emily locked out

I have now been in Germany for about 36 hours.  And I have had exactly one traumatic experience.

(I'll talk about Lüneburg and my living arrangements soon.  This topic just needs to be covered now.)

I arrived home from orientation at about 7.00 pm.  My landlady/housemate wasn't home, so I pulled out the key I had been given and proceeded to let myself in.  But I couldn't.  I hadn't actually used this key before, as I spent most of my first day in Germany unpacking (and sleeping), and every time I had gone out, I was with Ilke (said landlady/housemate).  I tried unlocking the door for several minutes, rather unsuccessfully.  At that point, I went around to the backdoor, knowing it was the same key and hoping that it was easier to use.  It wasn't.  While I was hopelessly jiggling the door handle, Ilke's next door neighbor looked over and said, "Kann ich Ihnen helfen?" meaning "May I help you?" which I took to mean "Why are you breaking into my dear, sweet neighbor's house while she is away?"

Now, nothing reminds you how much you suck at a language until you meet someone who doesn't speak yours.  Ilke speaks English decently, so when I stumble with German, she is able to fill in the words I am missing.  However, I'm pretty sure this older woman spoke no English whatsoever.  And the traumatic experience I was experiencing made me forget that I spoke any German whatsoever.  To the best of my ability, I explained who I was and what was wrong.  She told me to go back to the front of the house.  Okay.  I did so, and tried the lock again.  Again, no luck.  Alas.  I vaguely considered going back to the bus stop and riding the route a few times until Ilke got home, but that seemed a bit like overkill. So I sat on the step, pulled out the information booklet I had received at the orientation earlier that day, and started reading.  The next door neighbor saw me sitting there, and exclaimed that it was too cold outside; that I would get sick.  (At least, she definitely said the first part ("Es ist zu kalt draußen") and I definitely caught the word "krank" in the second part.)  She took me across the street to the home of an elderly couple who also have a key to Ilke's house.  Alas, they were also not home.  So, I was invited into the house of a stranger with whom my communication was limited.

And there I sat for almost an hour and a half.

She made me tea and gave me cookies, and after giving up on the awkward small talk ("Wie lange bleiben Sie?"), she turned on the television.  I clutched my tea, and we watched the news, the weather, and then the beginning of what seemed to me to be a sort of German CSI.  Finally, the couple across the street came home.  She called them, and another older lady came to my rescue.  She compared her key and mine to be sure I had been given the correct one (I had), and opened the door for me.  I was in.  At 8.30.

When Ilke finally came home around 9.20, I told her what had happened and she showed me how to use the door.  (It's old.  It requires a bit of extra pulling and pushing and such.  It's rather easy to open once you know the secret.)  So tomorrow, I'll have no problems.

But.  I was prepared to sit on that step until Ilke got home.  It was certainly getting chilly, but I assumed she'd be back soon.  I would have been sitting on that step for over two hours had this woman not been concerned for the well-being of a girl she thought was a burglar ten minutes prior.  I am extremely grateful for the kindness of two women whom I had never met and with whom I could barely communicate.  Chamomile tea (Kamillentee) has never tasted so good.