Yesterday I left my house at noon to meet Cory in Stephansplatz to help him buy new shoes. He really needed new shoes, my God. I realized I probably had ought to buy my public transportatoin pass, since AFS reimburses us for this anyway. I stopped by an ATM and put in my card and code and money order, and everything was normal. It said it was processing my money order when a red box jumped up and said, "Money order cancelled. Card is being retained."
I stood there in shock for a couple of minutes, walked up and down the street a few times, but then decided to stay at the ATM in case it decided to spit out my card at any second. But it didn't. I called my host brother stumbling over German trying to explain what was happening, but I noticed I was starting to panic and that half the words I was saying were in English. He happened to be out on his moped on the same street as I was, and saw me, and came to me. He understood then what happened and told me not to worry, that it wasn't really a big deal. He called the number on the ATM and I thought, good, maybe it was just a bug, and they can get it back to me.
After he hung up, he told me my credit card number had been put on an international "black list" and that I was going to have to call VISA in the USA to figure out what had happened.
I got home and started to get all worked up. I've noticed any tendency I had towards overreacting is magnified 100x here. I am guessing because all my energy every moment is pushed towards the edge working on understanding and communicating, and then something happens and it all gets pushed over. I called VISA and realized I didn't actually know the number on my card because it wasn't the same as my bank account number. She apologized to me for losing my card in a foreign country and wished me the best and connected me to Bank of America, where the hotlines were still closed.
I got in contact with my parents, calling them for the first time since I've been here. I ended up taking away their Saturday morning with sorting everything out for me. Thank you again guys, I would have never figured out any of that myself.
The problem was that my ATM card was only a temporary and was only valid for 30 days. I've been using it from the end of August to yesterday, with my problem only being yesterday. I'm guessing VISA decided to block the number learning that it was invalid, but being a big company and everything, was sort of late. A new card had arrived for me a month ago in the States, and my Dad is going to send it rushed here.
I still have to go to the Bank on monday and ask for my card back. I am hoping someone there can speak English, because it seems risky for me to talk about say, my identity and my money, when there is still such a high level of misunderstanding in simple day to day life.
Anyway, I survived. I went to see La Traviata last night, which was wonderful, and I am leaving for my vacation in Kärnten on Tuesday still. That's all, take care.
Sonntag, 28. Oktober 2007
Freitag, 26. Oktober 2007
Some stories from the week
A few more things from this week that I didn't write about last time
- I was in a yarn store near my house on Wednesday thinking of new things to knit. I was standing at a box trying to decide upon the green or the pink to match the colors I was getting, and then behind me there was an Americantourist couple. They asked me very slowly if they could look in the same box, and I responded "Oh yeah, no problem" without even thinking. The woman turns to her husband shocked and says, "My goodness, listen to that English!" I laughed and told her I was from Boston. I could hear behind us in German the store owner was talking to the regular old ladies at the store making fun of the couple, because the husband was wearing the traditional mens hat, except completley the wrong way. The storeowner then wanted to give the woman knitting advice, so I was a go between for them! I felt really good about the German I was using and that I could be helpful about it. I was sort of embarrassed by the awkwardness of their American habits, (like talking REALLY loud in a small space) but whatever, thats really small. End story.
- I went on Wednesdsay night to my friend Clara's flute concert! She plays AMAZINGLY. The kids who performed on piano and violin and so on were also extremely talented for their age, in my opinion, and I really enjoyed it. I met Clara's parents who were very kind and touched that I had wanted to see Clara perform. They took me out to eat some Italian with them after, and I got to know them. They wanted to know why I hadn't been over to their house to visit yet. I realized this evening that Clara is also pretty lonely and feeling the effects of an exchange, because her best friend is in Argentina. So really, we are having a similiar experience because I am missing my own best friends and my family so much. I thought for a while she was being kind to me because she knows my family so well, but I realize she acutally needs someone to hang out with as well.
And on that note, today is the National Holiday in Austria, and i am going with Clara's family to the Art History museum. =)
I'm feeling pretty good here as of this week, but of course I think often of home and I am wondering still what is going on in everyone's lives.
I should go, take care, and keep in touch please!
Mittwoch, 24. Oktober 2007
All sorts of things...
Well my week was not particularly Austrian, so I didn’t feel the need to write about it last week. I actually hung out every day of the week with an AFS person in some way. It was all the same people except one day I went out with a girl from Thailand called Anchalin. She’s crazy cool and really loves to shop.
Friday I had dance school again, though for the first time alone. Deirdre from USA quit the Friday class, because she wanted to be social on Fridays. However, I found this was actually a lot better for me and talked to a lot of my dance partners who were really cool, and I started talking to this random girl who was sitting alone. She sort of attached herself to me for the night and next class we’re meeting earlier. She doesn’t have any friends at the dance school because she comes from another district and she started a year late. And I’m the random American. I always surprise random people when they ask “Where are you from?” “Boston, USA” “Bwah! I didn’t expect it to be that far!”
As a note, they saw something like bwah instead of wow. I’ve caught myself saying it a few times. Oh dear.
I went to a locale called Bricks with everyone on Saturday night for Livia from Brazil’s birthday. Before, some of us went to Cory’s apartment and his host mother made some good tasting meat thing and really good mashed potatoes. The few times I’ve eaten at other Austrian’s houses, the food is so rich and delicious. I guess it’s a good thing I’m with a really healthy family because I am not gaining the extra weight that would have ordinarily happened. Brick’s was a lot of fun, though I left fairly early because I had a half hour of public transport back, and being alone on the public transport isn’t dangerous, since Vienna has a fairly low crime rate, however, I still don’t like to be alone. I’m glad I live in the exact center and get to take the really good subway lines. Think about the Orange Line in Boston. You wouldn’t be caught on that in the daylight either. Some of my friends have to take the Vienna equivalent late at night back to their houses, so I am very grateful for another reason for my location.
Sunday I was forced into participation in a Talent Show with AFS. For the past week, Cory and I were practicing doing a horrible job at Hey There Delilah from Plain White T's, cause it seemed exchange studenty and its about the US too haha. However when we got there, we found out talent was required, and everyone knew the song and asked if they could join us, so there were about six of us performing. Funny.
Umm, oh yes. I know Dad will love this because I know how much he loves heights. In Sport class the other day, we went rock climbing and I ended up really loving it. There was a 16 meter wall (4 or 5 stories, I remember counting the windows as I went up) though my partner on the ground got too nervous and only let me go about eight meters. Now my host family is all excited because they think there is finally something athletic I like and are asking me if I want to take a rock climbing course, and wouldn’t it be so great etc.
