January 2001 First Day In Germany At about 5:30 a.m. (German Time), both Adeline and I arrived at the Frankfurt Airport after 14 hours of plane ride. Although the plane ride was rather long but it was okay because I have Adeline for company, so it wasn�t that boring. We spent the first few hours and the last few hours talking. Adeline also started to make a friendship band as it was getting too boring. While Adeline was making her friendship band, I began reading Adeline�s German book which does not make any sense. The moment I got out of the plane, I was given a little shock by the coldness. It was really cold as if I was hiding inside a fridge. Luckily the temperature inside the airport was higher. ( it is only natural that I feel cold as a sudden temperature change from Malaysia�s 33�c to Germany�s -4�c in just about 15 hours) Then I saw a man standing as if he was receiving someone and I wondered if he was Mr. Hermann Scherr. It turned out that he was really Mr. Scherr. I must say he look rather cool standing there like a statue. Before even trying to know us more he asked for our tickets and said that we must hurry now. And during the walk to settle all the customs stuff, we did talked a little. Managed to give him the bannerette and a sourvenir before he left with Adeline to settle her stuffs. It was a brief but not too bad meeting with Mr. Hermann Scherr (the Multi-District Coordinator for Exchange Student from Asia and Africa) At 6:45 a.m. , the plane from Frankfurt to Stuttgart began its journey. Got a window seat and beside me was a couple who were just from a holiday in Pulau Langkawi. Landed safely at the Stuttgart Airport and went to the waiting point after claiming all the luggages. There wasn�t anybody at the airport waiting for me. I wondered if this was really the waiting point although the was a sign saying that here is the waiting point. About five minutes later, I looked out at the transparent door and saw two figures resembling dad Ebi and mum B�rbel from the photo. They looked as if like movie star walking through the red carpet into the Oscar Award Presentation hall when I first saw them. I don�t know why I said this but I just feel this way. The reason they was a little late was because that they thought I would take a little time settling my passport and customs stuff but they and even I myself had forgotten that I am coming to Stuttgart via domestic flight. I did not realised this and even let one of the counter rechecked my passport to see if I have any problems because I did not realised that Mr. Scherr had already settled all those troublesome paper stuffs. I was initially worried if my new dad Ebi would be a very seriou German dad which I had imagined. The image of a stern ,serious and no-nonsense German father was forgotten when he started explaining things and cracking jokes and also sticking his tounge out to the traffic light which had took a photo of the car because they ignored the red light signal for them to stop. The ride home from Stuttgart to M�gglingen was a 50 minutes ride in dad Ebi�s Mercedes Benz SSR with a diesel powered engine. Went to the bakery near the train station in M�gglingen before going home. At about 9:00 a.m. I finally reached home and was brought to the basement where my room is situated. Philipp�s room is situated in the basement too. Talking about basement, I used to think that basement is a place for �beast� like Beauty and the Beast but this basement is totally from what I had thought. It is not dark, not a place for freak but rather an important place for the family. It is also right to say that the basement is one of the best place in the house. A toilet, a computer, a television, two radios, a drum set, lots of heater, I have nearly everything I need and what more can I asked for ? 15 minutes later at about 9:15 a.m., Alexandra also known as Alex is finally awake. Alexandra is also known as Mausi at home which means �Mouse� because she was rather small like a mouse when she was young. Everybody at home had breakfast together with the exception of Eva who is at her friend�s place since yesterday night. Had a typical German breakfast which comprises of bread (which we bought on our way home) and all kind of sausages, meats and cheese. Phoned home after having my breakfast. Sent some mail to those in Malaysia who are waiting for my news. I find the keyboard rather tricky initially. Took a nice warm bath at noon to keep myself fresh but did not managed to get the desired effect. Fell asleep on the couch in Philipp�s room while listening to my CD. The nap lasted only one hour as I was awaken by some little girl�s voice most probably Eva�s voice. It indeed turned out to be Eva (pronounce not like the regular Eva as we will pronounce in English) with the addition of my new host Grandparents , parents of my host mum B�rbel. Showed them some photographs from Malaysia and my new Opa and Oma (Grandpa and Grandma) asked