The "Sleeping Bag"

This past weekend was both an awkward and relaxing. This is one of the first weekends since I’ve been here where I didn’t have any immediate assignment or test date looming over my head. I was actually able to sleep in every day, watch movies, and call up friends from back at home. I basically reverted my entire sleep schedule back to central time as it is at home, so that I could keep up with them. This earned me a nick name from my host father, “sleeping bag”.

Saturday was my host mom’s birthday and I had been told by my host sisters that there would be one or two people over for dinner and that would be it. When I was rung for dinner I threw on a slightly nicer shirt and came down stairs to see at least 25 or so older Germans, all sitting around catching up and just having a good time, and apparently they had all had dinner before me. Everyone got quiet and stared at me when I walked in as if I was intruding on their party, so to break the ice I went over to hug my host mom. Everyone starting talking again as I got the left overs for dinner and stood in the corner out of the way and started eating. This wasn’t that bad until my host sister insisted that I take her seat.

Her seat was right in the middle of everyone. I tried to decline but she kept insisting that I shouldn’t be forced to stand while eating. This was one of the most awkward dinners I’ve ever had. Everyone was speaking German and knew very little if any English, and I was the only one eating… in front of everyone, where people had to talk around and over me to carry on conversations. No one tried to engage me in conversation and being that everyone was much older than me, I tried to be respectful and only speak when spoken to. It pained me how uncomfortable I was. Needless to say, I finished as quickly as I could before leaving the group to hang out with my host dad in the corner of the room. He was laughing at me because he could tell by the look I gave him of how I felt about the situation.

The next day during my host families Easter brunch, their grandparents came over, which was really nice. One of my host sisters was making thin waffles and covering them in sugar and cherries. I’ve usually eaten my pancakes and waffles with syrup but this was a pretty good change. My host dad, while trying to be funny, brought out some peanut butter and asked if I wanted any because I eat so many PB&Js at the house. Much to their surprise, Americans know how awesome peanut butter is on waffles, so I happily accepted. I tried to get others to try it but I had no takers, they were all too intrigued with my waffle concoction.

After that much needed restful weekend, I’m struggling trying to get my sleeping schedule back on track, almost as if I am going thru jetlag yet again. But this is the final stretch before the end of the semester when I can travel around Europe without obligations or academic worries on my mind!