Two Decades

This past week was my birthday, (I've evaded death for twenty long years!) and I celebrated this weekend with a trip to Stuttgart. I had it all planned out:
I would pre-make some cookie dough for Abele's because Ray has a love affair with chocolate chip cookies and I promised him a couple hundred dozen. I had the dough frozen and ready to go, the only problem was that I had school before my train left. I remembered them up until my walk to the Bahnhof. I refused to walk back because Niklas had promised me for my birthday we would go to the mineral baths again and I was not missing that. Which only made me feel worse when I showed up because Ray is on crutches after a sport injury. Way to be a jerk, Rebecca.

Once I got there (and apologized to Ray profusely) we took off for the spa. Now, I've tossed this around in my head if I should tell you guys this or not and I settled on the fact that I will. It's my time here and this blog is my journal and this experience is definitely noteworthy.
So here goes. I went into the naked portion of the spa. Just keep your pants on, pun intended, I was really scared to go in there too, but trust me, the shock factor wears off quick. Especially because it's a big ego deflation. It's a problem all people have, we assume everyone cares what we're doing, where we're going, and that someone will notice us all the time. Heads up, because it's not true. It's actually simple when you think about it: Everyone else is just worrying about themselves too, ergo it's just a circle of one person to the next assuming everyone is watching them. All in all, I really relaxed there and took in the Dampfluft and feel like I enjoyed a little more of another culture that I couldn't find in the states. So that was Friday.

Saturday Nick had planned a birthday party for me at a local brewery that evening but not before I made them some cookies. That was the majority of my day and I have to admit, even though I'm not a fan of baking, I do enjoy everyone telling me I produced something delicious out of sugar, flour, eggs, and a whooole lotta chocolate.
That evening was really fun too. We went to Sophie's Brauhaus and met up with a few of my mutual German friends and some American ones too. (This was after I realized I forgot a change of clothes along with the cookie dough and had to go shopping for a shirt... See Mom? I buy clothes...When I have to.)

At the bar we were served "meters".This are meter-long boards with fourteen beer in them filled with brew right from the building.

This is a meter. This guy. Right here.

For those of you not really familiar with me, I don't drink a whole lot. Even in Germany. Bars just aren't my place; however, I have to admit I had a spectacular time with my friends that night. I even got school supplies for Tuebingen as a gift from the Germans. Thanks guys!
Sunday is always a lazy day and apart from playing marbles (my team dominated) and eating too many quarkini (donut hole thingys) I didn't do a whole lot. Not even homework.

No Five Dollar Frank

 What lesson did we learn today, Rebecca? Well, dear readers, I would have to say it's a toss-up between You get what you pay for. and What you see is what you get. I'll take your votes later.
 A few weeks ago I mentioned to Elke that I am in need of a hair cut. Like most people, I enjoy cheap things and Elke realizes this and told me that she has a friend who cuts hair and would do a fair job fairly cheap. Needless to say, we set up an appointment. Have I foreshadowed enough for you? 

Today, as we're driving to the place Elke decides that now would be a great time to warn me. Wait, rewind that, Elke...Warn me? About what?
Evidently, the lady is a slob and her studio is in Elkes' words "chaotisch". If you have ever had the pleasure of living with me you would realize that I am a neat freak borderline OCD.
(Just a few examples: "Rebecca, why did you put my glass away again? I wasn't finished!
Rebecca, stop mopping the floor. Go. To. Bed.
Rebecca, you're going to make a great housewife someday"... Love you too, Bobbi.)
But I am getting better and have learned to deal with some things. However, for Elke to say this place was chaotic was a courtesy.

 It was a room squished onto the main house, and upon entering you could only see two chairs and a coffee table with a stack of magazines over a foot high spilling onto the floor because only one light worked in the room. Used towels and empty bottles littered the floor, and while waiting for the woman before me to be finished I counted twenty-two separate shelves piled with half-eaten chocolate bars, dirty brushes, wrappers, bills, half-full coffee mugs...I could continue. That should have been the first red flag...
The woman before me finished, accidentally pushed two pairs of hidden scissors from a pile of papers onto the floor (which stayed on the floor) while retrieving her keys and cell phone and left. When it was my turn, she handed me a book to look at hairstyles. After politely declining, Bitte, nur ein bisschen kuerzer (Just a trim please), I noticed that the book was actually step-by-step instructions for mothers looking to save money and cut their own kids hair.

