New semester (SS 2010)

Now, being back in good (c)old Germany, I’m trying to fall back into the old everyday life. But it is definitely not as easy as you always imagine. Culture shock does not happen when you go TO a “foreign” country but when you come back FROM it, into your home country believed to be familiar!

The time flying back seemed to me like passing in a flash. I usually traveled twenty hours in bus the last three months. Therefore the thirteen hours by plane were like peanuts.
Of course Tina and I had problems with baggage over weight.  We had the chance to weight our baggage in front of the airport and could rearrange all stuff. I had about ten kilos too much. At the end I had two cases, my backpack, my laptop bag, and a huge plastic bag with my carnival mask and other stuff I needed on the air plane. But I didn’t have to pay any fee.

Leaving Buenos Aires we had 36°C. Arriving in Hanover I was freezing at 0°C - a shock! The first week at home I had to experience snow after all. I froze my balls off! At least I could enjoy a last Feuerzangenbowle (”Flaming Fire Tongs Bowl“, a hot red wine punch with a sugar cone soaked in rum lit above it) for this winter!

The abrupt change from the Argentinian everyday life to the German way is more difficult as I thought:
First of all, the Argentinian day has 25 hours and you can definitely feel it. There you go out for dinner at 10pm at the earliest, and here in Germany your day “ends” already at 8pm when you have to meet your friends or family yet. In my town there are no buses bringing you home after 11.30pm while in Buenos Aires they circulate all day and night through. And although Argentina is a threshold country you can use WiFi in every café for free - and there are cafés every 50m. In Germany I still have to pull myself together when it comes to traffic. I hate wasting my precious time of life waiting for green - even though there is not a living soul as far as the eye can see! I guess I have to be patient?!

I stayed at my parent’s house for one month till I found a new place to live in my university city. I now got my own nice floor with living, kitchen, bath, sleeping, office, and corridor.

Semester is quite stressful cause I can work twice as much in my old job. I started with the course Portuguese 2 (Portuguese 1 was only offered last semester) but I don’t have any difficulties to keep up in this course.

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Update (middle of May):

I’m still fighting against some of the culture shock - especially the weather! I fear, this is the punishment for trying to “skip” German winter… I want to go back to South America!!!

swine flu at my Argentinean university :-(

A lecturer and a student of my Argentinean university ‘IES en Lenguas Vivas’ were infected by the new swine inluenza virus A H1/N1. Therefore it is closed until June 21. All the best for their recovery!

Hopefully all this trouble is gone when I get there in August!

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Swine flu brings life in Argentina to a standstill

Translated by Ingo (myself) from Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, July 4, 2009

Buenos Aires (dpa/v). The swine influenza brought the public life in Argentina extensively to a standstill. Due to the fast spread of the virus infection more and more public facilities have been closed. Most of the schools have already been closed nationwide and universities have sent their students home as well. Many cities and communities ordered on their own initiative to close also shops, restaurants, cafés, sport centers, and cafés with a dance floor.

Even the Department of Justice closed.

The atmosphere in the capital of Buenos Aires with its millions of citizens, that used to be loud and hectically, was just like on holidays this Friday. But just only a few people used a surgical mask. In the media there were almost no other topics than this influenza.

In the mean time, the government estimates the number of the cases of swine influenza in its own country at 100,000. That is what the Health Minister Juan Luis Manzur reported on Friday. There is a registered death toll of at least 44, he said. Up to now Argentina has reported 1587 lab confirmed infections and 26 deaths of H1N1 flu to World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to Manzur, the peak of illness has not been reached yet. “The curve still points upwards,” he said. Now it was especially a question of preventing a further spread that the healthcare system would not collapse under the rush of infected people.

According to the results of the Robert-Koch-Institut in Berlin, until Friday there were only 505 infected people reported in Germany. The experts reckon with an increase of infections, especially in this upcoming autumn.

Argentina, vengo!

Finally I got the result of my application for a university place at the Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández” in Buenos Aires: I’ve made it!

I exspected to start my studies at the new university on August 20, 2009 but probably I will fly over already at the beginning of August to find an apartment and get done all the bumf.

The university is located in the center of Bs.As. at the world’s widest avenue, the “Avenida 9 de Julio”. It is a very small university with just about 1000 students. I’ve heard there are only 1-15 students per course. Private lessons! Yeah!

 I’m so excited! I can’t wait to get there.

Month ago I got to know a student studying in Buenos Aires. She comes from Ecuador. We contacted each other in estudiln.net to start a lenguage tandem. Now I can meet her in real life (and teach her more German ). 

I’m really looking forward to dive into the Argentine culture to experience the life of the Porteños (residents of Bs.As.), to eat real beef , to drink their strong Mate (tea), to enjoy the flair of an 14-million-city with all its different cultures and activities, hopefully to get in contact with Tango Argentino , and to make lots of friendships!

My university is the 3rd building behind the 1st round tower on the left side at the very beginning of the avenue