Coffee Cake

The old coffee cake!

Every year my mother makes Coffee cake for thanksgiving and than for christmas. I usually helped by rolling the dough into the butter and the cinnomen( cant spell that, let alone say it right). I never really watched my mom make the dough I just did the finsihing touches and sprinkled some rasins on after. It is weird not being with my family this year so I wanted to do something traditional and make Coffee cake. Little did I know that making it was alot harder than I had thought.

I was at school when my class teacher came in and started to discuss what everyone was bringing for tomorrow for the christmas party. Everyone said they were bringing something and than someone started yelling someone has to bring Kaffee Koeche I said oh coffee cake, and sophie flipped aroudn and said oh you know coffee cake and I said yeah I am going to make some. I meant I was going to make some for my family but she quickly rose her hand and said OHH Hannah bringt das( hannah is bringing that). The teacher looked so happy that I was participating in their christmas fun so I didnt want to ruin it. So while I was in school I was traslating all of the indgredients over into english. It was really hard to translate active dry yeast because there is no such word, everythign else went smoothly. I had my list and I went to the store. If I thought finding the words in the dictionary were a little tricky I should of at least expected that finding them would be even harder. I am so use to going into Safeway and knowing where everything is and if not I can just walk until I find it. But the store is set up so differntly here things that should be by each other are not, and other things that shouldent be there are. I felt bad asking where everything was all the time, so I tried not to ask the same lady twice but I am glad that I did ask because there would be no way I could of found everything by myself. So now that I had all the ingredients I headed for home. I dropped everything off before picking up Margy at the train station and I felt really proud of myself for buying everything I needed for only 17 euros. Once Margy and I were back we started to get to work. I am glad Margy was there because she helped me convert everything which was actually the really tricky part because she did not know how to cook( so she says), and I did not know how to convert. It took awhile for us to get the dough ready and Margy kept on asking me if it looked right.... I actually didnt know, usually my mom makes the dough I never even bother to watch her make it I just know my job of rolling the dough into little balls putting it in the butter and than rolling it into the cinnomen sugar mixture. We finally got done with our first batch and it took me forever to get all the dough off my hands because it was wedged in between my fingures. Margy had to keep on telling my host sister Jona not to eat the dough yet because it wasnt ready.... it was nice that Jona was helping us though she really liked watching us make something and we tried to find little things that she could help with, like putting the flour in, or mixing the sugar with the Cin. and other things in that area. Silke my host mom kept on checking in and even made fun of Margy's radio station that she had on ^^. Carina helped mix the flour into the dough which is actually a great arm work out by the way... maybe I should start a new excercise programm..." bake the pounds off with Hannah". The longest part of the whole process was probably waiting for it to rise... after a half and hour or so we started our second batch and we were actually doing really great, we made it so much faster than our first one and I kept on thinking for some reason we were forgetting something... only until just now did I remember we forgot to put the eggs in there, so I hope the cake tastes alright :S.

The first batch was finished rising and so Margy helped me roll the dough into little balls.... and you know the rest. Margy pointed out that you can tell the difference between her dough balls and mine... but thats because unlike margy I could go Pro in the dough ball making business ^^. Margy than had to leave leaving me with the rest of the baking. Once again I had to wait a half an hour for the thing to rise, and while it was rising I started to roll the second batch into the pan. everything was done and than i put the first cake into the oven, it became clear in just a couple minutes that americans always make it bigger. My cake was rolling off the sides of the pan, my host mother was laughing and making sounds to mimick the sound that a cake would make if it had a mouth. Overall my cake turned out pretty good, and now I just have to wait and see how my second cake tastes without the eggs in it... I hope it doesnt taste too bad because thats the cake thats going to school tomorrow... yikes