me to go over to their house whenever I am free. After dinner, which we ate a rather Chinese-like meal with rice, started to empty my luggage by giving out the presents that I had brought from Malaysia. I must say that the presents took away nearly a third of my luggage space. Chatted with dad Ebi for about one hour and showed him some photos before going to bed. This brief chat between us really broke the ice between us. I must really say that I like everybody in the family very much. Went to bed at 10:00 p.m. and the first night was a really good night. The German Keyboard The keyboard used in Germany are not exactly the same like the ones we used in Malaysia. Not only the keys are written in German (Deutsch) but also some of the symbols are placed differently. Beside having all the 26 alphabeths like a normal keyboard, the German keyboard also have the �umlaut� keys which give us alphabeths like � , �, �and also � . The biggest problem is the O and � key which are situated rather near to each other. It is easy to mix up the keys especially if you use it for the first time. At my first try to access the �Yhoo� page, I typed �http://www.yahoo.c�m" (please note that the word �c�m� should be typed as �com� instead) and of course it was an error and I was denied access to the �Yahoo� website. My toilet�s shower place Living in the basement alone means that the toilet in the basement is virtually my personal toilet during the duration of my stay with the Kienzles. It is like a normal toilet with a toilet bowl, a basin, and a shower place. The only thing I am not used too is having dry toilet with carpet on the floor. Taking a shower is a rather tricky thing at first. I almost freeze to death until after 30 seconds later I saw the control for the water temperature. It is an analouge controller which means that I must turn the handle around to get the right temperature. The trickiest thing is the controller, the water can be so hot that it can scald you and so cold that you will freeze depends on how you control it. Unfortunately, the controller is over-sensitive as one centimetre from left to right can mean boiling water or extremely cold water. Getting the right temperature is a matter of technique, patience and experiment. At the beginning, it took quite a while before I could get the correct temperature of the water for bathing but luckily as time passed and my experience increased, the problem of the control for the water temperature was not in existance anymore. The Town Hall (Das Rathaus) Went out with mum B�rbel to the town hall on my second day in Germany to register myself as a resident of M�gglingen. It is a rule that every new resident of the town must register themself in the town hall or face the risk of being arrest by the police. Medical Check-up On the second day, before being allowed to attend school, I must redo my medical check-up again as the one done in Malaysia is not valid in Germany. The Germans believe that we can buy medical certificate from the harbour or port in Malaysia. This routine is compulsary for all Asian students. Had to do my x-ray twice as the first x-ray failed to show anything. Thankfully the socond x-ray went on smoothly. Mum B�rbel�s Best Friend Mum B�rbel�s best friend is Jutta, wife of a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd which is also my host club. We visited her after doing my medical examination on the second day. Eva�s gift Talking about gift, the word �gift� in German means �Poison� and Eva showed expression of shocked during the first night when I said I have some �gift� for the family. It was my second day, a Monday, 15th January 2001, Eva came back from her usual horse riding class and she also bought me a long-sleeved shirt with white and blue stripes. I think that Oma (Grandma)played a big part in this gift. German Bread German breads especially the ones from this region are especially hard. I need to use all my strength to bite it. It is like biting a stone although it does taste good. As time passes, the bread grew softer. (Or perhaps I am getting used to it.) Bleeding Teeth and Tired Jaw The first week in Germany was really cold with temperature averaging -4�c everyday. As a result, I was nearly freezing everyday and whenever I am outside, I will shiver and to stop shivering, I had to lock my jaws together as hard as I can. The result is at the end of the day, I had a really tired jaw and occasionally bleeding teeth. Fortunately all these effects dissapeared after one week when the temperature became higher and my body being to adapt to the temperature better. First Day at Rosenstein-Gymnasium , 16th January 2001 Mum B�rbel took me to school to meet the head of the school before Alexandra took me to my class. I was placed in class 11B of Rosenstein-Gymnasium. I was rather surprise to see that my new class comprises of only 18 people (with the exception of Anatoli who was sick for the next three days). The