Okay, so it's safe to say that everyone (for the most part) is back at their respective homes by now. At least I would hope so, seeing as we left Germany last Thursday (everyone except Chris, who would probably be content to stay there forever).
I felt pretty dreadful at how I left everyone - we arrived at the airport around 6-ish and everyone was moving so quickly. I was obviously not going with Air Canada, but Lufthansa, to England. I watched as the group pulled on ahead, past the Lufthansa check in, so I really had to choice but to stop. Megan said she would let everyone know I said farewell. It was unfortunate I could not do it myself, but I had a feeling that we would not stop until the Air Canada check in.
I guess this is the last blog, to sum things up about the month I spent in Deutschland.
1. How can I go back to regular bread after living here? Honestly. Every morning, Nutella on stone oven baked, or sixteen grain, or French baguettes.
2. Clothes do not have to be washed after every wear. Or even after four wears. Clothing can last a very long time if you have very very limited laundry services available.
3. Living without a phone is not as difficult as it seems. Phones are usually the first thing that people set up when they move. Most people are semi - to permanently - attached to their cell phones. You can definitely live without one should the situation require you to. Or if the country you are in does not have the type of electrical plug you need.
4. Germany is ten times more romantic than Canada. I don't just mean the romantic atmosphere, what with the castles and beautiful forests, and such. I mean the people - definitely not the place to go if PDAs are not your thing. Even the eldery people aren't ashamed to grope each other, or at the very least, hold hands.
5. When in doubt, use your hands. You are in Germany and you speak mediocre German at best. I think 8 times out of 10, if you can't say what you are trying to, mime what you mean to say. It was almost always work.
6. European money is not monopoly money - it's just not as real as your actual currency. It's pretty easy to spend money when it's not your usual currency. That's usually how you start to accumulate brightly coloured flashlights, and hurricane cocktail glasses. €5 here ... €10 there ... it doesn't seem to matter that much once you've learned to stop converting.
7. There's no point converting. No, you probably wouldn't spend $6.00 on a pitiful glass of orange juice in a restaurant in Newfoundland. But the price says €3.10. So when the shelf price on your generic pot noodles says €1.10, and you're thinking 'I would never, never pay almost $2.00 for a pack oif pot noodles at Sobeys or Dominion', it's your best bet to put that thought out of your mind... or you don't eat.
8. Buses that run on time, at regular intervals of 10 minutes can only be truly appreciated by people in Newfoundland. Karen and I were waiting for the bus near out house one afternoon (another plus: a bus stop down to street from where we resided), and our bus was perhaps five or six minutes late. An eldery woman sitting beside us commented to us that the Number 23 was never on time. This is true, for te Germans, who, as a whole, are a very timely and punctual people. I think if you were waiting at the Avalon Mall and your bus bus arrived five minutes late, you would wonder why it was on time. Then we decided that Germans should spend a significant amount of time in St. John's to truly appreciate their own public transportation system.
9. A month is just long enough to get used to a certain temperature, even if you don't realize it at the time. I got into England and now I'm freezing at normal Newfoundland temperatures. Germany, you have destroyed my sense of hot and cold.
10. Having people who know the area and know what they are doing who can help you are absolutely invaluable. I think having Dr. W, Peter, Sandra, even little Mark along made a world of difference for everyone. We so appreciated having our own guides who could lend their expertise and time to us. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment