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.

Germany Stole My Heart

I don’t feel like I’m from another country anymore… let alone the other side of the world. I mean really, think about it, “the other side of the world” just sounds so far away! Sometimes when I think about California, it feels like I dreamt everything up and it never actually happened, it was all just one very long realistic dream. I was just magically born with the ability to speak fluent English despite growing up in Germany… that must have been it! I don’t even remember not being able to speak/understand fluent German, and that only started about six months ago… My friends and families in Germany have become lifelong friends and blood family, I don’t remember it being any other way. Even when I speak about my “mom” my friends always have to clarify, host mom one, two, three, four, one of my ‘neighborly-mother-figures’ or my biological mom, I can’t even say my “real” mom anymore, because all these wonderful women are like mothers to me in different ways. I guess that’s what having a ‘worldly family’ means.

 

Germany’s ‘summer’ is very confused. Last week, it started raining harder than I’ve ever seen it rain in my life (and after living in Germany for a year, that’s actually saying something) so of course, being the ‘big-kids’ my best friend and  I are, we decided to go outside and play in the rain. It’s one of the many Germany memories that, not only will I never forget, but will always be one of my favorites.

 

Germany lost last week against Italy in the Europe Cup, and while it was depressing, I think every one was glad to see Spain CRUSH Italy in the final. Apparently Germany is notorious for making it to the half-final and then losing. I feel like the entire country went into a depression for a couple days after the loss, strangers smiled at each other even less than usual (which even I didn’t think was possible) and Germany went back to it’s unpatriotic self. Nevertheless, I still smile whenever I see a Germany flag flying high and proud.

 

Friday night my friends and I got together… not really for any purpose other than the fact that we’re friends. We planned some things for my going away party, and laughed until we cried while simply babbling on about anything imaginable into the wee hours of the morning. My friends here never cease to make me smile, whether it’s because they actually say something funny, or I simply don’t have a clue about what their talking about… it doesn’t matter, I can’t remember a single unhappy memory with them. Everyone needs a group of friends like the German boys who ‘adopted’ me.

 

A few blog posts ago, I went on a nice little rant about how impossible it is to find normal underwear in Germany, and while I FINALLY found some on Wednesday when my friends and I went shopping to ‘celebrate’ the fourth of July, it didn’t matter because on the third of July I received a lovely small package from my (biological) mother who sent me underwear after having read ‘said’ blog post. My host-mom thought it was really sweet that my mom sent me something for the fourth of July… and then saw I only got a package of underwear, she probably thinks I’m weird now. But that’s alright, she wouldn’t be wrong in thinking so.

 

And speaking of the fourth of July:

 

(Jeeze this week was packed!) Wednesday was also the “abistreik,” which basically means the graduating class ‘went on strike’ so instead of having class, everyone was outside and we played strange beach related games because the graduation motto this year is ‘Abikini.’ (Abitur is the ‘German graduation from high school, so the motto also somehow fits into something ‘Abi’ related.) When I got to school and saw the entire place before the school was COVERED in sand, all I could think was, “I feel bad for whoever has to clean this up.”

 

And finally yesterday was the Abiumzug… there are no words in any language to describe how epic an Abiumzug is, so enjoy this video from yesterday’s amazingness.

Hameln, Germany Abiumzug 2012

 

Of course there we’re lots of other interesting things that happened this week, but not only was this post already long enough, but I’m about to head out to my second-host dad’s/Grandpa’s birthday party… so have a good week, und Alles Gute zum Geburstag Opa und Achim!

 

P.S. Angie’s Odyssey has officially reached it’s goal of having over 10,000 views, thanks everyone for supporting the blog!

Goodbyes Are Never Easy

“Schreiben ist küssen mit dem kopf.”- Gut Gegen Nordwind

If I were to write a list of the things I will miss about Germany, I think I would title it, “The Never-ending List.” The people, the scenery, the way Germans spread a minimum of 2 centimeters of butter (or Nutella, or cheese…) on every piece of bread before eating it… I’ll even miss the things I don’t like about Germany, like how seemingly nobody has tried burritos before, or how Germans seem to drive faster than the speed of light. Germany has become home, and watching my exchange student friends go home one by one… reading on Facebook that they’re home safe, and thinking they’re no longer a train ride away, has been one of the hardest parts of exchange. When I left California, I had no idea who or what was waiting for me in Germany and I knew I would return to California’s presence in a year so it was ‘no biggie’ to leave, I was ready to experience the world. But I don’t know if I’m ready to remembrance California again. But that’s too bad for me because I don’t have choice.

Saturday was the district conference in Göttingen so all the exchange students still in Germany went down to the south of Lower Saxony where we all got together one last time as group. We sung two German songs at the conference for the Rotarians, gave speeches about our exchanges, and had one last night together. It’s weird to think how crazy we all are… but it’s a bond we have. We all individually decided to take a year away from ‘our’ lives and go to a country we’ve never been to, with people we’ve never met, and a language we didn’t speak, but it was still the best decision of all of our lives.

Sunday night I went out with my Rotary Club President (dankeschoen!!) and his lovely wife to dinner and to see the hilarious well-written play “Gut Gegen Nordwind” (“Love Virtually” in English). After seeing the play, I read the reviews about the English version, but I’m really curious as to how they could have been so outstanding because the play was based basically on German wordplays. If nothing else, it will be something to read when I get back.

This week was actually rather exciting, Tuesday was the ‘Sportfest’ at school (where of course my camera was acting up so I didn’t get any pictures out of it), and I got ice cream with an old friend on Wedneday and went rock climbing. Of course there are more details from these events, however; I should be getting back to packing my suitcase. I move to my fourth and final (surprise!) host-family on Sunday (no worries, I’m still on great terms with my 3rd family!), but before I do, I simply have to add, GERMANY IS UNDEFEATED IN THE EUROPEAN SOCCER CUP SO FAR AND PLAYS TONIGHT AGAINST GREECE! If the caps there don’t show it enough, I am beyond excited… not to mention I love how patriotic everyone in Germany has become since the start of the tournament!

“Writing is kissing with the mind.”- Love Virtually

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!