5th journal entry

May 20

The last week has also been very busy. On Monday evening, I went to the weekly anti-nuclear protest and I actually gave a speech. I was really nervous, which wasn’t aided by the fact that there was some construction going on in the Marktstädtte (town square). It was pretty appropriate that we were shouting abschalten, which means to close or shut something down. Anyway, I just spoke for a few minutes and told them how much I love Japan and how the Japanese government is finally putting money into renewable energy. I did write a speech, but I mostly didn’t read from it. I guess I did an ok job - maybe by the end of my stay here, I’ll be able to make a speech in German. I think my German is starting to improve. I’m staring to understand a little bit more and I can string simple sentences together. I think this is a pretty good accomplishment since it took me a year in Japan to do that. After the protest, I went to a movie with Michaela, one of my supervisor’s researchers, and her friends. The odd thing in Germany is that the rows and seats in the movie theatre are numbered, so you have to sit in the seat given to you. I didn’t know this until I had to move. We watched the German version of the movie Never Let Me Go, which is based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was hard to understand, but I could get the general jist. It’s about 3 friends who go to boarding school together, 2 girls and a boy. The main character really wants the guy, but the guy ends up with the other girl Ruth. Later on, Ruth and Tommy are both in the hospital and the main character visits them. Anyway, it was a pretty good movie. I’d like to see it in English.

On Tuesday, I went to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) with the German students who are going to Canada in the fall. Verena asked me if I would be an information student and I decided to come along. I took my first train in Germany with 2 Canadians, Caitlin and Gabi, who have been here all year. Their German is quite good. They, especially Caitlin, asked me tons of questions about Japan. I know this sounds petty, but I felt pretty old being with them. Gabi is not even 20 and Caitlin’s 21. The exchange students going to Canada are also quite young - around the same age, I suppose. I was surprised to see that some are graduate students. There’s a good size group going to York and UofT. I hope I didn’t overwhelm them with too much information... There was also a German student who went to Ryerson last year and she spoke about Toronto. Caitlin, Gabi, and I arrived at the Evangelical Academy (of all places to hold a seminar) around 3:30 and after that, we had some coffee and cake. Later on we had dinner and some drinks. I was quite tired and went to bed around 11:30 - most people were still awake.

I woke up on Wednesday at 7:45 to the sound of trucks right next to my room and had breakfast with Verena, David (the exchange program academic director), Janina, Caitlin, and Gabi. After that, Caitlin, Gabi, and I went for a walk around the town. The German students had another seminar about Canadian bureaucracy. We were in a town called Bad Herrenalb, which was quite pretty. Gabi and Caitlin had a bit of homework to do, so they sat in a park and I walked around. Actually, I was thinking about next year and what I’ll do after I finish this program. On Sunday, I chatted on facebook with Hareem, who works for the Pakistani journal I have written for. She’s getting married next year, most likely in November, and she said I could probably come to the wedding. Would I really want to go to Pakistan? It would definitely be an interesting trip. I was thinking I could combine it with another trip to Japan, but if I had a normal job, I might not be able to take that much time off. Maybe I can start working in January? It’s hard to know. I also got an email recently about fellowships at the City of Toronto. That program runs for a year and you get to see the ins and outs of city governance, which I think would be really interesting. If I ever did run for city council, that experience would be so valuable. We’ll see... I might also find another interesting job.

Verena, Caitlin, Gabi and I left Bad Herrenalb around 2 and got back to Konstanz around 5. Verena dropped me off on campus and I went to FINALLY get my library books, yey! The libraries here are really good, but the main one has asbestos in it, so all the books have to be cleaned and no one can go in. The books inside have to be requested and it took about 2 weeks for them to be cleaned. The books I got are quite useful for learning about narratives, so they came just in time. My first real narrative interviews will take place next week in Stuttgart and Freiburg. I’m really curious to see how it’ll go. Anyway, on Wednesday night, I went to the apartment I’ll move into next month and did language exchange with Susann, who’ll go to Canada. She’s really nice and her English is good. She just hasn’t had the opportunity to practice for awhile. She helped me quite a bit with my German and we spoke English as well. She also made some bretzel for me. Bretzel are basically big pretzels, kind of like the ones you can get in New York. They were tasty.

On Thursday, I had German class in the morning and then I did some work. It seems that me working in the offices with Wilhelm’s researchers is a bit of a problem. We have to work out a schedule for when I can come in. I really hate to impose upon them, but it’s so nice to actually work with people. I had lunch with Michaela and we talked about being foreign exchange students. She studied in Argentina and she said that the Argentinians mainly go to university near their hometown and they go with all of their friends. In Germany, this isn’t the case. It was hard for her to make friends, just as it was hard for me in England. I really enjoyed Michael’s company. It’s nice to have meals with someone.

On Thursday afternoon, I had my 2nd language exchange with Anna. We could only meet for half an hour because she had a meeting to go to. During that time, we spoke mostly in German, which was great. I can’t understand everything she says, but it’s still helpful. I’m going to Munich this weekend and she’s from there, so she gave me lots of suggestions for places to go. After seeing her, I came home and relaxed for awhile. I’ve been so tired the last few days due to lack of sleep and my period. After relaxing, I went down to the drug store and got some iced tea and a dustpan. In the apartment, I have a broom, but no dustpan - another example of how useful Seezeit is. I will move out of this apartment on June 15th and I can’t wait. I exchanged a couple of unpleasant emails with Sohana, who’s in charge of students in this residence. I told her I would move into a new place on June 18th and she said that I could either move out of here on June 15th or 30th. Of course, I have to pay a half month’s rent if I stay until June 15th, but the figure she quoted is 40 euros more than half a month’s rent. I sent her another email saying, I should pay 180 euros instead of 220, right? And she wrote back, I’m sorry, No! How can people use language like this in an email? It’s pretty rude. Maybe she was having a bad day, but it’s still inappropriate to take it out on me. Maybe I can complain to someone... Anyway, last night, I was supposed to go to ultimate frisbee, but it started raining. I dropped in at my friend Bler’s house and talked to her for a bit. Then I got a text message saying that my ride to Munich was cancelled - I hate it when people do this at the last minute. It’s a good thing I didn’t go to frisbee - I came back to my room and found someone else to go with. It’s actually better because he’s picking me up just down the road from my place. I’m excited for Munich!