sansibar

I did it! I finished the endless Sansibar oder der letzte Grund! This post proves that I really have been reading this book for almost four months. Eh.

I enjoyed it! It was really lovely and dark and poetic, plus I find it fasinating that this book is on almost every German teenager's reading list -- if you google the German title, you find a million study-help websites and essays written by pupils -- and yet, the English version is (in my completely unimportant and possibly wrong opinion) weirdly translated, and if you google the English title you find almost nothing. My favorite character was Gregor, the young communist director. I spent much time enjoying the description of the "bicycle clips" on his trousers and wondering what they were. I also liked a couple of lines at the very end of the book -- SPOILER ALERT -- right after Helander shoots the police. To paraphrase, something like "He didn't notice the fire burning inside him anymore. He stopped and felt alive."

encounters with strangers

Have I told you yet that Pforzheim's insane-person-ratio appears to be very similar to that of Portland? There are days where I walk down the street and every single person I pass appears to have something serverely wrong with them. Yesterday, for example, I skipped my 7th-grade English class (because I don't do anything there except read Sansibar and I could do that outside) and bought a Schwarzwälder Muffin at the bakery. I sat by the Enz to eat it, and I thought I heard somebody speak, but I wasn't sure, so I just continued to eat. Then I thought I heard somebody speak again, so I turned around, and there was a extremely creepy-looking man there, dressed all in black, with large dark sunglasses (even though it was a dark, rainy day) and a HUGE grin on his face.

Me: Uh, excuse me?
Man: Guten Appetit!!
Me: Thanks!

Although not in the crazy person category, I had another funny encounter with a strager on Wednesday, at the cafe where I go sometimes after school to get a cheese/butter/tartar sauce sandwich and a coffee. I was reading, and since I still kind of need a dictionary to get through my book, I had one in front of me as well. A pretty normal-looking, middle-aged man came up to me.

Man (in English): Are you trying to improve your English?
Me: Nein, nein, eigentlich nicht. Ich komme aus Amerika.
Man: Are you trying to improve your English so you can go to America?
Me: No, I'm from America!
Man: So am I. Where are you from?
Me: Maine.
Man: I'm from the other end: Florida. So, how long are you here for?
Me: A year. I've been here since September. I'm an exchange student.
Man: So your German must be getting pretty good. What are you studying?
Me: I'm in high school.
Man: Great! Well, good luck to you. Oh, if you want to pay, do you just say "bezahlen"?
Me: Yeah, "bezahlen, bitte." (As opposed to "die Rechnung," Adam!!)
Man: Goodbye.
Me: Goodbye.

It was nice. Meeting other Americans pleases me, strangely. This encounter also made me feel so, so German. "I gave advice!!!" I thought excitedly afterwards. "I am not the idiot!! I am a person capable of giving helpful advice!!"

das leben der anderen

i am kind of in love with this movie?






i watched it yesterday afternoon/evening. i was home alone, so i made some coffee, tore out my knitting (because i messed up sock number two again, alas), and WATCHED THIS MOVIE IN GERMAN. that is to say, no subtitles. it's not an easy movie, so i was pretty proud of myself. it was amazing.

one of my favorite scenes was the shot of the stasi man reading a bertolt brecht poem out loud. i googled "bertolt brecht schönen sommerhimmel" and managed to find it:

1. An jenem Tag im blauen Mond September

Still unter einem jungen Pflaumenbaum

Da hielt ich sie, die stille bleiche Liebe

In meinem Arm wie einen holden Traum.

Und über uns im schönen Sommerhimmel

War eine Wolke, die ich lange sah

Sie war sehr weiß und ungeheuer oben

Und als ich aufsah, war sie nimmer da.


I think yet another factor contributing to my apparent nerdyness is the fact that I really like Bertolt Brecht. We read a poem by him in German class called "Tannen": (Yes, my dear mother, as in "Tannenbaum".)

In der Frühe

Sind die Tannen kupfern

So sah ich sie

Vor einem halben Jahrhundert

Vor zwei Weltkriegen

Mit jungen Augen.


This one I feel I can sufficiently translate: "In early morning, the pines are coppery. I saw them so a half century ago, before two world wars, with young eyes."

I love German poetry. I think German is really an amazing language for writing, probably due to its unique grammatical structure. I cannot wait to comtinue to improve my German in the next couple of years. I have much enthusiasm partially because of so many pieces of German literature I can aspire to be able to finally read.

Starting with my dear Sansibar. Only ten pages left!!

wooden things

Here are some things that my host brother Tobias made in school.

This knife is actually very, very cool.

dirndl

the last month in photos

I made Indian food for my host family (a long time ago.) It was quite good, although I ended up using way, way too much corriander in everything. That's what happens when you follow the recipe.








Afterwards we had chai in this adorable tea set from the fifties. I am in love with it. I try to invite girls from my class to come over and have tea with me, but they keep turning me down.



We went to a soccer match. It was a fabulous experience.









Me with my Bundestag person (and my book!)

hello

I feel like things are still just so up and down. My mind is a constant back-and-forth between enthusiastically loving this country and absolutely unjusting hating it. Take, for example, last Wednesday. I started out my day by deciding that when I grow up I will live here when I noticed the red thing attached to the window of the bus is for smashing the glass if you're stuck inside it during an accident, and the amazing illustration demonstrating how to use it. When my French teacher humiliated me in front of my entire class and then handed me a test with a grade of 5-6, the entire country of Germany was to blame. But my faith in it was restored when I visited my Bundestag person Katja Mast, and before I departed, she handed me a big stack of papers about her and the SPD and the Bundestag, including one that stated exactly how much money she makes. That would just never happen in the U.S.!

I had a great weekend in Munich with Alisa. (Pictures coming as soon as I receive my replacement camera cord in the mail.) The first day, we visited one of the castles built by King Ludwig II, Linderhof. The king was a little crazy and built these crazy scenes based on Wagner's operas. We visited one that was underground. He built a huge artifical cave with a lake in it, wave machines, an orchestra played there -- it is so extravagant, and has absolutely no purpose other than the king's aethetic pleasure. On the second day we visited Neuschwanstein, and then headed to Munich.

I love Munich, and I would very much like to live there someday. Munich has everything you need, including Muji, lots of great vintage stores, and old buildings.

And I have a Dirndl.

And guess what.

It's mustard yellow.