Hayley in Heidelberg, a photo project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvjZCdL0SUE

Courtesy of Kevin Bailey

DSH Roulette

Two weeks got away from me pretty quickly.  Probably because I was so busy preparing for that big German test, the one that decides if I qualify to take actual classes at a German University, the DSH…hopefully that rings a bell.  You may be wondering, did she pass it!? Well, I will get to that later.

The week before Easter was our last week of grammar course with Herr Dörr.  We did all sorts of practice exams for the DSH.  DSH stands for "Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang ausländischer Studienbewerber" (German language university entrance exam for foreign students).  Anyway, we did listening tests, reading tests, grammar parts, and writing.  After all of that, I was pretty sure I was doomed. The practice listening test was about Gold, how it’s extracted from the earth, why it is an important element and expensive, how it could help in the future with cancer research.  Yeah.  Two straight pages of that in German, just listening and trying to scramble down notes.  Somehow I was able to understand that Gold can shrink down without losing or changing its properties and get inside a cancer cell and basically be heated up until it blows up the cancer cell, like a little bomb.  How cool is that, good job Gold.

That week we also had a small excursion into the Freiwilligenbörse in Heidelberg, which is a center that organizes volunteer work in the city.  So you go set up a meeting with them, tell them about yourself, and then they set you up with different options for volunteer work.  I had my meeting that day and am hoping to volunteer at an elderly home here, basically so I can spend more time speaking German to people and hearing it, and maybe also do some arts and crafts.  I am supposed to be hearing from the woman sometime next week.

Each week in class we have to give a presentation about our excursion, and this week Sam and I decided to do a skit for ours.  We role played how a meeting at the Freiwilligenbörse actually goes, since none of the other students had had their meeting yet, and Herr Dörr loved it.  We got a few good jokes in, like about how Germans can’t spell my name (Helgi, that is how the woman at the meeting tried to spell it). It was a good way to end the class and probably distracted from the fact that our German wasn’t perfect.  After that, I rolled my bag away to the bus and then got on a train to Salzburg!  Herr Dörr kept saying, if I was the director of this program, I would make a rule that says you can’t travel the weekend before the DSH! And I said tsk, tsk, Herr Dörr, I am and adult and I can do what I want and I will still ace that dumb test. So away I went, and I studied for at least 3 of the 5 hours on the train ride.

Kevin met me as I stepped off onto the platform.  We first went to Il Sole for pizza and a beer and it was delicious and also very strange to be back there together, with me no longer being a student in the program.  Then we dropped my bags off at the house and I was back in good ole’ Zimmer 7, the same room I had stayed in while I was a student.  We then went to Hangar 7 and met with the current director of the program and his wife, and then the two program assistants for drinks. That was an interesting place.  Planes all over, all sorts of colors, glass bowl of a building, to say nothing of the company. After that it was bed time because we had a big journey into the mountains the next day to visit Jim, the previous director of the Salzburg Program!  He was the director when Kevin was a student and also Kevin’s first year of working as the Program Assistant.  After two years of just hearing stories about Jim, all hilarious, I finally got to meet him and confirm that he was exactly like Kevin always said he was.  We laughed all weekend. 

And when I say mountains, I mean MOUNTAINS.  Bad Gastein a place like no other.  I think Kevin said it is where Kaiser Franz Josef used to vacation.  The mountains are so steep and huge and you are just right there in the thick of it all.  When we first got there, it was all green and the air was fresh as can be and I was having a hard time concentrating on our conversation at lunch because I just kept looking out the window and seeing the valley way down below us and the mountains straight in front of us jutting so high into the sky that you couldn’t see their tops.  Just google images Bad Gastein and you still won’t even know what I’m talking about, it is a different world.  Anyway, Jim has retired into the mountains and we stayed with him for two nights in his apartment, halfway up the mountain and above a farm house.  Dream life. I will include some pictures of the view, but it won’t do it justice.

Sitting on Jim's front porch

Whiteout is hiding the huge mountain just across the way

The next day we went to Sportgastein which is a little resort-like place where people were skiing down the bright, white mountains at incredible speeds and decline.  How do people do that?  I would literally die if I ever even tried.  I guess I’ll stick with golf.  We sat outside in the sun and the reflection off the snow was so bright that I couldn’t keep my eyes from watering.  It was one of the only times in my life when I have ever wanted sunglasses.  Otherwise sunglasses are bothersome.  Kevin and I walked over to one of the other restaurants and had a beer and not until we were almost finished did we notice that the Italian couple sitting across from us had a Newfoundland puppy sitting under their table! So as soon as they finished, we got the bill and finished too, and then followed them out of the restaurant and awkwardly tried to catch up to them so we could pet their dog.  Rocco was his name and he was four months old and on the same level of cuteness as my pets.  He was fluffy and he just kept diving into the snow and rolling around and I want one!  He was the greatest.  Luckily Kevin is good at striking up conversations with strangers, so we walked back and chatted with them the whole time.  I mostly just watched Rocco. 

Sportgastein, everything was white

When we got back to the first restaurant, we found Jim sitting with a table full of Austrians, just laughing and having a good time.  He and Kevin are one in the same.  We sat with them for probably two hours or so, drinking Schnapps and being merry, and they were all very nice, even if I couldn’t understand every single word they were saying.  It was like they had taken us in as part of the family.  As annoyed as I may get when Kevin says it all the time, Austria and Austrians definitely give off a different type of energy than most places and people.  Everyone greets each other when they walk into a room and there’s a sense of familiarity that is hard to describe. 

On Easter morning we woke up to over half a foot of snow outside.  We had to go back to Salzburg that day, but we got a few more lovely hours with Jim before that, eating at a nice little restaurant near the train station and sitting in his car, waiting for a big work truck to back up all the way down a windy, snow covered road because there wasn’t enough room for us to pass him.  Oh the mountain life.  I would never be able to drive up there.  We said goodbye to Jim and were soon back in Salzburg.  Kevin had some more work things to attend to after we went to the Stiegl Brewery for dinner, so I relaxed and studied some more so Herr Dörr would not later shame me. The next day we left to go back to Heidelberg and finally the sun was shining!  Oh but don’t let me forget to write about how the whole five hour train ride back, Kevin became acquainted with a 19 year old Austrian girl, and mother and her 10 year old daughter, and then an Irish-German couple and their daughter, basically anyone that came into our couchette was doomed. It was non-stop talking the whole way, about anything and everything, but at least it was German practice.  But I’m just giving Kevin a hard time; I think it’s cool that he can strike up a conversation with anyone.  Unfortunately, it just hinders my special talent, ability to sleep on trains.

We got back to Heidelberg and the sun was shining, still cold out, but not gray.  We met up with Sam at the AJY Center and then got some gelato, stressed about the DSH being the next day, and walked up to the Schloss together for a good view of Heidelberg and to breathe in some fresh air. 

Art

 That night I was supposed to study, but I wanted to talk to Emmy instead, so I did and just figured I know what I know at this point.  Tuesday morning, it was go time.  Our group of 13 all filed into the New University building, where all of the other foreign students who were hoping to be able to study at Uni Heidelberg that semester were lined up.  There were probably about a hundred students who took the test.  We all sat down in a lecture hall type room and had about four hours to do the written test.  The reading part was about social media and studies about how it affects people or the world, so fairly interesting, but I was really slow at answering the questions and so I had less time to do the grammar part, which there were a few out of 12 or 13 questions that I totally bombed and had no idea what to do.  Then we had a ten minute break.  After the first half of the test I was thinking, shit.  I am not going to pass this.  This is the worst.  And then the second half began with the listening part, which was about the future of the snow levels and global warming type stuff and how they have created snow machines to make more snow for the ski resorts.  It wasn’t too difficult to understand because they guy read it relatively slowly and the questions about it weren’t too hard to answer.  Then the next part was a graph about how many people use plastic grocery bags and don’t reuse them and environmental nonsense and we had to describe the graph and then write a composition comparing Germany to our home country with regard to plastic bags and being environmentally friendly, which I found to be the easiest part of the test, and I even used some of the new sophisticated sentence structures that I learned in class, booyah.  So overall, I didn’t know how to feel about the whole test, because I did bad and then good, maybe, you never know. 

We all rallied around in the AJY Center afterward and talked about how it was for us and how we thought we did.  Then, if we passed the written part, two days later, we would take the oral part, and then find out how well we did overall. 

On Wednesday, Herr Dörr took us to Speyer, a town about 40 minutes away, to have a little time away from studying or worrying about test results.  We went into a few churches and domes and towers, you know, the typical European things, but the best part was when Sam and I had lunch with Herr Dörr.  We were all about to split for an hour lunch break and Sam asked him if he knew of a good, cheap place to eat, and Herr Dörr knows everything of course, so he said why don’t you come see where I’m going to eat and see if you like it.  So I followed and crashed their date, but it’s fine.  He led us to a small Italian restaurant where they were serving pizza and a salad for only 5.50 and we dined together and learned some things and spoke German with him and got him to like us for the next hour.  It was amazing.  All sorts of amazing.  The rest of the day pales in comparison.

