A Short Detour in Taiwan

I know that I started this blog to write about adventures that I discover in Germany/Europe, (obviously I haven't done a good job of keeping my blog up to date) but currently I'm on a semester abroad in Taiwan and figured it would be a good time to write a new post.

First of all, you may be wondering how in the world I ended up in Taiwan, when I was just in Germany. Well, the plus side of having only a handful of students in my department at the University I'm studying at is that opportunities are communicated directly from the professors to the students. My Chinese teacher heard that I and a classmate of mine, Caro, were interested in going to China or Taiwan and it turned out that the school has an scholarship exchange program with the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei! We only had a week to do last minute rushed applications, but here we are.

We arrived on Sunday, September 1st at 7:30am. We left early the morning of August 31st German time. I remember my family trips to China when I was younger and I remember getting antsy on the plane. I can totally understand why my younger self was so antsy...13 hours (plus 1 hour of waiting) on a plane and your butt tends to get kind of sore. We flew with Eva Airlines (Taiwanese) and the service was very good. Plus, they served us food almost continuously. I'm definitely not complaining. :-) The only downside of the service was- actually it was mainly a regret of Caro's- there were no Hello Kitty decorations. :-(((

Our first day in Taiwan was, to be honest, kind of a struggle. We had just been travelling for 17+ hours and hadn't gotten much sleep and we needed to force ourselves to stay up for the whole day. However, we kept busy because one of my friends from Taiwan came to greet us and help us get settled in. It was wonderful and so sweet of her. She took us to her favorite bubble tea place and she was right. IT WAS DELICIOUS~~ Then we did some window shopping and had the popular Taiwanese noodles in a wonton soup. Also very yummy. After that we went home to rest and Caro and I hit our first night market (樂華夜市). It's amazing to see all the people pouring into the street with their friends and family to eat delicious food. And after all that, we both slept very well.

First Impressions- Germany, take two

I'm here again, so I thought that I'd give this blogging thing another go. Leaving home was even harder this time than the first time. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely excited to see Ben and have new adventures, but I just didn't have the same excitement before leaving as I did the very first time. Probably because I had such a good time with family and friends over the course of the summer. Anyway, here are some of my second first-impressions.

1. The high level of English spoken by Europeans-- this continues to amaze and embarrass me because my first thought is, 'Wow. They're good.' My second thought is, 'Why aren't more Americans that proficient in a second language?'
2. Professionally trained customer service personnel-- I've noticed in the States how rare and surprising it is these days to get really great customer service. It seems a little old fashioned, but the service personnel here really help guests and do it well and thoroughly.
3. Germans are still short and to the point-- I don't think this one is going to change much. I knew this, but it's still hard to adjust to it coming back.
4. Staring-- I'm not sure if I've ever written about this, but I've heard other expats talk about this problem. I thought previously that I was probably just being overly sensitive, but I felt conspicuous right off the bat again. I sometimes wonder if it's just because I look Asian?
5. "Eh, it's a bakery."-- sadly the bakery hype is over...at least for me. I'll probably go on a pretzel binge soon, but the initial reaction was underwhelming. :-( [This might be because my mother spoiled me with weekly fresh baked bread throughout the summer.]
6. "Ooh, I can buy carbonated water!"-- I really didn't like carbonated water at the beginning, but now I enjoy it once in a while. I actually had a craving for it back in the States, but stores only sell the small bottle for baking. On the other hand, I don't like the fact that I have to buy water again...GAH

Overall, I just felt more at ease entering the country. I have basic German language knowledge, understand the train system, and it always helps to have a phone plan.

I'll try to write once in a while, although I'm not good about publishing them. Until next time!

German Christmas Markets 2017

I look forward to Christmas every year, and for some reason this year's came up even faster than the previous ones. Must mean that I'm getting old. However because this year, I knew that I'd be in Germany for the before-Christmas-festivities, I was even more excited. I had heard so many people, both German and non- saying how amazing the Christmas markets leading up to Christmas were.

One of the vendor stalls at the Christmas market
in Braunschweig. 

Each city pretty much had their own Christmas market. We live in the state of Thuringen and are in close proximity to two other popular cities. We managed to got to the markets in Jena, Weimar, and Erfurt. Jena and Weimar weren't too impressive, but I especially loved the one in Erfurt.

The markets consisted of 3 major components: Glühwein, fried food, and vendor stalls. Glühwein is red wine mixed with a bunch of spices and is particularly popular around Christmas time. It's grown on me more than I'd like to admit. During December, Ben and I ended up drinking it two or three times a week.

Two of the many Glühwein we drank

Something that I loved was how the Christmas markets brought people together. I assumed that Ben and I would visit the major markets near us on the weekends, but we ended up meeting up separately with friends, colleagues and classmates too. Although the market in Jena wasn't the most impressive, I found it really memorable because of the friends we went with.

Some of the markets had an "old" market vs. a "new" market. The old markets were of course more rustic, had cooler cups, and cost more. I didn't notice too much of a difference between the new and old markets other than some different Glühweins that were offered. I do have to admit that I found new favorites.

Ben also managed to take me to the Christmas market in his hometown in Braunschweig. Another beautiful market! I thought the vendor stalls were more impressive and creative than at any of the other markets that we'd visited. Some sold traditional German-made wooden ornaments and candle holders, and some sold homemade Christmas goodies. We even saw a stall of iron woodworking tools made out of chocolate. :-O

I got really psyched to see a specific nut vendor stand. Ben and his family told me how people stood in line for hours waiting to buy the spiced nuts from this particular stand. Of course, I wanted to check it out.

This was only part of the line, but it went all the way to the back of the market and we saw it on a slow day...I think most people were excited to see the guy making the spiced nuts. He stirred them by hand, so his one arm was very muscular and his other arm was more normal sized. It was amusing to see because the line was always at least 50 meters long.

The Christmas markets were really amazing to see, but I think what I liked best was that it gave everyone an excuse to get together and do something, not just on the weekends, but during the week as well-- in the morning, around noon or later at night. Also, of course the food. I am so addicted to Glühwein and Kräppelchen/Schmalzkuchen.

How can little fried pieces of dough
be so yummy???

I figured I had to post this before the new year. Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the new year surrounded by family and friends. :-D

A German Weekend in the Woods

I really haven't written a post in a while, but I've been meaning to write one about a Choir trip that I took a couple of weeks ago...

One aspect that I enjoy about Germany is that it doesn't seem to matter what age you are, you can find a group or people who share an interest of yours. Actually, it seems like it's highly encouraged to be a part of a group or a "club." I've been missing singing in a choir ever since I left Concordia. There's just something about singing and music that makes everything feel wonderful. It's a drug-like side-effect that's only comparable to that of exercising, in my mind.

Anyway, I joined a choir at the beginning of the fall semester in October. I had already decided that I wanted to join one back in May when I got here, but it wasn't possible because the semester was almost over. I found three options in Jena. I decided to join the choir that sang a mixture of popular and classical music. They were also a smaller group, so I thought it might be less intimidating to speak and make new German friends.

The audition came around and I was nervous, as usual, but Ben had helped me practice some basic questions that they might ask me (Did you sing in a choir before, which part did you sing, do you play any instruments, etc.), so I felt pretty well prepared. It was all fine until they asked me to sing "Bruder Jacob."
Huh? Turns out that's the name of Frere Jacques in German. I unfortunately didn't know that song in German, but the two choir directors and I sang it in a canon~ them two in German and me in French...I wasn't expecting that twist.

It felt so good to sing in a choir, but socializing was a bit more of a challenge. I thought that since I would see the choir members every week, making friends would be easier. However, I noticed that Germans aren't so forthcoming even when you're all doing something that you love together. I really wanted to strike up conversation but I've learned that Germans don't ask "How're you doing?" as a greeting or conversation starter. So all I could manage was:

Me: <smile> "Hallo!"

Acquaintance: <maybe smile> "Hallo."

Me: "..."

Then I was stuck because I didn't know what I should talk about. I can't ask them how they are! Maybe the weather...? Ugh. Such a struggle. It's boring to talk about the weather every week. Usually I was saved because we would start singing and there wouldn't be time to chit-chat with one another.

