Only 15 days left in Germany. Its unbelievable that I am really leaving in just over 2 weeks. I know that my family wants me home. Part of me wants to go home, but as I return to thoughts that I had in January, what really defines my home. In college, I defined home as "where my pillow is". This year, that definition failed to explain my circumstances as my bed is in Illinois with a friend, the special gel pillow I bought last year is at my parents house, my fiance bought a pillow that I liked when he bought his bed hoping that someday I would actually be there to use it, and my favorite pillowcase that I used since college is on my bed in Marburg. The usual definitions don't work anymore.
One thing this year has taught me is to redefine what it means to be home. Now, home is simply defined as a place that I can relax and be myself. Now that means that I am home when I do a crazy dance in the group coffee room as my labmates and I discuss a confusing chemical phenomenon.(really, this happens often). It also means that home is the place where I sit on the balcony and read papers while listening to people on the balcony below sing songs in both German and English. Home is also the train rides from Frankfurt to Marburg where I feel relaxed enough to fall asleep (especially when the train ends at Marburg). Home is also my parent's renovated farmhouse, in a room that I never actually lived in for more than 4 weeks. Home is also with my fiance as we drive from town to town visiting people.
Home is what brings me peace. This year reminded me once again how much it takes to create a home. It took many months before I could finally relax with my housemates, not worrying how I acted or how poorly I spoke their language. It took several conferences and many late nights in the office to allow me to relax with my labmates. Home is what led me to actually carry on a conversation with the lunch lady at the mensa today, which gave me the first lunch lady smile I have seen all year.
The title of this post, "the lunch lady smiled at me" refers to all the little happy moments that have made Marburg seem like home. The guy in the stockroom that greets me with a smile every morning, the knowledge that I can run into my labmates when I go to grab a quick cup of coffee in the room next door (and I am happy about it), the smiles and jokes from Reuti as I walk by his office, the teasing housemates who put up with my silly simple German stories. All of these things combine to make Marburg just a bit more homey.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Train Travel
I wrote this post over a month ago but I just now finally posting it, sorry for the delay. :-(
I write this post from the bord bistro car on an intercity train from Marburg to Heidelberg. The tables are bigger here so I have room to spread out while I am working. While riding this train, I have been entertained by an incredibly drunk German man who likes to talk, especially to pretty women. I am so far avoided his conversation by keeping headphones in my ears, thus rendering me inaccessible to his conversation starters.
He keeps talking and talking to this poor older lady two tables from me. I keep looking up and giving the lady my sorriest grin that says "I am sorry you have to deal with this man." However, while listening in on the conversation, I have so far been entertained by a song about Bankfurt on Buy which is about the banking town Frankfurt on Main (pronounced like mine). He also likes to talk about Ryan Air, and how London is a prettier city than Frankfurt (no disagreement here). The really cool thing about the whole situation is that people just seem to humor him.
The environment on this train is very relaxing. I often fall asleep.....
or get a lot of work done. I really wish the US had more trains.
Riding the trains is one of the few times that I absolutely fall in love with this country. When I travel with friends, we just pile into a four person seater, then chat and chat until the train announces our destination. We then pile out and wander the town, hopping back onto the next train that will take us home. If I don't travel with friends, its not uncommon to make friends along the way. Just like the atmosphere on the bord bistro that allows us all to humor this drunken guy, the train puts every one on an equal place, so we learn to enjoy every moment.
Ich liebe den Zug!
I write this post from the bord bistro car on an intercity train from Marburg to Heidelberg. The tables are bigger here so I have room to spread out while I am working. While riding this train, I have been entertained by an incredibly drunk German man who likes to talk, especially to pretty women. I am so far avoided his conversation by keeping headphones in my ears, thus rendering me inaccessible to his conversation starters.
He keeps talking and talking to this poor older lady two tables from me. I keep looking up and giving the lady my sorriest grin that says "I am sorry you have to deal with this man." However, while listening in on the conversation, I have so far been entertained by a song about Bankfurt on Buy which is about the banking town Frankfurt on Main (pronounced like mine). He also likes to talk about Ryan Air, and how London is a prettier city than Frankfurt (no disagreement here). The really cool thing about the whole situation is that people just seem to humor him.
The environment on this train is very relaxing. I often fall asleep.....
or get a lot of work done. I really wish the US had more trains.
Riding the trains is one of the few times that I absolutely fall in love with this country. When I travel with friends, we just pile into a four person seater, then chat and chat until the train announces our destination. We then pile out and wander the town, hopping back onto the next train that will take us home. If I don't travel with friends, its not uncommon to make friends along the way. Just like the atmosphere on the bord bistro that allows us all to humor this drunken guy, the train puts every one on an equal place, so we learn to enjoy every moment.
Ich liebe den Zug!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Dein Englisch ist perfekt!
One of the coolest things about living in another country is making friends in a new language. Instead of associating a person with a name or a place, you now associate a language. Its incredibly weird. However, the problem with being a native American English speaker is that every one wants to speak to you in English instead of German. Thankfully, most of the people in my dormitory realize that I want to learn German, so they speak to me auf Deutsch instead of English. The last few weeks, I have been so obsessed with thesis writing that I have completely avoided all conversations with my housemates (and writing my blog, sorry). One of my housemates thought that I was avoiding the common area because I was afraid to speak auf Deutsch (part of the reason) Today, when he saw me in the kitchen he said, "I want to speak English with you. I want to practice my American English." I smiled and said, "Ja, wir können Englisch sprechen." He then said, "My English is bad so you do not want to speak English with me." I replied auf Deutsch "Nein, dein Englisch ist perfekt!" He this switched back to German and we continued to chat for another hour or so auf Deutsch.
The point of this conversation is this, no matter what the housemate said, I could only reply to him in German. To speak English to a housemate would be incredibly weird and disconcerting, even when I know that a housemate speaks perfect English (two of my housemates studied in America as high school students). It shocks me to the core to hear housemates use English sentences or phrases. I feel strangely out of place when the conversation switches away from German, even when I don't have a clue what is being said auf Deutsch.
I suppose this is a normal feeling for people immersed in a foreign culture, but its a pretty cool experience for me. When I recognize people on the street, I have to think about which language to use to greet them. I really really love this experience and will be sad to lose it in 5 weeks.
The point of this conversation is this, no matter what the housemate said, I could only reply to him in German. To speak English to a housemate would be incredibly weird and disconcerting, even when I know that a housemate speaks perfect English (two of my housemates studied in America as high school students). It shocks me to the core to hear housemates use English sentences or phrases. I feel strangely out of place when the conversation switches away from German, even when I don't have a clue what is being said auf Deutsch.
I suppose this is a normal feeling for people immersed in a foreign culture, but its a pretty cool experience for me. When I recognize people on the street, I have to think about which language to use to greet them. I really really love this experience and will be sad to lose it in 5 weeks.
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