The next day, Thursday, we all had to be at the AJY Center at 10 am to find out if we’d passed the written part and if we did, to prepare for the oral test that afternoon.  Well, the results were posted and everyone was rushing around like mad to try to figure out if they’d made it to the oral exam.  Out of our 13, I think 8 people passed the written part, and thank god I was one of them.  Now, it’s interesting, because passing the written exam, doesn’t exactly mean you’ll pass the test overall, and even if you do and you end up with a DSH 1, as they say, you still aren’t qualified to take classes at a German University.  You have to get a DSH 2 in order to do that, and a DSH 3 for some of the more advanced Masters programs and classes.  So even though I made it to the oral test, I could still end up with a DSH 1, which would mean nothing to me.  I wanted that 2. 

All morning we prepared for our oral exams.  The structure of the oral exam is so, that you go into a room with two interviewers and one other student and talk for fifteen minutes.  Beforehand, you are given about ten minutes to read an article, and then you’re expected to be able to summarize it and answer questions about it.  When you first sit down with the interviewers, they ask you about yourself and to warm up your German you start with easy stuff like where you’re from and why you want to study at a German University. Well, when my interviewer heard I was from Oregon, he started talking about how he has friends that live in Oregon, around Portland, and what’s that other well known town south of there? Eugene? I say.  Yes, yes Eugene, right, now does that mean you go to the University of Oregon? he asks. And before I could stop myself, I answered very passionately, NEIN! Every Oregonian can understand exactly why I would react this way, but a German man has absolutely no idea.  So he sits and looks at me strangely and asks me why, and I go on to try to explain about the rivalry between the Oregon State University and University of Oregon, which of course is even more of a mess, because they don’t have any such thing as rivalry between universities and their universities don’t even have sports teams and I’m thinking, oh god, I am going to fail this test.  So embarrassing.  Meanwhile the other student I am testing with is from Cameroon, Africa. 

So we go on to talk about the article we both read, which was a debate about if TV makes kids dumb or not.  We were asked about our opinions on the topic and I talked a bit about how it’s a pretty big issue in America right now and lots of kids have their own TVs and that’s all they want to do, rather than go play outside, and then the question gets flipped to Cameroon girl and she goes, well not many people in my village have TVs back home. Boof.  Now I’m just going to fail on principal.  But other than those few mishaps, my speaking wasn’t too terrible, and I only messed up word order a few times.  Still I walk out feeling like I’m definitely not going to get a DSH 2. 

Meanwhile I should say that Kevin has begun his intensive German course at the Goethe Institut in Mannheim, so he has class every day from 8 to 1.  It is usually so that when we are out in public we speak German and when we are at home, it’s a mixture of both.  But we can go hours just speaking in German, and I like that.  So Thursday evening we just hung out and relaxed together and then he left early Friday morning for class and I slept in a little longer and waited for the test results to roll in.  They were posted online at 10.  A few minutes past, I went onto the website and pulled up the list.  Then I had to scroll through it find my number, 451176, and as I looked to the right of it, I saw a nice, shiny, DSH-2 staring back at me.  Thank. God.  Immediately I texted Sam, who was on a train to Berlin, to let her know that we both got DSH-2 and that we are awesome and official and awesome.  I was honestly so thankful to see that number sitting there, just to know that my German has gotten better and all of the studying and being here had really paid off.  It was a relief. 

I know, now nothing I say is going to be interesting anymore, because that was the big climax of the post, but still, a few more things have happened since.  Like when I went to Mannheim that afternoon to meet Kevin and we had lunch at the Eichbaum Brewery because his best friend’s last name is Ineichen, and he had to get some paraphernalia for him.

 And then later we met up with a German friend who did a year abroad last year at University of Redlands and was in Heidelberg for the weekend.  We had some coffee and cake and walked around a bit, it was really nice to see her and her boyfriend again. 

Then the most exciting part of Saturday was waking up and going to the grocery store with my boyfriend to buy cleaning supplies and spending two hours cleaning my whole apartment together.  But then the best part of that was that we have a vacuum in the apartment, but it is broken and no longer has the part that zooms across the floor connected to it, so I literally vacuumed the apartment with just the little neck part that is supposed to connect to the zoomer, which has the diameter of about a golf ball.  I told Kevin, this must be how elephants feel.  And now the carpet in my bedroom and the hallway are so clean, it’s unbelievable.  And we also bought new light bulbs for the kitchen and hallway, which had been out of commission for the past few weeks, and now I finally have light in my apartment again.  And the mopping and the new sponges and a broom!  We decided we are really adults now, because we spent all Saturday morning cleaning. 

