10 Things I've Learned

Many things are so small that they'll never earn a post of their own, but yet, I still feel that the role they've played in my exchange is one worth sharing. So here they are, the RANDOMS!

1. Laughing--the language everyone speaks. While trying to communicate in German, sometimes there is no other option :-)

2. Their is an incomparable pride and sense of patriotism that comes when reading a U.S. president's speech to a class of German peers. I experienced it while reading the speech delivered by George Bush only days after 9/11.

3.  Fat free doesn't exist. Not in milk. Not in yogurt. Not in cream cheese...it's a foreign concept-quite literally!

4. Make sure to lock the bathroom door while in the shower--otherwise, 4 year old Samuel, might poke his head in to say hallo..

5. Peanut butter and jelly is no longer normal. Ah, you should have seen their faces when I took a bite of my pb & j sandwich! Cheese and Jam, however, go well together.

6. Stress is only as stressful as I make it.

7. German. And a lot of it!! I sometimes feel like I'm walking up an escalator that's going down and no matter how much I learn, there will always be an incredible amount still left to learn!

8. Use the buddy system at all times in school or I'll end up late, lost, or in the wrong classroom. Today, the search party from my religion class found me before I found the classroom.

9. How little of a conversation you actually have to understand to "participate" in. My new friends must think I'm such a great listener ;-)

10. I'm not the only one! This morning at school, the Brazilian exchange student fell asleep during the five minute break...and woke up some twenty minutes later. :-) I just can't believe how tired I am sometimes!

That's it for now but I'm hoping to have a video tour of my house posted by the end of the week :-)

Familiar Faces

So, as most of you probably know, my mom places foreign exchange students and has done so for 7 years now. What you probably didn't know, is that 1/3 of all exchange students are from Germany. Put two and two together and there are over 20 people I'm hoping to see this year :-) But...I have had to opportunity to see a few people already, so let me tell you how :-)

Only a few days after I arrived, I got to see Marvin, a friend from the '10 AYUSA Seattle trip...funny story though. As it turns out, I was unable to stay with my language camp family for the intended three weeks so Marvin and his family offered to host me with absolutely no notice! I had three great weeks at their house and it was so nice to have someone to talk to that was fluent in English and had lived in the U.S.A. :-)

Viviane attended Coquille High school my sophomore year and we became fast friends. One of our favorite memories is the amazing Seattle trip we went on for five days--also on that trip was Marvin. As it turns out, Holland was less than an hour drive and I didn't have any plans for the weekend. Marvin was willing to drive, and Viviane met us not too far across the border for lunch and a fun afternoon of chatting, laughing, and reminiscing on memories from the U.S.

While I was at language camp, I was more centrally located...now I'm way down south :-) But I decided to take advantage of the three weeks I had in middle of Germany and so I sent out an email to quite of few of my friends to see if anyone was free. Most people were busy but Steffen came down to Dusseldorf one day after language camp and we had a fun afternoon in the city.

Last but certainly not least, is Hanna. Hanna and I were friends my freshmen year and have kept in touch for the past few years. And as it turns out, she is responsible for the amazing family I'm now living with as when I told her I was coming to Germany, she took it upon herself to find me a family--and not just any family, but the most amazing family she could :-) So now, Hanna and I are neighbors--well, a few streets away but that's beside the point.

I'm so happy that I have already seen some of my friends again and am looking forward to seeing others in the coming months--especially my sisters Miri and Mareike <3 And don't worry, I'm sure you'll hear all about it once I do :-)

Guess What? I Survived My First Week of School!

I had some very memorable moments and got lost a time or two, but I lived to write about it---so I will!

 Three first days of school, three years, and three different countries. You'd think I'd be getting the hang of it by now....but no, monday morning I was just as nervous and rushed as ever :-)

 First, let me give you an idea of just how sweet my host family is-- I came downstairs for breakfast Monday morning to find a "first day of school gift" waiting on my plate along with a package of my favorite nuts for good measure. The children took pictures--Christian with a real camera, Sami with his imaginary one and a variety of sound effects--and in a blur the morning was gone and we were pulling up to Karl von Frisch Gymnasiun where after a few good luck wishes and a reassuring hug, I began my great adventure--school!!

 The first thing that struck me was the difference in the parking lots. In the U.S. high school parking lots are full of old cars and beat up pick up trucks. In Germany...

BIKES!

