TGIF, 28 Mai 2010

Of all days to be the busiest, I think this was it. Not that I really mind, but usually Fridays are reserved for more relaxation.

Woke up at 6:27, wishing it wasn’t so close to the time of the alarm going off. Got ready, breakfast (I had some roobios tea this morning and strawberries), etc. Frau Brause dropped me off at the train station at 7:48. A little later than usual, but it meant less time I had to wait for the train while doing nothing. No more nausea on the train, either.

I wore my rain boots today, because the sky looked rather threatening. It looked Bi-Polar, too, so, I couldn’t decide if it would be okay to leave the house in just tennis shoes. I opted to be safe, which made the butt of several comments throughout the day. Everyone was like, “Why do you have those?” And I’m like, “In case it rains and I don’t want to get my pants and shoes and socks wet.” Everyone questioned me, and that makes me question if Germans are as practical as I thought they were.

I went straight to Frau Contenz’s and Ruediger’s room. I figured I might as well start there (there’d also be more distractions from my reading) and the secretary wasn’t sick anymore, and I didn’t want to meet her quite yet. Ruediger was already there, and we talked for a bit. Then Frau Contenz came and did the same. Then Ruediger went off about something being missing, and they were talking really fast and mumbling and rushing around the room looking for it. This all happened barely after eight thirty, and I was trying to delay my reading, so I just sat there with nothing on the desk watching.

Ruediger had also said that Frau Auer might not be in today. And that she won’t be there next Tuesday or Wednesday. This being the case, I began to wonder if I was ever going to get to do anything aside from read. As people were worrying around the room, Frau Auer came in.

After saying hello, she asked, “Don’t you have anything to read?”

I said that I did, pulled out the magazine, and tried to say I had only been lacking a few moments reading.

She said she’d be back soon. So I began reading. Almost immediately, she brought some loose papers to me for me to read. They turned out to be about how to give proper and interesting tours. Advice such as making eye contact, knowing your subject, not having a monotonous voice and not walking too fast were all part of the package. While most of that information was common sense, and things I’d learned about speaking in general in public and designing lesson plans, it was a nice break from the magazine, which I returned to in case she get mad if I wasn’t when she came back.

The next time she came for me, we went back to her office. Which is one door over. At this time, she handed me a packet of the tour I’m to translate, described it to me, and then had me watch her write an advertisement for the newspaper. She asked me what piqued my interest when I read something or what would make me want to come to the tour. I said that she should mention something about dragons, which is totally related to the tour. She did, and added a lot of other sentences, too. I’m not sure what is acceptable for German advertisements, but maybe boring is in vogue.

Then, after she figured out how to make the computer send the advertisement to the newspaper on Tuesday, she took me downstairs to meet the secretary, Frau Haas. In the office, she asked Frau Haas to fax the advertisement on Tuesday, and then had her show me how to log onto the computers. This was very useful, but also annoying. Their communications system is based on using Microsoft Outlook, and something tells me it’s not a very good program. I really don’t know anything about it, but it’s a gut feeling. The secretary doesn’t know any English (aside from yes, no, and how to count to ten), which is fine with me.

She did tell me, after commenting on my German skills, that the last intern they had didn’t really speak German. Everyone just spoke to her in English the entire time and she didn’t learn anything. Frau Haas said it was very difficult for her, because she couldn’t communicate with the last student. And that after her, it was decided that the next one would have good German speaking skills. I had not yet heard this, and nor do I know the last Webster student that was here. Though apparently it was last summer.

After learning the computer stuff, I turned off the computer, to be sent back up to Frau Auer, who sent me back down to start translating. So the computer went on again. Speaking of me being sent back downstairs, there’s one thing that did make me irritably wonder.

In the morning, Frau Auer had told me that at 12 30 I would go over to the Kultur Amt to stuff envelopes. I didn’t mind at all, because it was something to do. Then Frau Auer turned to Frau Contenz and told her to make sure I was there. Like I’m five or something. And I was right there. Then when she left while I was learning the computer stuff, she told Frau Haas to send me back up when I was done. Not addressing me at all. Can any of the Frau’s back home clarify this? I’m hoping there’s some logical, cultural, difference in business technique, reason for this. Not that I’m just being treated like a child for no reason.

