Ohh Canada :)

Okay, so I’m Super Duper sorry for not posting in so long! Things have been crazy and Ich bin mude. (Hey look, I speak German! :P) That means I’m tired. Its sort of choppy- bits and pieces from each day. :)

More on Day 9: FIRST DAY OF SOCCER PRACTICE! <3>

Day 10: Well, as I went to recap day 10 from my Journal, I found that all I really talked about were things that I miss. I miss Connor a lot.. His hugs, walks, and wonderful amazing deodorant :). Evan’s too. (since they’re the same :P) Believe it or not.. I really miss hugs! I never thought I’d say that. Hahaha Hmmm I miss a lot of things. Last night (9/16) I had a dream about the Vagina Monologues next year, and I was missing them. So then I woke up, and was like MAN I miss the whole cast. (For those of you who don’t know what the Vagina Monologues are, I’m not crazy. Just look them up. <3) style="mso-spacerun: yes"> I miss Harold and Bandit… and a certain Chupacabra that I know. And Dodger. But as much as I miss those things, I still love Germany. I still love being here. I wouldn’t trade this for anything. :)

Okay, Day 11. Here’s a bit from my Journal:

Every day’s a star, something beautiful here. I love it <3 Last night I went to Schutzenfest with Johanna Neumann and finally met up with Julia Knapp! Haha it was SO fun! There was a parade, and then we all walked around the streets where there were vendors and such. :D

I didn’t journal for a few days. So I will summarize. :)

I’ve tried to call Molly Pearlman like… 90,000 times, but she is never around. So I’ve had some nice conversations with her parents :) I skyped with Connor Adsit, Alison Weber, My Mom, Jennifer (my sister :P). According to the handy dandy Exchange Student Survival Kit, talking to people from your home, especially friends in college, is supposed to make you sad. Not the case here! I’m happy you’re all having fantastic times, but I’m in GERMANY. I don’t think there’s anything that could bring me down here. Germany Germany Germany. Deutschland. Love. :)

Day 16: I. LOVE. ROTARY. Today I went to a “Rotary Excursion”.. I was expecting a Meeting. You know.. sit down, eat dinner, chat about a bunch of official Rotarian things.. I was wrong. We went to a Chemical Plant in Dormagen! We watched a power point (which I didn’t understand, but enjoyed the pictures :P) then were given hard hats, safety goggles, and masks incase of a chemical leak or something. HAHA I was SO sad that I didn’t bring my camera. The Rotarians were all dressed up with suits and ties, I was in a dress, and we were all wearing hardhats and safety goggles. We went by bus around the plant and stopped in a few buildings. I saw several occurrences of rabbits and the number 36. (Which is the worst.) These two things together should have some significance to some of you. Be afraid. Be very afraid. On the bus ride back, I decided to count these. In about 15-20 minutes I counted a total of 101 rabbits outside the plant and 39 36’s. I wanted to cry. Hahaha

Day 17: I’m actually having a harder time than I thought with some of my teachers. Right now I’m in Spanish class, and the teacher (who is really nice) said I don’t get a paper. Even though I DO understand it. Most of my teachers act like I’m invisible.. They don’t talk to me. Don’t pay attention to whether or not I’m in class. My bio teacher (who is also nice) was going through the class saying everyone’s names and when he got to me, said “Nie.” Meaning no. Its like no one cares in some classes. But in others, it’s the complete opposite! In art, the teacher goes out of his way to talk to me in English at the end. He’s seriously the male version of Ms. Karasek. It’s the greatest. My history teacher is my favorite. That class is in German and English.. so it’s good. We’re learning about German history. Right now technically we’re learning about Great Britain. :P My English teacher is also very nice. He is rather strict, and is from France, has an Australian accent, and is teaching English in Germany. (I find this amusing.) It’s so funny to hear about German’s opinions on the “American Dream”.

Day 18: The first day of the Rotex Welcome Weekend!! SO SO SO FUN! I took a train by myself to Dusseldorf at 7:00am, then to Essen, then Borken. It wasn’t so bad. I asked a lot of people for help. Sprechen Sie English? (Do you speak English?) Is what I say most. Also, Ich verstehe nicht.. (I don’t understand..) Once we arrived at the Schule in Borken, we had to take off our shoes, give the Rotex a salad or cake, and then did what exchange students do best—swap pins and cards!! After a lot of talking, we walked about 20 minutes to the train station, and got on a train to go to a soccer stadium. It ended up being SUCH a far way to go!! But after train, bus, road train, walking, etc., we made it to the Schalke Stadium! It was HUGE!! They literally move the entire field in and out of the stadium. No joke. It’s on roller things.. and its real grass!! As you can see in the pictures, many of us wore our flags as capes :) It was a lot of fun! On the way back, we fit something like 120 people onto one bus… OHMAN it was hot, smelly, and crunched! But we made the most of it as one Rotex member played the guitar and we sang along. :) When we arrived back at the Schule, we played some games! At one point, a tiny guy from Venezuela had to carry me across the gym while we held a roll of toilet paper between our noses… I don’t know how he did it, but he must be like.. the Venezuelan Hulk. :P hahaha After an incident with one of the Rebounds having some sort of seizure (I don’t really know what) The rest of us were sent outside, then back to the cafeteria where we had our sleeping bags. A group of us then played Never Have I Ever (A Cooperstown Classic) :) After a while, we started making some jokes.. about certain countries.. that may or may not start with Can and end with ada. :P Hahaha I must say, those Canadians have some real country pride. So it’s sort of an ongoing joke between some of us. :) I was SOO tired, so I passed out before most people. :D

Day 19: My friend Santiago and I were talking this morning, he said he is from Pachuca, Mexico. Then I was like, “Oh! My Host Sister is there!” It turns out that Franzi is actually going to Santiago’s school and that they met and are friends from before he came here! Then when I told her about it, she said that she was in his house at a sleepover at that moment! How does that happen?! Haha :):) Anyway, I walked to the train station in the rain and got way lost. I arrived at the same time as a bunch of Rotary students.. turns out there was a van to transport us. :P Oops! I rode on the train home with a girl from Australia and we talked about a bunch of stuff! She’s been here since February, so it’s nice to know that it gets easier!!

