Alles gute zum Geburtstag Kelsey!

It feels like Thursday, but it is only Wednesday. Only two more days of German class, which is nice. It has been enjoyable and I have learned a lot, but at the same time I think I can learn better in a different environment, to say the least. Today we learned how to tell time in German. We got a worksheet with a bunch of different clocks on it. I felt like I was in first grade again. I realized how bad I am at looking at actual hand clocks. Not sure what you call those kind because I have always worn a digital sports watch I guess. It was humorous though because some people aren’t use to military time so when she would write out a time and people had to say it in German, half the time the time wasn’t correct. I never would have thought saying the time would be so complicated but it is. You can’t say half past ten, you just say half eleven, for ten thirty.  Confusing I know, and there is a formal way to answer and informal. Yikes I think I will stick to just showing them my digital watch if they ask. I have been speaking more and more with my German family, which is good. It just takes so much time and as most of you know I am impatient so I hate sitting there trying to think of one sentence in a minute. It is killer. Especially at 7 am breakfast.  I have definitely been more immersed in the culture though.

Last night we had a team meeting and the entire thing was in German and nobody translated for me. I always feel bad making someone whisper in my ear the entire time because it’s so distracting, not to mention I get spit in my ear. I just sat and listened and figured out what I could. It was one of those times where I just really wish I knew German. I have those a lot. Where I am just at a loss for words and I so badly wish I could communicate, but all I do is stare at the person thinking so hard. I don’t even resort to my go to sentence anymore. Anyways back to the meeting. It was awkward because he was introducing the new people, whom I fall under, and everyone all of a sudden started staring at me so I knew it was about me. Anytime I hear Americana I figure it’s about me since I am the only one. The worst is when someone is talking about you and you have no idea what they are saying. It was funny because everyone was super talkative in the beginning, but then I could tell he started talking about expectations and this summer and fitness and the mood totally changed. I didn’t know the details, but I knew it included running and as you know I hate running. My stomach tried to curl up in a ball and I heard “six week plan” from him, so I was like great we have six weeks of team running and fitness. Then he talked about a fitness test. Here I thought my preseason and fitness tests days were over when I finished at Drake, but I guess not. I come to find out that its not nearly as bad as everyone nonverbally portrayed and it just says on our sheet that individually we are supposed to do nothing the first week, practically nothing the second week, then run 3 times for 30 minutes the next two weeks, then 3 x’s 45 minutes the next and 60 the next. First of all I can’t run for 60 minutes straight. A. My lungs would collapse. B. I would die of boredom. C. Burch (my strength coach) told me to never run over two miles because it makes you slower and I stick to that. We do have to do some form of beep test though. Not sure, everyone tells me the simple version of the story when that is something I want to know every word on the sheet. We will see. Regardless the meeting was good we have 10 test games starting in July and August until our real games start end of August. Practice four times a week and then go away to training camp in some city for a week. I think I might die, but one thing I have going for me is that Germans don’t like the heat from what I have picked up on. I watched a game last week and it was maybe 68 degrees and like perfect soccer weather, but the girls were dumping water over their heads like they might pass out. It made me laugh. I love hot weather. I am really excited about the season though, it will be a lot of time with the girls. Oh yeah and I also ordered my sizes for practice gear and I think they run differently, but I was put on the spot so I have no idea what I am getting. Rachel if you are reading this, maybe I will have shorts or shall I say spandex like you got freshmen year. I just laughed out loud thinking about it. It is bad when even our male coach joked about your extra small shorts. Oh yeah and we get polo’s; nothing like a manly polo. We wore ours at Drake only once because we vetoed them since they were belly shirts and disgusting.

A friend's birthday dinner, we ate kangaroo!

