How do you communicate

with no words to use?

Sometimes living in a foreign country is absolutely frustrating. Everything is different, even if you never expect it to be. The plugs are different, the pillows are different, the public transportation is different...EVERYTHING! But most importantly (and most difficultly) the language is different.

About 75% of the time that I try to communicate with native Germans, I feel like an absolute fool. I know a couple words like "please", "thank you", "one", "I don't speak German", and some food names, but that is IT. I don't know any German, and I feel like a horrible person every time someone asks me if I speak German and I have to reply "no...sorry." I can only order food while pointing at something and saying "one, please", which has incredibly limited my diet because I'm a very picky eater and I have no way of saying "yes, but no tomatoes please!". So I've basically stuck to noodle boxes and pretzels when I'm eating on the run. Otherwise, I can just make food in my apartment (which has no oven, microwave, or toaster...grrr).

I had a very interesting (to me) encounter the other day. I was at the public viewing park for the World Cup games (okay America, we need some of these public viewing parks ASAP...they're so much fun!) and I went to the food tent to get some french fries and beer (sooo healthy, I know) and when I went to check out, the girl told me my total, which of course, I didn't understand. So I kind of smiled at her and looked at the cash register to see what the number was, and handed her my money. She then asked, "Next time should I speak in English?"

This totally surprised me. It's your country and your language, why should you have to change to cater to my needs? It was just kind of funny to me that she was willing to switch to English when sooo many people I've encountered in Germany obstinately refuse to use English, even if they know a bit.

Sometimes the language barrier makes me want to give up on living here and just move back home, but most of the time I see it as a challenge to myself and as a way to improve my relations and interactions with people who live in cultures different from my own!

Tschüss (goodbye)!
Erin

P.S. Lovely photo of the best World Cup team's flag by The Daily Photo.

Tuesdays >:[

I think Tuesdays are the absolute worst. They're the pits. No matter what my class, work, or hobby schedule is from semester to semester, Tuesday are ALWAYS freaking terrible.

Today I sat through 6 hours of classes. In a row. In a tiny cramped room. With an itty bitty window. In 85+ degree weather. And I forgot my water bottle.

I think Tuesdays exist only to hassle me! But on a brighter note, I received a bunch of postcards in the mail from Postcrossing. You sign up and send out 5 postcards, and when the other person receives and registers your postcard, then you're next in queue to receive a random postcard from some random place in the world! It's fun and addicting and awesome! For the price of a postcard and stamp, you can connect with hundreds and thousands of other people around the world!

Cheers,
Erin

P.S. The picture above is a print from the seller Studio Tuesday, the only good Tuesday I know!

Mix Tape Monday!

I've decided that I missed Mix Tape Monday, and I was in a music-y mood this weekend, so I've compiled another mix, this time with a theme!

The theme is "Museums", because this weekend I went on a lovely visit to the museum inside the old palace in Dresden, where they keep all the beautiful treasures of Saxony (the region in which Dresden resides). I had gone to the old part of town just to walk around and watch tourists, but I got sidetracked and ended up in the palace museum for about 2 1/2 hours. So, to escape the very loud and animated Italian tour group that seemed to be following me around the museum, I popped on my headphones, and here is the play list I came up with:

1. My Rights Versus Yours - The New Pornographers
2. Leslie Anne Levine - The Decemberists
3. She'll Hang the Baskets - Cake
4. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out - Cat Stevens
5. Foundations - Kate Nash
6. Syrup and Honey - Duffy
7. Slip Slidin' Away - Paul Simon
8. Ne Me Quitte Pas - Regina Spektor
9. How Am I To Be - The Watson Twins
10. Hail To Whatever You Found In The Sunlight That Surrounds You - Rilo Kiley

If you click on the song titles, you can listen to the song on Youtube (for those I could find...you should check out the other songs on Itunes though! They're good, I promise!). Enjoy the music, and hopefully it'll distract you from the tourists the next time you're in a museum! Also, comment if you like the mix, songs, etc, and if you have any ideas for a future themed mix!

Cheers!
Erin

P.S. The picture is of Rilo Kiley, one of my absolute favorite bands EVER. They rock.

