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| The Language. The Language! |
I've been twice mistaken for a college student since moving here. Now, I'm not complaining. I like being thought to be an unmarried mother of two boys who must have had my first baby when I was, I don't know, about 15. I'm OK with that. Really. Just like I was Ok when the lady at the check-out counter asked me if I was using my "mom's credit card" to buy a pair of earrings. On my twenty-first birthday.
And since we've established that I'm ok with being thought a college student. Let me give you what made me, indeed, not ok with it anymore. I'm at language class on Monday and we're discussing when to use the formal and informal. I'm wearing a Japanese kimono-like shirt with my favorite pair of leggings (they are back folks, oh yes they are) and my new euro-american platform Mary Janes. I am cute. However, I also am also, obviously CUTE. There is another student there, with a cardigan and matching sweater combo, pearl earrings, and slacks. Leather shoes. Short hair. My teacher makes the comment that she would use the "Sie" (formal) form with her if she met her at a pub. "You look like a professional." Whereas, she would use the "du" form with me, "You look like a college student." I can see that I don't dress like other people around me, I can see that I don't dress like many people I know (in Europe or anywhere). I can also see that this woman could wear her outfit in a business casual setting whereas I could not. However, this woman has a 10 month-old baby. Her first. I'm betting she's my age, maybe a couple of years older. At the most.
So apparently the German Phrase of the Day is "Grow Up."Labels: The Move |
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| we have two cans of pediasure left |
| and I forgot to pay $100 dollars in shipping to get more. I'm going to try this Austrian stuff that is more milk-like (of which the only thing I know about it is that it's gluten free) and see if it works. Although, I hate to change anything in his diet with him loosing weight. Maybe I'll see if CVS will ship some to me. Labels: random |
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| Swimming in a Fish Bowl |
All of the native English speakers know each other here. And, somehow, they know me (or have heard about me or work with my husband). A woman generously invited me to her house next week to meet with a group of Mormon women. She just happened to be visiting her daughter in my german-speaking Ward and heard that I was American. She also knows the lady whose children babysat my children last week. And we're meeting at a woman's house who hosted the International School opening social that I missed.
This week I attended a book club with a colleague of my husband and a lady he had previously offended at work and other folks whose spouses are being quoted in books about the Bush Administration. I feel like my mishaps and quirks are no longer between me and the trees that surrounded my house in Virginia. They're between me and my acquaintances, and the people at my son's school, and the people at church, and the people who my husband works for.
My drapes are now pulled. On all 30 windows in my house.Labels: The Move |
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| How to gain weight the Euro-Way |
Buy bread from the baker.
And a glass jar of honig (honey).
And some non-salted butter.
Toast bread.
Add butter and honey.
Eat until bread is gone.
Go back to the baker.
You see where I'm going with this? |
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| Now I remember |
| why we decided that Mara cannot handle the children for long stretches of time without some relief. Oh yes, Mara goes crazy. |
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Name: Reluctant Nomad
Home: Austria
About Me: I photograph banal subjects to remind myself of the beauty in everyday life. I have two little boys who love me even when I'm crazy and a hubby who loves me in spite of it.
See my profile...
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Brushes by Gvalkyrie
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posted by Reluctant Nomad at 