Therefore, I was both scared and excited when I found out that there was going to be a choir retreat. Making small-but-not-small-talk in German for 72+ hours, hmm...

Let's just say that I had more fun at the choir retreat than I could've imagined. The first evening we had a couple of hours of rehearsal, but then we just played some getting-to-know-you games. I have to admit those were a bit tough because sometimes I'd have to learn double the vocabulary (a.k.a. someone's name and then a fruit/vegetable that began with the same letter~ side note: not many fruit/vegetables begin with J in German).

The second day consisted in majority of singing (surprise!) and I even managed to convince some people to go hiking with me. :-) In essence, it was nice to be "stuck" together as a group and be forced to talk to each other. I learned so much more about other members than I would have through just weekly choir rehearsals.

Also, I haven't mentioned one thing about food yet in this post...I discovered some standard (and very yummy) German junk food. The top one is two cookies sandwiching a little bit of chocolate. I think it's probably similar to Nutella. And the bottom picture is similar to puff corn but with a peanut coating on the outside~kind of genius!

That's all for this post. Big take-away from the weekend: Germans get a lot friendlier and talkative after they've had a beer. Let's not make that a stereotype, but it was definitely an observation.

Culture Shock

It's officially been 3 months now and I'm feeling the lows of culture shock. I knew this would happen eventually. Plus as I counted, I knew that it would be while Ben would be crazy busy studying for State Exams. I'm not unhappy, that's for certain. It's just that the novelty of being in Germany has worn off. I'm a little more concerned about making deep friendships and being able to communicate with locals independently. I've been relying heavily on Ben for helping me book necessary appointments for my residence permit and other, what I would call ordinary, things. It bothered me at the beginning that I had to be so dependent, but now it's really starting to bother me. I guess it never occurred to me how independent I like to be until I couldn't be as independent anymore.

Culture shock isn't really new to me but I suppose every time is slightly different and the low points hit at different times too. I've been feeling a little less motivated to socialize, haven't been sleeping as soundly and definitely not as patient. (Although that may have to do with the not sleeping as well). To be honest, I tried googling to learn more about culture shock. I remember learning about it a bit at Concordia before I went to China, but I thought that maybe I'd find some other ways to deal with it. Well...surprisingly I didn't come across much. As my mother says, there's not a fix for everything.

I know it's important to keep a schedule, exercise, and eat well, etc. I gave myself more time to focus on relaxing activities such as listening to music and yoga. I was really craving listening to The Sound of Music soundtrack for some reason, so that was on repeat for a while. I haven't gone through a Sound of Music music binge for a really long time, so listening to some of my favorites--I Have Confidence and My Favorite Things--got me pretty excited. (and singing along) Also made me think that I maybe I should make a list of my favorite things about Germany.

My Favorite German Things

1. Ben
2. The pretzels
3. The scenery
4. Learning a new language
5. The old fashioned buildings-- being able to describe everything as "quaint"
6. Being able to travel by train and public transport
7. Rübensaft (beet syrup) --brings me to my next favorite...
8. Having PB and Rübensaft on bread/toast/rolls
9. Meeting people from around the world
10. Being able to travel to other cities and countries relatively cheaply and conveniently
    

    

    Those two wires above the toaster--used for toasting
    rolls. How genius was that? ;-)
11. Being able to actually use an umbrella because it's not too windy (Fargo/Moorhead) and also because we have to walk a little bit 
12. Chocolate
13. Toasters with the cool rack on top 
14. Carrying a backpack around everywhere even when you're not in school is completely acceptable.
15. Having a SIM card without a phone contract
16. Getting to laugh about our President with foreigners
17. German windows

    

    Turn the handle to the side and it
    opens sideways. Turn the handle
    up and it tilts with just the top
    open.

Weimar Street Food Festival- A Foodie Heaven

This is the only spot that I could justify putting up as many pictures of food as I'm going to put up. Also, I want to give a short description of each food item that we ate haha. Maybe I should give up writing a normal blog and just start a food blog entitled: Eating my way through Germany.