Today it is finally sunny again and I want to go out and make a picture tour of Heidelberg and play on the mountain tops, but Kevin (aka my photographer) is, as usual, writing a paper last minute and I have to wait for him to finish. But I think I’m going to make him go out now, before we miss the sun.  It’s going to be amazing. Game on, Heidelberg! Here I come!

And since you stuck with me for this whole post, a special peek into what Kevin and I did last night:

HP!

I don't know if it's more embarrassing for him or me.

Das Ausrufen für Emmy

I haven’t written in six days, so here’s a shout out to Em, Lindz, Derek, and Bay.  Continents apart, but we still have to keep our promises.  There’s a lesson for everyone.

I can barely remember what I did all week because I was too busy thinking about Kevin finally getting here.  I also don’t think I ever mentioned that we went to Frankfurt together as a group last week.  It was really cold and snowy and we took a tour through Goethe’s house, although the tour guide made sure to tell us a hundred times that none of the rooms look like they used to when he lived there, it was just a guess, really.  Table there, chair there, hang a painting, collect a toll, boom.  And the floor was really, really creaky, so even if I could pay attention on a tour, I couldn’t hear what the woman was saying half of the time anyway.  I’m sorry everyone who will think I am annoying for saying this, but tours and museums are the worst!  What a terrible way to try to learn things. 

Anyway, our excursion this week was also a tour, but a bit more interesting.  We got to go into a local TV studio and see how they produced everything and all of their equipment.  Then we got to sit in on a live news show and as a special treat, I have included a link to our episode (http://www.rnf.de/video-portal/sendung/videos/show/rnf-life-die-sendung-vom-19032013.html?no_cache=1&cHash=6eaca99db377af26b7fc659ad629ba64).  First of all, I didn’t know we’d be the only ones in the studio, along with the reporter and two camera guys and one guy whose only job was to make sure the cable connected to the camera did not get damaged in any way. Second of all, I didn’t know we’d actually be on TV, but then they told us to clap in the beginning and all of a sudden the camera was on us.  And then after the first news story they panned back over to us for a while and introduced us as visiting American students.  You can tell by the looks on our faces that we didn’t know it was coming, nor did any of us know what to do.  So it’s a fun watch.

They also have an in-studio kitchen that they use when they film cooking shows, and because of the way the air is filtered out of the studio and throughout the rest of the building to keep it cool, all of the surrounding offices can smell whatever is being cooked that day and apparently everyone comes trickling in one by one to see if they can get a taste.  Someone should make a reality TV show about a TV studio.

We finally got our student ID’s, so now we are official Universität Heidelberg students and can check out books from the library and everything.  Real classes start halfway through April and right now we’re still in the planning phase of it all.  It think I am going to take a German writing course with Herr Dörr, a class about migration into Germany taught by Adam and another visiting American professor, a class about German pronunciation, and also a class about teaching a foreign language.  Plus the internship.  I’m excited for it, but now I’m okay with one more week of German class and then our big test and then spring break. We are learning more German grammar than I ever even knew was possible to learn.  It is exhausting every single day, but it is so, so cool to be able to listen to and read German and finally understand why they say things a certain way, or what exactly it means—I love it. 

Sam and I went to a P.E. class with our 7^th grade boys from English class and we played soccer with them all period and it was so fun.  Sam’s team definitely won, but I blame it on my tiny, wimpy goalie.  He was so precious.  And of course in P.E. class we speak German, so it was a good way for us to incorporate more German into a technically English speaking internship.  Hopefully we can continue doing that.

So finally Friday came around and I got to get on a train to Frankfurt and meet Kevin there.  And just so everyone officially knows, he grew a beard.  Yes, it’s true.  We spent a few hours in Frankfurt with one of Kevin’s friends from Salzburg and then headed back down to Heidelberg.  Then we only had Saturday together before he had to head on to Salzburg and do some business-like stuff.  Sam and I showed him around a little bit of the city and then took him up Philosophenweg and then we all headed right, toward Klosterhof.  We sat down in the restaurant when we finally got there and all enjoyed the best beer in the world (not true, according to Kevin, but we just have different taste buds! he says).  And fear not German professors of Redlands, we spoke in German the entire day.  Which was actually strange, because of course, Kevin and I speak English to each other normally.  It’s a little like trying to get to know someone all over again when you speak in a different language with them.  But it was fun, and it’s nice to be able to finally do that.  Then Kevin and I went and saw Die Croods.  Kids movies are my favorite in English, and naturally, auf Deutsch, they are even better, because I get so excited when I can understand most of what they are saying.  It was definitely a good movie, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny without the grown man sitting a few rows behind us and dying of laughter after every joke.  Welcome to Germany, where you can get a bag of popcorn and a beer from the refreshment counter.  And what the heck is it actually called, because I know it’s not the refreshment counter. 