other surprise was that put of the 18, only 5 (including) me are boy. All the boys sit in the last row of the classroom and my first neighbour was Markus Herbst who was rather helpful to me. My first lesson was Deutsch with a male teacher with long purple hair. I must say he was rather nice to write what he had taught in both Deutsch and English especially for me. After the 20 minute break , we had our next lesson, Politics. It was an examination day and everybody took the exam except me. The teacher Herr Otto Steeb did give me the question paper to try and even with the dictionary, I couldn�t seem to find the words and I decided that I am not going to try the test. After Biology lessons, we had our Religion lessons and I had to choose between Catholic and Protestant (Evangelisch). I decided that I will go to Catholic group because almost everybody in the class is in the Catholic group. So that was my first day of school in the Rosenstein-Gymnasium. The Bus Ride My first bus ride in Germany was at 12:45 p.m. on 16th January 2001 from Heubach to M�gglingen. I had to pay DM 2.30 for that ride home. I find it really expensive as it is about RM 4.14 at that time. With RM 4.14 in Malaysia, I could have take a taxi back home and I think that it would not even cost RM 4.00. Anyway I had to continue to pay DM 2.30 everyday twice until February when I got my �Ostalb-Abo�. A bus and train ticket which last for one month and can be used for unlimited time and is valid everywhere in the region after 1:30 p.m. It costs DM 55.00 and half of the amount is paid by the state. Sonnenrainweg Sonnenrainweg was the name of the street that I first lived in Germany. The word �sonnen� easily means �sun� while the word �rain� and �weg� simply means �path� and �way�. It also virtually mean �the walkway of the sun�. This was explained to me by mum B�rbel. First Full Day at School, 17th January 2001, -4.9�c Attended my first Mathematics lesson and what we are learning that day was exactly the same as what I had learnt during Form 4 Additional Maths. So I can virtually understand everything, infact it was easy for me. We also had an English test and I thought this is the chance for me to take my first test but unfortunately the test in conducted in German where we have to translate a text in English into Deutsch. So I was unable to take that test. Also had French and Physics class. Managed to do a physics question although I don�t understand what the question is asking. Walked to my host Grandparents� house also situated in Heubach, the town where my school is situated. Have lunch there and got a ride back to school. Christian Lackner (Lacky), Oliver Berg (Oli) and Ute Geiger taught me how to play cards. After another two lessons of sitting in the class, we had our physical education lesson and we had to walk a little before reaching the sport hall. First Meeting with the Two Other Exchange Students of the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd Besides me, my host club also had two other exchange students who had came 4 months earlier than me. They were Julia Barton from the United States of America and also Gustavo from Venezuala. Our first meeting was right after my first full day of school and after physical education in Messner�s house. It wasn�t a perfect meeting, just after shaking hands, I excused myself to the toilet and cleared my intestine and had a leg cramp. I looked pale and was asked to sleep on the sofa. Although in my semi-sleep condition, I can still hear Julia and Gustavo speaking happily in German and I had a little doubt if I would be able to pick up the language. It had been ages since I last doubt my own abilities. Julia gave me a bag containing books and picture card that I will need for my German course before leaving the place. The Picture Cards I showed Eva the picture cards that I got from Julia and she laughed at it. It is only normal she laughed because the card is for kindergarten kids. Later she took her colour pencils and started colouring it. I also taught her about colour tone and a little shading and she learnt well. The end result of the fridge which she coloured was not too bad. Religion and History Lesson Religion class was refreshing although I am not Christian. Never in my 11 years of studies in Malaysia that a teacher had brought a guitar into the classroom and sang with the students. I find that rather interesting. Besides Religion being special, history was even weirder. During that lesson, some went home and some even hide in the �coffee room� and as only 11 students remained in the class, the lesson was unable to proceed and we were allowed to go home. Post Office and Letters I never realised that the post office is actually near my school within walking distance of three minutes until my third day at school. Sending a letter back to Malaysia means paying DM 3.00 and it is about RM 5.40. With RM 5.40 I can send 18 domestic letters or 6 