Fun facts and observations

I thought I'd compile a list of all the observations/funny things I've noticed and learned about over the past 7 months. Some of these are just for fun, but some of them are more serious, in which case I ask you to remember that these are just my opinions of things I've observed here, and certainly not true in every case, or perhaps in any case.Here's the list:

• Germans have strong feelings against the name "Kevin." I've been told countless times that anyone who's named Kevin is a guy to stay away from. Apparently, Kevins are generally rude, stupid, ugly, arrogant - basically all negative character traits combined. I once heard, "Kevin is not a name. It's a diagnosis."
• This is the equivalent of Vera Bradley bags in Germany: http://media.cdn.impericon.com/media/catalog/product/a/d/adidas_acairline_bluebirddarkroyal_bag_lg.jpg These bags are actually pretty cheap, though, and are so popular that they are going out of style fast, and so the coolest people at school use leather messenger bags or even briefcases to get that ultimate European look.
• Germans are generally more worldly than Americans. American news broadcasters focus almost entirely on domestic issues, whereas in Germany the ratio is closer to 50/50. Germans just seem more interested in what happens outside their own country, and as a result are more knowledgeable about world affairs.
• Germans don't understand why Obama does not have a better approval rating, or why the November election was so close.
• At school, participation is worth a very significant portion of your grade (I'm not sure the exact number, but much more than then 10 or 20 percent you would normally see in the U.S.). Consequently, there is usually lively discussion during class, and most kids are eager to give an answer or share their opinion.
• When Germans leave restaurants, they usually say goodbye to the people sitting at the table(s) near them, even if they don't know them. 
• At grocery stores, in order to get a cart you need to put in a one euro coin into a slot, at which point you can detach the cart from the others. Once you're done shopping, you get your euro back if you return the cart and attach it to the others again. I think at some stores it costs two euros. In my opinion, this would be a great idea for the U.S., except none of our coins are really worth enough to encourage people to bring the cart back.
• The cashiers at grocery stores sit, and they are really fast. There are usually no plastic bags offered, so most people bring their own bags or baskets.
• I've mentioned this before, but the vast majority of water drunken here is tonic water.
• It's true that beer is often cheaper than water. 
• The German language has many different dialects and accents which are often vastly different from another. For example, the Germans from where I live (which is generally considered the 'normal' German accent and is what you hear most on TV) can hardly understand Germans from Bavaria. There is another dialect in Saxony, another in Hannover, etc. etc. People from Cologne speak Koelsch (at least traditionally), which is also barely understandable to me. Even my city has its own dialect, which isn't really prevalent anymore, but some older people here still speak it and it's hard for me to understand them. 

Well, those are just the things that popped into my head. There are probably many more little tidbits I could share but haven't come to mind. 

Deutschland Tour

2 weeks. 60 exchange students. 5 countries. 16 cities. My Deutschland Tour can not be summed in numbers, nor in words, nor in pictures, but today I'll attempt to describe the two fastest, happiest, most exciting weeks of my life.

We drove around Europe by bus - sixty teenagers packed onto a double-decker tour bus. It was always very loud, and there would typically be at least one person playing the guitar somewhere on the bus with people gathered around them singing along. The music selection ranged from your typical American radio songs to Latin American samba to old-school rock and everything in between. In contrast, however, the bus could also be dead silent, with everyone passed out in their seats from long days and long nights without sleep.

Occasionally we would crawl out of the bus, our eyes squinting at the bright sunlight (ha, I'm just kidding, there is no sun in Germany) and do the necessary "sight-seeing." I personally am not a fan of this kind of travel, because I find it very superficial and does not leave me with any real impression of the place we visited. I'd rather get to know a place for a few days than just stop for an hour to take pictures. There was a lot of this nonsense on the trip, which no one really liked.

