The Great Return

For the second week of our two week fall break, I decided to return to my German roots: Forchheim. 

 

The two months I had been in Dortmund marked the longest I had ever been away from Forchheim since moving there in September 2010. So going back was a greatly-anticipated treat!  My return to Forchheim also saw the greatest reunion of Gemily since the Christmas 2010 split. 

Although the week went by all too quickly, I got to get in a little bit of all my favorite Forchheim things. I got to spend plenty of quality time back at Hotel Baptistella, playing cards with Gemma, visit friends in the city, enjoying some delightful (and appropriately-sized) Kellerbier, visit new places in Franken, and spend a day in my PJs watching TV (Bones...) and being completely lazy all day with Gemma. 

Our first order of business, actually, was to stock up on sustenance to get us through our ritual lazy day without ever having to leave the apartment (and yes, those are mini pizzas and mini breaded cheese bits in there. We like to keep it classy). 

If the excitement of it all wasn't enough, my week was topped off when my new winter jacket and purse were delivered on my last day. My excitement is clearly discernible here in my happy dance (hey, you'd be excited too if you got a 60€ Jacket and 15€ purse for a grand total of 28€, thank you internet sales!)

It was fantastic to be back and to get to see everyone, and I'm hoping it won't be too long before I get to go back again! 

a tribute to our barbed wire toilet seat.

As I approach my eighth month in Forchheim, I would like to take this moment to reflect on some of the things that have really made the last seven months so special. Now I don't want to go all mushy on you, but sometimes there are things that make such a big impression on you at first, but eventually sink into the background as part of normal life. You begin to take these things for granted, and forget how special they really are. 

To avoid making that fatal mistake, I want to reaffirm my love and appreciation for a very special part of our* life here in Forchheim by dedicating this post to our barbed wire toilet seat. 

I remember my first day in Forchheim. Giving myself a tour of the apartment. Wandering through the halls of the place that would become my home over the next year. I still remember the surprise/fear/shock/wonderment I felt when I first saw the toilet seat, in all its glory. I remember it as if it were yesterday. 

But over the months, I feel as though I've neglected showing the barbed wire toilet seat the gratitude it deserves. I've forgotten the impact it has made, nay, is still making on my life and the life of everyone who has had the honor of sharing in its splendor. 

Dear Barbed Wire Toilet Seat,

Thank you for only looking scary.

 and not actually being scary.

Sure, you're a little strange, but we love you because of it.

not in spite of it. 

*I generally only speak in plurals as everything here usually refers to both Gemma and I 

remember that time our landlords just bought us a 200€ tv?

Oh how times are always changing at Hotel Baptistella.  I've created this graph to show you the progression of my relationship with my landlords (otherwise known as Mama B and Papa B).
You'll remember a few of the highlights from previous posts: 

The broken oven is mentioned in my very first post from Forchheim

(that took 3 months to fix)

the washing machine discovery was worthy of it's own post

(a good 6 weeks before it was remedied)

But what's that you say? That last exciting event? Well, when they came the first time to help us set up our cable the first time, they took one look at our sad little TV (maybe about 13 inches...) and say they will ask around if anyone they know has any other TVs lying around we can use. 

(all of 2 weeks later)

Out of nowhere this morning, Santa Clause...er... I mean Papa B showed up at our doorstep with a TV for us. But no, not just another TV borrowed from someone else, but a brand new LED flat screen. And not only does he drop it off, he comes in and mounts it to our wall for us. So Mama B and Papa B are definitely taking care of us! 

Now if only we could get them to share their wifi.... 

oh hey, washing machine

So this is how it all went down....

---Flash back to Sept. 9th, 2010: the day I moved in----

Me: So, is there a washing machine we can use?

Mama Baptistella: ermm.... well, there is one in my apartment, but well... uh.... do you need to do laundry today?

Me: oh... well, I mean, not right now, but eventually.

Mama Baptistella: ok, just let me know when you need to do laundry. Just buy your own detergent and bring your laundry down to me when you need it done

*exit Mama Baptistella*

Me: ummm... so Mama Baptistella is going to do my laundry every time I need it done? that's awkward...

----Flash forward to October 16, 2010: 20 minutes ago---

Gemma's teacher: (to Gemma) are you ready to bring your laundry over?

Mama Baptistella: Why would you need to do laundry there? we have a machine to use any time you want.

Me: but... well, do we need to ask first?

Mama Baptistella: ...No... It's just in the basement, you can use it whenever you want, just not on weekends, because that's when we use it.