oversea letters. Penpaling is an expensive hobby here in comparison to Malaysia but I am still not ready to give it up yet. First Rotary Meeting , 18th January 2001 , Thursday Started to dress uo for my first Rotary club meeting. I wore the shirt that Eva bought and she helped me pin up a few collar pins and badges. Took my first train ride in Germany. It is funny that the Rotary club meeting here is also held on Thursday just as it is like in the Rotary Club of Tebrau, my sponsor club. The meeting started at about 7:30 p.m. in a restaurant own by a Rotarian. The meeting here usually starts by having food first be it dinner or lunch. It is during the time when they eat, is when they catch up on the latest news of each other. Julia, Gustavo and I were placed in a table together with Mr. Dieter R�sch ,our club president, Mr. Dieter Gerrmann, my counsellor in Germany and some other Rotarians. I was told to give a speech and being rather unprepared as I did not write out my speech, (I only memorised my sponsor club�s detail during the train ride) I decided to do away with the format that I am supposed to use and do a speech the �Jo-Han� style. I just spit out whatever I can and try to make it as interesting as possible. It went on really well although it was in English as I could not speak German yet. They even clapped when I claimed that I can speak quite a number of languages and dialect. It went on well and some of them say that they are waiting for me to master the language and give another speech in German instead of English. The meeting ended at about 10:15 p.m. and when both dad Ebi and I went to the car, he showed me some of the very thin layer of snow, not even 5 mm in my opinion although it did turn the car a little �white� (colour of the snow). First Train Ride in Germany Mum B�rbel took me to the train station and when we wanted to buy the train ticket, the vending machine was broken and the train arrived so I had no choice but to go up and pay for the ticket only when the conductor asked for it. Indeed the conductor did manage to meet me and collected DM 4.80 from me for the ride from M�gglingen to Schw�bisch Gm�nd. And I did not realised that there were smoking and non-smoking area and went in to the smoking area. It was extremely smokey but I did not want to leave the place because I had already found a �smoker� who would tell me when the train arrived in Schw�bisch Gm�nd. One guy even offered me a cigarette but I declined it. First Meeting with Anatoli Wall It was a Friday, 19th January 2001, we had Physics as our first lesson so the class was mixed and I saw a boy whom I had never seen before so I thought he was from the 11 A. It turned out that he was Anatoli which mum B�rbel had told me that he is in my class but I said there was no Anatoli in my class. He was back after a few days of absent because of illness. We sit together for the first time and the funny thing is that his father and I share the same name, Johan. Road to Austria , 19 January 2001 Started our journey to Austria with the Messners, Julia and Gustavo. Ebi, Willy (Messner) and Eva sat on the front row with Willy driving. Alexandra, B�rbel and Ursel (Ursula Messner) sat on the middle row. Julia, Gustavo and I took the last row. It was a van filled with people from many continents. We have Europeans, an American, a South American and an Asian inside the van. Saw snow for the first time during the ride. Touch snow for the first time during the break for going to the toilet. Cross the Germany-Austria border half an hour later at about 5:30 p.m. I was looking forward to have my passport stamp but due to the European Union free travelling rules between Germany and Austria I don�t need to stamp my passport. Crossing the border was not as interesting as I thought it would have been, there was not even a guard or fence on the border. Room 104 While in Austria, I stayed in a �hotel� which I don�t even know the name but at least I know the room number. It was Room 104, a single bed room for one. I have a great view of the scenery from the window of room 104 and when you see beautiful scenery, you will naturally think of fresh air. I decided to open the window and smell the fresh air and I got more than what I had bargained for! I must admit the air is fresh but it had added smell of cow dunk situated nearby which I only managed to see after smelling it. Lost Confidence of Mastering the German Language for the Second Time, 19th January 2001, 7:30 p.m. Had dinner and I must say I was probably the quietest person in the whole hall. I couldn�t understand even the simplest questions. I can still remember how confident I was about mastering the language that I did not even work hard to learn the language before coming to Germany although I have one month of free time. It was just a month ago that I was very confident that I am able to communicate within a month and after 6 days, I don�t seem to have any big progress