I have a Deutsch test on Wednesday about a book: Sansibar oder der Letzte Grund. In English it's called "Flight to Afar." I know nobody cares, but if anyone wants to chat a little about WHY KNUDSEN BRINGS THE FRIGGIN' KLOSTERSCHÜLER TO SWEDEN, I'd appreciate it.
I liked the book. It was slow, but I thought all the characters were really interesting, even though I kept hoping it would turn into more of a novel novel with a more solid, satisfying plot. I'm really scared of the Deutscharbeit -- I have no idea what I'm going to write about! I don't understand the character Knudsen's motives at all!
In my German class, I often feel very dumb.
Montag, März 16, 2009
Sonntag, März 15, 2009
happy
I am so happy. I just had four good weeks in a row. Highlights include:
Week 1: Hanging out with Verena who LIKES LEONARD COHEN TOO!, feeling really happy and comfortable in my (old) host family and in my school, no tests, guitar lessons, quality time in the library.
Week 2: Having great conversations with Alex, another nice day with Verena, VACATION, Franziska's fun party, borrowed DVDs, a delicious salad buffet.
Week 3: MID-STAY, nice people, complaining about the hard parts of exchange to people who understand, meeting somebody else from Maine and somebody from Boston, the Kölner Dom, modern art, a satisfyingly intellectual conversation about Salvador Dali, cola-beer, music I know.
Week 4: Meeting Marlene and going to the Peter Fox concert and doing Sport, talking to Marlene about exchange, more quality time with people in my class, our crazy performance in the school concert, hanging out with Alisa and going to the zoo, ice cream.
Which isn't to say that I still feel a little stressed about some things: tests in school, my lacking German, and the inevitable weirdness of a new host family. But I just feel good for the first time since getting here. Really happy and really satisfied.
Week 1: Hanging out with Verena who LIKES LEONARD COHEN TOO!, feeling really happy and comfortable in my (old) host family and in my school, no tests, guitar lessons, quality time in the library.
Week 2: Having great conversations with Alex, another nice day with Verena, VACATION, Franziska's fun party, borrowed DVDs, a delicious salad buffet.
Week 3: MID-STAY, nice people, complaining about the hard parts of exchange to people who understand, meeting somebody else from Maine and somebody from Boston, the Kölner Dom, modern art, a satisfyingly intellectual conversation about Salvador Dali, cola-beer, music I know.
Week 4: Meeting Marlene and going to the Peter Fox concert and doing Sport, talking to Marlene about exchange, more quality time with people in my class, our crazy performance in the school concert, hanging out with Alisa and going to the zoo, ice cream.
Which isn't to say that I still feel a little stressed about some things: tests in school, my lacking German, and the inevitable weirdness of a new host family. But I just feel good for the first time since getting here. Really happy and really satisfied.
Donnerstag, März 12, 2009
I had to change families becaue of my host father's ski accident. My host family thought they wouldn't have time for me because they would have to be helping him all the time. This was a surprise, but things have been going almost disturbingly smoothly. I really like my new host family, and I think I am going to become very, very fat here because the food is awesome. I came home today and my 18-year-old host sister had made me a big pot of risoto with cheese and cherry tomatoes. This is the kind of thing that happens here. I have two host siblings; Tobias, who is 15, and Marlene, who is 18. They're both great.
Also, people keep leaving the door to the hallway open -- people OTHER THAN ME!
My new bus number is 666; maybe you'll find that amusing. It made me think of when I was in New York with my dad, Isaac, and Leander's family, and we saw the "WE'LL BE THERE FOR YOU" moving truck, with the phone number (212) 666-6666. Good times.
I love having people around all the time. Somehow it makes the day seem much longer, in a good way! On Tuesday, I came home from school, my new host brother Tobias made me a pizza, then Marlene came home and we went jogging and did a sort of pilates-inspired exercise video. Later we went to a little bar in Tiefenbronn and had soda and baguettes with cheese. Wednesday we made artichokes and toast and watched Desperate Housewives. Yesterday we went to see this guy in concert:
He is very, very popular in Germany, and he played in a gigantic stadium. We stood behind hundreds and hundreds of people in a huge mosh pit and I didn't even see him once. Still, it was an experience, and I'm glad I went!
Today I'm playing piano in a concert with my class at school... Hopefully that will go well!
The end.
Sonntag, März 08, 2009
Montag, März 02, 2009
Off to Bonn...
Wow, my writing seems to be getting progressively worse with each blog entry.
