This weekend was kind of a big one, at least a little more exciting than the week.
Of course, Saturday I worked from 6am to noon, got back to the house, talked with my parents via Skype and waited for my new Mitbewohnerin (house mate) to arrive (I was the one designated to let her in, since everyone else got to go out of town for the weekend....). She arrived a little later than expected, but that's alright.
Now I have two Mitbewohnerinnen. One is from France, Florence, and has a internship in the Krankenhaus in the neighboring town. She is trying to get into medical school in Germany, and therefore needs to work in a hospital before she can qualify.
The other one, who just got here on Saturday, is Jane. She comes from England and studies Geography. She is working for an international company and is here for the experience. Jane spent six months in Munich as an au pair, but her German is still not better than a three year olds (according to her, since the family spoke English a lot of the time).
Saturday evening, I showed Jane the way to the grocery store, so she could pick up some food for the weekend. She made the same mistake that I did my first time in the grocery store here- she didn't know to auswiegen (weight out) the fruits and vegetables!
Just little things like that remind me how far I've come in only three weeks (now I know the word auf Deutsch).
Saturday night the three of us were actually all in the house at the same time (our house mother was out of town the entire weekend). This hasn't happened too often.... except when we're all asleep. We talked about the differences between our countries (and compared them to Germany), our political systems, our school systems.... As Americans, we definitely don't have the school system down.... they don't have to pay for their higher education (or at least, not very much). Flo was saying that she will only have to pay about 500 Euros per semester- for medical school!
Sunday was the first day I was able to sleep in- so sleep in I did! I took my time getting around for the show, looking up the directions to the theater, and all-in-all, puttering around.
I ended up still leaving with plenty of time to get there.... I had two hours before the show started when I got to the stop. I was kinda nervous about not finding the theater on time, but it could not have been any easier (I took the same train all the way from Reinbek to the theater, and the theater was right across the street from the station).
Since it was a free-ride Sunday (there was no fees for the transportation system in Hamburg.... which didn't matter to me much since I had purchased a week pass), there were some shops open- ON A SUNDAY!!! So I went to Altona, looked around in Media Markt (similar to our Best Buy), and bought three CDs.
Unfortunately, since my little netbook doesn't have a CD-ROM drive, I won't be able to listen to them until the fall.
Now for the theater! I got back to the theater about a half an hour before the show. Plenty of time to use the Toiletten, get a drink, look around, and still be in my seat way too early.
And just like every show, the first scene always grabs the audience attention.
In my case, it made me cry. Just like when I seen The Lion King on Broadway. I cried.
And even though it was all in German, I understood about 90-95% of the dialogue and lyrics. Of course, I've seen the movie (even though it had been awhile).
Because it was a stage production, of course changes had to be made. They didn't have the elephant character (I can't remember his name since he wasn't in the play), and some of the action scenes were changed. In the movie, Phil Collins himself sings most of the music, and, well.... Phil Collins was not there at this production. Besides, does he even know German?
Well, my seat couldn't have been any farther away from the stage.... oh wait, there were a couple of rows behind me. But I'm not sure I would have wanted to be too much closer, since the apes where swinging around in the audience; I would have missed most of the action!
My favorite character was Terk. And my favorite song is the one where the apes are tearing down the camp. Does that song even have any echt lyrics?
The show let out at the perfect time- the S21 to Aumüle came, and the connecting bus was coming when I got to Reinbek. I'm kinda glad I went on a Sunday- and that I didn't have to work the early shift this morning either!
So yeah, today I started at 2pm and worked in Obst and Gemüse. Even though it was a slow day, I was kept busy since Frau Wulff had taken the evening off.
Tomorrow I will work at 2pm again, and will probably be in Obst and Gemüse. Hopefully we get in Blumenkohl (cauliflower), since it's in the Werbung (advertisement).
Oh, and I wanted to let you all know, don't be afraid to comment on my blog! I enjoy them and look for them everyday.... even though I haven't gotten any in a few weeks. Comment on here, comment on Facebook, send me an email- I don't care! I like to know that I'm not just writing into thin internet air. :)
