Sunday 15 August 2010

A whole week in Frankfurt

So I have now been in Frankfurt for a whole week! It seems to have gone quite quickly (this is a good thing I think) so I feel this may be a good point in time to be a little reflective. I haven't planned much to say in this post, so excuse the thoughts-straight-to-type which will follow.

It's been a busy week. I've become a registered citizen of Frankfurt, opened a bank account, started my first proper job, been for after-work drinks, sampled several glasses of Äpfelwein, tried Frankfurter Grüner Soße, told the bank they forgot my house number, tried to buy postmen and, come to think of it, started a blog. Having just typed and looked over that list I seem to have achieved a lot but still not everything is quite perfect yet.

Even though I am in Germany, sometimes I forget that fact. When I am lying in bed in the morning particularly, there is the usual half-awake disorientation which is somewhat exacerbated by being in what is still a foreign country rather than really feeling like home. I don't think it helps that I did a lot of travelling around in the week or so before moving here and have got a bit used to not being in my bed at home. And after two years of university and having half the year in Leeds and half at home, a certain amount of confusion is probably the norm.

Being in Frankfurt and living with flatmates who aren't German are two other things which mean it can sometimes slip your mind that this is Germany. As well as not going a day without hearing and having conversations in English, even when I'm out and about there are English, American and a range of voices to be heard. It's nice to live somewhere so cosmopolitan (especially in comparison with Lincolnshire) but sometimes I think I would be using more German if i had been posted in some rural German backwater. Though if that were the case I think we could cue the rant about the commute to work, the lack of shopping and lack of difference to the semi-rural backwater I have moved from.

I haven't spoken as much as German as I was expecting. Though I think that is partly due to still feeling a little disoriented and having got so out of practice with my German over the summer. However, when I have been speaking German, it's not been too shabby (Briefträger episode excepted) so perhaps I really should not worry about the slight rustiness. And after the training at work I will have the opportunity (in fact, the neccesity) to speak a lot of German so I shan't get too worried about this. The year is still young!

1 comment: