I forgot what the point of this post was supposed to be

I know I posted a few days ago, but I was in the writing mood. Just kidding, I am just trying to avoid doing my English 12 homework on the greenhouse effect and global warming. Usually not my favorite topic in school, but here it’s actually really interesting. It is interesting to hear the Germans in my class comment on the matter. This is a very “green” country, or more so than America, but let’s face it, it doesn’t take much effort to be more green than America. But nevertheless you would think they are all for saving the world, but they have lots of questions towards the truth of claims and science, just as in America. I won’t go all political on you, but it is interesting to hear it from a country that isn’t divided just down the middle, as America is, it is a multi-party country, so views and thoughts aren’t all that influenced by politics, as in America.

Anyways. I am currently in a dilemma. I can either take classes at school where I can understand the subject and still make friends, or I can take classes that I most likely won’t actually learn anything, but they are classes that can translate to Providence. A part of me just wants to give up the whole possible credit thing and just try to learn German and make friends instead of spending all my time trying to pass school in a foreign language. I will figure it out.

My favorite activity to pass time in a little village is to take the dog on walks. We go on at least two or three every day now. Usually from 30 minutes to an hour. It is my favorite part of the day.

Yeah, rather pointless post.

I hope life is fun in the US

Karneval beats everything.

Hello there fellow readers, I have lots to talk about!

Last Thursday, marked the beginning of Karneval festivities. Even though I don’t live in a region, such as Cologne, that goes all out, I am lucky enough they do have something here. On Thursday night the girls in village, Franzi, and I dressed in costumes and were on our way to the hall in Bonenburg to start my first Karneval experience. Well Karneval is basically where everyone dresses up and drinks. There is a show that includes dances and sketches and comedy. I personally didn’t understand the sketches, but the dances were funny. We were out from 6 until about 11, but had school the next day so home we went. It was quite a fun night with all the girls.

We had a quiet weekend, and the second day was Sunday night. We didn’t have school on Monday, so us girls went to one of our houses and got ready and spent a few hours just laughing together, how cheesy does that sound, and then off on our way to a different village, Ossendorf, for quite an event filled night. I think about everyone from my school was there, and it was not that big of a hall to begin with. By about eight, the place was packed, and everywhere you turned, you would see someone else to talk to. I spent some time with my host sister and her friends, then just started jumping between groups of people. It was such a fun night, and I talked to so many people that I had never really met before. All of course knew that I was the American, but to be blunt, sometimes it takes a party or festival and a little alcohol for it to be easy to just to talk to strangers, but everyone was partying and extremely friendly. I have found sometimes it is harder to get the kids to talk to you, maybe since I am this strange American girl, but more likely they have all been together in the same schools, or most of them, since 5th grade. It isn’t always easy to welcome someone new it. But I felt quite welcome that night, it was such fun.

The next day, off to Bonenburg Karneval it was once more. Thursday was for adults, but Monday was for the little kids as well. Many more groups that did dances, and there were children everywhere. The program started around 2:30, and went until 5:00 or so. I was with all the girls again, but this time we sat at the table with all the boys from my village as well. All of the girls are two school years younger, or one school year younger, but the boys are all about my age or a little older. Some of the girls were all helping one little kid group with a dance, so all the girls went to help practice, but I decided to stay and talk to the guys, since I really only knew one of them. I had forgotten how it was to be with kids my age and older. It was absolutely hilarious. I have a group of guys from Providencce at home, predominately cross-country runners, that my best friend, Sarah Kate, and I always love to hangout with because of how funny those boys are. This group of guys from the village reminded me so much of those nights Sarah Kate and I hung out with those boys at home. The girls were gone for a least two hours, but I had such a great time anyways. The program ended, but the music never stopped so we just made up our own fun. Then the girls came back and we probably all danced for two hours. Around 7:30 or 8ish everyone started slowing down, and in the end we were all sitting and falling asleep on each other’s shoulders, which was a telling our night was over quite early. But thinking of how we started the afternoon early, it made for a great day.

Surprisingly almost all of us were on the bus the next day for school. Normally the bus rides are quite with everyone sleeping, but the back of the bus where most of the Bonenburg kids sit was loud with laugher of the day before.