I made an apple strudel yesterday!!! It was delicious.
In English class right now, for the past month we have been studying black people. It’s so bizarre, it started out as the civil rights movement, and now we are plain studying black people. Such as living conditions, and why they are poorer, in prison more, have more teenage pregnancies than whites in America. The thing that strikes me about it is that we wouldn’t so blatantly study black people in America. It’d be considered so politically incorrect. Accompanying this study we are watching the film Boyz in da Hood.
Tonight I am going to a music school to see my friend Clara from school play flute in a concert.
Tomorrow is the last day of school before vacation. Cory and Jordyn are coming over, and then we are going to Bricks. Friday is the National Holiday and the Austrian Parlament is open for the day for free. Saturday I am going to La Traviata, and Tuesday I am leaving for Kärnten
Alles gute,
Julia
Friday I had dance school again, though for the first time alone. Deirdre from USA quit the Friday class, because she wanted to be social on Fridays. However, I found this was actually a lot better for me and talked to a lot of my dance partners who were really cool, and I started talking to this random girl who was sitting alone. She sort of attached herself to me for the night and next class we’re meeting earlier. She doesn’t have any friends at the dance school because she comes from another district and she started a year late. And I’m the random American. I always surprise random people when they ask “Where are you from?” “Boston, USA” “Bwah! I didn’t expect it to be that far!”
As a note, they saw something like bwah instead of wow. I’ve caught myself saying it a few times. Oh dear.
I went to a locale called Bricks with everyone on Saturday night for Livia from Brazil’s birthday. Before, some of us went to Cory’s apartment and his host mother made some good tasting meat thing and really good mashed potatoes. The few times I’ve eaten at other Austrian’s houses, the food is so rich and delicious. I guess it’s a good thing I’m with a really healthy family because I am not gaining the extra weight that would have ordinarily happened. Brick’s was a lot of fun, though I left fairly early because I had a half hour of public transport back, and being alone on the public transport isn’t dangerous, since Vienna has a fairly low crime rate, however, I still don’t like to be alone. I’m glad I live in the exact center and get to take the really good subway lines. Think about the Orange Line in Boston. You wouldn’t be caught on that in the daylight either. Some of my friends have to take the Vienna equivalent late at night back to their houses, so I am very grateful for another reason for my location.
Sunday I was forced into participation in a Talent Show with AFS. For the past week, Cory and I were practicing doing a horrible job at Hey There Delilah from Plain White T's, cause it seemed exchange studenty and its about the US too haha. However when we got there, we found out talent was required, and everyone knew the song and asked if they could join us, so there were about six of us performing. Funny.
Umm, oh yes. I know Dad will love this because I know how much he loves heights. In Sport class the other day, we went rock climbing and I ended up really loving it. There was a 16 meter wall (4 or 5 stories, I remember counting the windows as I went up) though my partner on the ground got too nervous and only let me go about eight meters. Now my host family is all excited because they think there is finally something athletic I like and are asking me if I want to take a rock climbing course, and wouldn’t it be so great etc.
I made an apple strudel yesterday!!! It was delicious.
In English class right now, for the past month we have been studying black people. It’s so bizarre, it started out as the civil rights movement, and now we are plain studying black people. Such as living conditions, and why they are poorer, in prison more, have more teenage pregnancies than whites in America. The thing that strikes me about it is that we wouldn’t so blatantly study black people in America. It’d be considered so politically incorrect. Accompanying this study we are watching the film Boyz in da Hood.
Tonight I am going to a music school to see my friend Clara from school play flute in a concert.
Tomorrow is the last day of school before vacation. Cory and Jordyn are coming over, and then we are going to Bricks. Friday is the National Holiday and the Austrian Parlament is open for the day for free. Saturday I am going to La Traviata, and Tuesday I am leaving for Kärnten
Alles gute,
Julia
Mittwoch, 17. Oktober 2007
Niederösterreich -- Second Arrival Camp
This weekend AFS had Second Arrival Camp in Neu-Nagelberg, Niederösterreich. It was about two hours away by train, and our youth hostel was right next to the border to the Czech Republic. Good...
It was really nice to get away from my host family for a weekend. Does that sound weird? I mean it to say, it was refreshing and re-encouraging. In a sense. There were a lot of parts this weekend, especially when the AFS-veterans were speaking to us, I was thinking "Oh my God, I am not doing a good job at being Austrian or an exchange student." But I think they were trying to make us feel this way, because they want us to work harder. Or something..
So we all met at the train station in Vienna at 16.30 on Friday. We got to the youth hostel pretty late, and we went outside in the dark and played random circle games. The entire camp was run by no one older than 20. It was mostly Austrians who had done a year in South America, and since mostly South Americans live in Vienna, you can imagine it was mostly spanish. Mostly a group of English mother speakers and those who speak neither German or Spanish huddled together, but then we would get disbanded because of speaking English. And then the leaders would go back and speak Spanish, and we would slowly start speaking English once more.
Anyway, we learned some childrens games in German in the dark, and then we went inside and drank some really bad soup. Then, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, it turns out one of the South Americans brought a bunch of music, so we all crammed into this absolutely tiny hostel bedroom and danced until 1 am. It was so much fun! The south americans told me I could dance really well, which was cool. Maybe it is because everyone else was too self concious to go ahead and do it, but I did! A boy called Felipe who doesn't speak English well taught me this Argentinian swing dance. The only thing we say to each other is "Felipe, Bitte!" or "Julia, bitte!" and then we do that fake Euro kiss on both cheek goodbye thing...
Speaking of which, I am totally pro at that now. I can pretend to kiss people's cheeks hello and goodbye like nobody's business.
The bad thing about this party was that we had to wake up really early to play more games on Saturday. After breakfast and games, we broke off into groups by language. I volunteered myself for the German group. There were only four others. Of the 30 kids who live in Vienna, only four know enough German to participate in a conversation. The leaders of the camp were really shocked by this. Whenever they yelled at us for speaking English they would say, "In America, the German and Austrian kids would speak English together even though they had the same mother language! You are here to speak German, so speak it!"