I had a nice week, complete with many school supplies, a big, delicious salad at Karlsruhe's one vegetarian restaurant, a visit to the opera, and sweet potatoes. I was generally very social; in addition to Franziska's slumber party, I hung out with a nice girl named Verena on Wednesday, went to Stuttgart with Alex and Sonja on Thursday, and went for a stroll in Pforzheim's park with two girls from school on Saturday. Today I'm having a very lazy day. It's 2:00 pm and I'm still in my pajamas. Later I have yoga.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Bonn, where I'm having my mid-stay camp. Many of the other Congress-Bundestag kids will be there -- I hope it will be fun! After that, I'm kind of dreading going back to school because there is undoubtedly a stressful math test on the way. I'm not that dumb, so I can't understand how the kids in my math class can possibly understand anything the teacher says! He talks rapidly and never stops to explain anything, he just keeps on going. We are studying the EXACT SAME THING I did last year in math -- really basic trigonometry, and also my favorite theme in math, and I still understand nothing. This is such a mystery.
That's all I have to report!
I had a nice week, complete with many school supplies, a big, delicious salad at Karlsruhe's one vegetarian restaurant, a visit to the opera, and sweet potatoes. I was generally very social; in addition to Franziska's slumber party, I hung out with a nice girl named Verena on Wednesday, went to Stuttgart with Alex and Sonja on Thursday, and went for a stroll in Pforzheim's park with two girls from school on Saturday. Today I'm having a very lazy day. It's 2:00 pm and I'm still in my pajamas. Later I have yoga.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Bonn, where I'm having my mid-stay camp. Many of the other Congress-Bundestag kids will be there -- I hope it will be fun! After that, I'm kind of dreading going back to school because there is undoubtedly a stressful math test on the way. I'm not that dumb, so I can't understand how the kids in my math class can possibly understand anything the teacher says! He talks rapidly and never stops to explain anything, he just keeps on going. We are studying the EXACT SAME THING I did last year in math -- really basic trigonometry, and also my favorite theme in math, and I still understand nothing. This is such a mystery.
That's all I have to report!
Sonntag, Februar 22, 2009
I deleted that last post because it was irrelevant. My computer is fixed! Yay!
I had a great weekend. On Friday I made a German grammar poster and went to bed early and slept in Saturday morning. Saturday I went to the adorable Pforzheim library, then bought some pens and pencils because I am addicted to German school supplies. I went to Franziska's house, a girl from school, and Aline and Karo were there too. We watched some movies, including Amelie and one that was oddly reminiscent of "The Great Outdoors" -- AAAAAAHHHH!!!! Franziska lives in a beautiful appartment with many plants and high ceilings and she has a bunk bed. We ate toast with cheese and pinapple and a lot of Fanta and chocolate. It was really fun. I hope that I can get together with the nice girls from my school again soon.
I am sort of at a loss as to what to do with the rest of my vacation. I am dying to go back to Heidelberg, but apparently wanting to do this on my own is bizarre. I mentioned my idea to Alex, and his reaction was, "NO, get someone to go with you!!" So instead I will probably be watching some movies and knitting and reading English and being boring. More later.
I had a great weekend. On Friday I made a German grammar poster and went to bed early and slept in Saturday morning. Saturday I went to the adorable Pforzheim library, then bought some pens and pencils because I am addicted to German school supplies. I went to Franziska's house, a girl from school, and Aline and Karo were there too. We watched some movies, including Amelie and one that was oddly reminiscent of "The Great Outdoors" -- AAAAAAHHHH!!!! Franziska lives in a beautiful appartment with many plants and high ceilings and she has a bunk bed. We ate toast with cheese and pinapple and a lot of Fanta and chocolate. It was really fun. I hope that I can get together with the nice girls from my school again soon.
I am sort of at a loss as to what to do with the rest of my vacation. I am dying to go back to Heidelberg, but apparently wanting to do this on my own is bizarre. I mentioned my idea to Alex, and his reaction was, "NO, get someone to go with you!!" So instead I will probably be watching some movies and knitting and reading English and being boring. More later.
Sonntag, Februar 15, 2009
there is nothing left to fear now now that bigfoot is captured
This will be a short post, becaue I have to get started on an essay I must write for AFS. This is making me way more stressed than it should.
I had a nice weekend. Went to Karla's birthday party, which was in her house, not in Candela. She has just a host mom, an older woman with grown-up children, who seems really nice and lets her do really whatever she wants. I think about nine people stayed over, which would not go in my host family's house (the rule is ONE FRIEND AT A TIME. This is tough because sometimes with people who I don't know so well, like the other exchange students, having more people over kind of breaks the ice a little and is less stressful.)
No run-in with the police. We ate yummy pasta salad with curry paste and played games and watched movies.
