Regionalkompetenz USA, Weihnachtsmarkt, and Some Brownies

Having to go to work the day after Thanksgiving was such a strange feeling! After our Thanksgiving dinner, it felt NOT like a Friday and more like a Monday or Tuesday.

I went to work and everything was normal. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:45 p.m., I sat in on a U.S.A. regional competence course for students interested in going abroad, or actually going abroad this coming semester.

It was such an interesting experience to hear about my country from a non-native. I couldn't help but laugh at some of her observations because they were so true. My favorite was her description of Americans:

"They're just very indirect. Where we (Germans) would say 'Nope! You're crazy!' the Americans would say 'Oh, well maybe!' or 'You could be right...'"

 The students also asked me all kinds of questions about being from the States. I had discussions about classes (homework COUNTS in the States), alcohol (no, you can't carry open bottles of alcohol in public and most likely can't drink in the dorms), and about traveling while in America.

I had to leave early to tutor one of my tuttees, but I actually wish I could have stayed longer. I was fascinated! I also love talking about my Valpo/American experiences.

I tutored my tuttee for our normal hour, and then I met a few friends downtown. The Christmas market is up and running and we walked through it for the first time.

Reutlingen Weihnachtsmarkt

The market was nice! I got a rotwurst, tried some of the Glühwein, and ate a delicious waffle with Nutella.

The food was great, and I cannot wait to get a closer look at some of the other products that they're selling in the market.

Later in the evening, I ha gotten into my pjs a bit early and was watching a movie when I got a call from Chris - I ended up heading upstairs with some tea to hang out with Julia, Chris, and Joe for a little bit. Julia made her fantastic brownies :) Overall, a fantastic and relaxing night with friends.

Filmabend - Movie Night

I went to my first German meeting today! I went with Karin and Angela to learn more about the StudentPlus part of the Reutlingen University website and to meet the people who take care of that part of the site.
 
The entire meeting was in German. It was great to be a part of this setting here in Germany! I also got to meet one of the higher-ups of the university. Understanding how this portion of the work world works in a foreign country will definitely come in handy when I get back home and find a job.
 
About 1/2 hour after the meeting began, I was allowed to go back to the office, as the discussion did not really pertain to me. Less than a half hour later, Angela came to the office to get me to come back - apparently Gus wanted to explain how the site has changed since last semester and it was "only going to take 10 minutes."
 
Over an hour and a half later, we finished the meeting and I was mentally exhausted. I was doing really well with keeping up with the German being spoken around me. Then, my brain felt like it was slowly shutting down because I had to constantly translate everything in my head. The meeting was great for me to be at because I was able to see how the German meeting situation worked, but it was also great because it was like a listening exercise for me.
 
My two hour break was spent napping, eating, and figuring out the bedding problem - RIO received the wrong order from the company we usually order the bedding that we sell to the students.
 
Once I was back in the office, I continued my shift. Today was another busier-than-normal day. Now that there are more students on campus, we are having more office traffic. There was a student who came into the office who will be working for the university, and Herr Veit requested that I help him with his paperwork for the Reutlingen University HR office. It was paperwork I had done recently, so I remembered what most everything was.
 
Around 3:30, I met Tobias to set up the Wurm Saal for the German Filmabend, or movie night.
 
Once that was done, I decided to stop by the Volksbank to use my new debit card for the first time! Unfortunately, that did not work out so well for me. I put the card in and, after putting in my pin and requesting 20 Euros, was told that something was wrong with my card and it was not return it to me. I had to go in and talk to someone and found out, after waiting for about a half hour, that there was a problem with the machine and it was not going to be returned to me today. In fact, they closed the bank early because of a problem with their computers that I, apparently, discovered. Sigh.
 
Everything was fine, though. I got 20 Euros from my account from the man who helped me and headed to Edeka and Pennymarkt. My fridge was nearly empty, and the trip was really necessary.
 
I made a brat for dinner, and also grilled some onions and yellow peppers. As I was walking back to my room with my dinner, I saw Professor Thorston waiting outside for me to let him into the Wurm Saal! I was really confused as to why he was there about an hour before the movie was supposed to start, but I let him in and helped him set up.
 