Unfortunately my group had a degree of unpleasantness to it, because one would just talk and talk the entire time and no one really wanted to listen. We were supposed to talk about my problems, and somehow I had a lot. For instance, being graded in math, having a mother in the house, continuing a relationship during my exchange, and the biggest: being a replacement daugther/sister/classmate. I guess I never really thought of how hard it is to be here, but I think that's a good thing. Because I am always enjoying myself, and if you are constantly thinking of the difficulty involved, it leaves no room to believe: "hey, I am having a lot of fun right now"
My dad wrote me a very wise email that said "I am constantly surprised by how people here tend to think of your trip so glamourously. There is so much work involved in living in a new culture." He's right, but I'm not trying to preach about how noblely self sacrificing I'm being. But what this really is, is creating a new home for yourself somewhere. I was sitting on the U-Bahn today and I was like, wow, this is normal. I know how to connect to the next line and I know how to get home, and I recognize exactly where I am. There is nothing foreign about it. And really, that is the whole purpose of this experience.
And only after six weeks!
We went walking in the woods and I talked more with Jordyn about our problems. (This is beginning to sound more like a support group for some kind of severe condition...) I ended up feeling really down for most of the afternoon. This was my first time in the Austrian country side and forests, and oh my goodness, they are really beautiful. There is green moss all over the ground where we walked and it was really squishy to walk in. The trees were a lot of evergreens and there were many wild flowers. I even saw a Butte plant, which is this weird fruit that they take the seeds from in fall a brew a tea out of it. This tea is one of the things initially I REALLY disliked about my diet, but now I just take it when I have to and don't even taste it anymore. Another fine example of this is salad, which they cover in like 1 part oil and 3 parts vinegar. Ick...
ANYWAY, that night, I don't really remember what but we were all sitting in Cory's room, and I ate all of his haribo, so today I had to buy him some more. Jordyn was trying to teach us how to speak with a New Zealand accent and say "I drove in my car to Auckland." Auckland is really hard to say. Don't even try, because you'll be wrong. Cory can say "Get in the chopper now" in a really amazing Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. (PS-- Austrians don't really have an accent like this). There was another party in the South American room, but we didn't feel like going. I ended up crashing pretty early. I got to know kind of a girl from Thailand who I really liked though, so that was good.
Sunday we mostly wrapped up wirth more games and group discussions. I got home at around 6 or 7 all by myself, which I find amazing. I can take a train two hours away into the city and then the subway to my house and my host family doesn't even have to do anything. I just come when I want! I don't know why this strikes me so much, probably because Kevin or my dad drive me everywhere I need to go back home.
Monday night the AFS people met in a cafe at night in this slightly shady part of Vienna. There were about 35 people there, since many veterans came. It was fun, but I can't think of anything to write about it. It was just a party, I suppose!
Tuesday was a tour for us of the Rathaus (town hall) and then we went out to ice cream after, because it was Livia's birthday. A boy from Japan, Kosei, who is kind of our pet, got lost and had to call me, but didn't know enough English or German that he could understand that he should stay where he is, and that I would come find him. That was frustrating. I ended up leaving early anyway, because my host brother and his girlfriend Eli took me to the English theatre. We saw this really sarcastic two man musical about a woman who thinks she has the most beautiful voice in the world, but everyone actually hates it and comes to laugh at her. It was called Souvenir, and I ended up crying a lot at the end. I'm crazy.
Other points of interest is I finally learned how to weigh myself in kilograms. I am not becoming another fat student (ha, AFS) but I have in fact lost five pounds. Probably because I don't remember the last time my family ate meat.
School vacation for a week comes after next week, and then I am going to Kärnten in the mountains by a lake in my family's vacation house!! I am so excited.
That's all, keep in touch. Baba.
//fake euro kiss.
It was really nice to get away from my host family for a weekend. Does that sound weird? I mean it to say, it was refreshing and re-encouraging. In a sense. There were a lot of parts this weekend, especially when the AFS-veterans were speaking to us, I was thinking "Oh my God, I am not doing a good job at being Austrian or an exchange student." But I think they were trying to make us feel this way, because they want us to work harder. Or something..
So we all met at the train station in Vienna at 16.30 on Friday. We got to the youth hostel pretty late, and we went outside in the dark and played random circle games. The entire camp was run by no one older than 20. It was mostly Austrians who had done a year in South America, and since mostly South Americans live in Vienna, you can imagine it was mostly spanish. Mostly a group of English mother speakers and those who speak neither German or Spanish huddled together, but then we would get disbanded because of speaking English. And then the leaders would go back and speak Spanish, and we would slowly start speaking English once more.
Anyway, we learned some childrens games in German in the dark, and then we went inside and drank some really bad soup. Then, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, it turns out one of the South Americans brought a bunch of music, so we all crammed into this absolutely tiny hostel bedroom and danced until 1 am. It was so much fun! The south americans told me I could dance really well, which was cool. Maybe it is because everyone else was too self concious to go ahead and do it, but I did! A boy called Felipe who doesn't speak English well taught me this Argentinian swing dance. The only thing we say to each other is "Felipe, Bitte!" or "Julia, bitte!" and then we do that fake Euro kiss on both cheek goodbye thing...
Speaking of which, I am totally pro at that now. I can pretend to kiss people's cheeks hello and goodbye like nobody's business.
The bad thing about this party was that we had to wake up really early to play more games on Saturday. After breakfast and games, we broke off into groups by language. I volunteered myself for the German group. There were only four others. Of the 30 kids who live in Vienna, only four know enough German to participate in a conversation. The leaders of the camp were really shocked by this. Whenever they yelled at us for speaking English they would say, "In America, the German and Austrian kids would speak English together even though they had the same mother language! You are here to speak German, so speak it!"
Unfortunately my group had a degree of unpleasantness to it, because one would just talk and talk the entire time and no one really wanted to listen. We were supposed to talk about my problems, and somehow I had a lot. For instance, being graded in math, having a mother in the house, continuing a relationship during my exchange, and the biggest: being a replacement daugther/sister/classmate. I guess I never really thought of how hard it is to be here, but I think that's a good thing. Because I am always enjoying myself, and if you are constantly thinking of the difficulty involved, it leaves no room to believe: "hey, I am having a lot of fun right now"
My dad wrote me a very wise email that said "I am constantly surprised by how people here tend to think of your trip so glamourously. There is so much work involved in living in a new culture." He's right, but I'm not trying to preach about how noblely self sacrificing I'm being. But what this really is, is creating a new home for yourself somewhere. I was sitting on the U-Bahn today and I was like, wow, this is normal. I know how to connect to the next line and I know how to get home, and I recognize exactly where I am. There is nothing foreign about it. And really, that is the whole purpose of this experience.
