Day 4

It's Montag, as we say in these parts. Well, they say it. I don't say much of anything because my pronunciation of their Mutter tongue is pretty bad at this point, although today my minor achievements were asking for a European charger for my Nintendo DS from a video game store, and ordering two Schnitzelbrotchen's at a bakery, both transactions in German. I've realized it's much better to be loud and clear and wrong then to be correct but mumble.

Anyway, Claire and Christian, my only two friends in this city, arrived home yesterday and it's been really nice to have their help getting started. I went and saw Claire's workplace today - an English teaching center - because it's a possible place for me to work after I finish this certification course.

My foot is healing up nicely - I can walk my normal speed again. Yesterday I ventured into the old city to see my apartment. The location is pretty spectacular - I'm right in the middle of the coolest part of my favorite European city.

Want to see my neighborhood?













































That last picture is my apartment. I live above a toy shop.

Everywhere in the town that I'll need to go to is, at the most, a twenty minute walk away.

The flatmates seem pretty cool, but being roommates in Germany isn't the same type of relationship as you have in the states - your room is kind of your apartment, because there isn't any shared space except the kitchen and bathroom. You don't really see much of the others. Sophie, the girl who I'm taking the place of, doesn't even know the last name of one of the girls who lives in the apartment. "I don't really know her very well," she says.

I kind of benefitted from this, because it's not a big deal for these guys to let a stranger from the US move in - if they don't like me, they don't have to hang out.

The room itself is massive! 22 square metres goes a long way for a bedroom. I have enough room to set up a bed, desk, dresser, couch, bookshelves, and pretty much anything else I want. The kitchen is also quite big, which means I can cook comfortably. German refridgerators are smaller than US mini-fridges, so there isn't that much cold storage, but tons of dry storage and counter space.

Damn - no tumble dryers here. I've never air-dryed in my life. Guess it's time to start.

Things I'm working on:

- cell phone: Claire has an American friend who is heading back to the States tomorrow. We were hanging out with him and looking at mobile phones online at the same time. "You need a phone?" Sam asks, pulling out his. "Here you go. It's no good to me in the States." I'll have to pay about 8 euros for a SIM card and then I'm set. Score.

- TESOL course: Signed up, paid up, starting my lessons tomorrow.

- Apartment: Paid the deposit, and I move in Wednesday of this week.

- Health insurance: I'm going to sign up for the same thing Claire's got. It's not that cheap, but you legally must have health insurance in Germany.

- Watership Down by Richard Adams: Anybody read this? It's one of my brother's favorites, and I'm just now reading it. It's pretty great.

- tutoring opportunities: I'm going to post advertisements in the student areas at the University for private tutoring. This is actually more lucrative than going through a professional center.

-bicycle: There are a few different ways to get a bike (and you need one) in this town: you can either buy a new one, look for ads for used ones, or "pull one out of a river". Apparently they get stolen quite a bit and then tossed in rivers. Don't know how I feel about that.

I'm still on a weird sleeping schedule from the time change. I went to bed at 11 last night only to promptly wake up, ready for action, at...4 am? Eck. I couldn't fall back asleep until 6, and then didn't wake up again until 1o.

I'm pretty content here, and as I learn more German and meet more people I'll only get happier. The weather is incredible - cool summer days, and lots of rain. Right now being here feels like vacation, and I'll bet that even when I'm working and studying that this is going to be a very relaxing chapter in my life.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures of the Neckar river that runs through the town. This is right around the corner from me: