WEBVTT

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My name is Xiao,

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I’m in my second semester of electrical engineering at Leibniz University Hanover.

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I am Ingrid Borchert,

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I’ve been living in Wettbergen/Hanover for 46 years.

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It’s about providing accommodation in exchange for a little help,

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mainly in summer, when the lawn needs to be mowed.

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Sometimes I help Ms. Borchert in the kitchen, and do the dishes.

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I live in a 31 sq m room, so I’m supposed to help for 30 hours.

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But Ms. Borchert is really nice, I don’t do that much.

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If he takes his studies seriously, he can’t help me for hours on end.

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And he doesn’t have to.

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After all, I don’t live on a farm where he would need to work all day.

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We were thinking of renting out the room anyway.

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We thought a young man would be easy to deal with.

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And he is.

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We can both lead our daily lives as we please.

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I don’t have to be considerate towards him all the time

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and I hope that feeling is mutual.

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I think it’s great to live here.

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For five and a half weeks Xiao even stayed here all by himself,

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when I had to go to hospital.

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Hello, Ms. Borchert. Would you like to go for a walk with me?

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Sure.

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Living in a German household also helps me get familiar with the culture and everything else.

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That’s very important to me.

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I think it’s only natural that a foreigner at first doesn’t know how to speak German.

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But he has this terrific mobile phone with translation function.

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So, that’s not a problem either.

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And I’m not alone.

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When he sees me sitting at breakfast in the kitchen,

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he comes in and says goodbye before he leaves.

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There’s always someone coming and going.