Discotheks and American rock!

On Friday night, Christian picked me up at my dorm, and we drove to a nearby town, Krefeld, for dinner. The restaurant was called Haweco, and the menu was half English half German. The titles of the foods were in English, such as American Pita or Chicken Crispers, and then the description was in German. The restaurant was quite large, consisting of a main floor with a bar, where we sat, and then four upper levels accessible by a winding metal staircase. Going upstairs to the bathroom, I was reminded of an old firehouse, and wondered if I should look for a pole to slide down. TVs were on, small candles were lit at the center of every table, and waiters/waitresses constantly whizzed by, making drinks and delivering food. Simply because I could not resist the opportunity, I ordered Chicken Crispers with Cajun or chicken fingers with steak fries. They were delicious! Christian and I had great conversation throughout the meal, and I really enjoyed his company. He is 22 years old, lives with his parents in Straelen, and is in a sort of masters program to perfect his craft of gardening. He will finish this summer and help his parents with their business. German schools are very different than those in America. There are many options, but the people I have met have spent ten years in regular school, three years in an apprenticeship, and then one year in Meister, which literally means master as I mentioned before. So Christian is almost finished and will then enter the working world. He lived in California for six months, as posted previously, so we talked a lot about his impressions of the country and the people. Later on, we drove to a Discothek, or club, and watched people dance to American rap and hip-hop! The club was similar to those in America, complete with a bar, dim lighting, a DJ booth and dry ice effects. I met a guy from Florida who is studying film in Germany. He said he heard my accent and had to ask where I was from, but I am sure the fact that I was speaking English was a huge giveaway So I had a lot of fun, and I am so thankful that Christian is willing to show me around and take me out to have some fun! On Saturday night, Christian invited me to go to another club with him and his friends. He picked me up at 9:00pm, and we drove to Tom's house, the friend with whom Christian went to California. Once there, I met Tom, his girlfriend Laura, his sister and her boyfriend, and Andy. We hung out for a while, getting to know each other, and then we drove about 30 minutes to Duisburg to a Discothek called Pulp. Unlike the first club I visited, this club played rock music. Oddly enough, everywhere I have been thus far has played American music, right down to Sweet Home Alabama! So I had fun dancing to both German and English rock music. Christian's friends are really nice, and we laughed and danced all night...literally. We left at 5:00am! I was exhausted but so thankful for another opportunity to make friends! On Sunday, I went to a pizza parlor with Kosten and Nicholle, not sure how to spell their names yet, but they are the first two people I met in my dorm. They are the youngest too, 18 and 20, but I like them very much. I had told them that I like pepperoni and cheese pizza, and so they ordered for me. But when we got back to the dorm to eat, I was surprised when Nicholle opened a pizza and gave it to me. It was packed with the largest green hot peppers I have ever seen! Now I am not at all a fan of peppers, so I politely picked off each one. Regardless, my mouth was on fire by the time I finished eating, but it was still somehow pretty tasty. Then we watched German TV and English CNN, learning new words and attempting to translate each other's languages, since none of us is fluent in the other. Monday was boring, but I accomplished grocery shopping, which is not fun when you must do so on a bike! But I was glad to have found the discount grocery store called Aldi all by myself as well as to have shopped on my own in a foreign place. Work was fun today. I know that I have not written much about it, but this post is already long enough, so I will keep it short. Basically, I had time to spare, so I slid down the huge slide, jumped off the high dive, and sat in the jacuzzi. I also helped with the children's swim lessons again, which I love! The first class is called Kinderschwimmen, literally translated children swimming, and the kids are around 5 years old. The second class is called Kleinkinderschwimmen, literally translated, small children swimming, and the kids are 1-3 years old, and their parents swim with them. These two classes are by far my favorite activities. So that is all for now. I put minutes on my phone, but they are really expensive and short lasting, so I am exploring other options such as a calling card like we have in America. Then I look forward to hearing familiar voices and updates on your lives. I love you and miss you! MWA!

Go Karts and New Friends!