I always think of so many things I want to write on here and then I forget them as the days go on. I think my memory is failing. I have been sleeping horrible because I toss and turn and it is like I have been having crazy dreams that I remember and I am kind of awake for. Then as I talk to people in my dreams I talk to them in German. I have been dreaming about the language. It is so weird. I think I just really want to know it, but it is so hard. This is totally off topic, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when I ride on the train in the morning to class and seriously I am practically in someone’s armpit because it is so squishy, more like they are in mine, but still. Anyways, some people decide that not only do they want to hear their music, but everyone else in the train clearly does too because seriously it is as if I have their headphones in my ears. I could name every tune, if I knew the names, but that’s how loud it is. And even if I knew German and could tell them to turn it down they wouldn’t hear me. Oh another funny train story I saw some guy had his bike blocking the door and depending on the platform stop, you get out either side, but a guy decided that he couldn’t walk ten feet to the other door on that side and was yelling at this guy to move his bike. They started pushing each other and the man that wanted out literally picked up the bike and somewhat threw it at the guy. It was the weirdest thing. Like for real, it is ten feet. You just exerted more energy fighting over it than you would have walking.

Lastly, there are two things that I love right now. Well lots more than that. But I am reading that book and they said you need to be in contact with your desires. Two things that I love and desire are yogurt and granola with a banana cut up. I seriously wake up every morning and get so excited to eat breakfast. I know it’s weird, but I could eat it every meal. I am not even a breakfast person, but I look forward to it now. Another thing I look forward to is the squeegee in the shower. They have this plastic thing that goes around the bathtub. I don’t know how to explain it, but anyways I always get to squeegee when I am done showering and it is so fun. It was my favorite part of kitchen duty at Colorado Project. I think it’s like sweeping you get to see how much dirt you can get. Kind of a thrill ya know? The little things in life. I had a time the other day when I was on the train and I was like what am I doing right now. It is like I love it here, but at times I just miss laughing, like going to pee my pants laughing. The humor is just different here and a lot more dry. At times I just long to have a best friend to do life with and I just wish the person next to me on the train would say something. Everyone says you can spot an American when you see one here. I must be blind then because every time I think I caught one, they speak fluent German with the accent. I guess with time maybe. This is super long. Next Wednesday I go to Stuttgart to do a kid’s soccer camp. We have 50 kids signed up and we are partnering with a local church. Our prayer is that after the camp is done we can get community involvement with the church. I am super excited because I love coaching and I love kids. I will keep you in the loop with how it goes. I miss you all and it is KELSEY PLAISANCE’S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! BOOM BABY! LOVE YOU KELS and miss you lots!!

Ich schlafe mit meine Kissen.

Ich schlafe mit meine Kissen. Who would have thought that this means I sleep with my pillow? I don’t know why I think it is funny, but it is. Just like in Deutsch class the other day, one of the other Americans goes “Ich fahrt (said it like fart) nicht.” and all four of us Americans started laughing, but what made it even funnier she was like, “Bist du findest das lustig?” because he was supposed to pronounce it as “fairt” not “fart”. All in all, it made it even funnier because you could tell she was frustrated and didn’t get it. But how do you explain to eight other people from all over the world that don’t share a common language except for what we know in German what a fart is. I mean that would be an interesting conversation, and it’s not like we are going to act farting out or draw a picture of poop which is what we usually do. I think it might be one of those had to be there moments, but regardless it was really funny.

I miss you all!

Last weekend was really good; I got to go to the Hertha professional soccer game again, which was crazy. We got free tickets from the club, and it was nuts because there were 77,000 people there. I brought my host family dad with me because he use to play for them when he was younger and is a big fan. The game was between the first place (Hertha) and the second place team, so after there was this big celebration and trophy ceremony. It was really cool. The entire game everyone just sings songs together and waves scarves. Probably pretty similar to what you have seen on TV for an international soccer game. A bunch of my teammates were there so I got to talk to them as well. The little boy next to me kept hitting me with his stupid flag that they handed out, but I didn’t know the words to inform him so I just put up with it.

