The German Experience Through My Glasses

In just a few days, my contract as a language assistant – Fremdsprachassistentin is the German title, FSA in short – will be over. It will be

time to empty my room into my suitcase, put on my boots, give the apartment key to my roommate and definitely leave this town that I called home for the past nine months.

As a teenager I dreamed of coming to Germany, I listened to German music, I painted the flag on my nails. I felt such a strong draw that when I entered university I started right away with German classes and declared a German major. Fast-forward a few years, I switched into a double major with German as my second subject, and successfully graduated from university. From my very first year in uni, my German professors told me about a programme with which I could move to Germany and teach English in a school after I graduated. I applied, I got in. Somewhat following a dream I suppose.

Before I arrived, I didn’t have any specific set of expectations, so I can’t say that my expectations haven’t been met, or that they’ve been exceeded. In fact, it’s probably a good thing that I didn’t have any, because I have been so tremendously let down anyhow. I would have been utterly shattered if I had had any to begin with.

A few factors have certainly contributed to my dissatisfaction with the past few months. Though I want to clear beforehand that I am extremely grateful for the experience, all the opportunities for travels and the personal growth that resulted from it. I’m not dissing Germany as a country, I’m not saying don’t go there it sucks. I’m merely sharing my experience of the country and the programme that I did. So, the factors are:
1 – I’m in conservative East Germany, because yes, there is still a very distinct division in the mentalities between East and West, and from what I was told, Weimar is actually not too bad compared to other cities in Thuringia.

2 – The environment in which I found myself wasn’t great for meeting, well, anyone. I was surrounded by kids 10 to 18 years, and by teachers 33 and above. I reached out on the Bauhaus University facebook page and on couchsurfing, and succeeded in making a few friends, though it took me months.

3 – I can be quite shy when out of my element and fettered by a lack of alcohol in my bloodstream. Plus, German is DIFFICULT, with my insecurities about the language in the first few months, no wonder I was heading straight for disaster.

The first person who greeted me in my new home was one of the girls that was living in one of my roommates room in September. I got along with the girls quite well, although we had some communication difficulties.

The next person that I encountered was my Betreuerin – the teacher in charge of me – she brought me some basic necessities (sheets, pillow, blanket, towels..) as well as a map on how to get to the school the next day, and a book passed on by one of her colleagues titled “how to be German”.

I read all the 50 steps in the book, but they’re not as much steps as much as pieces of information to understand some aspects of German culture. No matter how well you understand and value that knowledge, it doesn’t help you to actually become German.

The first month, I was adjusting to my new surroundings and I didn’t mind spending a lot of time with only myself for company. Then, when I grew tired of being alone, I tried to make some more friends. One friend that I made during the first week here invited me to some evenings now and then, where I mingled with Germans and realized how absolutely incompatible – and incapable of carrying a conversation with them – I was.

Thankfully, my purpose in Germany was not only to fail socially, but also to educate young minds in the terrible language that is English. The school was really great. It was so fantastic to be working with such a diverse range of age groups; from the little ones in grade 5 to the borderline adults in grade 12, through all sorts of teenagers. Personally, the groups I like working the most with where grades 5 through 7, for three silly reasons. Firstly, those children are ridiculously adorable, secondly they are still curious and interested in learning, and thirdly because they were always so happy to see me, and it’s hard not to crack the biggest smile when you walk in a class and all the kids shout your name and start clapping. How could I possibly not like them? I also really enjoyed working with the 12^th graders, because they probably benefited the most from having conversation groups. I value working in smaller groups rather than larger ones, and the students were really open and unrestrained in their speech around me – probably due to our closeness in age and the fact that I don’t really look like a teacher at all. The teenagers were definitely a mixed bunch; some were absolutely indifferent, some cracked inappropriate sexual jokes, some were really endearing, some really impressed me, some really annoyed me. All in all, normal behaviour for teenagers. It’s incredible to think that I’ve been working at the school since September and that already, my time at the school has come to an end. I’ll certainly miss the students (most of them) and the teachers (all of them) with whom I’ve worked.

My roommates are also very German, in the fact that they are very nice, but they keep to themselves a lot, and we didn’t really do much of anything together. (For the first term of university, which ends in February. In April I had a new roommate with whom I’ve spent time and we get along well.) Although we share a very small apartment between the three of us, I can’t say I really know them that well. The apartment itself isn’t exactly conducive to socializing. The kitchen is ridiculously small, and only has a counter with two chairs, whereas we are three living here, and there is no living room or otherwise shared hanging-out space. (It made me realize how much I value the function of a living room and a kitchen with an actual table.)

Finally, I did make friends with a number of international students. We went to a metal concert, had some house parties, went to the opera and the theatre, visited a 12^th century castel in West Thuringia… I had a lot of fun with them, and it made me realize that I was hanging out almost exclusively with non-Germans, and that the Germans with whom I spent time had spent a considerable amount of time in Ausland – that’s a beautifully concise word that means in a foreign country or countries. I haven’t quite decided if that meant anything yet, but it leaves a very strong impression. I’m also absolutely not saying that all Germans that spend their whole life in Germany are jerks to foreigners. I’m simply stating the impressions that I have gathered by living here.

I wrote my own tips on how to successfully blend into the German crowd:

1 – Speak the language perfectly before you arrive (for your own sanity, in the East most people over 30 never learned English, so speaking German is an absolute must).

2 – Never mention that you are only there for a definite amount of time (Germans invest their time very carefully, and if they know that you’re only there for a given amount of time, chances are that they will decide not to pursue a friendship with you, because it would be wasted energy…)

3 – Learn that flirting is taken extremely seriously - so-called casual encounters are unheard of – only serious relationship are considered, and so, the Germans stick to a lengthy and complicated seduction ritual that consists of at least three instances of simple “hallo” and “tschuess” before anymore can be said, and don’t forget it might take a couple of weeks before the first hi in any case. Don’t despair, once you’ve reached step 27 – allow around 8 months to get there - you might get your first kiss, a quick, dry, simple contact of the lips… You get the picture. (This I learned from another Canadian girl that goes to university here. I’m not speaking from experience - refer to number 2, I made that mistake way too many times, and never reached further than step 6, which is still in the awkward conversation phase.)

Upon examination, I can say that my dissatisfaction with the German experience stems half from my social awkwardness and the same situation would probably have unfolded wherever I might have lived in the world, and on the other half by the German reaction to foreigners combined to their habit of keeping to their own.

On the bright side, I did get the opportunity to travel very extensively during the many German “Ferien” and many a weekends too. Whenever I ventured out of Weimar to whichever place my wanderlust took me to, I had quite a great time and met really amazing people from all over Europe the world! As much as I might have felt isolated in Weimar at times, I could never have had the same opportunities for travel had I not worked for this programme. So I am very grateful for the experience, and I am now ready to move on to another chapter in my life, which I hope, will also feature lots of traveling and will let me further my personal growth until I am happy with the person that I will have become.

Alicia and I looking fabulous in Ravensburg, Oct. 2014.

Recreating A Painting

When I visited the Louvre museum in September, I jotted down the name of some paintings and artists that were formerly unknown to me. The Louvre is huge, so I only took note of those paintings that elicited a curiosity in me, or tickled my fancy.

One such is L'ange guardien, by Henri Decaisne.

There are two versions of the painting, and I like this one better. It was painted in 1835-36. From what little information seems to be out there about Decaisne, he was an historical and portrait painter.
Now, upon examining the painting, it is clear that the mother is not wearing a corset. Her outfit certainly doesn't strike us as Victorian. Must be one of his historical interpretations. Okay, I can deal with that, let's do some research.

I was able to gather that the outfit depicted is most likely Italian, originally from around the area of Naples. I could possibly be wrong, I'm basing that information from the very particular headdress that she is wearing. All bits and pieces of information - which remains scattered, thin, elusive, and haven't brought up a name for the headdress yet - point in the general direction of being worn by Italian women.

The next clue is brought by the chemise, or rather, camicia. The sleeves that go all the way to the wrist, and their fullness definitely rules out being originally from the 19th century. Let's roll back in time until we find what period it comes from. 18th century didn't have such long sleeves, they stopped at about elbow length. 17th century, much like that of the 18th century in the second half. Early 17th century seems to be a fit. So is 16th century.

Next up, her bodice. We can clearly see the curves of her form in it, and the fabric slightly rippling under her breasts. It's not boned. It confirms the theory of 16th-early 17th century. During the 16th century, stiffened bodices were just starting to emerge and become fashionable and would have been worn most likely only by the gentry.

It is also difficult to accurately research peasants, because there is so little remaining evidence pertaining to their everyday lives in comparison to what we still have from the higher classes. And generally speaking, high class clothing is much more impressive and interesting than that of peasants.

From this, I'm fairly confident that we can agree on say mid-late 16th century. Suits me.

Determining the layers that she is wearing and their materials is straight-forward.