Random

So once again another one of my weekends was so random, that I actually had to tell myself that I have to write this stuff down in my blog. The first thing that happend was as I was waiting for the train so I could go to another Rotex meeting a guy came up and started talking to me. I told him that my german ist very good, and than he said Ohh you speak english thats great. He than asked me if I could come around the corner where the bikes were at. My first thought was that I was probably going to be jumped or something, so I slowly went around the corner. A woman was standing there with a video camera and was making a video. I half smiled as she had the video camera pointed towards me. The guy than explained that he was doing an advertisment project for his school. I said that I would help and so I did. It was a little random and I couldent believe that that actually happend so I had to take a picture of the two people, and I was laughing as I said that this never happend to me in the states. The guy started talking to me, and than I borded my train and left. I was already running late because I always forget to switch my clocks backwards, and so my clock in my room is always one hour fast. I think that my host mom may have switched it because I told Margy and Clint that I would meet them at 2, and by the time I got on the train it was already past two but I thought it was 1. My train just missed margy and clint as they were heading to Koln because they had to meet with the other exchange studnets and get there tickets to Aachen. I didnt know what train to take so I randomly got on a train, I didnt even know where it was going. Clint than called me and asked where I was, I asked a man what the next stop was earlier and he said Koln so lucky for me I was on the right train. I told clint I was going to Koln and than he asked if I was going to the Main station, I really didnt know where at in Koln I was going. So he told me that he and margy would wait at McDonalds for me at the main train station in Koln. Not even two minutes after talking to him did I find out that I was at the main train station. I couldent call clint back because I never put money on my phone, actually I dont know how to put money on my phone. So I waited at McDonalds, and clint and margy later came up. I was a little upset because they didnt wait for me at Koln, and they were upset that I was late and didnt call them. It was nothing to get really upset about though becase we were all there now. I was glad that they waited for me, when clint told me that the train to aachen had already left and they almost went on it. finally we got on our train and went to Aachen. When we got there Margy and I had no clue where to go, but Clint had everything ready and lead the way. Finally we mad it to the place where Rotex was having us stay and we got in there. The last Rotex meeting was bad, but this one seemed even worse. We took a tour of a glass making place which was okay, but we also took a tour of Aachen which was really boring and cold. We had so much free time in the gym and of course all the people from the U.S are in one place, and all the people from other countries are with their countries.... for the most part. If being bored didnt ruin the mood someones cell phone got stolen so they had us all go into a room and one by one they took us out and checked our luggage.... it took so long and was so boreing that I really would of rather been alone at home than there. The cell phone was never found, and even the people from Mexico and Brasil didnt even want to party... but even without all the parties we still hardly got any sleep. Lucky for Clint and Margy and a deck of cards the trip was not so boring. They even taught me how to play yucker ( not sure if I spelt that right) which was actually a really fun and addicting card game. Clint Margy and I left early becaue it was Clints host brothers birthday and even if it wasnt we still just wanted to get out of there. Once again we ended up at Mcdonalds in the Koln train station when clint told me to look to my right... I gave him a wierd look before looking towards my right and I saw a lady holding napkins on her head, and she had blood all over the top of her coat. After that the food didnt look so appetising but I was still hungry so I finished margys sandwich.... no I didnt have any food besides that so I wasnt complty pigging out at McDonalds. I over heard the lady and the Police man that the lady had gotten hit by a car, I am not sure exactly what happed to her because I could not understand anything besides walking, and than a car.... so im pretty sure that is what happend. My weekend seem so random and was actually such a long weekend. Normally random things turn out to be good,,, im still trying to figure out if this was a good random or a bad random group of things... well I better be off to decide the answer to my question ( To Be a good random, or Not To Be a good random.... that is my question)

Weinachtsmarkt

Saturday clint, margy and I went to Koln ( cologne) to the weinachtsmarkt. Clints host family drove us to Koln and parked in a garage. We than went by foot towards the dom... which is a large gothis church... no i dont mean that it wore black and painted its fingernails I mean that thats the structure type it is... meaning gargouls and pointed towers. While we were walking I noticed a bridge... clings host family starts walking over this bridge that street trains also go down. I was freaking out because the bridge was over the Rhein river... and I am not one for hieghts and I really dont like bridges over water for that matter. Margy and Clint took this time to sheer me into utter fear... well it was more margy than clint. I was pressed up against the distant rails lookign at my feet the whole time keeping from looking down towards the water. Margy kept on going on that the worst that could happen is I fall off and hit a boat... I didnt really catch the rest of what she was saying but she was just trying to get me back for all the times I have gotten her. The worst thing that happend on that bridge though was when the street trains went by and the bridge would creek and rumble.. ohhh i was so scared. Finally we made it to the other side and I stood looking at the Dom for a good few minutes. You cant really grasp the beauty when your standing there because it almost looks fake, it was really beautiful and I couldent help but just stare at it the whole time. Clints dad than told me some facts about it and said that the workers go around the entire dom and fix everything that needs repaired and it takes 20 years to make it all the way around the dom, and than they have to start all over again. He said that its the only way they can keep it in such good shape. After viewing the Dom I went into the weinachtsmarkt where clints parents gave us some gluhwein.. which is a special brew they only make during christmas time and its heated up. I like wine but I dont think Im cut out for it being warm. we finished the wine and than it was time to go shopping for presents. Margy and Clint had there familis to shop for.. while I had to make a list before I went there of all the people I have to buy for or else I will forget. Now I cant tell you the presents I got everyone but I can tell you that looks are decieving. Some of the most expensive presents were actually the smallest, and the biggest presents were actually really cheap... its funny how they work like that. I can however tell you what I got my host family. I got my oldest host sister carina a puzzle box. It is actually a box that you can put something in but its a puzzle... i was never able to figure it out until the girl showed me that you have to pull form the corners and than it was made so clear. To add more to teh puzzle box i put a puzzle inside the puzzle but I had so solve the other puzzle in order to put it into the box... so i spent alot of time solving puzzles. I got my host mom a scarf because I didnt know what else to get her, and than I have a polly pocket set for Jona who is my youngest sister. I also have soem lotion that my mom had sent me to give away as a present too. It took me a long time to get all the shopping done, and I actually still havent gotten everyone a present so I have a little more shopping to do..... I also wont be able to send the package until later, which means my presents will not get there until after christmas but its the thought that counts and teh effort to get it there on time. So after we were done shopping margy and I took some pictures with the statues... well they were actually people dressed like statues,, and that made it alto more fun :D. We also got to see inside the dom, but a church service was going on... and it was the first time I have seen men in dress robes. I wanted to get a picture of them but I think they would of thought I was rude if I was taking pictures of them. I am glad I got to go to koln again and see inside the dom, and be able to shop in the weinachtsmarkt there. :D

Christmas Time

As many of you already know Christmas is just around the corner... and for those of you who have forgotten you better hop on the holiday reindeer fast. Things are different here in Germany around christmas. Normally I am used to just a few light streams hanging from the streets and even then no one really pays attention to them. In Germany they have lights hanging from the wires above the streets, and in the big cities they have weinachtsmarkt, which is a great place to do all my holiday shopping. There are little shops outside and each shop is differnt. Some shops have gifts from africa, such as tribal wooden carvings, and music, and animals. Others are candles that have different fragrences, candle holders, and designes. Some shops are filled with jewelry, and others are filled with furs. Another shop has hats, while another one has wood stones. Each shop brings something different to the table, but I think the shop I liked the most was probably the fur shop just because I knew I would never be able to afford the things, but it was outside so I didnt feel to bad about touching the furs, or sticking my hands into the mittens, or picking up shoes with fur linings. The markt is really beautiful with all its lights, and there is even a couple rides you can go on. Although Christmas will not be the same without my family and friends to be there, I always keep in mind that this is a once in a lifetime thing and that I will have next year to spend christmas with my family, so instead of mopping around wishing I was home, that I decieded to put myself out there and make the most of my holidays....... Christmas time is slowly approaching, and even though im a sea away, I know my family still sends me the best holiday wishes, as do I for them.