As much as I love the culture over here, at times I just get so frustrated. Seeing that I spend lots of time on public transportation, lately I have noticed how many people stare. Not even just at me, but in general. I am use to getting stared at because I am huge. And I am a starrer. I will admit it. But the difference between a German staring vs. an American staring is when the person that you are staring at looks at you, then that is your cue to look away quick and act like you weren’t staring. Right? Well here when someone is staring at me and I look at them, they continue to stare. Then I feel awkward so I look away, isn’t this backwards? Why should I feel uncomfortable that you are staring at me like you have something to say, but aren’t saying it? I sometimes just want to shout and be like what do you want? Just tell me, I won’t bite you.  I decided I am just going to make my eyes as large as possible next time because for all I know maybe they don’t know that I know that they are staring. Speaking of staring, people had a good reason to stare at me the other day because I learned my lesson about sagging (with a Minnesota accent) my sweatpants. Seeing that I bike everywhere I always just kick my leg over the seat and jump off. Well when I was getting off my bike at McFit, the crotch of my sweatpants got caught on the seat and I practically fell over on my bike because I was stuck. Super embarrassing, but I tried to play it cool. Don’t think it worked very well though, so I just laughed.

This last week God has really been teaching me a lot about myself and about life in general. I am reading a book called, “Changes that Heal” by Henry Cloud; which some people refer to as “Changes that Hurt” but regardless it is a good book thus far. The book discusses Grace vs. Truth and also just what it looks like to bond to people and why that is so important. Also, when that doesn’t happen what are the consequences. It talks about being vulnerable and how this is a healthy part of bonding. This is something that God has definitely been revealing to me while I have been in Germany. So often Christians feel the need to always act like they have it together or that everything is fine, but in all reality it is okay to be weak. The times when we surrender things in our life and release control to the Lord is when we feel the weakest, but often times this is when the Lord reveals Himself to us in a real and intimate way. I love the verses 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, when the He says in verse 9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I talked about this in the devotional I led on Tuesday and that night I went to worship night with some other Crusade people and we discussed Lamentations 3:19-33, where is says “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Later in this passage it talks about waiting quietly for the Lord and I think so often in my life I get anxious and want to know everything that lies ahead. Even now sometimes I sit and wonder how long I will be in Berlin. It’s like I love that I have no clue what my future holds, but at the same time it’s easy to worry and wonder. Like it says in this verse though, “…for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” God has been faithful thus far, and He isn’t going to stop being faithful through the amazing times and the horrible. Amidst the times I feel weak, He is going to continue to be my Portion every day. So there ya have it, those are some of my thoughts lately.

On a lighter note, meine Mutter here gave me a basket for my new bike and I am pumped. Now I don’t have to hold things while I bike. I got my first flat tire the other day, which was so annoying. Good thing my brother was with though and helped me. Also, I was speaking in German in my dream the other night. I am not sure what that means, but it was a weird dream to begin with. I mean let’s be real I was probably just throwing out random German furniture terms and some food terms, but it was somewhat of a benchmark in my learning. I know a lot of things in German at this point, but I just get so nervous to speak in public. Plus I am super slow. When someone starts speaking to me in German I go blank and just stare at them and usually resort to, “Ich kann kein Deutsch” depending on the situation. The Umlauts still continue to kill me because I can’t say them no matter how much I practice. I need to learn German ASAP though because I am going to coach at a soccer camp in Southern Germany in a couple weeks and I need to communicate something to the kids. But knowing Berlin German is a different world compared to Southern Germany dialect. Oh well. I guess that is all that is new in my life. Right now, I attempting to not be OCD about my bedroom and let it get messy, but it is driving me crazy and I want to clean it so bad. I probably will give in. I am always going to title my blogs with German phrases that way whoever wants to read can learn too!

Buchstabiere bitte?

Oh my yikes. That is all I have to say. This week has been interesting to say the least. Today was the turning point in German class when I realized that this is going to be a lot harder than I thought. There are bajillion different “the’s” in German and a million endings that you add when something is plural. Not to mention that you throw in like two letter words everywhere. How do people learn a language just listening to it is what I want to know? I ask everyone to spell everything so I can see what it looks like and then I still pronounce it incorrectly. We learned words for things that are in a house. So now I know all these random words but still have no clue how to make a sentence other than “Das ist eine Rechnerlampe.” Which brings me to my next story.

