This post is for the weekend of Friday 2/12 to Sunday 2/14
Friday was a pretty awesome day, if nothing else but relaxing. A group of ten people went to München for the weekend, so our numbers were dwindled. Originally I was planning to go to Dusseldorf for the weekend to meet up with Ellen (who is in Ireland) and Steph (who is in Scotland) and enjoy the Karneval festivities with them, but those plans fell through. (The three biggest centers for Karneval are Mainz, Dusseldorf, and Köln.) If I haven’t explained Karneval before, it is kind of like Mardi Gras in the United States. People dress up in crazy outfits and there are many parades and celebrations all over the cities. Rosenmontag is the Monday before Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, and Fasching is the actual day of Mardi Gras. Karneval technically starts in November and culminates in the arrival of the weekend before Fasching and then Rosenmontag and Fasching itself. The whole point is to welcome in spring and seems to be somewhat analogous to welcoming the season of Lent like Mardi Gras does for the U.S.
So I didn’t make it to Dusseldorf, which I regret, but that doesn’t mean the weekend was lost. Friday night, a few of us went back out to the Chinese place and enjoyed some more delicious (and cheap) Chinese food. Afterwards we hung out in the Wohnheim and went to the Goethe-Party. Not too many people were there because they were off enjoy München, but it was a relaxing good time. I didn’t stay out too late because I knew I had an early morning on Saturday.
At 7:30 am on Saturday, a group of about 25 of us Goethe-Institut students embarked on a trip to Mainz. It was a Goethe-sponsored trip and only cost 16 Euros total. Can’t complain about that. Mainz is an old city that sits on the Rhein River, and we all went to get a little taste of Karneval. We had a tour guide from Die Freunde des Goethe who knew Mainz well who lead us around the city. After the three hour drive made in a fluorescent yellow-green tour bus (called an Omni-bus, which if you know any Latin, you will find that name . We dismounted from the bus and walked to the Rheinland-Palatinate Länder Museum, which a history museum of the Bundesstaat (state, pretty much—Schwäbisch Hall is in the Baden-Württemburg Bundesstaat) of Rheinland-Palatinate, where Mainz is. Mainz is also the capital of that region.
The museum was pretty cool. First of all, we got free Berliners and Kaffee (if you remember from my first few mornings at the bakery, Berliners were my pastry of choice) at the museum. And by free of course, I mean that our 16 Euro fee had already covered the cost of the delicious jelly-filled donuts. I definitely ate four. Woo! After that we explored the museum, led by a woman from the museum. She was very informative and nice and was also good at explaining things well. She reminded me of a German teacher because she knew how to explain something we didn’t understand. It was also very encouraging that I could understand pretty much everything she said. It’s always interesting to see all the art and history from each region, and the age, detail, and volume of these artifacts blow my mind.
After we left the museum, we walked around and explored the city some. We happened onto a random Karneval concert. The music is mostly drums/percussion and glockenspiel. Haha it was pretty entertaining to witness. I swear I saw some of the strangest things. By the end of the day, I was almost desensitized to how weird some of these people were dressing. We ended up at the Dom St. Martin, the famous and impressive looking church in the middle of the city. It is so hard to describe all of the things we saw. Mainz has a lot of Roman history in it, plus it is where Gutenberg (the guy who invented the printing press, if you don’t recognize that—probably one of the most important people of millennium. Without the printing press, a lot doesn’t happen.) lived and worked. There is also Gutenberg University there, too. On top of that, all of the administration buildings of the state are there. So much history!
We unfortunately couldn’t get inside the Dom because it was closed at the time we had allotted to explore it. Instead, we wandered around the city some more, seeing a lot of historical buildings and hearing stories about the history from our guide. We had a two hour break for lunch so we found a nice Restaurant called “am Dom” which means at the Dom. It was pretty delicious and ended up being a microbrewery. I am pretty convinced that every other restaurant in Germany is a microbrewery, though. I had a delicious crepe filled with beef and vegetables, and of course I enjoyed a home-brewed Hefe-Weisen. That is probably the most common beer over here. It’s a wheat beer if you didn’t know. The bartender at the bar, by the way, was definitely dressed for Karneval. He was wearing this crazy orange shirt with suspenders and striped tiger pants.
After lunch, we all met up again and proceeded down the street from the Dom. Here is where we saw the vast majority of our Karneval craziness. A parade was going on as we walked down the street. The entire street was blocked off, and there were stands to sit in. Also, people lined the street as far as the eye could see. Groups of people with certain themed costumes and floats came in hordes. It was extremely entertaining to watch. The floats had people on them that threw out candy. Everyone yells “Helau!!!” every two seconds. Helau doesn’t really have a meaning per se, but it is rather the expression of Karneval. Think of it as a “Cheers!” of sorts. It differs based on the city, too. Mainz says “Helau!” while Köln yells “Helauf!” and Dusseldorf says “Alaaf!” So after about 30 minutes to an hour of watching the parade and screaming “Helau!” we moved on, leaving the parade still going strong behind us.
We then went to St. Stephen’s church, which has been a key church for the city and a symbol of freedom in Germany during the reign of the Third Reich. The church has all blue stained-glass windows inside, so the interior is a very somber blue hue. We sat and listened to a little history about the church and then walked around the courtyard outside. After that, we had about an hour of free time before we had to board the bus to go home. Once we got back to the city center, the parade was just finishing, so people were flocking to the bars. We all entered one bar only to be greeted by packed house. Randomly, we heard John Denver’s “Country Roads” playing over the speakers and I saw several Germans singing along. Crazy! And then they started singing German songs, and it was clear that service was not going to come quickly here. A few of us left and headed back to the market-like area where a ton of food stands and drink stands were set up. We picked up some Gluhwein, which is hot red wine with spices. It was pretty good and definitely helped warm us up on the cold and brisk afternoon. We then took the long way back to the bus, seeing all we could before jumping back on our neon vehicle. The ride back was very sleepy for everybody, and it was interesting to watch the sunset on the snowy German country side. Also, the trip there and back accounts for my first experiences with the Autobahn. People definitely go fast, that’s for sure, but our bus didn’t exactly fly like all of the Audi’s, BMW’s, and Mercedes.
Once we got back that night, we decided to have pasta for dinner! We went to the supermarket and purchased all the necessary items. Then Paola, one of my Italian friends, made the pasta, and we feasted. It is the first time I can say that I ate true authentic pasta made by an Italian. It was, of course, delicious. We just hung out in the kitchen for the rest of the night, talking and sharing stories among four or five of us.
Sunday, again, I woke up early to depart to Nürnberg. Andrew, from Washington D.C., and Bernardo, from Brazil, had made their way there the day before and had spent the night in a hostel. Ben, Derek, and I headed there Sunday morning to meet up with them and explore the city. The day started off almost comically. We had planned on meeting at the bus stop at 8:30 am to ride to the Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental train station to catch the 9:59 train to Nürnberg. However, we did this just assuming that the bus schedule was the same on Sundays as it is on Saturdays. We were wrong. The bus came at 8:25, which we missed, and then again at 9:45, which wouldn’t allow us enough time to catch the train. We could have called a taxi, but that would have cost money, and we are all about saving Euros. What else did we do? We walked the 5 kilometers to the train station. Haha
We trudged through the snow for about 35 minutes before we made it to the train station around 9:20. We grabbed breakfast and were about to head to our train when there was an announcement that it was delayed 30 minutes. So yeah…we could have gotten breakfast and then taken the bus to the train station at 9:45 anyway. Oh well, we got some good exercise in and saved some money. The train didn’t end up coming until 10:45 or so, we were standing around for a while waiting for it.
We finally arrived in Nürnberg around noon, and Andrew and Bernardo met us at the train station. Derek and Andrew grabbed McDonalds at the train station for both the taste of home and the free coffee mug that came with any meal. We then headed to the inner city and explored the “older” parts. I put older in quotations because the city was leveled after WWII because it was a center of Nazi activity, so even the old parts looked relatively new. We headed into the Länder Museum for Bayern (Nürnberg is in Bavaria and Bavaria = Bayern auf Deutsch) and explored that for a little bit. The Roman history and the Middle Ages section were cool, but I wasn’t too keen on the modern art. We then left there and headed to the Nazi Museum.
The Nazi Museum, called Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (which literally means Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds), is all about the rise of power of the Nazis and how they tried to build an empire. The first ¾ of the museum is about the Nazis gaining control of the hearts and minds of the people and how Hilter manipulated the system. The last parts are about the war and then the Nürnberg trials at the end. It was definitely very interesting, and everyone gets a little handheld speaker that guides you through the museum in your language of choice. The best part about the museum, though, was the architecture and the location. The location is, of course, where the huge Nazi rallys were held. If you have ever seen films of huge crowds of German soldiers marching by torch light or walking in formation while saluting Hilter, it was here. The museum is actually built into the unfinished construction of the huge Congress hall there that was going to serve for Nazi regime once the war was over. The Zeppelin Field, the only finished part of the area, is the famous spot where Hilter stands at a podium, addressing hordes of Nazi soldiers, and then watches them all march by him in formation. The museum design was very intriguing, too. It had a very jagged look. There were corners and sharp edges everywhere. It was designed to make you feel uncomfortable. Obviously, that was part of the feeling invoked when being at the very site of all of these Nazi rallies. Also, the museum was set up so that you followed a twisting path that seemed very convoluted and confusing (although it was very easy to follow). This, of course, was to mimic the minds and the hearts of the German people as they were manipulated by Hilter and led down a destructive and terrible path that they had no idea how to manage other than follow it. The strangest and eeriest part of the experience was actually walking to the Zeppelin Field. We were in the museum until it closed and marched the field in the dark. It is lit, and even though we weren’t there during the day, it still was an impressive and impactful sight to absorb. We actually walked up to the podium where Hilter stood to give his speeches. It was definitely creepy and eerie. I hope to make it back there and see it in the daylight too. We took pictures standing there, and I almost felt guilty smiling while standing at such a somber place.
