Giving Thanks November 24, 2011

As great as it is to live abroad, one of the major downsides is being away from family and friends during the holidays. What’s particularly difficult is when the holiday isn’t even celebrated in the country you’re living in.

Thanksgiving is the holiday that I probably miss the most since I’ve been living abroad.  I’ve been lucky enough to have been home a handful of times for Christmas since 2004, but making it back for Thanksgiving has always been more of a challenge in terms of timing. When I was a student in the UK, there was no Thanksgiving break (and I probably couldn’t have afforded a flight back for such a short trip anyway), and then once I started to work in the education sector, the majority of my vacation time needed to be taken in the summer.  So I think, if I’m remembering correctly, I’ve made it back for a total of one Thanksgiving in eight years.  Sad, huh?  In the beginning it didn’t bother me so much, but I’ve come to really appreciate (and miss) this holiday that is uniquely north american.

Still, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, even if that means not getting to enjoy pumpkin pie while you’re doing it! As hard as it sometimes was and sometimes still is, I’m thankful to have had the opportunities I’ve had to live and study abroad and experience different cultures. I’m thankful I have the opportunity (as much as I complain about it) to learn another language now. I’m thankful the Mr. has the good, permanent job that brought us here. I’m thankful we have his family here and we’re looking forward to celebrating Advent with them this weekend, and later Christmas. I’m thankful I’m going to get to fly back to see my family in January for a “late” Christmas. I’m thankful for all the new friends I’m making, and for the old ones that make it feel like no time has passed since we last saw each other. And I’m thankful for our little furry Mia, who had a tooth pulled yesterday morning and seems to be doing just fine.

I am so thankful for so much, that I really don’t even know where to begin or where to end this list. I don’t know what I did in my previous life to deserve such a great husband, family, friends, health and privilege, but I deeply appreciate all that I have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday backlash: Early openings a mixed blessing – Nov. 15, 2011 November 20, 2011

Black Friday backlash: Early openings a mixed blessing – Nov. 15, 2011.

Now I’m a gal who likes to shop, but when I read the above article a couple of days ago, I have to say it made me a little concerned. Yes, I understand businesses want to make money, and I suppose one could argue that the employees who work on a holiday earn higher wages (which during these hard times they perhaps need)…still, one has to wonder: if these shops didn’t open at 11pm on Thursday, would they really make less money in the long run over the holiday season? Will the people who go shopping at 11pm on Thanksgiving simply not go shopping at all if the stores don’t open then? It might be that the shops do come out slightly ahead with this early Black Friday strategy, but my guess is that the same people who get up at 4am on Black Friday to wait in line are the same ones who will go at 11pm on Thanksgiving Day. And now that the store is opening at that time, they’ll have no choice but to go on Thanksgiving Day if they want to catch the best deals. I understand people want to save money and get good deals, but I have to wonder, what are we as a country really paying for all this cheap stuff when one considers the ramifications of what this means not only for the Thanksgiving holiday, but possibly other American holidays, too?

The lack of vacation time for workers in the US and the fact that there are only a  handful of days (at best) left in the year when  almost all shops are closed for public holidays means Americans are already dreadfully lagging behind their European counterparts in terms of quality relaxation time with their families. After having lived and worked in the UK for a number of years, I came to really appreciate what it means to have actual vacation time. My British colleagues where shocked and appalled when I told them that I had to work an entire year before I earned any real vacation time, and that allotment was pretty measly once I did receive it (and that that was 100% normal). And now, living in (at least this part of) Germany, every shop is closed every Sunday, every week. In case you didn’t catch that, EVERY SUNDAY, EVERY WEEK.  While I find it a little extreme to have ALL the shops closed for an entire day every week (no less the weekend, when one might actually have the time and energy to get some shopping down!), I do appreciate that it guarantees at least one day out of the week when most families can spend time together. Yes, doctors and nurses and firemen (and servers and cooks, too, as restaurants and cafes are open) still have to work, but most families have a day together without working or running errands.  And I also appreciate that the major holidays in Germany are taken pretty seriously, too…I don’t think there’s any chance stores here are going to open at 11pm on Christmas Day just so shoppers can get started early on the after-Christmas sales!

So I just have to wonder…are we Americans digging our own “holiday/vacation” grave by allowing shops to open on Thanksgiving Day? Are we making an already bad situation worse by eroding yet another holiday (that I always thought was supposed to be a day about family and rest and being thankful for what you already have) into just another day to spend money? I fear once the floodgates are open, it won’t be long before the next American holiday is under attack and open for business as usual.

What do you think? Would you ever or will you go shopping on Thanksgiving Day? Does it concern you that shops are starting to open on a public holiday?

Deutsch, Deutsch, Deutsch November 17, 2011

So I’ve been meaning to get on here more often now that I’m back in Germany and write a bit more. Sheesh, where does the time go? Oh, yeah..to learning German. That does take up quite a bit of time, and definitely a lot of energy, too. The finish line is in sight, however: I have a test for my language school next week (that I’m not feeling terribly optimistic I will pass as I’ve heard it’s pretty difficult), then we have a short course on German politics, customs, etc. followed by a test on that subject matter, and finally the big test for the government in the middle of December (that if I pass successfully, we’ll get half of the money back that we’ve spent on the class). Then my integration course is officially finished, and unless I want to learn further, that’s it for German. The good news is that the test that is really important for me  – the one for the government – isn’t very difficult. We’ve taken two practice versions of it, and I found them both fairly easy. It’s most heavily weighted on speaking. I don’t speak perfect German by any stretch of the imagination, but they care more about that you are communicating and getting your ideas across, even if you make lots of grammatical mistakes and don’t speak perfect German. So I think I’ll be okay as I can hold a basic (albeit imperfect) conversation over simple subjects.

I’m not sure whether I want to continue learning German in the near future or not. I definitely wouldn’t go back to learning further until February at the earliest because I’m most likely flying back to the US in January to celebrate a “late” Christmas with family there. Then we will probably have quite a bit going on this spring with me needing to study for my German driver’s license, the Mr. taking his spring vacation…so I don’t know. At the moment, my feeling is that I really need to speak better German before I should learn more grammatically. That might sound sort of backwards, but the problem is that the grammar we’re learning is so complicated that I feel like I could grapple with it better and take in more if I could actually understand more and speak more fluently. The class I’ve joined for this last section of my course is really interesting as it has quite a few people who can already speak quite well and understand pretty much everything said to them (for various reasons, such as having a German mother or having already lived in Germany for TEN years…no joke, we share the same class!), whereas I have to struggle more to understand what my teachers are saying to me, whether it’s explaining the grammar or telling a funny story. I especially struggle with one particular teacher, and understand perhaps 50-60 percent at best what he’s saying to us for four hours a day. They don’t have this problem, and I feel like that gives them a real advantage at being able to take in and quickly utilize the new grammar that’s being taught (also because they no doubt have a better “ear” for it, so to speak).  So we’ll see. Never say never, as I think learning German at a higher level could definitely be a good idea at some point, but I’m just not sure I’m ready for that yet. Plus I’m pretty burnt out. I had hoped that when I came back from my two-month break I’d be ready to study for two or three hours every night as my language school recommends, but nope…when I get home, I’m tired and I want to do other stuff, not learn German. After having already learned it for four hours, my brain just wants to relax and do something else. I do my homework and that’s it.

On the other hand, I know it’s probably best in theory to just plow through to whatever level it is you’re hoping to accomplish, and long breaks are not your friend. I don’t feel like I need a “high” level of German at the moment in my daily life here, but I know my needs may change at some point, for example if I begin to look for a job or want to study something at the university. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.