First of all, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous as of lately. On Saturday, I walked to LIDL (the near-by grocery store) wearing a t-shirt and chacos. Those of you who know me well know how vital this is to my sanity and happiness. Also, when I came back from our little vacation, everything had bloomed! There are beautiful cherry trees everywhere and the plants in the fields that I walk by have at least quadrupled in size and now have pretty yellow flowers on top of them. I just love that field--there is actually a path that runs through the middle of it that serves as a shortcut to the university and cuts about 5 minutes off the walk, but I am pretty sure I would walk that way even if it wasn't shorter. It took me weeks to actually walk that way because it rained so much, and it was just too muddy. Now walking through the field is one of my favorite parts of my day.
Sunday (as all of you know) was Easter, and it was a wonderful Easter. I remember the weather being freezing cold two years ago on Easter. Everyone at the sunrise service didn't want to go out to put carnations on the cross because it was just too cold, and that memory made this Easter even better because I was perfectly comfortable outside with sandals and no jacket :-D That morning I went with Diana (another international student who is from South Carolina) and her father to a Evangelische Frei church downtown, and it was interesting because I had a vague understanding of what was going on because I speak some German and I knew the scripture (the walk to Emmaus) quite well, but in general, I couldn't understand what was being said. Next week we are going to go to a Methodist church that has an English-speaking congregation--I think it's fascinating to observe a church service in German, but that is all I am doing: observing. I need an English congregation in order to actually be spiritually fed.
Later on Sunday, I went to Carina's house and had dinner with her family. It was wonderful--I love her family so much! We had bratwurst and fish, and this was the first time I ever ate a fish that still looked like a fish--it still had the scales and fins and a head and eyes and everything. Luckily, Carina's father was very kind and cut the meat off for me--I know, my new family spoils me :-D
On Easter Monday (which is really as much of a holiday as Easter here), I went with Diana and her father back to the church we had attended the day before, and we went through the church's Oster Garten (Easter Garden). It was very neat, and they had reconstructed quite a bit of the Easter story: the last supper (where we took communion and I had my feet washed), the Garden of Gethsemane, the Cross (where we laid down rocks that represented our burdens), and the Empty Tomb. I really enjoyed it, and I was very glad that I understood the majority of it (it was all in German).
Tuesday was the first day of class, but I did not have class until 6:00. It was called "The Migration and Global Horizon of Contemporary American Fiction," and I greatly enjoyed it. The professor is actually a guest professor who teaches in Seattle (but he is originally a southerner--like all of the cool kids), and I found it extremely interesting to listen to an American professor teach a class full of German students about American literature. The discussion was easily one of the most interesting discussions I've ever heard in a class, and I am eagerly awaiting next week's class.
Today was not as exciting. My first class (Deutsch als Fremdsprache: Landeskunde--Kultur, Literatur, und Sprache) was supposed to start at 10:15, but we left at 10:30 when the teacher never showed up, and I think that my second class might be a bit too easy for me, so I might change classes. This evening, I went to a class that I am going to audit called "Nakte Tatsachen" which is a nude art class. I decided to take a class that I wouldn't ever take at home, so I'm auditing this class, and I think I will also be auditing a class called "Transnational Queer Studies" which is taught by the same professor that teaches my American Fiction class. I think it's pretty cool :-D
Well, you are completely caught up on my German life (minus Prague and Kutna Hora--soon to come, promise). I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!
-Tchüss!
The view out of my kitchen window
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