My Name is Foreigner

(author's note: because I didn't have internet for the first week or so, I wrote up these entries and am posting them all at once. However, I'm resetting the date, so when I look back, I'll have a somewhat accurate timeline. So if the date looks off to you, don't worry -- I did that on purpose. :D)

And…day two comes to a relatively successful end. *Massive sigh*

Today I:

·         Took the bitties (Daniel and Elsa) to “school” (daycare, really, but one that looks and feels like a nice private school)

·         Went to Ikea and Aldi – the second time for both, actually. We went the first day, but I was still so tired that it was all a blur. Aldi isn’t like in the States – it’s swanky. Like, all kinds of organic and fresh fruits, veggies and meats, a huge selection of cheeses, and all of the packaging is a) different “brands” than in the states, and b) much nicer looking. Ikea (they say it “ay-kay-ya” here, instead of “eye-key-ya”) is… overwhelming. It’s like the store of the future, where everything is mass-produced and yet somehow doesn’t really look cheap, and they seriously sell everything. I mean, if you think Wal-Mart sells everything, think again. This is like Wal-Mart meets J.C. Penny meets Lowes meets the corner grocery. It’s a little disconcerting because everything looks new, and more than that as if it’s supposed to look new for forever. Like a dystopia! That’s what it feels like – that sort of dystopia that looks like a utopia until you’ve read a few chapters. :D

·         Tried real German sausage for the first time. It was ok – Anna said it wasn’t very good sausage.

·         Embarrassed myself with language kerfuffles. It’s irritating to be able to express myself so well in English and know exactly the right word to use, but to be relegated to near baby-speech because my vocabulary is so limited.

·         Tried going to a community choir and couldn’t understand a single word of what was going on. Well, except for musical terms. Fortissimo, Pianissimo, legato…I was fine with that. Dad teased me that I knew the Italian, but not the German? Sure, I said, but I’ve had 7+ years to learn the musical terms! It was kind of fun, and I really have missed singing in a choir. I’m still trying to decide if I want to go back – the director asked me what part I sang, and when I said “alto” I could see him lose interest. There are about 53 altos in the choir already. “We are very… selective,” he told me. He said I could audition and everything, but I didn’t get the impression that he held much hope. We’ll see. If my German improves so that I don’t have to sight-read both the words and the music, I may go back.

·         Found my way home from the choir alone. *cheers* It was only about eight blocks but I hadn’t really been paying attention on the way there, and I had a few moments of second-guessing myself. But I only actually made one wrong turn and realized my mistake within a block. It helped that Anna had pointed out some landmarks on the way there – twins live in that house, there’s an American steakhouse, that building looks like it belongs on a beach, that’s a high school… Still, I felt very accomplished. It bodes well, I think.

·         Skyped with the family real quick. I had to get off soon because it was late here and I didn’t want to wake the bitties; plus I was on Anna’s computer. But I should have my own Internet access soon and can Skype more regularly.

And there were probably other things too, but I’m really tired right now and can’t think of them – and I’d like to do a bit of reading before I sleep. I didn’t realize how exhausting it is to simply realize that no one around you is speaking words you know. The mental effort of picking out and translating random words and phrases, and trying to build an idea of a conversation out of that thin material – I’m exhausted. Reading and writing English are definitely a luxury now. It’s funny how you can take things like your native language so for granted.

~Maggpie