And yes, I am one of the many that rides a bike to school. For me it's only about two miles each way...I have some friends who are a little more hardcore :-) But don't worry, German DO have cars too--but the driving age is 18 so most high school students are stuck with a good old bike! ;-)

Then school started! I must say, having been warned about the "unfriendly nature" of Germans by nearly every German exchange student I've known, I was pleasantly surprised to be so warmly accepted by the girls in my class. Like a little first grader, they took me to my classes, ask if I understood everything, and even helped me with my homework. Without them, I feel quite sure my first week would have been a train wreck! As it was, I sat through the wrong Chemistry class on Wednesday! :-)

At the moment my schedule looks like this:



Monday:                                     Tuesday:                                Wednesday:

1. Free period (sleep in)     History (starts-8:00am)    Chemistry (starts-8:00am)
2. Math (starts-9:50am)      Religion                               German
3. Art (ends-1:20pm)          Not sure exactly..politics?   English (Ends-1:20pm)
4. Lunch at home                Lunch                                  Lunch at home
5. Free                               Geography (ends-3:45pm)
6. Sport (swim) (starts-3:45pm)
7. Astronomy (ends-7:00pm)      

Thursday                                              Friday

                                                         

    Geography (starts at 8:00am)              English (starts at 8:00am)

    Math                                                    German

    Chemistry (ends at 1:20pm)                 Physics (ends at 1:20pm)

     Lunch at home                                      Lunch at home

And so far so good!! Well, other than the fact that I don't understand the majority of what I'm being taught... :-) Let me tell you a little story as an example. Friday in German class, the teacher lectured for a while, asking the students questions and compiling some sort of list on the chalk board. After about an hour, several words on the chalkboard closely resembled their English translations and I came to the conclusion that they were brainstorming different styles of writing (essays, poems, novels, etc). Then we were handed a page of text to read and apparently analyze as my friends began underling passages. Not wanting to feel left out, I pulled out my red pen and underlined every word of the text that I didn't know. Once I was finished, I used my green pen to underline whatever it was we were actually supposed to be underlining. And the result:

I know it's hard to see....but I think my point comes across just fine. A LOT of red! :-D

However, in English class, not only do I understand the current topic of discussion, I am very interested in it and enjoying the dicussions. The topic? 9/11, how the U.S. delt with it, and how it influenced international politics. All I can say is that I'm glad the class is in English because as a politic junkie (not to mention American) it would kill me to sit there and not be able to participate...or understand. But it is very interesting to see the issues from a German perspective and I'm anxious to see how the coming week unfolds as the discussion shifts from 9/11 itself, to how America's government dealt with it.

I'm sure I'll have many more posts full of exciting, embarrassing, hilarious, and downright frustrating moments at school, but as always, I'll try to avoid a novel and leave you with this for now. :-)

Crazy Adventures in the Kitchen!

I hinted about it on facebook, but now I'll let you in on the full scoop--my entire adventure making biscuits and gravy! Why biscuits and gravy? Well, to please my host sister, Selina, I decided on a recipe with no veggies and no fruit. Also, it seemed like such a simple and straightforward recipe--what could go wrong?

Task #1: Shopping. Well, ingredients such as flour, sugar, and milk couldn't have been easier...but then we got to shortening. After explaining it as best I could, my host mom was convinced she knew what it was and took me to the refrigerated section....hmmm, refrigerated shorting? I wasn't convinced until I'd scoured the entire baking section and gone into great detail describing shortening to my host mom. Finally I gave in and purchased this refrigerated item, crossing my fingers that is was shortening...and--SUCCESS! It wasn't Crisco but it worked :-)



My biscuit mess with my e-mail from mom as a guide :-)



Then we can to sausage--because gravy is nothing without sausage! Well, arriving at the meat section I saw no Jimmy Dean or the like. So, what did I do? Yep, great detail explaining sausage--"No, its only pig"....."you know, for breakfast?" "No, its not mixed with all those spices..." After a few minutes we had some sort of ground meat in a bag and made our way home. Only a few minutes after the meat began to cook I knew it wasn't right. Well, lets just say that I now know what ground hamburger is in German. I was ready to laugh it off but Mama insisted that we get it right and took the meat off the stove. I again explained, this time focusing on the breakfast aspect of sausage. "Ohh, now I know" she said, and off she went to the store. Minutes later she returned with three different kinds of meat--none of which in the least resembled ground sausage. Becoming desperate we called an American friend who has lived in Germany for years. I explained to her my dilemma and as it turns out, there is no such thing as ground sausage in Germany. :-D She told me that there was a wurst that had the taste I was looking for so we bought that.