Anyway, the next morning, as in this morning, Kevin took off to Salzburg.  We had taken all of his luggage with us to the train station of course and we said goodbye and he got on the train and I stood there and could kind of see him through the window as he put all of his bags away and then all of a sudden I hear “Schatz!” from the open train door and look up and he’s standing there with his head poked out, and goes, “Rucksack!”—whoops! I still had his backpack on; the train almost pulled away without it!  Good call, Kev, nicely done.  Also I should say, in addition to Sofie spelling my name like this “Heli” she also spelled Kevin’s like this “Kefin”.  So I shall refer to him as Kef, from now on. 

This week is our last week of grammar class.  On Thursday I get to go join Kefin in Salzburg for Easter weekend, which I think will be the closest thing I’ve had to spending Easter with family in four years.  I’m excited about it.  Then we both come back to Heidelberg that Monday and he gets ready to begin a month long intensive German course in Mannheim, and I spring break for a week or so.  I’ll have to find something to pass my time.  Maybe I’ll write a novel.  My dad sent me a note that said a novel takes 475 hours to write.  I think I’ll have time for that.  

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.

The Klosterhof Bier

Adventures are nonstop.  I will try to get to all of it.

1.  Romanian Roommate.  When I first got to my room, everything was a mess.  Things in the kitchen were sticky.  Pots and pans everywhere. We have separate rooms, but we share a kitchen and bathroom. I have been cleaning one thing per day and now everything is almost clean.  My roommate also doesn't speak German, only English, which is a bummer, but I don't see her that much anyway.  She also made me tiramisu and so I'll keep her.

2. Klosterhof.  I found the best beer in the world, IN THE WORLD.  Sam, who is one of the girls from my group that I get along with really well (awkward because she might be reading this now....hey Sam...), and I went on an adventure day about a week ago.  We decided to try to find the Monk Brewery up in the hills surrounding Heidelberg.  First you have to climb up the steepest steps/walkway ever, called Philospher's Way, and then you turn right, and then you just keep going about 20 or 30 minutes until you get there.  At least that's what Adam said.  He's one of the Program Assistants and has been giving us tours every so often.  Well, Sam and I turned right, thinking it would just be a short walk along the hillside.  We stopped and drank a beer along the way, just philosophizing.  Then we kept walking. And we kept walking.  Through a forest type atmosphere.  It was beautiful, but we just started to wonder where the heck we were. We had been walking for over an hour by the time we finally found a rock that declared it the end of Philosopher's Way.  Then called Adam, who told us a vitally important detail that he had left out before, that we had to turn right somewhere. So we turned right and followed a stream and ended up with this view, of the farm.

And then we found the coolest Hofladen ever and I talked (in German, of course) to the owner who explained to me which products they actually make on their own, and I understood everything because I am now a farmer. I felt like I was at home there.  Then of course, we went into the restaraunt where they were serving the monk's brew on tap.  So we sat down, tired, confused, but happy we finally made it, and drank the best beer I've ever had in my life.  It had that amazingly smooth and buttery aftertaste and I wanted it to never end.  Which, of course, meant that it ended very quickly.  Luckily, we can buy six packs at the Hofladen, and I think that's the only place it's sold so far.  Except one of the student cafeterias.  Point, Germany.

Hofladen :)

Restaraunt

Best beer in the world award, also! It's organic!

Inside the restaurant

3. Schlossome!  We went up to the Heidelberger Schloss as a group on Wednesday.  Herr Dörr, who will be my teacher for the intensive german course (starting on MONDAY!), took us on a tour.  It was cool to listen to him explain how and when everything was built.  Definitely provided great views.  We also weren't there for very long, so I need to go back and do an unguided tour. Try and sneak into some roped off areas.

This is like 5 times as tall as a person in real life! Used to store wine. That would last me about a week.