It snowed a little bit today! Everyone laughed at me because I was so excited about what they considered no big deal, so I had to explain how rare snow is in Georgia. Nonetheless, I am really excited! So I had so much fun last night! About eleven people from my dorm drove to a nearby town to ride GoKarts. The other two girls, one guy, and I just watched. You had to drive for twenty minutes, and it was cold, so we just observed while drinking hot chocolate (Kakao) and eating nuts (Erdnüsse). When the guys came back in, we sat around for a while. They laughed hysterically about the race, and we began to get to know each other. Then we went to dinner at a restaurant, talking and laughing the entire time. My favorite thing about this group is how much they love to smile and laugh. Even when I have no idea what they are saying to each other, I seem to enjoy myself! Honestly, I feel like I have known these people forever because they are so friendly and easygoing. We went back to the dorm, and I had planned to go to bed. But when they found out that I did not have to work until 11:00am today, they convinced me to go to a bar here in Straelen for just a couple of hours. So we walked in the freezing cold to a little bar not far from our dorm and stayed for about three hours! All night, everyone asked me lots of questions and complemented my German. Gradually, they became more comfortable with me and would speak some English. One young man named Christian lived in California for six months, in order to learn the language and experience a different culture, so he translated things for us when we had trouble communicating certain words or phrases. One difference that I have noticed here so far is the drinking atmosphere. In America, some people use alcohol as an excuse to be loud, obnoxious and inappropriate. But that is not so with this group. As is custom in Germany, they drank much beer throughout the night, but they never got crazy or acted stupid or silly. They just enjoyed each other's company, talking about work and school and asking me questions about America and my life. For you UGA students...I made the mistake of telling them about Jager Bombs (a mixture of Jagermeister with Red Bull for those of you who do not know), and another young man, David, kept asking me if I wanted one. I refused multiple times, thinking he just wanted to oblige me. But then Christian explained that in Germany, if a man offers you an invitation to drink, you must accept the offer at least once or it is considered quite rude or unfriendly. So I drank a Jager Bomb in Germany hahaha! (But don't worry, friends, you still know me.) They like to toast to each other also ("Roast"), so we did that often. Ultimately, I had a blast and did not go to bed until after 1:00 am! As I mentioned in another post, everyone drives home on the weekend. Christian, however, lives nearby and offered to hang out with me when I am bored on the weekends. He is picking me up at my dorm tonight to show me around Straelen and the neighboring towns. He told me that he did not want me to get the wrong impression; he has a girlfriend and just wants to show me around Germany as people showed him around America. (That explanation is for you Pops, wink wink) So I am super excited about that! I am so thankful for these people and their kindness. They are very open and sincere, and I look forward to getting to know them better. I hate to admit it because I do miss all of you very much, but I fear that I will be extremely sad to leave this place and my new friends when May 2 finally arrives...

Jesus...mmm mmm good!

Greetings my fellow Americans! Due some recent excitement, I felt a short post was in order. I got sick yesterday and stayed home from work. I was beginning to wallow in loneliness but decided to sing praises to my King instead. I was singing random praise songs out loud and asking the Lord to provide for me some sort of friendship soon because the solitude was getting old. My neighbor, Suzanne, stopped by to say hello, and she invited me to ride Go-Karts with her and my dormmates tonight when I get home from work! I am so excited! I wanted to share this story with you to remind you of how perfect God's timing truly is. He knows our needs and even our wants, and he promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He is good all he time, and his faithfulness never fails! Also, I find it amazing what a difference it makes when we take our eyes off our circumstance and focus on Christ. The view is so much better from his side! So I am looking forward to making new friends and having some fun. Of course, I will let you know how it goes. Oh and one more thing... she totally does speak English, but she is really shy. Sonja had told me that many Germans know how to speak English, but because they feel that they cannot do so 100% perfectly, they do not try. Apparently, that is true. Suzanne spoke English when she came back to my room last night to tell me what time we were going. I told her that she spoke very good English, so hopefully I can encourage her to speak it more often. So that is all for now, but I will write again soon. Grace and Peace to you...