Dankefest ( thanksgiving )

Normally thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Germany. So Rotary thought it would be nice for Margy, Clint, and I to have thanksgiving here in Germany. Prior to the feast our conselor gave us each a task. Mine was cooking, Margy's was lists, and Clint's was taking photos.

The day we celebrated thanksgiving was on a friday so I had to ride horses after school at 2. Riding went longer than I had thought at it was 4 by the time I got home. I still had to pack because I was sleeping the night at margy's house. So I ran up to my room, and I remembered margy had forgotten her Obese bag of stuff at my house. I am not lieing when I say this bag was fat, I packed a little backpack full of clothes while this was a duffel bag big enough to fit a person in it. I called Margy and said that I would bring her stuff too, and than the counselor said that I need to pick up Bohnen at the store... for those of you who dont know what Bohnen is it is beans, but I didnt know it was beans either when she asked if I could pick it up. So than I was stuck, I had to get money to go buy the beans, but than I had to drive to buy the beans, and than go back to the train station... all of that carrying margys fat bag. I decided to leave the bag there, get the money drive to the store, come back to the house and than go to the trainstation with all the stuff.
Once I got into the store I started looking for Bohnen, my host mother told me that they would be right there when I went into the store but all I saw was fresh vegetables, and fruits... once again keep in mind I didnt know what Bohnen was. So I was searching all over in the fresh food section when finally I gave up and asked a lady where the Bohnen was. She walked me to the back of the store and gave me a bag of Bohnen and they were little seeds, but they said Bohnen on them. So I got to sacs of Bohnen and than headed back to the house, grabbed the fat bag, and headed off to the station. I had to walk all the way there because I was sleeping the night, and I looked like I was going hunting with this huge fat green bag. I made it to the train station and than Margy called me and I missed it. I try to put off buying a phone card for the phone which means that I cant call anyone but they can call me, so when I missed her call I couldent call her back... so I sat there staring at my phone until it rang again and than I picked it up. I always feel awkward talking on the phone in english around people because they look at me funny so I walked away. Margy than told me that I was suppose to start cooking at 5, and it was 6 now. So now I was really late, and I was suppose to help cook. So I got on the train, took the bus, and finally walked to margy's house. I got inside gave margy her obese bag, took off my coat and immediatly started to help cooking. The counselor than asked me if I got Bohnen, I felt proud of myself so I cleverly boasted that I had gotten two, I take out the bags of seeds, and she tells me that she said gruen Bohnen... she than told me in english that it meant green beans.... wow did i feel really dumb, but you cant blame me for mixing them up. So now we were left without beans.

I washed my hands and began to start cutting. Now I have heard of pumpkin pie, juice, and spice, but I never have cut it into little pieces and ate it before. That was definatly something new. It was really hard actually to cut the pumkin, but after it was cooked it didnt taste half bad. I than helped a little around the kitchen doing this and that, and than they gave the three americans meaning me a beer. We set the table got the wine and glasses out and than grabbed our plattes and started to fill them with food. Earlier the couselor told us that they did not have stuffing in Germany, so when I saw what looked like stuffing in the butt of the turkey I was so so happy. I wanted as much as I could have. I also put on my platte mash potatoes with gravy, the pumkin, turkey, and green beans that the neighbor had given us. We all sat down and they wanted us to give thanks in german, so I said I was thankful for food and family. We all begun to eat, and started to pour the wine into our cups. I ate everything and now I was working on the stuffing. It was really good until i bit into a large chunk of black. It was hard, and soft and had a similar taste, well actually I spelt it before when I was cooking it for our dogs back at home. I looked down at my plate and I remebered that when I was helping cook that I never saw them take the insides of the turkey out... it gave me an instant sick to the stomach feeling. After that I couldent eat anything else so I was done eating for the night.
Once everyone was doen eating they asked if we would teach them a card game in america. Clint, and Margy thought of games, but we didnt know how to explain them in german because it would of been to hard.. I said we should play B.S so eventually we agreed to play that. I asked them how they say the cards, and we went through them all.. I was going to start explaining when I asked how to say Ace in german.. they than told me Ass. I started laughing, and Margy was laughing too. The entire time I was explaining the game in german I kept on laughing every time I had to say Ass. I laughed even harder when I said after the Konig you put down your asses. I think the counselor was starting to get angry, but I couldent help laugh, and the wine gave me no filter.

