My Version of Relaxation

These last few weeks have been pretty relaxing for me, and yet I’m still exhausted. Oh well! This weekend, we head to Paris and Disneyland Paris! I’m excited! J

A few notable things have happened over the past two weeks:

I went to my second professional soccer game! Werder Bremen was the favorite over SpVgg Greuther Fürth but only managed to pull off a 2-2 tie. If you recall, the last game I went to ended up 5-0 with Bremen losing. The first goal of this game was scored by Bremen while we were making our way back to our seats from halftime. The next two goals were scored by Fürth, and I was fairly certain that I was bad luck: doomed only to see Bremen’s opponents score when I am at the game. Fortunately, they were able to score a goal in the 70^th minute to tie the game. Not what I was hoping for, but they avoided the loss, and I finally saw Bremen score a goal in person! Afterwards, Thimo, Vanessa (from Australia), and I went to Thimo’s house for dinner and to hang out. It was nice to be in an actual home again, and not just an apartment.

On Monday nights, an Irish pub called Hegarty’s hosts a trivia night in English! Eight of us from work went to try our luck at trivia night. I missed a few questions that I really should have known the answers to, but I did more good for our team than harm.

On Friday the 22^nd, a group of us went to an event near the central train station known as Osterwiese. It is essentially a fair that goes on around Easter time. They have your typical fair foods and sweets, along with a few fair rides and haunted houses. Plus they have giant beer tents with live musicians. Thimo told me that we had to eat a “half-a-meter bratwurst”, naturally! A very good dinner! We went on a few of the rides just so we could say that we did, and then we just hung out in one of the beer tents. German people tend to get into live musical performances like these more so than we do in the USA. People are always singing along and dancing, which makes the environment very exciting!

Matheus’ last day of work was Wednesday the 20^th, and he heads back to Brazil this Friday the 29^th. He and Thimo had both been bragging about their ping pong skills, so this past Sunday, we went to Thimo’s house to play a little bit of ping pong. We did a little bit of one-on-one and then some doubles matches. It was a lot of fun and a good way to spend time with Matheus before he heads home!

This week, we started speaking German at work about 90% of the time. It’s been mentally exhausting, but I am definitely a lot better than I was when I first got to Germany! When it’s not frustrating, it’s actually really fun and exciting to speak in a different language. Sometimes I zone out when other people are having a conversation with each other because I simply can’t focus any longer. I’m working on it, but I’m actually surprised by how much I can pick up when I do listen. Hopefully I continue to make progress!