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Naomi's & Hokuto's Allgäu Experience Report

Our experiences in the Allgäu
 

We have been in Germany since December 2014. Luckily I got a job quite by chance in the beautiful Allgäu and we moved to Kempten. I am a software engineer and my wife teaches Japanese at the adult education centers. It was a dream for me to work in Germany. My wife also enjoys doing language and culture courses in the Allgäu. Mastering German is not easy like other languages. At work I mostly speak English for technical things and German for general conversation. I find it very helpful to learn German from other German learners. They can show slightly better expressions, which I can adopt immediately. Getting to know new people is not difficult in the Allgäu without being able to speak German well. But basic language skills make it much easier. I also enjoy getting to know different foreigners in the Allgäu, who we would not meet in Japan. The people here are friendly and trusting. Besides beer, the lakes, the mountains with the snow, the green grass, the blue sky and the clear air with the smell of cows are what we like best about the Allgäu. I always find the events of the LiA-Club a good idea. We have already participated in the conversation evening and the theatre visit. At the conversation evening you can meet many international people in the Allgäu. I was surprised how international the Allgäu actually is. It opens your eyes that there are many different backgrounds in the Allgäu, too. I think it is different from the big international cities. The theatre visit to Hohenschwangau Castle was really great. We watched Tempest by William Shakespeare together. The English was a bit difficult, but the atmosphere and the play were very good. Thanks Eva for the invitation. We would not know that we can experience such great artistic things in the Allgäu! 

 

Jessica's Allgäu Experience Report

My name is Jessica and I am a 26-year-old Brazilian woman who moved to the Allgäu region in 2016 for professional reasons. It is important to say that I had no idea what the Allgäu means when I first came here. I only lived in Stuttgart for one year, but that was basically my whole reference regarding Germany and that even without speaking German. In the beginning I was able to speak a little German, but soon I felt the need to learn the language properly because I just couldn't express myself properly and it was also difficult to understand what people wanted to tell me. I had some hard moments where I even thought about whether to stay here or go back to Brazil because I felt that I wasn't making progress and it felt like a waste of time and effort. But after a while I got tired of self-pity and decided to enroll in private lessons at Lernen im Allgäu, which changed everything. Not only did I start learning very quickly, but I also met new people through the LiA-Club (which wasn't the case before, because I lived in a village). And the special thing about these people is that they had the same experiences as me and shared a lot of their own culture. Life in the Allgäu became much easier, I started to make new friends, managed to do a completely different job parallel to mine and I got the feeling that I really understand how life and people are here in the Allgäu. This has enriched me personally very much. Life is still full of ups and downs, but wouldn't it be the same everywhere? My heart stops beating for 2 seconds every time I look at the beautiful mountains, or the trees that change their colours and leaves in every season, and I realize that I am only a small part of everything. It is magical, and I am pretty sure that this is not something I would find everywhere.

 

Daniel's Allgäu Experience Report

Vor 4 Jahren habe ich mich in eine deutsche Frau verliebt. Jetzt wohne ich seit 2 Jahren in Deutschland. Ich komme aus den USA, wo ich in einer grossen Stadt gewohnt habe. Mein Leben hier im Allgäu ist anders. Ich fühle mich hier wohl, obwohl die deutsche-Sprache schwierig ist. Ich weiß, dass ich besser deutsch sprechen muss, damit ich mehr Leute kennenlernen kann. Meine Erfahrung mit Eva und den Leuten die ich durch sie getroffen habe, zeigt mir immer wieder dass ich hier her gehöre. Ich bin entschlossen gut Deutsch zu lernen. Die Natur ist abwechslungsreich und unglaublich schön. Die Berge und der Bodensee sind in der Nähe. Man darf überall wandern! In den USA ist das nicht so. Ich mag die lokalen Traditionen, und die reiche Kultur. Ich habe meinen ersten Viehscheid besucht, wenn die jungen Kühe nach dem Sommer aus den Bergen zurück gekommen sind. Manchmal denke ich, dass ich mehr Kühe als Menschen als Nachbarn habe.  Je mehr Zeit  ich hier habe, desto mehr weiß ich, dass meine Entscheidung richtig war. Wo sonst kann man jeden Tag Brezeln essen? Ich habe eine fantastische Reiseführerin (Partnerin) für mein Leben hier, aber ich finde auch selbst den Weg.