Kitties and Their Christmas Ribbons

"Mom went shopping, I get the bag!

Nightly Nudi Walk

Napping with the Duki

Me and my Nudi

Lover Kitty

"Ah! Mom's butt, nice and soft!"

Mom's butt warmer

Suki Prints

"Mom wrapped me up for Christmas"

"Mom's favorite present"

"Get this stupid ribbon off me"!

Nudi Water

Why mom always wakes up with a stiff neck

"Mom's clothes are SO comfy!"

Daddy and his Bird

"I the Duki- Monster"

Crotchy

Yesterday was Christmas. Tony and I were invited over to a fellow teacher's house. It was really nice. We had duck (me for the first time, I think Tony had it in China), red cabbage (Tony actually ate and YES, we both stink now), and Knodel.

The fellow teacher's mom was there. That lady is something else. Tony and I have named her Crotchy. Its short for Crotchety Old Lady. She studied in some rinky dink town in Indiana like 40 years ago, but knows EXACTLY what life is like ALL OVER America still today.

She started by telling me how horrible American schools are. Sure most American schools are probably not as good as they could/ should be, but I just felt like she was unnecessarily ripping on my profession.

After I told her that I'm a German Teacher in America, she looked at me with this really confused face and asked me where I was going to teach German and told me they don't teach German in American high schools. It took all of me not to say: " Yes, my university just offered a degree in German Language Education for shits and giggles, there really is no such job in America".

Then she started complaining about how badly Black people are treated in the USA. Yes, I know America has had and still does have issues treating certain groups of people with respect and equality. I just felt like she was pointing fingers without looking at the issues her own country has and has had. It took all of me not to say: "Do I need to remind you that your country killed millions of Jews just over 60 years ago". (And just for the record, I know it was horrible of me to even think that... which is why I would NEVER dream of  saying it.) She also tried telling me that things haven't gotten much better in the USA for Black people. I really wonder if she realizes that Obama is Black.

Then she started complaining about how horrible her host family was because they wanted her to wear Bobby socks and she didn't feel comfortable doing that.... she wanted to wear her knee socks. It took all of me not to say: "Seriously lady, they're SOCKS".

Then she told Tony and I how ugly she thinks American English is and how stupid we sound compared to the British because we use a smaller vocabulary. I just can't imagine EVER saying that to somebody's face. That would be like me telling somebody from Austria that I think the language they speak makes them sound stupid because its not German- German. What does saying something like that accomplish?

She ended the conversation by saying that she had encouraged her kids to go study in America, but none of them ever did.... she thought probably because she had said so many negative things to them about Americans. It took all of me not to say: "If you have the balls to say such ignorant things to two people from America, I can only imagine what all you told your kids".

It doesn't bother me that this lady had her opinions about the USA. In fact, I don't even disagree with everything she's saying... America has had and still does have problems, but seriously lady, you don't think the USA has changed AT ALL in the last 40 some years? Right,  because Germany hasn't changed at all in the last 40 years either. There's still an East and West Germany and you still use the Deutsche Mark. America is a huge country with all different kinds of people. I'm pretty sure that rinky dink town you lived in in Indiana 40 years ago probably didn't represent the entire country very well. I'm not sure any one place in American can represent the entire country.

At the time of the conversation I just really wanted to throw my Knodel in Crotchy's face, but now her ignorance is just funny to me! I've had SO many of these conversations with Germans.

It's one of those cultural differences. A difference that I sometimes find  hard/annoying to deal with. I feel like most Americans probably wouldn't sit at Christmas dinner and rip on somebody's country and way of life.

Maybe she could have said what she felt in a way that wasn't so offensive.... of course that too may be a cultural difference. To a German what she said might not be offensive. Who knows!

I could have in turn listed off a whole number of things that I don't particularly like about living in Germany, but whats the point? There's a quote I've found to be OH SO true after having lived abroad.

It is: "When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make it's own people comfortable."

I wish I would have thought of this quote in the half hour she was telling me how much America sucks!

Snow plow? Shovel? What are those?

 Germans crack me up when it comes to winter weather.  Maybe I just find it funny because I grew up in one of the coldest parts of the the USA  and snow is just a HUGE part of life, but seriously, Germans provide silly entertainment in the winter.

Example One: Its 40 degrees out and Germans have their thick winter jackets, mittens, and hats on. Tony and I get looked at all funny because we've still got flip flops and shorts on.

Example Two: Tony and I were waiting for the bus the other day. It was WAY late (as usual) so we stood and watched a man across the street clean snow off his car. This was the highlight of our weekend. If he hadn't been only 10 ft. away from us, Tony and I would have been laughing hysterically. It took him (NO LIE) 40 minutes to clean four inches of snow off his car. 1. He had a scraper so small I'm almost positive it was made to use on a Matchbox Car. 2. Instead of turning on the car and cranking the defrost or even just turning it on, he kept spraying this liquid crap on the windows and then stared at it while it SLOWLY only kind off melted the snow/ice on his windows. 3. Instead of pushing the snow from on top of the car off the side of the car onto the ground, he kept pushing it back onto the windows which he has just spent 10 minutes spraying with his dinky little spray bottle.... which obviously meant he once again had to spray and scrape the windows. 4. By the time he would scrape one side of the car's windows clean, the other side's windows were frozen again... so he'd get out the spray bottle again. 5. Heaven forbid there be one little flake of snow on his car. He went around his car to get every little tiny piece of snow off of the car with his little Matchbox Car scraper. 6. Then FINALLY 40ish minutes later the guy gets in his car and drives off without warming the car up at all. If he really cared so much about his car to get EVERY LITTLE piece of snow off of it, you'd think he'd at least warm the thing up for a little. It was like watching something from a movie... like from the Three Stooges or something.... Then after spending all the time watching the guy clean his car off, Tony and I realized that the buses don't run on holidays, so we'd been standing outside for nothing! Sure was entertaining though. I wish we'd have been able to film it.

Example Three: It takes them like 4 days to plow 4 inches of snow off the streets. That's an inch a day, I guess. It probably doesn't help that most of their snow plows are glorified four wheelers with plows on the front. I've only ever seen two "real" snow plows.

Example Four: The other day, Tony calls me into the kitchen to look out the window at the woman shoveling across the street. Instead of shoveling the snow horizontally across her driveway, she was pushing the snow all the way from her house down to the street (not a short driveway). When she got to the end of the driveway, she would struggle to pick the snow up and throw it. The funny part: 1. She was throwing all the snow in the street right where the plow was going to plow it right back into her driveway and 2. half the snow she was throwing was being blown right back onto her driveway.

Example Five: People just plain don't shovel the side walks here. I'm getting calves like the Hulk from walking in all the snow. Its murder on your boots!

Catching Up

So, its been a really LONG time since I've written anything on here. Not really sure if many people are reading this anyway, but for those of you who do, sorry its been so long.

Things have been going really well for Tony and I. I (Emily) LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my school! The teachers are great and have gone WAY out of their way to make me feel welcome. I love my students. I especially love teaching 5th and 6th grade. Things have worked out perfectly! Jesus knew just what he was doing when he placed me at the Schubart Gymnasium in Aalen. I've already requested to stay another year and Tony needs to finish he Master's, so it works out perfectly. I won't know for sure if I can stay another year until early 2011, but it sounds promising. Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

One of my favorite lessons I've taught was at Halloween. I carved Pumpkins with my seventh graders!



For more pumpkin carving pics. click here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175347&id=185005169&l=6bf053f4b8

Apparently according to the bus company in my town, my name is Emily Znkger.