She started cutting by first parting my hair directly in the middle and free-style snipping at the back. I guess I was too distracted by her stain-filled smock and the fact that I noticed her hands hadn't been washed after rubbing in the gel and conditioner from the woman before me to say anything. She couldn't wash my hair because the sink was full of magazines, hair, and a tv remote. I have a lot of faith in Elke and I am pretty sure she never intents to lead me astray... Unless it would be funny. In this case, I suppose I'll see the humor later, because right now I only realized I paid five euro to look like Paul McCartney from the Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan show.

Just a Day in the Life

So Niklas was right, (Go ahead and read it again, Nick.) I will probably never fully integrate into my host family like someone staying for an entire year. Two months is just not long enough. After almost six weeks I still get scared when I come home from school because frankly, it's difficult. Not because Elke or Volker are terrible to be around. Quite the opposite, they are very accepting and forgiving of my shoddy German and schedule. The fact of the matter is that I dropped into someone's life with no orientation of their lifestyle nor their language.

Beyond that fact, I have settled into a pretty nice routine here and I can say without hesitation that it is nothing short of great. Every morning I wake up and head up to breakfast that Elke has set out on the table for me because Volker heads to work around five. She greats me with a Morgen ('Morning) and we sit down to our respective coffee and Nutella. After that I head to the bus stop with two other students to school. School goes until around four, after which I head back home. I return my cleaned dishes from lunch and talk with Elke for a minute or two. She always asks how school went and I always stumble through a story of my day. Then it's down to my room for hausaufgaben (homework) until six when Volker comes down to invite me up to dinner. Yeah, he invites. I always have the option to say no. Like I would. Elke cooks something especially for myself and Julian, her son, every night even though her and Volker eat a cold meal. She then lets me take the left-overs for lunch in school. What a stand-up lady.

At night it's always the same, too. Das Perfekte Dinner, a sweet German reality show about cooking, and sometimes Volker pulls out some chocolates from somewhere. We kind of watch television and chat until I get tired and go to bed.
So no, I probabaly won't ever be a real part of the family. But I'm certainly not doing too shabby either.

Home is Where I Sleep

The question is often posed to me if I am homesick. While I believe the normal-people answer should be yes, I can not honestly say I've experienced the disease of missing ones home. Even as a little kid I never whined it up over going home early at a slumber party. You know, because going over to someones house to get hopped up on sugar and play Goldeneye on the N-64 would make any eight-year-old cry...
There are certain aspects of Michigan that I miss, but the problem lies not in them being nonexistent here, but rather their rarity.

Of the best examples I can give to you would be singing. Yes singing. Stop laughing and keep reading. Not many people know this but I love to sing in the car. Well, I guess consider yourself lucky if you didn't know that. I never said I was good at singing... Just something about rocking out to some Pearl Jam, or if I'm feeling really girly, Alanis Morissette, while cruising around is relaxing.

It becomes more complicated if you understand my time en route here. In Germany everyone takes public transportation. Everyone. Everywhere. If not public, then at the very least carpooling with someone else. To get anywhere around Horb I take a bus, to Stuttgart is the train and subway. As much as I would love to leave my mark on Germany; showing up on Youtube as the crazy lady on the U-Bahn tunelessly bellowing Bluetone lyrics is not how I want that to happen.

Home is more of an idea than a place to me but before you all start thinking that I am a soulless being incapable of emotion, I do miss the people back in snowy Michigan. Spoiler alert: I think I'm getting a visit from some of you...

A Few of My Favorite Things

To mark my first month in Germany I decided to pop down a list of particularly awesome/not so exceptional things I have found in Germany.

Let's start with the good things:

Windows: Don't judge. Until you've experienced the German way of securing your home, you'll never understand. The windows can open like doors or like windows. This allows you to have a slight breeze when you want, or easily wash the window, or it can come in handy when evading unwanted guests. But they are nearly seventeen hundred times more secure than ours in the states. There's no air leaks, they're insolated to the max, the shades are built in and made of metal sheets that compress on one another to allow as little or as much light as you want.  How is this even possible?!? With my power of deduction I've still only surmised that German engineering is far superior to any other. I am not even going to start on the doors...