After we left, we went back to the hostel where Andrew and Bernardo had spent Saturday night and grabbed their bags. We tried to sit down at a restaurant (that was also a microbrewery—surprise) to get some dinner, but the service was just taking too long. We had to catch the 8:35 train back to Schwäbisch Hall because the next one didn’t leave until 5 am. We instead grabbed a quick meal (I, naturally, had a döner…it was nothing though compared to Bali’s—the one in Hall). We grabbed the train back and made it home by 11. What another great weekend.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Goethe Week Two
This is about the week of 2/8 through 2/11
The second week of classes started out well, too. Monday’s class went fine as usual, but during the day some of the American students talked about how much we missed having American breakfast food. We decided to cook an American breakfast for dinner that night. We headed to the supermarket at 5 and bought all of the necessary supplies. Then we came back and cooked breakfast for everyone who wanted it, including the Brazilians and a few others. We had eggs, bacon, toast with jelly, and hash browns. It was pretty awesome and definitely satisfied our hunger for American breakfast. After that we all headed to Stammtisch for a few drinks and went to bed happy.
Tuesday was definitely interesting because we had an International buffet that night. The concept was that everyone would bring a traditional dish from their respective home countries. We Americans brought grilled cheese to the buffet. Not everyone participated, but there were about 10 or so countries represented and more than enough food to go around. There was so much good food. It was also the first time, and probably only time, when I can say I was sitting with at a table with about 25 people and at least 10 different countries were represented. It was definitely a cool experience.
Wednesday was the first day of our new Lehrer. Our old Lehrerin, Frau Schneider, was just filling in for our teacher until he got back from vacation. Now we have Herr Hasenfluss. He is definitely an interesting man. He kind of looks like Einstein, but instead of his hair poofing out, it lays down flat. He’s definitely a crazy looking man. He also has an interesting voice and a Schwabian accent. I’m not really a huge fan so far. He is extremely difficult to understand when compared to Frau Schneider and he speaks much more quickly than she did. Also, we have a ton of homework every night now, so that’s not as much fun. So Wednesday’s class was not my favorite, as I had to adjust to Herr Hasenfluss.
Wednesday night was fun, though. We have Goethe-Kino every Wednesday. Goethe-Kino is when they show a free movie in the Goethe-Pub for us all to watch. A few of us decided to make grilled cheese again, but this time we made fries, too, and added salami to the grilled cheese. Of course we had to have beer, too. We made all of this food in the kitchen in the Wohnheim and then took it to the Goethe-Kino so we could eat while we watched the movie. It worked splendidly. We enjoyed our delicious food and watched a movie called Adams Apfel, which means “Adam’s Apple” in English (sure was hard to figure that translation out, huh?). It was a movie about a neo-Nazi skinhead who is punished for petty crimes by being assigned to stay at a church with a pastor and a few other criminals. The criminals get room and board at the church but have to work for their stay. It basically followed the storyline of Job from the Bible. It was an interesting movie, for sure, but a little ridiculous. None of us could help laughing when a guy got shot in the chest and back and walked away like it was nothing. We couldn’t believe it. If you are familiar with the story of Job, this next scene will make more sense to you, but the pastor of the church is dying from a huge brain tumor. In a scuffle with a band of neo-Nazis that come to start trouble at the church, the pastor gets shot in the head. Of course, he lives because the bullet blew out the tumor from his brain and he is cured. All of us could only watch in shock and awe when we gets shot in the head and then lives. We found the German style of film-making very entertaining if not slightly ridiculous. The movie was all in very-hard-to-understand German, but we had subtitles on (in German), so we could follow along by reading.
Thursday February 11th was probably one of my best days in Germany. Class again was not so great, but the afternoon and night more than made up for it. First we had a wonderful thing called “Kaffee und Kuchen” (Coffee and Cakes) at 4 pm. It was put on by an organization called Die Freunde des Goethe (or the Friends of the Goethe Institut). Basically there is a group of people who live in Hall that strongly support the concept and work of the Goethe Institut and want to support and help all students trying to learn German. They put on a few different programs throughout each month of classes, but this is by far their best program. Then again, I am always biased towards food.
Kaffee und Kuchen is a program where all of the women in Die Freunde des Goethe bake amazing cakes and confections and bring them to the Mensa (cafeteria). There they also serve coffee and tea, and it is all FREE for the students. How awesome is that? There were about 20 different kinds of cakes and pies laid out on the table. I was in heaven, sweet heaven. I had no less than five pieces of cake. They girls sitting next to me (from Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Afghanistan, I think) were thoroughly impressed until they saw me stand up. Then they realized that all that cake goes to fill my 6’6” frame. I also had three cups of coffee. Needless to say, I was wired after that.
Another awesome thing about the event was the opportunity to meet some of the people involved with Die Freunde des Goethe. The women are obviously there serving the wonderful food, and their husbands also come to have conversation. The guy I sat with was named Hans. Ben and I sat together and talked with Hans the whole time about different things. Hans is originally from Hall and is a retired constructional engineer. He was really nice and said he loved coming to the events to meet with all of the students and partake in the conversations. We asked him several things about the region. Interesting facts about the sizes of the cities around included:
• About 8,000 people live in the city of Hall, but all the suburbs of Hall make it a city of about 30,000
• Stuttgart has about 600,000 people living in it and the surrounding area.
• Nürnberg has about 300,000 or so people in the city, but about 1 million people in the metro area
After we finished our cakes and all, Hans found out that one of the guys from Colombia that we were sitting with was also a construction engineer, so he offered to take a group of us to the big construction site in the city and explain everything to us. A group of about 6 of us gladly accepted the invitation and followed him to the construction site. If you have seen giant yellow cranes in any of my pictures, then you will be familiar with the construction going on in the west part of the city. They are building a new shopping center there, hoping to bring more businesses and money to the city. It’s going to be a pretty big complex, and Hans explained to us the challenges of building parking space (there is barely any in this city) and the different considerations the engineers had to account for. For example, the Kocher River runs right through the heart of Hall, so there is groundwater about 2 meters below the ground where they are building the shopping center. Normally a foundation is set 7 meters below the ground (that’s really deep, by the way…over 21 feet) in order to account for parking garages and all, but they have to go through many different techniques and maneuvers to circumvent this lack of ability to dig that deep. It was definitely informative and interesting, and it was also a confidence boost that I could understand the vast majority of the things Hans was saying. After we parted ways, Laura, Ben, and I walked around the city for about 40 minutes because we had a meeting at 6 pm.
What was the meeting at 6 pm? Only the greatest thing ever. We went on a Goethe-sponsored tour of the Haller Löwenbräu Brauerei (Brewery). It was about a 15 minute walk from the school, and all 30 of us trudged along in the snow, excited about what we were going to see. The brewery is across the river in a complex of buildings that don’t look all too magnificent on the outside. However, once we were inside, the magic of Haller Löwenbräu unfolded. (By the way, for those who are curious, it is pronounced Haller Loh-ven-broi). We went to the production room which had several giant vats and machines in it. The entire tour was in German, so I only caught maybe 40-50% of it. I just haven’t studied my beer and beer-making vocabulary enough, apparently, in English or auf Deutsch. I understood enough to gather the general process, but the details were lost on me. The brewery is older than the U.S., though. It’s been around since 1724.
After spending about 30 minutes in that first room, the tour guide handed out 0,1 liter (maybe 5 or 6 oz?) Haller Löwenbräu glasses. For free!! Needless to say, we were all excited about that. Then we headed to other rooms, including the room under the vats, the cooling room, and the bottling room. The last part of the tour took us through the giant warehouse where they keep and then distribute all of the beer. We were all dumbstruck with the amount of beer around us. They make soft drinks, too, but they are definitely known for their beer. After learning about different methods of shipping and bottling/storing the beer (which kind of kegs lasted longer, etc.), we headed back inside to a dining room sorts. There we were served free dinner and as much free beer as we wanted! We had a blast just hanging out and laughing with each other while drinking free and delicious beer from the tap. Around 10:30 or so, they started closing down, so we all headed to Bali’s for whatelse? A döner!!
At Bali’s we sat down and talked with the owner for a while about where we were all from and such. He also played a game with us. It’s hard to describe but basically it’s a strategy game involving coasters (like the kind you put under a drink). It was fun, and he challenged us to a wager. If we won, we get free döners for a year. If he won, I had to free the kebap Kentucky Fried Chicken style, since he knew I was from Kentucky. Luckily, we won! He’s not used to that, so we didn’t hold him to the free döners. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have held me to the KFC end of the deal if we would have lost. Then we headed home after an awesome day/night.
A few things I have noticed during my stay in Germany:
• I truly have underestimated the effect and power of fabric softener sheets that you put in the drier. I have always used them and figured they were pretty much useless. No sir. With my laundry here, there is no drier, so my clothes hang-dry. No fabric softener = clothes that aren’t as soft as expected. Not a complaint, just an observation.
• Each kind of beer has it’s specific type of glass. Pilsner beer is always served in a certain glass, as is Hefe-Weize, etc.
• My English is now sprinkled with German phrases. All of the English students throw in German words all the time. This might be problematic once back in the states.
• The Germans must be the most dehydrated nation ever. When they play sports or exercise, I have seen people drink coke and carbonate apple juice like it’s water. Also, they drink beer and only beer when they are thirsty. There is a beer called the Radler (which means bicycle rider). It is half beer and half Sprite (or some equivalent of sprite). It’s really not too great by my standards, but it was invented for bike races, hence the name. Yeah, so when people were thirsty during a bike race, they would drink a Radler instead of a regular beer because it was “less beer” and had “less alcohol”….yeah, crazy Germans. Haha gotta love the culture, right?
The second week of classes started out well, too. Monday’s class went fine as usual, but during the day some of the American students talked about how much we missed having American breakfast food. We decided to cook an American breakfast for dinner that night. We headed to the supermarket at 5 and bought all of the necessary supplies. Then we came back and cooked breakfast for everyone who wanted it, including the Brazilians and a few others. We had eggs, bacon, toast with jelly, and hash browns. It was pretty awesome and definitely satisfied our hunger for American breakfast. After that we all headed to Stammtisch for a few drinks and went to bed happy.
