Another day in the life of a foreigner in Germany

Well, here is an update on what has happened in my life here in Germany in the last days:

The German language is difficult. I know, this is not new news. But after all the energy and enthusiasm I had when I arrived here, I found that it is not going to be easy. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I want things to go quicker, and learning a new language (regardless if it is German, Polish, Chinese or Japanese) takes always time.

Yesterday I was again with my tandem partner, and it impresses me how fast she speaks German. Then I realise that it is not that she speaks fast, that's how everybody speaks. At the same time, you realise that Germans don't really pronounce the words properly, for me it sounds like they skate with the language and that they drag the "ssss". My wife speaks German like that as well, is not a problem of my tandem partner. I guess I don't pronounce the words properly in my own language either.

The good news is that a friend of my tandem partner is also interesting on practising the language with me as well. I am sure that will help me even more. However, I don't discard a little bit of desperation coming from my in the next days, as I am going to realise how far I am from speaking a reasonable level of German.

On the other hand, I still have not received any news from the jobs I have applied to. And that does not help and pushes a little bit more the feeling of desperation I have. However, in my German class, one of the classmates sent my CV to his bosses in the company where he works (yet another good reason for studying German at the Goethe) and it is not a small company. That was just last week, so I guess I still have to wait a little bit before I hear from them. If I do anyway.

When I see that perhaps in other countries I could get a job in important companies, in Ireland for example, it makes me wonder if I should give it a try. But I just should not forget that we came to Germany for improve our standard of life, which we did; we came to Germany for me to learn German, which I am; we came to Germany for my wife to get a better job, which she did, but she is not very happy; we came to Germany for me to get a better job, which I am not getting; and we came to Germany for us to have a family and this we can not do until we have a solid base where we can build our lives (ours and the baby(ies)) on.

But we cannot do anything but wait. In the next months we will analyse how things develop and then we will we able to take decisions. In two weeks we will go to France, for a wedding, and that will clear my head a little bit.

Thanks for reading.

The photo above is a ship at the top of a mast located in front of the Hamburg Rathaus.