Yesterday we went to the zoo, then the mall and ran into some other Australian exchange students as well. The zoo was interesting but a little sad because there were animals that looked so bored.
Being with other exchange students is awesome, they go through all the same things, lack of friends and family back home, as well as school and language troubles. When we hang out it is always so much fun and they are my best friends here. I really do still think I'm in a dream, this can't be real, my reality is so amazing here that I just have trouble accepting that is is real.
Today I rode the Scharmützelsee Fahrrad tour with my host family and it was really fun. They speak only in German to me, which is hard, but I'm glad they do. I have already learned so much in the last 2.5 weeks.
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| This is not uncommon |
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| Fish sandwiches, if you look closely you can see the scales are still there. |
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| Mückel! |
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| We went here and looked around, it is a climbing place in the woods, we are going to go there soon hopefully. |
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| Water snake. We also saw a legless lizard the other day, it looked like a chubby snake. |
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| Yummm, cake is not just for birthdays. |
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Tomorrow is my first Rotary meeting, in which I will probably give my official presentation auf Deutsch and probably have a lot of listening to do. I already gave a short presentation to the some of the teachers and school director in a conference last week, and that wasn't too scary. It is really great getting to meet so many new people.
Yum! Can't decide--fish or cake?
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian, I guess you and I don't really know each other but it's me, Halley's mom. I got your blog address from your dad. I just want you to know how much I have enjoyed seeing your photos and reading the commentary! You are having such an extraordinary experience!
ReplyDeleteI studied German in high school for three years, and have always been glad I did. Once I was a college student, in music, I discovered that knowing German was a huge advantage. (No, I never gained much in the way of a speaking fluency!, but I can read much of it.) I'm so glad you are with a host family that always speaks German! Your speaking probably feels "stumbling" to you, but you're moving in the fast lane, conversation-wise! Outstanding!
The year I lived in The Hague I often visited the Amsterdam zoo. It was somehow a comforting place, even if the animals did also look so sad. There was a sort of peacefulness to it, although I can't quite say why. When I had the chance to make a trip, briefly, to Spain, I visited the Barcelona zoo. There I had an unexpected encounter with a herd of buffalo. Something to do with mis-reading a sign, and being in the wrong place! All these years later I sometimes wonder if I dreamed this experience, or if it really happened!
Your pictures of cookies, mushrooms, and bread were really great, too. I'm going to send your blog address to Halley up at Reed College. She enjoys baking. When I lived with a family in Holland that year I often peeked into their kitchen, but didn't have the chance to bake with them much, as I lived in a small set of rooms above their house. I didn't originally have any cooking equipment, so I went out and bought a hose, a burner, and some hardware, and built my own single gas-fired burner. It was a miraculous thing when it actually worked. I cooked many things on that burner that year, including Holland's famous white asparagus, which you may know about. (It's grown underground, and that's why it is white. The first white asparagus each year prompts a photo of the Dutch prime minister eating it. A big deal there--I wonder what prompts the same excitement in Germany each year!)
Enjoy yourself, Adrian. Keep blogging!
--Nancy Vrijmoet