Here's an actual Germany update, since I guess I haven't written anything about that in a couple weeks.
This week=pretty boring. Things I did:
- finally finished all my visa stuff (which ended up involving an experience too embarrassing to post on a public website)
- took items out of the library for the first time (they charge €1 to borrow DVDs, what the heck??)
- went to choir on Wednesday night (full of old people and one 16-year-old, but it was nice to get out of the house and do something musical)
- went to German class on Saturday morning--in the snow. For real.
I also realized this week that I can understand Stefan and Stephanie's conversations with each other. They talk differently to me than they do to each other. To each other they talk faster and not as clearly--and I can understand them! I paid more attention the rest of the week, and realized that I can also understand almost all conversations with only slightly more effort than when I listen to conversations in English. I still have the usual struggles with speaking and everything, but I'm really settling in and I feel very confident with speaking now. I no longer feel intimidated or nervous when making phone calls, or when starting/participating in conversations (that's kind of a lie, but I'm keeping it in to make myself feel good). I'm also reading a book in German, and I'm about halfway done. It's pretty cool to do that, since I usually feel very intimidated when looking at stuff written in German, mostly because there are a lot of really long words. Actually, I really like reading books to Johanna because she almost always picks German ones and hers are right on my level. ...OK, that's a little sad.
Stay tuned for the rest of my Budapest trip. Unless you're sick of reading my long updates, in which case I have to say....I understand.
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