As we were playing the game the boy next to me named Phelix started to talk to us. Phelix by the way is an amazingly gorgeous guy who came to thanksgiving with us and he was sitting right next to me ^^. He was asking us normal questions, and we were just talking, and than he asked if everyone was a legal citizen, and I said well not really everyone. So that brought the mexican topic up... but his next question suprised me.... He said " I'm sorry to ask, but are you mexican". It was a dead serious question, at first I didnt know if he was joking or not because anyone who knows me will tell you that i am white, and I stay white.... like blinding white. I than said no and once again margy started laughing because he just called me a mexican, she wasnt being racist but I am a extremly white person. So finally the night was over, we said goodbye to all the guests, and I was trying not to run to the toilet so I could get rid of the "stuffing". Next time I think I will think twice before eating something, try hard not to laugh at the word ass, and keep in mind there are no mexicans in germany besides the exchange students... so it was a harmless mistake of racial identity... still i dont think i will be forgetting that someone asked if i was mexican... or eating the insides of the turkey,,, and I will never forget how to say Ace in german.

Schussel Fahren

I have never been very good at ice skating, I think it is gods way of telling me that he should be the only one to walk on water... thats what I think anyway. Normally when I go ice skating, I am skating in an inside rink that is nice and sleek, and even then I still fall...alot.

My counselor had a day off and wanted to take me with his family to go ice skating. I was thinking we were going to be indoors, the ice would be really nice to skate on and there wouldent be alot of people there... but three swings, and three misses were my guesses.

We arrived there and it was snowing, I am not a big fan of the cold, and usually im a sore sport when it comes to activites like that. I decided to be different minded this time, and try to make the most of it.. once we walked up the steps I noticed that the rink was outside...and there were A Lot of people. I finally made it through the line and stepped onto the Ice. I looked at the ice and it was covered in snow, and it was really rigged. To make matters worse there were kids there.... no offense to anyones children but for some reason children dont see the danger in going as fast as they can pushing themselves inbetween people and than laying right in the middle of the rink. It was like dodge ball with the kids because once you saw that they were coming you quickly moved as far as you could away from them or you would be in big trouble. I started off going really slow, taking my time, and most of all not falling. Not falling was my only goal the entire time, I didnt care how slow I went just as long as I didnt fall. In the end I did set my goal and I did not fall once, but I think I did make other people fall.... I actually had alot more fun than I had expected, but towards the end of Ice skating there were so many people that It took me 15 mintues just to exit out of the rink. I was glad that I got off the Ice when I did though because there was about a 15 kid pile up right in the middle of everyones way.. I did feel bad laughing when I just saw a huge chunk of people fall, but I dont think anyone saw me laughing or else I would have some really angry parents on me.

After Ice skating my counselor took me to go eat, where once again the I discovered the portions here, I asked for a salami pizza thinking they would just give me two slices, but they gave me an entire pizza. I thought I ordered wrong when I looked around and every who had pizza were eating a full pizza. Of course I didnt want to offend germany so I did eat the whole thing... well actually I ate the whole thing because it was really good, but I think it makes me feel less guilty for eating a whole week of calories when I say it was for the good of mankind to eat it :D.

