By now we have learned a lot about the culture, language and people of this country. But there are some things we can’t get through our heads. We just don’t get it. For example, our landlady says, “If I make this meal tomorrow, I’ll invite you over.” We express our thanks. The next afternoon a…
Now that we are in country, there are some urgent tasks to do that we have been putting off for a long time. That means that I am spending more time than I used to at the computer. Unfortunately, there is only one table in our apartment, the chairs are too low, and we can’t…
A year earlier I had tried to get a scholarship in California. Somehow I thought it would be fun to study my languages in the United States – an opinion the committee that granted these did not share. They asked a lot of questions about my motivation and also about California. As I hadn’t studied…
Time is money, they say where we come from. Time is life, you could say here. Whereas people in our country often bustle along the street looking agitated and rushed, here it’s normal for people to stand around chatting or doing nothing at all. Recently I needed a haircut. I hesitated a long time because…
I had said about the second semester: „Our teacher came into class the first day and we had a hard time understanding her. She had decided to speed up a tiny bit. Everything was a bit tougher.” Well, this time again: She came in and was even faster. We had to work a lot more…
In our first few days in Algeria we have quite a bit of time to meet people and get used to living here. I have the idea of learning to read and write using Arabic script while we’re here. That will also be useful to us later for language learning, which we probably won’t have…
Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain. I talked to several friends with contacts in Spain and finally a men’s home in Valencia invited me to come over. The house was a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. A lot of men with strange backgrounds, complicated family histories and bad experiences in life waited for me.…
Bucks, Smackers, Dough Other countries, other customs — so far so good. Other countries, other prices. Just as clear and logical: other countries, other living conditions, other living standards, other ways of handling money. For us in the West, “other” almost always means that other people are poorer, live below the official poverty level and…
I had totally different plans as a student in high school, but then I chose to study Spanish and German at university to become a teacher. I had found out that my heart was more into languages and cultures and learning about people than any other thing. The first choice I had to make was…
I wanted to join a youth group that was traveling to Spain. As I didn’t know a lot of Spanish I prepared myself by learning phrases by heart. It helped a lot, and I had the impression that I was making progress. But then, something terrible happened: I met a Spaniard in a train. He…