And only after six weeks!
We went walking in the woods and I talked more with Jordyn about our problems. (This is beginning to sound more like a support group for some kind of severe condition...) I ended up feeling really down for most of the afternoon. This was my first time in the Austrian country side and forests, and oh my goodness, they are really beautiful. There is green moss all over the ground where we walked and it was really squishy to walk in. The trees were a lot of evergreens and there were many wild flowers. I even saw a Butte plant, which is this weird fruit that they take the seeds from in fall a brew a tea out of it. This tea is one of the things initially I REALLY disliked about my diet, but now I just take it when I have to and don't even taste it anymore. Another fine example of this is salad, which they cover in like 1 part oil and 3 parts vinegar. Ick...
ANYWAY, that night, I don't really remember what but we were all sitting in Cory's room, and I ate all of his haribo, so today I had to buy him some more. Jordyn was trying to teach us how to speak with a New Zealand accent and say "I drove in my car to Auckland." Auckland is really hard to say. Don't even try, because you'll be wrong. Cory can say "Get in the chopper now" in a really amazing Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. (PS-- Austrians don't really have an accent like this). There was another party in the South American room, but we didn't feel like going. I ended up crashing pretty early. I got to know kind of a girl from Thailand who I really liked though, so that was good.
Sunday we mostly wrapped up wirth more games and group discussions. I got home at around 6 or 7 all by myself, which I find amazing. I can take a train two hours away into the city and then the subway to my house and my host family doesn't even have to do anything. I just come when I want! I don't know why this strikes me so much, probably because Kevin or my dad drive me everywhere I need to go back home.
Monday night the AFS people met in a cafe at night in this slightly shady part of Vienna. There were about 35 people there, since many veterans came. It was fun, but I can't think of anything to write about it. It was just a party, I suppose!
Tuesday was a tour for us of the Rathaus (town hall) and then we went out to ice cream after, because it was Livia's birthday. A boy from Japan, Kosei, who is kind of our pet, got lost and had to call me, but didn't know enough English or German that he could understand that he should stay where he is, and that I would come find him. That was frustrating. I ended up leaving early anyway, because my host brother and his girlfriend Eli took me to the English theatre. We saw this really sarcastic two man musical about a woman who thinks she has the most beautiful voice in the world, but everyone actually hates it and comes to laugh at her. It was called Souvenir, and I ended up crying a lot at the end. I'm crazy.
Other points of interest is I finally learned how to weigh myself in kilograms. I am not becoming another fat student (ha, AFS) but I have in fact lost five pounds. Probably because I don't remember the last time my family ate meat.
School vacation for a week comes after next week, and then I am going to Kärnten in the mountains by a lake in my family's vacation house!! I am so excited.
That's all, keep in touch. Baba.
//fake euro kiss.
Donnerstag, 11. Oktober 2007
Another week in Austria (Surprised?)
It's been an interesting week so far.
Monday was sort of a turning point for me too, because I went out with my friend Clara from school. There's a really big pub, I suppose you could call it, nearby called Tunnel. In the basement (Keller) there's jazz music I've heard, and then the first floor is noisy pub style, and then we had a small party on the second floor which is just like a restaurant cause its quieter.
It was Clara's cousins 24th birthday, so she had her friends and invited her younger cousin for some reason. Clara thought it would be a good experience for me to meet a bunch of people I didn't know and to speak with them in German.
Since it was Monday, I only stayed out till 11, but that was a lot longer than I expected to stay. I was really dreading going, but I actually enjoyed myself. Clara and I had Apfelsaftgespritzer, which is just like the sparkling apple juice we drink at Thanksgiving and stuff, except without sugar and 100% juice.
The best part was meeting these people who thought I was just another Austrian, and then them finding out I was still learning German. One of the guys there guessed I was from Ireland because he said I had a very interesting accent he couldn't quite place his finger on. But he had spent some time in Ireland and said I looked like them. When he found out I was from Boston, he said, oh that explains it, because there are so many Irish there. In Boston you must have a sort of Irish dialect, right?
I didn't really know how to explain it but I explained how most of the country has the impression we don't say the letter R.
So that was Monday. So much fun =)
Tuesday I went shopping with Jordyn and Heida on Mariahilferstrasse. This is exactly as it sounds. It is a giant street with many, many shops. There are 4 H&Ms on the street, I disovered, when the girls told me to meet them there. It took a long time to find them.
Well, not really shopping, although I let myself get something I really liked at H&M. I figured that made up for a month of only spending money on registrations and post and a few other necessary things.
Wednesday I started assigning myself writing in German. Because I was sort of bored, and I am writing a lot in English. I went to Libro and got a notebook (in A4 size, because I think the bigger paper is so funny. I wrote a 160 word composition about fall.
Later that night Kerstin said I had to go with her to Turnverein which is an exercise club which meets up at different places every day. I had to! I couldn't believe I was being made to. And of course I really really really didn't like it.
But I got the idea that maybe she thinks I am lazy? She is shocked when she heard I didn't play any sports. I mean, I walk everywhere here and I am stronger than I have been in my entire life. But athletics are simply not fun, which is so different in her opinion and I think most Austrians. They don't care that you aren't that good, they just think that it's fun.
Blah. I hope I don't have to go again. It's not awesome watching really old ladies with the biggest biceps on someone their age I have ever seen running around with 1kg weights...
Today I am going to go to the park after this. Kerstin isn't around for three days or so, but this weekend I am going to AFS camp in Niederösterreich. I don't really know what this involves, but we are staying in a youth hostel.
That's about it really. See you around.
Monday was sort of a turning point for me too, because I went out with my friend Clara from school. There's a really big pub, I suppose you could call it, nearby called Tunnel. In the basement (Keller) there's jazz music I've heard, and then the first floor is noisy pub style, and then we had a small party on the second floor which is just like a restaurant cause its quieter.
It was Clara's cousins 24th birthday, so she had her friends and invited her younger cousin for some reason. Clara thought it would be a good experience for me to meet a bunch of people I didn't know and to speak with them in German.
Since it was Monday, I only stayed out till 11, but that was a lot longer than I expected to stay. I was really dreading going, but I actually enjoyed myself. Clara and I had Apfelsaftgespritzer, which is just like the sparkling apple juice we drink at Thanksgiving and stuff, except without sugar and 100% juice.