Well hellooooo!

So, I've been on a bit of a hiatus, buuut I'm back now!

I'm currently living in Dresden, Germany...at least for the next 5 weeks (have already been here 6 weeks). It's absolutely amazing, and I've even made friends with the proprietor of a LYS. Every time I walk into the store, she says, "You're back!" and even remembers to speak to me in English (which is a huge blessing to me). It's so nice that she remembers me, because I don't think the cashiers at my LYS at home even remember me :( Well she probably sees me walking down the sidewalk and thinks, "Oh goodness. Here's that crazy American girl again. How many socks can she possibly knit in a week to be back for more yarn!?" But I've spent a good amount of my euros there :]

SOCKS! I finished my first pair of socks. They're rainbow colored and amazing! I love wearing them around the apartment, but it's much to warm to wear them outside :[ Oh well, I can't believe I'm actually excited for winter and coldness so that I can wear my new, lovely socks! I started a pair in blues and purples for my stepmother, but I'm only halfway finished with one sock :\ But I am ADDICTED to making baby socks...and I'm not even having a baby! I have a friend from high school who is expecting a new baby daughter at the end of August, so I'm knitting tiny socks for her like mad. I mean, they only take a little bit of yarn and about an hour to knit up! They're perfect for tram rides and bus rides! I've got 5 so far, and plan to make many, many more.

Yesterday I went to the historic center of Dresden to look for postcards and go people watching. I got sidetracked and ended up wandering around a museum for 2 1/2 hours. Dear me, I love Germany so, SO much!

Any way, that's it for now. I've got homework to do :( Blah!

Cheers!
Erin

P.S. Sorry the picture is so tiny, but that's me in front of a lovely fountain in Dresden :]

For the first time in a long time

I finally have some good things happening to me!

First things first, I uploaded some new things to my shop, which can be viewed in my mini Etsy! I'm really excited about them all. I updated 2 skeins of art yarn (one of which has already sold, HOLY COW!), some handmade clay buttons (that I loooove and have used on some other projects already!), and a new hat (which, I believe, is super freaking awesome)! So check em out if you have a minute (my purple buttons really need some love :( )

Okay so I received some AWESOME news a few days ago! I'm a senior, and I thought that I had to take a few more classes in my major (anthropology) to graduate, and they only offer those classes in the fall, so I assumed I would be coming back next fall to finish out my degree, making me a super senior (or doing my victory lap as a friend described it). So I went to my advisor to discuss what I needed to take and LO AND BEHOLD I only have ONE more credit hour that I need to complete. One freaking hour! Wish I'd known that before registration ended...grrr! Anyway, it's super awesome news because that means I can graduate in August instead of in December (it's too late to graduate in May)! And that one hour will be covered in the study abroad I'm doing this summer...

I'M GOING TO GERMANY! I've wanted to do a study abroad since I began college 4 years ago, but I never managed to make it work. My friend (a fellow anthro student) told me about how she's going to Germany this summer to get her TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certificate, and I was intstantly interested in going! She's doing the 4 week course, which is just a teaching practicum, but I was interested in doing the 11 week course, which includes all the classes you need for the certificate, plus the teaching practicum. I got ahold of the advisor, and he managed to squeeze my application in right before the due date! HOORAY! AND I'm rooming with my friend! Omgomgomg I'm soooo excited!

The program is in Dresden, Germany, at a university that I can't pronounce the name of (as I speak French, not German). As students there we get free travel all over the city, and 60km outside of the city. We're going to take weekend trips to Poland, France, and Belgium (where my mom has a cousin living, so hopefully I can stay for free). We live in apartments with actual German students.

But the best part is that the one part I was worried about, having to pay for my airplane ticket (as it's not included in the tuition and expenses I pay to the school for the program)...well, my dad offered to buy it for me!!! Which is great because, well, I don't have a thousand spare dollars lying around! My dad's buying my ticket tomorrow, I've applied for financial aid and grants, and I've applied (and been accepted) to the program...which means I am OFFICIALLY going to Germany! Squeeeeeeeeee!