Me and Gemma: WTF?!!!!

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And that's the story of how we found out there is actually a washing machine in the apartment, free and available to use at our discretion, without supervision. So glad that was clear the first time. Well, at least I know what I'll be doing on Monday! Yay!!!

First impressions of Forchheim

I hate to disappoint, but if I don't give you the abridged version of my first weekend in Forchheim, you would all probably hate yourselves by the end... nobody wants to read that much and I don't really want to type that much.

I'll just let you know that, although she was almost 45 minutes late picking me up, my land lady got me from train station on Thursday (yes, the main train station that only has 4 tracks!) and brought me back to the apartment....

Ahh, the apartment.

It's actually pretty big. Unfortunately it looks like the 1970's threw up on it. I've already been to Ikea, so my room looks like it might actually come out of this century, but the rest still needs work! (Hey, have you seen the pictures?! Check them out to get the full experience: PICTURES!) Here are some highlights from the apartment (you can find PICTURES! of all these):

1. American flag bed sheets! I actually slept in that bed for 3 nights. I've never felt more patriotic.
2. the world's tiniest shower. But THANK GOD there's a bath tub... right... don't you always take baths???
3. Slanted ceilings in every room. You can't actually walk all the way to both ends of any room standing straight unless you're about 2 feet tall.
4. the fact that the oven is kaputt (that's German for broken.)
5. (My personal favorite:) The barbed-wire toilet seat. There are no words, you just have to see the pictures.

When I got there, my land lady told me I pick from one of two rooms and said the middle room would just be empty. Well... my choices were

• room with big bed, horrible desk, no way to rearrange, door to the patio, but no real way to decorate
• giant room with 2 twin beds, the world's ugliest couch (seriously), pretty nice desk, but just too big to work with.

So I peak in the middle "empty" room to find a cozy room fully furnished with a nice desk, great storage space and a sky-light type window on the slanted ceiling. I wanted that room! So after 3 nights of crashing in the super giant room I finally just ask my land lady "is it ok if I take the middle smaller room?" You would have thought I asked if I could trade her soul for chocolate. She could not understand at all why I would possibly want the smallest room. I tried to explain that it was just more comfortable for me and I didn't like living in a giant room. I feel like she doesn't trust me anymore because I like small rooms.

But I do love my little ikea'ed middle room! It's working out pretty nicely!

Today I had my first day at school. School actually starts tomorrow, but today was the welcome back teachers meeting. Yeah, one day before students come back, the teachers decide they should show up too. The meeting was in teacher lounge and I was quickly reminded of the German's need for order - my mentor teacher had to help me find a seat because everyone had "their" seat and you can't just sit there (mind you none of these seats are actually assigned, they just always sit in the same place). We got there almost 30 minutes early so there was a lot of meeting people, shaking hands and saying "yes, I do actually know German." I ended up sitting near and talking to a couple new teachers/referendar[in]

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HEY! what's a Referendar? Well, in Germany, to become a teacher, instead of 1 semester of student teaching, you have to go through 2 years as a "probationary teacher" or a "referendar" (and if you're a female - "referendarin"). Meaning these people are usually younger and right out of Uni (that's basically a Europe-wide way of saying "university")... hey, like me!

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I wasn't following the meeting completely because 1. it was hard to follow without being familiar with their educational system and 2. my teachers gave me their text book to look through. I think the text book deserves a post of it's own. I'll give you just this one example:

WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT NOT TO SAY

if you're traveling to the UK or the USA, you'll meet lots of people in many different situations. Both countries and their people are considered very polite. This means they are often less direct that the Germans.

The English are famous for 'understatement'. here is an example: (there's a picture of a wooden bench)

Accurate description: A very hard, uncomfortable bed.

English understatement: the bed is a little on the hard side

the section goes on to explain small talk, which is a completely foreign concept to Germans.

At some point in the meeting, I noticed they started announcing students names then going through their grades "English: 3, Math: 4, Latin: 4 - they passed" (oh, btw, in Germany 1 is the best grade you can get and 6 is the worst, 4 is passing) I missed the whole who and why part, but I thought it was an interesting technique. They went on to announce students by name who did not pass on to the next level, students who left the school, and students that would probably need extra attention...

at 5 there was a short break, so they let me leave. I don't have to go to school tomorrow, because it will probably just be a lot of meetings, rule readings, etc. So my first real day will be Wednesday, then I just observe for the first week or so before diving. At least I'm pretty confident in my abilities to speak English, if nothing else.