Deutschland!

I don't fully know what I expected when I arrived here in Germany, but I should really learn to not expect things any more, because it seems to be that things are never what you expect. (Those are my words of wisdom for the day.)

But I do know that as I see my roommate reunited with her family, friends and church family, it makes me miss mine all the more. I often catch myself daydreaming about my homecoming in June. Usually this happens when my head starts spinning with so much German, none of which I can understand. I know the best way to learn a language is to be completely immersed in it, but even though I've only been here for 3 days, I can still count on one hand how many German words I know. It does seem a little strange since I hear it so much. Honestly, the first night I was here, I had a dream in German...how is that even possible?!

I arrived at the airport about an hour before my roommate, Marie, did. It's with her family that I'm staying. Her parents speak little English, though I was told they spoke none so it was nice to discover they were able to talk to me a bit. They met me with a sign with my name on it and if I'm honest, I've secretly always wanted to be met at the airport with a sign.

We then waited for Marie to arrive, which took longer than expected. When we left the airport, they took us to a pizza place for lunch. My, it was wonderful to have pizza again! After that we went to their house, which is in a town of about 800 people. They have a very nice house and there is an apartment built on the side, which is where Marie and I are staying. They did a lot of remodeling in the past couple of months, so I got the tour along with Marie for the first time. It's very nice (and very IKEA!). There was a tin of chocolates on my pillow and traditional German Christmas chocolate-covered gingerbread on the nightstand...just for me. Her parents are so kind and generous. I could really not have a better family to stay with this Christmas.

And my goodness...the food! It's so good and there's so much of it! At Capernwray, you have to eat what you're given, otherwise you'll starve. But here, I'm overwhelmed with options. It's great :) We also have chocolate or some form of it every day, just about with every meal. I feel like I'm going to gain 20 pounds just being here for 3 weeks!

Marie and I have lots of plans to go to Christmas fairs, make Christmas cookies, build gingerbread houses, etc. in the next few weeks and I'm so excited for those things to start happening. In fact, I think we might make and decorate some cookies today!

But with all the excitement and fun, I have to be honest that being completely immersed in another language without knowing a lick of it previously is quite overwhelming. Marie is the only one I really have conversations with. Other people do know some English, but I can really only chat with them. This means that most of the conversations that I witness are in German. Of course this is all part of experiencing the culture, but when it is every day, at every meal, with everyone, it gets to the point where my head is spinning and I really just want to hear some English. It just feels a little strange to be the only one in the room who has no idea whatsoever is being said. It's also just awkward because I have no idea what to do.

So in the desperate hopes I will pick up some German very soon (knowing that I am terrible at learning languages anyway!), I am looking forward to the coming weeks and the plans that Marie and I have...and trying so hard to not miss home too much, though I don't really know what that means. Homesickness is definitely increasing as time goes on.

I do think this break will be a good time for me to reflect on all the things I've been learning over the past several months since there has been so much!

Please don't be shy in sending a note or Christmas card! I would really love to hear from you and how you are doing! My address is:
Alyssa Higginson
Capernwray Hall
Carnforth
Lancashire
LA6 1AG
UK

I'm sure I will be writing soon on my adventures in Deutschland for Christmas!  But if you do not hear from me soon, Merry Christmas everybody!