in the language and I was also told that my language course will only start on the 12th February 2001. Just after six days I lost lots of confidence but I told myself it was only my sixth day and I know that I will pick up the language fast when I attend my German course. Before coming to Germany, I thought that homesick will be my primary concern and learning the language will be peanuts but it was totally the opposite, learning the language fast became my primary concern and the feeling of homesick was non-existant. Never overestimate your own abilities unless you want to learn the meaning of this phrase the hard way. Luckily I am able to speak English or else it could have been a bad time for me. It is also maybe by speaking English it hampered my chance of learning Deutsch at the beginning. Austria Trip , 19th - 21st January 2001 (Rotary Club Event) We did nothing outdoor for the first day as we only arrived in Austria in the evening and the skies are already dark. We had a long dinner and after that it was free time. We can do what ever we wanted in the meeting place and I played table soccer and ping pong. On the second day, it was outdoor day. I went �snow trekking� with some Rotarians and their wives. It is the first time I really played with snow. I must say that it is really fun. After dinner, we had a �feather aeroplane� show by one of the Rotarian. After the show, my new friends Marcel and Christian and I proceed to play table soccer and ping pong. I think I played really well that night considering that I had not played ping pong for a long time. 21st January 2001, third and last day in Austria, I was the last to wake up for the second consecutive morning. Went for a walk again with the same group but this time the novelty of walking in the snow is already missing by half. After few hours of walking, we took the cable car up to the higher point of the mountain to have lunch. The best experience is probably reaching the peak of Diedamskopf ( 2090 metres above sea level) in below zero temperature at about 2:15 p.m. , 21st January 2001. Snow It was in Austria that I had really �played� with snow. The feeling of walking on thick snow is like walking on a beach full of sand. You virtually leave your footstep everywhere and sometimes it is better �to follow others� footstep� especially during steeper walkway if you don�t want to slip down. The snow during my second day in Austria was 28 cm thick so it was possible to make a snowman. With the guidance of the Rotarians, I managed to make my first snowman. The technique to make a snowman is to use the snowballing effect. First you make a compact and small snowball and then you roll and press it against the ground or snow to collect more snow and after a while you really that your snowball had grew into a big snowball. I must admit that my first snowman does look inferior to the other snowman beside mine but at least it is my work of creation. Also managed to get inside a ready-made igloo. It looks quite okay from the outside but when I got inside I actually find a broom and also some rubbish. Beside building snowman and fight snowball wars, I also did things that kids like to do like trying to collect as much snow as possible with my tounge, sleeping on snow, kicking and punching snowman and stoning snowman with snowball. The possiblity with snow is endless. I also learnt an important lesson, never play with snow without a glove unless you want your hand to freeze after a while. First Snow in M�gglingen Arrived at M�gglingen from the Austria trip at about 7:30 p.m. There was already snow in M�gglingen. It is a pity not to see the first snow in M�gglingen dropping from the sky. I was waiting for it to snow in M�gglingen since the first day but it came when I am not in M�gglingen. Waiting Culture I think it is common in Germany to wait for your friend even during winter in the morning for their car or bus to arrive so that they can walk together. Oliver waited for me during the first few days and later the both of us wait for Thorsten to arrive so that we can walk together to class. I find this culture rather nice but sometimes it is really cold outside. First Visit to the Marktplatz (marketplace) of Schw�bisch Gm�nd It was 23th January 2001,I went out with mum B�rbel to the Marktplatz of Schw�bisch Gm�nd for shopping. We also visited the Holy Cross Minster which is a Catholic cathedral. It is about 650 years old and it is really beautiful inside. I was told that one of the reason the people here in this region are able to built majestic religious buildings is because this region is a region filled with rich people as gold are mined here. Also bought something from the oldest drugstore in Germany. Chinese New Year I never really took Chinese New Year seriously as I always think that it is just a long holiday where we can stay at home watch lousy movies, visit family and friends to collect �Ang Pows� (Red packets