New Year's Resolution

So, I guess this is part of my New Year's Resolution, too...blog about my life in Hanseatic Hamburg, Deutschland, and quitting smoking...again.


Because of the time difference (-9 hours to LA, -6 hours to NY), it's a little hard to keep up with everything that is going on in the good ole US of A with the exception of looking at everyone's Facebook updates. So, here goes, if you're interested....

My usual day goes like this....

7:15am - Clock radio goes off, German public radio comes on. Nice lady with a soothing voice talking about all the world's problems. German news is just as focused on all the bad shit as American news. I'm starting to feel like I understand it all. Although, I may just be still dreaming. I understand about half.

7:30...ish - Actually get out of bed. I try to get up with lady because it's the nice thing to do. And then we can have coffee and breakfast together before she leaves for school. It's really f'ing dark over here until at least 8am. So, it's really not that exciting to be up.

Breakfast - Normal German breakfast - Toast brotchen (like an English muffin), Frishkäse (Cream cheese, but our's is that and Goat Cheese mixed - amazing!), Mittelalt (Middle old) Gouda cheese, salami and cherry tomatoes.

(And, yes, that is Santa Salami that you see. AND, it's delicious!)


10am - 1:15pm - German classes at Internationale Cultur und Information für Frauen. It's only fitting that I go to a school with a ridiculously long name like Cornelia Connelly School of the Holy Child Jesus.

The school is awesome! I have classes 4 days a week with about 10-15 women from all over the place. Mostly from Turkey, but we have ladies from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, Russia and Sri Lanka. The other classes have other nationalities, too. Like one lady from Japan, a few Koreans. Our class is a great group. Everyone is super friendly and has a good sense of humor. Everyone else is married or has kids or has a man. Most of the people in the class are Muslim, but not devout. I've found that religious people here are pretty normal. Not too many holy rollers. So, I'm also not obvious....if you know what I mean. Freundin means friend that is a lady or a lady friend. So, people can interpret it as they wish. It's kind of weird to live in a technically Christian country. Even the Muslims celebrate Christmas here. I find it a bit odd, but it works for them. I've been told that it is just a cultural thing that everyone does whether they are Christians or not. Hmmmmmm.....I mean I wouldn't want to miss out on the Weinnachtmärkt either.


Technically, class is 4 hours long because class hours are measured in 45 minute chunks. I have 2 teachers: Isa (Isabel), from San Sebastian, and Beate, German lady. Isa is 54 years old, but looks like she's 40, and has boundless energy. She has 6 jobs including teaching us, working as a drink lady on the Deutsche Bahn (German trains), teaching Spanish at a university, German radio correspondent in Basque for a radio station in San Sebastian, and a touring lecturer on things.....I didn't really understand that part when she told us. And, obviously, #6, something else, but I don't know. But I do know that she said that she had SIX JOBS. I can understand numbers. Six - sechs, but I've been told to not pronounce it like SEX. That's something different.

So, can you tell the difference??? Six or Sex??



I'm happy to have a Spanish German teacher because she can't explain anything in English. So, we have to try to figure it out. There's usually a lot of charades involved. That, and when I really don't understand, then, I ask in Spanish. Sometimes, that works. Although, I'm finding that I'm losing my Spanish now that I am learning German. It's F'd. I can only try to translate into one language in my head. I don't know how people like Isa and my lady do it. Burgl is my new nickname for the lady - in the south of Germany you add an L to make it a nickname. Just like -chen and -lein. She's fluent in German (duh), English (duh) and Spanish. And she speaks some French....enough to get by...just like this cat.


My other teacher, Beate, is a little over 60, and happens to be friends with Burgl's parents. She's super nice and does speak English. But I only have her on Fridays. She's the polar opposite of Isa. Isa is loud, funny, energetic and always late. Beate is calm, quiet, reserved and always on time. It's great to have the two to balance each other out.

After school, I usually hit up Aldi, a cheap market that is by the school, or Toom, a huge market like Kmart. We have our usual things that we buy from each store...like Aldi has the best apple juice and toast brotchen, but Toom has everything. I'm really domesticated. I know.

2:30pm - Burgl-lein-chen usually arrives home. She works on her school lessons for the next day and I usually go on the internet or start cooking linner/dunch. Everyday, I'm searching online for jobs and just catching up with all the news (real news and FB).

6...ish - This is new for the New Year = Go to the gym - Sportspaß!

We finally got in. You have to sign up in a lottery every 3 months to try to get a membership. It's really popular because it's the cheapest/best gym in Germany. It's been great so far. We started last Sunday and we've been 5 times already. It's only about a 7 minute walk from our apartment. Convenience is key. We know that we wouldn't go if it was far. Just too easy to be lazy. It is pretty big, cheap, has a 2 saunas and a ton of classes. The sauna is just like this except no clothes and all the dudes let it ALL hang out. I haven't tried the classes yet, but I hear that it's really crowded especially for Yoga. So, I think I'm going to try some German Tai Chi or YoDo. And they do offer Strip 'N Dance. I'm trying to convince Burgl to do this, too.

Dinner sometime after the gym. Although, we're trying to not eat so late and get in shape.




We're going to try to do the whole Camino de Santiago this year. And we're going to go past Santiago de Compostela and go another 108 km to Fisterra, The End of the World. 5 weeks minimum. Who wants to join for the whole thing or just a part of it? It's amazing!!



My day mostly revolves around food. Thinking about what I want to eat, buying food, preparing food or eating or cleaning up after eating. Just like in the States. Shit never really changes...right?