...and it just so happens we did only have one night in Hamburg, you should be sure to hit up the Reeperbahn.
I'd heard about the Reeperbahn before, but we didn't manage to make it out last time we were in Hamburg. Basically, the street (or area, really) - which is lined with restaurants, bars, and clubs - is famous for going out. So when we drove up to Hamburg for one night in April, going out to the Reeperbahn seemed like the perfect way to feier rein two birthdays...
Oh right, back story. Katharina had her birthday in April, and it just so happens to be the same day as her sister's boyfriend. So quite spontaneously we decided to head up to Hamburg for a 24 hour birthday celebration. We would leave Saturday afternoon and come back Sunday night. Just enough time to go out Saturday night and then do the family thing (you know, plus me) for the actual day on Sunday.
By the way, to feier rein literally means "celebrate into" and is one of my favorite German concepts. See, over here, it's bad luck to celebrate/congratulate a birthday before the actual day. As one of my students told me last week: "I'd rather celebrate 2 weeks after my birthday than 2 days before." This also explains why there is a way to say "happy belated birthday" in German, but really no way to say "happy early birthday." If you do that, you might as well just say "I spit on the day you were born and curse your family" (ok, maybe not that extreme, but just don't do it!). But, with the ability to feier rein, you can get away with celebrating one night early and waiting till midnight to literally celebrate into the birthday! Just make sure you only wish a happy birthday on your way out the door, and not when you arrive. Genius.
But I digress...
The Reeperbahn makes for a great night out and a wonderful way to feier a birthday or two rein. For someone that generally does not like to bar hop or go dancing (or so I say in the daylight), I had a fabulous time trying out as many new places as possible and rocking out to the Backstreet Boys (yes, that really happened) till the wee hours of the morning.
I know you wouldn't believe it from my posts so far this year, buy I really do still live in Germany (although I do pretend that I live in Edinburgh when I visit). I've been surprisingly busy in the past couple of weeks. Taking spontaneous trips, planned trips, starting new tutoring jobs, and even occasionally lesson planning.
And all the while, I've been enduring sub-freezing temperatures. In fact the entire continent of Europe has kind of turned into a giant ice cube these days. And for someone who spent about 80% of her life south if the Mason-Dixon line, going into our second week with highs in the 20s (that's about -5ºc) is slightly disorienting. And while in Hamburg this past weekend, seeing people ice skating on frozen ponds was basically mind blowing.
Eventually (and possibly due to peer pressure), braved a walk across the frozen water myself!
Of course, I was terrified of breaking through the ice, Little Women style, the entire time...
But the point is, it's cold! So, if you don't mind I'm going to go hug my radiator and pretend I'm at the beach until further notice!
Aside from my first day at school yesterday and a quick trip to [a small town about an hour outside of] Cologne, I have basically been spending my time wondering around/getting to know Dortmund. But, if you remember (or you know, if you actually read) my last post, I have been insanely busy in the week that I've been here! That's because the exploring and wandering around Dortmund has been mostly due to the fact that I've viewed apartments in just about every corner of the city.
Before you get the idea that I'm being insanely picky and therefore not settling on any apartment I've seen yet, there's a few things you need to know about finding an apartment in Germany.
First is that what I'm looking for isn't just an apartment (in German: Wohnung) but instead for a WG (which is short for Wohngemeinschaft, a term that can't really be translated to English, but according to leo means "apartment sharing community"). This means that other students/younger people live there, share the apartment, but it's not anything permanent. Originally the idea of a WG was for people who wanted a sort of replacement family, they buy groceries together, cook together, eat together, spend free time together, etc. However, most WGs these days stress that they enjoy having a little more independence of each other.
Second, when someone moves out of a WG it is up to the remaining roommate(s) to find a person who would fit in well with the people and the overall atmosphere of the WG. Which means you have to basically interview at every apartment and try your best to be exactly the kind of person they want to move in. These are called "Besichtigungstermine" (viewing appointments)
And third, University semesters begin on October 1 here, which means there are all kinds of new students moving to town and looking for WGs.
I started looking when I returned to Germany in August. Luckily there is a very well-known website called WG Gesucht (more or less means "looking for a WG"), where people post open rooms available and you can email them. At first, I was proud of myself for sending 3 or 4 emails out in one day. I quickly realized that that would not do. Not at all. In total, I have sent over 80 emails, received less than 40 responses, of the responses less than half still had the room available and were interested in setting up a meeting time. But a positive response to the first email is not everything. Rooms can go quickly - when someone interviews and fits in perfectly, it's not uncommon for the WG to cancel all the rest of the Besichtigungstermine. I've had quite a few appointments canceled before I even made it to the door.
So far I think I've actually been to a total of 8 viewings. And they have all either said no or I'm still waiting for a response (I've been on about 4 since Thursday alone). They all have the same story about the amount of interest they've had. One apartment said that almost 60 people were scheduled to come view. So the competition is tough. I've also feel like I've seen every type of WG there is to see. Nice ones, bad ones, really nice ones, REALLY bad ones. As a result, I've also gotten to know the city really well. I know all the different quarters, the stereotypes of each part, and how to get from one to another quite easily.
Luckily my teachers have all been really helpful and nice about the apartment search. I'm living with a teacher who has a little apartment attached to her house. And trust me, I would stay there, but it's about 30 minutes outside the city in a teeny tiny little town, which doesn't lend itself well to this year's plan of making friends.
Right now I only have one more viewing left in the schedule for Wednesday, but hopefully some more options will pop up or I will get an offer before it gets too depressing.
If you know me very well, you know my response to "hey let's go out dancing!" is usually some variation of "uuuuggggghhhhhhh"
Of course, if you know me even better, I usually always have a really good time dancing if I ever actually go. (I don't get it either...)
So a few weeks ago when Gemma told me about 90's night at a club in Erlangen, I was less than enthused. But I knew Gemma wanted to go and I knew I hadn't been doing too much in the way of having fun or being social, so I decided a night out could be a good choice. Besides, 90's themes are always a good start!
Although, for the sake of cultural sensitivity, I will not comment on the style of dancing here, (suffice it to say I like it, because I fit right in... if that's any clue), I did find out that the 90's were, at least musically, apparently much different in Germany than they were in the US. I only recognized about half (or less) of the songs and the ones I did know would probably not be the ones chosen for a 90's night at home (not saying they were bad, just not same ones we would probably play).
They didn't even play Spice Girls! That one really upset me.
However, the inappropriately middle-aged creepers seemed to be having a good time dancing by themselves. That was definitely a hilarious source of entertainment.
