It was not only a year in a life; it was a life in a year.

10th September. 

10th September 2012, a.k.a today, I was busy going to school, having tutorial classes after school, studying for my chemistry test. 10th September – a day I know what exactly a year ago happened, but seemed too “busy” to remind myself of it.

Or – was I just too reluctant to do so?

I made myself, and in fact so intentionally, so busy and occupied so that I wouldn’t think about it a bit. Until one of my friends unexpectedly “reminded” me of it – “exactly one year ago you flew to Germany, didn’t you?”

Yes… of course. Exactly one year ago, 10th September 2011. And in fact more accurately at that moment 12:30pm we departed. I sent my last messages to my beloved friends, telling them we would see each other 10 months later, wishing them good luck in their hkdse, and, together with the other hk exchanges students, crossing our fingers wishing us ourselves a great start and a wonderful year. We were so excited to see Germany, to see Europe, to see the world. 

I couldn’t speak for all but I would say, not only did I see Germany, Europe, but also, undoubtedly, the world. I met so many exchange students and people from all over the world - so many that you can’t imagine, so many that I couldn’t imagine either. 

I have told you about all the experiences in this blog, so I won’t name them one by one again. I have to say, I miss Germany every single moment. This is one thing non-exchange students can never imagine. Germany, where I learnt better about myself or even about my homeland. Where my laughters, as well as sorrows, gathered in those 10 months. Where, I have gained a second home to which I am welcomed at ANY time.

one would have goose bumps when hearing sth like this but still this is the best and only way to describe my exchange year: My exchange year in Germany was so far the best year in my life. It was not only a year in a life; it was a life in a year.

In the coming months, I know I will be drowning in books struggling for my dse. It is indeed very hard to get used to the insanely busy life of a HK student after this exchange year, as everyone would say. However, every time when I think of you, my besties, every time when I think that I will be visiting all of you after I have finished my hkdse successfully, I have all the motivation to hold on again. I am so glad to have met you and you and you in my exchange year; I am so glad to have you as my lifelong friends my dears! :)

Tomorrow? I am still going to school, having tutorial classes after school, preparing for my tests. But…

- now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. :)

eure Ada. :)

we all aren’t those little boys and girls anymore. :)

To all exchange students

Hongkong… familiar but strange at the same time.

Something from a returnee long long long time ago. Very well-written and I should have posted it earlier, aber egal!

-

A year will pass and we will stand on the brink of returning to a world where we are surrounded by the paradox where everything and yet nothing is the same. In one month we will reluctantly give our hugs and, fighting the tears, say goodbye to people who were just names on a sheet of paper to return to people that we hugged and fought tears to say good bye before we ever left. We will leave our best friends to return to our best friends.

We will go back to the places we came from and go back to the same things we did last summer and every summer before. We will come into town on that same familiar road and even though it has been months it will seem like only yesterday. As you walk into your old bedroom, every emotion will pass through you as you reflect on the way your life has changed and the person you have become. You suddenly realize that no one at home will completely understand the things you hold highest now .

Who will u call first?

What will u do your first weekend home with your friends?

Where are u going to work?

Who will be at the party saturday night?

What has everyone been up to in the past few months?

Who from school will you keep in touch with?

How long will it be before you actually start missing people barging in without calling or knocking?

Then you start realizing how much things have changed and u realize the hardest part of being an exchange student is balancing the two completely different worlds you now live in, trying desperately to hold on to everything all the while trying to figure out what u have to leave behind. We now know the meaning of true friendship. We know whom we have kept in touch with over the past year and whom we hold dearest to our hearts. We’ve left our worlds to death with the real world. We’ve had our hearts broken, we’ve fallen in love and we’ve helped our best freinds overcome eating disorders, depression, stress and death. We’ve lit candles at the grotto and we’ve stayed up all night on the phone just to talk to a friend in need. There have been times when you’ve felt so helpless being hours away from home when we know our families or friends needed us the most and there are times when we know we have made a difference.

A few weeks from now we will leave. A few weeks from now we will take down our pictures and pack up our clothes. No more going next door to do nothing for hours at the end. We will leave our friends whose random texts and phone calls will bring us to laughter and tears this summer and hopefully years to come. We will take our memories and dreams and put them away for now, saving them for our return to this world.

A few weeks from now we will arrive. A few weeks from now we will unpack our bags and have dinner with our families. We will drive over to our best friend’s house and do nothing for hours at the end. We will return to the same friends whose random texts have brought us to laughter and tears over the year. We will unpack old dreams and memories that have been put away for the past year. In a few weeks we will dig deep inside to find the strength and conviction to adjust to changes and still keep each other close. And somehow, in some way, we will find our place between these two worlds. We will never forget this year in our life and the lesson we learnt here. A few weeks home!!!!!

–

I feel like I am still dreaming. Everything seems still so unreal now. I still have jetlag, I still talk to my german fds so often like before, I still write in German, I still… .

On the other hand I am trying so desperately to fit into this horribly busy city’s, my family’s, my friends’ life again, trying to get used to this strange form of greeting in Hong Kong, trying to overcome all these culture shocks… however up to now it still cannot be called successful.

I miss you… I will try so desperately to come back next year. Seriously. :(

Ada

Erstmal was auf Deutsch

Mein Herz schlägt schwarz, rot, gold.

I am already 2 days in Hong kong and I decided to write something about these 2 days already. The day in Frankfurt also abflug war echt scheiße, es war so verdammt traurig. Ich möchte euch einfach nicht verlassen…

I wrote an email to my host dad to describe what I did on these 2 days and my “first” impression of Hong Kong. I made some adaptations and am reposting it now here. Sorry that it’s all in German but… well for a letter to my host dad, it has to be in German right? :O

–

 Es ist eingentlich schon erwartet, aber ICH HABE HEIMWEH! :( Stendal wird jetzt für immer meine Heimatstadt.

Also, mir geht es eigentlich schon gut. Ich habe meine Freunde getroffen, ich habe mein echtes Japanisches essen gegessen ( Hühnerfüße leider noch nicht, die kommen noch :’D), ich war heute schon in der Schule und habe alle meine Lehrer schon gesehen und so. Übrigens haben meine Katzen mich noch nicht vergessen, zumindest glaub ich so. :p Es war schön, alles widerzusehen.

Aber es gibt hier noch Kulturschocke. Der 1. war, dass am Sonntag alle Geschäfte öffnen. Ja ich habe es eigentlich schon erwartet und es sollte eine gute sache sein, aber trotzdem fand ich noch sehr seltsam. Der 2. Kulturschock war die Begrüßung von den Hongkongern also bzw. Asiaten. Sie umarmen sich nicht wenn sie einander sehen oder verabschieden. Das finde ich nach diesen 10 Monaten in Deutschland sooooooo komisch, nichts zu machen und einfach hallo zu sagen. Sie halten immer Abstand voneinander… ich finde es ja doof. Darum vermisse ich meine Freunde in Deutschland! :(  Das Wetter war auch schlecht, also schlecht weil es zu gut war? Es war so warm und feucht… mir ist jetzt noch total warm obwohl es jetzt schon gegen nachts um 1 ist!

Außerdem bin ich heute in meiner Schule gewesen. also nur um mich anzumelden. Ich habe dann ein paar Lehrer getroffen, und sie haben mir gleich schon Hausaufgaben gegeben. UND, ich soll in den Sommerferien zur Schule gehen um extraunterrichte zu nehmen (Ja das habe ich dir schon erzählt) und TESTS zu schreiben! boaaah. Ich fand es so schlecht, dass ich schon am 2. Tag Stress von der Schule bekommen habe. Es war halt zu viel! Ich muss auch gleich schon Haare färben und mein Heimatland auf meinen Nageln abmachen und so weiter und so weiter weil sie also Extrastunden in Sommerferien am Freitag schon anfangen! Ich will jetzt wirklich wirklich so gerne wieder zurück nach Deutschland!

Ach und als ich von der Schule nach Hause fahren wollte, gab es Verkehrsprobleme. Ich musste mit Straßenbahn nach hause und etwas mit dem Signal war nicht richtig. Da war ich so hilflos, da habe ich Stendal noch mehr vermisst. Maaaan, als ich in Deutschland war, konnte ich einfach mit dem Fahrrad oder mit Auto nach Hause. Jetzt ist alles so scheißkomliziert…! :’( Bin ich wirklich ein Kleinstadtmädchen geworden? Am Ende bin ich halt mit Taxi nach Hause gefahren. Es war so scheißwarm darum waren zu Fuß oder andere Möglichkeit für mich NICHT verfügbar!

Naja, ich hoffe es wird besser wenden. Vielleicht ist es nur die Gewohnheitssache. Oh man, ich werde so beschäftigt in diesen “Ferien”!

Ich habe euch lieb und hoffe, dass alles gut bei euch ist! ich vermisse euch sehr!

LG aus Hongkong

Ada

Frankfurt reminded me of our first day here.

muss langsam mal versuchen, koffer zu packen, nicht wahr…? :(

Sunday, 17/6, we drove to frankfurt am main to pick up my host sister who had an exchange year in China, to be exact, in Sichuan. The 5-hour-long jourmey brought me headache :S but jetzt ist alles wieder gut.

When we arrived, we walked past a few places which reminded me of that day, that unforgettable day about 9 months ago, the first day we arrived in Germany.

At that escalator where we coincidentally met an Afs betreuerin, as the original ones who were supposed to take care of us waited at the wrong exit; That Blumenladen where some von uns broke a pot of flower and was ziemlich peinlich; That place outside DHL where we waited and waited for like 2 hours until the bus “arrived”; That sidewalk where we waited for another etwa 30 mins because the bus was then actually noch nicht da. And during the time we were waiting for the bus outside, that scheißkalt night in Frankfurt, where we thought, dass es nicht so kühl sollte.

That scene when my host mum finally saw her daughter. after these scheiß10 months. It was so touching and I couldn’t help imagining the moment when I see my little brother, my family and all my friends on 8/7 at airport.

18 Days left. I keep saying to myself: just don’t fu*king count down. Just don’t do it du dummkopf!!!
But it’s not so einfach like you thought. Especially when it’s less than 20, which is now so easy for a math idiot like me to count, man kann einfach nicht widerstehen, die übrige Tage zu zählen.

I don’t know what I should say now. I feel complicated now. And so helpless, so desperate, so… . I just want to stay here a bit longer! Please… just a bit… bitte… biiiiiiiiiiiitte.

Ada :(.

* I know I wrote in English mixed German. I thought of changing all those german words back to English so that everyone understands. But then I thought, naja why don’t just lass was da steht, was ich echt direkt von meinem herz, von meinem kopf geschrieben habe? and so ist es jetzt. ( I meant why don’t just let what it is, what really directly from my heart is? :)

最後一個月。einen Monat noch

Entschuldigung ich bin zu faul, um auf Englisch zu schreiben. :p Englisch kann ich eventuell nicht mehr… darunter gibt es eine ganz kurze deutsche Zusammenfassung. xD

好耐無寫野喇。可以話無時間, 又可以話懶得打… 亦可能因為要打英文所以唔想打。 :p 點都好啦, 我諗我再唔呢個時候打番D野… 可能番到香港先至會再打。:S

點解因為要打英文所以唔想打呢? 我發覺依家英文已經(暫時)變左我3rd LANG, 講句英文都UM UM UM UM成分鐘… 哈哈。如果可以淨係打德文/中文就會打既。

不過放心, 由我去完stuttgart (5月23號)到依家都有寫開日記。如果有時間一定會打番晒上黎。 :D

講番正題, 咁快就去到6月… 記得我出發前打過一篇 Finally a month left. , 標題一模一樣, 但係感受真係好唔同…

6月。

1. 我仲煩緊我仲未睇晒成個德國。(之前去過Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Köln, Stuttgart 等等等等等…, 但係真係仲未去過Bayern。真係太遠了)

2. HOST FAM比我搞個farewell party我都搵唔到時間出黎搞。(一係就係撞其他野一係就D FD唔係到 :( )

3. 我個依家係中國四川EXCHANGE既HOST SIS今個禮拜日番番屋企。慣左成9個月得爸媽既我唔知會點呢? :O

ETC ETC… 時間真係過得好快。一諗起第一個月過得幾快既時候, 就覺得我呢個月跟本無可能做得晒我想做既野!

最想講既一樣就係: 最遺憾係咁遲先轉左間學校。如果我早幾個月識到佢就唔洗搞成咁….. :( 一切都太遲了。

點都好喇, 好多人同事同感情都要放低係德國, 好多野係就係可以帶走, 但帶走只會 :(。咁不如擺低係到喇… :)

Naja ich weiß, dass ich schon seit so lange nix geschrieben habe. Ich habe vielleicht keine zeit, oder einfach zu faul. Ich muss sagen, dass Englisch schon (na gut, zurzeit) meine 3. Sprache ist. Ich schreibe lieber auf Deutsch ODER auf kantonesisch. aber das ist ja scheiße, wenn ich nur auf Deutsch oder auf Kantonesisch schreibe. Entweder die in DE oder die in Hongkong verstehen es nicht… deswegen hab ich mich mhh… verspätet (xD), einen Blogeintrag zu schreiben.

Zeit vergeht bloß zu schnell! Letztes Jahr hab ich eigentlich einen Blogeintrag geschrieben, dessen Titel genauso wie dies war. – Finally a month left. – Da war ich echt soo aufgeregt, noch einen Monat zu warten und dann endlich zu fliegen. aber ich fühle mich jetzt natürlich andersrum…

Ich habe noch nicht alles, was ich wollte, gemacht! Ich habe ja schon ganz viel von Deutschland gesehen, aber das ist echt schade, dass ich in diesem Jahr nicht schaffe, nach Bayern bzw. München zu fahren.

Auch sehr schade ist, dass ich die Zeit in Deutschland nicht voll genutzt habe. es wäre so schön gewesen, wenn ich früher die gewechselt habe…

Reue hilft nicht. Alles, das ich jetzt noch machen kann, ist den letzen Monat zu genießen! :)

*** ich werde versuchen, über die Reisen in Köln, Leipzig, Stuttgart usw… zu schreiben xD Hoffentlich :p

Ada :)

送上一張近照 :D 無錯…飛緊果個就係我。 係飛機上面一跳落去未開傘果陣衝緊落去陣係好空虛仲恐怖過玩機動遊戲 :S 得閒再講下
Ja ich war’s! :p Ich glaube noch nicht, dass ich sowas gemacht habe! :S war wirklich eine tolle Erfahrung!!!!

Dresden and 2 months left in Germany

I was in Dresden with a friend who is also an exchange student from Hongkong and lives currently in Schleswig-Holstein, Keith and my host family last weekend. It was really really cool… it’s undoubtedly the most beautiful city of Germany.

We started our journey on Friday afternoon, and were at about 5 there. In between was there a little accident and our car was….. :’( scratched. Well luckily no one hurt…

Don’t know where to start but one thing I have to talk about first is the weather there. It was really totally strange. on the first day as we arrived, it was 33C (unbelievable!) but then it started to rain so heavily like monsoon, right after that followed by hail. :O
On the following 2 days it didn’t rain, but it was 4C-14C there. 20-30C difference. I freeeeeezed like hell because I brought one jacket only. What kind of weather was that?!

Anyway, despite the odd weather, we did have fun there.

Friday evening night in Dresden: (Sorry if some photos don’t look like “Night” as they are supposed to, but Summer in Germany is quite different than that in Hongkong… It only starts to dim at 9pm…. so it is still rather bright at 8-9am :O actually I am still not very used to it)

My favourite photo I took that day. :)

Bars and Discos are part of the German culture ;)

On Saturday we went to Bastei and Königstein, in general called Sächsische Schweiz. (Saxon Switzerland) Bastei is a range of rocks, which gives a spectacular view altogether and Königstein is a burg. very very much nature there. I was therefore tired as hell because walked and walked and waaaaaaaaalked so much that day. But it’s totally worth it!

Bastei

lol with host mum

terrific view of the river Elbe :)

We visited Meißen to end the day. The dom looks really terrific. A really historic city.

Thanks Keith for this photo :D

Sunday – Culture. First - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. I am not a fan of Art, but it was really  cool to see those stunning paintings! Then we went to Frauenkirche, it’s actually a 10-year-old church, because it only started to be rebuilt in 1990s, after the reunification of Germany.

view from the top of Frauenkirche

We went to several (boring) museums about military, I had a  headache and was not so really interested in it… that’s why i couldn’t really try to admire.

Arrived in Stendal at 7pm on Sunday, took medicine, felt finally better. (What kind of sentence is this? o_O)

Naja, now I have only about 50 days left in Germany…. It’s really sad and unbelievable. The last time I did countdown like this, was the pre-departure period.  I believe every exchange student would have already experienced this strange mixed feeling. Of course, I can’t wait to see my school, friends and family in hongkong again, but I want to stay much longer here so badly. I don’t want to leave my host family my german friends and my friends, exchange students from all over the world… I simply don’t want to leave. I still haven’t done all I wanted to do. Why does it have to be like that? Why do exchange students have to learn to say goodbye? Wieso Weshalb Warum? :’(

I don’t want to think about that day I’m gonna leave anymore… let us think like this: I still have 50 days here, nicht nur 20 oder 10 oder noch weniger :’)

eure Ada.

For those who are wondering wth I am doing and why I’m not writing anything

I promised to write about Leipzig, hamburg, London, my bike rides…. I know. But I’m currently having my midstay program, in which exchange student can live in another German city (usually a big one) for 2 weeks.

I chose köln (cologne in English) because it’s in the west, and I have been longing to get to know about the differences btn western and eastern Germany so much.

I have been living in köln, (actually not exactly in köln, it’s a big city nearing called Bergisch Gladbach.) for a week already. I have to say köln is reaaaally geil, really special, after a city hunt organized by afs and meetings with afsers in last week, I have already found my way in köln. I found Kölsch the beer most interesting, because it should be served with a special glass called “das kölsche Glas”, which you can’t find in other cities except in köln and the neighbouring cities. (EXCEPT DÜSSELDORF, because they have their own special beer and glass for that and think they are better :D just like you can’t find them in köln too! :) )

I found these tiny little things really interesting, but I can’t tell you all of them here at once because I did not bring my laptop to köln, this is a lil bit stupid if I can’t describe them with photos. And this is the main reason why I’m writing this post: I want to say because I did not bring my laptop, I couldn’t write what I promised to write… Sorry! ( nice excuse, nicht wahr? :p)

Anyway, I hope I’m writing about all the stuff happened from the end of march to my midstay program in köln (i.e. To may D:) I know it’s really a freaking long time and I’m freakin lazy but… Bis baal!! ( bis bald auf Kölsch ;))

Ada