So I leave late for German class on Tuesday and ride with my brother on the train since he heads in the same general direction for University. First of all, I guess taking the train that leaves nine minutes later means 9,000 more people on it. Thank goodness I am tall so I got the fresh air because literally you couldn’t move. Anyways I am going to be late to class since I took a later train, but at this point I was like whatever it’s not a big deal. It turns out I was a lot later than I thought I would be. I come up from the train stop which is further than normal and there is this 85 year old woman that starts asking me a question. I ask her to repeat it, “Buchstabiere bitte.” (my new go to phrase) and I understand the word Sparkasse, which is the bank I go to, so I know where it is. I tell her to follow me. We were on Berliner Straβe (original I know). So this woman doesn’t know any English, but I just motion which direction. It is a few blocks to the bank, and let’s just say we were barely moving. I have accepted at this point I am going to be very late, but I figured helping this woman would be more important. So we start the walk, and people are just staring at us. Ok first of all, she is maybe 4’8 (I am being generous) and so I have a solid foot on her. I am trying with all my patience to walk slowly, but realistically I probably could have crawled faster. Clearly, this woman does not believe me that I know where the bank is because she stops and literally asks 8 people where it is. And says, “Wobout Berliner Straβe?” The first word is not a German word, so everyone looked at her like she was crazy and told her she was on Berliner Straβe and then looked at me and I just gave them the I don’t know look. Then I would try to convince her that it was ahead still and we would walk some more, but she was holding all these envelopes and kept dropping them and wouldn’t notice. I would stop and get them and then we would ask another person. I am not kidding we walked one block in 15 minutes probably. She looks like she is struggling so I offer her my arm, which she willingly accepts. This whole time I am racking my brain for German word to tell her it is just a little further or where it is. I got nothing except all these stupid German words for furniture or what is your address or telephone number. Or what is your job, your parents’ names, or what are your hobbies. All questions that are irrelevant. I did use my German though and asked her name and where she came from. Which still I have no clue where she lives after I asked her three times. I was going to have her spell it, but I figured that wouldn’t be worth it. We are on our third block with about one more to go when sure enough she stops to ask another man. She shows him the envelope and he tells her it’s the other direction and they start walking away. Inside I am kind of having a panic attack. I just walked this 85 year old woman at snail speed three blocks only to find out that she has to walk back where she came from plus more. I feel so bad, but the man is talking to her at this point so I just sneak away and continue down the road. I mean really I tried to help. I did. I guess knowing one word in the sentence and numerous names for furniture isn’t enough.

Elaine, me and Lynnae

Yesterday was a fun day though, I skipped class to go on an AIA team outing. We went on a 12 km hike around a lake. The bugs were horrible though, but it was still a good time. Tonight, I went and watched soccer practice even though injured people don’t go; I just like to be around the team. It was pouring rain though so kind of miserable, but I just entertained myself fetching balls and attempting to converse with the coach, which didn’t work too well.  It is interesting because every time I am around the team I will randomly be one on one with a girl and they will speak English with me. I think there a lot more than two that speak English; they are just being shy about it because they think it isn’t good enough. When in all reality it’s great, I wish my German was half as good as their English. In due time though… hopefully.

The other great news is that I got a new FREE bike. Like I wrote about earlier, the bike I had hurt my butt SOOO bad, and sounded like it was going to lose a wheel any second(Yes Leah, it’s your bike. You did not get a good deal). My new bike is a woman that’s father died so she wanted to give the bike away. Kind of morbid I guess but it’s great. The bell works and so does the reflector. I am going to get a sweet basket to put on it so I can carry things (it’s the cool thing to do here). All in all, Hercules is my new bike. That’s what kind it is. And it’s pretty cool. If you come visit me, I will give you a ride in my basket. Don’t all jump at once.

I will learn....

