Hallo Alle,
(picture: Museum Insel)
ENGLISH
Every time I speak English I know its not helping my German. This is a little frustrating, as keeping you informed auf Deutsch would be very inefficient - like both of us using really dodgy telephone lines. I'm no native German, and neither are you (well maybe, and if so then that would mean wincing at the errors). I think its something a few of on the language course find too. We want to keep speaking German, but as the most flexible language we have is English, this has to take over sometimes. I'm glad to be living in a German speaking flat at least! My blog title refers to the fact i'm in week 3 of 6 on the Sprachkurs.. going fast!
NEW THINGS
So, whats new. I've bought pumps for three euros (immer leibe ein Snaeppchen!), sang acapella Les Mis in a choir (maybe a regular thing), been to the Musuem Insel (impressive and beautiful), and started to once more try and untangle what I can/can't/should do for courses online.
We have to choose our courses from the beginning of October, and I'm eager not to miss any more paperwork after such an incident before coming to Germany. Its all a bit mushy, what courses are on and how they might fit, but its slowly coming together.
I've met a family/new church(?!) from England I've been in touch with, who are planting a church here. It has been great to keep in touch with them as I've been searching for flats, so Nigel (and Clare), it was great to finally meet the family and have Sunday bible study and meet all the/you(?) people there (if you ever read this!). I'm still contemplating what I'll be doing in terms of a church community here. Lots of prayer darueber.
LIVING
Being in the new flat is brilliant. I got to learn a bit about German politics the other night, while Helena learnt a bit about English-Scots relations! I'm starting to connect up places a little, walked 10/15mins to the busy street of Karl-Marx Strasse the other day. My initial feelings of moving into this area were of feeling so alien, and just reminded me how narrowly I have lived, still live, might still live! I keep getting split reactions when I say Neukoelln to people, but I'm quickly warming to this little area I live at least. Every morning I walk out past the post box (check), out through the courtyard, round the corner past the shuttered student pub and little obilgatory bakery over the other side, down to the station, framed by the alley of trees down the little street (currently emrald green with the morning sun), passing a mum and child or two, maybe the hard drinkers on a corner or by the station (possible at any time of day/night, but maybe not quite then), and a jogger or office person, or a dog walker. I'll join the couple of students on the platform, and the not-sure-where-to-place-in-my-simple-occupation-category-system couples discussing something, often in Turkish (I think). I managed to get too comfy on the S bahn and go two stops too far the other day, so hopefully got that out of my system. I'll stop boring you with routine, it kind of mixes up and gets to free fun/chore/to do time post-language-class in the afternoon/eve. Who knows what uni routine will be like.
NOTED
Oh and pitures before I forget - I've put quite a few on facebook, not sure if I should attempt a more open source way of sharing them. If you want, go look there, and I'll try put a couple up here now and again.
I'm yet to see so much of the city, and really enjoyed our course trip to the Alte National Gallery. Its a beautiful Gebaude, and has some georgeous paintings and statues too, in their element on show. Its a great sight-seeing spot, and free to all museums there every Thursday 4pm onwards. I'll be back...
The choir on Wed was good, though its a while since I've sung for so long! Hopefully I can keep up the commitment. Its where uni is, so will probably try and stay down there on Wed for the eve rehersal. Otherwise its an extra 1h20 journey time.
Other than that, yes I've put a tiny bit of Denglish here on this blog, only because that is another taste of what its like living in a foreign country, with a foreign language. Maybe you recognise the tugging of two tongues in your mind, maybe you know what its like later. I don't think this year will be a total immersion in German by any means, but I can try wherever possible to use my German. It reminds me of a poem we did at GCSE by Sujata Bhatt about your mother tongue. I'm nowhere near as mother tonuge in German etc, or in danger of forgetting English from disuse, but it makes more sense now than as my 15 year old self sitting in the English classroom. I'll finish by sharing it.
You ask me what I meanby saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you do
if you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue,
and could not really know the other,
the foreign tongue.
You could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
And if you lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,
your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouthuntil you had to spit it out.
I thought I spit it outbut overnight while I dream,
મને હુતું કે આબ્બી જીભ આબ્બી ભાષા(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha)
મેં થૂંકી નાબી છે(may thoonky nakhi chay)
પરંતુ રાત્રે સ્વપ્નાંમાં મારી ભાષા પાછી આવે છે(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay)
ફુલની જેમ મારી ભાષા મારી જીભ(foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh)
મોઢામાં બીલે છે(modhama kheelay chay)
ફુલની જેમ મારી ભાષા મારી જીભ(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)
મોઢામાં પાકે છે(modhama pakay chay)
it grows back,
a stump of a shootgrows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins,
it ties the other tongue in knots,
the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,
it pushes the other tongue aside.
Everytime I think I've forgotten,
I think I've lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.
Sujata Bhatt, 'Search for my tongue'
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