Deutschland

Guten Morgen. Guten Tag. Guten Abend.

So as of today, it has been 37 days since I've arrived in Germany. Currently we're in the good, calm city of Duisburg, and we have enrolled in the Universitat Duisburg-Essen. Hoping to explore more of Europe soon.

So far, things have been going on quite slow. I only sit for 4 subjects per week. Been spending most of the time in my flat. My flatmates are amazing by the way. I'm very surprised by how they are not exactly the same like how my fellow German teachers have described. During the preparatory classes, the Germans are often described as individualistic and intolerance. But frankly, they are all really friendly and hmmm normal .. ? Well there's always a way to crack a shell. And bravo, they are the ones that have cracked my thick, shy, loner one. In addition to their keen understanding on my religious boundary, they are also very very friendly and open minded.

Home? Yeah I do miss Malaysia a lot. The first 2 weeks were really rough. I can't say whether it's the post menstrual syndrome and it's hormones that were fooling around with my emotion, or it was just me not having myself well adjusted yet. But it's a lot better now.

I'm still having problems adjusting with the weather and time tho. April was mere bipolar. One day it was very hot, and the next day it just rained all day long. Now it's May, and the weather starting to appear more stable and constant. Summer is coming, so the day is getting longer. Subuh is at 3.30am and Maghrib is at 9.30pm. Whadduppp. I really should be preparing myself for Ramadhan. It shouldn't be so hard .. Well. Yeah.

Food is fine I guess. Lucky for me, I'm not such a big sucker for Malaysian food. Well as long as it's tasty, it's already fine by me. The menu at the Uni's cafe is quite a spread. They always have Vegan menu, and fish! Still, it's quite a hassle finding Halal food in the supermarket. Most of the time, we just buy the groceries in the Turkish Market, in which is located quite a lot in Duisburg. But if I do shop in the usual supermarket, I'll try to read the (German language) labels, or just go with the instinct. Having a phone with internet connection comes in really handy. You could always search for the name of the product or it's ingredients to understand the content. So far so good, but ahaa it makes grocery shopping a field trip of 2-3 hours.

Deutsch? Still a big, massive problem. I have one class in German language. During the first 2 lectures, we did attempt on understanding the content and notes. But then we stopped caring. It's just too much of a mind boggling. I'm very thankful that my cool flatmates speak good and adequate English. And I myself have been learning to speak proper English with not so much of Manglish grammar and influence. So far so hard. But yeah it'll get better. But the thing is, my Deutsch is so bad. And I'm not really doing much on improvising it. Because in order for you to be good in a language, you have to practice it. A lot. And despite the elongated grammatical rules that Deutsch possess, I just hate doing something I'm bad at.

The others are not so vital I guess. Oh Germany has an incredible transportation system. A bit complicated, but it really could get you to pretty much anywhere easily. Living cost is quite okay (as long as you don't convert, in which is hard for me because my head is all about the math). Security is really good. And trustworthy is really impressive as well. There was once when the train was jam-packed, but nobody was sitting in the VIP area even though it was wide open. Normally we will start comparing this kind of situation with Malaysia, but I believe we also have other weights that not even Germany can top on (eg. FOOD, food, food, teh tarik, food, roti canai, food, etc.)

I really am looking forward to embracing more of this culture. I find it strange when you go to a foreign country but keep avoiding the locals and judging them for what you don't know. Or even worse, seeing something nice abroad and start comparing its greatness to your home country.

For all I know, anywhere could be the best, as long as the recipe and mixture is right.

Bis dann.