So, five meats later I'm actually beginning what will become lunch. We took the little wursts (similar to sausage links) and rather than chop them until they resembled ground meat.....we minced them. But The milk was 3.8% fat and thickened beautifully and soon the gravy was smelling wonderful and ready to be piled onto a plate of biscuits....

Well, the biscuits were another adventure. Everything looked right going into the oven...but 10 minutes later as the tops turned golden brown....they were as flat as pancakes and my host mom asked if I'd put in anything to make them "grow taller". I told her that's what the baking powder was for....if only it had been baking powder. Turns out my biscuits had cornflower and although they tasted okay...they were midget biscuits. Baking powder was added to the second batch but that caused the dough to be overworked and while everything tasted great....they weren't the light and fluffy biscuits I'm used to.

 However, nearly two hours after I first began to brown the hamburger meat, a wonderful lunch of biscuits and gravy was served and received a stamp of approval from all and a request from little Sammi to make it again sometime. :-)

Aside from my great adventure, I've been helping Mama in the kitchen fairly often and she's created some incredibly delicious meals--and desserts!

Afternoon coffee and cake with the extended family

 Sunday, we had a friend over and Mama made the most delicious chicken dinner...mmmm :-) Basil wrapped in thin slices of pork (similar to bacon) then placed in a chicken breast and cooked. Once finished, a delicious tomato sauce poured over the top made it not only beautiful, but oh so yummy!

Schweiz!

Translation? SWITZERLAND! That's right :-) At the end of our amazing week at Bodenseehof, my family decided to celebrate Christian's 10th birthday with Mama's mother--across the lake in Switzerland!



 We packed up and were pulling out of the Bodenseehof parking lot by 10:00am and after a short drive, reached the ferry that took us across the water to the beautiful sky scraping mountains of Switzerland. The ferry ride was short but absolutely gorgeous! Looking back at Germany all I could see was hillsides covered in vineyards and in front of us was the magnificent Alps. Sadly, pictures just don't do the beauty justice :-(

Once we reached Switzerland, the hour car ride to "Grossy's" began. Although I felt like I child, I just couldn't stop looking out the window--it was so beautiful! I've come to the conclusion that Switzerland has a shade of green that cannot be found anywhere else--how else could a regular old hillside scattered with houses be so incredible? we passed some of the most European looking homes I've ever seen and Samuel sent up the cry "Kuhe!" each time we passed a field full of cows...and that had to have been at least a dozen times :-)

 

Grossy was waiting for us with Christians birthday lunch (and dessert) all ready and prepared and we had a wonderful time. After lunch I faced a very difficult task that I really didn't enjoy but it turned out okay....I had to choose.......

Swiss chocolate and more of it than I have ever seen in one place! I ended up with two bars. The first was milk chocolate with what I thought was a yogurt filling but turned out to be a sour cream (a sour cream--not sour cream) but it was delicious anyway! The second was white chocolate with what I think was toffee and hazelnuts--also quite yummy :-)

Once we left, I expected we would go spend the afternoon at Grossy's--well, was I ever wrong! After 30 minutes of driving we pulled up at the base of a beautiful mountain. Not 30 minutes later we were in a gondola making our way to the 7200 ft peak of that beautiful mountain. The view was incredible and I could see for miles and miles on end. Need I say more?



After approximately a million pictures of the exact same scenery, we rode the gondola back down, had dinner at Grossy's, and hit the road around 8:00. By 11:00 I was snug and cozy in my bed at home and finally--this time for real--DONE living out of a suitcase!!

Bodenseehof!

As many of you know, only two days after arriving at my new home, I packed up, yet again, and headed to Lake Constance for a week of family camp at Bodenseehof! Bodenseehof is a small Bible school that runs family camps over the summer and it was so much fun!!

The schedule was pretty simple with a breakfast buffet from 8:15-9:00 each morning followed by a session at 10:15 that lasted for about an hour. After lunch families had the afternoon to themselves to explore the area, go swimming at the beach, sailing on the lake, or another of the many activities in the area. Dinner was at 6:30 and at 8:15 there was an evening session.