I guess I spoke too soon when I wrote in my newsletter that I have started to blend in more with the culture than I did before. I had two horribly embarrassing moments in the last 24 hours. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. I stopped at Gesundbrunnen Center (similar to a mall), which is attached to a train station on the way home from my German class yesterday to pick up some groceries. Walking out of the mall they have these massive revolving doors that are super slow and it’s hard to tell when it’s open. Or at least that is what I have convinced myself of now. I was trying to hurry to the Turkish market and I slammed into the glass and walked right into it because I wanted to “squeeze” through as soon as possible. Clearly, being my size I don’t EVER squeeze anywhere and I paid for it this time. I always say “Oops” loudly too whenever I make a mistake here. Let me remind you that like 15 people can stand in each side of this revolving door, so the WORST part was that I had to stand there and just be embarrassed. Two young girls behind me were laughing so I just laughed with them and then ran once I could escape. So embarrassing. Then today I am biking home from the train station and I stood up on my bike to go faster and because the bike seat kills my butt. The bike is too small and I look like I am trying to be a low rider, which is NOT the case. Anyways though, as I stood up my foot slipped off the pedal and I landed with the bar between my legs (thank goodness I am not a boy). My legs dragged and I almost crashed, but luckily I kept my balance (for once in my life). The bikers around me acted like nothing happened and just laughed to themselves. I just pedaled faster. The bike I ride also is kind of noisy so I feel like everyone can hear me coming and every time I go over a bump my dingy thing rings. Everyone here has bells on their bikes to honk at people. So people ALWAYS think I am honking at them. Biking is SO efficient though, I get everywhere so fast. I wish I could have brought my sweet Mongoose over. Well those are my two embarrassing moments in the last 24 hours.

German class has been going well. I am convinced I shouldn’t have gotten my adenoids out because that way I would be sicker and nasally sounding which would lead to better pronunciation. I constantly have to repeat myself because I don’t sound like a fuzzy television and I can’t roll my “r’s”. I think I might watch a couple YouTube videos that teach you how to roll your “r’s”. People say that you are born with that, but I am convinced I can teach myself the fuzzy television sound and the “r” roll. We will see I guess, I’ll let you know how it goes and maybe you can follow in my footsteps. I still have yet to figure out how to say everyone’s names. We have a boy named Singsong, another one named, Sosong, and a girl named Yinyong. It’s so hard to keep them all straight. Also a Niddy, Solip and Eun. I know one kid’s name because it’s Eric and he is from Michigan. It has been kind of fun getting to know everyone though, I hope they don’t think I am laughing at them because I am more laughing with them. Plus I laugh at myself. Well tomorrow is the last day of class for the week. Thank goodness. I need a break. I never thought I would be someone to live for the weekends again. But I do! It is supposed to be 25 degrees, which is really hot and going to be AMAZING.  I am pumped. The host family has been great, still trying to figure out what I can and cannot do. Like can I walk to my room in a towel? I still do I just make sure the coast is clear and then I make a run for it. I am learning that people in Germany (or maybe just here) shut ALL the doors, so I always think people don’t want me to come in the room. Even the bathrooms. I do miss just being able to leave the door open when I pee. Every door is shut to EVERY room. So I shut my door because I assume I am supposed to, I barely get out and I shut it. Maybe I will ask why that is.  I did some slight rearranging in my room, hopefully that isn’t a problem. I still am not sure what they think about drilling into the wall, more like putting tacks into it, but that’s a question for this weekend. I love having family around and it’s been fun getting to practice my German on them.  Hopefully it comes fast. Twice in three days I blogged, now that’s a record.

"Du findst alles gut?"