And after I get back from Germany, I graduate, and am moving in with my best friend for a bit...rent free! Her boyfriend bought a house, but is being deployed to Iraq this June, so the army is going to pay his mortage while he's gone. She doesn't want to live by herself, so I offered to move in for awhile. I only have to pay for food and my share of the utilities.

Oh, and after I graduate, I'm going to talk to someone from the Americorps and someone from the Peacecorps, as I really feel like those things are calling to me right now. I'm a little hesitant about the Peacecorp, as it's a 27 month commitment, but I'd like to know as much as I can about both before I make a decision.

I just finally feel like my life is going in a concrete direction, and I'm so excited/happy/stunned!

So, because I had so much good news lately, I felt like I needed to do something to deserve all this good karma I was getting. So I cleaned out my room and ended up with a bag full of clothes I don't wear anymore, and a box of jewelry, CD's, accessories, etc that I never use, and I freecycled them. It feels nice to help someone else out, and to get rid of some stuff clogging up my closet!

All right, well I'm off to help my roomie (aforementioned bff) make chicken. We're having a medieval night and eating potatoes and cornish hens with our fingers and pretending to joust! We're silly...we know!

A little bit of organization!

My new year is starting off the right way! I want to be a little more organized, and this is helping me out a tonnnn! I got it in a swap on Craftster, and I'm totally in LOVE with it. So, here are some pictures of my new needle roll organizer thingie (now I just wish the rest of my room would organize itself!):

A Year of Change

I have decided to make this year a year of change. There are so many things I want to do, and I want to try and I'm just determined to make myself a better person.

I just got back from visiting my Dad in Arizona, and the desert was amazing and absolutely breathtaking (okay, I liked the desert, but I wouldn't like to live there...I love forests and streams and grass and meadows!). We climbed to the top of Cathedral Rock in Sedona. I'm not a very good hiker, and it was uphill (and up-rock) the entire way...I pretty much felt like I was going to die the entire time. But the view from the top was amazing, and completely worth the effort! My favorite thing up there was this older gentleman who was just chilling at the top with his hands in his pockets. He didn't have water or snacks or hiking gear or anything (we were pretty outfitted for a rigorous climb). He looked like he just walked to the top and sat there for awhile before climbing back down. He made me realize that I wanted to slow down, stop, and enjoy life more often. So that's when I decided that I wanted to make 2010 a year of change...a year that would really count. So here are the things I want to change:

1. I need to be more active. Even if it's not going to the rec every day (or even every other day), then just simply doing some kind of aerobic work out at home. Maybe I'll start every day with jumping jacks? I want to lose some weight...not copious amounts, because unlike most people, I'm actually okay with how my body looks, but just enough to go down a pant size (because last year I was one size, and this year I'm a size up, so I'd like to be able to use my old pants instead of buying more, yanno!?).

2. I'm going to try to be more patient with people. This is going to be really, REALLY hard for me, as my patience is the size of a pinhead.

3. I want to eat less crappy stuff. I have to stop eating spaghetti every night for dinner :\

4. I'm going to try harder in school. NO MORE PROCRASTINATION! I seriously wait until the last minute to do EVERYTHING. I'm going to try sooo hard to get everything done on time, or early! This is also going to be difficult, especially with my knitting and computer about 3 feet away :(

5. Random acts of kindness! I want to be a nicer person!

6. I'm going to try to stay out of the Etsy forums (because sometimes it makes numbers 2 and 5 really hard)(okay, I'm not going to completely stop posting, but I'm going to try to not get sucked into some of the inane threads) and actually concentrate on my business. I've kind of just been putting stuff in the shop and not really doing anything with it, so I want to expand my business and be an active shopowner!

Also, I'm currently working on a baby blanket for my friend who is about 6 weeks pregnant. I haven't talked to her in about a year, but I saw on facebook that she was expecting, and I thought it would be really fun for her to randomly receive a package from an old friend chock full of cute, hand-made baby stuff! You would like that too, wouldn't you?

If anyone has any tips or comments about the things I'm trying to improve on (especially healthy eating, I'd love recipes!) then feel free to drop me a comment! I can use all the help I can get! I'm determined to make this year a really worthwhile, really interesting, and really fun year!