Tuesday was definitely interesting because we had an International buffet that night. The concept was that everyone would bring a traditional dish from their respective home countries. We Americans brought grilled cheese to the buffet. Not everyone participated, but there were about 10 or so countries represented and more than enough food to go around. There was so much good food. It was also the first time, and probably only time, when I can say I was sitting with at a table with about 25 people and at least 10 different countries were represented. It was definitely a cool experience.
Wednesday was the first day of our new Lehrer. Our old Lehrerin, Frau Schneider, was just filling in for our teacher until he got back from vacation. Now we have Herr Hasenfluss. He is definitely an interesting man. He kind of looks like Einstein, but instead of his hair poofing out, it lays down flat. He’s definitely a crazy looking man. He also has an interesting voice and a Schwabian accent. I’m not really a huge fan so far. He is extremely difficult to understand when compared to Frau Schneider and he speaks much more quickly than she did. Also, we have a ton of homework every night now, so that’s not as much fun. So Wednesday’s class was not my favorite, as I had to adjust to Herr Hasenfluss.
Wednesday night was fun, though. We have Goethe-Kino every Wednesday. Goethe-Kino is when they show a free movie in the Goethe-Pub for us all to watch. A few of us decided to make grilled cheese again, but this time we made fries, too, and added salami to the grilled cheese. Of course we had to have beer, too. We made all of this food in the kitchen in the Wohnheim and then took it to the Goethe-Kino so we could eat while we watched the movie. It worked splendidly. We enjoyed our delicious food and watched a movie called Adams Apfel, which means “Adam’s Apple” in English (sure was hard to figure that translation out, huh?). It was a movie about a neo-Nazi skinhead who is punished for petty crimes by being assigned to stay at a church with a pastor and a few other criminals. The criminals get room and board at the church but have to work for their stay. It basically followed the storyline of Job from the Bible. It was an interesting movie, for sure, but a little ridiculous. None of us could help laughing when a guy got shot in the chest and back and walked away like it was nothing. We couldn’t believe it. If you are familiar with the story of Job, this next scene will make more sense to you, but the pastor of the church is dying from a huge brain tumor. In a scuffle with a band of neo-Nazis that come to start trouble at the church, the pastor gets shot in the head. Of course, he lives because the bullet blew out the tumor from his brain and he is cured. All of us could only watch in shock and awe when we gets shot in the head and then lives. We found the German style of film-making very entertaining if not slightly ridiculous. The movie was all in very-hard-to-understand German, but we had subtitles on (in German), so we could follow along by reading.
Thursday February 11th was probably one of my best days in Germany. Class again was not so great, but the afternoon and night more than made up for it. First we had a wonderful thing called “Kaffee und Kuchen” (Coffee and Cakes) at 4 pm. It was put on by an organization called Die Freunde des Goethe (or the Friends of the Goethe Institut). Basically there is a group of people who live in Hall that strongly support the concept and work of the Goethe Institut and want to support and help all students trying to learn German. They put on a few different programs throughout each month of classes, but this is by far their best program. Then again, I am always biased towards food.
Kaffee und Kuchen is a program where all of the women in Die Freunde des Goethe bake amazing cakes and confections and bring them to the Mensa (cafeteria). There they also serve coffee and tea, and it is all FREE for the students. How awesome is that? There were about 20 different kinds of cakes and pies laid out on the table. I was in heaven, sweet heaven. I had no less than five pieces of cake. They girls sitting next to me (from Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Afghanistan, I think) were thoroughly impressed until they saw me stand up. Then they realized that all that cake goes to fill my 6’6” frame. I also had three cups of coffee. Needless to say, I was wired after that.
Another awesome thing about the event was the opportunity to meet some of the people involved with Die Freunde des Goethe. The women are obviously there serving the wonderful food, and their husbands also come to have conversation. The guy I sat with was named Hans. Ben and I sat together and talked with Hans the whole time about different things. Hans is originally from Hall and is a retired constructional engineer. He was really nice and said he loved coming to the events to meet with all of the students and partake in the conversations. We asked him several things about the region. Interesting facts about the sizes of the cities around included:
• About 8,000 people live in the city of Hall, but all the suburbs of Hall make it a city of about 30,000
• Stuttgart has about 600,000 people living in it and the surrounding area.
• Nürnberg has about 300,000 or so people in the city, but about 1 million people in the metro area
After we finished our cakes and all, Hans found out that one of the guys from Colombia that we were sitting with was also a construction engineer, so he offered to take a group of us to the big construction site in the city and explain everything to us. A group of about 6 of us gladly accepted the invitation and followed him to the construction site. If you have seen giant yellow cranes in any of my pictures, then you will be familiar with the construction going on in the west part of the city. They are building a new shopping center there, hoping to bring more businesses and money to the city. It’s going to be a pretty big complex, and Hans explained to us the challenges of building parking space (there is barely any in this city) and the different considerations the engineers had to account for. For example, the Kocher River runs right through the heart of Hall, so there is groundwater about 2 meters below the ground where they are building the shopping center. Normally a foundation is set 7 meters below the ground (that’s really deep, by the way…over 21 feet) in order to account for parking garages and all, but they have to go through many different techniques and maneuvers to circumvent this lack of ability to dig that deep. It was definitely informative and interesting, and it was also a confidence boost that I could understand the vast majority of the things Hans was saying. After we parted ways, Laura, Ben, and I walked around the city for about 40 minutes because we had a meeting at 6 pm.
What was the meeting at 6 pm? Only the greatest thing ever. We went on a Goethe-sponsored tour of the Haller Löwenbräu Brauerei (Brewery). It was about a 15 minute walk from the school, and all 30 of us trudged along in the snow, excited about what we were going to see. The brewery is across the river in a complex of buildings that don’t look all too magnificent on the outside. However, once we were inside, the magic of Haller Löwenbräu unfolded. (By the way, for those who are curious, it is pronounced Haller Loh-ven-broi). We went to the production room which had several giant vats and machines in it. The entire tour was in German, so I only caught maybe 40-50% of it. I just haven’t studied my beer and beer-making vocabulary enough, apparently, in English or auf Deutsch. I understood enough to gather the general process, but the details were lost on me. The brewery is older than the U.S., though. It’s been around since 1724.
After spending about 30 minutes in that first room, the tour guide handed out 0,1 liter (maybe 5 or 6 oz?) Haller Löwenbräu glasses. For free!! Needless to say, we were all excited about that. Then we headed to other rooms, including the room under the vats, the cooling room, and the bottling room. The last part of the tour took us through the giant warehouse where they keep and then distribute all of the beer. We were all dumbstruck with the amount of beer around us. They make soft drinks, too, but they are definitely known for their beer. After learning about different methods of shipping and bottling/storing the beer (which kind of kegs lasted longer, etc.), we headed back inside to a dining room sorts. There we were served free dinner and as much free beer as we wanted! We had a blast just hanging out and laughing with each other while drinking free and delicious beer from the tap. Around 10:30 or so, they started closing down, so we all headed to Bali’s for whatelse? A döner!!
At Bali’s we sat down and talked with the owner for a while about where we were all from and such. He also played a game with us. It’s hard to describe but basically it’s a strategy game involving coasters (like the kind you put under a drink). It was fun, and he challenged us to a wager. If we won, we get free döners for a year. If he won, I had to free the kebap Kentucky Fried Chicken style, since he knew I was from Kentucky. Luckily, we won! He’s not used to that, so we didn’t hold him to the free döners. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have held me to the KFC end of the deal if we would have lost. Then we headed home after an awesome day/night.
A few things I have noticed during my stay in Germany:
• I truly have underestimated the effect and power of fabric softener sheets that you put in the drier. I have always used them and figured they were pretty much useless. No sir. With my laundry here, there is no drier, so my clothes hang-dry. No fabric softener = clothes that aren’t as soft as expected. Not a complaint, just an observation.
• Each kind of beer has it’s specific type of glass. Pilsner beer is always served in a certain glass, as is Hefe-Weize, etc.
• My English is now sprinkled with German phrases. All of the English students throw in German words all the time. This might be problematic once back in the states.
• The Germans must be the most dehydrated nation ever. When they play sports or exercise, I have seen people drink coke and carbonate apple juice like it’s water. Also, they drink beer and only beer when they are thirsty. There is a beer called the Radler (which means bicycle rider). It is half beer and half Sprite (or some equivalent of sprite). It’s really not too great by my standards, but it was invented for bike races, hence the name. Yeah, so when people were thirsty during a bike race, they would drink a Radler instead of a regular beer because it was “less beer” and had “less alcohol”….yeah, crazy Germans. Haha gotta love the culture, right?
Monday, February 15, 2010
Toga Toga Toga!!!
So the first few days of class were great. The first weekend hanging out with everyone was a perfect way to end it.
Friday class was alright, but I could feel the energy of everyone knowing it was the weekend. The first new thing that happened Friday was my first Rotary Meeting in Schwäbisch Hall. Oskar, my Rotary contact, picked me up a noon, so I missed the last 45 minutes of class. He drove me to the meeting at a fantastic restaurant by the train station of Schwaebisch-Hessental, which is the main train station. He drove me in his Audi—it is a sa-weet car. A lot of sports cars here are awesome, but Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche are all based close to here so it makes sense.
At the Rotary meeting, I was both terrified and fascinated. Oskar introduced me to everyone that we met at first, and I said hello. A lot of them greeted me in English once he introduced me, but I responded in German. They then asked if I spoke German, and I laughed, saying only a little bit and that I’m here to learn more. But then we sat down at a long table and started small talk with everyone. One thing that I did notice was that everyone that came in made an obligatory round to every person at the meeting to say hello. It was kind of strange, but also cool that they went to shake every person’s hand. I say “person”, by the way, but really I mean man. Rotary is separated by gender here, so there is a Rotary Men’s and Rotary Women’s.