And yes, for all who are wondering--it was ALL in German! Thankfully the two main speakers were from the U.S. so because of their accents they were a bit easier for me to understand and were more than willing to translate for me....but three weeks of German could only get me so far. At the beginning of the week I just sat there nodding my head with a blank stare on my face but by the time Friday rolled around I could understand the main points, just not all little details:-) At one point I was so proud of myself because the speaker was telling a story and I could follow it.....well, then came the punch line and I still have no idea what exactly it was. *sigh*

I will always remember my week at Bodenseehof as a wonderful beginning to what I'm anticipating will be a wonderful year! It was such a relaxed setting to get to know my host family in and the many English conversations I had with the Americans helped me ease into the German language instead of being dropped into complete immersion! One of my favorite parts of the camp was each morning at 7 a.m. when my mom and I would drag ourselves out of bed and walk down to the lake for a morning swim. waiting for us on the beautiful lake were usually over 50 swans enjoying their morning swim. Cold? Yes! Refreshing? Extremely! Fun? Absolutely! And Beautiful? Well, looking across the lake, the Swiss Alps stretched as far as the eye could see and far off in the distance to the left were the peaks of the Austrian Alps--that's a YES! :-)

 

We spent many of our afternoons at the lake canoeing, swimming, or in my case, just laying in the wonderful warm sun! But we had two afternoon outings that were particularly fun :-) Tuesday, my family spend the afternoon playing a very relaxed but fun game of mini golf...definitely not one of my talents but I enjoyed it anyway. Thursday afternoon flew by as we went to "adventure park" and spent four solid hours making our way through a series of high ropes courses. Oh, sooo fun!!! It was only my second time on a high ropes course but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm pretty sure I was fairly entertaining to watch too!

I am so grateful to my family for taking me with them on this awesome week of family vacation! It was certainly a wonderful ending to my summer and amazing start to my year with the Weihing family :-)

Apples, Apples, Apples!!!

Okay, so maybe it's very touristy of me to consider apple picking something other than the daily grind but is that so wrong? :-)

My first official morning at "home"--not even fully unpacked, Mama, Selina, Jonathon, Sami, and I loaded up headed out for a morning of apple gathering. Opa joined us with his riding lawn mower and trailor to haul tbhe apples back to the house. Now, I use the word gathering because unlike what I'd been picturing in my head, we never picked a single apple from a single tree but instead, sorted through those that had already fallen and gathered the good ones.

 This first adventure of mine lasted only about two hours although after only an hour the sun decided to appear and made the second hour a little less enjoyable. However, Selina and I worked together..mostly in the shade...and before long it was time to go.

It may not seem like the most exciting first morning, however, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to baking a real American Apple Pie with Mama.....because I have no idea what on earth we, or Oma and Opa (who we gathered  the apples for), will ever do with so many apples! I've been told/warned that I will become more used to apple picking in the next few weeks so I'm expecting a second excursion sometime this week. :-)

A New Family & a New Home

I made it! I'm actually here. To me, it still seems unreal that I'm now in the home of the family I've been emailing for six months. But I couldn't be happier to be here.....soooo, let me tell you about them and my first days and impressions!

My train ride was only a few hours and with a "layover" and beautifully scenic route, it felt much shorter. When the announcement came on over the loudspeaker that the train was approaching the Stuttgart train station I felt my heart jump into my throat and between my overwhelming excitement and nervousness, all I wanted to do was get off that train!

Once off, I realized that I'd been riding an extremely long train and as I scanned up and down the platform, I saw no family with four little children (I would soon come to learn that when looking for a family with four little children, ears are more helpful than eyes). After a minute or two I saw my host father (Papa) walking towards me, followed by my oldest brother, Christian (10). The next few minutes were a blur as I exchanged hugs with my new siblings and parents...and as they realized my German wasn't as good as in the emails they'd been receiving from me. (In my defense, I gave them fair warning)

In the last week, I've come to know them a little bit better, and come to love them even more. I've enjoyed even talks with Mama...as well as early morning swims! I've played approximately 73 games of Uno with Samuel. With pronunciation help from my 7 year old brother, Jonathon, I read a book to Samuel (4). The family is amazing. They are warm, caring, understanding, and just plain fun. I will admit that I was a bit nervous about having four little siblings but so far I'm enjoying it far more than I'd anticipated.

The Weihing family has welcomed me with open arms and made me feel quite at home in the hustle and bustle of a family of six and went above and beyond in preparing my room. I first walked in to find flowers on my table, a notebook, scissors, and other supplies on my desk, a colorful pack of pens that I'll no doubt put to good use,and a bulletin board with thumbtacks (in the shape of a heart, of course) Christian even informed me that he and Papa had just built a new desk for me. So, all I can say is that I love my room, love my family, and love all the little things that make life so wonderful.

 I'm very excited to see what the next ten months have in store and will be posting more soon to give you an idea of just what I've been up to in the last few days:-)