The next morning, Thursday morning to be exact, I woke up at 7:00. That put me at about 9 hours of sleep. Getting some rest felt amazing, but I was not over my jetlag by any means. We, the Haugs and I, had agreed to eat breakfast together at 8:00, so I began my morning exploring the amenities of my new house. A few things I noticed to start out:
• Germans are very efficient.
o They always close doors to every room and hallway. This seems exclusionary? Not quite. Each room has its own heater, so they only heat the parts of the house that are in frequent use. Closing the doors keeps the heat where it is supposed to be. My room and bathroom are quite cozy and warm, but the hallway inbetween is a tundra of linoleum.
o The toilet has a flush and a stop button. Well they are the same button, but you press one side to flush and the opposite side to stop the water. The water does stop automatically after about 5 seconds, but if you only need 2 seconds of flushing then you can just used 2 seconds of water.
• Softness is not an adjective well-known to the Germans. This applies to linens, as of now. I don’t say this in a negative connotation, but merely as a fact.
o The towels are maybe 0.5 meter by 0.75 meter. This isn’t huge. It doesn’t nearly cover me, but it is exactly the right amount of towel to sufficiently dry me. See? Efficiency. Also, German towels feel…different. They aren’t soft, but it’s not easy to describe what they are. I want to say they feel brittle, but they are towels—that is counterintuitive. I will say they are rough, but not in an unusable way.
o The sheets aren’t the softest, but I could care less. Everyone reading this probably knows that I can sleep just about anywhere, especially when I am as tired as I am.
o The toilet paper is far from soft. Enough said.
The hot water in the shower worked just fine, but it seems there are only three different values of heat: scalding, lukewarm, and frigid. I opt for the lukewarm, and it feels pretty amazing after a few seconds of either other extreme.
The first thing I did after showering and dressing was to help Richard move a small refrigerator from the attic to the kitchenette on my hallway. These people really have a grand set-up for me. I could not have had it better. After slowly carrying the surprisingly heavy and cumbersome fridge down a narrow attic staircase, we headed down for breakfast. Here again, proved an interesting food experience.
Breakfast consisted of several options. The cereal option included oatmeal and cornflakes. I opted for cornflakes and looked around for the milk. The only milk I saw was for the coffee on the table. I looked at Bärbel very confused and asked what to do. She showed me the small container of yogurt on the table and said to use that. So my cornflakes became cornflakes and yogurt…except this yogurt was room temperature. Trying not to act surprised, I quickly finished that and looked for something else to move on to. Why finish quickly? Well room temperature yogurt and cornflakes isn’t exactly my idea of scrumptious, so I was very much ready to move on to another option.
I then ate a roll with salami and a banana. I called it a meal and then helped clean up. Bärbel did not have to be at work until 12:00, so she offered to show me around. We walked out into the town and I got my first honest glimpses of Hall. Before, I had only seen it from a taxi. Now I was walking through it. She pointed out the bank, the information center, a few good bakeries, gave me directions to the supermarket and then walked me by the Goethe Institut, where I will be studying. After that, we walked back to the house, and she bid me good day. I grabbed my pocket German dictionary and my camera and headed back out.
I walked all around the city and took pictures. I did my best to absorb everything I could. I walked down every street I saw and took every new turn that I could. Elation would be the best way to describe my feelings during this excursion. Everything looks amazing, and I am truly in Germany. There is snow everywhere. It has snowed almost constantly since I have been here. Today (Friday) it was actually 0 degrees Celsius, so it was what they like to call “warm” here. The region has received more snow than usual, Bärbel said, and she could not recall how long it had been snowing since it has been around that long this winter season.
As I walked, I said hello to many people that I crossed. I definitely enjoyed this brief interaction. I have, for the most part, been on my own. Bärbel has been gone since she and I parted ways Thursday morning because she is traveling for business. Richard has spent long hours at work, too, so I have my time to myself. That being said, the little time I have to interact with people are the people I run across in Hall and the friends I can talk to online. I have yet to meet any friends my own age here because class has not started. There are definitely young people around, but it is hard enough to approach a group of peers you don’t know as it is, and even more so if you don’t speak their language very well. All of the people my age are in groups and hurrying off somewhere anyway, so I wouldn’t want to stop them. I am very positive that I will meet a good deal of people once my classes start, and I look forward to that very much. I would almost say I am starving for interaction, but that wouldn’t be fair. I am craving it, but I also enjoy the solitude. I enjoy being able to wander around and become lost in my surroundings and my thoughts. Also, it gives me time to think about and practice my German to myself as I walk around. However, I think I am getting that isolation and individualism desire thoroughly quenched. It is good for me, for when I finally have the chance to meet and interact with people in my classes and through my time at the Goethe Institut, I will be so eager to connect with someone that I will have less reservations about speaking in German.