I am feeling a little weird about the halfway point of my exchange. Although I feel better about school, etc, I still feel sad a lot of the time (I'm sorry, complaints) and my German leaves something to be desired. I guess mostly, I'm worried about regrets. Right now, this feels so, so normal to me, being here, and I'm afraid I won't even really realize I was here until afterwards. Even though my goal is to take every opportunity, that isn't always easy, especially in school, where I literally have NEVER raised my hand or contributed anything in some of my classes -- therefore many of my teachers believe that I don't speak ANY German. It's silly, but I'm afraid of looking stupid -- my first month here, I was brave about asking people, speaking German, trying everything. And it's like a little of that has worn off, and now I just feel like a non-fluent, weird, nerdy girl.
I just want to bring something back with me after this is over: a couple new friends, conversationally fluent German, more confidence, a bigger world view. And it would be nice if I could come back having seen some of Europe too, because I don't know when I'll be back. I have pretty realistic expectations, and plus, these are all really in my control. I think I just need to step it up a little, try harder in school, and stop writing and reading English every day. So we'll see.
I had a nice weekend. Went to Karla's birthday party, which was in her house, not in Candela. She has just a host mom, an older woman with grown-up children, who seems really nice and lets her do really whatever she wants. I think about nine people stayed over, which would not go in my host family's house (the rule is ONE FRIEND AT A TIME. This is tough because sometimes with people who I don't know so well, like the other exchange students, having more people over kind of breaks the ice a little and is less stressful.)
No run-in with the police. We ate yummy pasta salad with curry paste and played games and watched movies.
I am feeling a little weird about the halfway point of my exchange. Although I feel better about school, etc, I still feel sad a lot of the time (I'm sorry, complaints) and my German leaves something to be desired. I guess mostly, I'm worried about regrets. Right now, this feels so, so normal to me, being here, and I'm afraid I won't even really realize I was here until afterwards. Even though my goal is to take every opportunity, that isn't always easy, especially in school, where I literally have NEVER raised my hand or contributed anything in some of my classes -- therefore many of my teachers believe that I don't speak ANY German. It's silly, but I'm afraid of looking stupid -- my first month here, I was brave about asking people, speaking German, trying everything. And it's like a little of that has worn off, and now I just feel like a non-fluent, weird, nerdy girl.
I just want to bring something back with me after this is over: a couple new friends, conversationally fluent German, more confidence, a bigger world view. And it would be nice if I could come back having seen some of Europe too, because I don't know when I'll be back. I have pretty realistic expectations, and plus, these are all really in my control. I think I just need to step it up a little, try harder in school, and stop writing and reading English every day. So we'll see.
Dienstag, Februar 10, 2009
why i am in germany
People often ask me why, of all places, I decided to come to Germany. This is a much more common reaction to learning that I am an exchange student than you might expect. There is an overwhelming attutide of: you could be in France, South America, anywhere? Why here?
Here are the reasons:
1.
"Kafka often made extensive use of a trait special to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions cannot be duplicated in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.
"Another virtually insurmountable problem facing the translator is how to deal with the author's intentional use of ambiguous terms or of words that have several meanings. One such instance is found in the first sentence of The Metamorphosis. Another example is Kafka's use of the German noun Verkehr in the final sentence of The Judgment. Literally, Verkehr means intercourse and, as in English, can have either a sexual or non-sexual meaning; in addition, it is used to mean transport or traffic. The sentence can be translated as: 'At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge.' What gives added weight to the obvious double meaning of 'Verkehr' is Kafka's confession to Max Brod that when he wrote that final line, he was thinking of 'a violent ejaculation'. In the English translation, of course, what can 'Verkehr' be but 'traffic'?"
2.
3.
Here are the reasons:
1.
"Kafka often made extensive use of a trait special to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions cannot be duplicated in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.
"Another virtually insurmountable problem facing the translator is how to deal with the author's intentional use of ambiguous terms or of words that have several meanings. One such instance is found in the first sentence of The Metamorphosis. Another example is Kafka's use of the German noun Verkehr in the final sentence of The Judgment. Literally, Verkehr means intercourse and, as in English, can have either a sexual or non-sexual meaning; in addition, it is used to mean transport or traffic. The sentence can be translated as: 'At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge.' What gives added weight to the obvious double meaning of 'Verkehr' is Kafka's confession to Max Brod that when he wrote that final line, he was thinking of 'a violent ejaculation'. In the English translation, of course, what can 'Verkehr' be but 'traffic'?"
2.
3.
Montag, Februar 09, 2009
little voices mimic you
Today I had... one of those days.
The recipe for these days is simple: I get no sleep, am exausted, as a result my German becomes really bizarre, I feel awful about it, and then I decide I have no friends. Then something really small pushes me over the edge, and no matter where I am -- school, Leopoldsplatz, the dinner table -- I start sobbing uncontrollably and muttering encouraging words to myself.
