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2:36 p.m. - May 19, 2002 I think I will talk about my amazing experience in the U-Bahn station. This was totally weird. I was going to Hungarian class, and I got out at the Universitaet stop, went up the escalator...and saw two people I know from USA! My german professors (and one is also the Fulbright chair at my college). We all just about fell over with shock; I didn't know my professors were even in Europe, and they didn't know that I would be going to class at that time, or where I was in Munich! That was so cool! As a result, I couldn't concentrate on anything in Hungarian classes (learning prepositions now). I had the biggest smile on my face for the rest of the evening. Now, as far as Stuttgart--I should explain a bit...there's a group in Germany, called LKHD (Lautsprachlich Kommunizierende Hoergeschaedigte Deutschland) and they organized their first conference this year (this group is only 15 months old, so it's really no small feat.) They invited me to speak about the differences between Germany and USA, or at least what I've experienced as an individual with hearing loss in both countries. (Don't ask me how I got roped into this...) Well, anyway, I drove down with Markus and Isabelle, his adorable and funny girlfriend. Then we had to set up the speakers, computers, and all sorts of things...I didn't have dinner till 11 PM--Isabelle and I were dying. Oh, remember how I said in my last entry that the weather was really warm? well, it was a heck of a lot warmer on Friday; the drive to Stuttgart was almost intolerable 'cause it felt like Markus' car was a greenhouse. And of course, being Europe, less air conditioning is used. My speech went well. I was terrified for a long time (oh, maybe for three months)...but I decided that it's small stuff anyway, and I might just as well get the darned thing over with. Should I post the speech somewhere here? Let me know. Sign the guestbook or send me an email if you want to read the text. Warning: it's in German, but I can easily translate it into English :). Anyhow, the worst was the question and answer session--I was so incredibly tense by this point, because those questions could be anything, so I hope I didn't come off as sounding stupid. Or if I did sound like a total ditz, I hope the audience was nice and thought that it was because I'm american. ;) Anyway, it was sort of weird at the conference, because we all thought that it was just going to be attended by those who are in support of teaching children with hearing loss how to speak. Well, there were a few Deaf/sign language types there, and I guess their motivation for coming was to--to put it nicely--to stir things up a bit. Of course, we (the LKHD members, Isabelle, and me) were all so ticked off at the way they would talk and stuff and be all negative about the development of spoken language. Sadly, I've been finding that Germany has a very negative viewpoint of people who communicate through spoken language (and I mean those with hearing loss). The situation is awful here; I really didn't realize that till maybe a few months ago. So often, the perception is that people who are deaf and speak are stupid. This would include such amazing people like Markus, who can speak four languages, is a medical student, or Florian, who is also a medical student and can speak three or four languages; Sarah, who is also fluent in three or four languages and has been dancing seriously for eighteen years... I think I'm lucky because I don't look like a German citizen, and I probably speak with an American accent, so if I totally sound like a ditz, they just think, "oh, well, she's American...no wonder why she has no clue what I said." Yesterday the weather got really cold. Today is cold, too. I'm happy. :) Back to my long-sleeved T-Shirts. This makes me happy because I've also got a new long-sleeved T-shirt with Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst on the back, and it says, "Nie wieder Faschimus, Nie wieder Krieg" (No more facism, no more war) on it too... Now, another random comment I've got to make: I keep meeting cute German (or Swiss) guys. Dang, the ones I meet are so cute and nice. And I think they probably all have girlfriends. Speaking of which, I found out today that my former college roommate from freshman year is getting married. I'm not sure yet how this makes me feel; there are, of course, several different options of reactions: (1) Oh, gosh, I'm so OLD! Everyone I know seems to be getting married, in serious relationships, or having babies! (2) Gee, I'm really young, cause I've never had a romantic relationship, or (3) I'm just a pathetic loser with no social prospects. Just don't tell me that I'm (3).
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