The best part was meeting these people who thought I was just another Austrian, and then them finding out I was still learning German. One of the guys there guessed I was from Ireland because he said I had a very interesting accent he couldn't quite place his finger on. But he had spent some time in Ireland and said I looked like them. When he found out I was from Boston, he said, oh that explains it, because there are so many Irish there. In Boston you must have a sort of Irish dialect, right?
I didn't really know how to explain it but I explained how most of the country has the impression we don't say the letter R.
So that was Monday. So much fun =)
Tuesday I went shopping with Jordyn and Heida on Mariahilferstrasse. This is exactly as it sounds. It is a giant street with many, many shops. There are 4 H&Ms on the street, I disovered, when the girls told me to meet them there. It took a long time to find them.
Well, not really shopping, although I let myself get something I really liked at H&M. I figured that made up for a month of only spending money on registrations and post and a few other necessary things.
Wednesday I started assigning myself writing in German. Because I was sort of bored, and I am writing a lot in English. I went to Libro and got a notebook (in A4 size, because I think the bigger paper is so funny. I wrote a 160 word composition about fall.
Later that night Kerstin said I had to go with her to Turnverein which is an exercise club which meets up at different places every day. I had to! I couldn't believe I was being made to. And of course I really really really didn't like it.
But I got the idea that maybe she thinks I am lazy? She is shocked when she heard I didn't play any sports. I mean, I walk everywhere here and I am stronger than I have been in my entire life. But athletics are simply not fun, which is so different in her opinion and I think most Austrians. They don't care that you aren't that good, they just think that it's fun.
Blah. I hope I don't have to go again. It's not awesome watching really old ladies with the biggest biceps on someone their age I have ever seen running around with 1kg weights...
Today I am going to go to the park after this. Kerstin isn't around for three days or so, but this weekend I am going to AFS camp in Niederösterreich. I don't really know what this involves, but we are staying in a youth hostel.
That's about it really. See you around.
Montag, 8. Oktober 2007
A Bad Day, Dance School, and a really big family...
I noticed here bad days can get really blown out of proportion and can happen over nothing. The thing is, once you start not feeling so good, it automatically makes you assume it's because you're in Austria and that it would never happen in the United States. And all you want to do is go home and suddenly, even though it isn't that long of a stay here, it seems like forever until coming home.
The truth is, bad things happen no matter where you are, and I believe that's part of the reverse culture shock of coming back home to USA. You see once again all these things you were looking forward to, and then you realize you have romanticized these things when you were homesick. We will have to see!
Last week in math she was teaching (and still is...) this really advanced geometry that I couldn't find an english explanation anywhere I looked. So my homework was completely wrong and she makes a big todo about it in front of the entire class, about how I am supposed to ask for help when I needed it and so on. The rest of the class also has no idea whats going on, and they look at me helplessly and say, I can't clarify in german or english. sorry.
By the end of the hour, I put my head down on the desk and sighed. My friend Clara started to soothe me, which of course made me cry. Of course!
Surprisingly, no one in the class made fun of me. In fact, everyone sort of came to me then and was like "Hey Julia, it's not so bad. We know its really hard for you and its so unfair that she expects you to do better than us. Don't worry about it"
Hopefully my host brothers will be able to clarify, because they are math and physics majors. Naturually, being over 20, they are almost never home.
---
SO! On Friday I began dance school, which is a beginners course for ballroom dancing. There are about 50 girls and 50 boys, which is really incredible. You have to get all dressed up before you go, and wear high heels and nylons and a skirt. My host sister, Iris, 13, was bitterly jealous of me and kept fussing with my hair and jewelery before I left. Only three more years until she can begin. =)
After, the other American girl, Deirdre and I went out to a cafe in Stephansplatz with some of her Austrian friends. Cory met us too. I found the night overall pretty unimpressive and went home pretty early.
The next night, a lot of AFS kids came to my apartment and then we went to the night at the museums, where they were all open. Saw modern art, natural history, etc etc. Of course we were mostly there for the humor of being together.
Then on Sunday was a big day for me. I met the entire father's side of the family at a party for the Grandfather's birthday. In Austria, there is a child deficit, but this family, the grandparents had 7 kids, and now there are 35 grandchildren. This was very overwhelming but an hour in, I realized that I understood EVERYTHING that was happening. And someone commented also my accent, saying its very well adjusted to Vienna. Excellent.
I think my host brother needs the computer. I am going to a party tonight (Even though it is monday...) with Clara. I will only be there an hour I think. I get exhausted really easily here still.
Next weekend is AFS second arrival camp in Niederösterreich. And that's about it! I think I will also go sometime this week to see La Traviata at Volksoper...
Happy Columbus Day, even though its just a normal monday for me.
And I heard the Red Sox are doing well????
The truth is, bad things happen no matter where you are, and I believe that's part of the reverse culture shock of coming back home to USA. You see once again all these things you were looking forward to, and then you realize you have romanticized these things when you were homesick. We will have to see!
Last week in math she was teaching (and still is...) this really advanced geometry that I couldn't find an english explanation anywhere I looked. So my homework was completely wrong and she makes a big todo about it in front of the entire class, about how I am supposed to ask for help when I needed it and so on. The rest of the class also has no idea whats going on, and they look at me helplessly and say, I can't clarify in german or english. sorry.
By the end of the hour, I put my head down on the desk and sighed. My friend Clara started to soothe me, which of course made me cry. Of course!
Surprisingly, no one in the class made fun of me. In fact, everyone sort of came to me then and was like "Hey Julia, it's not so bad. We know its really hard for you and its so unfair that she expects you to do better than us. Don't worry about it"
Hopefully my host brothers will be able to clarify, because they are math and physics majors. Naturually, being over 20, they are almost never home.
---
SO! On Friday I began dance school, which is a beginners course for ballroom dancing. There are about 50 girls and 50 boys, which is really incredible. You have to get all dressed up before you go, and wear high heels and nylons and a skirt. My host sister, Iris, 13, was bitterly jealous of me and kept fussing with my hair and jewelery before I left. Only three more years until she can begin. =)
After, the other American girl, Deirdre and I went out to a cafe in Stephansplatz with some of her Austrian friends. Cory met us too. I found the night overall pretty unimpressive and went home pretty early.
The next night, a lot of AFS kids came to my apartment and then we went to the night at the museums, where they were all open. Saw modern art, natural history, etc etc. Of course we were mostly there for the humor of being together.
