A Week of Language and Culture

This past week was actually quite busy, but definitely in a good way! On Tuesday (the 27th) the phone company actually did show up and hook up our internet, so I spent a lot of time on the computer this week, talking with friends on MSN and planning my trip to see Donny in Toulouse and Anita in Glasgow as well as my tour of the highlands. I leave tomorrow; I'm incredibly excited but also a little bit scared as this is the first trip I've ever planned by myself with just the internet to help me! Wish me luck!

Last Tuesday I finally made it to Hamburg's 50m pool, the Alster-Schwimmhalle. It was amazing; almost like home, with a hot tub, massage jets, and big pool with a lane for "tempo" swimmers! I was so pleased with myself and with the facilities that I stayed for three hours and swam 1.5 km, which is 0.5km more than I usually swim AND is the farthest I have ever swum in one day! I was quite pleased. In the evening, I met Lisa at this huge movie theatre in Othmarschen (a district of Hamburg) to watch the movie "Pan's Labyrinth". It was in German, but I understood most of it.... and I clarified the bits I didn't understand after the movie with Lisa. It was a very good movie, with beautiful special effects and fantastic costumes, but it was also incredibly disturbing. I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart as there were torture scenes which were quite graphic.... but it was also a great story of a little girl's fantasy world and how it intermingled with reality. When I got home, I was still pretty freaked out about it, but mostly I was just concentrating on getting the internet set up! Although the instructions were in German, I managed to get almost everything up and running by about 2:30am, then I realized I was missing a special passcode that Lisa had received in the mail.

The next morning (Wednesday the 28th) I woke up early to get the passcode from Lisa before she left for work, and then the internet was all ready! I immediately booked a flight to see Donny on March 7th, then started getting ready as I was meeting Heidi at the train station that morning. We went into Hamburg and had a really lovely day; Heidi has been living in Hamburg since her University days so she knows her way around the city like the back of her hand. I love it because it means that she knows all the best places to eat and drink and listen to good music! First we went to St.Michaliskirche, because at Noon they have a special organ concert. This church has three different organs, one of which is absolutely HUGE and beautiful! It was breathtaking to hear it played. After that, we had lunch at a nice little restaurant that Heidi knew of, then we headed to the University!! There, we went to the International Students Building which is on one of the most expensive streets in Hamburg. We spent some time talking to some international students who were waiting for an advisor (Heidi is so sociable!) then we headed to the lounge where there were postings for their International Student social group, PIASTA. I wrote it all down (and later joined their mailing list). I also got about a dozen names of students looking for tandem language partners, which means I help them with their English in return for help with my German. I was so excited at the prospect of meeting new people my age that I hugged Heidi! Now all I have to do is compose an email in German and English and hope that I get some replies!! After the University, Heidi and I walked down the street to a little Cinema called "Abaton" which plays original language and indie films. We had tea and cake at their Cafe, which is one of Heidi's favourite places. There was a super cute little coffee shop next door called "White Pony", which had white walls and scattered ugly vintage couches and battered tables. Heidi said to me, "This place is very popular with students, but I don't know why! It's so ugly!" I replied, "It is ugly! But I really like it!". When we finished, we did a little window-shopping in the student district (window-shopping is one of Heidi's favourite pasttimes) and then headed to the Opera to check whether there were any tickets left for the final performance of Carmen.... but of course they were sold out. I was sad, but I will just have to see it somewhere else before I go back to Vancouver.

Thursday was the first day of March, and my first real day of German. At Noon I met up with the elderly lady Lilo I met at the Tee-Stunde a couple of weeks ago... and since she is 79 years old she doesn't speak any English, so I had to speak German! She made me a lovely meal and then showed me pictures of her grandchildren as well as a scrapbook her sons made her for her 70th birthday, which had pictures of her as a girl and a young woman. There was one picture labeled "Arbeitsdienst, 1942" which was a group of smiling young women wearing dark uniforms... this was the picture of Lilo doing her mandatory service during the war. That gave me shivers.
I was incredibly proud of myself for speaking German for the whole day, but by the time I left (4 hours later) I was so tired I barely remember walking home! I think I stayed too long, and not just because of the language thing; I was a bit bored of her company after 2 hours because we have nothing in common, not even language. And she wants me to meet her grandchildren... I don't know how to tell her I don't really want to spend time with her without hurting her feelings. Anyways, I was walking up the stairs to my apartment looking forward to lying on my bed and thinking in English when I ran into one of my neighbours! She asked me how I was and I answered in German and she was very surprised, because she thought I had no German at all! I told her I had been studying it for one year and she said that for one year, my German was quite good! :D So then we talked about travelling and it turns out she looovves Turkey so she lent me three of her books on Turkey for when I go! Eee! After that I was just feeling so confident with my German that I decided to go run some errands. So I went to the phone company and asked some questions about our new account... in German; then I went to a flower shop and bought a tropical plant and asked about taking care of it... in German! The woman at the flower shop was super nice and complimented my curls (aawww...) and also my German, again after she asked how long I had studied it for! All in all it was an incredibly successful language day.

