Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

What the heck are we doing here???

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks of the same thing upon arrival and for about several months after landing in a foreign country. Culture shock. I'm suffering all the symptoms right now... It actually has me wishing for McDonalds signs whereever we go.

I've neglected my blogging duties... We have been living in several hotels the past couple of months and connectivity was not always easy to come by or used for other more pressing needs like emails, banking, etc. Living in hotels adds to my sense of limbo.

The name of my blog will need to change to American in Oberursel. We never did find an apartment we liked in Bad Homburg. Could be the time of year. But the place that we are going to live in is awesome - slanted walls, a spiral staircase to our loft, with bike and walking trails right outside our door.

I miss convenience most of all. We arrived in Munich, where we are staying temporarily, with the mother of all colds and found ourselves hunting for the one pharmacy that is open for emergencies during holidays and after hours (in our case, New Years Eve) .

I am reminded of Heidelbergerin's blog that talks about the holistic effects of German medicine. All I can say is, load up on cold medicine before you get here. The German version of Nyquil just boozes you up and has absolutely no effect on your sinuses. It also costs close to $17. You might as well drink beer which tastes much better.

Munich is awesome. Too bad we are here in January but, I purchased a monthly train pass and have been seeing the sights - the Glockenspiel on the Marienplatz, the Asamkirche, the Haus der Kunst, the surfers on the river outside the Haus der Kunst etc. I check out the good touristy spots and take B to my favorites on the weekend.

B is going through his own culture shock. He can understand some Germans just fine and at other times he has no idea what people are talking about. I have the same problem but it seems to be mostly linked to the poor sound on our hotel television.

I'll try to post more regularly again. It depends how fast we get connectivity once we settle in Oberursel.

5 comments:

Martina said...

Hey, there you are :-) I sent you an e-mail recently, but it bounced back, so I guess that account's deactivated.

I'm looking forward to reading more, and good luck getting settled in Oberursel!

Olivia Kroth said...

Hi,
I can feel your culture shock. Hoping you will get settled in Oberursel.

I still feel culture shock myself, although I am half German and been living in Friedrichsdorf, which is close to Oberursel, for 15 years now.

http://olivia-kroth.blog.de.vu

Anonymous said...

Hi Martina,

yup, I'm back and you guessed correctly - my email in the US is cancelled. Still busy cancelling and ordering services in the US and here.

Hi Olivia,

Friedrichsdorf is close by to Oberursel. We've been looking at apartments in your town. How do you like living there?

J said...

Welcome to Germany, a bit late.

Gardner said...

good to have you. Enjoy good old Deutschland.