July's joy report

If we’re keeping score, July was a pretty sh*tty month for me, actually. But this is a joy report, baby! Let’s have a look at the positive things that inspired me and kept me going in July.

T-shirts on t-shirts

Normally, I love every kind of clothing article equally. They provide a service and can make us look good when they fit well, but I also think fashion-lovers have one type of thing that they are more likely to buy and collect. For me, that’s t-shirts. But not just any old plain t-shirts. They have to have a mix of colors, an interesting design or funny expression for me to consider it part of my t-shirt collection.

In June, I treated myself on my birthday to two new t-shirts that caught my eye. I got them both from one of my absolute favorite local shops in Hamburg, B-LAGE. And I mean, t-shirts are loose and comfortable, and it’s very easy to make them look stylish.

The amusement of bilingual nieces*

My German nieces (ages 5 and 7) and their parents visited Hamburg for a few days. The girls spent 4 years of their lives in Bangkok and attended an international school there. Therefore, they learned German from mom and dad at home and English at school. They live in Switzerland now, but still speak English quite well, so when they come to visit, I naturally like to speak with them in English. The linguist in me also finds it fascinating to assess their understanding and ability.

The girls spent two nights with us and we had such a fun time. It really amazes me at the amount of English language skills they have been able to maintain despite the fact that they’ve been living in Switzerland for the past year and speak mostly German nowadays. Here are some instances of their entertaining code-switching moments (made mostly by the fearless 5 year old):

I want sofort popcorn!
He seems so anders.
Chelsea, can I pick the Ohrrings you wear?
I have to guck in the mirror.

The funny thing was, when she used German words to replace the English words she didn’t know, she said them with English pronunciation.

*They’re ‘technically’ not my nieces, but my partner’s. However, I’ve known them their whole lives and see them that way.

A long weekend in ADW

My partner and I finally visited his family after a long time, and I was jokingly posting on Instagram that we were in ADW since it’s a very small village. ADW stands for Arsch der Welt (literally, the world’s ass), otherwise known as ‘middle of nowhere’ or ‘the boonies’.

Overall it was a very nice weekend with Spaziergängle (Alemmanisch for ‘little walks’), sunny weather, minigolf, practicing my Alemmanish skills, and catching up with some of my partner’s friends from school. The 8 hour train ride in both directions was worth it.