All the small things

Being back here at the Grigat's house has reminded me of many things.  They are the little things that you remember only after you have been away from a place for a while.  I'm going to try to remember as many as I can and list them here now.

The first thing that comes to mind is the smell.  Not the smell of Germany or the countryside, but the smell of the house.  Every house has its own smell, and this house has several that are particular to it.  The guest bedroom where I'm staying has its own smell, the bottom floor of the house has its own smell as well.  They aren't bad smells, just different... different enough that I can't actually name the smells, and different enough to have a direct link to my memory.  It's like the smell that tells you that you are home.  This place is very much my home while I'm in Germany, or at least the place I come home to.  I've known the Grigats now for close to 14 years, and whenever I'm in Germany, they are the parents I visit.  Andreas lived with my family for 1 year, and I've spent close to that through the intervening years living with him and his parents. 

I'm trying to think of the other little differences that were so apparent to me a few days ago... but now I can't seem to think of any more of them.  Maybe if I sleep on these thoughts they will come back to me in the morning? 

In other news... German is coming back to me quickly.  I've been surprised how much I can understand... practically everything here in Brandenburg.  Unfortunately, it's been so long since I've spoken German that my tongue and mouth don't want to form the words correctly.  There are a few vowel sounds that English just doesn't have, like all of the letters with umlauts, and there are a few consonants and consonant combinations that take practice as well.  The 'r' here is rolled in the back of the mouth, quite unlike a Spanish 'r,' and to pronounce Schwetschkawasser was impossible for me yesterday.  Try it.  Shvet-shka.  But, today I was able to say it pretty well.  Anyway, the point of my surprise really is I can't believe how much German I'm understanding, but how difficult it is for me to form sentences and pronounce the words.

Oh, one of the big differences... the time change, otherwise known as jet lag.  There's a 7 hour difference... which means when it's time to go to bed here, it's only 3 pm at home; time to get up, it's midnight; and so on.  And just because you start to build a rhythm to the new time with sleeping and waking, it doesn't mean your body understands it.  I wake up at 1 am every night starving, because my stomach thinks it's 6 pm dinner time.  This is strange, let me tell you.

Alright, that's all I can think of for now.  Have a lovely (day, evening, whatever).