Ich lerne Deutsch. Hoffentlich.

I am continuing my quest to learn German, although I have found that things are much slower now that I am not in an intensive 6-hour-every-day class. Instead, I am in a 1.5-hour-every-week class. While I am learning things in class, it is not enough, so I have been supplementing class by adding tools and practice times into my German-learning life.

Practice Time #1: My Tandem Partner

I have a language tandem partner, with whom I meet once or twice a week. Each time, we spend 45 minutes speaking in German, and 45 minutes speaking in English. My tandem partner is a graduate student in steep mountain stream hydrology, so I feel like I get to learn German and hydrology twice a week!

Practice Time #2: Deutsche Donnerstag

At work we attempt to have German Thursdays, during which we only speak German. Of course, some Thursdays are more successful than others, but it is good to spend a day attempting to think and speak in German. The more quasi-immersion, the better.

Practice Time #3: My Roommates

All of my roommates speak German, and so sometimes when we are together they switch into German. Mostly I can listen and attempt to understand, and very occasionally contribute.

Tool#1: Vocabulary Cards

Although not as fun as a barrel of monkeys (but then, what is?), vocabulary cards are really important for me to just get words into my head.

Tool #2: My Pictionary

This book is my new favorite thing! It has pictures, organized into essential themes, with the English translation and the German. I am a visual learner, and so this is really helpful for me. I like to choose a theme and read it on the tram. (This morning was Die Umwelt.) Aside from the whole learning thing, the pictures are clearly from the early 90's (hello, fluorescent track suits!), and the book is in British English, meaning I am learning new words in two languages!

Tool #3: German-English and English-German Dictionary

When Google Translate is not enough, this dictionary does the trick!

Tool #4: My Notebook of German Knowledge

My dear friend Anne recommended that I keep a notebook with all of the words that I'm learning, which was a super great idea. I've found that writing and re-writing my notes is one of the best ways for me to learn, and now I have my own mini German study guide!

Tool #5: German Grammar Book with Activities

I also have a German Grammar book with activities. While I have not used it yet, since I am learning all of the grammar I can handle in class, I think it will be useful this summer when I am not in class.

Tool #6: German Learning with Crossword Puzzles!

One of my other favorite options is my German learning through crossword puzzles book. There are pictures arranged by themes, and then several pages of crosswords to test you on the words. I have decided that, basically, I like anything with a picture.

Tool #7: Verb Tables

Since verbs in German have about eleventy-billion different conjugations, I think this book of verbs is pretty helpful.

Tool #8: Heidi

No Swiss experience is complete without Heidi, so I am working on listening to Heidi in German on my iPod, while reading Heidi in German on my Nook. (Thanks to my friend Sarah for the suggestion.) Hopefully this will help my pronunciation, which is occasionally horrific and usually bad.

I never would have guessed that I would have this many ways of studying German, but it definitely helps prevent boredom.

Thanks to all of my learning and practicing, I have even done some small transactions (the Post Office, the Grocery Store) all in German! Yay for progress! And pretty picture books in German!

Sunday Brunch in Winterthur.

On Sunday I finally made it out to Winterthur to visit Lisbeth, who I lived with in the fall. It was really nice to see her again and to get caught up. We had a beautiful Sunday brunch, and then we went for a walk in the woods near her house. The weather was gray and threatening rain, but the woods in early spring are so beautiful and hopeful. Already the grass is so green! I love spring in Switzerland!

I believe this is called the Devil's Cathedral?

An Afternoon in Bern.

Today I spent the afternoon in Bern, since I'd never been.

When I arrived, it was sunny and pretty warm, so I decided to take a tram to the Gurtenbahn, which would take me up to Gurten, the very top of the hill above Bern, which has (supposedly) beautiful views of Bern and the mountains nearby. Of course, I managed to get Wander confused with Wandern and got off of the tram about 6 stops too early and at the bottom of the hill. (But really, why are these two stops on the same tram line!!! Couldn't they have come up with something a little more different?) But I didn't totally realize this, so I just kept on walking uphill through residential Bern. It was very interesting and a good workout, with some fairly nice views over Bern. I even found the Thai Embassy!

Finally, after about an hour of walking uphill and downhill and every-which-way, I found myself at the tram stop that I should have gotten off at in the first place. By then, the weather had become cloudy and a little iffy, so I decided to save the look-out for a day with better weather and instead went back to the Bern city center.

The city center is very old and quaint. The shopping streets are covered arcades, so that rain isn't so inconvenient, and many shops are actually down from street level, sort of in the basement. I saw the Zytglogge ring for the hour, stumbled across Einstein's house, and walked through some sort of Lybian protest in front of the Congress buildings. Mostly I just wandered around, watching people and enjoying the pretty buildings.

