This past month, I got to see more of the closer towns and areas around Varel, including the Hauptstadt (capital of the federal state) Bremen. I actually landed at the airport in Bremen to begin my exchange, but I did not get to explore the city. Bremen is a very lovely city with many pre-war buildings and plenty of al fresco eating opportunities by the river. Fabiola and I ate dinner with her host mom and sister, and the next day some exchange students living in Bremen showed us around.
Fabiola and I only have two classes each on Wednesdays, so a few weeks ago we decided to bike to the seaside for ice cream after school. It only took us 45 minutes, and while we always had Google maps, the bike paths/routes to Dangast (name of the beach) were clearly marked. This surprised me, as we rode along rural farm roads and tiny residential streets just to end up exactly where we wanted, having taken a lovely and mostly traffic-free route. (Also, the beach is usually this muddy at this time of year.)
I’ve gotten to visit Oldenburg a few more times, and Fabiola and I accompanied her host dad to a conference in Wilhelmshaven for a weekend. We also went with our Rotary club to a nearby hospice, which the club will be donating a lot of money to. The hospice is quite known throughout Germany, and depends on funds: 50% from the government and 50% from donations. It was obviously quite a sad place, but they did a great job of making it beautiful and comfortable for the patients/”guests”. It was very interesting to learn about the philosophy behind the hospice movement as well.
My German has definitely improved since the beginning; I can understand much more than I can speak, but I’d say I can now small talk with Germans. My peers are starting to realize they don’t always have to speak in English with me, which they like, as speaking with me in English before felt like homework to them. I’m also quite sure my German is improving because I’m loosing my French. I tried to have a conversation with an exchange student from Switzerland (non-Rotary) in French, and it was terrible; the German words kept coming up first or I’d switch to German half way through a sentence. We were both laughing by the end of it, but I hope I’m improving my German and not just deteriorating my French this year.
My district requires me to work with Rosetta Stone, which I’ve been doing, but my host parents are also trying to find Fabiola and I a German course or tutor for us. It is difficult, as most classes are filled because of the refugees, but they are still looking. I think watching German TV has helped with my understanding a lot too; I have been watching a series called Orphan Black with my host parents in German. It’s originally in English – actually a Canadian production – and I highly recommend it. I can’t understand all of it, but I still find it to be an awesome show.
One of the few people who do not know any English is my badminton coach, an older man (but fierce with a racket) who likes to talk. This is fun for me, because I have to be a bit creative in order to work around the holes in my vocabulary, and he doesn’t lose patience with me because he loves to converse.
I have badminton twice a week, volleyball, and have joined the school’s rock band and big band. Fabiola is also in the bands with me (she plays guitar), and the other members are all very friendly towards us. I joined the big band only two rehearsals before their concert at the town’s Kramermarkt (town festival/fair), but the director insisted I practice hard and play with them at the concert. This led to a very embarrassing moment in front of many people. Excuses aside, I arrived fifteen minutes late to the concert and had to walk onto the stage two songs in, having missed my solo in one of the songs, and begin playing as the crowd tried to figure out who I was or if such things were common in Canada.
My host mom (Pam) has a sister living in Stavanger, Norway, so my host parents, Fabiola, and I spent a week visiting with her there. We drove up through Denmark and then took a ferry to Norway. The traffic was horrible around Hamburg, though, and we arrived too late to catch our ferry. This meant we had to stay overnight in Denmark, catch a shorter ferry the next day, and then drive for a few hours to Stavanger. Hirtshals is a small fishing town, which was nice to stay a night in, and the drive through southern Norway was very beautiful (although Rainer kept complaining about the constant 90km/h speed limit). Norway had many rocky hills and mountains, with tons of car tunnels. Around Varel it is very flat, so Rainer is used to going 180-200km/h on the Autobahn (no speed limits).
With Pam’s sister (Sue), we went mushroom hunting in the forest and crab fishing by the ocean. The two sisters cooked the mushrooms and made a very spicy Thai dish with them (Sue also made a traditional Norwegian meal of lamb with a sort of gravy sauce). We also visited a museum in Stavanger about vikings, along with another museum about the town’s local history. We were going to do a day hike up a mountain, but the weather was very bad, and apparently there was no view at the top.
Sue’s English was okay, but her husband’s wasn’t as good, so if he wanted to say something more complicated or important to Fabiola or me, he would say it in Norwegian to Sue, Sue would say it in Thai to Pam, Pam would say it in German to Rainer, and Rainer would say it in English to us. Sue has a four-year-old son who Fabiola and I played with a lot. He could only speak Norwegian, and he never seemed to realize that we couldn’t, but we had lots of fun. Now I know Norwegian for “swing again” and “now the other way”.
The day after we got back from Norway, Fabiola and I left for the Rotary-organized Deutschlandtour. I was planning on writing this post before I left, but there wasn’t enough time. I am now back from the tour, and while it was only six days long, I will be writing a separate post about it including lots of pictures.
Thanks for reading! Auf Wiedersehen!
Hannah
Varel - Deutschland 
Haha Hannah! Yes, being multilingual is tricky! In your brain there’s the English word, and then the ‘other’ word. My French disappeared when I started to learn German, but it came back eventually (although I never was very good at either, I know what you mean). I think you have to somehow compartmentalize your brain and be able to converse in English, French and German mode without mixing them up. You should take the opportunity to learn some Thai as well! Now that you have joined the school rock band, do you regret not spending more time in our garage? What kind of music are you playing? I assume you are playing keys and Fabiola is blowing them out of their strumpfhosen with her guitar!
Sadly we are playing mostly rock ballads, but we are playing American Idiot in honour of the American election coming up. Maybe I’ll try Thai when I can speak German 😉
Hi Hannah! Thanks for the awesome blog. With all your trips I’m amazed that you have time to write. Sounds like you’re having a fabulous time. I love the pictures of the old city streets. We just don’t have those here. Dad and I had a good laugh that you wrote you were “loosing my French”. Guess the English is going too eh? Fantastic that you’re in the band. That’s a funny story about arriving late. I remember arriving late for a parade for Loi Krathong festival. The parade had already started. I was in this long traditional Thai silk dress running down the city streets looking for my school float. I was the mascot on top. Ha ha! What instrument are you playing? Can’t wait to see your next posting about the trip around Germany.
I have a week off school now as part of the Herbstferien, so I’m finding some time to write 🙂
Hahahaha!! LOVE the multi-translation story. 😂😄xox
Hello Hannah et al (and Al)! I am finally catching up on your blogs. I had many laughs, just catching up on this one. Firstly, you write very well – like your dad – and you are very amusing! Secondly, despite the fact that Deb said she and Al laughed about your spelling of “loosing”, you are just like your dad! I have several emails of his that have “loosing” in it – and maybe even one with “choose” which was supposed to be “chose”. Typos? Apples don’t fall far from the trees? Freaky co-inky-dink? I think not! I miss you Hannah, but your blogs really make me feel your presence. Presents? Enjoy everything, especially the rock band! Marianne xoxo
Haha thank you Marianne!