Blog 6 from Alejandra

Today – a bit about how I’ve seen children growing up here. As I’ve told you, my sister had my two beautiful nieces in Germany. I’ve come to learn that Germany is a great country to raise children, not only because it’s a very safe country, not only because as parents you are given lots of time to spend with your newborn (Elternzeit and Mutterschutz), and the government gives you money for having children here. But also I’ve seen how the children interact with the world and this type of stuff is in German books and in German tv shows! For me to have come to this country, I am learning the names for toys related to Spielplatz (Playground), which are mostly of sand, for example shovels and tractors. And these things are also embodied into books!

Even the snails that come out when it rains (which I’ve seen so many) are in these books. And with TV shows, there’s one that my niece adores. It is called Bobo (Bobo Siebenschläfer). For example, there is one where he goes to buy Eis (ice cream) with his mother. And he starts ordering if he wants one or two Kugels (scoops), if he wants it on Becher or Waffel (cup or waffle).

I swear I was taking notes of this because I’ve been in this position so many times, I want to buy ice cream, especially in this hot weather! There is also another book about a child that is being picked up by his mother from the Kindergarten.

This one is called Alex abgeholt.

They go over the process: the child greets his mom, she has to go put on shoes, pick up her things, and then probably go to a Spielplatz close to the Kindergarten. For me, it was amazing to see all of these books and tv shows literally showing what children do in a day to day. I think they grow up more sure of what they are doing, and in the end, they are more confident and more happy. I hadn’t seen these types of books neither in Mexico nor USA.

Talk to you soon! – Alejandra

Blog 5 from Alejandra

Hello everybody! Today i went to the European Championships held in Munich. It was awesome. I went to Olympia Stadion, I had never been there. It is huge. Fifty years ago in the same place the Olympic Games where held there. It was actually constructed to host them. I am a big athletics/track and field fan, so I was super pumped at this event. Although the weather was bad (since it was raining a lot) the event was not suspended and people where there happily. I learned that germans say “Es gibt kein schlechtes Wetter, nur falsche Kleidung”. That means “there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”. That was very funny and optimistic.

I guess they are used to having a lot of rain and winter here. I went with my family and had a great time. We saw high jump, 800 meters, javelin throw and 4x100m and 4x400m relays. The crowd was full of people from different parts of Europe, I saw flags from Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland and of course many maaany from Germany. I loved seeing everybody so pumped, cheering and screaming and having a blast. Can’t wait to go to another sport event! Munich is such a lovely city with different things to do everyday. 

Talk to you soon, Alejandra

Blog 4 from Alejandra

Hallo!! I hope you are doing well. Today I want to recommend you an App. It is called Tandem. I had never heard of it before I got to Germany. But here everybody seems to know about it. It makes sense because Germany receives every year new immigrants that wish to learn their language and build a new life. It basically consists on getting a “Tandem partner” with whom you can practice the language that they speak as Muttersprache (native tongue) and you teach the other person your own language (which they wish to learn).

There are people from all around the world in it, you can set up your profile, place pictures, write a bit about yourself, explain your goals and intentions in using the app. Here I dare make a parenthesis that lots of people use it as a sort of dating app. It makes sense because the other person is very interested in your language, therefore your culture, etc… Which is obviously fine, but always set your purpose straight and let your Tandem partner know your goals. You can also make phone calls and video calls through the app. I’ve talked with lots of people on Tandem and gone out with two people. Oh boy, speaking the language in real time / real life, is a whole lotta different thing than just texting. Therefore I recommend this app greatly, if you want to practice a language. 

Talk to you soon, your Alejandra

Blog 3 from Alejandra

Hello people from the world. Yesterday was the hottest day registered this year in Munich. It was 36 degrees. In my hometown in Mexico, which is a desert, it can go up to 40 degrees. So I am used to it. What I am not used to, is that many stores and homes (including mine) don’t have AC (in German: Anlage). So I am suffering the heat as I would in my hometown. It’s all right, I guess it makes me not feel homesick haha. And today, it has been raining all day long. Weather here is very extreme. 

Whenever the sun is out, I’ve noticed the Germans like to sunbathe a lot. They can stay there for hours. I can imagine they do this because the winter lasts 6 months. So I see myself in the future (hopefully) also doing this. 😂

Talk to you soon, Alejandra

Blog 2 from Alejandra

I hope you are doing well. Yesterday in class we talked about the importance of mimics, gestures and body language. Especially when it comes to learning a language. I hadn’t noticed how important these were. I had also not noticed how often I used them. Then I started to become more conscious and saw the teacher used a lot of these and then when I was at a grocery store close to DeutschAkademie (called Edeka), where I just so happened to loose my coffee lid. (The yellow one in the last picture).

