First, for the fans of my personal website (http://www.michaelnehring.com), great news! I will be adding a new section soon, and updating the politics section to discuss philosophy more than specific ideas (as I am not very good at discussing specific ideas).
Well, today I got a residence permit and a bank account, so I no longer have a bunch of travelers cheques. I got my stipend letter, so I will soon start receiving way too much money from the German government.
I still have to setup my telephone (tomorrow, I hope, 8:30AM, or 2:30AM eastern time), and then sign my contracts to get housing (I'm living in housing, but they have no way of charging me).
I'm finally learning to depend on speaking German a bit more. Of course, everyone here still speaks English, so I can usually say a sentence or two in English to them when my German fails me.
This leads me to another point. German is somewhat easy to learn because it is similar to English. German is also very hard to learn, because it is similar to English. It's nice to say a sentence what is almost totally English, but yet still German, however, sometimes it's hard to remember what is English and what is German. There are so many English words in modern German, and so many German words in English. My language instructor will sometimes say entire sentences in English (not in German that sounds like English, but English). However, the English sentence is also a standard German phrase. Denglish (Deutsch-English) confuses me.
Well, I actually have some stuff I plan on doing tonight, so I think I'll grab something to eat at the local Nordsee resturant (fast food fish) and head off.
Archived comments:
Anna:
Lots of money from the German government is always good. Oooh, you have plans for tonight? (nudge, nidge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more) Well, have fun.
Oh, by the way, some of the 6 feet to go pics have been developed. I'll try to scan some in and send them to you soon.
Mom:
I look forward to your updated website!
Dad wants to know if March is a good time for him and Blin to come visit you. There are a couple of possibilities for vacation weeks in March, or there's a week available in April. Flights seem to be somewhat more expensive in April than March, and much more expensive in May.
When we acquired the new old diesel, I tried to say to myself in German "We have a car" but could only come up with "Tenemos une voiture" which is half Spanish and half French! I wonder whether people who grow up in an environment where they frequently hear two or three or four languages also get them scrambled the way I do, or whether the mind can keep separate languages successfully in separate compartments?
Glad the logistics of settling in seem to be doing well.
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