High On A Hill Stood A Lonely Goatherd

Counting Down to Christmas…

I kid you not, November has been THE. LONGEST. MONTH. EVERRRRRR.

But now it’s almost over and so the countdown is on. In less than 30 days I will be at home for Christmas. Ich freue mich drauf. This is my favourite time of year and it’s strange not spending it with the people I’m closest to. Things I’m looking forward to include: seeing my family, seeing my friends, Christmas festivities, being able to dunk my biscuits in my tea without people looking at me as if I’m growing an extra head, bacon sandwiches, speaking English ALL the time, lay-ins, going to the pub, having a car back, driving on the left side of the road....

You get the picture. Basically I’m looking forward to having my old routine back.  It’s not that I’m desperate to leave Germany or anything. In fact, quite the opposite. I hope that you’ve got an idea from my previous blogs just how much I’m loving it. I’m having the time of my life, but I feel like I’m climbing up a steep hill, with  the top of the hill (being symbolic of my return home over the holidays) just about coming into view. Occasionally I like to pause for breath and survey the beautiful view that surrounds the hill, reflect on how fun it has been trying to climb the hill so far, and actually just how far I’ve come since I started climbing the hill. But nevertheless I’m looking forward to reaching the top, and the top is still 3 weeks away.

The hills are alive...with the sound of people speaking German all the time. 

It’s also a strange and unfamiliar phenomenon that the school term ends so close to Christmas. Obviously it was similar when I was at school, but I was at home then, so I guess I didn’t notice as much and for the past two years I have accustomed myself to a university term that finishes in early December, giving me enough time to enjoy the delights of Christmas shopping in London once I get home. (That was sarcastic - Christmas shopping in London is many things; ‘delightful’ not being one of them!)  So I know that 600 miles away, the little bubble that I have made home for the past two years, will now gradually be winding down, getting ready for the holidays. Christmas-dinner-in-a-sandwich subs will be available from the Bread Oven, Curiositea will be selling cinnamon lattes and my housemates will probably already have chosen their Secret Santa gifts.

But not wanting to want to countdown to Christmas…

So even though something in my brain is beginning to switch off, not used to the fact that my early mornings must continue for a whole two weeks longer than normal, I don’t want to waste the next few weeks wishing my time in Germany away. By the time I come back after the holidays, I will be exactly half way through my time here. Was für einen furchterregenden Gedanke! I highly doubt I will ever get an opportunity as amazing as this one ever again, so I need to make sure I get my arse into gear, and make the most of every opportunity that comes my way. I’ve mainly got this thing down; I just need a reminder every now and again!

 “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” – Muhammed Ali

Never was a wiser word spoken.

 I guess the point I'm trying to make is that looking forward to going home is not a negative reflection on anyone or anything German-related in any way, shape or form. I love it so much here, but I also love home. And I haven't been home in a really.long.time. By the time I walk through the arrivals gate it will have been four months, almost exactly to the day, since I was last on English soil. So I'm looking forward to-recharging the batteries, so-to-speak, so that I can enjoy my remaining months here in style. 

So in respect of this, I am determined to make the most of the next 3 and a bit weeks, as who knows when I’ll next get the opportunity to spend the festive season in the big D.land. I've got quite a few festive activities planned over the next few days, so I shall post again very soon with details of all these adventures. 

Until next time.

“…really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah.”

I think I've come out from under the homesick cloud, so this week has been much better, if not very busy! There have been several teacher-conferences in the past couple of weeks that I've gone along to. I've never really appreciated before just how many teachers work at school – there are about 150 of them – I don’t think 9 months (well actually more like 7 now) will be sufficient to learn all those names. I can’t always understand everything that goes on during these conferences, but there seems to be plenty of opportunities to knock on the tables, [the German version of clapping – it’s brilliant!] so I assume they've gone well.

The Year 11s I work with have focused on English grammar, specifically tenses this week, which, considering I've been employed as an ‘English expert’ really exposes the gaps in my knowledge of the English language. One of the girls asked me, “Emily, would we use the present continuous or the present perfect in this sentence?” I must admit, neither of those expressions mean anything to me. I couldn't tell you, for example why we say “I saw the film last Tuesday,” but “I have seen the film.” I find myself taking notes on my own language’s grammar during the lessons, so I have a sneaky feeling that an English grammar book may be a key addition to my Christmas list. Joy.

The undisputed highlight of my week, however, came during last week’s ‘Deutsch Als Fremdsprache’ lessons (where I’m helping the foreign exchange students learn German). Now, I consider the two American students my allies in school, as obviously they’re native English speakers too. However, I realised that even people with the same mother tongue confuse each other sometimes. We were learning the names for clothes in German – skirt, trousers etc. and when I asked “what’s the German word for a jumper?” I was met with four blank looks. Emily then asked “errrr, what’s a jumper?” thinking it was one of those super-sexy, all-in-one, velour jobbies that people used to wear in the 80s. LOL. I should have realised, the Americans are far too sophisticated to use words like ‘jumper’ to refer to a sweatshirt.  

And speaking of the US, I stayed up all night on Tuesday to listen to the election coverage on the radio. I've been rooting for Obama right from the start. I've never been a Romney fan, mainly because he insulted the London Olympics, so it was worth getting next to no sleep to hear Obama get re-elected, but Wednesday in school passed in a bit of a blur to say the least!

After my swim on Friday, which is becoming my day-off ritual, I finally had my first proper ‘night-out’ since being in Germany. Before I elaborate, can I just point out that people in Germany are far more open about nudity than we are in the UK. After my swim I was trying to discreetly get changed, whilst being surrounded by women, (most of whom were deffo at least 60) wandering around completely starkers!! What’s all that about?!?! I didn't know where to look. Seriously people, it’s just unnecessary. In the leisure centre I go to at home, we don’t even have communal showers. Anyway, regardless, I headed to Heidelberg with my exchange partner Ann-Ka and some of her friends to a 90s party. I’m a big fan of cheesy pop music, mainly because you can sing along like a loony at the top of your voice, jump, sway, wave your arms, whatever and you don’t even need to be drunk. It’s wunderbar. We had great fun boogying on down to the Spice Girls, Take That etc., and I even got to learn some German songs from the 90s. One called ‘Männer sind Schweine,’ [Men are Pigs] was a personal fave. One thing I did notice, however, was that people in Germany can party for a lot longer than we can in England. When we eventually made it home, there was a 6 on the clock, which is round about the time I normally get up to go school. It made a night at Evolve look tame!

On a slightly more solemn note, today, 11^th November, is Remembrance Sunday at home. My parents sent me a poppy over, as I haven’t seen anyone selling them over here. Commemorating our war dead is a huge part of being British. It’s something that’s embedded in our culture. I find it quite sad that there’s no German equivalent. At the end of the day, no matter which side you fight for, if you are one of those brave young men or women that makes the ultimate sacrifice for your country, it deserves to be commemorated.

Lest We Forget

And before I go, the Christmas-market season is now fast approaching. I’m very much looking forward to Christmas shopping, Lebkuchen and Glühwein. Christmas songs have even made an appearance on my ipod.

Ta ta for now.