Being in Germany is already proving phenomenal for my German. As I was walking around Hall for the first time, I began thinking about how to describe the town and my feelings for the blog. I quickly realized that I was thinking about how to say all of this in German, though, instead of English. I laughed to myself, but it is a good sign. As I walk around everywhere, I am constantly thinking of things to say in German in case a situation arises where I need to communicate. There are several times when I think about engaging in conversation with someone, but my heart starts beating quickly and I get too nervous to think clearly. Of course, as soon as I am past the situation, I think of a million things to say. This is all part of the transition into getting comfortable with my German. I get braver and braver each hour. I will expand upon my interactions with the locals later on.
I walked around Hall for about two hours, exploring and wandering aimlessly. I walked across the river that flows through the middle of the town and continued up a large hill. I walked and walked and walked, passing houses and businesses. I finally ended up in a neighborhood at the very top of a hill and explored that before heading back. It is all very interesting to see, and I love walking around in the snow.
After I finished my trek, I grabbed some lunch back at the house. I plan to meet with my Rotary contact, Herr Hahl, on Saturday. Then I will set up my bank account, buy my phone card or new cell phone, and get some advice on life in Hall. Until then, I am trying to conserve money moderately so I don’t unexpectedly run out of Euros. After I get that bank account set up though, I will be going into every little shop possible and looking around. I plan to single-handedly support the backeries, pubs, and delis around. So, I grabbed lunch at the house, and got on the computer.
I headed back out that afternoon and explored some more. My two big adventures of the afternoon were my visit to the Goethe Institut and my first time in the supermarket, Handelshof. I knew these would be big tests of my German skills and would require interaction. My trip to the Goethe Institut went well, and they said I should come back Monday morning to take a test to see if I was placed correctly in my classes. Actual classes start Tuesday. All of this was in German, and I was very proud that I could have that conversation in German. The woman that I spoke with, though, did know that I was from the US and did not speak German perfectly, so she definitely spoke slowly. Also, I could almost watch her select words that she thought I would know. I was grateful for this, but it also made me feel inadequate. I hope to use that experience as motivation to get better at my German.
I went to the supermarket then and just strolled through for a little while, absorbing all that I could. The shoppers and employees probably thought I was crazy. I felt like people were looking at me weird all day. I felt like they knew that I didn’t belong. Maybe it was a look of bewilderment on my face, maybe it was the fact that I was wearing cargo pants (not very German), or maybe I was just being too self-conscious. I bought some lotion and some bottled mineral water. That reminds me about the water situation. Hall used to be known for its salt deposits. There are huge deposits all around the area. For that reason, the water here has a lot of salt in it. German tap water is hard water anyway, and isn’t exactly the best to drink. Even though I was fully aware of this, I had been drinking tap water like a madman. I was so thirsty after my travels. Also, the tea and coffee I had during my first two meals only dehydrated me further. That yogurt and corn flakes combo plus salami and bread required some water, too, in order to settle my stomach. I knew that I needed some bottled water in order to survive, so that was numero uno on my list of things to buy. I also bought some snack bars, which came in handy later. I made my purchase successfully and happily made my way back to my room.
As soon as I stepped in my room (and after I chugged a bottle of water), a sudden wave of fatigue hit me. I decided to take a nap and set my alarm for 19:00. My exhaustion from my trip plus a full day of adventure was catching up. I accidentally overslept and woke up at 20:15. I was starving and rushed out to find some place to eat.
Here is when I made a very important discovery. Hall pretty much shuts down at 20:00. All of the restaurants I knew of were closed. I am absolutely sure that some restaurants and pubs were open somewhere, but this is only my first full day in this city. I had no idea where to look. I searched in vain for about 15 minutes and headed back home dejectedly, cursing myself the whole way. I ended up eating all six of the snack bars I had purchased just hours before. I was starving, and each bar had only 99 calories. I would eat one, wait twenty minutes and be forced out of hunger to eat another. So that and bottled water made up my first meal on my own in Germany. Impressive, right? Not quite. I then turned in for bed around 12:00 and quickly fell asleep.
dude this is so funny. i swear we are the same, no lies. the first thing i bought was water and cereal bars, and ended up eating all of them that night because everything here closes early too. crazy. i feel your pain.
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