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!
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