Ich werd dich vermissen

Peace out, Hamburg.

Tomorrow I am moving to Freiburg. For good. but, ha, it can't be that easy, can it?

No no no. About two weeks ago, I booked a 23 Euro overnight bus to Mannheim (in the same state as Freiburg) and was then planning to regional train it to Freiburg. ha. ha. ha. 

For some reason, although I have my booking number and a receipt that says "card verified" I have not been able to actually make a reservation. The system just keeps booting me out. Now the price is 45 Euros, and that is way too much for this poor jobless American to afford. so...

tomorrow morning I am getting on a train with a man named Eike, and 15 hours later I will arrive in Freiburg. I will pay 17 euros for this adventure.

not too bad!

So, thanks for everything, H-burg. you're pretty fly.

Complicated

Disclaimer: I love Germany.

But that doesn't mean I don't get to complain sometimes.

It is so complicated here. Unfortunately I can't comment on the bureaucracy...yet. You can look forward to that in the coming weeks! 

It's more like the little things. Like that I can't take a shower longer than 3 minutes without feeling guilty. And I can't keep my computer plugged in because it is a waste of energy (which is very expensive, sure. But my computer battery is dying, and that is expensive, too. let's not talk about the environment right now. I've got a pretty awesome carbon footprint, thank you very much) And now I can't leave my cell phone on at night because of the radiation.

They may be right. but they may be crazy. 

First Job Interview

My quest to become a real life human being has begun... yesterday I applied for a few jobs and today I already got a call for an interview!

It is at a school called Inlingua, where Jane's sister, Sarah, works. I creeped a little bit through her blog and found this description:

" What a luxury!!!!!!!!!! These people are motivated, want to learn, and are also a lot of fun. The teaching is easy because it is done from scripted materials. It is like teaching heaven."

Doesn't sound too bad to me. We'll see how it goes.

Only 4 more days of CELTA... two more lessons, a student analysis and some hefty Steffi birthday celebrating is all that stands in my way of freedom!

Hamburg meine Perle

Man oh man,

I really love Hamburg.

This weekend has really made me glad to be alive, particularly in this lovely city. I slept in late and woke up to gorgeous weather. I walked down to Steffi's cafe (right around the corner- how very New York), and the street had been blocked off for a flea market. So I perused a while, ate a piece of apple cake, ordered myself a Tiger Town tea and read my book for a while. (Side note- I fell in love with Salman Rushdie back in April. In May I bought Midnight's Children. In July I started reading it. and I am still only on page 216. but I am thoroughly enjoying it) Then I was joined by my friend Dinah, and we chatted like a couple of old ladies for three hours (I had intended on staying an hour, tops) It was positively charming. 

After a quick change of clothes and dinner we went back to the cafe for a reading, which was really a hilarious look at the Bild Zeitung (did you know that a few Russian fisherman "caught" an alien, thought it was a new species of fish and ate it? Apparently it was very tender and tasted "not quite like turkey") We were treated to a few vodka shots by Steffi's potential future husband (read: hot guy who lives above the cafe) and then came home for a few glasses of wine and champagne. 

Then we went to a birthday party where there were a lot of nice, generous people, and we decided to head down to the Reeperbahn for some further celebration. After a lot of "Mexikaners" and dancing (and dancing with Mexikaners, or, well, Argentinians) we finally made it to the Fischmarkt.

and that's how I fell in love. the Fischmarkt is the coolest market I have ever been to. It is very lively, has an interesting mix of people, and heavily features fish. Lordy knows there is nothing better than pickled fish and onions while watching the sun come up over the industrial harbor. oowie.

So, I am happy.

and there is only one week left of Celta! and I am applying for jobs!

Life is happening.   

Should I be embarrassed?

I think I am actually a fan of Sido. like really really.

By the way

This blog should in no way be considered a testament to my ability as an English teacher. 

horrendous. oh well.