Beds: This is another one you wouldn't expect but let's give me the benefit of the doubt that I'm not completely insane. The best part of the beds are the blankets. Everyone sleeping in the bed (I've been told it's just usually two people, but who am I to judge?) gets their own blanket! It seems like a simple idea but consider this all you couples in the states sleeping under one blanket.

How often do you fight for the covers? Do you sleep with a blanket hog? In the summer is it just too darn warm? Problem solved. Better yet the blankets are like a sleeping bag, that depending on the season you can switch out the contents. In the winter, stick in the thick padding. Summer, just a sheet or any variation in between. Couples here always get a good nights sleep.

People: Of course there are a few I have in mind, but really this goes out to all you Germans. They are so clean and orderly. It's a little like heaven for me here. Every Saturday they sweep their sidewalks. Why? No idea. Apparently it's just a thing they do because since their houses are already spotless they decide take it to the streets. Never has there been a more interestingly hard working people. They have a saying: "Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue" which translates into "quick quick build a house." I've heard it quoted a few times now.

Walker, Texas Ranger: Germany has it. I'm watching it.

The Not So Great Things:

Water: Point number one is that water fountains don't exist here. You could die of thirst in the middle of Munich's English gardens. The sad thing is, Germany is one of those countries that people vacation in where the tap water is actually good to drink. Which brings me to my next point. The tap water is good to drink, they will serve it to you in a restaurant but you will still pay for it. That's a way to make money off of your patrons. Because you know you'll pay for it because you're dying of thirst with not a water fountain in sight. Vicious cycle.

Toilets: So you've got a drink and everything is peachy. Until you have to make some water of your own. Shouldn't be a problem, since you've already learn how to use a toilet (reoccurring theme?). Just walk into the nearest department store and find the bathroom, right? Dead wrong! Unless you're willing to part with at least fifty cents each time you  find a bathroom, you're out of luck. If there's not a gate you're charged at to get to the restrooms, there is a very menacing Klofrau. (Read as: Generally angry older woman who hawks the bathroom for money and occasionally cleans the place.) Personally, I'm terrified of die Klofrau. Or as a much more likely reason is that I'm cheap.

Language skills: I wasn't sure whether to put this down as a pro or con. The better my German gets the worse my English becomes. Take the word English right there for example. It took me three tries to type that correctly because my German brain is starting to take over. Englisch auf Deutsch, but English in, well you know, English. It's becoming more common. 

I'm sure there are more positives but right now I can't think of them, so tough cookies. Actually no, because those don't exist in Germany either. What a weird country.

Check it out

We went to Heidelberg with the class this weekend and it was absolutely beautiful. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have more time there but we did get to see the castle, the church, and some really neat old building. Gotta love Germany. Full of neat old buildings.

Afterward Emily, my new friend (Yes that's right. Rebecca is capable of making friends!), and I went to Stuttgart to watch Ray play some volleyball. I think I am officially a good luck charm now because they won again against a higher rated team, Konstanz, and Ray had the best stats for the night. I didn't make a sign, but I did think about stealing a bass drum.

For an awesome video of our time in Heidelberg which I did not make but instead give all credit to Emily (I promised I would.)  click here
It takes too long to upload them here. 
Bis bald.
Also, Happy Valentine's day to everyone who celebrates. To all the others, Happy regular day.

Lazy day

I am going to be really lazy today and not post, since nothing interesting has happened. Instead, here is a video of my house and host family. This was my first attempt at using the Flip, which is a very tiny video camera that has a built-in movie maker. I know the quality is crappy, the shots are shaky, and the sound is terrible (especially my on-camera German, what's up with that??) but it's the best I've got and it literally took me a half hour to make..  Don't judge. Please.

The Rest of the Story

So I promised I would be back and here I am, well rested.