I would say I had quite an amazing, possibly the best, weekend. It makes me love my baby little village so much more. But as I always tell my host mother, Bonenburg IS the center of the world.

Moving right along.

PRESSLY IS HERE! My American sister, who is currently studying at a university in Whales for a semester, came to visit. I took the train to pick her up in Düsseldorf, which we had some problems for her waiting at the gate for me, while I waited for her at the train station, we didn’t really talk enough I guess, but we made it home eventually. I have shown her Bonenburg and Warburg, and today we went to Paderborn for shopping. It has been really nice to see another family member, but the translating thing has been something else. She knows not a word of German, so I am constantly switching languages. My host family can all speak English well enough, but I am so used to German with my family I am always starting in German to Pressly, then having to backtrack. Good thing, right?

I really have realized I am able to speak two languages. My German is still really rough, and the grammar is terrible, but I can communicate enough to get along, I couldn’t ask for more.

I hope everything is well in the states!

Here are some pictures from my Karneval nights!

Theresa!

Stefanie!

Sophia!

Roland and Tobias!

I just had such a lovely and very German weekend. I don’t know how I am going to be able to leave this life behind.

For your laughter, or moreso for mine and those few who understand

This video. It’s all so true. A fellow exchanger posted it to Facebook and I had to share. A lot of this, wouldn’t make sense for those who haven’t lived in Germany. But, you can still find it funny, just knowing all what they talk about, or at least most all of it, I have run into.

The sun’ll come up, tomorrow.

Hello world! I hope you are all well on this lovely…ish day.

Today, something amazing has happened, it rained. Which means, SPRING IS ON ITS WAY! Or, at least I hope so. I am such a typical American, or an American from the south. I wanted nothing more than snow, but soon realized that the snow this year was weak and the equivalent to a Charlotte snow, and those are lame. It actually was not really cold enough, then it got WAY TOO COLD in about two days, so there was no time for real snow to come. We were bellow freezing for about three weeks. Yesterday or the day before being the first time above freezing, it felt so warm, but we all know if I had been in Charlotte and it hi 32 degrees I’d be complaining in a hot second. See, I am learning to adjust. Well with the coldness, we had a week filled of iceskating. It was lovely. Now, rain, and hail, have returned. I can’t help but get that feeling back from when I first got to this country, and it would not stop raining, ever.

I remember back to a day the first week, and a perfect double rainbow appeared one afternoon. I knew then that my year here would truly be magical. It has proved to be so, and continues to do so.

Yesterday, Valentine’s day, was also my host sister’s best friend’s birthday. She has also become a great friend to me. She turned 15, which just makes me feel so old, knowing I’ll be 17 in April. Franzi and I, along with five other friends from the village, went to her house to have cake and just spend time together. I love when in a group, I understand what is going on. It was so hard in the beginning, and not really anyone would talk to me, because I was so slow to speak and understand. My German has improved so much, and because of that that I feel apart of life here now. Mid-way point, right?

Next week my sister, Pressly, comes for a visit! I am beyond excited. I will have to take a three hour train after school to Düsseldorf to pick her up, then turn right around for a three hour home. She knows not a word of German, and in the case she missed her train, or misses her second train, she’d be in trouble. I will just take my homework and have some nice study time on the way there.

Charlotte, my other sister, has also planned her trip to come see me. She’ll be coming in March!

Well, not a whole lot to say now. I’ll write again after Pressly comes!

Our attempt at hockey?

In reference to the last post…

I lasted until 3:30, then decided to go to bed. The German TV played the SuperBowl… but with German commentary, which obviously wasn’t as accurate and they didn’t ever show replays with explaining with the yellow marker on the screen, therefore I usually had no idea why they were reshowing it. Kelly was awesome, Madonna was not. Why couldn’t she have been halftime? I lasted until the end of the third, and unfortunatly went to bed. Should have know the fourth would have actually been good. Turns out a lot of Germans watch the SuperBowl. But when you ask if they understand it…. nope. Yeah, me either most of the time. But I am American, and I wanted to act it and watch the SuperBowl. I found a live stream online, so I could watch the commercials, which weren’t even that great this year.