Bern is charming and seems like a great place to explore. I think I will definitely be going back at some point. I'd love to tour Einstein's house and actually get up to the top of Gurten. There is also a Rose Garden, which, of course I have to visit! Next time...

(And I think it is so lovely that there can be a next time!)

Subconscious adaptation?

I just did all of my laundry. Two dark loads and no light. And even with all of these dark clothes, I still feel like I am the brightest thing I see when I walk out of my door.

Aaack! I think Zürich's dress code is getting to me!

Must. wear. more. color.

A Zürich Weekend.

This weekend I discovered some new places in Zürich (thanks to my friend Sarah)!

I met up with Sarah and her friend Barbara on Saturday afternoon, and we went to the Viaduct and had a long coffee in the Markthalle. Since the weather was rainy and cold, it was nice to be somewhere cosy with good friends, people-watching and coffee. What more can you want, really? Eventually the rain let up a little, and we visited the Turkish market (mosque-shaped alarm clock, anyone?) and saw the Brockenhaus (thrift store), the Mexican market and some great coffee shops. It was fun to get to know this neighborhood, which is a little bit more diverse and interesting than some of the other neighborhoods I've seen. I'm pretty excited to have finally figured out where these markets are, as they seem to have a good variety of interesting comestibles at good-for-Zürich prices. Plus, I've started to have a hankering for some good Mexican food. When the El Paso taco kits at the Coop start looking good, you know something needs to change...

On Sunday, the weather was super nice and sunny, so I took a walk in the forest. It was clear enough to even catch glimpses of the Alps! I can't wait for summer and for hiking in the mountains again!

European fashion?

There is no doubt that fashion in Europe is very different from the US. (Even just last week I got a comment, "Oh, you're wearing white? We don't wear white in winter..." because I was wearing a white shirt.) And that men here tend to care about fashion more than in the US. Or at least my little Midwest corner of the US.

I appreciate that men here tend to look sharper and less scruffy. And the fact that men can be egregious fashion victims is something that I find new and entertaining. I'm used to women adopting ridiculous trends, but I have never lived somewhere where men are also on the bleeding edge of fashion. Here, some men pay just as much attention to fashion as women. Watch out, world! And really, some of the current trends over here really just should never happen. For example: what do you get when you cross the skinny jean trend with the harem pant trend, and then decide that these should be for men, too?

You get some bizarre concoction that looks like a denim diaper with legs. (At least in my humble opinion.)

**Photo credit: FashionBombDaily.com

Really, who thought that this was a good idea? Aside from looking atrocious, it doesn't even look comfortable!

I was at a concert where a man in the band was wearing this style of jeans, and I got so distracted (in a not good way), because they were just so hideous. I don't remember what the others in the band were wearing, and I don't remember the songs. I just remember the denim diaper. I never thought I'd say this, but really, skinny jeans are so much better!

A picture of my thoughts.

These past few days I have felt really overwhelmed every time I look at the news, and my heart has been very heavy. Normally I am not so invested or attentive to what is going on in the world, but I have found that living in Europe has encouraged me to pay more attention. I feel more connected here. One of my co-workers is from Egypt, and so all that has gone on there has been so much more concrete. I am indirectly connected with people who work in Libya. I am friends with people in Japan. I have worked with people from Christchurch. And the list goes on...

I was looking through my pictures, and, for whatever reason, this picture represented to me the hope of springtime and the promise that there is still beauty and brightness in the world.

Thank goodness for technology!

While living in Switzerland is truly wonderful and I have found it fairly easy to adapt to living here, I do miss my family and friends and dear sweet puppy. I am so thankful for Skype and GoogleChat! It is so incredible to be able to essentially talk face-to-face with my loved ones. And for free!

In some ways it makes being away easier, but it does also create a conundrum of balancing living and investing here and of maintaining relationships home. At any rate, it is my sister Ruth's birthday this week, and as part of the celebration we had a big family Skype, complete with puppy! It was lovely to be "together" as a family, and I don't remember laughing so hard in a while...

**Photo credit: Liz Page

Spring is oh-so-gradually coming!

This morning I woke up to intense sunshine- not the weak, passive sun of the winter, but the exuberant, triumphant sun of the spring. I love that point in the spring when the sun starts to actually mean business, and you know that winter really can't last forever!

Here in Zürich, the winter has not been really winter, at least not to my Minnesotan sensibilities. While I have seen flakes of snow falling on a few occasions, the snow has never stayed. At the lowest, the temperatures have been in the low 30's F. Even in January there were already signs of life- forsythia blooming and such.