Then on Sunday was a big day for me. I met the entire father's side of the family at a party for the Grandfather's birthday. In Austria, there is a child deficit, but this family, the grandparents had 7 kids, and now there are 35 grandchildren. This was very overwhelming but an hour in, I realized that I understood EVERYTHING that was happening. And someone commented also my accent, saying its very well adjusted to Vienna. Excellent.
I think my host brother needs the computer. I am going to a party tonight (Even though it is monday...) with Clara. I will only be there an hour I think. I get exhausted really easily here still.
Next weekend is AFS second arrival camp in Niederösterreich. And that's about it! I think I will also go sometime this week to see La Traviata at Volksoper...
Happy Columbus Day, even though its just a normal monday for me.
And I heard the Red Sox are doing well????
Montag, 1. Oktober 2007
School Life
My School Life, written from Geography class on 29. September 2007
I just realized I would do nothing this class. I guess the obvious thing to write about would be school as most of my time here is spent in school. And mostly, I have written in emails “School is just school” However, there are a lot of differences between school in the United States and school in Austria. As I am writing in my Geography class full of kids laughing and fooling around while the teacher is teaching, I can safely say it is stricter in the US. I don’t know why it seems that we give more respect to our teachers, maybe because they are more personable or reach out in more appealing ways. Even in my CP1 classes aren’t this bad. Honestly, I think it comes down to tests. These kids have exams 4 times a year in Math English and German. Teachers have not quizzed us in the month I have been in school. These classes are also the only ones we have homework in. 2 or 3 problems a night, tops. As for the huge number of other classes I take, nothing really happens in them, and frankly, no one cares. I sit in the first row, where students pay the most attention. The second row is all girls who at least have their books out. The back table would not be able to tell you what they learned in a day. We remain in the same classroom all day, so it is always this way. Also, no one gets in trouble for writing on desks so everyone does it.
Now, my school schedule is 8am to 1.40, Monday to Friday.
Monday begins with Math, which I guess everyone tries in. Usually it will be like, one person learns and everyone copies their homework in other classes. The idea that math is the same in every language is not exactly true. They use many different symbols and find my problem solving methods strange. They also integrate a lot of math together before they know all the methods of say, geometry or algebra. The teacher moves at a very fast pace and informed me last week I would be receiving a grade in her class. This is bad news because even though some things are review for me, I have never in my life learned advanced geometry or trigonometry or calculus. I will also take exams. However, I look forward to math as much as I dread it because it is something to do. After is a five minute break.Next is either French or Old Greek, and I go to the second year students to take German class with them, (11 years old). The past few weeks I did little, but now they gave me some free books so I can learn too. Honestly, it helps. The kids are very interested in me, but often too shy and afraid of the language barrier. After is a 10 minute breakEnglish class is next which is laughable. The teacher has often fallen back on asking me or Franziska, who lived for eight years in Michigan, to explain things. The kids don’t speak English as well as I expected though. After is the 15 minute break.Next is history, which I know the theme and take notes in, or copy from someone when she dictates. Despite this, I am not actually learning history because I don’t know that much German. I can say “oh, we are learning the Russian Revolution” but that’s it. I can see myself improving already, so maybe by December I can say “we are studying the Russian revolution, and this is what happened” However, I didn’t buy school books, and in this class we use it sometimes. Even if I had the book, I couldn’t read it. Thankfully it is not necessary, just note taking really. Also thankfully, she types out her notes and puts them on the overhead projector. Austrian handwriting is dreadful for me to read and misspelled German words do me no good. A five minute break.Next is Psychology which is very advanced technical vocabulary. I take notes if she writes them, but I have come to terms with the fact that there is nothing I can do in this class. I handed in a paper we had to write, supposed to be like pages or something. It had four lines of text in very simple German where I defined very briefly the terms we were supposed to explain in detail. Under that I wrote in German “This is just comprehension practice for me. Let me know if it is mostly right, but do not grade it” My way of letting them know that I am not wasting my time by just sitting in classes all day with no clue what is going on. A ten minute break.The day ends with 3B who I don’t like so much. Except the day does not quite end. Monday is special. I have my elective on Monday in the eighth and ninth hour. Basically the school gets out at 1.40 every day, but after a one hour break, school resumes until about 7 in the evening. I go home and eat lunch (big part of the family life, which I will write on later) and then come back at 2.30 for Informatik. I thought it would be basic word processing, but it is HTML. They are impressed with how fast I can type and I usually have time to use Email by the end of the class. Everyone else in this class is a 14 or 15 year old boy. The teacher is my religion teacher also, and always wants me to understand. This is so kind and dear to me as most classes they ignore me completely even if I take notes and try to participate.
Tuesday begins also with 3B which is extremely tiring. Tuesday is a bad day for me, there aren’t really any classes I enjoy. Next is two periods of Sport which sucks. Of course it sucks. It sucks internationally. They are shocked that you can get out of the requirement in the US. In Austria, you can’t so someone who sucks at sports does not exist. It is two hours of misery to be there sucking so much.And after this hell is another one: Geography. I don’t have a book, the teacher speaks in dialect and it is almost all Austria. They seem to think that it is the center of the world. We are supposed to be looking at something on the overhead projector right now and taking notes on things she is talking about on the map. No way I can do that. Next is German. They are reading Schiller, I am reading a children’s book. At least it is something to do, and it honestly helps. I feel so proud of myself as I read faster and faster and use a dictionary less and less. Math ends the day.
Wednesday is German again in the morning, then Chemistry. We leave the classroom to go to the lab. The French teacher has this as her other subject. We take notes, thankfully, not by dictation. It all seems pretty basic so far. Sciences aren’t stressed so much ehre as in the US, so that’s why it is only 2 times a week. No homework. Next is Physics which I completely do not understand. They have known it every year since they were ten years old. The teacher looks like the lead singer of System of a Down, with curly long hair and the soul patch. Apparently he’s wicked funny, but he speaks in Viennese dialect. We don’t learn much Physics, I know that for sure. Psychology is next, which already know is a dream. =P3A German in the fifth hour, where the teacher has purple hair. Last week they had to memorize ballads. The Austrians really appreciate Schiller and Goethe and many other ancient poets’ ballads. And for such an ugly language, they are so gorgeous. I relished in listening to them. We got a huge book of them from the library, and there are thousands of them! My family enjoys memorizing them for fun. Wednesday finishes with English, and Thursdays begin this way
After English on Thursday is Chemistry.My favorite German class is this day, 1B. They are ten years old and so sweet. The teacher is the nicest man I have ever met. He is so helpful to me and gave me a bunch of German workbooks the kids use for free. He even corrected my dictation work and wrote things like SUPER and FEIN all over it.Then History, Math, and Geography.
