Ich esse einen Apfel

(by Peter Hoskin)

Hallo! This is Peter again, typing from Sachsen (bei Ansbach), Bavaria, Germany. Sachsen is a town of just over 3000 people just a few kilometers outside of the (slightly) bigger city of Ansbach. It’s a beautiful town with a church at the center and red roofs all around. It’s chilly outside and a dusting of snow, though everyone tells me they usually get quite a bit.. sure Germany, have you met Canada? They get snow.

I’ll tell you a bit about my first week in Germany (see previous post for the pre-Germany trip!). I flew into Stuttgart with Brendan on the morning of January 4, where we made our way to the train station. There we were met with a lot of signs in German pointing in different directions.. “It’s ok,” we thought, “just find the ticket counter.” Easier said than done! Eventually we did find it, we each bought a BahnCart which allows us to get 50% off our train tickets while in the country, a pretty sweet deal! And we bought our tickets, Brendan to Ellwangen and myself to Sachsen!! Brendan’s left first so we said a quick “seeya” and parted ways. I waited a bit and then jumped on my train.

The trip lasted just over two hours and I got to look out the window at this new (to me) country. What I saw was an interesting combination of modern technology and old landscape. There was this super sleek train traveling through rolling hills filled with small farms. Also, there were solar panels everywhere! Many farmhouses, townhouses, and larger buildings had panels, and I saw at least 2 solar farms. Btw, I had my German phrasebook in my hand just in case someone talked to me! (but no one did) I changed trains in Ansbach and then made it to Sachsen. I can’t believe how nervous I was on that train ride, I’ve taken the train into Ansbach a few more times now and I have it figured out!

So I got off the train in Sachsen and had somewhat of an idea where to go.. Pretty much: Go down the hill, take a street to the right, take third left, find number 37. And I found it! It’s actually a really nice house, I have the entire top floor: bedroom, kitchen, spare room, spare spare room, and bathroom. Super Sweet. The only imperfection is that the shower is quite short, like built for someone who’s five-foot-nothing… but I’ve managed alright. Here’s the house and this is the view out of my front window:

I managed to get a tv hooked up in one of the rooms, and Brendan helped me move a couch upstairs too when he came over last weekend. My new friends Dale and Kay, who live on the main floor, have been very helpful in getting me set up and I am very thankful for them. Dale even took me for a drive around Sachsen and Ansbach to help me get oriented. And there are so many football (soccer!) fields here, wow, there are three or four at the small school in Sachsen and then another two in the town. Apparently there’s a Sachsen club team so I’m going to try to see a match and support the home team!

Work has been good too, I have been able to get a ride with some of my coworkers so that has cut my 50-plus minute commute in the morning to about 10! And everyone is really nice! Though I really wish I could speak German, Brendan agrees with me on this! Everyone I work with can speak English, but it’s normal for them to speak German because it’s their first language. And some people don’t speak English. There was one meeting I went to, and it was ENTIRELY in German. After about an hour, my boss asked if I was catching any of what they were saying.. I shook my head. It’s alright, I’m doing some really interesting work. The product that I’m working on is a control unit for electric power steering, and I work on a team that designs the assembly line of these units. There’s been a really steep learning curve, but I’m getting it.

Sunday January 6, was the first time I had been away from home for my birthday, and I must say I will remember this one! I was invited to go to church with Lee and Nicole, friends my mom had connected with during our search for an apartment during the fall. It was a church of mostly Americans, and they spoke English! After the service, Nicole brought out a birthday cake and everyone sang happy birthday (sort of Grebel-esque!). Then we went out for lunch at a place called Gutshof Colmberg . Very nice German food! Then, that evening I was invited to go go-carting with Corina and her friends. Wow those Germans drive fast! It must be all the Autobahn driving. And I got to skype with my fam that night too! A good day.

My evenings are generally pretty empty, I’m trying to get back into a workout routine and I’m working on my Deutsch. A few months ago I learned, “Ich esse einen Apfel” which means “I eat an apple” and Brendan, Jae and I have kinda joked about it since it was the first thing we were able to say with confidence. Now I wish that I could say many more things with confidence :) well, I’m working on it!

And this is me actually eating an apple, so that I can legitimately use, "Ich esse einen Apfel."

Across the Pond

(by Peter Hoskin)

So now I’m over here in a foreign country where they speak a foreign language and eat foreign food. Germany is GREAT! I just wish I could speak some German :) Here’s a quick sum-up of my trip to London, before getting to Deutschland.

I left Canada two weeks ago and flew across the Atlantic to London, with my good friend Brendan Coady. We were going to spend four days in the city and then continue on to Germany at the end of the week. The trip had been in the works for months and it had finally come! The first event: New Years Eve!

We got to London in the morning, made our way to the hotel and then got downtown in the early afternoon. Checked out some tourist attractions like the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square and the Big Ben, and then we wanted to get a good viewing position for the fireworks. Yeah we had a good spot, right on the Westminster Bridge, literally under the fireworks! The only drawback was that we had to wait close to 6 HOURS in the downtown.

 Later on, gates were set up to prevent too many people from getting into the bridge area, so it was a good thing we were there early. We walked around a lot, saw Westminster Abbey and the London Eye, ate some food, until Big Ben finally struck 12! Definitely worth the wait - the best fireworks I HAVE EVER SEEN!! And also the biggest crowd I have ever been in, getting out of the downtown took us another 2 hours. So after being stuffed into the tube and paying an atrocious amount for a taxi, we made it back to the hotel and crashed, ending a pretty crazy 40 hour day!

The next 3 days Brendan and I saw a lot of really cool things! We hit all the big “must sees” in London:  Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and lots more. 

But we also tried some things that were maybe not super famous, but were interesting to see. We went to the Design Museum, and coming from engineering it was high on my list of things to see… well I should have done some research. I can’t say that modern jewelry and crystal-art are my cup of tea, I was hoping for some cool inventions or devices… oops. Then we went to the Tate Modern and saw even more modern art. So. Much. Art? Two things I found really interesting were the Transport Museum, which detailed the history of public transportation in the city, and the London Bridge Experience. That was a really cool tour that explained the famous London Bridge from when the first one was built until the current bridge was opened. I think we got to see everything we wanted to, except the Chelsea-QPR football match. We also made a list of things that surprised us about this new city and country. Here are a few of the points:

• It rains a lot

• Roundabouts go clockwise, and have traffic lights
• Peter cannot understand people with accents
• Pigeons in London = Canadian Geese in Waterloo. They’re everywhere!
• A cooked burger is pink in the middle.. even when you ask to have it grilled again, it’s still pink
• A free continental breakfast is always best the first time
• Modern art is ridiculous

• Brendan does NOT like heights (we climbed the monument!)

• Peter does not like dark scary places (ha! the London Tombs)
• Londoners are all under 6 feet, sorry 183 cm, since the Tube ceilings are so low. I hit my head more than once
• There is always a “way out” but never an exit
• Everything is old (well, except for the modern art)
• Everything is expensive, even toilets cost money some places!
• It still rains a lot

It was overall a grand time, a great start to the 4-month-long Euro trip! Then we packed everything up again and hopped on a plane to Stuttgart, Germany and continuing adventures :) I wish that Jae Han could have joined us for this time, but he was delayed.. but he’ll be over in just a bit!

First impressions of Germany are coming soon!