Acclimaton

Tuesday is my first day of class here, but presently I am enjoying my vast amount of free time. The start of classes was always a ridiculous time. Jenifer was saying a week ago how it was really overwhelming to have to see so many people all at once, and I definitely agree. I became used to seeing one person at a time and talking to a lot of different people on the phone during the second half of the summer, and now it is a bit crazy to make conversation with eight people at a time.

Today Emily came over in the morning (she slept through the night when we kept ringing her bell!) and we talked for a long time. Then we went outdoors and picnicked on the grass, where we met up with almost everyone from the program including another LC student who just got in today. It's funny how the lawn is our meeting place. People kept passing by and the conversation was always lively. We all headed off to get bicycles at the assistant program coordinatorLenka's left by last year's students. It stayed very polite, even though we were silently preparing to fight one another for a bike. I got a great blue one with a light and cargo rack. I am quite smitten already. It just needs some air in the tires, but it is great to ride. It even came with a lock!

There are so many bikes here, it is absurd and glorious. I feel like a child thrilled by how new the world is and how full of beauty. I am constantly and continuously impressed by the amount and the ease in which everyone rides. All the sidewalks have a Fußgängerzone for pedestrians and a bike path separate from the street. I will have to photograph one of the bike shelters; it looks a bit like from what I have seen of Amsterdam. Also, crime is really not an issue here, and I was shocked to see how many people don't even lock up their bikes. When they do, it's with a cable lock and only around the frame or wheel. People really trust one another, it appears. This is an assumption, true, but it's accuracy is evident in how everything is based on the honor system, from marking when you use the laundry machine to putting change in a slot for a newspaper that is not locked up at all.

After getting my bike, Emily and I walked all around and made a large tour of the Englischer Garten, which is rapidly becoming my favorite place. Imagine a combination of Forest Park and the Park blocks but entirely flat and fifteen times larger. It's remarkable, and there are so many dogs, bikes and friendly people strolling along. There is a very fast moving large creek that I believe connects with the Isar river, and Emily and I sat here for a while, talking about life. We spoke entirely in German, and this was simultaneously helpful, enjoyable and exhausting. It is great to know that you are far better at communicating in a foreign language than you think. We met up with everyone again after returning to Stusta (Studentenstadt, the living area) and continued speaking in German. I am eager to speak only German but also realize that I have to sacrifice many jokes and words that I cannot translate.

München

I always write emails to people and realize that what I said is the same as what I would post:

Munich is amazing, amazing, amazing. Pardon my redunancy, but there is no proper way to describe it. It feels a lot like Portland, actually, only much flatter. It's as if all the hilliness was saved for the mountains. Bärbel (my conversation leader from German 101 and 102 freshman year) picked us up from the airport, and she is working for the Munich Program! It's great to see a familiar face.


I have been spending a lot of time with Nico, Carin, Rebecca and Bryce walking around the Englische Garten, some shops and this beautiful old cemetary. It was very nice to have a picnic in the sun and talk about everything we are looking forward to and nervous about. We allowed ourselves to speak English for now so that we can catch up on all that happened during the summer. There is a great little bar and restaurant right nearby that we checked out last night. I am working on my Swiss accent and enjoying the sense of comradery that comes with a program like this.

Thoughts on Leaving

I spent the evening and then night at Lewis & Clark yesterday, in Jenifer and Azucena's apartment, and it was good to see Dante, Heather, Jenifer, Rose, Calli, Mara, Andrew Yip, Azucena and even Chiaki (a student from Waseda University in Japan, who I haven't seen for a year and a half) again. We talked for hours and watched Sweeney Todd, a most peculiar film. Chiaki and I talked for a long time into the night while drinking tea and eating homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. She has one more semester of school in Japan and in April she will start working for a company there. This her last vacation as a student, she had said.

Biking back to Sellwood through the cemetary was a bit emotionally-charged with self-reflection and pondering my departure. I really will miss these people, this school, this city. I wrote down all my favorite places (mostly in SE) for Jenifer to explore, but it kills me knowing that I will not visit them for a year. But a city is wonderful because of the people that inhabit it, and what is worse than missing those places is missing the friends and strangers that make Portland home. I will not talk with fellow patrons of Half & Half or the PSU Farmers' Market. I will not laugh and converse in my native language with other bus-riders or bikers at a bizarre happening that we jointly witness.

I feel like I should add some sort of statement implying closure here, but the truth is that I am still so deeply entrenched in the process of developing my plans, my identity and exploring all options. I can say though, that it often feels as if all of my life has led up to this point and I am building on who I already am, adjusting myself in ways that will ensure greater happiness (this of course is the American dream - being happy) and help me grow in love, academics, travels and other adventures.

[Image credit: Amber Case, 2006]

Leaving a great job

I wrote this on Friday, the end of work for the summer:

Today was the last day of ACAP, and I can't help but feel a bit sad. These children were the focus of all my energy and effort for the past several weeks. I shared all their small triumphs and empathized with each tantrum or minor tragedy, whether it was the loss of a toy soldier or a bloody knee. What am I to do with myself now? What do I devote myself to? Munich will provide an outlet and exhaust me again in the best possible way, but for the moment, I am terribly impatient. I did not know I would become so attached this time. Perhaps as I let go of A., I relied more on the affection of the children in my classroom. They were all so eager to be paid attention to, regardless of whether they were being instructed, redirected or adored. Now I am somewhat hollow; lacking in this respet. This year, maybe I needed ACAP almost as much as the kids needed me.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, I worked at a summer program for autistic children called ACAP in Portland, Oregon. There were two sites each with four classrooms: Older, Younger, Older High-Functioning and Younger High-Functioning. Our staff to student ratio was always 1:1, or on a crowded day, 1:2 with the more mellow kids. ACAP is a non-profit organization and only runs two months a year, but we provided a great deal of relief to parents who work year-round.

The way the classrooms worked was by including several teaching assistants and one main teacher per room. Every day we went on field trips in the community (swimming, Children’s Museum, the zoo) and had classroom time with both play and learning activities. I also work with neurotypical children outside of this program, and I find it hard enough to be outnumbered by children, and so the key part of ACAP is that the kids do get the complete attention of an adult and are encouraged to socialize with other children (both autistic children within the program and neurotypical ones in the community).

Swiss Bureaucracy

For the past several weeks, I have been going through the process of renewing my Swiss passport. This has proved more tedious and demanded that I jump through more loops than I had ever imagined practical. To the left is my rendition of the renewal application.

Happy August 1st!

Today is Swiss National Day!



(photo of Zürich)

Now if only renewing my Swiss passport was as easy as celebrating this day...