E+H

Thought that was a great tree

4. Soccer Practice? So since I'm trying to get away from my American groupmates, I decided to look into finding a soccer team to play with while I'm here.  I found one online and sent them an email on Wednesday to see what they were all about.  I got an email back saying that practices were on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 pm if I wanted to come by and play with them.  I emailed back and said I'd come that Friday, and then got a response saying, "Ich bin ein Mann, nicht eine Frau."  Luckily it was followed by a smiley face.  I just assumed the person I was emailing was a girl, but it was a guy, the trainer of the women's team.  Whoooooops. That's embarassing.  Anyway, I showed up to practice on Friday evening having no idea what to expect as far as skill level or drills or me being completely out of shape.

Nobody really talked to me at first, and I think they didn't really know that I didn't speak German very well.  I talked to the trainer that I'd emailed and also the co-trainer, who was a younger girl, and they were just like, okay, join in.  So at first we were dribbling around and the co-trainer would call out a number or letter that corresponded with some kind of move, which I only remembered half of the time.  I was trying really hard to understand what she was saying, but the soccer vocab is new to me.  So we're still dribbling all together, maybe 20 of us, and then all of a sudden, some chick comes and steals my ball.  Well then I think, okay, maybe we're playing a game where one person goes around trying to take the others balls, but at the same time I wasn't really sure, so I awkwardly looked around and saw that I was the only one without a ball.  I half-heartedly tried to steal balls away, but also was afraid I wasn't supposed to be doing that and maybe they were just wondering what the heck I was doing, which resulted in me kind of chasing them all around for three full minutes, total awkwardness.  Turns out I was right about being a ball stealer, and finally some girl just let me have her ball and went to be the shark.  Off to a good start.

It took so much concentration to understand the drills, but I was definitely keeping up and not too terrible.  Some girls were pretty good, others were worse than me, only two asked me my name and offered theirs, which was to be expected.  There wasn't much time for talking.  I was happy when we scrimmaged at the end and I got a high five for scoring a goal.  I think I'll go back on Monday, and slowly but surely, they will start to love me.  Or just figure out that I can't understand them most of the time.  One girl was trying to make up rules all on her own for a drill and impose them on me and was just getting mad at me because I didn't understand.  I wanted to kick her.  Body language crosses cultures.

5. Klosterhof Refill.  Today (yes, we finally made it to present time), Sam and I needed to go back to the Klosterhof and stock up on our favorite beer.  I'm pretty positive it will become a weekly thing.  We met up with one of her friends that's studying abroad in Freiburg right now and some other girls and we took a bus to the Kloster.  We went into the Hofladen and Sam and I both hauled three liters each out of there in our back packs.  I also asked the woman at the cash register if they every needed help, and she said that they might need help in the restaraunt once the weather gets consistently nicer, so I may take her up on that.

Anyway, we wanted to hike up the whole mountain because we heard there was a Kneipe on top and some ruins to check out.  To make a long story short, we hiked up millions of miles and had the best adventure and finally found our destination, along with lots of great views along the way.  We stopped and had some food and drink at the Kneipe, and also explored the ruins of a monastery which were from year 1057, or somewhere around that.  Amazing.  It was absolutely insane to walk through the hallways and try to imagine what life could have possibly been like a thousand years ago.  There was also a huge amphitheater which was only built in the 1930's and specifically used for Nazi propaganda and ralleys.  Slightly depressing, but it was quite a cool place to explore.

Needless to say, we were tired after coming back down the mountain. My body hurts.  But it was an amazing day, gorgeous weather, and good picture taking opportunities.  We felt like pretty cool tour guides to be able to take the Freiburgers on such an adventure in what is now our beautiful city.

These pictures are allll out of order, but that's fine. Here's Heidelberg!

Am Neckar, as the sun was setting.

ME

Standing at the bottom of the amphitheater

Sammy Wammy

From the top of the monastery tower

1000 A.D. and still standing? 

Amazing

Top of the amphitheater

Lookout area, castle is to the left of our heads way out there

Exhausted and happy

Hiking millions of miles

So far those are the biggest events that have been happening.  On Monday, it is time to get down to business with school and hopefully the German learning kick back up again.  I am going to apply for an internship to work as an English Assistant at a high school here, so we'll see how that goes.  There is always something going on, always something to do.  And now the thing to do is sleep.