But, still spring comes triumphant. Just like fall here, spring seems to creep back in, so that you almost don't notice it. Then one morning you wake up and it's spring! This past week it has been light out for my morning run before 6.30 am. The temperatures have gotten for sure into the 50s (if not the 60s), and during the middle of the day you can walk outside without a jacket. There is rhubarb in the Coop. Last night, we had Friday beers at a table outside after 6 pm and were totally comfortable. It is light when I go and come from work. There are primroses and lenten roses and crocus and random bushes and pansies and snowdrops blooming. My neighbor is cleaning out his garden this morning. The birds are thrilled and are singing their hearts out!

I love the signs of spring! I am currently suffering from my normal spring insanity. Spring makes me a little dotty. I have a hard time sitting at my desk, and I have my sassy pants on more often than usual. And I tend to walk around with a goofy grin on my face. And possibly dance a little more than usual. The joy of life triumphant over death just gets into my blood, and I can't help but go a little mad!

On Cooking in Switzerland.

**As a side note, last night my German teacher told me my German was ugly. Sad day. Of course, I was attempting to defend my choice modal verb, which she said wasn't really right. Note to self: My German is not to the point where defending a German word choice to my German teacher in German is really a good idea. At all.


One thing that I really appreciate about living here in Switzerland is how what once were mundane tasks have suddenly become exciting adventures. (See: Laundry Fiasco from last week. Or Ordering Coffee in Neuchâtel. And don't even get me started on cleaning with the mystery cleaning products...)

Of course, cooking here is also an adventure. For goodness sakes, even grocery shopping is an adventure! For starters, they don't have things like brown sugar here. Baking powder comes in a little packet. And eggs and milk are not stored in the fridge. Or even some meat products. Chocolate takes up a whole aisle. Fruits and vegetables are only available if they are in season, meaning that I have been eating oranges for the past two months. Skim milk doesn't exist. Vanilla extract doesn't exist, but vanilla paste does. Meat is freakishly expensive. As in over $10 for a pound of ground beef expensive.

And everything has a German name (duh!). So I took four trips to the store to figure out where shortening was so that I could make these homemade oreos for some friends. Thanks to copious amounts of online research at the English Forum and Coop@Home, I finally located shortening. Shortening is appropriately labeled Pflanzenfett (Plant Fat) and is located by the vinegar, not in the baking goods section. (And I will say that the homemade oreos are pretty amazing.)

In fact, only today I finally located the yeast, which happens to be by the butter. Why?! I have yet to cook anything resembling Tex-Mex, since the spices and products are not readily available. I have to plan a special trip to the one Mexican store in Zürich to find what I need. 

Since meat is so expensive, I've been learning to cook more vegetarian options. Lentils and quinoa are becoming staples in my diet. Some of my favorite new recipes have been cheesy zucchini pizza, curried lentils and sweet potatoes, homemade Naan, curried butternut and red lentil soup, and when I splurged and bought meat, chicken marsala. I have also made salted fudge brownies for several occasions with a very high success rate.

Of course, once the grocery shopping is done, the fun is just beginning. Then I need to figure out how to translate the cups and tablespoons into grams. And the baking temperature into degrees Celcius. And figure out how to scale a recipe down to fit the smaller pan sizes we have here. Quite often I cook with my computer in the kitchen so that I can frantically Google things like "how many grams of butter are in 4 Tablespoons" and so on. It keeps things interesting, at the very least...

On crossing the Röstigraben.

This weekend I crossed the Röstigraben for the first time! So much excitement ensued! (The Röstigraben is basically an imaginary line dividing the German-speaking and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. Although the line is imaginary, the difference is definitely not.)

On Saturday given the promise of good-ish weather, I decided to take a trip to Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel has a reputation for being the most "French" city in all of French-speaking Switzerland, so I thought it would be interesting. It is a beautiful little city with a very French style of architecture. I enjoyed wandering around and seeing the Chateau of Neuchâtel, the old churches, the Saturday markets, the Port and Lake Neuchâtel.

The lake was probably my favorite part. Probably since I am from Minnesota, the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", lakes and water are just in my blood. I love the fresh smell of the water and the wind, the sound of the waves and the birds, the ever-changing moods of the water, and the unique rock formations. There was a really nice Promenade along the lake which I enjoyed walking along, and to me it felt the most like "home" of anywhere I have been.

Of course, then I went into a little cafe for a coffee and was reminded of how different it really is. The woman who helped me was about my age, so I assumed that she might speak English. Definitely not. I then asked her if she spoke German, which she said she did. So we proceeded to have a conversation in which I attempted to speak German and she responded in French. Somehow it worked, and I did get my coffee. I love how my typical week here involves English (of course), learning German, interpreting manuals in Italian, conversing with someone who is speaking French, and listening to Spanish.