Fridays are interesting and there is little work to be done, which is a good quality for Fridays. It begins with Physics, then German, and then I have an hour free. There aren’t any German classes this hour.Next is religion which is my Informatik teacher. It is always a discussion, things I can almost understand. It is very frustrating because I have so much that I would like to debate on Catholicism, but it is just beyond my grasp. In this class, the child deficit in Austria was brought up. Parents are only having one or two children. My teacher asked, wouldn’t it be nice if women could stay home with their kids. I said no, of course not because there wouldn’t be enough money and women can do more than raise children. Interested, they asked me how many kids Americans have. I said about three, but most people would know a family that has 4 or 5 kids. They found this stunning. My Austrian family is an exception where the grandmother has 35 grandchildren (or 53, I get the German numbers mixed up) Everyone in the family has 4 kids, and one of them has 9.Anyway, next is two hours of art to end the day. And I must say, American kids are taught to draw quite professionally. We can draw whatever we want according o theme. Stress is on creativity, if there is any. The kids do not draw what they really see with shading and depth and tone and directional marks, just symbols, like kids or nonartists. Even my skills, which were at the bottom of my art class seem to amaze them. They think I can draw so beautifully. That’s nice I suppose. The only real downside is that you have to buy all your own surprise.
And that is my school week! Hopefully that was interesting.
I just realized I would do nothing this class. I guess the obvious thing to write about would be school as most of my time here is spent in school. And mostly, I have written in emails “School is just school” However, there are a lot of differences between school in the United States and school in Austria. As I am writing in my Geography class full of kids laughing and fooling around while the teacher is teaching, I can safely say it is stricter in the US. I don’t know why it seems that we give more respect to our teachers, maybe because they are more personable or reach out in more appealing ways. Even in my CP1 classes aren’t this bad. Honestly, I think it comes down to tests. These kids have exams 4 times a year in Math English and German. Teachers have not quizzed us in the month I have been in school. These classes are also the only ones we have homework in. 2 or 3 problems a night, tops. As for the huge number of other classes I take, nothing really happens in them, and frankly, no one cares. I sit in the first row, where students pay the most attention. The second row is all girls who at least have their books out. The back table would not be able to tell you what they learned in a day. We remain in the same classroom all day, so it is always this way. Also, no one gets in trouble for writing on desks so everyone does it.
Now, my school schedule is 8am to 1.40, Monday to Friday.
Monday begins with Math, which I guess everyone tries in. Usually it will be like, one person learns and everyone copies their homework in other classes. The idea that math is the same in every language is not exactly true. They use many different symbols and find my problem solving methods strange. They also integrate a lot of math together before they know all the methods of say, geometry or algebra. The teacher moves at a very fast pace and informed me last week I would be receiving a grade in her class. This is bad news because even though some things are review for me, I have never in my life learned advanced geometry or trigonometry or calculus. I will also take exams. However, I look forward to math as much as I dread it because it is something to do. After is a five minute break.Next is either French or Old Greek, and I go to the second year students to take German class with them, (11 years old). The past few weeks I did little, but now they gave me some free books so I can learn too. Honestly, it helps. The kids are very interested in me, but often too shy and afraid of the language barrier. After is a 10 minute breakEnglish class is next which is laughable. The teacher has often fallen back on asking me or Franziska, who lived for eight years in Michigan, to explain things. The kids don’t speak English as well as I expected though. After is the 15 minute break.Next is history, which I know the theme and take notes in, or copy from someone when she dictates. Despite this, I am not actually learning history because I don’t know that much German. I can say “oh, we are learning the Russian Revolution” but that’s it. I can see myself improving already, so maybe by December I can say “we are studying the Russian revolution, and this is what happened” However, I didn’t buy school books, and in this class we use it sometimes. Even if I had the book, I couldn’t read it. Thankfully it is not necessary, just note taking really. Also thankfully, she types out her notes and puts them on the overhead projector. Austrian handwriting is dreadful for me to read and misspelled German words do me no good. A five minute break.Next is Psychology which is very advanced technical vocabulary. I take notes if she writes them, but I have come to terms with the fact that there is nothing I can do in this class. I handed in a paper we had to write, supposed to be like pages or something. It had four lines of text in very simple German where I defined very briefly the terms we were supposed to explain in detail. Under that I wrote in German “This is just comprehension practice for me. Let me know if it is mostly right, but do not grade it” My way of letting them know that I am not wasting my time by just sitting in classes all day with no clue what is going on. A ten minute break.The day ends with 3B who I don’t like so much. Except the day does not quite end. Monday is special. I have my elective on Monday in the eighth and ninth hour. Basically the school gets out at 1.40 every day, but after a one hour break, school resumes until about 7 in the evening. I go home and eat lunch (big part of the family life, which I will write on later) and then come back at 2.30 for Informatik. I thought it would be basic word processing, but it is HTML. They are impressed with how fast I can type and I usually have time to use Email by the end of the class. Everyone else in this class is a 14 or 15 year old boy. The teacher is my religion teacher also, and always wants me to understand. This is so kind and dear to me as most classes they ignore me completely even if I take notes and try to participate.
Tuesday begins also with 3B which is extremely tiring. Tuesday is a bad day for me, there aren’t really any classes I enjoy. Next is two periods of Sport which sucks. Of course it sucks. It sucks internationally. They are shocked that you can get out of the requirement in the US. In Austria, you can’t so someone who sucks at sports does not exist. It is two hours of misery to be there sucking so much.And after this hell is another one: Geography. I don’t have a book, the teacher speaks in dialect and it is almost all Austria. They seem to think that it is the center of the world. We are supposed to be looking at something on the overhead projector right now and taking notes on things she is talking about on the map. No way I can do that. Next is German. They are reading Schiller, I am reading a children’s book. At least it is something to do, and it honestly helps. I feel so proud of myself as I read faster and faster and use a dictionary less and less. Math ends the day.