The Miscommunication

We'll start with goodbyes and end with hellos.  I had a great last night at the farm.  We drank wine and talked a lot and laughed a lot and then hugged each other goodbye early the next morning.  They sent me off with a care package so I wouldn't go hungry my first night in Heidelberg.  I wasn't expecting that and it was really sweet.  Bettina also gave me a German cookbook that features the Schacherbauerhof and some of her own recipes.  She was on a TV show two years ago that was basically a competition for the best Bavarian "Landfrau".  Anyway they compiled the recipes and stories of each of the fourteen women and made a very nice cookbook, available in stores today!

My trip to Salzburg was great.  I arrived at about eleven in the morning and strolled along the Salzach until I got to the Altstadt, where I had breakfast and just smiled forever.  Then I found the Universität Salzburg Student Services Center (or something like that) and had a full-on conversation with a guy about studying at the University for 20 minutes or so.  I was really proud of myself, but also, didn't find out much more than I could have read on the website.  It was helpful to physically talk to someone though.

After that I walked up the familiar way to the Mönchsberg and found the ole' Markentenderschloßl, just like I left it.  I spent the afternoon with Christina, one of the Program Assistants (and also from Portland!).  We talked and walked and drank coffee and then a beer at the Aug.  It was definitely nice to have some American time.  I joined the students for dinner, but had to run after 20 minutes or so and catch my train.  I got back into Burghausen at 9:30 that evening, hopped on my bike, and rode home! Definitely sang Taylor Swift as loud as possible when I was riding past the highway.  I'll never know if I sounded good.

All of that feels like ancient history now! I've been in Heidelberg for almost a full week and I'm actually starting to get the hang of it all. I arrived on Friday at noon.  I locked up my suitcases in a locker so that I could go exploring until 2 pm, when I was supposed to meet some of the group at the main train station. I walked around trying to find the Altstadt, but could not figure it out, so I ended up going in circles and all sorts of shapes until I finally got back to the train station and sat and waited the last fifteen minutes until people were supposed to meet.  So it's 2:00 and I'm looking around...nobody.  2:15. Nothing. 2:30, nope.  Call the American Junior Year (AJY, from now on) center, nobody answers.  2:45, getting cold. 3:00, phone vibrates.  It was Frau Doktor Heckmann, the director of the program.  She told me about some mystical letter I was supposed to have recieved, telling me that we were supposed to meet outside of the McDonald's at 2:00, just to the left of where I had been waiting, but a bit out of view.  Yes, they had been there at two, where had I been? Oh Frau Doktor, what are you talking about? Well Irena, one of the Program Assistants, came to the train station and took me to my apartment, about a 5 minute walk from the train station.  Later I found out I had not received any of the emails sent to the group about the impending semester because they had written my email haley_peterson@redlands.edu.  I wonder what other kinds of important information I missed out on?

The most important part is that I made it.  The group met up at the AJY Center in the center of the city for a pizza dinner and to get to know each other that night.  In the AJY Center is the director and assistant's offices, a classroom, computer room, TV room, student kitchen, and a bathroom, of course.  We all sat around and awkwardly talked in German together and ate pizza.  There are 13 new students this semester and 9 that are there for the full year, so this is their second semester in Heidelberg. The rule is that German must be spoken in the AJY Center at all times, otherwise you get kicked out for the rest of the day! I think they're being lax about it right now, because most every time the students are alone, it's all English, all the time.  It'll get better.

They also always want to do everything as a group, which is never good, because then everyone is really loud and obnoxious and that's just not how the Germans groove. Gotta get outta there.  I have heard so much English in the past week, I think my German will go straight downhill. During this week, we have just had orientation.  That means, paperwork, tours, going through handbooks, all sorts of fun things. Today we took a German placement test to decide which preliminary course we would be in.  Made it into the better group, felt good about it.

I am going to have to finish this post tomorrow because there's too much to write about and I'm sleepy! It's been a really busy week, as I'm sure you can imagine. Coming next time...Philosopher's Way, best beer in the world, exploring the castle, and my roommate.  Look forward to it.  Pictures will come too.  There are a lot of good ones.

The Schlachthaus

Bettina and Georg went on an overnight trip to Regensburg and guess who took care of the cows the whole time? Ha! I did! I am an expert!  I had to milk them three times on my own.  The first time was a fiasco, but mostly because I think the cows just sensed that Georg wasn’t coming and they felt like messing with me.  