This was only one section of food trucks

I think that my admiration for food trucks started when I started watching The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. It's just so cool to see people who are passionate about food start their own little business. Since then, I've joked about getting my own food truck- not that I'm sure what kind of food I'd actually sell. However, let's just say that that dream died after I got the chance to see what it is like inside an actual food truck. I don't think I'd last long. Or find a business partner who'd be willing to put up with me in that small of quarters...Any takers?

Started off with a home-brewed beer.
Passed Ben's expectations and I
thought it was pretty good too.

I remember going to a food truck festival in Minneapolis last year with some friends. It was quite the event and I loved the atmosphere, music and of course the people I was with. I like that street food is all about really good food and it doesn't waste too much time on aesthetics. Sometimes in restaurants you can get something that looks really amazing and then tastes mediocre, but I feel like street food usually has the opposite effect: looks eh and tastes MMMM.

We didn't try everything, but we definitely looked. :-D I don't think our stomachs or our wallets could have handled trying everything. So here's my picture compilation:

Isn't this name great? Deep fried candy bars, just like back in the U.S.A. :-D

We didn't think that we needed to try this.

Ok, the stuffed churros just looked cool. I wish I could've just come back for day two...

And fancy looking strudel...Nom Nom Nom. I already decided that I needed to work on my strudel-making skills, but I think I'm really going to have to work on them.

We actually got this one.

It's really just a pulled-pork sandwich, but Ben was sold on it from the moment he saw it. I obviously need to introduce him to my Grandma's pulled pork sandwiches. This one was pretty good though. :-)

Before we got the sandwich pictured above, were trying to decide exactly what to get, and when we walked by this place offered us a sample of their pulled pork. SO KÖSTLICH (Yummy). It was hard to say no to ordering something there. So we got the mango something chicken wrap...

Why did we do that? Guess the image of the other pulled-pork place was still running through our heads.

Just look at this paella :-O The presentation was just impressive to me. I actually don't know that much about paella, so maybe this is not that impressive...anyone want to tell me? Or maybe Google.

THIS>>>>>>> To be honest, I don't think it was the most adventurous choice, but these dumplings were just calling to me. (Think I've been going through Asian food withdrawals). The lady selling them made them completely by hand and they were some of the best dumplings I've ever had in my life. I'm not exactly what the sauce was...not sure if it was something that was added to appeal to German eaters or if it was something traditional Tibetan. The reason I wonder is because there was also a potato and cheese dumpling option. :-P

I hope some people just gets a kick out of this. It's from the Swedish food truck: Lettuce, fried onions, pickles, mashed potatoes, and a hot dog (or two if you wanted) all wrapped up in a tortilla. Ben and I weren't sure exactly what to think about it. We did consider trying it but weren't too sure about the combo...

And last but not least, my favorite food truck. Can't say there was a long cue for it, but it was definitely the most unique. Unfortunately, I don't think my stomach could have handled it plus I wasn't willing to spend that much money on bugs. Maybe I'll try it the next time it's at a food truck festival.

Cool experience. Foodie heaven. Note to self to bring more money and a bigger stomach next time. :-D

Got my German Residence Permit!

Well, after a confusing almost three months here trying to figure out how German bureaucracy works, we finally figured it out. The key to figuring it out: find a very nice research-loving German boyfriend. ;-)

So the process started before I got to Germany, of course but I was still pretty confused by the time I arrived. I wish I had studied a lot more German before I came, but how would I have known that I would end up in Germany to study one day. :-D Anyway I had to depend a lot on Ben's patience as he made some phone calls and explained to me some of the official German websites' information.

As I made some new friends, I figured out that most of them are married to Germans and that makes the whole residence permit process a little more straight-forward. However, that didn't help Ben and I much. I do believe that things happen for a reason and that you meet the right people at the right time. For example, I ran into a lady at a University seminar/event that gave me her number and told me to contact her if I ever wanted help or had questions. I barely knew her, but it felt good to know that someone who had gone through a similar process was so willing to help.