The last day I had like this was exactly two weeks ago. I had gym, was on a team with a group of people who could actually play volleyball, and got angry with me when I messed up, and as soon as I reached the dressing room after the class I erupted into tears. Verena and Franziska and Rhonia ran away, but Aline talked to me and hugged me and it was really sweet.
This time, I bought the ABSOLUTE WRONG TICKET to go to Sinsheim on Wednesday. It was my fault for being such a Dummkopf. I thought I was buying one that arrived in Sinsheim at 9:00 instead of one that left Pforzheim at 9:00, and I DIDN'T EVEN LOOK to make sure the time was correct before I purchased it!! I just felt like a failure. I ran to the Volkshochschule and locked myself in the bathroom, not caring who threw me out since it's not a public bathroom and my yoga class wasn't until three hours later. In that moment everything felt impossible to solve. There was no way I could go back and ask for another, it was too embarrassing, and for the same reason I could not ask my host parents what to do. I ended up concluding that my only option would be to not go at all -- to tell the AFS volunteer who is having me come to the school where she works and talk about America that I couldn't go -- but my plan was foiled when Regina asked me how buying the ticket went as soon as I walked in the door.
"We actually have to speak about that," I said. I ended up confessing the whole thing -- although I did tell a little lie and say that I didn't buy the new ticket at all, because I had to change trains four times. I DID have to change trains four times, but I think it's better that she doesn't know I bought the ticket because that seemed like the line between partial and total humiliation. The ticket was only nine euros. So I guess I paid nine euros to save myself from total humiliation. This is acceptable.
And my host parents were extremely nice about my inability to figure out my route to Sinsheim on my own. I often feel funny about needing them for anything -- they remind me often that they "don't have time for that." No time to remember my schedule for me or make me lunches or make my bed. All things that a 16-year-old should be able to do on her own, but as a result, I feel just... weird about asking them for help. But in this case they were very, very kind and Alex (completely refreshingly figuring out this plan in about ten seconds) is driving me to Sinsheim on Wednesday. All is well.
Tomorrow I have Sport!!!!!! But I am trying not to take it too seriously. And now I should make myself a hot water with honey and lemon and e-mail Tang and go to bed. Gute Nacht.
The recipe for these days is simple: I get no sleep, am exausted, as a result my German becomes really bizarre, I feel awful about it, and then I decide I have no friends. Then something really small pushes me over the edge, and no matter where I am -- school, Leopoldsplatz, the dinner table -- I start sobbing uncontrollably and muttering encouraging words to myself.
The last day I had like this was exactly two weeks ago. I had gym, was on a team with a group of people who could actually play volleyball, and got angry with me when I messed up, and as soon as I reached the dressing room after the class I erupted into tears. Verena and Franziska and Rhonia ran away, but Aline talked to me and hugged me and it was really sweet.
This time, I bought the ABSOLUTE WRONG TICKET to go to Sinsheim on Wednesday. It was my fault for being such a Dummkopf. I thought I was buying one that arrived in Sinsheim at 9:00 instead of one that left Pforzheim at 9:00, and I DIDN'T EVEN LOOK to make sure the time was correct before I purchased it!! I just felt like a failure. I ran to the Volkshochschule and locked myself in the bathroom, not caring who threw me out since it's not a public bathroom and my yoga class wasn't until three hours later. In that moment everything felt impossible to solve. There was no way I could go back and ask for another, it was too embarrassing, and for the same reason I could not ask my host parents what to do. I ended up concluding that my only option would be to not go at all -- to tell the AFS volunteer who is having me come to the school where she works and talk about America that I couldn't go -- but my plan was foiled when Regina asked me how buying the ticket went as soon as I walked in the door.
"We actually have to speak about that," I said. I ended up confessing the whole thing -- although I did tell a little lie and say that I didn't buy the new ticket at all, because I had to change trains four times. I DID have to change trains four times, but I think it's better that she doesn't know I bought the ticket because that seemed like the line between partial and total humiliation. The ticket was only nine euros. So I guess I paid nine euros to save myself from total humiliation. This is acceptable.
And my host parents were extremely nice about my inability to figure out my route to Sinsheim on my own. I often feel funny about needing them for anything -- they remind me often that they "don't have time for that." No time to remember my schedule for me or make me lunches or make my bed. All things that a 16-year-old should be able to do on her own, but as a result, I feel just... weird about asking them for help. But in this case they were very, very kind and Alex (completely refreshingly figuring out this plan in about ten seconds) is driving me to Sinsheim on Wednesday. All is well.
Tomorrow I have Sport!!!!!! But I am trying not to take it too seriously. And now I should make myself a hot water with honey and lemon and e-mail Tang and go to bed. Gute Nacht.
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