My language skills after about three weeks here are... improving I guess? It is hard to track your own progress as a language speaker, because in the blink of an eye you're suddenly fluent. I can't wait until that happens. But until that day when I can understand everyone and express every thought I am thinking, everything is either stuck in my head or let out in broken, butchered German. School is still impossible but I am just going with it. Laugh when other people laugh, look like you're reading the text, and "smile and wave boys, smile and wave". One valuable thing I have learned at school is how to improvise--and that's enough for me.
Some things I find quite comical: smileys, weather broadcast, juice. I will explain.
Smileys- you will undoubtedly get a smiley in EVERY message you receive from a German. I guess they're just very friendly over text, I'm not sure. But that's just one of those little cultural things you have to adapt to so, :-).
Weather broadcast- I don't know why they even bother having the weather broadcasted here. 9/10 times there are little rain clouds over every major city on the map. They should just put one big cloud over the country and call it quits. So yes rain is just an accepted part of everyday life.
Juice- This is going to sound so weird and random but people here love juice. Not just any juice- Apfelschorle specifically. People walk around school with 1L bottles of it, which I find to be a very large quantity of juice to be drinking in one day. But I am not hating on Apfelschorle. It's soooo much better than apple juice.
Other than these weird things I have noticed, I have basically been living a pretty normal German lifestyle. On Thursday (Donnerstag) my brother and a few of his friends went to eat Döners. So now it is a "Dönerstag" tradition. And yummmm thank god for the wonderful Turkish cuisine.
On Friday I just walked around the neighborhood and then stumbled upon HEAVEN. The fact that there is a huge and wonderful department store called Kress 5 minutes from my house is unreal. After this discovery, shopping therapy is now going to be playing a large role in my ways of getting rid of stress. Shopping sees no barrier of language, and that's why it is such a beautiful hobby.
Saturday I enjoyed some Burger King and yes, it is internationally exactly the same. It felt good to be home.
Apart from these small adventures I have been having a good time living the everyday life. When I got homesick my wonderful host family provided me with s'mores and a stuffed animal of my dog, so I couldn't ask for anything better.
Next week I have AFS camp for my region so that will be great to see everyone again and meet more exchange students living in Germany! Until next time!
Jenna
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