I arrived in Jena after a long drive down the Autobahn. I was welcomed by Thomas' mother, whose English was even poorer than my sorry German. However, I was told that my German is already good, even better than some of the Turkish and Russian immigrants here in Germany.
It is as warm right now in Germany as it is in Manila, but the wind is not as humid. Summer temperatures in Germany remind me of Sagada.
Jena is very beautiful, and really green, reminiscent of photos of the French countryside. Jena is a bit my kind of town. It is very laid back. One can walk the streets barefoot, with no make-up, or dress practically in rags, and nobody would care. In the office, every day is casual Friday. People in Jena are deeply into sports and the outdoors. This university town prides itself with its glass and lens industry, and its share of intellectuals who call it home. If I would compare Jena to an American city, it would be somewhere in Colorado.
Thomas, me, and his mother at their summer house.Germany is in the midst of World Cup fever. People huddle in front of giant screens in town squares, or at homes, nursing beers and wearing the German colors, even when nobody could see them.
First part of my immersion. Thomas said that I needed a backpack, like him, with waist support systems and all that jazz. Then, he decided that I needed flip-flops. World Cup commemorative sandals were on sale. I wanted Brazilian flips, but he would not hear any of it. I decided to give in because I think he would have been offended if I did not buy the German team slippers.
Next up is our search for a bicycle. Everyone here goes around in a bicycle. Thomas asked me whether I knew how to ride a bike, I said, Of course! So I took his mother's bike for a spin. He almost had a heart attack because I didn't follow 'the rules.' Shit, in Germany, even children need to pass a test to be able to ride a bike through the streets! How anal is that?
"Thomas, you asked me if I could ride a bike. I said yes, meaning I could propel a bike forward. But you never said anything about rules!"
I got a thorough lecture about German road rules after that. I will get my own bike next week.
This is Julia Blickhan, my sponsor and a lovely, lovely woman. She is a Greek engineer and English language teacher, married to a German kinetic scientist, and the mother of Thomas's best friend, Marko. She is like a second mother to Thomas. She is grown-up in a way adults rarely are anymore. She is a very positive role model. The moment I met her, I knew that I met my idol. Everything for her is 'excellent' and 'ganz toll.' The next day, we went to a place called 'Erdbereenland' and picked and ate strawberries to our hearts' content. The guy who collected the fees reminded me of Dana Carvey circa "Wayne's World." Funny.
The next day, we were off to Deggendorf, deep in Bayern (Bavaria) and where Thomas goes to University. I was priviledged enough to join Thomas's class in a team-building exercise, in cooperation with the German Bundeswehr (Army). The class pretended to be inhabitants of a foreign land, with funny customs, and the Army guys were supposed to teach us how to build a raft. We were supposed to learn team building, and the Army guys learned how to deal with inhabitants of a funny country with funny customs. We did the task by the muddy banks of the historic Danube River. Toll!
German Army men tapping the keg, which officially launches the after-raft building party, which was scheduled deliberately before the German game against Ecuador. Portable TV and shitty antenna be damned, we had to watch the game. Germany won 3-0, and I never had so many estatic soccer fans around me ever since I dated a footballer in UST. "Sh-la-la-la, shalalalalalalaaaa...." However, unlike my ex's friends, they were mostly drunk. Alexa, Thomas' classmate, said that this is the first time Germans allowed themselves to feel patriotic about their country since the Second World War.
We got free German Bundeswehr-issued energy drinks, sunblock, and insect protection lotion! Cool souveniers, if you ask me!
The Bavarians speak with a funny accent, with a hard tongue that I have to train my ears to understand. Herr Ang was right; everything separating Austria and Germany is artificial.
My immersion into the language has been exhausting. My ease switching between English and Tagalog had me thinking that I could snap my brain into another language easily. Ooooh boy. After speaking to Julia for an hour in English, my return to German-speaking society gave me a headache. Sometimes, I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of German, and I could not help but feel myself innundated. The constant stream of German is a tap I can't turn off. I have consistently been told that I speak great accent-free German, and nobody could believe that i had just learned the language three months ago.
I have learned slang, a complete departure from the bookish, proper German I learned from my amazing teacher, Herr Ang. My "Ich weiss nicht" is now "Keine Ahnung," and anything unusual is "Kommisch, oder?" My partizip II (the German way of expressing the past tense) has been reinforced. Before I came to Germany, even if I was told that Germans rarely use the simple past tense in their conversation, I insisted and persevered in drilling myself on it. Oh well.
I will start re-learning German next week, in my new language school, and open a bank account for myself here.
As they say in Bavaria (and Austria), "Servus!"
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