Sitting at the table with all of these German business men, I was beyond intimidated. I wanted to make sure I was a good representative of everything I stood for: Forest Acres Rotary, Rotary in general, USC, KY, and the US. I did my best to understand everything that was going on, but it wasn’t easy. Then I had one of the guys sitting across from me ask me what I thought about Obama. My heart jumped in my throat. That’s a challenging question to answer in English, much less German. As I did my best to explain my views and the views of the country, all I could think about was how much of an idiot must sound like. And then the single most embarrassing moment of my Germany experiences happened. I completely blanked on the leaders of Germany. I had studied them before so I would know what to talk about if asked or put in a conversation where I needed to discuss it. But I guess the stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue of nothing but German since 8:15 that morning + meeting all of these new German businessmen + the Obama conversation just caused my brain to shut down for a second. I completely blanked and had to just ask him what he thought about Obama compared to “the leaders” of Germany. I was so completely embarrassed. Oh, and I was doing all this while trying to politely eat the (delicious) salmon and rice we were served for lunch.
When I thought I could not feel more embarrassed, I then was introduced as a guest when the meeting officially started. I stood up and tried saying a few words about myself. I knew that I was going to be asked to give a brief introduction, so I had planned a few things to say. Of course, I was already flustered from the previous events. I definitely muffed it. Things I knew I was going to talk about: Thank you for having me here, hello from the Forest Acres Rotary Club in SC, where I go to school in the US, my majors and career hopes, where I am from, where I am studying here in Germany, where I’m living now, why I like Rotary, why I want to study and learn German, and what I enjoy doing in my free time. What did I actually say? Well, I successfully thanked them for having me at their Rotary Club, said my name, where I am from, where I go to school, and what I like to do in my free time. And then I awkwardly stopped talking, said thank you again, and took my seat. My heart was beating so quickly and I’m sure I was completely flushed. I sat down and another wave of embarrassment hit me. Oskar then stood up and spoke for a few minutes about what I was supposed to say, making sure to inform everyone about my studies here and how long I would be here. Of course, the whole time he was talking, I was cursing myself for forgetting all of this. After he finished, I quickly stood up and apologized for forgetting all of this, saying I was nervous and still not to great with my German. I sat back down as the rest of the meeting went underway, thankfully giving me a chance to slide out of the spotlight and have someone else talk for a while.
I understand that even being able to get up in front of these men was a huge step from my abilities and courage even from the first few days I had been in Germany. I had gone from being afraid to speak to people in the bakery to order food to talking in front of a group of businessmen. I definitely learned a lot from it, and it was a good experience for me to have. However, it was such a frustrating experience for me. I am not one who normally feels comfortable talking about my talents, but I know that I have an ability to talk my way through many a challenging situation. I have always been one to use my words to my advantage, and I can usually say what I need to say in an impressive way. I have had practice with speaking in front of large (and sometimes intimidating) crowds, too, through Orientation Leader and Team Leader, Ambassadors, Homecoming King, and all the other opportunities I have to fall back on. I am not used to being flustered or having trouble communicating. It was so embarrassing and frustrating being able to not eloquently introduce and explain myself. I guess that’s part of learning another language. But at least I have that experience so I can do better next time. My friend Kaleb told me that if I don’t come back with several bundles of utterly embarrassing moments, then I haven’t truly experienced the country or learned the language. Well, Kaleb, if you’re reading this, then know that I am definitely experiencing Germany and learning German to the fullest.
The presentation was about the economic and market situation in Russia. I could understand it for the most part because there was a power point presentation to compliment it. After the presentation concluded, the meeting was adjourned and we started saying goodbye to everyone. A few men came up to me and asked me about some interesting things. One gave me his business card and said if I ever wanted a tour around Frankfurt, I should give him a shout. I might just do that, because I definitely want to see Frankfurt. Another asked about volleyball. While I had completely screwed up my speaking earlier, I had mentioned what I liked to do in my free time. I mentioned volleyball as one. He asked me about that, and I told him I play for the club team at USC. He said he had a recreational team and would love for me to come out to play with him. I didn’t get his contact information, but I hope to get in touch with him at some point because I really would love to go play. Also, another guy mentioned that he was like the owner of a sports complex or something and that I could play basketball there. So I really need to look into those opportunities. I also need to look into joining the football team here. I found out they are called the Unicorns. How threatening. But, the quarterback is from Michigan, so there are some Americans on the team. It would be awesome to play football here.
I apologized to Oskar for not speaking well while we were on the way back to the house, but he said it wasn’t a problem at all. He said the club will be excited to see how I grow and improve with my German as I keep coming back. So that was encouraging.
Once he dropped me off, I ran up to my room, changed into athletic clothes, and rushed off to the Goethe Institut. It was our first Friday of Goethe-Sport! Goethe-Sport is the weekly sporting event put on by Goethe. That Friday it was soccer. We took the bus to a sports complex and played indoor soccer. It was a lot of fun, even though I am terrible at soccer. I wasn’t the worst, so I didn’t feel too bad. I just said, “I’m an American” and that was enough explanation. After like an hour and a half of soccer we switched to dodgeball, which the Americans dominated. We then headed back on the buses. The best part of the Goethe-Sport was again getting to know people. That day I met Andrew, an Australia guy who doesn’t actually attend Goethe but has lived here and worked here for about a year. He is friends with a lot of people who go to the Goethe Institut and is always hanging around. He’s a cool guy, and we got to talking when he noticed my rugby jacket. He played rugby in Australia, and we talked about rugby for a really long time.
After Goethe-Sport we all went back to shower and then met up in Wohnheim 2. There were just hanging out while everyone cooked different things for dinner. I hadn’t eaten yet, but I just planned on getting something later. We started drinking a few beers and then Andrew the Australian (there are three Andrews here so we always have to distinguish) decided that we need to have a Toga themed night. At first we all laughed at him as he came in with nothing but a bed sheet and boxers on. But slowly, after he encouraged us to go with the toga, we all ended up in togas. It was priceless. Of course, the girls refused to do it, so we had about 12 to 15 guys all dressed in togas. Then we headed to the Goethe-Party. Every Friday night Goethe holds a party for the students where it sells cheap beers and has music. They even have a happy hour from 9 to 10 when the drinks are all 0.50 Euros cheaper. We showed up to the party in togas, and all Nassim could do was shake his head. We had a blast dancing and being ridiculous, and everyone there seemed pretty entertained by it.
Soon though, I was pretty hungry, since I hadn’t eaten dinner. It was only like 10:30, so Ben, Derek, and I (I guess you could call us the Döner Drei—which would be the German word for three) went out for a döner from Bali’s. So there we were, strolling through Schwäbisch Hall in togas. Something I never thought I would say. We were wearing our coats though, because it was definitely cold. We passed a few German teenagers on the street and they definitely laughed at us. We just looked at them and said, “What? We had a toga party,” and kept walking. They seemed satisfied with that answer and turned their conversation elsewhere.
When we got to Bali’s, we met up with about 7 German guys our age. At first, they started making fun of us, asking if we were Roman and all. We just laughed back and said no, we just had a toga party, but we are Americans. Immediately, they seemed to love us. It was actually pretty funny to witness. I know a lot of Europe isn’t too pleased with America over all, but it seems when people meet us, they are fascinated by our culture or something. Most people love us. But I have definitely met a few who don’t. Anyway, they started asking us all of these questions in English. The three of us ended up talking to different groups of them. The two guys I talked to were both asking me stuff in English. I kept asking them to speak in German because I wanted to learn. They laughed and said they needed the practice with English. So I said fine, speak with me in German until I have trouble, and then we can speak in English. So we had about a 15 minute conversation about who they were and why they were in Hall, and the same info about me. One was from Freiburg and studying economics while another came from Stuttgart and was studying philosophy. They were pretty cool guys. Then they told us that we HAD to go to the disko. We told them that we were planning to head there after the Goethe-Party.
So we headed back to the party, fulfilled from our delicious döners and the conversations. There we continued to dance around with our togas and talk with people. All of us, about 20 in total, headed to the disko (dance club) around 12:15. There, we were definitely greeted by strange stares because of the togas. Yes, we even went to the dance club in the togas. We hit the dance floor and just acted ridiculous. I’m sure the Germans were cursing all of us international students. I noticed that the togas worked efficiently as German repellant. No one wanted to come near us for a while, but as people acclimated to our presence, they slowly let us mix in with them. It was blast, and we stayed there until about 2 and then headed home.
The next morning, I woke up early to meet Laura, Kelsey, Andrew K. (not the Aussie), and Ben at the bus stop at 8. We headed the train station for a day in Nuernburg. Unfortunately, that train was delayed for a couple of hours. We decided to head to Stuttgart instead and took the next train there. It was an awesome choice because Stuttgart was awesome to see. When we first got there, we grabbed some food at Kamps, a famous and delicious chain of German food. After our quick meal, we walked down the huge outdoor mall and into the city square. After exploring some and finding a cool Saturday market, we headed into the Ländes Museum, a museum about the country. We spent a good deal of time in there, seeing everything from the history of the royal family to the Roman presence in the area to the medieval times. It was pretty cool to see all of the history around us.
After that museum, we wandered around the city a little more, just trying to see what we could see. We definitely saw a lot, from cool parks to more markets to awesome buildings. Then we headed to the Porsche museum. Now that was cool. Got a lot of good pictures from that. The building had an awesome design, too. After grabbing some food and trying the Stuttgarter Brau (delicious), we headed back home. Saturday was also Laura’s birthday, so we had to get home for the celebration. We obviously had a great night Saturday night, celebrating her 21st birthday in Wohnheim 2 and Olli’s.
Sunday morning greeted us with more prospects of a good day! Sunday was Hallia Venezia. That is a celebration that is related to Fasching and Karneval (basically Mardi Gras by our terms) and it comes from Venezia in Italy. This is the Schwäbisch Hall version, hence the Hallia part. People spend about 6 months making their own costumes, and then they walk around the town from noon to 2 pm. People flock to see them. At 2 pm, the people in costumes all converge to the steps of St. Michael’s Church (the one right by my house) and they parade down the steps. It was definitely awesome to see.
Sunday afternoon was pretty sweet too because the Haugs invited my for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake). Frau Haug had made a sauerkirsche (sour cherry--the cherries aren't actually sour, it's just a type of cherry) cake and we drank coffee while we ate the freshly made cake. It was definitely delicious, and it was good to catch up with the Haugs. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to sit down and discuss the week with them. It was also a good confidence booster because I could definitely converse more easily with them since classes had started than I could before classes started. It was a good standard to measure my growth in a week of class, and they both commented that my German had greatly improved, especially my comprehension abilities. My speaking has improved, too, but it is definitely the hardest to master.
After that, we all just kind of hung out until a few of us grabbed Chinese for dinner. I was definitely some of the best Chinese I’d ever had. Gotta love Germany. What a good weekend.
Friday class was alright, but I could feel the energy of everyone knowing it was the weekend. The first new thing that happened Friday was my first Rotary Meeting in Schwäbisch Hall. Oskar, my Rotary contact, picked me up a noon, so I missed the last 45 minutes of class. He drove me to the meeting at a fantastic restaurant by the train station of Schwaebisch-Hessental, which is the main train station. He drove me in his Audi—it is a sa-weet car. A lot of sports cars here are awesome, but Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche are all based close to here so it makes sense.
At the Rotary meeting, I was both terrified and fascinated. Oskar introduced me to everyone that we met at first, and I said hello. A lot of them greeted me in English once he introduced me, but I responded in German. They then asked if I spoke German, and I laughed, saying only a little bit and that I’m here to learn more. But then we sat down at a long table and started small talk with everyone. One thing that I did notice was that everyone that came in made an obligatory round to every person at the meeting to say hello. It was kind of strange, but also cool that they went to shake every person’s hand. I say “person”, by the way, but really I mean man. Rotary is separated by gender here, so there is a Rotary Men’s and Rotary Women’s.
Sitting at the table with all of these German business men, I was beyond intimidated. I wanted to make sure I was a good representative of everything I stood for: Forest Acres Rotary, Rotary in general, USC, KY, and the US. I did my best to understand everything that was going on, but it wasn’t easy. Then I had one of the guys sitting across from me ask me what I thought about Obama. My heart jumped in my throat. That’s a challenging question to answer in English, much less German. As I did my best to explain my views and the views of the country, all I could think about was how much of an idiot must sound like. And then the single most embarrassing moment of my Germany experiences happened. I completely blanked on the leaders of Germany. I had studied them before so I would know what to talk about if asked or put in a conversation where I needed to discuss it. But I guess the stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue of nothing but German since 8:15 that morning + meeting all of these new German businessmen + the Obama conversation just caused my brain to shut down for a second. I completely blanked and had to just ask him what he thought about Obama compared to “the leaders” of Germany. I was so completely embarrassed. Oh, and I was doing all this while trying to politely eat the (delicious) salmon and rice we were served for lunch.
When I thought I could not feel more embarrassed, I then was introduced as a guest when the meeting officially started. I stood up and tried saying a few words about myself. I knew that I was going to be asked to give a brief introduction, so I had planned a few things to say. Of course, I was already flustered from the previous events. I definitely muffed it. Things I knew I was going to talk about: Thank you for having me here, hello from the Forest Acres Rotary Club in SC, where I go to school in the US, my majors and career hopes, where I am from, where I am studying here in Germany, where I’m living now, why I like Rotary, why I want to study and learn German, and what I enjoy doing in my free time. What did I actually say? Well, I successfully thanked them for having me at their Rotary Club, said my name, where I am from, where I go to school, and what I like to do in my free time. And then I awkwardly stopped talking, said thank you again, and took my seat. My heart was beating so quickly and I’m sure I was completely flushed. I sat down and another wave of embarrassment hit me. Oskar then stood up and spoke for a few minutes about what I was supposed to say, making sure to inform everyone about my studies here and how long I would be here. Of course, the whole time he was talking, I was cursing myself for forgetting all of this. After he finished, I quickly stood up and apologized for forgetting all of this, saying I was nervous and still not to great with my German. I sat back down as the rest of the meeting went underway, thankfully giving me a chance to slide out of the spotlight and have someone else talk for a while.
I understand that even being able to get up in front of these men was a huge step from my abilities and courage even from the first few days I had been in Germany. I had gone from being afraid to speak to people in the bakery to order food to talking in front of a group of businessmen. I definitely learned a lot from it, and it was a good experience for me to have. However, it was such a frustrating experience for me. I am not one who normally feels comfortable talking about my talents, but I know that I have an ability to talk my way through many a challenging situation. I have always been one to use my words to my advantage, and I can usually say what I need to say in an impressive way. I have had practice with speaking in front of large (and sometimes intimidating) crowds, too, through Orientation Leader and Team Leader, Ambassadors, Homecoming King, and all the other opportunities I have to fall back on. I am not used to being flustered or having trouble communicating. It was so embarrassing and frustrating being able to not eloquently introduce and explain myself. I guess that’s part of learning another language. But at least I have that experience so I can do better next time. My friend Kaleb told me that if I don’t come back with several bundles of utterly embarrassing moments, then I haven’t truly experienced the country or learned the language. Well, Kaleb, if you’re reading this, then know that I am definitely experiencing Germany and learning German to the fullest.
The presentation was about the economic and market situation in Russia. I could understand it for the most part because there was a power point presentation to compliment it. After the presentation concluded, the meeting was adjourned and we started saying goodbye to everyone. A few men came up to me and asked me about some interesting things. One gave me his business card and said if I ever wanted a tour around Frankfurt, I should give him a shout. I might just do that, because I definitely want to see Frankfurt. Another asked about volleyball. While I had completely screwed up my speaking earlier, I had mentioned what I liked to do in my free time. I mentioned volleyball as one. He asked me about that, and I told him I play for the club team at USC. He said he had a recreational team and would love for me to come out to play with him. I didn’t get his contact information, but I hope to get in touch with him at some point because I really would love to go play. Also, another guy mentioned that he was like the owner of a sports complex or something and that I could play basketball there. So I really need to look into those opportunities. I also need to look into joining the football team here. I found out they are called the Unicorns. How threatening. But, the quarterback is from Michigan, so there are some Americans on the team. It would be awesome to play football here.
I apologized to Oskar for not speaking well while we were on the way back to the house, but he said it wasn’t a problem at all. He said the club will be excited to see how I grow and improve with my German as I keep coming back. So that was encouraging.
Once he dropped me off, I ran up to my room, changed into athletic clothes, and rushed off to the Goethe Institut. It was our first Friday of Goethe-Sport! Goethe-Sport is the weekly sporting event put on by Goethe. That Friday it was soccer. We took the bus to a sports complex and played indoor soccer. It was a lot of fun, even though I am terrible at soccer. I wasn’t the worst, so I didn’t feel too bad. I just said, “I’m an American” and that was enough explanation. After like an hour and a half of soccer we switched to dodgeball, which the Americans dominated. We then headed back on the buses. The best part of the Goethe-Sport was again getting to know people. That day I met Andrew, an Australia guy who doesn’t actually attend Goethe but has lived here and worked here for about a year. He is friends with a lot of people who go to the Goethe Institut and is always hanging around. He’s a cool guy, and we got to talking when he noticed my rugby jacket. He played rugby in Australia, and we talked about rugby for a really long time.
After Goethe-Sport we all went back to shower and then met up in Wohnheim 2. There were just hanging out while everyone cooked different things for dinner. I hadn’t eaten yet, but I just planned on getting something later. We started drinking a few beers and then Andrew the Australian (there are three Andrews here so we always have to distinguish) decided that we need to have a Toga themed night. At first we all laughed at him as he came in with nothing but a bed sheet and boxers on. But slowly, after he encouraged us to go with the toga, we all ended up in togas. It was priceless. Of course, the girls refused to do it, so we had about 12 to 15 guys all dressed in togas. Then we headed to the Goethe-Party. Every Friday night Goethe holds a party for the students where it sells cheap beers and has music. They even have a happy hour from 9 to 10 when the drinks are all 0.50 Euros cheaper. We showed up to the party in togas, and all Nassim could do was shake his head. We had a blast dancing and being ridiculous, and everyone there seemed pretty entertained by it.
Soon though, I was pretty hungry, since I hadn’t eaten dinner. It was only like 10:30, so Ben, Derek, and I (I guess you could call us the Döner Drei—which would be the German word for three) went out for a döner from Bali’s. So there we were, strolling through Schwäbisch Hall in togas. Something I never thought I would say. We were wearing our coats though, because it was definitely cold. We passed a few German teenagers on the street and they definitely laughed at us. We just looked at them and said, “What? We had a toga party,” and kept walking. They seemed satisfied with that answer and turned their conversation elsewhere.
When we got to Bali’s, we met up with about 7 German guys our age. At first, they started making fun of us, asking if we were Roman and all. We just laughed back and said no, we just had a toga party, but we are Americans. Immediately, they seemed to love us. It was actually pretty funny to witness. I know a lot of Europe isn’t too pleased with America over all, but it seems when people meet us, they are fascinated by our culture or something. Most people love us. But I have definitely met a few who don’t. Anyway, they started asking us all of these questions in English. The three of us ended up talking to different groups of them. The two guys I talked to were both asking me stuff in English. I kept asking them to speak in German because I wanted to learn. They laughed and said they needed the practice with English. So I said fine, speak with me in German until I have trouble, and then we can speak in English. So we had about a 15 minute conversation about who they were and why they were in Hall, and the same info about me. One was from Freiburg and studying economics while another came from Stuttgart and was studying philosophy. They were pretty cool guys. Then they told us that we HAD to go to the disko. We told them that we were planning to head there after the Goethe-Party.
So we headed back to the party, fulfilled from our delicious döners and the conversations. There we continued to dance around with our togas and talk with people. All of us, about 20 in total, headed to the disko (dance club) around 12:15. There, we were definitely greeted by strange stares because of the togas. Yes, we even went to the dance club in the togas. We hit the dance floor and just acted ridiculous. I’m sure the Germans were cursing all of us international students. I noticed that the togas worked efficiently as German repellant. No one wanted to come near us for a while, but as people acclimated to our presence, they slowly let us mix in with them. It was blast, and we stayed there until about 2 and then headed home.
The next morning, I woke up early to meet Laura, Kelsey, Andrew K. (not the Aussie), and Ben at the bus stop at 8. We headed the train station for a day in Nuernburg. Unfortunately, that train was delayed for a couple of hours. We decided to head to Stuttgart instead and took the next train there. It was an awesome choice because Stuttgart was awesome to see. When we first got there, we grabbed some food at Kamps, a famous and delicious chain of German food. After our quick meal, we walked down the huge outdoor mall and into the city square. After exploring some and finding a cool Saturday market, we headed into the Ländes Museum, a museum about the country. We spent a good deal of time in there, seeing everything from the history of the royal family to the Roman presence in the area to the medieval times. It was pretty cool to see all of the history around us.
