After relaxing last weekend following the intensive human rights seminar with Network Migration in Europe and going to my first Catholic mass ever with Brandon, I got right back to work on my research project. I had three meetings on Tuesday with colleagues and professors, and I was finally able to connect with schools to do my interviews.
I have to get preliminary permission to get my official permission from the Berlin Senate Office for Education though, so it's still going to take some time before I can carry out my official research. Nevertheless, my meetings were productive and were in both English and German. I spent the whole afternoon at the Humboldt University, so naturally I took some pictures. :)
Tuesday night, I had dinner with some good friends of mine, whom I have visited every year since I have come to Berlin. This time though, we spent the entire evening speaking German, which I had never really been able to do fluently before. In fact, the night ended with me reading Wickie auf grosser Fahrt, which I guess could roughly be translated to "Wickie and the great trip"?
Their 7 year old son asked me to read to him, so I spent two pages reading German before he told me I was a tad bit slow. Haha. So he grabbed the book back and started reading out loud on his own...he still read even slower than me, but then again he's only 7. He also asked his parents at dinner why I wasn't embarrassed that I couldn't speak German perfectly as an adult. We all laughed. His dad ended finishing the last part of that night's reading, and he read super fast. :) Oh, and on my way home that night, I saw a small red fox crossing the street. Gotta love Berlin!
On Wednesday, I followed up on all the work I had to do after all the meetings on Tuesday. Writing emails and notes in German takes much longer, so I spent nearly the entire afternoon after physical therapy just working on those.
I had another meeting on Thursday with another advisor of mine, who is currently doing an fellowship program at the London School of Economics, but was back in Berlin this week. We chatted mostly in German, which I thought was great. I felt quite comfortable with it, and I find that the more I do it, the more comfortable I become just chatting in German. She did give me about 500 articles in German to read though, which will keep me busy for a while. Good to get plenty of background info on the school system and debates.
On Friday, I spent most of my afternoon at a school that I had actually visited two years ago. Since I have to wait for official permission, etc., I figured I would spend my time volunteering as an English tutor at the school. I emailed the teacher I knew, and she responded so enthusiastically. I'm quite excited.
While I was there though, we spoke all in German. 'Twas quite fun. The students she has are in 7th and 8th grade, so they were about 12 or 13 years old. I just happened to come on the day they were learning about the founding of the US in their history class, so I became the default American history expert. :) I get to answer questions about American history on Tuesday.
For this day though, the teacher said I could just answer personal questions, so I got a range of:
• How old are you?
• How is life like in America compared to Germany?
• How long have you learned German?
• How long have you been in Germany?
• What's Seattle like?
• What do you eat in Seattle?
It was quite fun, and I am happy that I didn't butcher too many of my sentences. And of course, most importantly, they actually understood me. Although I did have to ask two students to repeat their questions slowly. Kids talk super fast and often mumble/swallow words.
I made some new friends though, and one of the kids even said his high of the week (they do highs and lows at the end of each Friday) was that they had a guest in class (meaning me). Haha. I'm excited to return next week.
Then on Friday night, I had dinner with two old HIA friends, and we spoke in German most of the time as well. I am glad they helped correct some of my minor errors. Still difficult getting the cases, gender, etc. correct. Great to catch up with them again though!
Finally, of course, I had my birthday yesterday. I slept in, which was heavenly. When I woke up, I did laundry, ate breakfast with the roommates, made a few phone calls, wrote a few emails, and then met my friend for coffee. More German practice, which was fun. I think I've spoken more German this week than I had in the previous few weeks in Berlin. It's been great.
Then at night, my roommates and some friends took me to a great Spanish restaurant called Manuela Tapas. It was deeeeeeeeeeelicious. I had paella, which I shared with Ronny. We were so stuffed afterwards. Check out the pictures.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure what that last picture is, but it was the leg of some animal. Haha. After dinner though, it was about 10:30 PM, so it was time to meet up with other friends for some drinks. We went to a bar around the corner, and I had a stomachache, so I really didn't feel like drinking much.
But we had a fun time catching up, and after the first bar, we walked for a good long distance...all the way into Kreuzberg, which is the next neighborhood over from where I live. We did a U-turn when things did not look promising and just bought some drinks from a convenient store.
From there, we walked to the falafel shop across the street from my place and enjoyed 1€ falafels at about 1 AM. So good! The owner was so nice to us, and he let us into the back room, which was fully furnished with couches and stuff. What a nice guy! I think we made a great new friend.
I got home around 3 AM and decided to watch my Blazers play the Raptors. It was a pretty good game, and I'm very glad they won. I just woke up not long ago, and it's nearly 3 PM. So after a shower, it'll be time for some more work. All in all, I had a great birthday though, and thanks to everyone for all the birthday love.
Until next time,
Sam
1 comment:
I am glad you had a good birthday! You write so well! And it is nice reading about your adventures.
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