Wednesday is German again in the morning, then Chemistry. We leave the classroom to go to the lab. The French teacher has this as her other subject. We take notes, thankfully, not by dictation. It all seems pretty basic so far. Sciences aren’t stressed so much ehre as in the US, so that’s why it is only 2 times a week. No homework. Next is Physics which I completely do not understand. They have known it every year since they were ten years old. The teacher looks like the lead singer of System of a Down, with curly long hair and the soul patch. Apparently he’s wicked funny, but he speaks in Viennese dialect. We don’t learn much Physics, I know that for sure. Psychology is next, which already know is a dream. =P3A German in the fifth hour, where the teacher has purple hair. Last week they had to memorize ballads. The Austrians really appreciate Schiller and Goethe and many other ancient poets’ ballads. And for such an ugly language, they are so gorgeous. I relished in listening to them. We got a huge book of them from the library, and there are thousands of them! My family enjoys memorizing them for fun. Wednesday finishes with English, and Thursdays begin this way
After English on Thursday is Chemistry.My favorite German class is this day, 1B. They are ten years old and so sweet. The teacher is the nicest man I have ever met. He is so helpful to me and gave me a bunch of German workbooks the kids use for free. He even corrected my dictation work and wrote things like SUPER and FEIN all over it.Then History, Math, and Geography.
Fridays are interesting and there is little work to be done, which is a good quality for Fridays. It begins with Physics, then German, and then I have an hour free. There aren’t any German classes this hour.Next is religion which is my Informatik teacher. It is always a discussion, things I can almost understand. It is very frustrating because I have so much that I would like to debate on Catholicism, but it is just beyond my grasp. In this class, the child deficit in Austria was brought up. Parents are only having one or two children. My teacher asked, wouldn’t it be nice if women could stay home with their kids. I said no, of course not because there wouldn’t be enough money and women can do more than raise children. Interested, they asked me how many kids Americans have. I said about three, but most people would know a family that has 4 or 5 kids. They found this stunning. My Austrian family is an exception where the grandmother has 35 grandchildren (or 53, I get the German numbers mixed up) Everyone in the family has 4 kids, and one of them has 9.Anyway, next is two hours of art to end the day. And I must say, American kids are taught to draw quite professionally. We can draw whatever we want according o theme. Stress is on creativity, if there is any. The kids do not draw what they really see with shading and depth and tone and directional marks, just symbols, like kids or nonartists. Even my skills, which were at the bottom of my art class seem to amaze them. They think I can draw so beautifully. That’s nice I suppose. The only real downside is that you have to buy all your own surprise.
And that is my school week! Hopefully that was interesting.
Happenings (Life becomes normal)
It’s been a while, though I’m not really sure what’s new. I guess life here is sort of normal for me now and not worthy of writing down but then at times like these in Psychology class, when I realize that I don’t actually have to do anything in this class, I remember how different things actually are.
The big thing to write about happened last week. My host mother introduced me to two girls, Florentina and Julia. Florentina is in the year above me and Julia began University today. They were immediately friendly and a lot more down to earth than the other people I’ve met my age. Last Monday, they came over and my host mother made apple strudel. First real pastry that I’ve had here, and they eat it with this really good hot vanilla sauce. While we ate, they invited me to go with them to the opera on Saturday to see Tosca. It costs €2 to stand in the Gallery, which is not bad at all, even though it’s packed shoulder to shoulder with tourists. Considering, the most expensive seats in the opera cost over €200. There are these screens there that translate the Italian music into German/English so you can follow it even easier. The music is so beautiful and I absolutely loved it. Any tragic love story is great, but there was something so glorious about the voices and the costume and the really beautiful scenes of the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper)that makes it an absolutely amazing experience. As my grandmother hoped, I think I will come home addicted. We waited afterwards for autographs and apparently the orchestra director (notably the most polite of all the people we met in the Opera…) is extremely famous. After, we went to Starbucks which is open late on opera nights. We stayed really late and talked and it was a lot of fun, but it was so late that the public transport stopped running. We had to walk home (me in high heels… boo…) and I got home at 12.30. I worried this was a problem and that I would be in trouble, but my host parents thought it was wonderful that I had such a nice time I had to stay out later. I think that when I come home to America some rearranging of my curfew is in order… I suspect I will have a hard time cutting it back to 11. Even this summer that was a problem.
Speaking of the theatre, I actually went to the Staatsoper for the first time two weeks ago. With my host father and sister, we went to see Romeo and Juliet as a ballet. I loved that as well. I am so glad I live in the city where going to the theatre on weekends can be a legitimate hobby and be extremely inexpensive (compared to going out to eat or going to a club).
On Friday night, I registered for dance school. One of the AFS American girls, Deirdre, is taking this class with me. That’s something to do, but it comes at a rather high price. I am currently very poor, as almost all of my money is gone. It’s a shame how little value the USD carries here! However, I am looking forward very much to this class. It’s a beginner course in all the ballroom dances – waltz, tango, foxtrot etc.
There was an AFS meeting last week. Being with these kids remains some of the funniest and most enjoyable times I’ve had in Austria. We all seem to be pretty close but we all understand each other so well. We just know. It should be easier to seem them now on weekends as my host family gave me a really old cell from (a Nokia from around 2002… still has a black and white screen). However I am only receiving calls, because I haven’t bought any minutes for it yet. That should be relatively inexpensive for my needs as cell phone service here is much, much, cheaper than landlines and also America.
The weather has been beautiful so my family often goes together to parks to enjoy the sun. Sometimes this means sitting around and reading which I like to do. However, they always strongly object to my lack of scarf. It is so European of them. They even insist that I wear a scarf to bed. Most of the time going out means taking very vigorous walks. We climbed a mountain yesterday, except not really. It was just a really, really, steep hill which led to this nice little village at the top where we stopped to read. I hadn’t expected this though, and was extremely exhausted by the walk. So steep!
And speaking of reading, I visited the city library’s main branch. It is a three story modern-art building with panoramic views of Vienna. And the resources are huge. There’s say, a section for art, but in this section there are sub-sections for art history, Austrian art, etc etc. There are many other language books too, and a good amount in every European language, and even Arabic and some Asian languages. Not just a few books either, but a few shelves. If I want to read in English, which there are the most of in foreign language, then I will have no problem. When we were here I found one of my favourite books translated into German. I understand it pretty well. Natively written German books, I am still at the second or third grade level.
That’s all for now, I have a few posts coming up on a few specific subjects so watch out for that (I’ve written them already, I just don’t like taking the time to type…)
Take care!
PS-- my first month here officially passed on Saturday. Time flies!
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