After that museum, we wandered around the city a little more, just trying to see what we could see. We definitely saw a lot, from cool parks to more markets to awesome buildings. Then we headed to the Porsche museum. Now that was cool. Got a lot of good pictures from that. The building had an awesome design, too. After grabbing some food and trying the Stuttgarter Brau (delicious), we headed back home. Saturday was also Laura’s birthday, so we had to get home for the celebration. We obviously had a great night Saturday night, celebrating her 21st birthday in Wohnheim 2 and Olli’s.
Sunday morning greeted us with more prospects of a good day! Sunday was Hallia Venezia. That is a celebration that is related to Fasching and Karneval (basically Mardi Gras by our terms) and it comes from Venezia in Italy. This is the Schwäbisch Hall version, hence the Hallia part. People spend about 6 months making their own costumes, and then they walk around the town from noon to 2 pm. People flock to see them. At 2 pm, the people in costumes all converge to the steps of St. Michael’s Church (the one right by my house) and they parade down the steps. It was definitely awesome to see.
Sunday afternoon was pretty sweet too because the Haugs invited my for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake). Frau Haug had made a sauerkirsche (sour cherry--the cherries aren't actually sour, it's just a type of cherry) cake and we drank coffee while we ate the freshly made cake. It was definitely delicious, and it was good to catch up with the Haugs. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to sit down and discuss the week with them. It was also a good confidence booster because I could definitely converse more easily with them since classes had started than I could before classes started. It was a good standard to measure my growth in a week of class, and they both commented that my German had greatly improved, especially my comprehension abilities. My speaking has improved, too, but it is definitely the hardest to master.
After that, we all just kind of hung out until a few of us grabbed Chinese for dinner. I was definitely some of the best Chinese I’d ever had. Gotta love Germany. What a good weekend.
The first week of class
So my first week and weekend of classes has passed. It has been quite a lot of fun, to say the least. I’m going to save the weekend for another post, so this one will cover up until Friday.
Tuesday was the first day of class. I headed in for breakfast extremely nervous and not knowing what to expect. Breakfast was in the cafeteria (Mensa) of the Goethe Institut. I got there pretty early (breakfast goes from 7-8 and class starts at 8:15 everyday), around 7:20, and sat down to anxiously eat my breakfast. Around 7:45, some of the people I had briefly met the day before walked, so I headed over to talk to them. At 8:15 all of the students (about 60 or so I’d say—they said this is a smaller session than normal) met in the auditorium and we were split off into classes.
I am in level B1, which is a “beginner-intermediate” level of sorts. A1 is for people who don’t know any German, A2 is for people who can say basic things but can’t hold a conversation, B1 is for people who can hold conversation but need help with higher level grammar and complex sentences. B2 is more refining of grammar for people who are already pretty well off, and C1 is for people who can speak pretty much on the conversational level without any mistakes and only need help with small things.
My class is pretty fun. Everything is in German—I don’t hear a word of English in class. In my class I have students from: France (1), Brazil (2), Argentina (3), Chile (1), USA (3), Italy (2), Australia (1), Greece (1), and Turkey (3). I sit at a table with Stefano, an Italian guy, and Joachim, a French guy. Also represented in the school are China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Colombia, and Mexico. Almost everyone knows some English, but we speak strictly in German in the classroom. Everyone has embarrassing moments in the class where we just epically fail at German, but we help each other out a lot and learn from each other. Also, our teacher is pretty awesome. She encourages random questions about things we don’t understand or need clarification on, and she is really skilled at explaining things we don’t understand in a different way without having to switch from using German. Class lasts from 8:15 to 12:45 every day, Mon-Fri, with two short breaks in the middle of that chunk of time. Lunch is in the Mensa immediately after.
It’s been fun getting to know a lot of people here, too. Most of the Americans, maybe 13 out of the 15 here, are with a program through Central College. They are here for a month to brush up on their German skills, and then they head to Vienna to have classes from March to June/July. Their classes there will be in German, hence the need to brush up on it. So a lot of my friends will be leaving after this round of classes, which ends February 25th, and I will have to start all over with meeting people then. Also, pretty much everyone from South America is on their summer break (because it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere in case you didn’t remember that. That means that all of them will be heading back after this session, too. So only a few people are staying behind for more time at the Goethe Institut. I’ll have to pretty much start over come early March. Oh well.
The friends I hang out with the most are Ben, Derek, Andrew K., Andrew I., and Laura. They are all with the Central College program. I also spend some time with Antonio and Walter, two brothers from Brazil, Joachim—the French guy in my class, Bernardo from Brazil, and a few others. We’ve had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know each other.
The first day I took a tour with the school around the city of Schwäbisch Hall. I already knew the town pretty well, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have someone actually show me around. It was also good practice with my German. The best part of the tour was meeting people, anyway. We saw things I already knew about, but I got to meet Max, one of the two Zivis, and Bill. A Zivi is an interesting part of the German system. All young men are required to do either military service or civil service. At Goethe, we have two Zivis, Max and Nassim. They are doing their civil service at Goethe because they were assigned there and they know English pretty well. Pretty much all young people in Germany know English, though. Max is the only truly tall German that I know. I have seen a good number, but it isn’t a culture of giants like I thought it might be. I still stick out because of my height. Max is about 6’ 5” or 196 cm or so. The other guy I met, Bill, is awesome. He is a theater director and professor from Illinois. He’s in his mid-40s or so, but he is really cool. It was interesting getting to know him, and he is really good at German (he is level C1). Even though we obviously speak English better, he will only speak in German with the other Americans (and obviously everyone else too). It is a great way to learn, and I have learned a lot from him already.
The first night we had a thing called Stammtisch. Stammtisch is a German custom that originated from businessmen. They would go to a bar or restaurant at the same time, same day every week and they would sit at the same table. So that’s basically what Stammtisch is…a reserved table at a bar every week. Normally the Goethe Institut has the tables reserved every Monday night from 8 until close, but we went on Tuesday this time because it was the start of classes. The bar we always go to is called Schlachthaus, or Slaughterhouse English. It’s a pretty cool place, and we have 8 tables reserved in the back to hang out together. After talking with Derek, Ben, and Bill for a while, we decided to head home. However, at dinner we talked about things called döners. I had never heard of them before, and Derek and Ben were incredulous. They raved about them and said we had to go get one before we went home. I agreed and followed them to Bali’s, the local döner place.
Döners might be the best invention ever. They are like better versions of gyros. They come from Turkey and are simply delicious. Imagine pita bread/flat bread about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Cut open one side so you have a pocket to stuff things into. Then shave off a generous portion of your Turkish lamb kebap (they call it kebap here instead of kebab), and stuff it with lettuce, onions, cabbage, and sheep’s cheese. It is so amazing. Since they showed me the döner, I have had it for probably 3/5 of the days that I have been here. They are amazing and delicious and are one of the top favorite things about Germany at this point.
Wednesday was another good day of class. I say that, but class is definitely challenging. Every day is filled with a ton of learning because I have no other choice. I always feel like I am a sponge that just can’t absorb enough of everything. I have so much to learn still that it is frustrating sometimes to try to stuff more things in my brain every day. It seems that every time I learn something, I lose something. But that is why I am here. I could never learn like this in the United States.
Wednesday night I went to an informational session about the Goethe Institut and all of the programs they offer. It was definitely an informative session, and afterward we had free pretzels and wine. Nothing can be bad when that happens right? Haha we had fun socializing and then headed out to Olli’s, a famous bar in town. It is also one of the oldest buildings in Hall. About 15 of us went out, and we had a blast just hanging out and drinking a few beers. I got to know Kye, an Australian organic chemist in my B1 class, a lot better and met Bang, a German teacher from Bangkok, Thailand. Bang is already really good at German, but she is here to get even better at so she can improve her teaching skills. It was a fun night and we headed home after a few hours out.
Thursday was yet another good day. It wasn’t quite as eventful as the previous two days, but it was a good calm day before the storm of the weekend. Haha, yes that means the next post about the first weekend will be entertaining. I went to set up my bank account and experience my first time of starting a conversation in German and having someone respond to me in English. I guess I should have expected that because I don’t really have the specific vocabulary for opening an account. The teller was really nice though. She saw that I was struggling and walked me through it in English. I told her I really wanted to learn German and wanted to try German, so she sat me down and we went over the account in German. Then I asked questions about what I didn’t understand, sometimes in German and sometimes in English, and then she would explain it. It was definitely a didactic and uplifting experience because Frau Rieg, the teller, was very encouraging. That, and she was used to dealing with us Goethe students.
Thursday night Ben, Derek, and I headed out to get döners and then went back to Wohnheim 2 (Wohnheim = dorm) to hang out with people and have a beer. It was a chill night, and then I headed home to get some sleep. I am definitely always tired here because I wake up around 6:30 every day. I normally take a short nap in the early afternoon after class to make sure I can keep going at night. It was a good beginning to class. The weekend only added to that. But more on that next post!
Tuesday was the first day of class. I headed in for breakfast extremely nervous and not knowing what to expect. Breakfast was in the cafeteria (Mensa) of the Goethe Institut. I got there pretty early (breakfast goes from 7-8 and class starts at 8:15 everyday), around 7:20, and sat down to anxiously eat my breakfast. Around 7:45, some of the people I had briefly met the day before walked, so I headed over to talk to them. At 8:15 all of the students (about 60 or so I’d say—they said this is a smaller session than normal) met in the auditorium and we were split off into classes.
I am in level B1, which is a “beginner-intermediate” level of sorts. A1 is for people who don’t know any German, A2 is for people who can say basic things but can’t hold a conversation, B1 is for people who can hold conversation but need help with higher level grammar and complex sentences. B2 is more refining of grammar for people who are already pretty well off, and C1 is for people who can speak pretty much on the conversational level without any mistakes and only need help with small things.
