Auf Wiedersehen Doesn’t Mean Good Bye Forever

It’s hard to think. It’s hard to breath. It’s hard to fathom that this year, this experience, this lifetime has to come to an end. I was born August 9th, 2011. I couldn’t speak, I didn’t know what was or was not acceptable, but I grew up. I grew old, and will die tomorrow, July 19th 2012. However Germany will always be a part of my second life. I’ll use the hottest summer my hometown has had in years to my advantage by hanging my washed clothes outside on a clothing line like I did all year in Germany despite the constant rain, rather than just using the dryer. I’ll ride my bike *assuming I still even have one* around town, and speak English with awkward German expressions that make no sense when literally translated. I have indeed, been Germanized.

The past week was a week full of way too many goodbyes. Goodbye to my wonderful host-families, goodbye to my exchange student pals, goodbye to my German friends, acquaintances, and teachers alike. Even my history teacher got teary-eyed when I told him I was leaving, and told me he will miss his walking dictionary. But don’t worry Germany, because you can bet, I’ll be back.

Saturday my friends through me a going-away party for me where we had yet another scrumptious Thanksgiving feast. Unfortunately it is literally impossibly to find a full turkey in Hameln this time of year, so we managed with four legs and a turkey breast that we got at a market. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as dry this year as it was last year. And afterwards, I couldn't really say what we did because the time flied, we joked around, wrestled, took silly group ‘photos, went to Burger King around midnight and got 10% off our meal because of my friends works there. It may not sound like the most exciting of events, but it was one of my favorite Germany memories, just because all my friends were together (even if they weren't all there for the group photo! :p ).

There are few German words that I will have no choice but to incorporate into my English vocabulary. (Those of you who personally know me in California, I apologize in advance.) Amongst others, these words/expressions include, ‘bescheuert,’ ‘tanzen auf der Nase,’ and ‘heyho.’ Now, please let me explain.

Bescheuert: The German word ‘bescheuert’ (pronounced like bee-schoy-ert') means something like silly or crazy, hence the phrase “Bist du bescheuert?!” (Are you crazy?) being a common phrase to hear on the street. Not only do I simply like this word, but if you look up the meaning on www.leo.org (the most popular online translation dictionary in Germany) the definition will not be something simple like ‘silly’ or ‘crazy’ but rather ‘one beer short of a six pack.’

Tanzen auf der Nase: I don’t know what it is with German, but it seems to have lots of wordplays involving noses. This one in particular translated to “they’re dancing on the nose” and is often used to describe someone whose being fussy or misbehaving.

Heyho: Heyho, one of the most common greetings amongst the youth of Germany is a TERRIBLE greeting for a person to use while speaking English. This will be extremely difficult for me not to use when greeting my California friends and family before I explain the word, so please, do not be offended if it seems like I’m walking up to you and greeting you with “Hey slut!” Really, that’s not at all my intention.

Rather than describing my last day of Germany with boring old words, I’m going to end this post with a series of pictures from my last afternoon where I visited friends and host-families for the last time this year, because after all, a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

It still hasn’t hit me that I’m flying back tomorrow, aside from all the “see you laters” (Note: Not ‘goodbyes,’ but see you laters) and the special things my friends and host families did for me, it felt like just another normal day in paradise. I’m not flying home, I’m just flying back. While California may be where I come from, and will always influence my behavior because I spent the first 17 years of my life there, home is where the heart is. And my heart, is in Germany.

Waaaaaaaay to Fast

I don’t care what your calendar says; it’s not June. Because you see, not only have I not seen sun since the 31st of May, but if it were June then I could truthfully say, “I fly back to California next month.” and that thought makes me want to do nothing other than cry (which if you know me at all, you know that means a lot). I may have had the hardest, strangest, most challenging year of my life, but it’s also been the most interesting year… the most rewarding year… the best year. I don’t even say, “I’m flying home next month.” but rather, “I’m flying back/to California.” because Germany has become my home.

Yesterday was the day that flying back soon really hit me because I went to my first goodbye party. I went to see my best Finnish friend Akseli because he leaves June 12th.I ended up traveling about seven hours throughout the day just to see Akseli for three hours, but it was totally and completely worth it. Anne and I went together and we reunited “Triple A” (Angie, Anne and Akseli, the left-handed American/Canadian/Finn) one last time before our unofficial road trip across the U.S. that will hopefully take place sometime before we all die. Anne wrote a contract on my German flag in permanent marker and we all (unknowingly) signed it, so I guess it simply has to happen now.

Random Person: “Where are you from?”

Me: “California.”

Random Person: “Woah! You have such great German!”

