double Volleyball, double Math (yuck) and an after school club called UNESCO.

Wednesday: Double Physics, Double Politics, two free periods and forty five minutes for lunch, then double Theater. 

Thursday: Double English, double Math (yuck again), double German, and double Art.  Yes, Art.  Comments devoid of handwriting jokes are much appreciated.

Friday: Two free periods, double Physics, and double History.

In every class we have a five minute break (approximately), and between every class we have a “Grosse Pause”—a 20 minute break. 

My first class here was on Wednesday in Physics.  Holy.  Moly.

The first day there, I was able to understand the majority of what my teacher (very cool guy, by the way) was saying, but I didn’t understand the actual physics that he was talking about.  After acquiring my textbook and trading some emails with my physics teacher from last semester, I know why:

It looks like I’m taking something akin to AP Physics B.  Not honors physics, not AP Physics, but AP Physics B.

Uh, I took parallel last semester….. 

That’s deserving of a “Holy Moly”, don’t you think?

Nah, in actuality is not as intimidating as it seems.  My grades here don’t count seeing as the major focus is on learning German language and culture, so a whole bunch of stress gets taken away there.  I had my second physics class on Friday, and that went a thousand times better than the one on Wednesday, and Wednesday I didn’t think was all that bad.  My guess is that in two, two and a half weeks, I ought to have a decent handle on what’s going on. 

OK, so maybe that’s a bit optimistic, but better that than pessimistic, eh?

After Physics I had Politiks.

Yeah.  I had no idea what was going on.  Something about a man being killed over Pizza.

Thursday I was supposed to start with English, but I ended up having one period free because our teacher was helping with some Abbitur practice exams.  I went to work in the “Arbeitsraum”, and was soon joined by a handful of other kids.  One of them was a girl I was supposed to host last year, but was unable to come because she got sick.  After chatting a bit, Isabel and I discovered that we have English, History, and Math together. 

Thank goodness!  She took me under her wing and helped me out enormously in Math, where I had no idea what was going on (working with probability, hence all the “yucks”), and guided me through History as well.   I may not enjoy the Math, but my teacher is very nice.  It’s just, I didn’t really get the whole probability thing in English, so the chances of me understanding it in German are fairly dismal. 

Moving on, it looks like Mrs. Swope was right again.  AP Euro is EVERYWHERE.  I mean, I’m in Germany, so I anticipated encountering a bit of Euro info, just not, you know, the whole class.  On Friday, we started off my history class by talking about Locke, Rousseau, and Montesque and continued into the Wright brothers, the Preamble from the Constitution (our constitution), the Printing Press, Columbus, and Luther.  For about 15 minutes or so, my teacher kept talking about “Loodah”.  I had been doing fairly well up until then, but at “Loodah” I got lost.  Once again, Isabel came to the rescue and we figured out that “Loodah” was “Luther”.  I was got caught by the accent was all. 

Those are the major points from the last few days.  Overall, I’ve been surprised by how much German I’ve been able to understand, even more by what I’ve been able to figure out by making a few educated guesses.  I may not be speaking noticeably better yet, but I have noticed that, just in the six days I’ve been here— communicating almost exclusively in German—I can comprehend so much more than I could a week ago; indeed, than I could three days ago. 

That being said, I still have a looooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go.  But in every class there has been at least one person willing to help me out (usually more), and take the time to explain everything to me—auf Deutsch—with words that I can understand.  Not an easy task, I assure you.  My experience in Math class has, so far, been the most extreme example, but there were similar instances in Physics, Politics, and German as well. 

At times it’s hard to speak in German simply because there are so many people trying to speak to me in English, and it’s hard for me to switch back and forth between the two languages.  Once I’ve made it clear that I really am here to learn German though, people are quite willing to oblige me and help me along.  Since most people here do speak at least some English, they know a bit of what I am trying to accomplish.

Last thing:  I haven’t been keeping up with my correspondences and individual emails as much people might like, but that’s not because I’m trying to ignore anyone!!  It’s just that, right now, it’s hard for me to switch back and forth between English and German, so I try to save all my English correspondence for the weekend, and write little notes to people who need answers ASAP during the week.  Once I can speak German more cohesively—that is, more than fifth or sixth grade sentences—I should be a bit better at switching around.  On the other hand though, I’m not in Germany to write emails to all the people back in the US.  I am coming to learn that balancing my obligations on both sides of the pond will be a bit challenging, so I must beg forgiveness if I seem to slack at times.

There's a ton more that I want to say, but that'll have to wait for next weekend. 
Over and out,
Shannon