What a bummer.

 

 

Just a few little things here and there.

Hi everyone.

I want to start with saying Congratulations to everyone who reads my blog that made semi-finalists for next year’s CIEE-CBYX!! I remember this exciting, and stressful, time. Feel free to add me on facebook and ask questions about the program and such.

Now, to my cold life. It has been below freezing every day this week. The ponds are all frozen, and yesterday we went ice skating at a family friends. I personally had never been ice skating on a pond before, it doesn’t get that cold in Charlotte, or hasn’t in my lifetime. We skated for a good two hours, played some hockey, and all fell. I fell a couple times, I am not the best ice-skater. But, getting better and better. Today we had lunch at the grandparent’s and then we came home to skate on our pond! My host mother is out of town for the week skiing, but I think Franzi, my host father and I are going to go skiiing sometime this week. There’s a smaller mountain about an hour from here. It’s no mountain from the Alps, but I figure, that may be better for me anyways. Let’s give it a shot!

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY. I personally never really care much about the game. I watch for the National Anthem, halftime, and of course, the commercials. It actually is played here! Sadly, without the wonderful commercials. The broadcast starts at about Midnight. And I plan on staying up the whole time. No sleep night? I think I’ll pull another night like the night I didn’t sleep on the plane, so I made about 31 hours no sleep. I think I can totally stay up the whole time until after school tomorrow. I have a free period, so I’ll just go buy some coke. It’d be worse if I only got two hours of sleep, then I’d never wake up on time.

Short post, I know. I just felt like writing something.

At the request of my father.

So I got an email from my father the other day, saying I needed a new blog, and that he had checked about seven times that day. I don’t really have much to write about, but here we go.

After midyear, I was sick. We were all sick. I think the majority of us missed at least one day of school. I would have missed about three, but one of those days, Monday, I was traveling home after my not-intended-but-extended American weekend. Look at me go, I can rhyme. Anyways. I missed Tuesday and Wednesday of school. My host mother did a wonderful job of trying to get my better without medicine. See, I am full-blood American. When something is wrong or I don’t feel that great, I have lots of great friends such as IBProfen or NYQuil to take good care of me. Here, they don’t really exist. When I have a headache, the automatic response of my host mother is, “Do you want me to massage it?” or when I have stuffy sinuses, there is this creme she says to massage on to your face. Back in like October, she made Franzi massage my face with it, she more-or-less just tickled me the entire time. I never have taken that route of “medicine” again. Medicine just isn’t used here like it is at home. I have probably complained a few times about this on my blog, but you know, it is a problem. Another personal “favorite” of “medicine” here, the Asprin. After I say no to a massage for my headache, I take the only other method of medicine and healing, Asprin tablets that drop into the water, fizz, are absorbed, then I drink it. It takes horrible. I end up with a stomach ache instead of a head ache. Brilliant, or?

Enough about complaining. Yesterday was WANDER TAG! Which translates directly to hiking day, but we actually do no hiking, it’s a field trip. We went to this castle thing that was used as, basically, the SS headquarters. There was also a form of a concentration camp there in the day, that was run by the SS, but it was almost on the same level as the Nazi camps. I personally did not understand everything our tour guide said. He liked to joke a lot, or I assume so because everyone laughed a lot, and I am still a tad bit to slow at understand to get the joke. Sometimes I do understand the German, but don’t get why it’s funny. All a process. But our day was quite interesting. There was this one circular room in one of the towers, that if you stood in the middle, when you talked it was as if a bubble was around you. And if you stood on the edge, you could barely hear the person talking to you from the middle, but if they were directly opposite on the edge, you could hear them whisper. So sciencey and cool.

Among other news I finished a book today. A friend from CIEE gave me one at mid year, The Glass Castle. It was very good. I read too fast, though. Now the only book I have is Ulysses, which my host mother gave me for Christmas. Do you know how long that book is? I will be on it for weeks! How lovely. I hate not having anything to read. I also now have a book to read from my fifth grade German class. It’s not too difficult, but I forget what I have just read, because I am too busy trying to figure out whatever sentence/paragraph I am on. It’s going to be a slow process.

That’s all for today!