Altweibersommer!
apologies to those of you who put up with my hysterics about the weather when i first got here. in actuality, winter has not yet set in here. in fact, the past few day, we've had something of an indian summer, or "Altweibersommer," in german. but whatever you want to call it, it's been great!
in other news, i met my first church-going german! the statistics will tell you that germany is 34% catholic, 34% protestant, 3% muslim, and the rest is "other"--read: not religious. (see, you learned something! who knew this was an educational blog...) but evidently, i had only been interacting with 29% of the population! that may not actually change, though, because i met--and, i think, offended--my first german christian all at once. she had mentioned her church group, casually, 40 or 50 times, so i asked if she'd grown up in the church. (i know, i know, i brought this on myself...) and i ended up explaining that i'd gone to a christian high school, and i think i caught her off guard, when i said it wasn't entirely a positive experience. but hopefully she's still speaking to me, because she's one of the nice, younger teachers at the school--not that there's a shortage of nice, young teachers, but it's still probably not a good idea to estrange people at this point in my career here =)
i'm only half serious, of course. like i've been saying since i got here, i cannot get over how freaking nice people are!!!! it worries me a little sometimes, because after working mornings at starbucks for a year and a half and dealing with grumpy people, who hadn't had their coffee yet, i'm not sure i remember how to interact with nice people! it's crazy. people i don't even know have offered to drive me places or to give me rides to school in the winter when i can't ride my bike, or invited me on hiking excursions or offered me books, candles, small kitchen appliances, and who knows what else. one of them even gave me a couple of houseplants, which, at the moment are my favorite things on the planet! they're sitting on my windowsill, looking all green and alive, and it just makes the room so much brigter and more pleasant!! (i'm thinking of naming them, any suggestions??)
as far as i can tell, though, most of the younger teachers are either married or in long-term relationships. not that i came all the way to germany to look for a husband or anything--i'm perfectly content to experience the country independently--but it does make one wonder about being the third wheel when hanging out. but what can you do? i mean, i could sit and home and be bored to death, but where's the fun in that?? besides, if there's one thing i learned from starbucks, it's Just Say Yes!! (don't you just love customer service training?!?) seeing as i have a hard time saying no to people anyway, this isn't terribly difficult for me, and so far, my own personal Just Say Yes policy has been quite successful. i've met some very cool people, seen some interesting cities--well, towns, really, only one actual city!--but you get the point...
ok, more on the tourist adventures later...
in other news, i met my first church-going german! the statistics will tell you that germany is 34% catholic, 34% protestant, 3% muslim, and the rest is "other"--read: not religious. (see, you learned something! who knew this was an educational blog...) but evidently, i had only been interacting with 29% of the population! that may not actually change, though, because i met--and, i think, offended--my first german christian all at once. she had mentioned her church group, casually, 40 or 50 times, so i asked if she'd grown up in the church. (i know, i know, i brought this on myself...) and i ended up explaining that i'd gone to a christian high school, and i think i caught her off guard, when i said it wasn't entirely a positive experience. but hopefully she's still speaking to me, because she's one of the nice, younger teachers at the school--not that there's a shortage of nice, young teachers, but it's still probably not a good idea to estrange people at this point in my career here =)
i'm only half serious, of course. like i've been saying since i got here, i cannot get over how freaking nice people are!!!! it worries me a little sometimes, because after working mornings at starbucks for a year and a half and dealing with grumpy people, who hadn't had their coffee yet, i'm not sure i remember how to interact with nice people! it's crazy. people i don't even know have offered to drive me places or to give me rides to school in the winter when i can't ride my bike, or invited me on hiking excursions or offered me books, candles, small kitchen appliances, and who knows what else. one of them even gave me a couple of houseplants, which, at the moment are my favorite things on the planet! they're sitting on my windowsill, looking all green and alive, and it just makes the room so much brigter and more pleasant!! (i'm thinking of naming them, any suggestions??)
as far as i can tell, though, most of the younger teachers are either married or in long-term relationships. not that i came all the way to germany to look for a husband or anything--i'm perfectly content to experience the country independently--but it does make one wonder about being the third wheel when hanging out. but what can you do? i mean, i could sit and home and be bored to death, but where's the fun in that?? besides, if there's one thing i learned from starbucks, it's Just Say Yes!! (don't you just love customer service training?!?) seeing as i have a hard time saying no to people anyway, this isn't terribly difficult for me, and so far, my own personal Just Say Yes policy has been quite successful. i've met some very cool people, seen some interesting cities--well, towns, really, only one actual city!--but you get the point...
ok, more on the tourist adventures later...
posted by be at 11:49 AM
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