Learning German for Winners

As I previously explained, I went on vacation for a month, and subsequently had no German lessons until November. Actually, "lesson" is a more appropriate word, because after one session my German tutor promptly quit. In the words of Tom and Lorenzo,* I was a very bitter kitten after this occurance. However sitting at the dinner table each night and aquiring a headache from the new vocabulary being tossed about is rather taxing, so I became my own German tutor to save my brain cells from their state of bewilderment. Studying the same subject every day for months could certainly become monotonous, so my learning techniques are growing progressively more creative...

In September everything in Germany was as shiny and new as expected. My host sister, Lusia, was eager to teach me her language, and each time I said something understandable in German I felt pretty accomplished.

In October the normal exchange student panic began. It became apparent how many grammatical concepts were yet to be learned, and just how much vocabulary one language contains. Congratulations to all those literate people in the world. I have absolutely no idea how one brain can keep so much information in mind. Anyways, carrying on... In October I bought myself some vocabulary notebooks, German magazines, and a variety of caffinated beverages, then started translating. It's safe to say that I translated the entire island of Amrum, from bus signs to graffiti on bathroom doors.

Oh wait, what is that banana doing on my table of German learning materials? Brian food? Certainly not. It's the great and powerful "Fragen Banane." Let us become aquainted with him.

 When I wake up from a nightmare of failing the German SAT Sunject test, and find myself rummaging in the dark with questions and no place to jot them down, the Banane, or one of his various other related forms (namely napkins, body parts, books, and the like), is deployed.

In November my language related dismay continued to swell, as it remained impossible to find a tutor in the village. Now it is December, and although I still have not begun actual German lessons, I’m relatively sure that I can speak itelligbly, and understand the majority of conversation. The anxiety associated with language immersion seems to be slowly subsiding, so for those of you future exchange students, here are my tips for surviving the first few months:

1.      Ask everything you need to ask. I felt like a nag, but it’s much more irritating to hear someone say, for example, “I want to can do that,” than, “How should I translate können?”

2.      Listen to music and watch TV in your new language. These are probably the least painful ways to commit new words to memory. In particular, watch videos that you have already seen in your native language. I will never forget Uncle Vernon screaming, “BIST DU ENDLICH ZUFRIEDEN?!” That’s how I learned to say, “Are you finally satisfied?!”

3.      Read all the little things like recipes, and horoscopes, and do crosswords. It’s much easier to understand short phrases than to try to understand paragraphs of text in books.

4.      Sleep. All the time. Learning is exhausting and you can take in more information when you aren’t struggling to stay conscious.

I’m sure new methods of language learning are soon to be discovered, so until then I’ll leave you with this:

What is this? It's my villagers celebrating Fasching of course! That man in the feudal knight costume is the janitor, who brings pitchers of beer to the performers between the acts. Only Germans... When this website and my laptop decide to cooperate, I'll be sure to add some videos from the event.

*Only the most fabulous fashion bloggers whose presence have graced this earth of course. Go forth and enlighten yourself: http://www.tomandlorenzo.com/

Note: Thanks to Madleine Weisborn for the pictures (6,7,9,10,11,12) from my last blog post!

Amrum in Pictures...

At last, more pictures from my vacation...

the boat ride there...

the sisters...

oh, look at us being cute siblings together...

gnarly tree...

"Mooot" (Mom) and Lina...

the beach....

seal watch....

of course I photographed the meat shop for y'all...

what a quaint little cafe....

shall I make a caption to tell you that this is a seagull...maybe not....

SUN?! what is this madness...

pretty standard house for this island... I was feelin' the thatched rooves...

So that was my vacation, sorry to be so brief but I believe it is time to carry on narrating my life in Germany...

So This One Time, At Band Camp....

During my orientation camp at this beginning of my exchange year, I was warned that November would not be the most pleasant month of my stay. November was said to be the month in which homesickness would set in, and lacking language skills would become more irritating than humorous. However, the sudden and shockingly steep plunge on the "Chart of Sadness," which was drawn during that camp, seems to have hit me earlier than anticipated. My emotional descent began whilst living in a "Kur," a hotel-hospital hybrid that Germany sends their sickly children to. My two host sisters have horrible asthma, so they were given four weeks by the Anonymous Judge of Sickly German Offspring to live in this Kur and "heal." Living on an island with more sheep than human inhabitants, in a facility for severe asthmatics and sufferers of obesity, was probably a good place for the homesickness to hit me. Firstly, at least the surroundings allowed for plenty of time to learn German. Secondly, as much as I felt lonely and frustrated with this impossible language, I knew even then that I would look back and laugh. So what did I actually do for a month...
So this one time, on the way to the sheep inhabited island for asthmatics and sufferers of obesity, I saw this lady with a dred-locks beehive and secretly fotographed her.

And this one time, on the sheep inhabited island for asthmatics and sufferers of obesity, I climbed a lighthouse with the fam'.

And way more than one time, on the sheep inhabited island for asthmatics and sufferers of obesity, I ate my feelings in German food.

(Those squid shaped wurtschen did not belond to me. Pity.)

