The Quarter

Today I found a quarter in my backpack. It was...surreal.

On one hand, it's nice to see that I'm becoming completely accustomed to German living, but on the other, it's a little sad that I no longer find everything new and exciting. Adjusting to a culture means things become a lot easier, familiar, and less awkward, but I also miss the novelty. It's not that I'm growing bored here, I still see things every day that I think, "wow, that's different." But I can feel myself settling into a routine, which can be comfortable, but also dull.

There are still plenty of things I need to see here. The great thing about Germany is that you can hop on a train and go anywhere, which I love taking advantage of. However, I usually go to the same places: Bergedorf, die Innenstadt, the Alster...it's time a branch out a bit more.

Wichtige Wörter:

• to get used to something - sich an etwas gewöhnen. Zum Beispiel: Ich gewöhne mich an deutsche Kultur.
• die Innenstadt - downtown. I can take the train to Hamburger Hauptbahnhof, the main train station, and that puts me right in the middle of downtown Hamburg. 

Hamburg is a port city, so there's lots of industry around. There are many big ships carrying cargo containers, and the blue cranes in the background lift the containers on and off the ships. The large ship in front is the Queen Mary 2, a cruise ship.

This is the cargo ship. The smaller boat helps guide it out of the harbor.

The buildings on the left are very expensive apartments where many wealthy people live. Land in Hamburg is very expensive, and views overlooking the water are worth more. The building on the right is a hotel.

Tierpark Hagenbeck

Today my host mom and I went to the Tierpark Hagenbeck, a private zoo. It was started by the Hagenbeck family in the mid-1800's and was among the first to use systematic landscaping instead of cages to hold its animals. Today we visited the Tropen-Aquarium, an indoor inclosure with birds, reptiles, fish, insects, and...lemurs. I didn't quite understand how they fit in there, but they were pretty cute, nonetheless. Here are a few animals I saw:

Chameleon - das Chamäleon

sting ray - der Stachelrochen

snake - die Schlange

The trainers would lure these guys into peoples' laps with carrots.

lemur - der Lemur/der Maki

Wie süß!

crocodile - das Krokodil

And the cries of "Nemo!" were numerous

lizard - die Eidesche

fish - der Fisch

That fish that can go on land and water - evolution!

Family and Four am Flea Markets

Last weekend I visited my host family's extended family, who live about two hours away from Hamburg. I can't exactly remember, but I think the name of the town is Nienburg. It's small, but charming. We first visited the grandparents, who were adorable. Oma gave me a picture of a sunflower she made out of pieces of tissue paper and insisted I eat more butter, and Opa would tell her to let me eat and stop talking so much from his couch in the other room.

There was a celebration in the town that night, the kind that the entire population comes downtown for. There were tons of people in the streets, and lots of food and music. We left early, around 11:30, because we had a very long day the next day. We had to be up at 3:30 (which turned out to be more like 4 - getting up is hard) to set up at a flea market. For the past few years my host mom has sold my host sister's old toys at this flea market, and it turns out to be a really easy way to make a lot of money, since the whole town comes out to shop. I, all by myself, proudly sold 36 euros worth of merchandise, but found out I'm not a great haggler. No great surprise. When I wasn't trying to bargain my way through a sale, I walked around. The flea market was enormous; the cobblestone streets were lined on both sides with tables of toys, books, dishes, food, jewelry, clothes, and all kinds of odds and ends. Oma gave me 10 euros to spend, which mostly went into food while I tried to restrain from buying myself every little thing I found amusing.

This was the flea market near our stand, but still quite early. Later in the day it was crammed with people. The blond woman in the black coat with her back turned on the left is my mom's sister in law, who let me pick out a very nice skirt from her stand and gave me hot tea, which was very welcome in the 2 degrees C weather.

Here is my host mom and I at our stand, circa 7 am. I believe I'm wearing four layers and freezing. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun, especially later in the day when the sun came out.

Wichtige Wörter

• Flohmarkt - flea market
• verkaufen - sell
• Wie viel kostet das? - How much does that cost?