I’ll never understand why I “have such great German” after telling someone my name and where I’m from. I mean honestly, I’ve lived here for ten months… I would hope to have learned AT LEAST that much.

Last Sunday my extended family (this time from my host-mom’s side) was in town and we all biked about 40 miles to the “Frühlingsfest” (“The festival of Spring”). A lot of the major roads were closed for the bikers and the day is supposed to celebrate biking and the good weather… while we did see lots of bikers, good weather was rather nonexistent. It rained harder and longer than I’ve ever seen before, but of course, we were troopers and toughed it out! By the time we got back, I was so soaked that it looked like I decided to take a bath fully clothed. But we still had fun and enjoyed the concert.

I think the only thing I won’t miss about Germany is the German opinion of Americans. I have learned (and strangely enough, I also heard this from a friend’s grandparents before leaving for Germany) when I say, “I’m from California,” I’m just about the coolest thing since sliced bread. Everyone excitedly asks me about the weather and San Francisco (which I live about 45 minutes from), but if I say, “I’m from the U.S.A.” I often get death stares. I’ve even been told I couldn’t possibly be American because 1) I don’t have a strong foreign accent, 2) I’m too intelligent, and 3) I’m not fat. People look through pictures of my friends and say, “Wow, did you Photoshop these photos? None of your friends are fat!!” I cannot begin to describe how much that (for lack of better wording) completely pisses me off! I’m sorry to disappoint, but not EVERYBODY in the U.S.A. is overweight. There are even people who are underweight (shocker there!), myself being the perfect example.

  Really American woman? Come on, lets change how people see us!

On the note of German stereotypes/prejudices, this guy has an interesting opinion.

This past weekend my friend Mathis was in town so we all got together Friday and Saturday evening, whether it was to play foosball, or darts, or watch a random live Acoustic artist… whatever it was we did it was fun. Not to mention somehow or another, before my Europe tour Mathis and I randomly decided we would get married… which is funny because not only does he have a girlfriend, but of all my German friends he’s the one I see the least because he goes to university somewhat far away. Nevertheless, every time I failed miserably at darts (so… pretty much every time) Mathis would say, “Come on I have faith in you! My future wife can do anything!” and of course, whenever I wanted something to drink, he would get it. ^^

I once read:

1. The United States of America, commonly called by its last name America, is the most powerful and influential country in the world. Therefore, it is also the most hated.
2. Most ancestors of Americans are immigrants with more than half from Europe. Europeans seem to forget this part and just think that Americans have no ethnicities in order to make them as distantly related from them as possible.
3. America has a porn empire. But unlike Germany's, it's not going to make you vomit.

I have to admit, the third comment made me laugh. Germany seems to be known for having soft porn on the normal television channels and in the newspapers/magazines and unexpectedly seeing it always activates my gag reflex. It probably has something to do with growing up in a different culture.

P.S. I don’t remember if I mentioned how sunburned I became on the Europe tour, but just to give a visual aid, this picture was taken after I had had the burn for three days.

 

P.P.S. My little brother is 13 today! Happy Birthday Nickie!

Where Would I Be Without You, Germany?

My fears have been confirmed. At first it was a bit of a joke, that I speak German like a teenage boy, something logical to say, but still just a joke, but after going out for coffee with a female friend last Friday morning, I could tell by our speech patterns and the expressions I would use that my German has in fact been “teenage boy-afied.” This is of course very logical seeing as most of my friends are guys, and I had one brother living at home in my second family who I regularly talk to, as well as three brothers in my current family, but still. I should start in search of a new source of estrogen.

It’s still Ferien until next Thursday which means I have another full week off of school to roam around as I please and enjoy the time off. Saturday was my host-brother’s (from my second family) birthday, so I stayed there for the weekend and helped out at his party. I love my current host-family but it was great to be back, my second family will always feel like blood relatives to me. We even look relatively alike!

*talking to my friends*

Me: Do you want a real kiss?

Let me explain. I’m not sure if it’s a “new language thing,” or simply an “Angie thing” because I make quite a lot of unintentional innuendo in English as well, but in German the word for pillow is “Kissen” and the word for kissing is “küssen,” so naturally asking someone if they want a “kissen” sounds strange to my “English ears.”

My friends and I have been getting together almost every day of Ferien because this is our last major break before I fly back to California, and I must say, I have trained these guys well. A lot of the English speaking exchange students have problems with everyone wanting to practice their English with them, so it’s more difficult to learn the host-language, but I made it very clear to my friends that I want to only speak German with them. Last night as we we’re all together, one was quoting an English phrase in context as another walked up mid-conversation. Because he only heard the English part, he just started yelling, “ONLY SPEAK GERMAN WITH HER!” (in German of course). He finished quoting in English and then continued in German and afterword I realized I really had to concentrate to understand when he spoke English, but once he switched back to German everything was easy again.

