Hello again!
Coming from my German school, once more. :)
I love this school. I've met even more incredible people from all over the world, and learned a lot more of the language. It's been a good month!
A funny thing I find about German, or any foreign language for that matter, is that there are certain words and phrases you simply just "don't say." For instance I'll try to directly translate things that we say in English all the time, but my teacher and family members who speak it just make a funny face and say, "Wir sagen das nicht," or "we don't say that." So just like English, German has its little coloquial and slang phrases that can't be translated word for word from English.
Another cool thing that I keep getting the chance to experience, is hearing people pray in German. I go to a German church, which is an excellent way to both practice my German and hear it spoken for a solid 2 hours each Sunday. I've also been going to a small group and there, when we close by praying, I get the chance to hear people pray a completely different language. It's SO COOL! The thing is, that it's not even Chinese or Arabic, or anything that's not similar to English at all. It's a language very similar to my mother tongue, and yet it's so neat to experience the simple truth that, even though I don't understand everything the girls in my group or the pastor on stage is saying, it's impossible not to feel His warm, gracious presence as a result.
Onto the month...wow! Already February! My year off is slowly but surely passing by :( Now time to decide which college to go to and whatnot. Yay for real life! Well, kinda. But I'm trying my best to enjoy my time here, spend time with my new friends and learn more of this language during the rest of my stay in Germany.
In terms of weather, it really hasn't been super cold. It was really cold a couple weeks in December and earlier in January, but it hasn't been the scary, dark, completely awful winter that I had expected and heard so much about. It has, however, taught me to take advantage of simple things like the sun. People in the south, you drink up every bit of that vitamin D that you can, because it isn't so plentiful in Berlin! But seriously, I find myself almost jumping from my seat in my class if I see the sun reflecting on the other side of the school. And then I exclaim 'Die Sonne scheint!' ('the sun's shining!') and my teacher looks at me like I'm a little crazy, but I'm used to those looks by now. :) The best is when I go for a run and by the time I'm done and warmed up, I walk home for a few minutes and carry my jacket because I'm warm enough by myself and I get the most baffled looks from people. I can't wait for the day that I can throw on a tank top, shorts, and chacos and be on my way!
I really hope to travel some more before I return to the States. I have friends in France, England, some connections in Prague and other cities in Germany that I would love to visit. Hopefully my efforts to auction myself as a babysitter will pay off and I'll be writing my next blog entry somewhere else in Europa!
Gotta go do my 'Hausaufgabe' (homework), because, even when I tell myself that I'm gonna do at home, that never happens.
So, have a good day and I'll write again soon!
