Do it now, not somewhen

Herr Dörr is a baller and also my German professor.  He will drill you until you come up with a grammatically correct answer in class and it usually involves him threatening to jump out the window, go home and console himself by laying and/or withering away in bed, or throw something at you, if you say one more wrong thing.  He once asked me if I was a Maus or a Frau in class because I answered something in a quiet, not sure at all voice, so I had to tell him I was just a Mausfrau.  Mouse Woman.  It’s like Batman or Cat Girl, but inevitably better at German and also just cooler in general. 

We have German grammar class on Monday-Friday from 9 to 12.  I have never learned so much and so intensively in my life.  It is the best and also most exhausting thing in the world.  I feel like Leo after he has closed every single drawer, cabinet, stove, microwave, and dishwasher in the house. And yet I am so much smarter for it and can finally understand all of the things I once couldn’t (not something Leo can say for himself).  The class goes for the next two weeks and then we have to take the DSH, which is the German language test that tells you if you’re actually good enough to take classes at a German university.  Too bad Universität Heidelberg, I am already here, and I am taking your classes whether you like it or not. On the test, you can get a 1 (not good enough), 2 (good enough), or 3 (significantly smaller chance of being thrown out of a window by Herr Dörr).

Today Herr Dörr said this in class: „Ich glaube an das Lesen.  Beim Lesen sortiert man seine Gedanken.“ Which I loved.  It means, I believe in reading.  When you read, you can sort out your thoughts.  Or something like that.  I like it.  I like it all.

Last Tuesday we visited the Popakademie of Mannheim, which is exactly what it sounds like, a college for pop music.  That was an interesting thing, but also exactly what it sounds like, so I won’t go into too much detail.  The best part was when we all had to give presentations about our visit and Sam and I made a PowerPoint (well Sam made it, I just looked at pictures of Adam Levine on google) with collages from the past three eras of pop music.  The other coolest part was that for the first time ever, I wasn’t nervous to give a speech in German and could just talk naturally (mistakes and all).  Personal growth, currently in progress.

Another great, wonderful, amazing thing, is that Sam and I both got the internship at Hölderlingymnasium, the middle/highschool here, and are now going to be tandem teaching English this semester.  We met with Herr Doktor Schork (who later told us we could just call him Albrecht!!) who is one of 15 English teachers at Hölderlin, and he was basically just like okay, go teach.  We watched him teach two separate classes (7^th and 8^th graders) and then sat down and had coffee with him to discuss the run of the internship and how it would go.  He was super German and upfront and direct and that is the greatest thing ever, because we have no idea what we’re doing half the time.  So after that morning, he asked us if we wanted to come back the next morning and teach a lesson.  Ummmm…can we do that? Apparently.  He sat in the back of the class and we led the kids through a few dumb worksheets and tried to act like we knew what we were doing, which at times was awkward, but other times great.  And today we taught our second lesson, which went a little bit better, and Albrecht even told us we were natural born teachers and that it went great. And he's German, if we sucked, he'd tell us.  So we’re on our way.  Albrecht is an all-around nice guy and a really good teacher of English, so I think we have a lot to learn from him.  He is also a P.E. teacher, so tomorrow we get to go play soccer or basketball with the 8^th graders in the afternoon.  Life perfected.  We think the students will probably love us much more once they realize we play to play.

And hey, remember that time when Sam got locked out of her room all weekend so we had a slumber party for two nights? Yep, that happened.  Poor her, had to sleep on my hard floor with my deflated pillow.  But lucky her, because she got to be with me always.  We made our usual trip to Klosterhof for beer refills on Saturday and also decided to climb the mountain upon which the Heidelberger Schloss sits.  So we started off up to the Schloss and then tried to find our way up to Königsstuhl, which was the destination for the hike.  Other people said there were about 2 thousand million stairs you could take to get to the top, but our curiosity just kept getting the best of us and we basically played a game called, “Hey, I wonder if we can get up this way?” the whole hike.  There was no such thing as a beaten path.  Except when we finally found the beaten path almost at the top and said, okay, but just this once.

It was gorgeous when we got to the top and we were so excited, but then it was already 5 pm and the last trammy thing down was leaving and so we hopped on and rode ten minutes or so back down into Heidelberg.  Slightly disappointing, but we can always go back up and explore on top again.  Plenty of time for that. I didn’t realize there would be so much cool hiking in Heidelberg and I am pleasantly surprised by all of the things we discover.

On Sunday we went for a walk around our neighborhood because we hadn’t really done that yet.  It was cool to find a few markets, bakeries, and bars around the area, and there were some of the prettiest houses just around the corner from us.  Ringstrasse 37 (my building) is not that glamorous.  We also ended up walking through a cemetery, which was really strange, but also really cool just because it was so peaceful and there were graves from people born in the 1700’s, old professors from Universität Heidelberg, and then the other people who should just be remembered because they were people too. 

Which reminds me (not chronologically) that we watched Vielleicht lieber nicht (or Perks of Being a Wallflower) in German the other night.  Sam had just loaned me the book in German and I had started reading it and could actually understand all of it and then we decided to watch the movie, of which I could understand less, and it was an emotional thing.  After it was over, I think I just turned to Sam and said, There are so many feelings inside of me right now! And that was the only way I could describe it. It was overwhelming and I was and am still so struck by all of the things I felt.  Maybe because I couldn’t understand the language as well, I focused more on the things I could understand, which were all of the emotions, and it just left me in a strange, cinematically vulnerable state.  But I loved it.  Maybe I should never watch it in English, it would ruin my connection with Charlie.

A quote from the book which resonated with me: “Ich schwöre, in diesem Moment waren wir undendlich.“ I swear, in that moment we were infinite/boundless/endless.”  I don’t even think any of those English words can do it justice in the same way.  I wonder what the original sentence is, in English.  I don’t really want to know. It just encompasses so much in one small sentence and makes me think.  Unendlich. In that moment.  Words are the best.

On another translation note, Adam, the program assistant gave us a really good one for some graffiti while we were visiting the Popakademie.  It said something like, “Jetzt was tun, nicht irgendwann Baby.“  And when we asked him what it might mean exactly, he goes, “Do it now, not some…when?” So ever since then, that has been a memorable quote.  He is a native Polish speaker, but now teaches German, and has also studied English (and is only 26! Gee-whiz!).  He’s really interested in the slang and idioms in each language, so he knows all sorts of English phrases that he shouldn’t.  It’s the best.  And I am no longer waiting for somewhen to do it.

In other news, guess who is coming to visit on Friday? No big deal, just Kevin Bailey who I haven’t seen in 3 months.  There is only one feeling for that, and it is excitement.  If I don’t write again for a month, you know why.  But also stop complaining already because I will write, gosh. I think my next blog will just have to be a photo tour of all of the things I see in a day.  Coming soon.