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