So, besides writing this post to update my family, (although I think some of them don't even know about my blog) I thought that it would also be nice to outline the process that I went through to get the residence permit (without being married) so that it might help others going through the process. (If I this would actually pop up on a Google search :-D)

1. When I first arrived, I had to go to the student housing office to be officially put on the lease. To be honest, I can't remember what really happened. Could possibly be because I spoke almost zero German...or maybe because I was jet-lagged. I do however remember the result: we got this sheet of paper which had my and Ben's names on it, our address, signatures and a very official looking stamp on it. This was actually not sufficient enough for the permit. We have to draw up an actual contract.
2. I had to make an appointment at the Bürgerservice (Residency Registration). This is the place that all Germans must go to to register themselves at their current address. The German government likes to keep tabs on everyone's location. (Does that sound creepy?) I suppose it's just like how Americans update their mail address so that their bills get to the right spot. We googled "Bürgerservice Jena" and (Ben) made an appointment (Termin). We arrived early and waited until my name flashed on the monitor screen telling us which station to go to. I brought the officially stamped lease agreement plus my passport and was registered in the computers (probably took 15 minutes). And the lady was very nice. :-)
3. I then had to be enrolled in some sort of German language course. I came in the middle of the University semester so it was too late for me to enroll. If you do enroll in University, you just need to present your acceptance letter. The one important condition for the language course is that it has to have 20, 45 minute lessons per week. So 20 x 45 = 900 minutes per week (15 hours). This is considered full-time. I found out that these can really only be found at a government-certified Sprachschule (IBI, IIK...). For example, my German course is 3.25 hours each day, 5 days a week. Then I have time to practice my German with friends outside of class, do my German homework, work (soon), etc. --Anyway, I went to the office of one of these Sprachschulen and received a bill (you do have to pay a little) and another piece of paper with an official stamp on it. (Are you starting to get an idea of how Germans make things official?)
4. The government also needs proof that you can support yourself whether through your parents, a scholarship, or your own personal finances. They require that you have at least €9.000 in a German bank account to sustain you for one year. You can open an account on an online or a physical bank. Most of them are free. However, you do need to be able to transfer your funds from your home country and exchange the money. This might be better done from your home country.
5. Also, health insurance. This is another requirement. I have learned that Germans love their insurance. They seem to have one for almost every situation. I used to think this was a joke until I actually got into a discussion about it with Ben. Thankfully, the only one that's required for the permit is health insurance. If you're not a University student, you will have to go through a private company, which usually is a bit more expensive. Most Germans go through a public insurance company, unlike in the U.S. I got an intro rate through a private insurance company. I will switch over to a public one once I'm enrolled in University.
6. Passport photos (biometric photos): I spent €12 on ugly photos of myself (pretty sure even the lady that took them agreed that they were ugly). Can't say it's the best thing I could've spent €12 on but it's necessary and really €12 isn't that bad. I heard that you can get them at a photo booth, which is supposed to be the cheaper way, but we couldn't find one so I got mine done at a photo shop. The quality was better anyway.
7. Last but not least, I made an appointment with the Ausländerbehörde (Alien/Foreigner Office) in Jena. This is something that I wish I would've done sooner. The next open appointment slot was 1.5 months away and I could only stay for 3 months on my U.S. travel visa. (Depending on the country, you either have to get a Visa before arriving or you can just enter and then apply for a residence permit.) Thankfully, the moment that you book an appointment, you are already given the status of "currently applying." This means that you won't have any problems, supposedly, if your 3 months are up before you get to your appointment.The site gives you a list of things that you're supposed to bring with you to your appointment.

• Apartment lease contract
• Sprachschule enrollment form OR letter of admittance to a University
• Health Insurance
• Proof of sufficient finances
• Passport photo
• Application form filled out and signed (found on the Ausländerbehörde site)

So we went to our appointment. We had to sign in on an electronic machine and then wait for my name to pop up on the monitor to tell me which room to go to. I was nervous and sweating more than I would've liked. The lady helping us with the process was scary and very intimidating. Good thing Ben was there. He wasn't at all phased. But then after paying and answering some questions, I got my temporary card!

Within the next month I'll have my expensive plastic card with an ugly photo of myself on it to carry around with me for the next two years. YAY!!!

Thank goodness for calm and patient boyfriends. :-)