By the time Friday rolled around, I was really looking forward to spending some time by myself! All that socializing... haha. So I planned to go swimming but when I woke up, I really wanted to go biking through the Wedel marshes along the Elbe. So, I borrowed (what I thought was) Lisa's bike from the garage and headed out for about 3 hours. (Turns out I took the wrong bike, but I doubt the neighbours noticed because it was back before they were home from work. Whoops!) It was beautiful; there was a bird-watching station, and the sheep were grazing beside the bike path, and there were deer and hawks and goats and the sun was shining. Unfortunately, the bike was waayyy too big for me, so I couldn't pedal it and sit down at the same time, and in order to get off the bike I had to slow down then fall off and roll! I came home with quite a few bruises and very sore legs, but I had so much fun that it was worth it. It would be nice to rent a bike when it's warmer, I think, and do it again... and this time spend more time at the bird-watching station! In the evening I made myself peppers stuffed with quinoa mixed with mushrooms, onions, and garlic and baked with gouda; and Lisa and I had a relaxing evening gossiping at home!

On Saturday Lisa let me sleep till Noon even though she was up by 8:30 (her internal clock is too good). While I was sleeping, she cleaned the whole house... she is a bit of a neat freak! So when I got up, we could practically eat off the floor, and I had noooo idea where anything was anymore. That irritated me a little bit, but the house was clean (!) so oh well. We got a late start to the day but we headed to Marktstraße for some shopping because Lisa had just gotten her paycheque! I went almost straight to the store with the cute yellow shoes that I'd seen earlier... but they were completely sold out of my size and weren't getting any more in. I was so bummed out that Lisa suggested I head back to Pussy Deluxe....oh man. I think I have an obsession with that store. I ended up buying a purse, another pair of underwear, a lighter, and two pins. The purse is super cute, kind of like a bowling bag shape and quite large, and is pink with octopuses on it... and the octopuses have cat heads (007 Octopussy, anyone?)!! That completely cheered me up. I can definitely see this store as an obsession! After that we headed over to Abaton to see "Diary of a Scandal" in ENGLISH with German subtitles! I loved watching a movie and understanding everything that happened! Judy Dench was amazing, as usual, and her character was just perfect albeit completely crazy. The script for her character was awesome too, very eloquent and subtle but with a mean bite. Highly recommended.

On Sunday Lisa needed some time alone, which I totally understand. Between me and Lenny and work, she never has any downtime! She planned to go on a walk then paint, and although she invited me on the walk I was really in the mood to get all gussied up and go to an art gallery. So, I did! I went to the Hamburg Kunsthalle which is the main art gallery here. It is a huuuge museum so I didn't get to see everything but I got to see the German masters from the 14th to the 19th centuries. I will go back some other time for their modern art section because I think the collection was really good! It closed at 6pm so after that I walked around the outside of the art gallery admiring the architecture, then I headed back to the train station. As I walked past the flower shop, I was totally drawn to all of the bright colours and soft shapes, as well as the idea of carrying a bunch of flowers home on the train.... so, I bought 20 peach-coloured roses for €6 (CA$9)! I felt so whimsical, with these patterened black tights on and my cute little ballet flats with the rose on the toe, carrying a big bouquet and smiling. Everyone kept looking at me... I guess I was radiating whimsicality? When I got home Lisa said, "It was probably because people thought that some gentleman had given the flowers to you, and that's why you were smiling so much. They probably thought, oh, Spring really is coming, young people are giving each other flowers!". I definitely like that story better than my whimsicality excuse! We didn't have a vase at home for the roses, so we used our empty wine bottles and put 4 roses in each bottle, then put the bottles around the house. So now, our house has roses everywhere you look! It's very beautiful.

Monday and Tuesday I spent planning my trip to Scotland and getting ready to visit Donny. My next posts will be about seeing new places and meeting new people.... oh wait, that's what this one was about too! Hm... well. I'm excited to speak English to ask questions and be a tourist!

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