One awesome (?) thing about Germany

The lack of Halloween and Thanksgiving as formal holidays opens the door for Christmas really, really early. All of the Christmas goodies have been abound in the supermarket for about two weeks now. yum! Within a week I will probably be listening to carols. 

way too long, way too much

been a while, eh?

quick update:

15 hours in the train with Eike

was awesome. second most open minded, easy to get along with German I have ever met.

Sweden/France Extravanganza

was good. stressful at times, frustrating at others, stupidly expensive, but a month later I have zero regrets. particularly awesome were our couchsurfing hosts, swedish pastries, and lots and lots of hours lounging in Cafes. OH! and swedish grocery stores. yum.

The German Bureaucracy

was a joke. I can hardly believe how easy it was to get settled into Germany. it took approximately 45 minutes and everyone was nice (even smiling!) along the way. At the end I told the man that I was surprised and that Germans are not known for being so, well, uncomplicated, and he just smiled and said "yes, Frau Johnson, but you're in Freiburg"

Sprachenkolleg

pretty good. It is sort of a trip, because I have the most German experience (by 7 years) and certainly am more comfortable with German than anyone else, but have been made aware that my knowledge of the rules and systems in German are completely lacking. But, just four weeks in I have already placed out of the spoken section of the DSH, which is the standardized test you have to take that you can speak German like a German. sort of. awesome.

Teaching

is finally picking up speed. Three weeks ago I started a class with two women who want to improve their English for work at a contact lens studio. So my spare time has involved a fair share of contact lens related research. This week I started covering for a coworker at inlingua, which is indeed teaching heaven. next week I start my own schedule... I will be teaching a class of 8 unemployed people (who have to take english to get money from the government I guess) who are ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS. every morning. at 8 am. I can hardly wait. I'm glad, too, because I am broke as a joke. The damn dollar worked against me the last few months... the day I paid for Celta the Euro was at $1.60, today, with only $12 to my name, it is at $1.28. If it goes down a bit more I might just be able to withdraw those last ten euros and make them last until pay day. ha.

Life in General

has been pretty good. being back in Alban is nice, though the character (and characters) has changed a bit. all of a sudden I, at the old age of 22, feel quite old and as though I have very little in common with many of my mitbewohner. That, and we have quite a few oddballs who replaced quite a few of my favorites. I think I am slowly yet surely grounding myself in a group, though right now I would say my role is more that of "silent observer" which I am naturally not very proud of. I have been trying to assert my personality and sense of humor a bit more, but I'm not sure how well it is being received. Like I don't know if they think it is funny or embarrassing. or hell, maybe it's just grammatically incorrect. (sometimes they repeat exactly what I say and laugh, and I don't know what that means. oh well)

I really wish I had a hobby.

I am dreading winter.

being around Mark has been fun and interesting and nice, though I would not say it has been without growing pains. but uni started this week, and it is nice to be on a regular schedule again. I mean, it's nice that we both have something to do with our lives. 

My freetime has been spent hiking, baking, reading and riding my bike. The outrageously gorgeous fall is just now turning into the not-so-gorgeous "oh crap winter is coming" but it was nice while it lasted. The transition seasons in Germany are phenomenal.

Good night!