My class is pretty fun. Everything is in German—I don’t hear a word of English in class. In my class I have students from: France (1), Brazil (2), Argentina (3), Chile (1), USA (3), Italy (2), Australia (1), Greece (1), and Turkey (3). I sit at a table with Stefano, an Italian guy, and Joachim, a French guy. Also represented in the school are China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Colombia, and Mexico. Almost everyone knows some English, but we speak strictly in German in the classroom. Everyone has embarrassing moments in the class where we just epically fail at German, but we help each other out a lot and learn from each other. Also, our teacher is pretty awesome. She encourages random questions about things we don’t understand or need clarification on, and she is really skilled at explaining things we don’t understand in a different way without having to switch from using German. Class lasts from 8:15 to 12:45 every day, Mon-Fri, with two short breaks in the middle of that chunk of time. Lunch is in the Mensa immediately after.
It’s been fun getting to know a lot of people here, too. Most of the Americans, maybe 13 out of the 15 here, are with a program through Central College. They are here for a month to brush up on their German skills, and then they head to Vienna to have classes from March to June/July. Their classes there will be in German, hence the need to brush up on it. So a lot of my friends will be leaving after this round of classes, which ends February 25th, and I will have to start all over with meeting people then. Also, pretty much everyone from South America is on their summer break (because it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere in case you didn’t remember that. That means that all of them will be heading back after this session, too. So only a few people are staying behind for more time at the Goethe Institut. I’ll have to pretty much start over come early March. Oh well.
The friends I hang out with the most are Ben, Derek, Andrew K., Andrew I., and Laura. They are all with the Central College program. I also spend some time with Antonio and Walter, two brothers from Brazil, Joachim—the French guy in my class, Bernardo from Brazil, and a few others. We’ve had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know each other.
The first day I took a tour with the school around the city of Schwäbisch Hall. I already knew the town pretty well, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have someone actually show me around. It was also good practice with my German. The best part of the tour was meeting people, anyway. We saw things I already knew about, but I got to meet Max, one of the two Zivis, and Bill. A Zivi is an interesting part of the German system. All young men are required to do either military service or civil service. At Goethe, we have two Zivis, Max and Nassim. They are doing their civil service at Goethe because they were assigned there and they know English pretty well. Pretty much all young people in Germany know English, though. Max is the only truly tall German that I know. I have seen a good number, but it isn’t a culture of giants like I thought it might be. I still stick out because of my height. Max is about 6’ 5” or 196 cm or so. The other guy I met, Bill, is awesome. He is a theater director and professor from Illinois. He’s in his mid-40s or so, but he is really cool. It was interesting getting to know him, and he is really good at German (he is level C1). Even though we obviously speak English better, he will only speak in German with the other Americans (and obviously everyone else too). It is a great way to learn, and I have learned a lot from him already.
The first night we had a thing called Stammtisch. Stammtisch is a German custom that originated from businessmen. They would go to a bar or restaurant at the same time, same day every week and they would sit at the same table. So that’s basically what Stammtisch is…a reserved table at a bar every week. Normally the Goethe Institut has the tables reserved every Monday night from 8 until close, but we went on Tuesday this time because it was the start of classes. The bar we always go to is called Schlachthaus, or Slaughterhouse English. It’s a pretty cool place, and we have 8 tables reserved in the back to hang out together. After talking with Derek, Ben, and Bill for a while, we decided to head home. However, at dinner we talked about things called döners. I had never heard of them before, and Derek and Ben were incredulous. They raved about them and said we had to go get one before we went home. I agreed and followed them to Bali’s, the local döner place.
Döners might be the best invention ever. They are like better versions of gyros. They come from Turkey and are simply delicious. Imagine pita bread/flat bread about 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Cut open one side so you have a pocket to stuff things into. Then shave off a generous portion of your Turkish lamb kebap (they call it kebap here instead of kebab), and stuff it with lettuce, onions, cabbage, and sheep’s cheese. It is so amazing. Since they showed me the döner, I have had it for probably 3/5 of the days that I have been here. They are amazing and delicious and are one of the top favorite things about Germany at this point.
Wednesday was another good day of class. I say that, but class is definitely challenging. Every day is filled with a ton of learning because I have no other choice. I always feel like I am a sponge that just can’t absorb enough of everything. I have so much to learn still that it is frustrating sometimes to try to stuff more things in my brain every day. It seems that every time I learn something, I lose something. But that is why I am here. I could never learn like this in the United States.
Wednesday night I went to an informational session about the Goethe Institut and all of the programs they offer. It was definitely an informative session, and afterward we had free pretzels and wine. Nothing can be bad when that happens right? Haha we had fun socializing and then headed out to Olli’s, a famous bar in town. It is also one of the oldest buildings in Hall. About 15 of us went out, and we had a blast just hanging out and drinking a few beers. I got to know Kye, an Australian organic chemist in my B1 class, a lot better and met Bang, a German teacher from Bangkok, Thailand. Bang is already really good at German, but she is here to get even better at so she can improve her teaching skills. It was a fun night and we headed home after a few hours out.
Thursday was yet another good day. It wasn’t quite as eventful as the previous two days, but it was a good calm day before the storm of the weekend. Haha, yes that means the next post about the first weekend will be entertaining. I went to set up my bank account and experience my first time of starting a conversation in German and having someone respond to me in English. I guess I should have expected that because I don’t really have the specific vocabulary for opening an account. The teller was really nice though. She saw that I was struggling and walked me through it in English. I told her I really wanted to learn German and wanted to try German, so she sat me down and we went over the account in German. Then I asked questions about what I didn’t understand, sometimes in German and sometimes in English, and then she would explain it. It was definitely a didactic and uplifting experience because Frau Rieg, the teller, was very encouraging. That, and she was used to dealing with us Goethe students.
Thursday night Ben, Derek, and I headed out to get döners and then went back to Wohnheim 2 (Wohnheim = dorm) to hang out with people and have a beer. It was a chill night, and then I headed home to get some sleep. I am definitely always tired here because I wake up around 6:30 every day. I normally take a short nap in the early afternoon after class to make sure I can keep going at night. It was a good beginning to class. The weekend only added to that. But more on that next post!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Adventure Continues
For my first point, I just want to say that I renovated my blog to fit the German theme. I hope you like it.
It has been a very adventurous three days, indeed. On Saturday, Richard took me around the city center and told me a ton of history about Hall. It was extremely interesting and incorporated everything from the Romans, to the founding of the city, to a great fire in the 1600s, to the Reformation (via Johannes Brenz—the guy whose house I am inhabiting), to the renovation projects. It was simply amazing.
After that history lesson, my Rotary contact Herr Mahl stopped by to say hello, give me information about the Rotary Club in Hall, and to chat. He is an awesome guy and we talked for about an hour before he invited me to lunch. He spoke in English for the vast majority of the first hour we were together, but the more time we spent together, the more we spoken in German. Richard and Oskar (Herr Mahl insists I call him Oskar) then spoke to each other about a few random happenings around the region. The subject of lunch came up and Oskar invited Richard and me to lunch. Richard gratefully declined and said that Oskar need not spend money on us. He then invited Oskar to eat with us in the house. Oskar politely said that he would love to take me out and make up for the fact that he didn’t meet me in Stuttgart and help me get to Schwäbisch Hall. Apparently this is the normal thing but he didn’t hear about my arrival until too late.
Why detail that discussion? Well, let me tell you, that was a spectacle to behold. The two men spoke SO QUICKLY about everything that I barely knew what was going on. I only caught a few words of every sentence and had to clarify once it was all over. It was like watching the most polite debate I have ever witnessed. I know Germans love their food so I’m guessing invitations to eat together are a big deal. I will never forget just standing there, trying to comprehend their conversation, by head bouncing back and forth between the two like I was watching a tennis match.
Anyway, Oskar took me out for my first meal at a German restaurant. He gave me five or six other restaurants to explore and showed me a good map of Hall. We walked about 5 minutes to a place called Sonne, which means sun. I later learned that this is an excellent example of fine Schwäbian cuisine from the people at the Goethe Institut. We talked, a mixture of German and English (mainly German and English when I got stuck), and he taught me how to order and ask for a table. I was delighted to have a tutorial on my first run through! We both ordered the Rahmschnitzel, which is schnitzel with a kind of mushroom sauce, and it came with Spätzle (delicious German egg noodles) too. We also received a salad, too. The salad came first and had everything from lettuce to cabbage to carrots to sauerkraut and potatoes. I have to tell you, the German potato salad is phenomenal. It is hard to describe, but it is like nothing I have seen in the US before. Delicious.
The Rahmschnitzel was also fantastic, and I could not have asked for a better dining experience for my first time out in Germany. Also, as you can imagine, the beer was amazing. I had the Hefe-Weiße wheat beer. The vast majority of the beer in Restaurants is the Haller Löwenbräu, so unless I mention I different brand, I’m sticking with that one. Mid-way through lunch, Oskar’s wife, Jutta, and his two kids came to join us. It was a lot of fun to meet and talk with them too.
After lunch, Oskar wished me a good day and told me to contact him if I had any problems. Also, I am meeting with the Rotary Club on Friday night and then going to dinner with his family again Saturday night. Cool stuff. It was an awesome afternoon.
That night, Richard and I went out to a place called the Blauer Bock, which means the Blue Ram. It was also delicious, and I enjoyed another beer and great food. After dinner, Richard and I headed back and we retired for the night.
Sunday, hmmm Sunday was full of yet more adventure. After breakfast with Richard, I set out to walk past Comburg to see what I could find. It was a beautiful day, and the snow was falling everywhere. I know the snow isn’t going to last forever, so I had to go take advantage of it while I can. I walked all the way past Comburg and saw another smaller church called Kleine-Comburg (small Comburg). On my way back, I got some amazing views of Comburg from the other side not previously seen from a distance. That view had fewer trees and gave an even more grandiose glimpse at the castle. Pictures are in My Photos on Facebook here: Facebook | Your Photos - Germany--The First Few Days
I saw a huge open hilly area I can only guess was a park of farm field during the more accommodating months. Again, my explorer genes went crazy. I went to check it out and I had no idea what I was getting into.