Somehow, four of the cows that we don’t milk ended up in the group that gets milked.  I have no idea how they did it.  There are gates that stop them from going into the other section.  They must have done magic. It’s the only explanation.  Luckily, Opa helped me drive the four out of the mangled group of 35 or so and into the right section again.  Then, the whole time I was milking, the stupid cows kept dropping mud pies all over.  All of them.  Usually one or two will do it during a milking, and that's messy enough as it is. Then, there is one cow that always tries to kick me 18 times when I’m milking her.  I was getting mad at her and as she tried to stomp her foot down on my arm I grabbed her leg thinking for some reason that I could stop her.  Couldn’t.  I felt like a substitute teacher with a class full of high schoolers.  They settled down for day two though. No one pooped and no one ran amuck and all were milked in perfect harmony.  Except the kicker.

Sofie was also sick for the two days her parents were gone, so I hung out with her during the day.  We read together and did some of her math work book, but she said it hurt her head.  So we switched to cartoons.  Then she would run around hyper for about five minutes and want to play all sorts of games.  Then she would get droopy eyes and wrap herself up in a blanket and lie down and claim that she was dead. Ich bin tot! If death is just a cold and a headache…might not be so bad.

Anna took on the role of mother when she got home from school, cooking dinner and then breakfast the next morning, and laying out a note for me about the contents of my plate.  

Dear HLLEY (sorry!) HALEY, (still owes me an apology for that one)

--Do you want a cup of "Ceylon Lemon Honey tea"?  Over there is sugar!

--On your plate is your bred; it's not warm, but you can toast it! (perfect usage of the semi-colon, by the way)

--We have not butter, only fresh cheese and cherry jam.

--You can eat a strawberry muesli.  Watch out! You must shake the yoghurt, before you open it! But I don't know, if it good yet!

--I wish you a nice day with Sofie!

Anna and Marlene

Anna likes to practice her English with me.  It makes me wonder what my German sounds like. She is great.  That night, we all watched The Pirates of the Caribbean 2 together and Johnny Depp still looks good with a German-Pirate accent.  I tried to leave to go shower, but Marlene hooked her arms around me like a little koala and wouldn't let me go.  So we cuddled for the last forty minutes of the movie.  Kids are fun sometimes.

Today I tried to spray water at a cow with a hose to get it to move and ended up spraying myself in the face because the nozzle was faced the wrong way.

I also had to help Opa get two pigs into a trailer today, because guess where they were going? To the slaughter house.  When I found out, I just stood there, cool, calm, and collected on the outside, but horrified on the inside, because there they were, just enjoying life, being annoying, stupid pigs, and in a few hours, they would be dead.  They didn’t even have a clue.  I had spent three weeks hating them, and if I were staying longer, I would also probably spend a week eating them.  It was the last true farm experience I needed to have:  going to the slaughter house.

Two pink pigs, probably 150 pounds each, loaded up in the trailer and Opa drove us all of 8 km through the snow and backed up the trailer to the double doors of a barn.  The butcher came out in all white. Like a bride on her wedding day.  We opened the door for the pigs to run out into the large, white room with green flooring and stainless steel gadgets all over.  As the pigs ran in, I saw the butcher holding a big clamp in his hand with pokey teeth on the end.  He chased after the pigs, at which point I thought, this does not look like something I want to see, and turned away.  Opa told me I could come inside the room if I wanted to watch.  No.  No, I do not.  He went in and I heard some squealing.  Then he came back out and explained to me that the clamp thing was just to give the pigs an electric shock so that they couldn’t feel anything anymore.  So they’re dead? I asked.  No, still alive.  I peeked inside and saw them both lying on the ground, one was shaking a little bit, and a big pool of blood lay in between them.  So, as it turns out, I could never be a farmer.

 There they were, still alive, lying in their own blood.  I shut the door again. The door had windows, which were foggy except for right around the edges.  I looked through the centimeter gap and saw that the pigs were being raised up by their back legs and hung from those devices you always see on television, and then the butcher pushed them over to the other side of the room to wash them and it got too foggy to see.  I just kept thinking, how the heck does this guy spend every single day killing animals?  I understand it’s necessary for food, but to actually be the person that has to do it?  You would have to be so detached from them.  Maybe a chicken or two is one thing, but cows, pigs…things that look more similar to dogs and cats than a bird.  That’s where my farming career would end. I would accidentally set all the animals free.

Brighter things are ahead.  I’m taking the day off tomorrow and heading down to Salzburg! Over two years later and I will finally be back.  I shouldn’t say finally.  Some people don’t go back for 20 years, if ever.  Some people can’t even go back because they’ve never been there a first time.  And I get to say I’m going back tomorrow.  Brighter things. 

PS: The first link for the Sofie video never fully loaded.  I think this one should work:  http://youtu.be/OOMQjrVB8MM