Becoming Fluent Plus My Dritte Monat

Almost 90 days since I've gotten here and its strange that I have no return date to count forwards to...
Now that I've just devoured a giant chocolate santa, plus three of his tiny santa friends, I'm ready to give an account of third month here in Wedel.
Germany is and forever will be my home. I can hardly remember two years ago when it was all so new and strange to me, how exhausting it was to only have a basic grasp on the language and the awkward social interactions I encountered on a day to day basis.
In terms of language skills and social interactions, being and living my life in the German language has become instinct. Sure, I stumble through more complicated sentences, especially grammar wise, but for the most part, understanding German has finally been bumped up to a level where its not really understanding it, its just simply speaking. I can't really describe this strange phenomenon of learning a second language outside of your childhood and finally, after five years of studying the language, one and a half of which you were living in a country were it was spoken, you finally feel like you can tell people that you're fluent. I could only wish that everyone would be able to experience such a wonderful feeling, but it takes so much time and dedication if you don't have any background experience with the language. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to really study German in Germany and blessed for all the people who have made it happen :)
While my German skills are great, I'm positive that searching for a job where I'm teaching or working in English is going to be the best fit. Its literally my number one skill at the moment, which is sad because I know my sentence structure has gotten really funky since I got back to Germany. Next week I'm going to shadow in a preschool to see if its right for me, and the bilingual school that my little host brother attends is interested in having me do an internship with their younger classes. Job and study opportunities are so exciting, I can't handle the wait period for these things. After working forty hours a week all summer in Boise, not having a job is so incredibly frustrating. But I have to be patient. The winter has really been getting me down and I am constantly reminding myself that everything will come together...
I really don't have too much to say. Life here is as normal as life in the Kless house could be, which is totally not normal at all, but I love it. The challenges of life as direct and raw which is always good for life lessons and practices.
I'm excited for Christmas, but mostly excited for the ski vacation happening right afterwards!!
Along with the Christmas season (which is really the bomb diggity in Germany, I highly suggest Christmas Markets and the whole shabang if you're ever in Europe) comes a little bit of Heimweh, or homesickness. I just mostly miss my family, aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins all included. My love goes out to all of them and I hope its an awesome Christmas!
Three weeks ago was my birthday which means I'm now two decades old which is really a strange feeling. Thanks to the Kless family, the Tanner family, and all my friends and neighbors for making it an awesome birthday!!
Pictures of my last month shall be included in the next post!

One Month in!

Once Thursday shows up tomorrow , I will have been here in Wedel for one month! Its incredible how fast time has passed but how it feels like time hasn't passed at all... Very surreal, but at the same time, its very wonderful. I'm so so so happy and thankful to be back in Germany. I am the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life, both mentally and physically, and strive to continue trekking through my life with this outgoing attitude.
One of the best surprises I got about a week after arriving is that remodeling my room was to become a top priority. The room in the basement is the one I lived in last time I was here and it was about due time to clean it out and fix it up. Thanks to the wonderful family and friends that I have, my room has transformed into a glorious, spacious place that I love being in with the fluffiest carpet ever! I really can't thank everyone enough who helped make my new room possible.
A few German words that I learned through repetition whilst helping remodel my room are Staubig (dusty), Tapete (wallpaper), and Flauschig (fluffy). Tapete is a word that I struggled with because it sounds a lot like Teppich (carpet) and there was constant discussion with those two both in the sentences and it got quite confusing...
I'm slowing picking up my German speaking skills again.... slowly. Thanks to this last year in German 4, understanding and reading German has become no problem at all. My vocabulary expands every day and the most important thing to do is ask what something means! I still make newbie mistakes, but repetition has been good to me lately. Speaking is still taking a little bit due to being very self conscious about my American accent and the challenge of putting sentences together, but I will get there.
As of now, I have a few babysitting jobs set up that will run parallel with a German bootcamp course that starts in two weeks. I'm exciting to be in school for something at least, because I can't really study officially until my three month tourist visa is up, so this course should buy me some time in my weeks to come.
Besides remodeling and being with all my friends and family, I've picked up running and reading to fill in empty spaces in my days. Running has been good to me (no matter how much I hate it) and I just finished The Silence of the Lambs the other night, which was fabulous.
I miss Boise, but there's a strong feeling in my heart that tells me moving back to Germany was the right thing to do. I doubt I'll ever live in Boise again. Of course I will visit, but life feels a lot bigger than Idaho right now and that feels good. Someone asked me the other day when I planned on moving back to Boise and I really couldn't give her an answer. In fact, the question threw me off. I haven't really thought ahead of studying here... I guess we shall just have to see!

Now for a few pictures!!! On the next post because I can't seem to figure out how to put them on the same post!!! yay!!!

I'm Back!!!

I am back in Wedel! For those of you who need to be caught up, welcome to my new/old blog! Besides creating a new one to keep everyone updated, I figured that just using my old blog from my exchange year would be easiest.
So! Here I am! After a very stressful flight, I finally arrived in Germany on Thursday afternoon to be greeted by the Kless's! I almost thought that I wouldn't make it here thank you to ridiculous ladies at airline checkins who tell you that you will be sent home or forced to buy a return ticket when you get to immigrations (what an awesome beginning to my journey right!?!?) But alas, she was just a ridiculous checkin lady, and the immigration people in Iceland didn't even look at me while they stamped my passport.
And then my bag with all my clothes in it was left in Iceland... awesome again. But thanks to the wonderful people at the Hamburg Airport, it arrived to me last night in tip top condition.
As of five minutes ago I am all unpacked and settled in.
This time around, it was much easier knowing how to pack and what to bring with me. This time I brought rainboots, more scarfs, and a wider variety of long sleeved shirts so I don't wear the same thing every time its below freezing outside. I also brought Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for the German family (a delicacy) and my trusty neti pot because I just got a sinus infection! Woo!
First thing about Germany that kind of freaked me out is that THE SPIDERS GOT SO HUGE. JUST YOU WAIT TILL I POST SOME PICTURES BECAUSE THOSE MOMMAS ARE GIGANTIC. I thought it was bad in the basement I was living in in the North End! Nooooo way! This is much worse. These are like two inches long spiders and its not fun.
Today was fun though! I got to eat breakfast with the fam which is something I missed dearly, spent three hours on the beach in beautiful weather with my family and neighbors, and then had an incredible four course meal with new family friends.
All in all, a bumpy ride here, but a wonderful start to my next block of life in Germany. I'll get around to posting pictures and feel free to leave comments and ask questions!