However, we did occasionally stay in cities for longer periods of times. For example, we were in Berlin for three days, and those were perhaps the most enjoyable three days of the trip. Berlin quickly became my favorite city in Germany, and definitely one of the coolest cities I have ever visited. It was the first (and possibly the only) city that felt alive to me. So many of the cities we visited were indeed pretty, and made for great photos, but it felt like going to an amusement park and walking around the fake facades of buildings, half of which you can't even go inside, and it just gives you the "feeling" of being in an old western ghost town or whatever. It's not even that many of the cities we visited were "touristy" necessarily; they were just dead, like they only existed because tearing down these old buildings would "really be a shame," or for the sake of the hordes of Asian tourists streaming out of buses and squatting in front of the apparently significant landmarks to take pictures which they can later put in photo albums and tell their friends back home, "See this? This is important." It's all just a big misunderstood and messed up paradox that I really can't stand, but Berlin didn't feel that way to me. Berlin was certainly not the "prettiest" city we saw, as it has gone through significant reconstruction, and is at times modern and at times gritty, but never really old-world. But to see cars streaming down roads, the striking dichotomy of red brake lights against white headlights; people of all races and backgrounds and social classes pouring out of subway trains into the dark, rather dirty underground station; buses, trains, trams, taxis, bicycles, and automobiles streaming throughout the city like blood pumping through veins; people still walking around and about their business at midnight because a city this big and international and significant doesn't sleep, can't sleep - these are the things that make a city stand out to me. Berlin is a city that exists for itself, not for its tourists; a city that is significant and colorful and international; a place where things are really happening. At least that's the feeling I got.

It's hard to mention every highlight of the trip, because there were many, but some of my other favorite cities which I'd love to go on talking about but don't have the time/attention span to do so for are: Munich, Prague, Strassbourg (France), and Prague (Czech Republic).

Better than any sight-seeing, landmarks, or tourist traps, however, was spending time with 60 of my best friends from around the world. These are people whom I'll never forget, and the times we've had together will remain among my dearest memories.

Being at the top of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, and looking out over the country in which I had lived for the past 8 months, I felt a rush of accomplishment, pride, and success. I was on top of the world and nobody could bring me down.

Halfway

I'll begin this blog post with the obligatory apology for not posting often enough. Ok, now that that's out of the way, I'll fill you in with what's been happening in the past month.

I suppose the best place to start is with my 3-week internship at a local knife factory here in Solingen. In  my school, everyone in the 10th grade is required to do a 3-week internship/work-shadowing at a business of their choice. I could have chosen not to do one and stay home, but that would have been boring, so with the help of my host family, I got a spot a company called Wüsthof (http://www.wusthof.ca/), which is owned by a Rotarian. It is a fairly world-renowned company famous for its quality knives. I did not really work in the section where the knives were made, but rather where the parts of the machines were made which would later be used to create the knives. For the most part I would watch the employees as they worked, and they would tell me what they were doing, but occasionally I would be allowed to operate a machine myself, which was always exciting and a little nerve-wracking, considering many of them cost more than 100,000 Euros. What I most enjoyed about working there was getting to know the employees. It was really fun and interesting to meet "real" blue-collar Germans, not just the people I meet in the Rotary/school/host family circles. They were all extremely nice, interesting, and funny, and they were all very good at what they do. Perhaps they weren't the most culturally or politically knowledgeable people (I had to explain to one of them that the United States and the United Kingdom are two different countries. A few others asked me if could speak both English AND American. They were impressed when I said I could.), but when it comes to their work, they are experts. They did some pretty difficult things, too, that I personally couldn't get my head around. I also couldn't believe the hours they worked. Well, I suppose they really didn't work longer in comparison to most jobs (one shift was from 7am-3pm and another from 2pm-10pm), but their work was so repetitive and dull - at least in my opinion. I had a hard time dealing with that for 3 weeks. I can't imagine working there for years like most of the employees have. Your brain must just turn to mush. So, major respect to factory workers. I don't think I could ever do that.

