Eingedeutscht

           Eindeutschen is wonderful word in German. At first I didn’t think it was a real word, but then I realized the English would be “to Germanize,” so that makes sense. It is usually used to talk about a word that was used in another language and has been Germanized. For example: shopping=shoppen (einkaufen) and download=downloaden (herunterladen). But I was thinking about how exchange students become a little “eingedeutscht”.

The other day I met someone new, and said I am from Kansas, but he still later asked whether I or my parents are German because my German accent was good. And some other people told me they couldn’t tell where my accent was from (while speaking German). Then another time I met some American tourists on a U-Bahn and talked to them in English, and they told me that at first they didn’t believe that I’m American because I had an accent. You guys, I have to focus to speak English! And sometimes I forget a simple word. And sometimes a German word seems to fit better to what I want to say. So here are some of the other things I’ve noticed about how Germany is messing with my mind.

 

I have to think about whether 3/7/13 is the 7^th of March, or the 3^rd of July.

In decimals, I have started using commas instead of periods (outside of math class), and write 1 and 9 the German way

I worry about which trashcan I throw things away in

I am unsurprised by nudity at pools/changing rooms  

There is=Es gibt, which literally translated is “it gives.” I have accidentally said this while speaking English

I really do like Sauerkraut. Especially warm. With Bratkartoffeln. And Wurst is a nice touch too.

I have developed a distaste and disgust for flimsy American bread. How have we lived with this?!

I have had several dreams in German.

People are always like, “Hey! Let’s have the American read stuff out loud in English!” and I’m thinking “Oh no. I’ve forgotten how to read English aloud.”

I can read and understand a public transportation plan (you have to consider they look completely crazy if you’ve never used public transportation before (aka, from America))

I started speaking in German to an American here (who can’t speak German) because I wasn’t thinking about it and it was easier.

 

             However, never fear that I’m going to come back wearing a Dirndl. I am definitely still American. To prove this, I have two pieces of evidence:

I CANNOT stand the carbonated water (Sprüdelwasser). Why someone invented this is BEYOND me. Ha, and the exchange program said we would get used to it. NOT.

There’s this food store in Stuttgart that I heard has a small American section, so I went to check it out and found POPTARTS! I flipped out. A lot. And ate two boxes worth in about a week.

So yup. Still American. Just a little eingedeutscht.

 

Etwas Neues

My program found a new host family for me in Stuttgart, which is only a 70 or so minute long train ride. I was frankly glad to go. Things were really awkward and strained the last few weeks with my host family in Heidelberg… there’s a lot I could say, but uh. It might not all be polite. Suffice it to say, things came to light and I’m glad to be gone. But it’s also weird, because I like them; I enjoyed being with them, but somehow somewhere things went bad. ANYWAYS. It’s not my problem.

But what IS my problem is that my trains are never on time. I have come to expect it. Let me show you my track record:

Magdeberg to Heidelberg—60 minutes late and therefore missed my connection

Osnabrück to Heidelberg—80 minutes late

Heidelberg to Köln—20 minutes late

Köln to Heidelberg—30 minutes late

Heidelberg to Stuttgart—20 minutes late

And considering those are ALL of the long distance trips I have made… well, that’s pathetic. Anyways, I felt very welcomed by my new host family. It’s definitely a different family structure, so I have to learn and adjust to the way their family functions. Duh. But I like it better here so far. It’s more relaxed; I felt a bit like a child with my other (ex?) host family and that they had a ton of expectations from me. But it’s more chill here. I like that.

My first day of school went much better here than it did in Wiesloch. In Ottheinrich (my old school), I was just given a schedule and set loose upon the school. No offense, but I felt so overwhelmed. Here I got a tour of the school and got to actually choose my classes, with a few exceptions. My schedule is so awesome; I get to sleep in most days. Woot! The people have been very nice; things have been going extremely well so far (I’ve only been here a week) and I’m glad to be here. I wish this had happened months ago, but at the time, switching sounded terrible. But now I’m happy to have this opportunity to try out something new (etwas neues) :) .
 

Switchin' it up

Things have taken a turn, so I’m going to get a new host family. Nothing bad happened with the one I’m with now; not really. It’s just we haven’t been as close as I would want and I still felt like a guest, but I still like them and think they were really nice and have had a lot of fun. Though in January, things were a little rocky and they (and I) had some concerns, so they contacted PI (the organization) for advice, which sent me an email explaining a few things and advising that I talk with my host family. I did, and I thought it was a really good conversation because it made me understand what had been bothering my host family. There had been a lot of misunderstandings because they weren’t sure how to read my body language and thought I should show more initiative. Okay, probably true. Just from that conversation, I got a lot of ideas and motivation for how I could improve my relationship with them and be more “active”, and since then I’ve been really, really trying hard to be more involved and I can personally tell that I’ve made progress.

However, a few days after that conversation, they decided that it would be better that I get a new host family. I was really shocked and upset and surprised and didn’t understand, but from talking to them, I think I get it now. Basically, even though we got along well and such, there are some cultural and personality differences that can’t be overcome when we are living together. They feel that I can benefit better from another family, and that there’s not much we could do to improve things here. I disagree on that point; I think we could still figure it out and be more like a family. But I do agree that perhaps another family would be better than this one for me. Thinking about it, I suppose we were kind of “doomed” to end up here from the beginning. They are very philosophical and “think deep thoughts” and whatnot, and are also teachers, so they are more observant and restrained and had more this goal to be my teachers rather than to be my parents (I think). They expected and waited from me that I totally open up to them, but because everything was so new, and German was hard, and I’m naturally a little reserved, I couldn’t really be myself and didn’t open up to them in a way that they could see and understand. So they didn’t really open up to me, and because they didn’t, I didn’t. Because they are such thinkers, they really over-thought some of my actions (which I admit may not have been so clear) and misinterpreted them very badly. Ridiculously so. If they had only asked… perhaps things would have turned out differently, because I had no idea what was bothering them. It’s really complicated and hard to explain, but that’s as simply as I can put it. SO, I’m sad that things didn’t work out, because I do think they are great people, and I like the friends I’ve met here, my school and teachers, and Wiesloch and Heidelberg. Everything here has been great, and I’ll be really sad to leave. I’m going to miss everything here a LOT. But my time here won’t have been wasted. I have learned a TON from this situation, and I feel like I can start up somewhere else with a lot more confidence and act more like my real self (which is hard in another language) and communicate more effectively. I don’t want to make the same mistakes again. At this point, I have absolutely no idea where I’ll be going and when I’m leaving, but I hope it will be good and that I’ll have a family that I’m more compatible with. This has been extremely hard, but I’m glad for the things it has taught me.