A very long post with details:)

Guten Tag! Today is my first official day at work, but since my boss does not arrive until this afternoon, I am catching up on e-mails and thought I would post an update. Although I consider it impossible, I will attempt to describe the beauty of Germany in words as I tell you about my weekend. I had planned to leave on Friday to visit my mother and her family, but due to the worst storm that Germany has seen in about twenty years, no trains were available for me. This country is not accustomed to tornadoes and hurricanes like we are, so nobody was prepared to suffer the damage. Trees fell everywhere, and power outages occurred, so the trains were out of service for a little while. Gabi, my mom's cousin who lives nearby, had driven me to the train station, but when we were told we could not travel, she dropped me back off at my dorm, which I will now describe. You enter the building through a glass door which opens to the second and middle floor of the dorm. Directly in front of you is a lounge, where people can smoke, watch TV, or access the kitchen. If you turn to the right, you will find stairs to your right and a hallway in front of you. I live on the end of that hall. Going to my room is no problem because I can push the light switch which illuminates the walkway. However, the lights are on a sensor at night, so as soon as I enter my room, they turn off again. Across the hall from my room is a small bathroom with a toilet and shower. In Germany, toilets and showers are either in completely separate rooms or at least divided by doors that have locks and keys. The shower across from me is tiny, so I like to use the one at the other end of the hallway. But going to that one can be a little creepy when nobody is around and the lights are off, and I am constantly reminded of "The Shining," regretting the fact that I ever saw it! I have only met four people so far, but this weekend, nobody was home. I couldn't figure out where all the people were until a little old lady came in to clean. She spoke no English, but we had a nice conversation in German. She explained to me that the students do not live in Straelen, so they go to school during the week and then go home on the weekends. I am sad to hear that because I had hoped to make friends with whom I could spend time and travel on the weekends. I had time to spare, so I decided to ride my bike around Straelen. The wind was cold and nipped at my cheeks, but I did not mind at all. I found Wasserstraelen and fifteen minutes later found myself back to it again! That should tell you how small this town is. I rode past the little grocery store, where people were loading groceries onto their bikes. Everyone met me with a friendly, "Guten Morgen," and for a moment I forgot that I was American and did not actually belong here. Every house has windows adorned with delicate curtains and decorated with potted plants and flowers. It is as if the home owners want you to enjoy what you see as you go by. There are no screens on any windows, and they open both as doors and windows. People hang bed linens out the window for freshness or just enjoy the cool breeze. Instead of central heating and air, Germans use individual heaters that can be set on levels such as 1,2,3 etc, and the open windows serve as air conditioners in this chilly winter season. I tried to take in every detail as I observed daily life here, but then I remembered that I will have this same experience every morning as I ride to work! So I headed back towards my dorm to wait for Gabi. She picked me up, and I successfully caught a train to Fulda, the big city near Wüstensachsen, a small village where my German family lives. My mom picked me up, and I had just enough time to shower and head to the party, which was the main reason for my visit. In Germany, the 10 birthdays are very big. My mom's cousin, Helga, turned 60, so she had a big party. We sat at round tables decorated with glass candles, menus and cards detailing the seating arrangements. We ate lots of good food, drank, laughed, and danced all night. I found that I like Schnitzel very much, which is basically like breaded pork chops but way better. The rest of the food was like American food, including salad, vegetables, and potatoes au gratin. Helga's daughters, Sonja and Beatrix, brought out a huge chocolate cake packed full with candles, and we sang Happy Birthday in English and German. Then every guest lined up to wish Helga well and give her traditional flowers or other gifts. The funniest part of the night was the dancing. I like German music, but I am a horrible German dancer! A young man asked me to dance, and since he spoke no English, we attempted to converse in German. He kept asking me why I did not have a boyfriend in America. When I asked him if he had a girlfriend, he told me that he was married and had a daughter. He was a little drunk and obviously quite friendly. To the delight of all my friends who have been making jokes about it for months, his name was Dieter! I could not believe how ironically funny that was! It is tradition in Germany that you dance together and then the man escorts the woman to the bar for a drink. Despite my bad German dancing, Dieter and I frequented the bar that night! We partied until 3:00am! I slept very late the next day, and we met at Sonja and Peter's house for coffee at 3:00pm. Sonja is Helga's daughter, and Peter is her husband, and they have a five year old son named Lennart. We sat around for hours, drinking coffee, eating cake, talking and laughing. Then we ate party leftovers for dinner. I played with Lennart a lot, battling with swords and such. I think that little kids speaking German is my new favorite sound! On Sunday, we ate Brotchen (literally translated little bread), which is the traditional breakfast. You walk to the nearby bakery and buy fresh bread, and then everyone meets at the table for bread with meat and cheese and coffee. You will not believe the view from Helga's table! The scenery is breathtaking! Mom and I walked through the village, and we shopped at the store. All around the village, deep greens and browns cover the rolling hills, and in the higher regions, we could see ice beginning to form on the hills. The cold wind felt so refreshing on my face, and I could smell burning wood from nearby barns. People were walking through the village, doing errands or making conversation with neighbors, and I found myself wishing I had grown up this simply. There was something so perfectly quaint about this town and its inhabitants, and I did not want to leave. On the drive back to Fulda, I saw what I had missed in my nighttime arrival. We drove down a mountain, surrounded again by rolling hills. Every now and then, we would come across a little village, tucked in between the hills, and if I blinked it would be gone. On the train ride home, the visual stimulation continued with huge mountains peaked with castles displaying flags on their highest points. Germans are also very energy conscious, so I would see large windmills made of metal set in the middle of grassy plains. Although I attemped to capture some of this beauty with my camera, I know that I inevitably failed to do so. Traveling is very exhausting, and I am still adjusting to the time difference, so I went to bed as soon I returned to Straelen. I am enjoying Germany very much, and I look forward to the rest of my stay with great anticipation. I will do my best to keep you upated and to include details, so you can experience this with me as much as possible. I miss you all and love you very much. Bis später!

