EMBARRASSING MYSELF

It's normal to make bone-head mistakes when you're in a new environment, right? Besides the fact that I continue to take the wrong train or bus, misread a map or schedule, or just completely get lost, I still seem to put myself in akward situations:

1. The other day I was walking to work like I have been doing for three days in a row, and I was totally convinced that I had to walk through this parking lot. But turns out it was a lot for rental cars and it was totally fenced in. Luckily, the lady at the gate yelled at me before I got too far.

2. One time I ended up in some sketchy loading dock while looking for this shoe store I found online. The workers were really friendly though and directed me toward the address I sought. It was pouring down rain and I was ducking in and out of any shelter I could find. When I found the address, it ended up being some apartment building and I will still soaked to the bone.

3. One bad habit I need to break is trying to guess what people are saying when I don't understand them. It usually goes like this: someone comes up to me and asks me, "plabdhublexu?" I say, "bitte?" (pardon) as if I just didn't hear him. The he repeats the same thing, "plabdhublexu?" I stop and think about it for a second, look at their demeanor, which is slowly turning into a look of hope because I might just have the answer, then I start to shrug my shoulders and notice their hope instantly disappear. This causes my face to distort as in in pain and I say, "Ich weiß nicht genau. Tut mir Leid." (I don't know for sure, sorry) That's when they recognize my accent and realize that I really don't know what's going on. Very embarrassing, but I'm learning. On an additional note, I'm starting to better recognize the beggars. You totally can't recognize them by their clothes, because a lot of Germans dress ridiculous, especially the young people. But if someone comes up to you and has a really sad looking face, while using a really soft voice, and you hear the word "Euro" or "cent" somewhere in there, then most likely he/she is a beggar.

4. Here's a situation where I really feel like I made a bad first impression. Every Thursday night a group of guys from work go to play indoor soccer. I went with them for my first time and we had a lot of fun. I wasn't playing that well, though because I was really out of shape, but I could still give them a lesson or two on the soccer field. Still, the embarrassing part was after the game. They have a routine of going to the bar afterwards and having a few drinks. But I told them I couldn't go because I wanted to do my laundry. The guys looked at me like I was crazy because it was 9:30 pm, the laundromats take the last loads of laundry at 10 pm, and I would have to take the bus to try and get there in time. Nonetheless I stuck with my ambitious goal of doing laundry instead of getting to know my colleauges, whom I will be spending the majority of my six months in a foreign country with. I know what your wondering, "what kind of thought-process is going through this kid's head?" But in my defense, I had very good reasons to use this lame excuse. I was already rewearing my dirty clothes. I had been trying all week to use the coin machines on campus, but you have to buy these tokens from some mysterious person, whom I was unable to find. So I decided I would carry my dirty laundry to work in a bag so that I would be able to stop at a laundromat on my way home. I thought soccer was going to be from like 6-7, but it ended being from 8-9, and the place was pretty far away. So as I stood there in front of my colleagues soaked in sweat, picturing myself getting home and showering without any soap (I had also ran out of soap and toothpaste in my apartment) then changing into dirty clothes, I just had to stick with my goal of cleanliness, even if it was a longshot. And as you may have predicted, I couldn't find a laundromat in time, because the bus route was new to me, and I was just desperately staring out the window looking for any lit-up signs besides the occasional restaurant and bar. I got home with my bag of dirty laundry feeling defeated and picturing my German colleagues laughing it up at the sports bar about the silly American trying to do his laundry. �