Anyways, having access to the computer is nice, because I can actually look up words now. So that was my first step in translating. At this point, I had about an hour and a half before I needed to go stuff envelopes. This included my lunch break, which is totally unregulated. I ate my sandwich right then, because my stomach had been growling for almost an hour. Plus I knew I’d have time for a snack later; Frau Auer had said that once I was done stuffing envelopes, that I could go home.

When I got to the Kultur Amt, the door was locked. Luckily someone had seen me come up and knew what I was there for. I’ve been lucky with that all week, which is good, because I don’t think its in good decorum to bang on the doors. She let me in and then showed me what to do. I had to stick the addresses on the envelopes, stamp the Kultur Amt address above that, then stuff and seal them. Not bad and there weren’t as many to do. The longest part was stamping (with a rubber stamp) the Kultur Amt address on all of them. I stuffed for about an hour and a half, until I had no more flyers. And apparently there really weren’t any more, so I was done.

I wished I had gotten done about ten or fifteen minutes earlier, because then I could have caught the two o’clock train home. But, as it was, I had one minute to make it to the station, which did not happen. So, I wandered around Villingen downtown for a bit and took some pictures. Mainly of the cathedral and the fountain next to it. Then my camera battery died, so that was the end of that. I also paid a visit to the city library in the church square, to see if they had WiFi. I don’t think they do. But they do have board games.

I went to the train station from there and then spent about five minutes wandering around like an idiot looking for the bathrooms. They were not marked well. And then I paid 50 Euro cents to use the toilet. Oh well, I shouldn’t have to do that too often. Upon coming out, I watched a boy hit the men’s WC door really hard when he realized he had to pay. And then he walked away. I made my way to my platform to wait.

I think it was about a fifteen minute wait. During this time two old ladies talked about the shoes they bought, the pigeons displayed a gigantic lack of fear towards humans (I probably could have kicked one if I’d wanted), and a freight train booked it through the station (it must have been empty to go that fast). The train finally came, the ride was fine, and the girl who sat across from me looked freakishly like Anne Castagno. It must have been one of those long-lost-twin deals.

The walk home was fine, the only interesting thing I saw was a man using an electric lawn mower. At least that must have been what it was, since it had an extension cord. And I briefly watched a guy play basketball by himself, using all his sweet moves. That behind-the-back-dribble is really awesome. But I think he took one extra step during his lay-up approach.

So, now I’m home just amusing myself until Frau Brause comes home. I believe she went to a quilting class somewhere today with a friend. Soon after she comes home, we’re going to a pizzeria for dinner, because I’m guessing she doesn’t want to cook. I wouldn’t either. So, that’s about all I have for right now.

Herr Brause and I went to the pizzeria about 7, and waited a long time for Melanie and Frau Brause to come. In the mean time I described the process for getting one’s license in the States. Everyone seems to say we get them too young. But, everyone finally came and we ordered. I ordered a mushroom pizza and enjoyed it very much. I ate rather fastly upon getting it, but oh well. It’d been awhile since I’d eaten.

At one point, a woman came in and said she’d be right back. She and her husband are friends of my host family, and then sat and ate with us, even though we were almost done. They’d just gotten back from Brazil, to see their first grandchild. The husband looked like a cross between Gavin’s dad and Christopher Plummer. He also said I looked Argentinean, but I corrected him (nicely). It was after ten by the time we left, and I was very tired. During the goodbyes outside the pizzeria, the husband led me by the hand to see his car.

It’s a Land Rover Defender. A very big car for here, and apparently a proper one. He’s very proud of it. The couple actually has a second LandRover, and this one has five cameras to help the driver see better. Anyways, we finally got home and I put my two slices of pizza in the fridge and went to bed. And slept till quarter to eight, when I woke up panicking that I was late for work. Then I remembered it was Saturday and went back to sleep until almost nine-thirty. It was a wonderful sleep.