Dear Diary,
I haven't written lately. Some people think I'm having too much fun to write. To be honest it's just because I sleep and eat too often. But let's cut the diary stuff....
I hope you have been seeing my pictures on Facebook because I am too challenged and lazy to do it on here. Also as I type this I just noticed the insert image button.....so I guess lazy is the winner. I have eaten some interesting things, I have seen some interesting things, I have felt some interesting emotions, and I have come across some interesting phrases that my inner LA kid can't stand. I find myself referring to groups of people as "The Mexicans" "The Chinese" "The Irish" "The Spanish" and oh man I CRINGE at the thought. But somehow "The Americans" doesn't bother me....well not for the same reasons lol. But I guess it fits. We all have our little niches, we flock to each other because having someone from our country is comforting. Even though I haven't found anyone representing Cali yet...I got my Americans. But here it's different. There are no negative connotations, and so right now some of the Chinese and Finnish girls are at my kitchen table making dinner with my Slovakian housemate. I popped a delicious dumpling in my mouth, talked with them for a moment, and didn't think much of it. This is a Friday night. Later I am celebrating Mexican and Salvadorian independence....with people from all over the world. Last night was the Chinese moon festival. I appreciate their cultures, languages, traditions, and friendship. And so in Germany, some of my favorite moments is when I have immersed myself in non-German or American culture.
Every time I look at my growing Facebook friend list, I think of all the people that I have met from all over and I just smile. That's the best part of this experience. I love teaching them new words and phrases from my horrible west coast slang bank. I love them trying the "valley girl" accent, and my favorite part is when they ask me "If you're from California, why aren't you tan?" I love getting pitted against the EC, people asking us which coast is better. I think I found my misplaced WC pride. I think there is an equal level of fascination between all of us. We wonder what their countries are like, the differences between theirs and ours. I swear I spent a good 25 minutes explaining to the Chinese what Panda Express was and seeing their faces....it's funny but at the same time not. I wish I showed them Chinatown instead. The Korean girls were so excited I knew what K-Pop was. It's little things like that, where you can connect with people on cultural levels but still learn more, eat more, watch more, experience more. I have lived in a "Mexican" cultural environment my whole life, and I am still learning so much from the students from Mexico, having them cringe whenever I attempt complex Spanish sentences.
I haven't really gotten into the full swing of my classes yet, but I will by next week. I may be running away for the weekend, still not sure what adventures await. We want to go everywhere and we are tired of going nowhere. 14 weeks go by very fast. I, of course, will write about said adventures when they happen. However....I just heard that dinner was ready soon, and I think that the diverse group around the dinner table could benefit from a loud, annoying, overly hip, slightly offensive, relatively funny Californian-American.
-Hayley Rae
P.S. When the cultural groups, especially the people around my kitchen table right now, read this, just know that I love you and everything I learn and experience with you. I know a couple of you have asked to be put in my blog so YOU ARE FAMOUS <3
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