I started to ask the workers and unknowingly pointed at the absent lid of my coffee cup, just to make sure I was being understood: „Entschuldigung, eine kleine Frage. Ich habe gerade meinen Deckel von der Tasse Kaffee verloren.“ I have no idea if I said that right, but for sure my pointing at it, helped. Although I didn’t get it back, it helped me practice German in daily life situations. Everybody was also really nice about it, contrary to what is usually thought about people here being not so friendly.

Talk to you soon, your Alejandra

Blog 1 from Alejandra

Hello everyone! Welcome to the blog of my personal experience in the wonderful country of Germany.

My name is Alejandra, born and raised in Mexico. I am currently 29 years old and decided about 6 months ago, to radically change my life in search for better opportunities and a better life. I have family in Munich, my sister, two beautiful nieces and my brother-in-law, who is also Mexican. They arrived about 4 years ago. They adapted well to the German culture, they speak fluid German, have lots of German friends. I hope all of this happens to me too! A little more about me, I studied medicine and pathology in Mexico. Now, I must learn the language and start the process in order to be recognized in Germany as a physician as well. By the way, I have been told that German bureaucracy is the worst, so we’ll see about that. 

Today was my first day at school (DeutschAkademie). I felt so excited, like back in school with my notebook and pencil. This is where my sister learned German, so for me it was a no-brainer when it came to choosing a language school. It is located in the heart of “München”, so I am excited to tourist around the center. I’ve already been to Marienplatz and the Frauenkirche. These are must see places whenever you are visiting Munich. 

I’ll keep you posted! 

Alejandra 

Ignacio, 19th March 2021

Como ya había contado con anterioridad, Alemania siempre fue un gran sueño mío, pero claro, con saber inglés no basta para cumplirlo. Por este motivo me propuse aprender lo más que podía del idioma y con suerte algún día poder viajar a tal destino. En un principio empecé estudiando por mi cuenta, y como todas las personas del mundo que quieren aprender un nuevo idioma y no pagar un instituto empecé con Duolingo. Pronto me di cuenta que esto no era suficiente y empecé a plantearme la posibilidad de tomar ayuda profesional, y así fue.
Particularmente no encuentro muchas cosas mas lindas que entender bien lo que el otro dice, aunque sea en otro idioma, es una satisfacción muy grande ya que tenes la posibilidad de no únicamente entender lo que dice, sino de poder analizar la forma en la que piensa, la cultura, sus principios, historia, valores, y diferencia culturales con tu propia cultura. Simplemente ir a un país y pasear sin hablar el idioma es no tener la posibilidad de vivir la experiencia a pleno, y eso es exactamente lo que quiero.
En la actualidad puedo comunicarme y entender muy bien el idioma, pero como hay mucho más que aprender y mejorar, asiste a clases en la “DeutschAkademie” donde estoy realizando grandes avances.
Saludos desde Argentina,
Nacho

Ignacio, 05th March 2021

¡Hola! ¡Buenas Tardes!

Bueno, decidir si decir buenos días, buenas tardes o buenas noches es una tarea complicada debido a las 5 horas que separan a Alemania con mi país. Me llamo Ignacio Eyzaguirre, tengo 21 años y vivo en Argentina.

Realmente soy un chico muy tranquilo con grandes sueños de vivir en Alemania. Sin dar más vueltas les cuento un poco de como comenzó mi fascinación con todo el mundo alemán: realmente no recuerdo el momento exacto en el que comencé a interesarme por Alemania, porque desde que tengo uso de razón puedo imaginarme pensando “wow qué fabuloso debe ser vivir en Alemania”, si bien veía esto como un sueño tan lejano, siempre tuve en claro que lo iba a cumplir. Poco a poco fue averiguando todo tipo de información del país, curiosidades, historia etc. Así fue que con el pasar de los años tuve la oportunidad de cumplir mi sueño, ¡Hacer un intercambio a München! Realmente la mejor experiencia de mi vida, pero las sorpresas no terminan ahí, la experiencia no solo fue satisfactoria sino que superó todo pronóstico mio. Lo soñé tanto que se volví realidad. Esto solo reafirmo mi amor por lo que considero yo “un nuevo mundo”

Saludos desde Mendoza, Nacho.