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

STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!

Seeing as it's a strange week when I DON'T see or a hear about a strike, I figured I'd go "European style" and have a little strike here of my own. That's right, Angie's Odyssey is on STRIKE for the next two weeks. But don't worry, once this strike is over, I promise there are going to be lots of fun pictures from magnificent places such as Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, and the Czeck Republic. I'm hoping English is widely spoken in these places, because aside from Switzerland where German is also spoken, I'm kinda screwed.

Of course, I originally intended to do a normal post for this week and THEN go on strike, but we all know how 'intentions' don't always work out quite as planned and seeing as I need to be on the train tomorrow at 5:20 a.m., I'm kinda thinking getting some shut eye might be a good idea. However, while I'm here, I'll do a 'quickie' post, then the strike can officially begin.

So, the first of May in Germany is Labor Day (so the first of September back in the U.S.) and therefore EVERYTHING is closed, and at least in my beautiful town of Hameln, it’s tradition to get a couple hundred people in the town together and  go ‘wanderen’ with beer in hand until we get to the ‘Kiesteich’ (basically a little lake). I feel like everybody thinks I’ve been lying to them when I tell them I’m from California because I got so badly sunburned while most of my German friends (despite not wearing sunscreen!!) didn't. I’m going to fly back this summer, burn like a crisp, and then melt down into oblivion from the heat.

I really have to say, I have a serious issue with underwear shopping here in Europe. I don't know if it's a Europe thing, a Germany thing, or simply a Hameln thing but I cannot find 'normal' underwear to save my life. "Normal underwear" being defined as underwear that doesn't make at least half my butt hang out, and what's even more annoying is the less fabric there is, the more expensive the underwear becomes... I really don't understand that. I have nobody to show my underwear too and I generally avoid stripping down in front of people (well, at least when it can be avoided) and therefore I would honestly be much happier with normal underwear that actually 'covers' so to speak. Not necessarily 'granny-panty' status, just a LITTLE BIT more than nothing. And honestly, even if I did have somebody to eagerly show my underwear too, hopefully 'said guy' would like me for me and not my underwear. Just saying. 

Also this past week seeing as the sun no longer ceases to exist in the beautiful country called Germany, most everyday a group of friends and I have been getting together and sitting on the Wesser Riverside simply enjoying the sun. It's pretty sad that I can wear short-shorts in 55 degree F weather now and still be too warm, but in California I wouldn't even wear them with 85 degree F weather.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my rant for the week. Tune in next time to hear all about the Europe Tour and until then, LET THE STRIKE BEGIN!

P.S.Look what I found on the way to a friends house!

 

Happy Easter, Berlin!

Where, oh where to begin? It’s been quite a week. Well first off, last Thursday I learned it really does not matter what country you’re in; girls will be girls and take seemingly forever in public restrooms making the line go for literally ‘kilometers’ out the door. I’m quite unhappy with my gender about this, if only they could… I don’t know, if only they could pee faster or something.

Now that we’ve gotten the introduction out of the way, let’s see! Last Thursday I went to a soccer game for Hannover 96 with my Rotary Club. I can’t help but imagine what the bus must have looked like to outsiders because there were 40 well dressed older men, and one casually dressed 18 year old girl. I got the pleasure of sitting next to the club president and explaining the game to him because he’s not the biggest soccer fan in the world, and sadly Hannover 96 lost to Madrid, which means they’re out of the European playing field this season, but they still have a chance in the German league. The 49,000 person stadium was filled to the brink without an empty seat in sight, and I must say, Hannover 96 played a horrible game, they could have done much better. Nonetheless, it was a blast (Thanks Rotary Club Hameln!).

I spent Easter weekend hanging out with my friends, and while I sadly did not get to decorate any eggs, I did have a lovely time watching my friend Marn create a basket of them. She offered me her pen, but I am simply not nearly as creative with a marker. We played a lot of Foosball (despite my inability to play Foosball, as everyone learned), and Easter morning I went to brunch with my best friend’s family and spent a majority of the day with them. Along with Easter bunnies, a German Easter tradition is going to the “Osternfeuer” or Easter Fire which is where they collect and burn all the Christmas trees from a few months ago, so we stopped by to see it on the river side.

Now here we are, the ‘star of the show’ so to speak. I spent all of Tuesday and most of Wednesday in Berlin with my host-dad/sister where we became tourists for the day(s). Berlin. Is. Indescribable. If I didn’t already want to live in Europe again after my exchange year, it defiantly set that thought in stone. We took a tour with a British tour guide and saw all the hotspots of East Berlin, as well as an art museum, the Parliament building, and we saw a movie. There was a strike going on right outside the theater (typical Europe) so a lot of the films were no longer playing, but luckily ours still was. The weather was perfect, and for a city of almost 3.5 million people, parking is unbelievably easy to find… but maybe I’m only saying that because I’m from the San Francisco area and finding parking for under $20 an hour really is a miracle. Touring Berlin made me thankful to have taken Honors World History in 10th grade though, because I had a great teacher for the advanced class and actually put the history I learned “in it’s rightful place.” (For example, click on the picture to the left of cement blocks to discover how powerful it really is.)

Host-sister: “What’s this band called again?”

Me: “I don’t remember… something weird…”

Host-dad: “Lady Gaga!? "

On the three hour drive home from Berlin my host-dad and I had a sing-along session the whole ride. I find it hilarious how he knows more of the lyrics to the Backstreet Boys than I do, and he was very impressed with all the Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Rolling Stones (thanks Dad!) that I know.

While I’m here, I might as do a closing note on food. Everyone is always asking me my opinion of German food and here it is: German food almost always looks absolutely disgusting, but tastes delicious (and yes, that even goes for the sauerkraut).

Hopefully your week is as magical as mine was!