Deutschland

After graduating college, spending the last year Teaching English in Mexico, and still having no idea what to do with my life, I decided to move to Germany.  Ironically, in Mexico I met un chingo de Germans and I have been wanting to learn a new language and experience a new culture for quite some time.  So here I am in Schneverdingen, Germany for the next three months of my life....

Schneverdingen is a beautiful town of about 20,000 people, just south of Hamburg, Germany.  I live here with my friend Sophie, who I met in Mexico, and her wonderful family.  I don't know how I got so lucky, but my new family here is all that and a bag of chips (yes, I did just bring that one back).  Sophie's dad is a carpenter, her mom is a nurse, and she and her older brother Julian are both students in college.  They are an extremely loving, joke telling, sit around the table and tell stories, kind of family, and I already feel like the illegitamate, but loved, child. haha.  They have been very patient with my horrible German and we've had some wonderful talks about world issues, differences in culture, food, etc.



Initial first impressions of Germany.....Holy Macaroni of cleanliness!  When I say everything here looks immaculate, I mean it.  Schneverdingen was established in 1180, but everything is very, very well kept.  All the houses are in prime condition, every brick in the sidewalk is in place, every bush trimmed, etc.  I have also been impressed with the transportation system here.  Most families own one car, but the majority of people ride their bikes to work, take the train if they have to commute to a different town, and in general, are more concerned with environmental issues.  Additionally, the attitude towards work and the pace of life here are significantly more relaxed than in the U.S.  While homes here are nice, they are reasonably sized and suited to the families needs.  People work a 35 or so hour work week and then come home to spend time with their families.  There doesn't seem to exist the constant need to go to a child's basketball game, head to the PTA meeting, and excessive busyness that seems to be ever present in the American home.  Lastly, people here are much more worldly.  Whenever I meet a family friend and tell them I am from Nebraska, I have yet to meet someone that didn't know that Nebraska is in the center of the U.S.  The man who delivered the water today even went on to ask me, "It is very flat there with lots of agriculture, correct?"  No freaking way?!  My Seattle born roommate in Mexico had never even heard of NE.  However, maybe she will remember us now since we just kicked some Husky sled dog booty in the game!  Anywho....in general, people here are well traveled, speak another language fluently, or at least fairly well, and take time to learn about other cultures and parts of the world.

Being here has been a great experience so far.  In my future posts, I will talk about the new school where I will be volunteering as an English teacher, the difficulties of living in a country where I speak very little of the language, more in depth information about my kick a$$ German family, and information about my travels throughout Germany and other parts of Europe.