And this one time, on the sheep inhabited island for asthmatics and sufferers of obesity, I was sent to a therapeutic swim session with my host sister. There I spent two hours in a pool with about a dozen overweight patients who were asked to swim in circles the entire time. Have you ever tried to make a whirlpool in that neighborhood friend's above ground pool? Well believe it or not you can create a pretty strong current in a rectangular pool too. Unfortunately, I do not have any photographic evidence of that statement.

As much as daily life on the sheep inhabited island for asthmatics and sufferers of obesity was, I expect you don't want to read all about it. So I'll leave it at that and maybe add some more pictures from my little excursion later on.

Auf Wiedersehen!



I Promise I'm Alive

I realize that I have not posted now in over a month, but I think I have a legitimate excuse. I was on vacation with my host family on an island in the North Sea for four weeks, where we had no internet. Well, that's not entirely true. There was one Stone Age computer in the lobby of the hospital we stayed in (explanation is soon to come, don't you worry), but that proved to be a promblematic and unrealiable comunication resource. You see, to use the internet one needed to insert Euros into a slot in this computer, and then pray that the power didn't go out whilst online. Of course the power promptly decided to go out as I had about forty minutes of my rather expesive hour remaining. Needless to say I did not attempt to use that computer again, especially considering that I had nearly depleted my source of small coins. Unfortunately sheep don't need an ATM, therefore I had no way to restore my financial resources while on this island. Missed my sheep reference? Don't fret, I will soon be telling you all about my vacation, and all wil become clear. Just because no post is complete without a picture, here is a nice Germany meal I ate on the ship ride to Amrum.

I know Germans are pretty serious about their Wurst, but honestly most of what I eat looks and tastes like any other prepackaged hot dog from the States. Only my lovely Oma can make these things edible. 



Clothing Optional Beyond This Point

With so much German vocabulary floating about my brain it is rather impossible to think of a nice segue into this post, so let us begin like this:

Nakedness is generally acceptable in Germany, and age is no hindrance to participation in this trend. Frequently seen is the short-short in men over fifty, especially whilst puming gas and gardening. And if shorts still feel a bit too constrictive, feel free to don your Speedo around the neighborhood- everyone's doing it! In the house clothing is of even less importance. The saying, "It's only family," seems to be quite applicable to life in Germany. My bathroom door is made of glass, and so is the shower. But fret not; we have a translucent curtain on the door so as to be slighlty more modest.

Well on that note let's talk about my life in Germany, finally. I bet you're wondering what I actually do here considering I've only talked about little things I find amusing up until now. Well... I go to school...

And I go to birthday parties...

which means canoeing sometimes....

And I spend time with my new family and family friends...

who spontaneously come over to cut my hair...



And other than that my life seems pretty normal, but don't worry, I won't be that exchange student who thinks their life has become too regular and boring to post about it. Everyday I run into funny differences between Germany and the US and sooner or later I'll get around to writing something about them. So until then, tschau!

Harry Potter and the What?

So I have yet to begin seeing a German tutor, therefore I have been finding alternative ways to teach myself this terrible difficult language, namely, watching Harry Potter. If I am honest, I did have a German tutor, however she spoke German as a second language and absolutely no English. Hmm.. let's just say I am politely not returning to her lessons. Anyways, about that alternative learning...  I know the lines to these movies embarrassingly well so this is actually turning out to be a great way to "study."
I assure you my life is becoming much more exciting than it appears by my lack of blog posting lately, but I suppose you can tell I've been busy. Now, I am afraid, I must make you wait until tomorrow to hear about all that excitement because the new German GLAMOUR is staring longingly at me from my bed-side table.
Gute Nacht.

Meet the Fam!

(Jeannette, Luisa, Me, Uwe, Lina, and Lina's friend Paula)

So this is my new family! I hope you like them 'cause I do. In this picture we're in the center of town which is surrounded by little shops that sell mainly sausages, bread products, chocolate, and cheese. Welcome to my new diet!

So I didn't give you any pictures of my new pets, but let's be honest they look like any other cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs, and fish in the world. Well on that note, time for my random fun fact of the week! In nearly every German TV show you watch, American music sporadically begins to play in the background... The favorite these days is "Just The Way You Are," by Bruno Mars. For anyone who can understand the lyrics is it quite apparent that the songs have nothing to do with the show, so I find it rather amusing everytime I hear them.

I don't think anyone hates reading a continuous paragraph more than me so here's a picture of Spaghetti Eis. Haven't tried it yet...

And we digress... Today was Wandertag. Yes, "Hiking Day" gets its own word in German because it is such an exciting event. And no, hiking is no more enthralling in Germany than in America but it   means no school which is always a good thing. My class spent Wandertag meandering through nearbly towns, stopping to play Fußball, get coffee and ice cream, and to eat butter and cheese sandwiches. I suppose there was no real hiking to be done.. Oh well, it was a lovely excuse to miss school and was... the English word eludes me... well it was fun. Hmm... it seems that my English vocabulary is shrinking at an alarmingly rapid speed here in Deutschland. Perhaps I should read something besides fashion blogs.

By the way it is definitely true that Germans love them some bread. Please take a moment to view this bakery on wheels that comes by every Tuesday and smile with me:

Until next time then, tschüß!