I find I most always begin my sentence with a prepositional phrase. I very clearly remember having it hammered into my head that it was improper and that it shouldn’t be done. I also remember being told that it was “Sheila and I that went to the store” and not “Sheila and me went to the store.” Turns out, I was learning the wrong language the whole time! Those rules are very different in German and I can’t gather my thoughts enough to remember why, but it makes perfect sense when you break down the sentence according to the rules of English…hmmm? Who knows?
There are a lot of firsts for me here.
Today, I ate with Frau Merchant and we went to this little restaurant (not a pub but was called one) and I had bratwurst, kraut, and mashed potatoes. It was delicious and very cool because I used to eat my mom’s version growing up. Mom, I love your cooking, but German’s got you beat on the sausage…
.
After we ate, we walked back to the school, I picked up my stuff (I had had three hours of tutoring today to help me catch up) and I headed home. When I got here, Kay (Kai, 12 year old son) was home from his trip and Rica (the 2 year old grandbaby)was on her way over. Kay and Klaus were eating meat, spices and onions on bread. Klaus asked if I had ever had “it” (I have no idea what it was called, we will just use “it”) and I told him no. He translated it with the help of a German to American dictionary to mincemeat. Then he got all excited and told me I HAD to try it. So he cut me off a thick slice of bread, spread fresh ground pork (mixed with spices) then brought it to me with a hunk of onion to add myself based on my onion preference, and s few spices one of which he called kimmel and I will have to look it up. Seeing as I had never had it before, I cut off a piece of the bread (about a 3x2 inch piece,) placed some onion because I do like onion, and took a bite. It is good, actually surprisingly so.
I had had a warning my first day that raw pork is a common thing to eat here. Trichinosis doesn’t exist in Germany. Their schweinfleisch (pork) is clean. I used to swear I was never going to eat sushi, then Michelle took me to Azuma in Albuquerque and I found out I like it. Never in a million years would I have believed it if I had been told I would be eating raw pork. If anything, I have a tendency to overcook meat out of fear of disease and here I am eating it.
On a different tack, last night I hung out with some of the other students for the first time. I say that like its been weeks since I arrived and it has only been 6 days. Regardless, Flor, one of the students and the only other girl, offered to help me study because as she puts it “I learn when I teach and it will help me.” That and she is a real big sweetheart and is brilliant, so she is the most advanced student. We studied together yesterday from 8:30 until 11pm. At 11, Stephen and Sam showed up and we all went to Nase Pub (Nose Pub…Yeah, I don’t get it either. Oh, well.) Nase pub is an Irish pub and at first we were a little weirded out because it wasn’t loud or raucous. It turned out to be a great place to experiment with different beers, different spirits, and a few different liqueurs without getting shit-faced drunk.
After we had sat there for about half an hour, talking and laughing, the guys at the table next to us (one looked like a rat and the other reminded me of the guy who played Hellboy) leaned over and asked us where we were from. When they heard we were American, Hellboy got involved because he speaks really good English and he wanted to use it and because the school in Quedlinburg is so small that very few people here know it exists so they were interested in that as well. Hellboy asked what we were studying and Stephen was first with Political Science. They didn’t get any further for the entire night. Stephen spent a good deal of time explaining why it is called a science and then he got into politics and they had a great conversation for about 45 minutes. All in all, I got home about a quarter to 2 AM and it was definitely a night well spent. We had a really good time giving Stephen crap and we got to laughing so hard a few times that I was almost crying. I do think getting out of the house will help in a big way with my skill at speaking German and I intend to do it more.
This week has been very educational. I have spent nearly 250 euro on warm clothes, my ring, and food for lunches, and I don’t regret it, but DANG! that’s a lot of cash! Sweaters are much appreciated clothing for me though, because I was packed for Cairo.
Next week we head off to Berlin for a big Art/Art History conference. I am pretty excited about it. We will be staying in a hostel (beware the hedge trimmers) and the trip is completely on the program, so all I will be paying for is food. It’s pretty cool. To be clear, all the things that I say are “on the program” are things I actually will be paying with my fees. It’s just done in such a way that I don’t have to be concerned with budgeting. Which is nice.
There are a lot of firsts for me here.
- First time a perfect stranger has washed my underwear while I was a full grown adult woman.
- First time someone has ironed said underwear.
- First time even desiring to learn German.
- First time living under someone else’s roof.
- First time actually being able to say “hey, I’m going to Italy!” and actually thinking I am going to go.
- First time going to a theatrical performance not knowing the language and still understanding the performance.
- First time (as an adult) that I have worried about upsetting my “parents” by staying out too late.
- First time eating raw pork. (we will come back to that.)
- First time being reliant on someone, other than me, to provide a home for me.
Today, I ate with Frau Merchant and we went to this little restaurant (not a pub but was called one) and I had bratwurst, kraut, and mashed potatoes. It was delicious and very cool because I used to eat my mom’s version growing up. Mom, I love your cooking, but German’s got you beat on the sausage…
.After we ate, we walked back to the school, I picked up my stuff (I had had three hours of tutoring today to help me catch up) and I headed home. When I got here, Kay (Kai, 12 year old son) was home from his trip and Rica (the 2 year old grandbaby)was on her way over. Kay and Klaus were eating meat, spices and onions on bread. Klaus asked if I had ever had “it” (I have no idea what it was called, we will just use “it”) and I told him no. He translated it with the help of a German to American dictionary to mincemeat. Then he got all excited and told me I HAD to try it. So he cut me off a thick slice of bread, spread fresh ground pork (mixed with spices) then brought it to me with a hunk of onion to add myself based on my onion preference, and s few spices one of which he called kimmel and I will have to look it up. Seeing as I had never had it before, I cut off a piece of the bread (about a 3x2 inch piece,) placed some onion because I do like onion, and took a bite. It is good, actually surprisingly so.
I had had a warning my first day that raw pork is a common thing to eat here. Trichinosis doesn’t exist in Germany. Their schweinfleisch (pork) is clean. I used to swear I was never going to eat sushi, then Michelle took me to Azuma in Albuquerque and I found out I like it. Never in a million years would I have believed it if I had been told I would be eating raw pork. If anything, I have a tendency to overcook meat out of fear of disease and here I am eating it.
On a different tack, last night I hung out with some of the other students for the first time. I say that like its been weeks since I arrived and it has only been 6 days. Regardless, Flor, one of the students and the only other girl, offered to help me study because as she puts it “I learn when I teach and it will help me.” That and she is a real big sweetheart and is brilliant, so she is the most advanced student. We studied together yesterday from 8:30 until 11pm. At 11, Stephen and Sam showed up and we all went to Nase Pub (Nose Pub…Yeah, I don’t get it either. Oh, well.) Nase pub is an Irish pub and at first we were a little weirded out because it wasn’t loud or raucous. It turned out to be a great place to experiment with different beers, different spirits, and a few different liqueurs without getting shit-faced drunk.
After we had sat there for about half an hour, talking and laughing, the guys at the table next to us (one looked like a rat and the other reminded me of the guy who played Hellboy) leaned over and asked us where we were from. When they heard we were American, Hellboy got involved because he speaks really good English and he wanted to use it and because the school in Quedlinburg is so small that very few people here know it exists so they were interested in that as well. Hellboy asked what we were studying and Stephen was first with Political Science. They didn’t get any further for the entire night. Stephen spent a good deal of time explaining why it is called a science and then he got into politics and they had a great conversation for about 45 minutes. All in all, I got home about a quarter to 2 AM and it was definitely a night well spent. We had a really good time giving Stephen crap and we got to laughing so hard a few times that I was almost crying. I do think getting out of the house will help in a big way with my skill at speaking German and I intend to do it more.
This week has been very educational. I have spent nearly 250 euro on warm clothes, my ring, and food for lunches, and I don’t regret it, but DANG! that’s a lot of cash! Sweaters are much appreciated clothing for me though, because I was packed for Cairo.
Next week we head off to Berlin for a big Art/Art History conference. I am pretty excited about it. We will be staying in a hostel (beware the hedge trimmers) and the trip is completely on the program, so all I will be paying for is food. It’s pretty cool. To be clear, all the things that I say are “on the program” are things I actually will be paying with my fees. It’s just done in such a way that I don’t have to be concerned with budgeting. Which is nice.
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