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Adjustment Gaps


Lately I’ve written a lot about how much I will miss it here and how nostalgic I am, but there are several areas in which we really have not adjusted.  Once we knew when we were returning to the U.S., in a way we ended our arriving and learning phase and began our leaving phase.  True, I’m still learning here--such as if you buy a day ticket for the tram you only need to buy it for one zone, but if you buy a monthly card it must be for 2 zones.  Go figure.  Sorry to all the visitors I have overcharged!
Mail
Most of the mail we get is junk mail, with a few letters and cards from home.  But from time to time we important mail.  And that makes my stomach hurt.  The ones from the utility companies are the worst.  Just yesterday we got one from the energy company and my husband and I studied it for a a good 15 minutes.  We couldn’t tell if we owed money or if they owed us money.  And we couldn’t tell if they were going to take it out of our bank account (we have a monthly bank draft set up) or if they were going to put it in our bank account, or if we needed to directly pay them.  Usually I end up asking my friend Bettina what it says.  
So that’s something I look forward to: being able to read my own mail and know what to do with it. 
I also got a letter from a government office.  I wasn’t so surprised by this one, but still it requires action.  We have an appointment to renew our visas on 04.06.12 which is June 4th, in case you didn’t read the date correctly.  I tried to call to cancel the appointment, but the operator said they weren’t answering their phone, so I should go in to the office to cancel it.    
I look forward to being a resident and not needing to prove my status periodically.
Politics
Woefully I have not learned very much about politics while I’ve been here.  I apologize to my German neighbors and to my American friends.  Living overseas has been a wonderful time of seeing new perspectives and different starting points, and while I have picked up on some of that in the realm of politics, I still don’t understand very much of how the system works.  
School
A bit over a year ago some of the moms from Henry’s  kindergarten were talking about the schools their children would attend after kindergarten.  In my mind I decided that Henry would probably go to a German kindergarten--he had made friends, he spoke German well.  It was kind of exciting to think about.  But then we found out that we’d be moving back before Henry would start school (here it is age 6, as kindergarten is separate from school).  A month or so ago I got a letter from the school asking parents and children to come register.  They register over a year in advance so they can work out class needs and find out what children will need extra German help.  I had to call and cancel the appointment and then send an email that we were moving back to the U.S.  Then a few weeks later all the moms were talking about how the registration went, and the speech test that their children took.  I just smiled and wondered how Henry would’ve done.  I bet he wouldn’t have needed the extra German help.
Language
A tiny bit of German from my time living in Austria in 1996-98 (although folks here don’t count that as German) + Rosetta Stone on the computer + one 6-week German course = enough German to help me get by but not enough to help me really belong.  Lately I’ve found myself starting a sentence in German and hoping whoever I’m speaking with will catch my drift and complete my sentence for me.  Sometimes they complete it incorrectly but I don’t have the wherewithal to correct them.  Often I understand the gist of a conversation, but have no idea how to really express my side of the discussion.  One friend said my German has gotten really good lately, but I think it is just because I’m actually speaking, rather than hesitating to make sure it is grammatically correct.  I imagine what comes out sometimes is something like this:
My husband she work in the Baker Hughes. He make, no, he learned how to make things.  Things to get cooking oil.
My girl, she go in the International School. She speaked English and haved German classes four day every weeks.
We are happy to live here. We live here almost two years.  (and then my thoughts are overflowing and I have no idea how to express in German how I feel about coming, and now going, so I just sort of mumble and let them say the rest.)
As I walk down the street I still like to read off names of things--from stores, signs, vehicles.  I think I’m like a child who has just learned to read:
“Innenausbau” “Mit Sicherheit mehr Sicherheit” “Wir sind für Sie da . . .” “Wir machen Ihnen ein Angebot für Ihr Fahrzeug” “Mehr Service und Komfort für Kunden.”  Sometimes the kids ask me what I’m doing. “Just reading out loud.”
Medical System
We first found a doctor for the children in February of last year when Elisabeth had swine flu.  Sometimes the visits go just fine, but sometimes I feel quite dissatisfied and think I should find another doctor.  But on the other hand I decide to just put it off until we get home.  
Sports
Henry’s friends are taking swimming lessons, some are playing Handball.  Some are in a weekly sports group.  By the time I felt like I could get Henry involved in something like this, we knew we were coming home soon, so I stopped trying. 
There’s more to write, but the packers are coming in a few days and I’ve got to figure out what to put in our suitcases for 1 week of Hannover weather and 1 month of Houston weather.

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