The Simple Things

For the most part, I get way more excited about simple things rather than the big things in life that most people would get excited about. An example is in a drink I got on Saturday. It was a short tumbler glass with a short straw (the drinks are smaller her, not always in large glasses). The cool thing was the short straw was a bendy straw!! I had never seen a short bendy straw before. Sure, you get tall ones in drinks all the time, but a short one?? So cute!

Anyways, there have been a lot of examples of these types of things this past week.

I went to Koeln (Cologne) for the first time. It was just a day trip, so not a lot of time, but it was nice to get an introduction to the city. I walked out of the main train station in Koeln and looked up at the Dom, Germany's most popular tourist attraction with about 20,000 visitors a day. At that moment, I started smiling and couldn't stop. It was amazing. Huge. Intimidating. Old. Basically, a masterpiece. I loved it.

I couldn't decide what to do first, so I just sat on the Dom's steps and looked at it while listening to "Nowadays" from the Chicago soundtrack. I wrote in my journal and then decided to just walk around the Dom and Koeln to get an idea of what the city holds. I walked around the Dom taking pictures, journeyed over into some other streets, and after about an hour of walking around, stopped to eat at a cafe. I got an omelet and coke light and read a book. It was bliss, but not the best part of my day.

The best part came next. After eating brunch, I decided I needed some ice cream (because who doesn't?). While I was walking around before, I saw about 23 Eis cafes surrounding the Dom. I walked back over to one of those, got a chocolate cone and walked back towards the Dom to ogle. About that time, some street musicians started playing Chopin with 2 accordions and a tuba. So I stood beside them and listened while I ate my Eis and stared at the Dom. THAT was the best part of the day. I wasn't touring the Dom (that came later) or in a museum, but it was real and it was simple and it was perfect. I could have stood there all day. But then I ran out of ice cream and decided it was time to actually go inside the Dom.

Let me first say that the Dom is wonderful inside and out, but I prefer the outside. The inside was beautiful and incredible to look at, but there was just something about the outside, so intricate. I could have sat outside all day just looking at all of the detail that went into creating it. No wonder it took centuries to build.

After meeting Monika and Yannick and walking up the 500-something steps to the top of the tower, we drove back to Moenchengladbach. Koeln is close to us, so I plan on taking day trips there every now and then to see everything. I have plenty of time.

The next day, I took the train with a friend to Duesseldorf. I have to say, I love taking trains. It is so easy and you can just sit back and relax while reading a book or listening to conversations (you know you do it, too). Although, it makes it difficult to listen when they're speaking a different language, but it helps me learn German. See, I listen only for the sake of my German education. No one should deny me that, right?

Duesseldorf was so cute. We went to the older section of the city and everything was cobblestone streets and older buildings with ivy growing up the sides. We mostly walked around, got a Doener, which is a really popular street food in Germany (basically a gyro), and sat down to people-watch. Again, simple, but a perfect day and night.

Other than the trips to Koeln and Duesseldorf, I am still getting acquainted with Moenchengladbach. t's been a good couple of weeks. Germany is treating me well. I'm learning more every day and thoroughly enjoying it. While I haven't done a lot of extravagant things yet, all of the little simple things remind me of why I am here and how special it is.

Guten Tag!



Extra:

Things I have learned so far:
1. While searching for the 3rd Harry Potter book in German (I figure since I know it so well, it will help me to learn German), I went into a bookstore and politely asked the man working there if they had Harry Potter. I asked the question in German, yet when I got to "Harry Potter", I said it in my british accent. He looked at me for a minute, I think trying to decide if I was American or English (because my british accent is so believable), then answered my question in english. Must remember not to use my british accent around strangers.

2. Germans are serious about driving. They do not like it when new straight-drive drivers are learning in front of them at a red light and stall out for four cycles in a row. They might pull up beside you (on the wrong side of the road) and glare at you. Luckily, I've got the whole starting/stopping thing down pretty well now.

3. No matter how well I think I am saying something in German to a sales clerk or someone I don't know, they can immediately tell I speak English. They then answer me in English. How do they know I'm not fluent in German?