There are lots of NEW things in my life. Yesterday I moved in with my host family and today is the day that I officially started learning German. I had my first German class this morning. Let’s just say it was interesting to say the least. I wanted to die laughing the entire time. Let me just set the scene for you. There are ten students. Three from the United States, one from Brazil, one from Spain, two from Korea, one from China, one from Czech Republic and the other two I had either never heard of the country or couldn’t understand where they were from. We started out by going around and saying our names in German and asking the person next to us, “Wie heisst du? and “Woher kommst du?” Literally practiced three questions the ENTIRE time, but the worst part is I came home and practiced them on my family and got them all wrong. Perfect. The funniest part was when we practiced the alphabet. I almost peed my pants. Some people have crazy accents so they can’t make certain sounds so she just makes them keep doing it. Literally we sounded like a bunch of animals. The alphabet is the worst. I mean you say “e” for the “I” and “a” for the “e” and I forgot to mention we add a bunch of letters to the alphabet, which have dots over them. And lucky me, one is in my last name. Of the three questions we practiced, I can’t say my last name correctly or the street I live on. I asked the teacher like 6 times how to say ö and my street is Rue Dioderot, which is French and the teacher thought I was writing the wrong street. Thanks, but I know where I live.

Seriously though, for those of you who have heard me sing the German alphabet to you, I was singing it so wrong the whole time. Or so the teacher informed me today. We learned how to count too, and I can’t say the number 10, which is “zehn.” It looks easy, but the z is a “ts” sound and I can’t do that. Bad news is once you get past nine they all have that sound in them. Dreizehn, vierzehn, funfzehn….etc. Great. All in all, it was so funny hearing people trying to say words and letters, me included. We sounded like a farm full of animals. When we were doing a partner activity, my partner and I finished early so we were talking in English and she was telling me why she came to Berlin two days ago and then asked what I was doing. I told her and she was super excited that I was a Christian and that I liked sports. The teacher then comes over to us and says, “Now is not a good time to be having a conversation in English.” I wanted to say, “As opposed to having one in German?  Since clearly we are here in the beginner of all beginners class for German. What would you like us to speak in?” I was pretty annoyed since we were having a good conversation. 

Hertha BSC game at Olympia Stadion

The other exciting thing I got to do was go to my first professional soccer game. I went to the Hertha BSC game last Friday; Karin hooked me up with two tickets. It was amazing. Olympia Stadion is incredible; there were 50,000 people there for the game. These people are like hardcore fans too. It was a lot of fun and a really neat atmosphere except the cigarette smoke that was coming at me from all sides. I swear my lungs were collapsing as we sat there. Last week, I also went to the zoo. One of the girls that I lived with in Colorado last summer is studying in Cyprus for the semester and they are taking a two week trip to nine countries so they were in Berlin for the day. We went to the zoo. I love big animals. They are so fascinating to me; I wish I could just ride an elephant or go and pet the tiger. The lemurs were allowed to crawl on us. They didn’t crawl on me though, which was fine. Never know when they might have to go #2. Eeeww. It was a fun, refreshing day hanging out with Bekah and two of her friends. We had good spiritual conversations and I brought them to the Berlin version of “Chipotle”.



The girls and I in front of the TIGER.



On Sunday, I moved in with my host family. I now have a BIG bed and a great family. I met my “brother” today. He seems really cool and smart. He studies Pharmacy here. I am trying to teach myself how to speak slowly because often times I get the look that they have no idea what I just said. I wonder how many times people just pretend to understand me. Probably a lot. I realize how much slang I use here when I talk. Today at PT, I asked my physio if he wanted me to roll over (onto my stomach). And then he proceeded to tell me about a human getting killed by an auto and what it was called in Germany. I was slightly confused how that related. Maybe the whole idea of a rollover accident? Not sure. All in all, that has been my last week. Really busy, hence I have stunk at blogging. I am going to try and get better, but I will have homework these days. And we all know how much I am on top of my studies. Oh yeah I forgot to mention when I was on the train today on my way home, there was this 12 year old boy that was just digging for gold in his nose for like five minutes. I seriously wanted to shout over at him and say, “Du findst alles gut?” which isn’t even correct, but close enough to, ”You finding anything good?” It was one of those, is this for real moments? Once again public transportation comes through for me. Well that’s all for now. More to come.