Hanne

4 April 2009

Wow, I have only been here one day and one night but I can tell you one thing, it certainly feels different to last time I was here. I guess he obvious thing is that there is no snow this time. Actually, it is way warmer than I thought it would be. Yesterday Clara showed me around the inner city and I wore just jeans and my KB T-Short, didn’t even need a jumper. This morning it’s a little chillier but a thin long sleeve top seems to be doing the trick.

It is also different because I don’t feel quite so over my head in terms of the language. I remember last time, talking to Silvia’s parents on the car ride back home and just being mightily confused by everything, but when Clara’s mum picked me up I could understand all of what she was saying. And her parents said I sounded very German on the telephone. (I rang from my cellphone when waiting for my train at Frankfurt Station, couldn’t figure out how to get the pink T-mobile coin phone to work. It just swallowed my euro and smiled). Having said that, there are times I feel limited as to what I can talk about because I don’t have all the vocab I need, but so far I have managed to get by using only a few words of English. And it does help that Clara’s family make sure they speak a little slower so I don’t miss what they are saying because the locals do race through their words!

Yesterday afternoon Clara and I took bus number 36 and tram number 1 into the middle of the city and she showed me around. I also bought a German Vodafone SIM card so now it costs me 30c euro to text home, as opposed to the 80c NZ with the NZ chip. It is good that the NZ chip works though, it was a lifesaver for calling Clara’s house and also when Gabi and I couldn’t find each other at the train station (I went around the wrong corner). Yay for modern technology when it functions!

On the trip home we saw the weirdest thing while waiting for the bus though. This man turned up holding a life sized naked blow up doll. Yes, really. It was made of the same shiny plastic as children’s swimming pool toy, with erect nipples and a rather large hole for the mouth. So he stood there for a minute fondling its nipples then left it propped up against a pole. We gave each other a look and moved rather quickly to the other end of the bus stop. And Clara was quick to assure me that no, not ALL Germans are like that!

We also went for a bike ride to the Dreisam, Freiburg’s river. Yes, I rode a bicycle without breaking any bones! At least I am have made some progress in the 13 years since I last cycled. The Dreisam is where people here go in Summer to sunbathe, seeing as there are no beaches. It is kind of strange, lying beside a huge canal, but all part of the experience I guess. More about experiences later, it is already 1am here and re-jetlagging myself would not be such a great look!

Also, bis Später,
Hanne