Wordplay

While learning German certainly has its ups and downs, lately I have discovered how entertaining language exchange can be. My terrible pronunciation and lack of vocabulary have, believe it or not, served as an icebreaker in many situations. The most prominent example of this is my constant battle with the German "r". This is a running joke with my host family, as they find my inability to pronounce this letter (which, ironically, occurs three times in their last name) quite humorous. At the same time, however, the enjoyment is not completely one-sided--last weekend, my host mother accidentally translated the song title "Der Mann im Mond" (The Man in the Moon) into "The Man in the Moose"--a translation from which her daughters and I derived much entertainment. 

It is these experiences, however, that make learning a language (and a culture) so much fun. It is always a give-and-take; I introduce an aspect of American culture, and they introduce an aspect of Austrian culture. I teach them pig latin; they teach me B-Sprache (the German equivalent). I offer to teach them how to make chocolate chip cookies; they offer to teach me how to make traditional Austrian dishes. It is truly a neat experience to be a novelty somewhere, and to see what associations different people have with the U.S. One elderly man here was under the impression that Americans regularly drive to towns two hours away simply to go out to dinner. During a visit to my host family, my host dad started talking about the danger of bears breaking into houses in certain areas of the U.S., followed by a story of a survival skills course one of his friends had completed in Canada. Such incidents remind me of a saying that my math tutor used to have posted on his wall: "Everybody is ignorant, just in different subjects." But then again, who would've thought that enlightenment could be so entertaining? 

Short List of All the Nationalities for Which I've Been Mistaken So Far...

(1) Austrian (2) Polish (3) Czech (4) Australian (5) Canadian (6) French (7) British

Heimweh und Mehr

As wonderful and exciting as Austria is, lately I have been experiencing a little bout of that unavoidable plague: homesickness. While I have certainly experienced many things so far about Austrian culture that I love and admire, it is unavoidable that there are still certain things that I miss or prefer about American culture. It is in this subtle way that homesickness sprouts. A silly but good example of this: I miss free water in restaurants. It may sound like an absolutely ridiculous complaint, but honestly I think free water is probably one of the best advantages of eating in an American restaurant. In Austrian restaurants, if one feels inclined to order water, one usually receives a bottle of water, for which the price ranges anywhere between 1-2 Euros. As an avid drinker of water at restaurants, this can get quite pricy very quickly. I miss sitting down at an American restaurant with a large pitcher of water, hydrating myself with a couple of glasses over a good conversation before my food comes, and then drinking another couple of glasses with/after my meal. Ridiculous, you say? Just wait until you have tried to eat a whole pizza without any beverage in order to make your stipend stretch further. Alas, after all these years of free dining hall beverages I am finally experiencing the true life of a college student...

On the other hand, one thing that I do prefer about Austrian restaurants is the fact that one must ask for the bill--the waiter/waitress will not automatically bring it. This gives has the pleasant advantage of allowing one to linger after a meal and digest one's food while enjoying the company of one's friends--which can be a very nice way to spend an evening, and keeps the dinner from feeling rushed. Perhaps this would not be cost effective for American restaurants, however, since people like me would continue to drink the free water long after the meal was finished...

On another note, I have decided to include just a few thoughts about each city we visited on our trip last week:

Prague: Super cheap, super touristy. But definitely worth visiting. Even the Pope thought so--he spent the weekend in a building only about a block away from our hostel! All you need to know about the Czech language: tag a "y" or an "icky" onto an English word and you will probably have a perfect Czech word. Examples: Souvenyry, Turisticky, Republiky...not even kidding.

Berlin: Probably the most modern and the most historical city I have ever seen. Sound like a contradiction? Kind of. But the city had the feeling of always moving into the future, which I really liked...wish we had had more time here!

Nuremberg: An adorable and VERY German town. If I were to send a postcard from a German town, I would send it from here--this town was literally the epitome of Germanness. Or at least of Bavarianness. But it was a great town to spend a day in--they had a wonderful little farmers' market going on downtown where we were able to find two specialties of the region--chinaware and Lebkuchen (a special type of cookie). Yum.