Gosh, the sun shone today for I think about the third day in a row. Absolutely wonderful! I tell you, I've never appreciated or enjoyed the sun so much as I do here. I guess experiencing a Berlin winter makes you count your blessings. Those golden rays make all the difference.
(My first ice cream since the summer on Saturday :) )
It's so funny because once the sun's been out for a couple days, you see more and more people sitting outside at cafes, drinking coffee and just hanging out with coats still on. And then of course the stylish shades, along with really cute boys wearing them, come out of hiding :)
But other than the sun making an appearance in our lives on this side of the Atlantic, I realized on Friday, that I've been here for 8 MONTHS! Crazy! That's almost a whole year!
I mean, it definitely feels like I've been here a while, but almost a whole 365 days, not so much. I wouldn't trade my time here so far for anything, though. Living with family and developing friendships with people that I probably would never have met had I not come here, has been absolutely incredible.
As some have already found out, I'm done with my German courses. I'm burnt out on learning the language for almost four hours a day, and since I'm only here for about four more months, I decided to use the rest of my time here to hopefully travel, enjoy my family and new friends and to give my brain a break before I start college in the fall. So, let's see what sort of shananigans I get myself into in the mean time :)
Yesterday, I started helping out at the German church I go to. I've been basically a regular attendee, and figured that since I like it so much I might as well be a help. So I was part of the "Welcome Team" and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Partly because all I really had to do was say "Hallo!" and be friendly and open the door for people who arrived to the service late (I know very well how that feels.) But I also got to speak a lot of German. I had to come earlier since I was going to help, and stay for a meeting after the sermon. So altogether I was there for about four hours, 98% of the time listening to and speaking German, which I honestly find very fun. It's SO COOL to be able to carry on conversation after conversation in a different language. I know I am repeating myself so many times on this subject, but people: SPEAKING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS SO AWESOME! It gets easier and easier the more you immerse yourself in situations and places in which it is the main language spoken. I always get a little nervous before going to church because usually I haven't spoken much German, especially when I've been home. But then it just comes when it needs to. Brains are cool that way, how they just say: "Oh, ok now we're gonna be speaking German instead of English so move in the new grammar and vocabulary!" hahah. But really!
Ok, hope everyone has a productive, exciting, wonderful week! I also hope that the sun will continue to shine in Berlin! :)