I spent a lot of my weekend in Stuttgart, our free trip of the week was there and so it was a good excuse to visit the Abele's. Apologies to all in the states, because it is beautiful here. Upper fifties and sunny. I guided a miniature-tour of my own that may or may not have included a group of Stuttgarters giving out free hugs.

That night, I bid ado to my group and went to the Abele's house where we went to Ray's volleyball game. It's beginning to be quite a tradition and I am apparently Ray's biggest fan. I was told, but this is a lie, that I was the first to yell at an out ball (In English because my reaction times are not that fast in German) and I'm pretty positive everyone thinks I'm insane. I'm fine with that considering their team is pretty awesome. Ubly girls volleyball team: we're going to take a field trip to Germany to watch these guys play. Next week is against Konstanz and I've considered making a "That just happened!" sign. Other than that, I napped a lot. Love visiting Nick.

On the train back to Horb I took my first real test in German: How well can she speak in the real world?
Score: Eh.
I went to the Hauptbahnhof myself and was a little behind schedule. While jogging to my platform (Is it weird I had to look up the English word for platform but knew it in German?) a conductor stopped me and told me that if I wanted to go to Horb the platform had been changed. Bonus points for not having to have to ask him to repeat himself.
On the train itself I asked a man if the seat beside him was free. That is a four-word sentence in German. It took four words for that man to realize that I am American. Nevertheless he conversed with me the entire hour long ride back to Horb. He spoke no English, and that's where I feel I succeeded. He told me about his fifty-six years of working and what his retirement plans are for next month. Yeah, I am going to take that as a personal accomplishment. In a sink-or-swim situation I belly flop and then doggy paddle my way through.
 Bis bald.

Living a Little...

I have been meaning to update this for the last couple of days, but it's been a busy. We are in the middle of the processing all of the forms for moving/living in Tuebingen which will take place at the end of March. But, you guys are important to me, so here we go.

If I have learned one thing through this last weekend I think it would have to be: Don't mess with your driver. Be it a bus, train, cruise ship, or any other form of transportation.
Last week I took my regular bus back to my host-house (trust me, it feels weird calling it 'my house') and at a stop too many students tried to get on the bus. The driver got out of the bus, slamming his fists on the window and yelling in German for them to pack in as tightly as possible. Which of course, the students replied to as any group of fourteen-year-old would with snide comments, rolled eyes, and essentially ignoring him.
I suppose that was a big no-no or the bus driver had just realized he wasn't getting paid per rider, so he left two kids at the stop. Then he proceeded to speed by the next five stops without allowing anyone off even though people were yelling at him. I mean, it was cool by me because he eventually let me off.... But a big bummer to the rest of the people who had to walk 3 kilometers to their houses.

If I had a second lesson for the week it would be that I am probably not meant to attend parties. All that I will say is that when you mix Brazilians, vegetarian pizza and Mäxle nothing good can come from it. Although, Bobbi, Eric, Rita, be proud of me. I tried to make friends.
For some reason, my font will not allow me to unitalicize. I apologize. 
Also, I have more to tell, but I'm going to leave it to be continued because I need some sleep tonight.

Tagesschau

Fun fact: The Germans are so efficient that one of their most prominent news programs is only fifteen minutes long. That includes world news, sports, and weather. Classic German.

Everyone here is following the revolution in Egypt very closely and I was surprised to learn that many Germans are worried about the aftermath of the events in Tunisia and Egypt sparking other countries into violence. I had never considered the fact of how close Germany is to these countries.
And although the news is a little intense, I enjoy not having to bear through news reports warning of the next food that will make you gain weight or which celebrity is in rehab this week. Have no fear United States, however, you were not forgotten. The snow storm sweeping the nation is number three on the list of discussion. To everyone in Michigan: Best of luck! Just be happy you're not in Australia. (Just think, in two years, when this blog is ancient history, this might be in a textbook.)

You could probably sum up all the news in my life in fifteen minutes right now too. I was lucky to have a mid-week visit from Niklas, but unfortunately that did not stop school or homework. However, it is awesome to have an on-site translator because it makes watching movies much easier. Speaking of which, I highly recommend The Man from Earth. Great movie and even better, I understood it in German.

I suppose I will write more when something happens, but like I mentioned before...pretty slow over here.
Bis bald.