Guten Tag von Deutschland!

Hello from Germany! I am here safe and sound. I am not working today, due to bad weather, but I decided to come to work anyway. I have internet access here, so I thought I would write a quick update. My flight here was a little rough. I get motion sickness, and the turbulents were so bad on the descent into London that I threw up upon arrival, making it to the restroom only by the grace of God. Then I had to take a one hour bus drive to another airport in London, and I thew up on that as well. The next flight into Dusseldorf was not as bad, and I began to feel better. A woman named Suzie picked me up at the Dusseldorf airport, holding a decorative sign that said "Welcome in Germany Barbara Ashley." That was a heartfelt welcome indeed, and I am keeping the sign. We drove about 45 minutes to Straelen and came to Wasserstraelen, where I will work. The staff is very nice, and my boss is even nicer than he seemed in my interview last year. He took me to my dorm to drop off my suitcases, and then we bought a bike and some groceries. Apparently, the American interns who came before me did not take good care of their cars, scratching and denting them and even getting speeding tickets. Since the city pays for the internship, it said no more cars would be provided for the interns. As long as weather permits, riding my bike and walking will be just fine. So I went to bed at 8pm last night and woke up at 2pm this afternoon! I woke up a few times in between but could not function well enough to get out of bed! The weather is very bad here today, but a guy from my dorm drove me to Wasserstraelen, since I could not ride my bike in the rain. So far, I have met four dormmates, only one of whom speaks English. That might become frustrating at times, but it forces me to speak German, which is good. I am usually very shy with the language, but I have no choice but to speak German to them. I am the only intern here, which might get lonely, but I love meeting new people, and I plan to acclamate in time. The people I work with speak English by the way. So that is about it for now. I am excited about everything that lies ahead. I look forward to working with the classes, especially the swim lessons for children, getting to know everyone in this small town, and learning how to better speak and understand German. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers and trust that you will remain in mine. Tschuss!

"Shhh, just go!"

So I am about to leave for the Atlanta airport to fly to Germany for the semester! I am so excited about this opportunity but also a little sad that I have to leave family and friends in order to experience it. My flight leaves tonight at 6:25pm, and I will arrive in Germany tomorrow morning. I do not know my address yet, but my cell phone number there will be +49 (0) 163 7236987, and I can receive international and national calls for free. I will be using this phone, since mine will be out of service. You can also contact me at Babs1984@uga.edu or Babs198499@aol.com. I am attempting to figure out how to create a place to sign up to this blog, so that you can receive e-mails, notifying you of new posts. Keep your eyes out for that link. So this is my goodbye to you for now. Thank you to my friends for a wonderful "Aufwiedersehen Barbara" party last night. You are so special to me, and I appreciate you very much. I love you, and I miss you already! Tschuss!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello family and friends! I have created this blog, so that you can be a part of my experience in Germany. As most of you know, I will be interning at an aquatic fitness center called Wasserstraelen in Straelen, Germany from January 16-May 2, 2007. Instead of sending out mass e-mails to everyone, I can post updates to this site. For your information, I will be checking my AOL, UGA and Facebook accounts as often as possible, so feel free to keep in touch with me that way as well. I will miss all of you very much, but you will certainly remain in my thoughts and prayers. Do not forget about me!