I am becoming more and more established with my routine here in Marburg, and while I am excited about starting my research around the end of September, I have definitely developed some "separation anxiety" about leaving Marburg and all of the great people I have met here. However, I am grateful that I now have friends, literally, all over Germany who I can visit throughout the year, which will make travelling more fun and economical!
In the meantime, we have had some really awesome pot luck dinners with 20+ people stuffed into a tiny kitchen. We have some really great cooks here and these dinners have been some of the funnest nights I've had in Marburg.
Fulbright has continued to sponsor some pretty fun little outings for us on the weekends and we are all still taking advantage of all "little Marburg" has to offer. A couple of weekend ago, a few friends and I took a walk down to the Lahn River where a bunch of people had rented paddleboats. It was easily one of the most gorgeous days that we have had since we started our language course, and the whole scene was rather idyllic:
Later that weekend we had a nice little trip to Saalburg, the site of a reconstruction of a Roman fort which was built upon the original Roman ruins. We had an informative tour of the place, but first we got to play with some Roman weapons - specifically bows/arrows and spears. I was okay at the archery bit, but I know that my shot-putting sister would have been disappointed by my painful lack of ability to throw a javelin-like object. We also had a little spear-throwing contest taught by a staff member at the fort. Despite the fact that he led our entire lesson in German, he had no problem telling me how awful my throw was, saying simply: "Out."
Ouch.
Either way, I think it is safe to say that I would have made a pretty crappy Roman soldier (not that women were allowed inside the fort anyway...).
Here are some pictures of the reconstructed fort at Saalburg:
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Last weekend we took another little hike to some more ruins, from the Middle Ages. If I remember the few soundbites I heard on the way up, the fortress at Burguine Frauenberg (just a short bus ride on the outskirts of Marburg) had some kind of military importance, mostly because of its location. As you can see, you get a pretty astounding view of the entire surrounding area:
On the way down all 20-ish of us made a pit stop here for cake and coffee (this is really becoming a habit...):
The hike itself was really fun, in spite of an unfortunate "farmer stepping on a rake" incident. I basically stepped unfavorably on a multi-pronged stick while walking through the woods, and hit myself flat across the bridge of the nose/eyelid, narrowly missing my eyes. It hurt a bit, but honestly, everything is fine after some sugar and caffeine. The weather was a little unusual that day - like it couldn't decide to be sunny or cloudy, and when got back into town we saw some rainbows:
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My language course continues to be a source of knowledge, occasional frustration, and almost constant amusement. Our teachers (we have two of them) never seem to tire of answering our questions about random idiomatic expressions, German slang, and, of course, dirty words. We've managed to convince one of them to have our Tuesday afternoon class in a café, which is quickly turning into a survey of all of the cute places to "Kaffeeklatsch" in this little town. I've found that our Deutschkurs is much better over coffee and cake, my favorite of which so far is Pflaumenkuchen (plum cake - see photo above), a regional specialty of Hessen.
During one of our grammar discussions in a course a couple of weeks ago, I expressed my frustration regarding my utter inability to correctly remember a particular facet of German grammar and my teacher simply shrugged and said: "Deutsch ist nicht für Weicheier."
Essentially - "The German language isn't for wimps."
Touché.
....
It's about time to change my laundry - keeping my fingers crossed that I can get a machine.
'Til next time -
Ashlan
4 comments:
Deutsch ist nichts für Weicheier - oh no it isn't, especially if your mother tongue is English with much less grammar to worry about. Here are some more nice idioms you might want to learn (I guess most are not in a dictionary): Dünnbrettbohrer,
Warmduscher, Schattenparker. The last ones essentially also mean whimp, like Weichei (literally 'soft egg'), the first one refers to someone that isn't particularly bright/ambitious. They are very recent additions to German slang, but note that they are quite creative (if translated literally) and clean language.
I loved the Saalburg pictures - so many School trip memories, but they never let us shot arrows :-( It's actually a funny location to build a Roman fort. That hill is kind of a meteorological divide. Whenever I passed there by car and it rained (Saalburg is half-way between my parents' and the barn where my pony lives), all the rain and fog collects around this hill, and only a few miles in either direction it is dry or sunny. The Romans must have frozen their a... off during winter. No wonder they did not conquer any further northeast...
You will notice that both spring and autumn are much longer seasons in Germany than in Massachusetts. There will be a lot of foul weather now until the first snow - which by the way is one key towards understanding German mentality, which is a lot more melancholy/depressed/serious than the overall American way.
Have a great time,
Karen
Oh, Ashlan, despite all of the beautiful places you describe and all of the wonderful history you're taking in (let alone that KILLER-looking latté you're got there), all I can take out of that blog post is the image (in slo-mo, of course) of you stepping on that rake...
Ashlan - another fun read! Yummm pictures of fun food - and what a scenic place to stop for it! :)
Bis später,
Em
Ashlan, it's great to see you're enjoying your time in Germany. I trust that you're making a long list of things to do, and things to be careful of. On the latter of the two, I would be sure that Plum Cake and Forked Branches make the list.
The gang in the photo at dinner look like a fun group. No doubt with all of those Fullbright folks together in such a concentrated form your dinner table conversations are anything but boring. I can only imagine how all of you are in such a strange place, faraway from home, with a different language, and all new people. Congratulations to all of you as you seek to find your the most comfortable way to get through a situation that is both amazing, and challenging.
Kudos to all of you.
Stay safe, have fun (not necessarily in that order)
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