Thoughts about Germany after living here for a month…

I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like since I’ve moved to Germany, but I will try to update more frequently from now on. It’s just that so much has happened! And as of today, I’ve officially lived here for a month!

A part of me feels like I’ve lived here forever…I’m getting used to teaching at the school, I know enough people in city so that I’m never bored, I don’t get lost taking the trams anymore, and I can get around speaking German without feeling nervous that I’m saying it all wrong.

At the same time, I feel inadequate expressing what I really want to say most of the time when conversing in German, and what I end up saying never comes out exactly how I want it to. People make jokes on the buses that I don’t quite understand, but sometimes I laugh along to anyway, just because everyone else is laughing (haha). And simple things I do easily at home, like mailing letters becomes a complicated task, as I have to find out where to buy envelopes, stamps and where the nearest post office is.

So what are some of my thoughts about Germany so far? Click below to find out!

Thoughts on:

Housing:

Luckily I have my housing figured out! And I’m actually super stoked to move into my new place next week! The place looks great, it’s spacey, and although my room is unfurnished, I will be going furniture shopping this week, which is kind of exciting! I also have to say, it was only after I found an apartment, when everyone I emailed in the past seem to all reply to me to set up an appointment time…

Public transit:

Everyone is so friendly, and the buses, trams and trains are very clean! Back home whenever I take public transit, I feel the need to swear at at least one person. Usually it’s because a 300-pound person decides to squeeze into the seat next to me, forcing me to hug the window the entire ride. Luckily that doesn’t happen here.

Cost of Living:

I still can’t get over how cheap everything is! When I go to the supermarket, and see shampoo for 50 cents, and bottles of rum for 4 euros, I feel both extremely happy and suspicious.

Physiotheraphy:

I went to my first physiotherapy session today, and found it so much better than the place I went to in Canada, where it was creepy looking, and your trainer has a tendency to disappear every 5 minutes or so. This place, which was recommended to me by a friend, is colourful, and the trainer stays with you the entire time, which is nice. He also did this thing where he lifted my shirt up, and did this ticklish thing to the side of my ribs, which caused me to laugh uncontrollably for 5 minutes, which was very interesting (to test my muscles there or something! at least we know that I’m still very ticklish!)

Food:

I eat Turkish food at least once a week.

My job as an English teacher:

Sometimes teaching can be such a funny experience. Like the other day, the students had to construct English sentences using words from a word bank, and for some reason, almost all of the kids ended up with variations of the sentence: “I go to the cellphone in New York City yesterday.”

Also my favourite:

Student: “Was ist stereotype?”

Me: “Think of it with a capital “s” and no “e”

Students: “Ohh….Stereotyp!!!!”

Upcoming plans:

Next week is the beginning of my 2 week vacation, which is great considering how I’ve only started work a month ago! Plans include a huge birthday weekend (not mine!), Munich for Oktoberfest, and Amsterdam! Stay tuned!

And now I leave you guy with an awkward German ad: