Surviving the Slopes!

Perhaps that is just a bit over dramatic considering my "slopes" consisted of nothing more than a little hill intended for little kids...but you have to start somewhere, right?

Thursday morning I woke up excited and ready to try my hand at skiing. I bundled up in my jacket, beanie, mittens, and borrowed ski pants and joined my eager siblings in the VW bus that only minutes later was climbing the Alps. By the time the car was unloaded and I'd gotten my ski boots on (a two person task that was neither fun nor easy) I realized that I unless I planned on sweating the day away, I was going to have to shed at least a bit of my gear..which I did quite cheerfully.

Then came the moment of truth. I was standing in the skis and slowly, one sideways step at a time, inching my way up the first few feet of the slope. My little practice hill had no lift but 20 minutes of sidestepping did the job and got me a bit more exercise while at it! It didn't take long before I felt the distance between me and the bottom of the hill sufficed but then I came to the issue of how exactly to turn myself so that my skis were facing down the hill....

Let's just say I didn't quite get it right on my first try and this picture wasn't my first try.

In my defense, I'll go on to say that before lunch, I'd gotten the rhythm of things and even skied from the top of the hill multiple times and not once had I crashed! Screaming, squealing, and skiing off into the distance because I couldn't stop myself? All I said was that I didn't crash.

My 7 year old brother, Jonathan, raced down the hill from the moment we arrived and Christian and Selina were both deemed ready to hit the real slopes with Papa but I was in good company. Samuel was delighted to not be the only beginner.

I had so much fun learning to ski and slowly feeling a little bit more comfortable each time I went down the hill. I wish it was something I was able to do more often as I would someday enjoy seeing what the real slopes looked like. But for now, I'm so glad my family took me with them and even managed to keep from laughing at my comical display. It was a day I won't soon forget.

February 21st

That would be my birthday--just in case your wondering :) I know I already have...what, two birthday posts? But in an effort to try and cover all the highlights, I'm moving on to birthday post number three. Bare with me and be thankful I only have one birthday per year :D

YUM!

After my friends went home Tuesday morning, I got in a good dose of vitamin D while pointlessly attempting to burn a fraction of the calories I'd enjoyed the night before and justify the multiple slices of cake I knew were only hours away. Regardless of my eating habits that day, three miles in 40 degree weather with the sun shining felt gooooood!

birthday wishes

Later in the afternoon, I sat down to a table full of family, coffee, and cake and enjoyed several hours of conversation and several cups of coffee. As my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins arrived, I slowly began adding to my "birthday table" and with each unwrapped gift, I shifted everything around to assure everyone that despite my age and new found flexibility--I'm still a perfectionist at heart.

As much as I love the gifts, I love the people who filled this table even more!

After an evening skype session with my family in Oregon, I started to feel the effects that come with so little sleep and went to bed very glad that I didn't have to get up for school Wednesday morning!

Party Time!

I'm 18! I just had to start by saying that :-)


And I'll go on to say that both my birthday and my birthday party were memorable and wonderful! Monday evening, my amazing friends here in Germany came over to celebrate my big day with me. Once the initial chatting, giggling, and shuffling bags upstairs to my room had been taken care of, we started on our pizza dinner.

After several days of thinking about what I'd like for my party dinner and what my friends would enjoy, I gave up and just decided to let everybody make their own dinner! Okay, that sounds pretty harsh :) In reality, that just means setting a giant bowl of pizza dough on the table, supplying lots of flour to keep things from becoming one giant sticky mess, and, of course, setting out the meats, veggies, spices, sauces, and cheeses that go so well with pizza. The flour only did so much to keep us from making a mess but we had a lot of fun rolling out the dough, trying to keep in from shrinking back to its original size, and utilizing the many delicious decorations :) Oh, and my sister Miri would be proud to hear that my pizza was topped with....well....tuna! How German of me :-P

After dinner, we changed into our PJs and played a number of hilarious games that involved everything from sticking post it notes on each others heads to snoring on command under a blanket. Oh, and I must add that I introduced my friends to a game that could not be more typical among American teens--that's right, we played spoons. It wasn't exactly as...aggressive or competitive as the "all elbows" atmosphere I'm used to but perhaps that just means German teens have a bit more sanity.

At midnight, everyone stopped and sang happy birthday to me and I opened my gifts--since technically it would have been cheating to open them a day early on the 20th :-) Those of you who are familiar with my never ending mission impossible to find a cute lined journal will understand why I was so excited to receive one! In addition, I got a Newsboys greatest hits CD so I can brush up on my newsboys knowledge before the concert in June (!!!) and the movie "To Save a Life". Well, yes and of course some candy and chocolate :) We didn't wait long in starting the movie though and as always, I enjoyed it and had fun watching it for the first time in German :)

Afterwards, the minority was defeated in our plans to go for a 3am walk in 30 degree weather and so we continued chatting and laughing until slowly everyone drifted off to sleep.

When we finally forced ourselves out of bed Tuesday morning, we wandered downstairs to find a beautifully set table with a  bouquet of 18 roses and three different varieties of muffins and Mama and I had made. It made me laugh to hear the discussion over whether or not the muffins (whole wheat with applesauce instead of oil and honey instead of sugar) were healthy! In Germany muffins are normally eaten in the afternoon just like cake--unlike in the US where they are a perfectly normal breakfast item. Regardless of the health factor, breakfast was delicious and a great end to a great party.

Happy Birthday From Home

For the last week, I've tried to maintain my "mature composure" while eagerly awaiting the arrival of my birthday package from Oregon, and after endless waiting, today it finally came!

Naturally, it came in the morning which for my family in the States was somewhere around 2a.m. So, I waited and waited...and only peeked at the customs label once ;-). Finally, they woke up and we got on skype so that I could open the package! Inside I found fuzzy socks--because one can never have too many, a scarf, and a bit of new makeup which will be put to very good use, super cute earrings, and a puzzle.

The puzzle, however, didn't have a box and as I sifted through the pieces, I recognized my brother's cross eyed face, the hot pink pajamas Marie and I got for Christmas years ago, and several other cherished pictures that have accumulated over the years. Having no guide photo to go along with the pieces only makes me want to do it faster and see what the end result looks like and what the countless number of black tiles with white writing say!




Although I wanted to start right away, my two options at the time were to either have an abundance of help with the puzzle, or do it alone in my room... so I waited until the little ones were tucked in and then pulled out the bag and set to work! :)

Many tiles were easy to recognize and after finishing the edge, I started sorting the pieces into different picture piles. I'm still not sure exactly how many pictures are going to be in the finished product but more than just two or three!

Although I worked on the puzzle for over two hours, between taking the ten thousand promised pictures and stopping just to look at the pieces or photos, I really didn't accomplish a great amount. Tomorrow the family is taking off on our little winter vacation as we have one week of school break and so after 11:00a.m. tomorrow morning, my next chance to work on the puzzle will be Sunday evening. (same goes for blogging!) We'll see how far I get!

But for now, I'm headed off to a very welcoming bed and looking forward to a good night of sleep and no alarm clock to disturb it!

Finishing up the Recap

My first six months went by faster than I'd ever imagined, and as I read over them in my journal, I often find myself laughing at some of my thoughts and experiences so I decided to briefly share some of them with you. Here are months 2 and 3 of my exchange.

October

3rd--"I'm looking forward to the day when speaking German isn't so forced and doesn't require so much concentration!"

4th--"So today I found a stack of Milka chocolate bars outside my door--17! Selina was just as excited as I was and so we hunted Mama down and she simply said that she found them for cheap and remembered me saying my family liked Milka so she bought them!" (Apparently some mailman also likes Milka as the chocolate never reached the US and was mailed in October!)

10th--"Today I helped mama make bread and an apple cake with strudel topping so the house smelled more heavenly than words can describe!"

13th--"The eating habits are so different here. Lunch is so much bigger and dinner, so much smaller...I think I burn more calories in my sleep because I have less food in my tummy :)"

14th--"It is Friday which means time to buckle down and bust out this college application...I cannot believe I'm applying for college!"

18th--"This morning, for the first time, I biked to school in the rain--very cold rain I might add."

20th--"The first snow of the season is coming down in  a flurry of white that gives me an urge to smile I can't control and between the baked apples, coffee, and snow, if I hadn't know any better, I would have said it was December!"

24th--"And week number 7 of German school is underway and what better way to start it than with a calculus test in German. It was so frustrating to not even be able to understand the questions or instructions and just have to sit there feeling dumb."

25th--"GK was cancelled today so I'm home early!"

26th--"My fascination with the pumpkin coconut jam caused mama to buy it for me! I'm not convinced that it sounds good but I'll sure try it!"

27th--"Samuel broke my bracelet but was so cute in admitting it that I couldn't be mad."

31st--"Yesterday and Friday I was at Rock Without Limits and did I ever have a good time!"

November

5th--"Oh, breakfast was soft scrambled eggs, homemade sausage, and English scones which double quite nicely as biscuits. Cups of coffee and orange juice made it the the best breakfast I'd had in a long time."

9th--"Home sick. I got out of bed at 9:45 and after a little breakfast went back up and was asleep an hour later. The boys came to wake me up for lunch but I wasn't hungry and went back to sleep."

16th--"Today is four weeks since my chocolate package was mailed home and it still hasn't arrived."

20th--"Christmas is really in full swing! I went shopping yesterday and everything is decked out in red and green with bells and stars. It is an atmosphere I could have stayed in forever!"

23rd--"This morning was a Religion test...one paragraph of horribly broken German was as far as I got!"

25th--"Thanksgiving is over and what a thanksgiving it was. I came home from school to find the parts of what was once a perfect pumpkin spread all over the kitchen and a pie in the works!"

27th--"I read captain sharky to Samuel today and at one point paused to ask him if he could understand me and he said "Not really but that's ok, it doesn't matter."

30th--"I babysat some neighbor kids last night for the first time and they were sweet and love the way I shuffle cards"

And the Flakes Keep Falling!

That would my my overpoetic way of saying that Gomaringen is still white. Although Mama promised me long ago that before winter ended I'd be sick and tired of the snow and dreaming of spring...that day has yet to come.

Thursday afternoon, cousins, aunts, and uncles were all crowded around the dining room table as we sung happy birthday to a now 12 year old Selina and celebrated over coffee and cake. My cake more resembled two whole grain rolls with nuts & seeds that mama surprised me with so I could keep my healthy diet during the week..she's so sweet :-) Anyway, as we sat around the table sipping our coffee and nibbling at cake..or rolls...a little bit of fine powder began blowing around in the air. It didn't take long before the flakes grew, the pace quickened and flake by flake, the inches began to accumulate.

I'm not joking when I say that it is very cold!

Gomaringen under snow

Friday morning was the whitest yet and biking to school was less than a thrill, but I was so taken by the beauty of the snow that it really didn't matter. It has been nearly two weeks since temperatures have been higher than 30F and the consistent nights of 5 degrees have given me an entirely different winter experience than that of the Oregon Coast! Due to the cold, the snow is so incredibly fine that I can blow it off the roof outside my window and going outside doesn't automatically result in a soaking wet return.


Front Yard




The view of our house from the bottom of the hill ;-)




Back Yard



Yesterday, as the flakes once again began to fall, I began my normal cheer of excitement. But this time Samuel just looked at me and said, "It is white enough already". The moral of the story? My excitement over snow is something that cannot be matched--even by a kindergartner :-D

Six Months

Seriously? Where has the time gone? I'm pretty sure culture shock was supposed to set in by now....and whatever happened to homesickness? According to the endless sessions of orientation, the last few months were supposed to resemble a roller coaster with high points of happiness and excitement, and low points of helplessness and disappointment. Well, I've come to the conclusion that the "low half" came while I was sleeping because somehow I managed to miss pretty close to 100% of it. ;-)

As I think back on the last six months, I'm trying to decide if I want to write a witty and humorous post, an informative post full of the highlights, or maybe something more emotional--a tear jerker of sorts. I can't really decide so I'm not going to write one and instead go back and take what I've already to written to summarize for you the last six months. That's right, quotes and stories directly from my journals!

August

4th-"The plane landed and I was so excited I thought I was gonna explode-I am finally in GERMANY!"

8th--"Oh, gosh, the train made me so nervous!"

17th--"I think I've already gained weight"

25th--"AS IN AUGUST 25TH! The day I've been waiting for for almost six months now!! Right now I'm on my final train and I'm crazy excited but at the same time a bit nervous." (the day I went from language camp to my permanent host family)

26th--"I'm finally home! Mama is so nice, kind and helpful. Papa is very nice but he's always asking me questions that I don't understand."

27th--"I feel like i speak no German even though I'm learning more and more every day."

28th--"The three boys are all wearing their Oregon coast T-shirts today--its so sweet"

29th--"I'm loving Bodenseehof!"

30th--"I'm loving life but really nervous about school...I'm scared I won't understand anything and I'm scared I won't fit in"

31st--"I've been away from home a month. I wish I could expect all the months to be as amazing and enjoyable as August."


September

2nd--"So cool to think that in my first month I was in Holland, Germany, and tomorrow Switzerland!"

2nd--"This morning when Mama and I went down to the lake to swim there were swans everywhere. It was beautiful."

4th--"The only good think about leaving Bodenseehof is that I'm so ready to be done living out of a stupid suitcase!"

5th--"I was hit by a wave of German this morning as we were running errands and am exhausted..and its only 1:15"

12th--"First day of school...I really couldn't understand much of it."

13th--"Today was really good but really exhausting." "First day of History class and all we talked about was the US!"

15th--"4th day of school and I'm beginning to realize my grades aren't gonna be bad like in Oman, they are gonna be outright horrible."

23rd--"I got out of school at 11:25 today and yesterday cuz my teachers are at a conference and I guess Germans don't have subs...I'm not gonna complain!"

27th--"Ok, so school is not as exciting as it was two weeks ago"

30th--"So, Wednesday I officially played handball for the first time..is was fun and not nearly as competitive as the high school sports I'm used to in the States!"


October and November will be posted on Tuesday--check back then!

Sorry Everybody!

Well, although I love writing, and could spending hours working on my blog each day, my schedule doesn't always allow that. I'm totally in favor of 30 hour days, but so far no progress has been made. :-) So, if you're wondering what happened to me, don't worry, I'm not dead and haven't given up on my blog, I've just recently come to the conclusion that in the long run I'll be happier with more time spent working on scholarship applications than my blog.

I do have several posts in the works and should have an update posted by this weekend!

Thank you guys so much for reading and maintaining an interest in what I'm up to in Germany. Knowing people are reading is my inspiration for writing :-)

And now I'm off to bed...oh wait..first I have to shower. Another late night but it shouldn't be a problem because I have to wake up earlier than usual tomorrow so exhaustion is unavoidable :)