Right after my internship ended, I switched host families. I am now living with the Fischers. My host dad, Frank, owns a printing house (I don't know if this is the correct English word for it, I'm just translating directly from German!) which prints all sorts of brochures, packaging, labels, etc. for many different products and companies. My host mom, Elke, also helps out at Frank's company. The other day I discovered she is also a great painter, and has some gorgeous artwork hanging on the walls at home here which she painted herself. Unfortunately, she hasn't painted for a few years due to time constraints (she says she can't paint at home because she gets too distracted, so she needs to take some sort of course in order to actually get things finished). I'm trying to encourage her to start again, because she is really good! My only host sister is in Brazil on exchange, so for the first time in my life I'm an only child! There are some perks to this: for example, my room is on its own floor, so I have a lot of privacy. I don't really like being alone down there, though, so I spend most of my time upstairs anyway. While I was really sad to leave my first host family, and I miss them, I am really happy to be somewhere new. Something about the new environment makes me feel like I can start all over - that I have another chance to reinvent myself , or rather, let more of my true self out that has been there the whole time. It's a difficult feeling to describe but it's very good, and I feel very, very happy! It's great to have a change - my new host family is quite different from my first one. They go out to dinner often, and to very fancy restaurants where it matters in which direction you place your knife and fork when you are finished, because you could offend the cook (that's how fancy we're talking here. So, not Nina's or the Ontario). They also have VIP season tickets to the Leverkusen soccer team, who are ranked 3rd in the first Bundesliga in Germany (aka really good), and also the Solingen Volleys, a volleyball team in the second Bundesliga.  I also really, really like their friends! Elke's birthday was on Saturday and they had a party, and their friends are just so nice and fun and lively. They all stayed until about 3am, and there was much dancing and talking and eating and laughing to be had. I also went running with Elke and her friend Sabine, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite people because she is just so funny and friendly and sunny. The weather was so beautiful - cold but sunny, with snow all around - and we ran through the woods and through fields and across streams as Sabine's dog, Freddi, ran ahead of us playing in the snow. It was so great. So, to sum this all up, I'm very satisfied with my new host family.

Because this is getting long and I have a life to live here, I'm going to end this post now and tell myself that I will write another one this week to talk about Karneval. Until then!

Christmas in Germany

I haven't written in a very long time, and for that I really need to apologize. I hope to write more in the new year, but I really can't make any promises. Anyway, because I can't fill you all in with every detail of what's happened over the past month or so, I thought I would go into detail about my Christmas celebrations.

So, the 24th was an early start to the day (and by early I mean 10am...my host brothers and I usually sleep very late on weekends/breaks...), as I realized the night before that I didn't have any gift bags for my gifts. Luis needed to buy a few more gifts too, so we went together into the city. After that we went to my host grandparents house to give them flowers and wish them a Merry Christmas. They are such nice old folks...I love visiting them! They ask me a lot of questions.

Later that day my host family and I went to church, but we ended up being late so we missed half the service. It wasn't too exciting anyway (was a really strange service...there was some sort of non-Christmas related play in the middle of it that I didn't understand. Something about bugs on a table I think. I was so confused). After that we went back home, and waited for my host aunt, uncle, and cousins to get there. Once they were there we enjoyed a glass of Sekt (cheap champagne) and then opened presents. In Germany they open presents on the 24th rather than the morning of the 25th. Santa comes while the family is away at church during the evening, and when they come back the presents are there. Magic! Opening the presents was a really intense and stressful (but fun!) experience. If anyone has ever experienced a Handy family Christmas, you know that we take a minimum of 2 hours to open all the presents. We open them one at a time, spend a few minutes giving praise and exchanging snide remarks about the gift, and then move on to the next one. The process takes at least 5 minutes per gift. Well, my host family tore through the gifts in about 3 minutes, and I was so stressed between trying to thank people for the gifts they gave me (and trying to figure who even gave me the gift in the first place), trying to make sure everyone got the gifts I was giving them and making any proper clarifications with the gift ("This is for your desk in the office" or " Sorry, I didn't know what size you were, so here is the receipt."), and trying to see what other people got. I didn't know what to do with myself! But I won't blame this on cultural differences, just on the fact that my family in the U.S. is weird and takes hours to open Christmas presents. Love you guys!

After present opening, we went on to eat a delicious dinner. It looked like this:

There were two little stoves like this, and you prepare your own meal on a small pan and cook it. Then there were various meats and vegetables cooking on top. Yummy!

