Zurück zu den USA

Posted by Shalane on July 2nd, 2010

I know, I know, I haven’t blogged in a few weeks. Once I started my language courses, I literally didn’t have time to post. If you are a facebook friend, then you were graced with pictures, and I hope that was enough!

Well, anyways, my visa issues require me to be back in the states. That time frame means my family needs a new au pair so I decided to look into finding a family. Although several wonderful families are great options, I’m really holding out for one, but that means not returning to Germany. ;)

I will provide a nice long blog after my trip this weekend. I plan to explore the Castle in Heidelberg on Saturday and go shopping, visit every museum (the museums, in most of France actually, offer free entry on the first Sunday of every month) I could possibly fit into my schedule and squeeze in a picnic in one of the many gardens.

I am looking forward to being home, even a short while, because I do miss everyone, but I really wish I didn’t have to return. The German government, when that particular visa application wouldn’t go through, pretty much said I needed to have my return ticket to get my passport back. So, rather than not be able to travel about, I needed to leave right away so I can come back sooner.

That’s all for now, but more will come. :)

Wie geht es Ihnen?

Posted by Shalane on June 7th, 2010

Sitting in a busy Offenburg intersection, simply drinking my very strong coffee–black–I can’t help but imagine the lives of those who pass me by. The girl wearing converse, yet holding a pair of white nameless sneakers in her hands. The crowd of fourteen year old girls who pile into the corner bakery together, laughing the way only a crowd of fourteen year old girls can. The man too attractive for words to describe, in a suit and tie. All of these people have a few things in common–they Germans in Offenburg who likely have no idea they are being written about. I’m just an unsuspicious woman drinking coffee and contemplating the ability I have to master this foreign language. As I look diagonally across the way, my German Language school stands (Later I learn that it isn’t located there, as there are two buildings for that school and I was a seven minute walk away from my actual classroom..)–my ladder into fluency, my bridge to communicate with that attractive man in his own tongue.

How greatly I yearn to no longer translate this language, but flow with words without thinking. To toss my dictionary back on the shelf and no longer flip through it’s pages a thousand times while trying to translate an article in the daily newspaper.

Another man–perhaps more attractive than the man in the suit–just passed. Oh god, I really need to speak German.

After Class..

Class was.. overall great. There are a couple people who get it and a few more who absolutely don’t. I wish the speed would pick up. Everything we are covering for the next couple weeks will be review for me. Although reinforcing the grammatical aspects is quite helpful, even if, when tested, I get them all correct. It’s strange being back in a classroom, especially where the teacher actually has to measure the understanding of the group. In college, professors measure through quizzes and exams, but typically go at the speed expected for the course and level. It’s like high school all over again–although the entire class is taught in German. My classmates come from all over the world. France, Africa, China. Most understand a little English, so explaining is easy when the teacher points to me and I try to explain the difference between formal and informal YOU. This class will prove interesting.

Liebe ist schlecht

Posted by Shalane on June 2nd, 2010

Words can barely begin to describe the intense swirling emotions that have consumed my every thought, every second of slumber and my ease of breath. I wouldn’t say I feel homesick, although I am just a bit, but rather a more proper label would be lovesick. My heart weighs a thousand pounds and leaves me pinned to the floor, gasping for air. I can’t seem to rid myself of that feeling you get right before you cry, the slight burning in the back of your throat, the watering in your eyes.

I miss being with someone so intimately that the world around me fades. And not just a someone, but the someone. And I think myself a fool, for I made the decision to leave long before I crossed the ocean. What am I getting myself into? What stupidity has come over me? Why does love like to play hide and seek with my heart?

It’s a true statement, you know. I believe that the saying “distance makes the heart grow fonder” is vastly overlooked. I hadn’t left our time zone before part of me fell into dark matter. Yet, I can’t leave. I can’t give this up, right? I made a choice, a choice to live life as an adventure. To seek out a difference in life, new experiences, as much laughter as I can possibly share.

My experience in Germany is getting better as each day passes. I solidly learn a new word or two, I understand the muttering words of a crying child, the infant smiles at me as I enter the room. And I am preparing for a new phase in my time here–language education. Ah yes, I’ll be starting classes Monday morning. Four hours a day, plus an hour of homework in the evening. The German language and I will become one. It is my sole commitment while being here, my reason to stay and my requirement to go home. If I cannot have a normal conversation with any German randomly plucked from the country, then I have failed.

Stefanie, the sweet baby who’s nearly a year old, has accepted me. She doesn’t cry when her mother leaves her with me, instead, she smiles and laughs. I have so missed the laugh of a baby. Noah and Devin have grown into little boys, little boys who so easily make you melt.

Americans are self-contained and, in whole, know very little about the daily ongoings of the many countries in the world. Events here in Germany wouldn’t appear in your newspapers. So, consider yourself ever-so-lucky. You are reading my blog and it is providing you with some interesting dinner-table conversation. WWII bombs are discovered every now and then in Germany. During my trip to visit Thilo, one was found during a construction site. And last night, another was discovered. During the attempted disarming of the bomb, it went off, killing three and injuring another six.

As we are now in June, I can’t help but mentally check off one of twelve months. Eleven months before I’m back home to stay.

If you have religiously read my blog, as my grandmothers and darling sister have all sworn to be–such as a Twilight fan raced to grab a copy of Breaking Dawn–then you are well aware that this blog stands out–such as I, an obviously out-of-place American girl in a small town in Germany. I’m in a mood, a mood I fall into now and then when I feel overcome with emotions. I’ll be back to normal, up-beat Shalane soon, or at least, I really hope so.

Kuchen

Posted by Shalane on May 30th, 2010

I’ve been fed more cake in the three weeks I’ve lived in Germany than in my past three years living in the US. Seriously, you eat cake just because it tastes good. No special occasion necessary. I hate frosting, so I hate most cakes. But nobody uses that frosting shit here. It’s like solid chocolate, fruit, things that are uhhh not nasty.

Spending those days with Thilo was heaven. It made me a lot less homesick. I absolutely love his family. It didn’t feel like we were even apart for two years… more like days. Although now that it’s been a day and a half without him I miss him just as much as I ever did in those years!

Today was a barbecue here. We had friends over, a cute couple, their five year old son and infant son. The kids all played while the adults made polite conversation… since I can’t follow the conversation, I played with the kids.

Lunch was steak.. and steak here is pork chops. Literally, it is called steak but it is a pork chop. We also had salad and I ate a lot of salad.. I don’t get it, but I actually seem to be enjoying salad. I would occasionally eat it in the US, but more out of respect when I ate at a friends or when my parents forced me to. It started that way here, but suddenly I realized I didn’t hate it anymore. Just random.

I was also offered a beer. So I accepted. It was the same beer Thilo chose out of hundreds at the bar we went to on Tuesday with a group of Americans he meets up with to keep his English up. Can you just mail a beer? I want to send it to a friend. Haha. They have the prettiest decorative beer glasses here. So much detail!

Okay, let’s see.. Only a matter of days before I start my German courses. Until then, I’m trying to work on vocabulary. Just looking around the house, in the garden, etc and if I don’t know what it is called in German, I figure it out. The kids are great help!

I can’t get the Eurovision Contest winning song out of my head. Germany’s Lena won with the song “Satellite” and it isn’t particularly an amazing song but it is catchy and omg it just came on shuffle as I wrote the title. This is creepy….

« Older Entries
Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

  • Featured Video

Powered by WordPress | Visit iFreeCellPhones.com for Cell Phone Sale | Thanks to Palm Pre Blog, Best Savings Accounts Online and Fat burning furnace review