Day 20:

I didn’t go to school because I was SO tired.. my host dad said it was okay. At 6 I had soccer practice! My computers not working again. :(

Day 21: Not much happened today.. school. Lame. Then my Host Dad told me that they’re staying here over October Holiday, SOO Definitely Deutschland Tour!! I’m SO SO excited!!! :D Oh, My first Deutsch lesson was today in Neuss. I thought it started at 7, but it was at 6, so I wasn’t back from Dusseldorf with our neighbor (oh yeah, that’s what I did :D) I went late, the teacher was asking me questions in DEUTSCH.. and I felt sick and just wanted to cry. It was horrible! I am happy to be learning, but gosh! Not knowing the answer is just so frustrating!! Bright side: it can only get better from here.

Day 22:

I was sick. My host dad and I went to immigration to get a stamp in my passport, but they said I have to come back Friday because I didn’t have an extra passport picture which they need. So I’ll have to buy my textbooks for Deutsch Lessons and get those taken tomorrow. :/

Day 23:

They didn’t have either book in stock, so I had to order them. I can pick them up tomorrow. I got the pictures taken, so tomorrow morning I should be set to get the stamp in my passport! At 5, I rode my bike to Kapellen, then got on a train to Neuss. I was SO lost when I got there, I was walking the wrong way when I saw a Polish lady from my class and went with her.. MAN was I off! Class was a lot better today. I’m actually learning! It helps so much to know the verb endings!! On the way back, I got to the station late and missed my train! A guy there said it was the last one to Kapellen for the night! I freaked out! Luckily, Johannes was there and found a train for me to come back on. After, I rode my bike home. It was cold, dark, and rainy. I definitely do not think this helped me to feel any less sick. A little while later, I played the German version of Sorry! With Johannes and Ilona. (and won!!)

Day 24:

I’m definitely sick. I got my passport stamped, then came home ad slept. Later I helped to make a banner to hang tomorrow.

Day 25:

Today, one of our neighbor’s daughters is getting married, so we decorated the whole drive with bamboo, flowers, ferns, and hung a huge banner! It looked so pretty! Around 1:00 I met up with Julia Knapp at the train station to go shopping in Dusseldorf! It was so much fun!! :D we went to H&M (two of them!) and I bought some dresses! We also went to a really nice soap store where I got my mom a birthday present! (I already told her about it, so I can post it here!) We also went to the one and only, STARBUCKS <3 style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Then, we walked to the Rhein and drank our Frappuccinos on the edge. We tried to take pictures but the sun was so killer! :) It was a lot of fun! Probably one of the best days I’ve spent here.. even though I was still feeling a little sick.

9/19 Day 26:

There was a Rotary Orientation in Emmerich today.. that’s a few hours away. The ride there and in the stations was quite comical—people were literally staring at me because I was wearing my Rotary Blazer. Once I was in Emmerich, I had no idea which way to go because my map wouldn’t load! Soo, rather than buying a map of Emmerich that I would use once and that cost about 5 Euros, I took a picture of it! The lady was clearly yelling at me to stop, and I knew what she was saying, buttttt… “Ich sprechen kein deutsch.” ;) (I can’t speak German) Haha that’s a time that being a foreigner comes in handy. Seriously. :D I ended up just taking a Taxi because it was raining. The place we went to was only about 2 minutes away and you didn’t even have to turn.. oops :P they talked to us about Rotary rules, about the tours (WOOT), and we had to introduce ourselves in Deutsch. It was very fun… we mocked some Canadians again, which is always a joy! The Rotex gave us Welcome Boxes with a full sized German flag, map of Germany, Germany pens, pins, bracelets, and a fact book! Oh, and gummy bears! :D My ride home was rather uneventful.

9/20 Day 27:

Classes were boring, as usual. So I wrote some postcards, came home during my break and packed an envelope to send to my mom, then went back to school. After Philosophy and Spanish, I went with my host dad to mail them. I also had practice, so I had to leave before we put the things in the mail, my host dad sent them out and even paid for me—he really is SO nice!! :) Later I played UNO with my host mom and Johannes… and lost… every single time.. haha! I think my host brother enjoys beating me at games. :P

9/21 Day 28:

Glee starts today and I have to miss it!! :O I have language class again today at 6pm. In school, my first lesson was Politics (which I don’t understand and really dislike the class), then I had Art (love), and then English. But with English, my friend Karlin and I were just sitting in the classroom alone.. about ten minutes later we realized that class should have started, and our classmates and teacher were all missing.. we then went downstairs to see them sitting in the lobby, and found out that our teacher was absent. And because it’s Germany, this means a free period! I got to come home early since it was my last class. :) On the way home I got something for Molly Pearlman and a box of Frosted Flakes. :D I love Germany. A lot. A lot. A lot.

Randoms:

About twice a week there are several cats howling. Seriously. They sound like they’re being tortured! Its insaaane!

DO NOT order a pizza and expect one slice. You get the whole thing.

Tuna Fish Pizza is very common.

Spaghetti on Pizza is common as well.

The little plastic ring that comes off the cap when you open soda in the US stays on it here.

Bread and butter is insanity

Raw meat and onions on a roll for breakfast is quite normal here.

To flush a toilet, you press one of two buttons

Water is carbonated… pretty much everything is.