And while I’m here, all you native English speakers out there, be grateful English is your “mother tongue!” Not only is it helpful around the world, but you can say the “th.” It’s a bit of a joke around here! Have a great week!

Ferien Goes By Too Quickly

Currently, the picture set as the background of my iPod right now is of a good friend of mine and me because her 18th birthday was this week. In the picture we’re in San Francisco, in thick jackets laughing about… something, and it is ridiculous to think that when the picture was taken it was about 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) and I’m wearing a jacket and turtleneck, yet two days ago it was colder than that and I was wearing shorts and tanning. My friends and I even went swimming because it was “so warm.” I feel like something is wrong with me, I’m going to burn to a crisp when I fly back to California this summer.

Last Sunday I had an hour long live radio interview with my counselor from Rotary. This is one of the moments where words cannot describe how glad I am to speak/understand fluent German, and aside from talking about the agriculture when I meant to talk about the landscape, I’d say it definitely could have gone a lot worse.

*After waking up from a nap*

Me: *sarcastically* Wow. I look beautiful.

Friend: You always look beautiful.

Me: You’re my friend. You have to say that.

Friend: No, I only HAVE to say that if I’m trying to sleep with you.

If nothing else in Germany, I have some of the best German friends anyone could ask for. They always take care of me and make sure I’m doing okay. I don’t know what I did to deserve them, but I’m definitely not complaining. Due to the fact that it’s Ferien, we have no school and have been getting together every day to go swimming, climbing, or simply to sit around watching movies.

Tuesday I went climbing with my Rotary Counselor and a couple of his friends (including a math and physics teacher from my school). I like how I can say I’ve been climbing outdoors in Germany, but not in California.

There’s a German kid song that sings “Theo macht mir ein bananenbrot” (or Theo, make me banana bread” ) but because one of my friends is named Leo, we sing “Leo macht mir ein bananenbrot” and because banana bread doesn’t actually exist in Germany, (and Germans tend to look at me like I’m crazy when I start talking about bread with bananas in it) we made (DELICIOUS) banana bread this past week.

My time in Germany gets short and shorter and, and the days past faster and faster. Why can’t I just stay ‘the exchange student’ forever? 

Uneventful Weeks No Longer Exist…

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snor… wait a second, it’s December in GERMANY, it shouldn’t be raining, it should be snowing! We had the first snow of the season yesterday, but it didn’t last long, and it only stayed on the ground for about half an hour, but today it’s been back to raining.

This past weekend Rotary Club Hameln hosted a Christmas Market in the center of Hameln, and on Sunday I went for a few hours and helped out. All the games were so simple yet everyone had such a good time. For example, I worked at a stand where all you had to do was hammer a nail into a piece of wood, yet hundreds of people came up and paid one euro to do it.

I’m not really sure what language I think in anymore, but it’s a mixture of German, English, and the occasional Spanish word or phrase. I had an epiphany the other morning when I was talking to my host-mom, I realized I understood everything she was saying, but I wasn’t translating it to English in my head. Also, last week I was out with my friends and I said something in German and one of my friends corrected my grammar, then he paused and after a moment he said, “Wait.. no you were right. How on earth did you know that when I didn’t?”

Last Thursday I went and saw the new Twilight film with my best friend, I swear it was completely his idea; I’m not a Twilight fan! He wanted to see it and knew his other friends wouldn't go with him because they are all guys, but he didn’t want to go alone so he asked me to go with him. German movie theaters are so different… the popcorn is sweet (not salty), you sit in an ‘assigned seat,’ people walk through the isles to sell ice cream(like at a baseball game), and if your under 18 and the movie ends after 12 a.m. you can’t stay and watch it. I was surprised at how much of the movie I understood despite it being in German, and Leo and I thought it was great how Taylor Lautner took his shirt off literally in the first 5 seconds.

Saturday night was a Rotary dinner and I am really glad my host-brother came because we were the only two ‘kids’ there. We had a surprisingly good time though, and there was a really cool choir group and Julien and I spent most of the time arguing over what language they were singing in because every song seemed to be different. Also, today I woke up to find chocolate and teddy bears in my shoe because it is Saint Nikolas Tag!

Even though my German gets better every day, I still make mistakes. Like the other day in art, when I was looking for a piece of cardboard (that looks like a pregnant woman), I accidentally said “Where is my slut?” instead of “Where is my pregnant woman?”