We played a really fun card game and just chilled the rest of the night. I felt so happy on Christmas Eve - it was actually a highlight of my exchange.

The next day did not go so well. All the relatives from my host family met in one of their houses. There were so many people there, and many of them I didn't know very well, so I felt very lost. This is when the homesickness set in. But I survived that night and moved on, and I think that is enough to be proud of!

Host family + relatives

On the 26th we went to my host dad's parents' house in Hagen (which is by far the ugliest city I have seen here in Germany...it was heavily bombed in WWII, so most of the charming old buildings are gone. It's amazing how effects from the war can still be seen today). My host dad's parents are so nice, and we ate really delicious food. We also met my host dad's brother and his family there, and they had three cute little kids. It's funny how the 24th and the 26th were so great, and the 25th was so bad. Well, 66% isn't too bad, so I'm satisfied with my Christmas in Germany!

Thanksgiving away from home

Last weekend, several exchange students and I went to Düsseldorf to see Cirque du Soleil. Seeing the show was really an incredible experience. It is like being in a dream. It's very whimsical and colorful, and was definitely worth the 40 Euros I spent to see it - especially so since we somehow got seated in the 100 Euro section, which were front and center. I don't know why we got sat there, but we certainly weren't going to complain about it.

Thanksgiving Skype session - I am in the laptop! For some reason this picture reminds me of "The Last Supper."

The Thursday after Cirque du Soleil was Thanksgiving - but not here in Germany, of course. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I knew I was going to be sad, and that the typical exchange student "holiday blues" were really going to hit me. And I was not wrong. Thanksgiving day passed without major breakdowns - I went to school, had a pretty good day there, and later went to a Greek restaurant with my host family (delicious!). When I got home, I Skyped with my whole family before they ate Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice, and it wasn't until after I hung up and went to go to bed that I got really sad. There are some times when all I want is the comfort and security of home, where I have my friends and family and I understand the language etc. etc. But these moments pass pretty quickly, and I get back to enjoying my time here. Which, by the way, I really am having an awesome time here. Especially now that I have friends at school, things are just much easier. But it doesn't matter how well things are going for me, holiday homesick is just an inevitable thing I will have to deal with. So, I just need to trudge through this next month until Christmas is over and try to enjoy it as much as I can, and then I think I will feel much better as I head into the second half of my exchange (isn't that crazy? My exchange is nearly half-way over!).

Karneval and the new piano crisis

Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending on what time zone you are currently reading this in! I have been kept quite busy lately, and time is going by really quickly. It's really good that I don't have much down time anymore, because that means I am becoming more and more involved in life here. There always seems to be something to do with my host family, friends, or Rotary, and the time that I do have to myself is precious. This is the way to live - always meeting new people, always having interesting experiences, always having your mind stimulated rather than going through the normal sleep-school-homework-internet cycle that consumes most teenagers' lives (here, too, I should add).

Last weekend was a particularly busy one! On Friday I went to dinner with friends from school, which was great. On Saturday, I woke up early and went to the open house at Luis' school so that I could see his school and meet his class. His class was selling food to raise money for their ski trip next year, and I made all (or many) of the waffles they sold! I was deemed the "Waffle-man." It was a proud moment. Then I went to Luis' handball game, and later to see Skyfall in the movie theater with Manuel and his friends. I think Skyfall was good, although I honestly can't tell you because I didn't understand much.

Karneval

Sunday, I woke up even earlier (this is after having gotten home at about 12:30am from the movies, mind you) to go to Karneval in Cologne. Karneval is a holiday where people dress up and dance/drink beer in the streets (I'm sure there is more to it than this, such as religious origins or something, but what I observed was like a German version of Mardi Gras). I took the train to Cologne by myself, but then met a lot of exchange students from both Rotary and AFS (another exchange program) once I got there. It was interesting because my normal "crew" was not there, so I got to meet a lot of new people who I might not have otherwise spoken with. In general, it was really fun, although everyone kept getting separated and no one's cell phone was working, so I kept getting lost and spent most of the time looking for people. It was interesting, in any case!