Ze previous mons

Yes, so...  It's been a while. hopefully when life settles down a bit (will it settle down a bit?) I will be able to dedicate more time to sharing my musings with the internet world. but as for now, no one knows about this blog and I am relatively happy keeping it that way. Sort of weird, then, that I am writing only for really dedicated readers (or, well, friends) who I think will not only care about my current state of mind but also what I was thinking/experiencing in the past. which is now. deep.

So, where shall I start?

Ach ja. last time I wrote I think I was a little down. I don't know if I was still adjusting culturally, doubting my decision to come back to Schland, or mostly just worried about my ever dwindling bank account. Well, a weekend at a reggae festival certainly proved to turn that on it's head. 

One would think that a weekend at a northern German reggae fest would be the epitome of chill, no? No no no, my good friend! 

Number one: Reggae fans really hate America. or Americans. it wasn't really clear. I heard a lot of slander about how Americans are ruining the world, are only good at "building walls" etc. I know that the current politics in the US have been way less than popular, but I feel that most reasonable people should be able to separate a political system/party/figure from the individual mindset of the people. 

But I guess "reasonable" is not the first adjective that comes to mind when I think of European reggae fans.

(Side note: neither the weather nor the music was ever really that good. and I was stung by a hornet. which really, really hurts)

So my depression got a slight bit deeper. 

Then came the killer: I woke up on the last morning, very excited that that evening I would be taking the train to Freiburg, where everything is sunny (literally and metaphorically) But Steffi came to me and, long story short, my purse had been stolen out of our locked car.

Contents of Purse:

Passport

Drivers License

Ipod

Rail Pass (uninsured... $15 was way too much)

Digital Camera (bought for myself for graduation. sweet)

about 300 Euros

and much, much more!

So that sucked, and was definitely the culmination of all of my sadness/madness/confusion which had been looming the last few weeks. I cried (like the kind of crying where it hurts and you cant breathe) for about... 8 hours? and that was that. 

I learned some good lessons: one, don't worry too much about money. it's not worth the time or heartache. 

two, I have really, really wonderful friends in Germany. this was in no way a mistake.

I couldn't believe how the troops pulled together for me. I was immediately handed a cell phone and was told to call my dad, my mom and Mark. which I did. while my friends at the festival went on a wild goose chase looking for my purse (and missing the main show that they came for) Mark was busy arranging a ride for me to Freiburg, for which all of them paid, as I had no money. 

After way way way too many difficulties (and about 24 hours) I was finally in Freiburg, and Mark picked me up and took me to Feierling, where I was able to drown my sorrows in the Beer of the Gods. He also then gave me a new wallet (and 20 Euros for good measure), in which I have started collecting the fragments of my new life.  

Lovely, eh? (Unfortch the camera was also stolen, so for the time being any visual updates will be made using WEBCAM! ooooh... modern!)

So, I happened to have the time of my life in Freiburg and it was nice, being where everything is sunny, even though the weather didn't really play along. I turned the ever so riveting age of 22 and it was possibly the loveliest birthday of my life. I was treated to a cutesy dinner, sung a Russian birthday song, ate way too much cake, watched fencing on TV, ate Sushi, drank Feierling, partied in the Alban Bar and Mark's cell was inundated by greetings from my friends in Germany. it was really nice.

I came back to Hamburg a week later just in time to start my Celta class, which is now well over half way over! Celta is the "Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults" and it has been a swell time. I actually really like teaching and learning about teaching and specifically about teaching language. Interesting, relevant stuff, really. I am in class from 10:30 until about 7 every day, and then usually have between 3-5 hours of stuff to do afterwards, so it is, indeed, time consuming. But it certainly isn't that hard, and it is fun. The people are nice, and it has been interesting and eye-opening working with people from different (English speaking) countries and generations. Turns out we are all pretty weird.

So, that's that. Tonight I should be doing a pretty hefty writing assignment, but I felt it was more necessary to update this blog, order Indian food, and watch a documentary about the 68ers. Can't teach this old dog new tricks, so don't even try it.

Peace out.