4. I can't depend solely on my debit card like in America. Some places don't take Visa. WHAT!?!? But, I do like Euros better than the Dollar. I'm going to miss them when I have to return to the States.

On to Deutschland!

Well, I have finally made it to Germany! The flight here was a 15 hour journey, including the layover in Miami, but not counting the 6 hour time difference. Basically, I didn't sleep for about 36 hours. I am still trying to catch up, but am much more awake today. On the flight from Miami to Dusseldorf, I flew AirBerlin, so all of the flight attendants and most of the fliers spoke German. However, they did play Friends in English, which was nice of them. The guy sitting next to me slept for most of the flight, except to eat. I am pretty sure he was German. He didn't speak much except for "danke" und "bitte", but he had a German accent. Although his t-shirt was in English, so who can say? So confusing.

The stewardess did ask me all of the questions in German, like "möchtest du zu trinken?", and I of course responded "haben Sie Cola Light?" and guess what! They DID have Coca Cola Light :) So before even landing in Germany, I got my first Coca Cola Light. Life is good.

As I got in the car from the airport, the song that was playing on the radio was a techno version of American Pie. It was the perfect welcome of fused German and US music. Although, everywhere I go here, they are playing American Music. I asked Monika if people could understand it OK and she said they understand some, if the song is slower. On the sidewalk while we were shopping today, some German musicians were singing Stand by Me (auf Englisch). It makes a girl proud to be from America.

I often wonder when I am around a bunch of German people (before I start speaking, of course) if they can tell I am American. Can I pass as German? I always thought I could tell if someone was German, but now that I am surrounded, I notice that they mostly look and dress like Americans. Although, the MC Hammer pant is in big time style here right now. I have seen many-a-women wearing these and they actually look good! Don't be surprised if you see a picture of me in some MC Hammer pants soon. I think it is very fitting considering my initials are MC, ja? How can I NOT wear them when they were clearly named after ME and not that one-hit-wonder guy. I might not want to claim that, actually. They have been made fun of for most of my life. Ignore all of that, bitte.


So, now that I am done rambling: on to my experience so far. First, the family is great. They are very helpful and patient with my lack of skill in speaking German. Yannick is adorable; I will post pictures soon. He has a lot of personality and is very personable. He yells, "Hallo!" oder "Guten Morgen/Tag!" to anyone we pass, and is always talking, talking, talking. He loves to talk. It is funny to see a child speak a different language than English. He is a very funny kid, and it is hard to tell if he would be as funny if he was speaking English and I could understand all of it. Who knows? I guess I will find out once I learn more German.


My German class starts in October. Because I am not taking the easiest class, it starts later. Until it starts, I will just try to learn from the book and from asking Monika and Christian questions. Most of what they say right now goes over my head, but I am trying very hard. It is hard to be somewhere and can't understand much. You can't say what you want to say because you don't know how. It is a real challenge. Sometimes I get excited because I understand a whole complex sentence, and then I realize it is because they are speaking English. Oy Vey. :)


This is my 3rd day here and mostly we have been running errands, like to the bank, to the schule to find out about my German class, to the grocery, etc. We have also gone to the Water Park and to one of Yannick's friend's birthday parties. There were three boys, all with blonde hair. I haven't really eaten anything German yet. For breakfast, we mostly have toast and jelly or cheese or salami. We had pizza for dinner one night and then pasta another night. We drink mostly iced tea (which is bought from the store in a glass bottle and doesn't really taste like tea we drink in the US, but it is good), apple juice mixed 50/50 with mineral water, mineral water, oder kakao (chocolate milk). They did buy me some Coca Cola Zero today, though, because I saw a commercial for it and got excited since they did not have that last time I was here! I still need to look for Oatmeal or Grits in the grocery. I don't think I will have any luck with grits. Might have to get some mailed to me.


Not too much to report on yet, but I am having a good time. It is a lot to adjust to, for sure. But I'm am definitely going to enjoy the experience and can't wait to travel and have visitors!