After trudging through the snow up the hill, I saw some people sledding (if only I had the right clothes!!!) and realized that the path of matted-down snow was ending and a forest was beginning. I kept on walking as the snow got to be about 40 centimeters deep (lower to mid calf on me). There were small pathways in the forest, but none that had any fresh footprints. Keep in mind it has been snowing furiously this entire time, too.
I kept following one trail that led me up a huge hill where the tree line suddenly stopped. I was standing on the edge of a huge field covered in snow. I could probably see two or three miles to my left and right. In the distance I did see two people hang gliding off a small mountain. In the snow. And arctic wind. These Germans are crazy. Turning back towards the forest, I had about four new trails to follow. I took them all, one by one, until I could go no further and had to turn around.
The first one led me into the woods until I got to a small circular opening surrounded by dense woods. I followed deer tracks on that path, and there were easily enough tracks for four or five deer to have been on that trail. Because it was snowing so much and the tracks were rather fresh, the deer couldn’t have been there more than 30 minutes before me. After being forced to turn around by the lack of walk-able woods, I took the next path. It led me to another opening at the very top of the hill that overlooked Comburg. (The picture at the top of the blog is from the view on this hill).
I then realized that the other two trails I had not yet taken led to this field, too. I found two lookout towers/chairs in the field and climbed them to get a better view. After this, I decided to head back to the house. My shoes and the bottom parts of my parts were soaked and I made my way back across the fields and woods through the deep snow. It was definitely a successful adventure.
Monday I had my test for the Goethe Institut. I bought some amazing pastries for breakfast from the bakery on the way to the school and then started the process. First was an introduction/reception one-on-one with one of the teachers. They welcomed me, gave me a binder full of information, and we had a short discussion (auf Deutsch) about me, where I’m from, and why I’m here. Then I moved to the interview, where I had to talk back and forth about myself again, but a little more in-depth this time. This was actually testing my German skills. Finally I took a 70 question test and was placed into my class. (More on the class in the next post.) After receiving all of my necessary items and information, I was sent on my way until the next morning.
I then went to the bank and opened up an account, which was the next thing on my to-do list. I now have my German bank card (Maestro Card); this is a very good thing. My next stop was the phone store to get my new phone number set up. I now have it, but for some reason I have no service anywhere. I am going to ask about that either today or tomorrow.
The rest of the day/evening was rather uneventful. I had met a few new people at the Goethe-Institut, but only well enough to know their faces. The only thing that did happen was Bärbel’s return. She came back from her trip, and Martin, the youngest son, came back from Dresden for a few days. We all had dinner together, and Martin and I talked a little bit about Dresden and sports. He invited me out for a few beers any time that I had time. Unfortunately he had to leave before we could go out, but he gave me his contact information in case I wanted to come to Dresden. I now have a place to hang out and sleep in Dresden. Very cool.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday definitely gave me a taste of the interaction I was craving. Each day I get more comfortable with my German, but each new encounter is a new challenge and a new adventure. There are sometimes when I just wish it would be easier to do things, but through all of the embarrassment and pep talks to myself, I’m definitely growing a lot from this experience. Each day I seem to enjoy it more and more. I went to bed Monday night excited and apprehensive about the day to come.
It has been a very adventurous three days, indeed. On Saturday, Richard took me around the city center and told me a ton of history about Hall. It was extremely interesting and incorporated everything from the Romans, to the founding of the city, to a great fire in the 1600s, to the Reformation (via Johannes Brenz—the guy whose house I am inhabiting), to the renovation projects. It was simply amazing.
After that history lesson, my Rotary contact Herr Mahl stopped by to say hello, give me information about the Rotary Club in Hall, and to chat. He is an awesome guy and we talked for about an hour before he invited me to lunch. He spoke in English for the vast majority of the first hour we were together, but the more time we spent together, the more we spoken in German. Richard and Oskar (Herr Mahl insists I call him Oskar) then spoke to each other about a few random happenings around the region. The subject of lunch came up and Oskar invited Richard and me to lunch. Richard gratefully declined and said that Oskar need not spend money on us. He then invited Oskar to eat with us in the house. Oskar politely said that he would love to take me out and make up for the fact that he didn’t meet me in Stuttgart and help me get to Schwäbisch Hall. Apparently this is the normal thing but he didn’t hear about my arrival until too late.
Why detail that discussion? Well, let me tell you, that was a spectacle to behold. The two men spoke SO QUICKLY about everything that I barely knew what was going on. I only caught a few words of every sentence and had to clarify once it was all over. It was like watching the most polite debate I have ever witnessed. I know Germans love their food so I’m guessing invitations to eat together are a big deal. I will never forget just standing there, trying to comprehend their conversation, by head bouncing back and forth between the two like I was watching a tennis match.
Anyway, Oskar took me out for my first meal at a German restaurant. He gave me five or six other restaurants to explore and showed me a good map of Hall. We walked about 5 minutes to a place called Sonne, which means sun. I later learned that this is an excellent example of fine Schwäbian cuisine from the people at the Goethe Institut. We talked, a mixture of German and English (mainly German and English when I got stuck), and he taught me how to order and ask for a table. I was delighted to have a tutorial on my first run through! We both ordered the Rahmschnitzel, which is schnitzel with a kind of mushroom sauce, and it came with Spätzle (delicious German egg noodles) too. We also received a salad, too. The salad came first and had everything from lettuce to cabbage to carrots to sauerkraut and potatoes. I have to tell you, the German potato salad is phenomenal. It is hard to describe, but it is like nothing I have seen in the US before. Delicious.
The Rahmschnitzel was also fantastic, and I could not have asked for a better dining experience for my first time out in Germany. Also, as you can imagine, the beer was amazing. I had the Hefe-Weiße wheat beer. The vast majority of the beer in Restaurants is the Haller Löwenbräu, so unless I mention I different brand, I’m sticking with that one. Mid-way through lunch, Oskar’s wife, Jutta, and his two kids came to join us. It was a lot of fun to meet and talk with them too.
After lunch, Oskar wished me a good day and told me to contact him if I had any problems. Also, I am meeting with the Rotary Club on Friday night and then going to dinner with his family again Saturday night. Cool stuff. It was an awesome afternoon.
That night, Richard and I went out to a place called the Blauer Bock, which means the Blue Ram. It was also delicious, and I enjoyed another beer and great food. After dinner, Richard and I headed back and we retired for the night.
Sunday, hmmm Sunday was full of yet more adventure. After breakfast with Richard, I set out to walk past Comburg to see what I could find. It was a beautiful day, and the snow was falling everywhere. I know the snow isn’t going to last forever, so I had to go take advantage of it while I can. I walked all the way past Comburg and saw another smaller church called Kleine-Comburg (small Comburg). On my way back, I got some amazing views of Comburg from the other side not previously seen from a distance. That view had fewer trees and gave an even more grandiose glimpse at the castle. Pictures are in My Photos on Facebook here: Facebook | Your Photos - Germany--The First Few Days
I saw a huge open hilly area I can only guess was a park of farm field during the more accommodating months. Again, my explorer genes went crazy. I went to check it out and I had no idea what I was getting into.
After trudging through the snow up the hill, I saw some people sledding (if only I had the right clothes!!!) and realized that the path of matted-down snow was ending and a forest was beginning. I kept on walking as the snow got to be about 40 centimeters deep (lower to mid calf on me). There were small pathways in the forest, but none that had any fresh footprints. Keep in mind it has been snowing furiously this entire time, too.
I kept following one trail that led me up a huge hill where the tree line suddenly stopped. I was standing on the edge of a huge field covered in snow. I could probably see two or three miles to my left and right. In the distance I did see two people hang gliding off a small mountain. In the snow. And arctic wind. These Germans are crazy. Turning back towards the forest, I had about four new trails to follow. I took them all, one by one, until I could go no further and had to turn around.
The first one led me into the woods until I got to a small circular opening surrounded by dense woods. I followed deer tracks on that path, and there were easily enough tracks for four or five deer to have been on that trail. Because it was snowing so much and the tracks were rather fresh, the deer couldn’t have been there more than 30 minutes before me. After being forced to turn around by the lack of walk-able woods, I took the next path. It led me to another opening at the very top of the hill that overlooked Comburg. (The picture at the top of the blog is from the view on this hill).
I then realized that the other two trails I had not yet taken led to this field, too. I found two lookout towers/chairs in the field and climbed them to get a better view. After this, I decided to head back to the house. My shoes and the bottom parts of my parts were soaked and I made my way back across the fields and woods through the deep snow. It was definitely a successful adventure.
Monday I had my test for the Goethe Institut. I bought some amazing pastries for breakfast from the bakery on the way to the school and then started the process. First was an introduction/reception one-on-one with one of the teachers. They welcomed me, gave me a binder full of information, and we had a short discussion (auf Deutsch) about me, where I’m from, and why I’m here. Then I moved to the interview, where I had to talk back and forth about myself again, but a little more in-depth this time. This was actually testing my German skills. Finally I took a 70 question test and was placed into my class. (More on the class in the next post.) After receiving all of my necessary items and information, I was sent on my way until the next morning.
I then went to the bank and opened up an account, which was the next thing on my to-do list. I now have my German bank card (Maestro Card); this is a very good thing. My next stop was the phone store to get my new phone number set up. I now have it, but for some reason I have no service anywhere. I am going to ask about that either today or tomorrow.
The rest of the day/evening was rather uneventful. I had met a few new people at the Goethe-Institut, but only well enough to know their faces. The only thing that did happen was Bärbel’s return. She came back from her trip, and Martin, the youngest son, came back from Dresden for a few days. We all had dinner together, and Martin and I talked a little bit about Dresden and sports. He invited me out for a few beers any time that I had time. Unfortunately he had to leave before we could go out, but he gave me his contact information in case I wanted to come to Dresden. I now have a place to hang out and sleep in Dresden. Very cool.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday definitely gave me a taste of the interaction I was craving. Each day I get more comfortable with my German, but each new encounter is a new challenge and a new adventure. There are sometimes when I just wish it would be easier to do things, but through all of the embarrassment and pep talks to myself, I’m definitely growing a lot from this experience. Each day I seem to enjoy it more and more. I went to bed Monday night excited and apprehensive about the day to come.
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