containing money in it), gamble a little, make a little noise and watch a little lion dance. It was until I am in Germany that I realised that I actually miss Chinese New Year. Before I went to Germany, friends asked me if I will miss Chinese New Year, I easily replied �Neh, why would I miss Chinese New Year ? I can celebrate it every year� and when some friend said �Oh, I pity you because you will miss Chinese New Year� ,I told them �Oh, Chinese New Year is no big deal� and I was wrong. Although I think that I missed celebrating Chinese New Year but the real reason that really made me felt a little down was the fact that I had to attend 10 hours of school on the first day of Chinese New Year while everybody at home in Malaysia is resting at home. I felt cheated of my holiday. The Chinese New Year Where I Had To Attend 10 Hours of School Before this day, I was predicting that I will be a little sad because I couldn�t celebrate Chinese New Year and very dissatisfied because while everybody in Malaysia is having long holiday, I have to attend school for 10 hours. Tough luck I would say. Surprisingly, I woke up like usual and went to school like usual without even feeling a little down or have any mood swing. I felt extremely normal as if Chinese New Year was not an event. Indeed it wasn�t until Verena wished me a very �Happy New Year�. School day went on pretty well with sports in the last two lessons where we played soccer. I played extremely bad as if I had lost 80% of my skills but weirdly I managed to score two goals. It was also the last time I ever attend �sports� education. Late for School for the First Time It was 25th January 2001 (mummy�s birthday), Alexandra will only have her lessons in the second period so I had to go alone to school for the first time. That was of course no big deal and as I woke up a little late, I had to rush to the bus stop at 6:40 a.m. The bus did not turn up until 45 minutes later and all those living in M�gglingen was late for school that day. Religion Lesson Game 25th January 20001, we played a game where we had to pass messages to the next person as accurate as possible. The message was in Deutsch (German) so I could not pass it perfectly to the next person. It was a long sentence but it ended up as �In Heubach, une ande une.� It was rather funny and the teacher promised that we will play it another time in English. Indeed he kept his promise and we played this game another time exactly one week later and I was asked to start the message. I said �I come from Johor Bahru� and it ended up as �I come from Koof buk� so it proved that I was not exactly dumb during the first time. Up The Rosenstein Hill Walk all the way up the hill till the Rosenstein Ruin with my host family (with the exception of Alexandra ) and their friends with their two kids. My school the Rosenstein Gymnasium is named after this former castle which is now only a ruin. It was all brown (winter colour of the hill) when we were walking all the way up but it began to drop little ice particles (not snow) when we reached the ruin. Our visibility was so low that we can hardly see 10 metres away due to the falling ice particles. Wanted to take photos during those moments but my camera just wouldn�t work probably because it was a little too cold. After warming up the camera by putting it back into the cover, I took it out again and this time when the camera is back to working condition, the viewfinder became blur. So I decided not to take any photographs. It�s really amazing to see the whole hill turn totally white from brown and dark green in just a few minutes. (Approximately 5 minutes) Alexandra�s Handball Game Alexandra (my first host sister) played in the local handball team from M�gglingen. She wear�s a No. 10 jersey and on 28th January 2001, she had a top of the table clash. They were second place in the league at that time and need to win to have a chance to overtake the leader. Dad Ebi (My first host dad), Eva (youngest daughter from my first host family) and I went to support her and her team. It turned out that, our local team won 10-8 in our own home, Mackilo Halle . It is not clear at that time if they were at the top of the league. My First Test (Mathematics) Wrote my first test at Rosenstein Gymnasium, Heubach in Mathematics. It was rather easy and actually I had learnt it in my former school in SMK Dato� Jaafar , Johor Bahru, Malaysia before I came here in Germany. So I thought I could have easily done it but it turned out that I don�t understand even one word of the question and I had to flip my dictionary to decipher the questions word by word. After dechipering the question word by word, I realised that the sentence don�t make any sense to me and I decided to just make an attempt at the question and hope that I don�t score the lowest. The results were out a week later and I got a grade 5 out of 6 (very bad) but the consolation was that it wasn�t the worst result. |