Camicia: white linen

Bodice: natural linen lining, red wool georgette outer, edging in black silk ribbon

Underskirt: black linen

Overskirt: ochre silk-wool gabardine

Belt: same black linen as the underskirt

These are quite nice fabrics, and brightly coloured. She could be from the lower-middle class. Maybe these are her festive clothes? In any case, the bright colours are an indication that they are nicer fabrics than just plain ol' linen. Animal fibres dye more brightly and retain colour better than vegetal fibres. It makes sense that her bodice would be a thin wool. And for the over skirt, it looks like a nice thick fabric.

I used my 17th century cartridge pleated skirt (see my post from December 8) for the underskirt. Time period wise, it's still mostly correct, and it's an underskirt, so mostly not visible unless I hike the overskirt.

Then I decided to make the belt. I finished it in Februrary, and it had been sitting, dejected, on a shelf since then.

A picture during construction. At this point, I've finished the rolled hem on both sides, picked out all the crosswise threads from one end, and tied the remaining lengthwise threads into little tassels to create a fringe.

After that, still in February,  I sewed up the side seams on the ochre skirt - leaving a 10 cm opening on each side, as I was planning on having a double-tie fastening system - and hemmed it. Then it sat dejected on a chair until a week and a half ago, when a violent rage came over me like a storm of bundled up, frustrated energy that needed to be released. And so I pleated the waistband - I used rolled pleats, because I decided that I'd never used them before, and I already have a skirt with cartridge pleats, and two with knife pleats - until it was the required half width of my waist on both the front and back panels. I used  twill tape on the back panel to secure the pleats and extend into ties. Along the front panel I used a silk ribbon - that I had bought in Paris in September because I liked it, and never really intended to use it for this purpose, but which happened to match my fabric perfectly.

Pleats ready to be sewn down. I left the turned down edge raw on the inside of the skirt. I don't think it will ravel too much, no worries to be made over this.

As soon as the skirt was finished, I decided to start on the camicia. As I had only ever made an 18th century chemise and my only other references to under garments are for the medieval period - since all my books are in a box in my parents' basement while I'm in Germany - I had to do some looking around. I came across this website here that details quite well how to make a Venetian camicia from A to Z. I looked at the diagrams and briefly read through her notes. They were helpful, though I didn't feel like reading every single thing on the page, as I only needed a few key pieces of information. Such as the size of the underarm gussets - which are quite large at 9" - as well as the width of the sleeves and some clues on the construction process.

Working with only two metres of fabric, I couldn't include the two extra side panels, which isn't a problem anyhow, the camicia is already quite full.

On Friday (Apr 24), I took the preliminary pattern I had drafted for the bodice back in February and made a few changes. I elongated the front wait into a point, and I moved the shoulder strap seams. Then I cut out one layer from the natural linen, basted them together and tried it on. For a first try, it was almost a perfect fit. I raise the back waist to reduce the puckering and fiddled with the front points, and then I cut a second front to use as interlining. Then I sewed the entire thing together, along with a strip of twill tape at waist level to prevent stretching and to give more stability to the bodice. I cut out the bodice in my outer fabric, sewed it to the lining, and put more twill tape into the front edges. Like this:

Then I turned it right-side out, and started to apply the black ribbon edging.

It was tedious to sew this part on, but really satisfying once it was done. Also bound the armhole with the ribbon. And then onto the eyelets. According to the period and the painting, it is spiraled lace, which means that at the top and bottom there are two eyelets level with each other, but in between they are all offset by an equal amount. My eyelets look fine right now, but I might have to redo them in the future. I should also stabilize them with a small metal washer on the inside.

Then I got to dress up! Even though it was 2 in the morning. From this point on I have mostly really lame cellphone-mirror-selfies, you know the type. Warning has been given.

Sideview, I'm quite happy with it.

 Then when I tried to take it off I realized that I was stuck. Couldn't get the lace back out of the eyelets - until I had the idea to use a large darning needle and gently stretch a few eyelets.

 Once freed, I put on the camicia and jumped back into the bodice.

And into the underskirt.

 And into the overskirt.

And finally came the belt.

I'm definitely proud of myself for sewing the whole thing by hand, though I realized how much I miss my Precious. I never claimed to be fully sane in the first place, and I think I've left some of that somewhere during the past week. (Sewing till 2-3 am almost everyday for a week and a half almost nonstop can't be healthy, can it?)

I already knew that I'm not incredibly fast at hand sewing, and the sheer amount of time it took me to complete these pieces confirms that fact.

Nonetheless, now I have a spiffy outfit to wear whenever I feel like it's the 1500s.