Cory and I representing the U.S. I was a cowboy, and Cory just wrapped the American flag
around himself and called that his costume.

So, the final thing I need to update on is the new piano crisis. As quickly as it was granted (this is a joke, since it took me about a month to get permission), my permission to play the piano during my free time at school was taken away. I was in the music room one day, happily playing away, when someone opens the door. I figured this would happen at some point - someone would come in wondering why I was there, and I would explain that I had permission, blah blah blah. So, I recognize the man that enters as my music teacher from when I was in Class 9. This is slightly reassuring, since he already knows I am an exchange student and may be more lenient (I mean, I did have permission after all!). At first, he just starts walking towards the drum set behind me and doesn't say anything, so I ask, "Am I allowed to play here?"
Him: "Mmm, no actually. How did you get in?"
Me: "I have the key."
Him: "Who gave you the key?"
Me: "The secretary."
Him: "But you need a signature in order to get the key."
Me: "I know. I have one."
Him: "From who?"
Me: "Herr Rust"
Him: "Oh, then I need to talk to him. He shouldn't have done that. You are not allowed to play here anymore."
Me: "Um, ok?" I was really confused at this point, because I had already been given express permission to use the room, so he was he to be telling me I couldn't. "Why not?"
Him: "Because I keep finding things broken in here. See this microphone? I found it broken today. Of course, I don't think you broke it. But because of this I'm not letting kids in here anymore."
After me asking several more times trying to clarify, it was clear: I was under no circumstance allowed to come in this room anymore. He said I could stay for the rest of the bell, and then left.

Well, at first I thought to myself, "Ok, this is ok. There are other possibilities of places I can play." So I kept playing a little bit. But then I started thinking about how I have played piano my entire life, how I have grown up both physically and emotionally around the piano, how this has always been the one thing that makes me special and that I really loved, and now this stupid German music teacher thinks he can just waltz in and tell me I am not allowed to enjoy my passion anymore because some stupid kid broke a microphone. I just kept thinking about how that man robbed me of the comfort, the expression, the beauty of the piano for some trivial reason, and I was so, so upset. Combine this with the fact that the piece I was playing at that moment, Brahms' 2. Intermezzo, sounded like it was mourning the death of my soul, and I was so incredibly sad.

Of course I am feeling better now, but I now find myself once again without a piano, and desperately trying to find one. I am going to write the music school in Solingen about the possibility of taking lessons there and perhaps using a piano there to practice too, so we will see where that leads. And I told my host parents about this, and I think they are going to talk to the school and see what can be done, so the possibility remains that I could continue to play in the school. It was such a heart-wrenching experience, though, and I hope no one else ever has to experience the feeling of their passion, the thing that makes them human and makes them feel alive, being taken away.

Election perspectives from Germany

I have to admit, I was quite glad that I was not in the U.S. during the height of the 2012 election. The hundreds of phone calls from politicians, the mud-slinging T.V. commercials, the never-ending slew of predictions and projections and statistics and numbers, the constant buzz of pundits on television and the radio arguing about swing states and the electoral college and who's lying and who's telling the truth; none of these things were missed by me. However, I didn't totally escape the madness of the election. The Germans are also very invested in who becomes the next president, because, let's face it, the President of the United States is essentially the leader of the free world. And I will tell you that they all wanted Obama to win. I never met a single person who was for Romney. In fact, most of them couldn't believe the election was so close. One person said to me, "It's concerning that half of Americans are for Romney, because that must mean that half of Americans are really dumb." In any case, I still got blasted with news reports about the election, but for the first and perhaps last time in my life, these reports were all in German. I always knew that the U.S. elections were important for the rest of the world, but I really was amazed to see just how much they cared. Could you imagine if the German elections were reported so extensively in American newspapers and televisions? It just goes to show that the United States' role as a global superpower hasn't really gone anywhere. We still dominate the world politically, culturally, and economically, and I really can't see that changing anytime soon (I don't think Germans will wear Chinese flags as fashion statements like they do with American flags at any point in the near future...)