New Car
So I've now been back in Iowa for almost exactly three days. I'm slowly getting readjusted to the US. First off it's so unbelievably humid here. Blah.
I'm have a ton of fun playing with the new dog. I'm now definitely integrated into the pack. Lili doesn't bark at me anymore when I come down the stairs or into the house. She even lets me sit on her couch with her and will even sit on my lap to get petted. It's adorable. I'm also glad to report the cat is not ignoring me either.
So as far as things which are now weird, one of the big ones is hearing the people on the radio talking in English (sorry...American) and the large number of commericals. I spend altogether way to much time flipping through stations just trying to find one playing music. In Bonn the commerical breaks were short (10 min or so) and so infrequenty that when there was one, I'd say to myself "komisch, Werbungen" ("weird, commericals"). It's also odd to be speaking Iowan again rather than my European Englsih. When I listen to myself I begin to realize maybe my accent is stronger than I thought. Or maybe I'm just way lazy and have my own accent. I don't really know. Anyho!
Last night I met Marcy, Shane, and Aaron for dinner. We had a great time talking about everything under the sun. There was also another "woah, how weird" moment when I went to pay. Between the funny American money, calculating a tip, and not just paying the waiter directly, it was a bit unusual.
But my biggest news at the moment is that today I bought a car. It's a 2006 Toyota Matrix. It's a station wagon with good gas milage and lots of niffty cargo room (yes, not only cargo room, but niffty cargo room). It's also an automatic (ja, ja, Ich weiß. Ein Schaltwagon wäre mehr Spaß, aber Ithaca ist bergisch und ich bin ein Weichei). The color is "phantom gray". I'm still waiting for some inspiration on a name. Speaking of the name. Here's a question for the English buffs out there. Would two Matrix cars collectively called Matrixes or Matricies? Here's a photo with me and the car. Cute huh? :-)
By the way, now that I have a few readers of my blog in Germany, I may be writing a bit more in German. Sorry. Those of you who don't know it will just have to deal with it. I promise what's written will not be important and is likely connected to some inside joke or another.
I'm have a ton of fun playing with the new dog. I'm now definitely integrated into the pack. Lili doesn't bark at me anymore when I come down the stairs or into the house. She even lets me sit on her couch with her and will even sit on my lap to get petted. It's adorable. I'm also glad to report the cat is not ignoring me either.
So as far as things which are now weird, one of the big ones is hearing the people on the radio talking in English (sorry...American) and the large number of commericals. I spend altogether way to much time flipping through stations just trying to find one playing music. In Bonn the commerical breaks were short (10 min or so) and so infrequenty that when there was one, I'd say to myself "komisch, Werbungen" ("weird, commericals"). It's also odd to be speaking Iowan again rather than my European Englsih. When I listen to myself I begin to realize maybe my accent is stronger than I thought. Or maybe I'm just way lazy and have my own accent. I don't really know. Anyho!
Last night I met Marcy, Shane, and Aaron for dinner. We had a great time talking about everything under the sun. There was also another "woah, how weird" moment when I went to pay. Between the funny American money, calculating a tip, and not just paying the waiter directly, it was a bit unusual.
But my biggest news at the moment is that today I bought a car. It's a 2006 Toyota Matrix. It's a station wagon with good gas milage and lots of niffty cargo room (yes, not only cargo room, but niffty cargo room). It's also an automatic (ja, ja, Ich weiß. Ein Schaltwagon wäre mehr Spaß, aber Ithaca ist bergisch und ich bin ein Weichei). The color is "phantom gray". I'm still waiting for some inspiration on a name. Speaking of the name. Here's a question for the English buffs out there. Would two Matrix cars collectively called Matrixes or Matricies? Here's a photo with me and the car. Cute huh? :-)
By the way, now that I have a few readers of my blog in Germany, I may be writing a bit more in German. Sorry. Those of you who don't know it will just have to deal with it. I promise what's written will not be important and is likely connected to some inside joke or another.
posted by laura s at 11:14 PM
5 Comments:
I try it in english:
First of all, is't good to see, that you're getting readjusted in the US.
Congratulation to the new car. It's looking a little european, cause it's a Combi (german word for station wagon) and no SUV. Even it's an automatic vehicle, it will be the perfect car to move to Cornell.
Try 'www.swr3.de'. The worlds best radiostation and only 5 minutes commericals per hour.
See you on Pützchens Markt in September!
Greetings to your family and all our friends.
----
Und jetzt so, dass man's versteht
Es ist schön zu sehen, dass Du dich langsam wieder zu Hause eingefunden hast.
Und herzlihen Glückwunsch zum neuen Auto. Ich dachte immer, ihr fahrt nur SUV's in Amerika. Aber der Combi wird das perfekte Auto um nach Cornell zu ziehen. Trotz Automatik.
Höhr' mal bei 'www.swr3.de' rein. Das ist das beste Radio wo gibt. Außerdem machen die bloß 5 Minuten Werbung in der Stunde.
Du bist zu Pützchen wieder hier oder?
Grüß mir deine Familie und deine Freunde. Die sollen bloß gut alle auf Dich aufpassen.
Funny :)
You should also try french !
Ich fange mit Deutsch an. (Ich würde auf Französisch anworten, wenn ich mehr als ungefähr fünfzehn Wörter könnte.)
Es ist doch schwer, ein relativ gunstig Combi in den USA zu finden. Der Auswahl war dieses Auto und ein wie deins. (Wäre das denn deines sein?) Aber es gab kein Foci in Des Moines, so jetzt habe ich ein japanisches Auto mit einem deutschen Name. (Silbi = Abkürzung von Silber Combi)
Danke für die Website. Ich habe schon RPR1 in Internet gefunden, aber, wie wir immer auf Amerikanisch sagen, Vielfalt ist das Gewürz des Lebens. Auch gute Übung für mein Deutsch.
Zu Pützchen bin ich auf jeden Fall da "im Geist". Hab Spass! Und noch einen amerikanischen Spruch zu verwenden...Tue nichts, was ich nicht tun würde.
Alles Gute zu dir und deiner Familie, und pass gut auf die Kollegen auf.
Ok. Now in English. (I'd respond in French when I knew more than about 15 words.)
It's hard to find a relatively inexpensive station wagon in the US. The only choices were this one and a Focus. As there were no more Foci in Des Moines, I now have a japanese car with a German name. (Silbi)
Thanks for the website. I'd also found RPR1 on the internet, but as we always say here, "variety is the spice of life". It will also be good practice for my German.
I'll definitely be at Pützchen "in spirit". Have fun, and "don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Dann werden wir ein Bierchen für Dich mitdrinken. Und danke für das Lemonade-Pulver. Hab's heute erst entdeckt, denn ich hab' ja eigentlich noch Urlaub.
P.S. english and german are hard enough.
I usualy talk my local dialect: "Ewe ech jelöwen, he' schwetzt kene von öch ef'ler Platt" (Ich blaube nicht, dass hier irgendjemand Eifeler-Platt versteht) ;-)
Und jetzt geht's los mit dem Dialekt. :-)
Leider ist Iowanisch ganz leicht zu verstehen. :-(
Wäre schön, gäbe es ein Livestream von Pro7 . . .
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