Exploring Deutschland

The last few days here have been good. 

I’m still trying to adjust to life here. Jetlag has been one of the hardest things at this point.  Not knowing the language has also caused me a few problems.  I get so nervous when I go alone to a store or try to use public transportation. It seems as if almost everyone under the age of 50 here speaks English well (some people even speak it better than I do). But I still feel uncomfortable.  In Italy, I hated how people could tell I was American and would right away speak English to me.  I’m a bit flattered that everyone here automatically speaks German to me, but that has also been difficult.  It was embarrassing when I had to pay for my meal and gave the wrong amount of money because I couldn’t understand what the cashier said to me.  I also can’t read maps, so touring around has been a bit difficult. I’m starting to understand just how hard it can be to move to a new country. 

But overall, things have gone really well. My family is great. On Tuesday, I went to Mannheim, a city about 45 minutes from here, with Janet. While she was working, I explored the city for a few hours.  I got coffee at a cute café, took pictures, walked around in cute residential neighborhoods, talked to the lady in the tourist center, shopped around, and ate lunch.  It was a good day. I didn’t make it to the castle there, so I’ll have to go back another day. On Tuesday night, I went to circus class with Mareike.  Janet and I played with the kids and it was fun.

On Wednesday, I took the girls to school for the first time by myself.  It went pretty well.  I was nervous to drive Janet’s car, but I got to the school just fine. After dropping the girls off, I went to the grocery store. It wasn’t where I thought it was, so I had to pull out the navigation system.  It was helpful, but it was in German so I’ll have to figure out how to change that. I bought some things for lunch, but couldn’t read all of the packages. I got tortellini and was so happy to find prosciutto! I plan to eat like I did in Italy. J I spent the afternoon sleeping (fail!) and the evening playing with the girls.

After taking the girls to school today, I went on an adventure to Darmstadt. I went to meet Axel, a German student I met while he was on a mission trip to IU last fall.  I was so nervous to ride the tram.  I didn’t exactly know how to buy a ticket, didn’t know which tram to ride, and couldn’t read any of the directions.  Luckily, there was a nice lady at the tram station who helped me buy my ticket and gave me some advice. I was proud of myself for getting on the right tram and even getting off at the correct stop.

I met Axel at the station and he showed me around the great town of Darmstadt.  We saw some city buildings and went into the university library.  We also walked through a really pretty garden and played on the zip-line at the park. It was a lot of fun! Later in the afternoon, we met Axel’s friend Erika for coffee. She was sweet and I enjoyed getting to know her. Later, I got lunch on my own. I had my first schnitzel.

I got back to Seeheim just fine and made gummy bears with the girls when they got home from school.  We spent the rest of the evening playing. Tomorrow, I may actually unpack my bags and stay around the house.  I’ve enjoyed exploring and can’t wait to see more this weekend and next week.