Its the small things....

I just woke up and was getting my laundry together, and started thinking about the un-comparable brilliancy that is "homelaundrysystems"--a Denglish word for you all (Deutsch and English)-->the creating of new words by joining a bunch of previous words together :)

......This lead me to thinking about things I am now allowing myself to get a bit excited about when I am back in the Mother Land, and they are:

1. Home laundry!! that doesn't cost 3EURO (around 4 Canadian dollars) PER LOAD!...I'm pretty sure I will be bringing all my laundry home unclean (will you still be glad to see me mom?? :)

2. Home cooking! I am not a cooker by myself...with other people I don't mind,....but alone NEVER! For example, I get excited when I boil an egg for myself.....yes.

3. Driving. I have not driven a car for 8 Months! and all though driving isn't a favourite thing of mine, it is a bit missed.

4. Country. I miss the COUNTRY! Its cool to experience living in a city...and I do that in Waterloo at home too....but Waterloo is not even close to as big as Köln, I would call it more "townish"...this city is just under 1 million,.....and anyone who's been here or talked to me on skype knows that the street below me is extremely LOUD! The country is just somehow refreshing and peaceful!

5. Working! I am a job lover! and I havn't worked since September and I miss it! and so does my bank account.

ok, that is all for now.....I think I'll make a list of things I love about here too sometime....

Tchau!

K

Facelift!

Facelift!!
ya like it?...just thought it needed to be spiced up a bit :)

Anway, so yesterday (Saturday) my friend Vera came over (she's a German girl who is coming on exchange to Canada next year!) and we started planning a bit what we're going to do when she comes to visit me before she starts school.

She's going to school in New Brunswick, but making a stop in by me first. She really wants to go camping (its what everyone talks about as being so awesome in "America"...everyone here wants to see wild bears, moose and deer.....I think its hilarious. So yes, we are hoping to go camping, as well as shopping at the Eaton Centre! (a indoor mall with 7 floors is QUITE the spectacle here) sight seeing in Toronto, see Niagara falls etc....eine wirklich full Woche!

Not quite sure what I will do if I have to work still lol...but everything will work out.

Later we went to a combined Geburstag Partie for 2 friends of ours from school. We found the party location in a building on the property of an Evangelical church. This is how it was explained to me .....churches have buildings on their properites called "Gemeindhall" or community centre, a building used for wedding receptions, special family get togethers (this all sounded fine and familiar...kinda like our church gyms) oh.....and its used for parties, with disco lights, surround sound speakers and a bar! That part felt weird to me. But, I had a good time and met a couple more people that I've seen around at school!

Hey! 5 weeks from yesterday till I'm back at home! can't wait! but also looking forward to the weeks left here!

Breakin' it down:

The next 2 weeks = in school, with possible trip back to my relatives next weekend

Week 3 = ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes Italy! I'm going to Italy for a week with my school during the first week of June becuase its a holiday week. A group of about 25 students are going, and we're going to have classes in Groove Piano, Ensembles, and Duos! yay!

Week 4, 5 = back at school, getting things wrapped up and packed up!

till next time!
K

Deutsche, mein Zweitsprache!

Heute, ich dachte ich werde auf Deutsche schreiben weil, ich war schon in Deutschland fast 8 Monate und ich glaube jetzt sollte ich etwas auf Deutsch schreiben nah?!......So es tut mir leid wenn ihr könnt nicht Deutsch verstehen aber diese ist mehr eine Üben für mich :)

Ich immer finde, wenn ich denke mein Deutsch kommt viel besser, danach bin ich in einer Situation wo ich verstehe fast gar nichts. Daß ist blöd. Ich dachte ich werde viel mehr in die Sprache lernen, aber ich habe kein Refarat zu geschrieben und meisten die Leute möchten Englisch mit mir reden. So es geht.

Weiter.......(freuer ich hatte ein Abbruch)

So, die Deutsch immer sagt..."Deutsche Sprache, schwierige Sprache" und English ist ziemlich einfach.....dass ist stimmt! Die Grammatic, mit Verben, Adjektive Endungen und so weiter, ist mehr kompliziert weil sie haben die Femanien, Masculien und Neutrum...........Egal! Ich versuche noch zu etwas lernen und bin fröh mit was ich zürucknehmen!

Ich finde dass ich Einzelkonversationen am besten mag, weil dann kann ich mehr sagen und der Satz formulieren. Wenn Leute in einer Gruppe reden, manchmal geht es zu schnell lol

Ich glaube wann ich zu Hause sein, ich werde die Sprache wechseln wirklich vermissen :( Aber ich möchte mit alle die älteren Leute in die Kirche noch sprechen! Wiellicht mit Kaffe und Kuchen?! ;)

So, Leute....laßt ihr mich nur noch sagen, dass ich euch alle vermissen! und wir sehen uns bald!!
Liebe Grüße,
K

C.U.L.T.U.R.E

Even though this Deutsche Land will never feel like "home" to me, it is defiantly a culture I have grown very comfortable with and understand.....all the elements that when you first arrive, or when you only stay for a short time, you process as:

"oh, that's not like home!"
"why do they do that that way!?"
"That's really different/not "normal"...it should be more like my country!" ect. ect. ect.!!

…they’ve become normal now and I’m sure there’s lots of things that I don’t even realize are “different” now.



I feel like the experience of living in another culture for a more extended amount of time really opens your eyes up to the possibilities of the world in a very different way. Its just so so easy to think that everywhere is like Canada or foreign places are just that…..foreign, and not actually real. The neat thing about Europe and that you have so many different cultures so close to each other too! Ya, people are people,….true…..but the way we operate and traditions can be SO different even though the countries neighbor each other!

I think the next place I would love to live is Holland though! ☺….perhaps a little work/travel experience? Just from living there for 6 weeks, I love the people, the culture, the language is crazy, but it’s a mix of German and English so I feel if I was going to be able to learn another one, that would be the one!

Who knows!
Till next time!
K

Germanada :)

So, there has been another MIA pause here.....but please do not give up faith in me so fast!

The break was due to a fantastic visit from my friend Stephanie! She's a good family friend from home! I've grown up with her since I was about 12 maybe?....Anyway, her family is German and she comes here about once a year to visit her Oma....I was lucky enough to have her visit me from Tuesday night until this morning.

...and what a wonderful time we had! Now, this girl can talk! and put the two of us together after not seeing each other for 8 months and lets just say we were on SUPER speed!! I called my parents today and they had to tell me to SLOW my speech down because I was almost non-understandable! haha

It was really great to talk with her, because she's also done exchanges to Germany (never more then 2 months, but the concept is the same).....and we could talk alot about what kinds of things we discovered about ourselves, culture and the world from living here. It was also different to host her because Germany is a culture and a place that she's very familiar with, instead of it all being a little foreign. We played the role of two German girls quite well I think! :)

Anyway, I can't wait to re-unite with her in 5 WEEKS back at home! We've already planned a "Germany in Canada" evening where we sip wine, and talk about what we miss about this country!

Miss you!
K