End of Nov. Update

Between seasonal angst, work, German class, and working out, I haven't had much free time. Things are going quite well, but not perfectly.

School-Some good days, some bad days. I often find myself asking how kids can be so cruel to each other! Middle school boys are not my favorite demographic. Of course some are wonderful, but the bad ones really can be tough. It will be nice to have a break. I am attempting to increase student interest with cool projects etc. We'll see!

The train - continues to be somewhat a hassle. These days I pass out in the morning so it is mostly a blur then try to read my German romance novels on the way home.

Birthday - Was lovely if low key. I feel old.

The gym - I have become obsessed with the gym-it's quite nice, never too crowded etc. But the best part is the spa. Three different rooms - sauna, steam room, and a sanarium (cross between a sauna and steam room.) After working out, it is very relaxing to lie around in the heat. In between spa sessions there are Roman style rooms with recliners to sit in. You can also put your feet in cold water or go outside (which many German people do but not me) I am still not entirely comfortable with the nudity (it doesn't help that our landlord attends the same gym - haven't met him yet.) Going from working out with people to seeing them naked is quite a jump. Of course I avert my eyes - But my goodness.

The only problem with the gym is getting there. By bus it takes 30 min each way, by bike 10 but not ideal in the dark at 0 degrees Celsius. Luckily are neighbors with a car drive me several times a week...but I would go more if it were easier to get there.

German class - I actually had Jan complain about my teacher. It helped, she no longer yells at me for no reason. I was starting to be quite angry during classes. I have never had anyone flip out at me for doodling during class or browsing through the text book. This is a very controlling woman. My German is getting better and better. My classmates are all very interesting and come from a huge range of countries and cultures. Sadly, we move quite slowly, but for 1 euro per hour I can't complain.

That's about it! Oh...and the weihnachtsmarkt opened on Monday! But that's another update.

More Train Adventures

Two train incidents that were noteworthy:

1. As Jan and I were returning from the city the other night, (in honor of the first snow I skipped German class and we bought a Starbucks hot chocolate to share - a decadent but wonderful splurge) our stop was announced and the train slowed down. Then it stopped. I had been watching for the platform, but we weren't quite there yet, so I stood back assuming the train would pull up. Well it didn't. Jan took the lead and jumped about three feet down to the rocks below. Then the other passengers followed suit. Ridiculous.

2. The German trains were on strike again this week...Thursday and Friday. I checked ahead of time to see which trains would be running then headed out, certain that I would make it to Basel. Well, the train didn't come. And it didn't come. And it didn't come. Being a generally bad morning person, I had waited until the last minute to get out of bed and groom myself so I had soaking (as in not even towel dried) hair, that I had put in a chic side part low pony tail. Well, as I stood, the pony tail quickly saturated my shirt. It was about -2 Celsius - in other words...freezing. After waiting for an hour, the train arrived. And I did not thaw out the whole day.

Yes, the suggestions for tights is a good one. I am going to invest in some wool pants as soon as I am in the US were clothes actually look good on me. And due to the weak dollar don`t cost as much.

Friendly Germans

I take it back. One of those non smiling, mono syllabic coworkers took it upon himself to introduce himself to me. A formal, hello I am so and so, including a hand shake. Then he started smiling and initiated a conversation. So strange. This is a man who I have seen three times a week for the last two months and was hesitant to speak with after he got very upset when my notebook was on his desk because I was using the computer (school computer) which was also on his desk. Anyway, it turns out that he is a fellow commuter and takes the cheap o trains like me. So maybe now I will have somebody to chat with on the train sometimes.

In other news it is freezing and I think my toes will fall off, but I have to go back into the drizzle for another fun and illuminating German class.

I Finished the Rose

I have an obsession with roses and have been intending to paint one for about six months. Today, I finished. And it turned out quite well if I do say so myself. But now that I know how much trouble it is (also fun) but lots of trouble, I am not painting more Roses on my remaining canvases. I think I´ll move on to simpler shapes, or something else entirely. Like hearts.

That said, these paintings are going on the walls to decorate our apartment and it might be a little much to have hearts and roses everywhere.

The Whorf Hypothesis

Recently I have been pondering the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which: postulates a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it (wikipedia says it better than I can!) This isn´t surprising given that I spend a large amount of time learning a new language and I am fairly immersed in a culture I wasn´t familiar with 4 months ago, and I still am not used to. My language is starting to develop to the point where I can over hear conversations, read things and get the general idea (I finished my second romance novel the other day) and sort of understand television.

My high contact with Germans time is during my commute, which takes over four hours of my day when I head out to Basel. What are these German´s saying to each other? Why doesn´t anybody smile? Why do they look so pissed off at the world? Why do the men at my work never smile at me, or make eye contact, or respond to me saying Hallo (the Germanized hello). Who knows. But I think I am starting to get an idea. When your language has over 12 ways to say the, who has time to respond to an innocuous Hello. When you have to think about declination all day, how can you look anything but pissed off.

Ok, that´s not where I was going originally, but these serious Germans undergo a miraculous transformation when they turn on the English. Suddenly they are smiling and animated and energetic. Jane made the observation that many German men go from sounding sort of manly and serious in German to becoming giggling and valley girl esque in English. I certainly noticed that with my trainer!

I am excited to find out what actually goes on when the Germans speak German because at this point all I know is they say genau (exactly) zum bespiel (for an example) and alles klar (everything is clear) way too often. Just thinking about those examples is a peak into the cultural window.

In Search of Kurbis

It is the Kurbis - or pumpkin - time of year. Everywhere I look I see advertisements or signs of pumpkin soup. What are the cooking on tv? Pumpkin soup. What is that in the newspaper, oh, a recipe for pumpkin soup. I wrote about my attempt to make pumpkin soup with pickled pumpkin..today I was going to find some form of pumpkin and make the soup. So Jan and I got up and went into the city. We browsed the market, but the pumpkins looked hard to deal with, so we decided to try the specialty food shop. Finally, we asked for help. The women helpfully said, that there is no such thing as pumpkin puree, no such thing as cubed pumpkins in a jar. You have to make pumpkin anything out of a real live pumpkin. Great. Jan said there is probably a conspiracy with the pumpkin farmers guild to keep pumpkin puree off the market and I am starting to agree.