As we were setting up, I mentioned I was going to go eat my dinner, when students began to walk in. I looked at my clock and realized it was way later than I thought. The movie was supposed to start in 10 minutes! I ran to grab my brat, and proceeded to watch the movie with about 15 other international students.
 
The movie was great! Well, what I saw so far was great. Thorston paused the movie every few minutes to explain what was going on. He asked if I could translate for the students who did not speak very good German, and we made a pretty good team! I enjoyed translating what I knew for the students around me. There were some things that I think a few students knew better than me, but that is okay. :)
 
The movie (titled "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex") was taking forever with a German and English explanation every few minutes. The Wurm Saal was also getting extremely cold and I was huddled under my jacket! We watched about an hour and a half of the movie, and then Thorston stopped the film and explained that we had finished the first half of the movie and that he was going to let us go home, as it was freezing and we still had about an hour left. I'm going to have to figure out where to watch the rest of this movie sometime, because it was really good! It was about Germany in the late '60's and early '70's and the students' revolution.

Tammi had invited me to hang out in the basement that night, and I went to enjoy their company. I met the new guy from Sheffield, named Peri, and he seemed nice.
 
I really wish that I could turn the heat on in my room on nights like this! It was freezing.

So Many Things to Be Grateful For

Today was more of the same in the office. I really enjoy my 2 hour lunch break! It gives me enough time to make myself some food, take a quick power nap, and head back to the office.

I had a wonderful chat with one of my co-workers before I left the office early (there was nothing for me to do, whatttt!?). It was during this conversation that I realized where some of my difficulties with the German language skills lie. 

Yes, part of it is vocabulary that has been lost during the time I have not been using my German, but the other part is something my co-worker, a native English-speaker, pointed out: the Schwabisch accent! Four of my co-workers have an accent that causes their German to be different than what I am used to, on top of the fact that I have not spoken the language in a while. I noticed that today when I was speaking with the newest full-time member of the RIO team, who speaks the "high German" I learned in school, that it was easier for me to catch on to what he was saying. This conversation with my co-worker was a good one to have - basically she told me not to give up and that things would get easier, which is nice to hear.

Since I got out of the office early and the weather was sunny, blue-skied, and warm, I decided to do something outside. A bike ride was in order - the maiden voyage of my new bike!

I decided to ride on some trails around the university. There were plenty of people enjoying the day, just as I was. People of all ages were practicing on the numerous soccer fields available, a small family rode their bikes, there was a really sweet older couple riding on their motor scooters, and so many others.

                             

 

 The beautiful view I had from the trails.

 

Everything was going great. I was taking some beautiful pictures and enjoying the day when I heard a loud pop; about halfway through my route, my tire popped on me! Despite this inconvenient incident, I remained in good spirits because the rest of my day had gone so well. I walked my bike back to the storage shed and plan to talk to my Hausmeister.

I decided to go grocery shopping again after my ride. The grocery stores, or most stores for that matter, are not open on Sundays, so I wanted to be prepared and not scrambling tomorrow! I got the ingredients to make some of the no-bake cookies that my roommate Amy and I enjoyed so many times the last time I was in Reutlingen. I ended up using this recipe for Preachers Cookies.

I generally go to AllRecipes.com for my recipes. You can change the serving size of the recipe you are making and the site will convert measurements of ingredients to the metric system. This latter part is vital in Germany, as all measuring utensils here are in metric units (units that almost every other country uses except for the US!). The cookies turned out great!

Before I ate my cookies, though, I had a light dinner. I decided to chop up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella balls to make a salad. I bought some salad dressing at the store today to compliment my salad and also sprinkled some basil on top. Yum!

Other than that, I have been relaxing and enjoying the night with a nice glass of white Schwabisch wine, while keeping up with Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Well, kind of relaxing. A suddenly-missing bug (it was there one minute, gone the next, and has to still be in my room somewhere...) has me on the edge of the seat, while another is buzzing sporadically around my head. German windows need screens!

This down time tonight has given me time to reflect on the last few days. Despite the problems that I have encountered, I have so much to be grateful for. Lesson learned? Not everything is in my control; if something goes wrong, there is always a solution, whether I see it right away or not. By the time I come home, I will have so many great memories that will outshine any of the bad ones that I might have.