Next time I go ice skating though I will make sure to wear warmer clothes, and than when I go out to eat, I will order a salade.. hey maybe ill get the whole cabage to eat :D

This is Handball

Here is a photo of the mens league playing Handball. The ball looks like a soccer ball but is alot smaller in size. The goal pretty much of the game is to throw the ball as hard as you can into the goal. That is why you are suppose to jump when you are throwing because it gives you more power. The uniforms are just regular shorts, and you have a team t-shirt that you wear. Some people wear pads on their knees and elbows in this game but its optional. I dont know what else to say about Handball really other than it is alot harder than it looks...well for me anyway. My body doesnt quite think of jumping in the air and throwing a ball. For practice we had to work hard at the technique of how to jump. Its like in track when you are stretching your legs and you jump forward kicking one leg as hard as you can back... now you do that move while you bring the ball overhead and throw it into the goal... now I didnt describe it very hard but for soem reason during practice I could not jump and throw at the same time.. I would either throw than jump, or jump/land and than throw... eventually I got the hang of it. They put me on defense at first to practice and some of the girls can throw the ball so quick and move so quickly that you dont even know whats happening until it already did... I swear this one girl jumped over my head and threw it in the goal.. than again she had a good 2 feet on me. I like being able to play a game that not alot of people know about, it makes me feel differnt or just that much more skilled than other people. I am not good at playing but I am okay, it will take me a little more time to grasp the whole concept and rules of the game but it will come.

erste Volleyball, dann Reiten, und jetzt Handball

I feel the best way to make new friends is to join sports here. So now I play in two volleyball teams, and I ride every friday.... now if that wasnt enough now I decided to join Handball.

Handball is not a very popular sport in the states but it takes qualities from alot of the sports that are popular. First basketball, in Handball you are allowed to run around as much as you want if you are dribbling the ball. Than Dodgeball, you throw the ball as hard as you can at the goal... which brings me to soccer, the goal is more of a soccer goal so like in soccer you have some one gaurding the goal so you have to aim at the corners or the open spots. A little bit is like Baseball because you have to throw the ball like you are doing and over handed pitch. Finally you have the rule that you are allowed to take three steps without dribbling the ball, and than you have to throw the ball in the goal outside the 3 pointer line. For the most part is is like basketball when you are trying to pass and you are gaurding, but it is alot of fun.

So today was my first practice, I actually did'nt know I was playing handball until today when I met some new girls in school and than asked what sports are in Rheinbach. They told me about handball and asked if I wanted to come so I did and I played. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, it was actually alot of fun. It was a little hard learning a sport I have never played in german, but it was another adventure. The girls at first all looked intimidating, and I was not excited to approach them, but after I started to play slowly everyone started to talk to me. I really liked how it combined so many sports, but it was confusing at first how to exactly play. The people really helped me out alot, and it was a great work-out seeing how my arm feels like its on fire, and when you jump and throw the ball you have to swing one foot back as if you are doing the triple jump in track. So my hips hurt a little too. I dont think I was half bad at playing I was not the best but I think I could of done worse. I am glad that I joined another team. I think playing Handball will be a great expierence for me.

Pin Fanatic

When you are an exchange student with Rotary, you have to have two of the most important things when you come. A navy blue jacket, and pins. I thought that I wouldent be giving alot of pins away or recieving many. I did not take to much time to think about pins untill the first Rotary meeting where I saw for the first time a jacket completly full of pins... it was love at first site. Since then I have become a Pin addict. I can never have enough of them, they are my hobby to collect now, and each time I get a new pin I proudly put them on my jacket. I have pins from all over, from Italy, Austria, Mexico, Brasil, States in the U.S, I have some from Argentina, Equador, China, Tiwaan(spelt that wrong)... well you get the point. They are all my babies, and I even go out and buy them myself soemtimes when I visit a place I want to remember. I have quite a few so far, but I can never seem to get enough of them. The best part about Rotary meeting arent the old and boring things we do but when we trade pins. Everyone gets our their sacks of pins and starts trading. Its like pokemon cards, or action figures, that when you trade them off for a better one, or one that you dont have you feel accomplished.

When I first got here I never gave them a second thought, and thought it was pins were dumb to collect and its not like I would ever need them... but boy was I wrong. Now I cant seem to have enough of them. They are a memory of the people I have met, the places I have gone, and the things I have seen. I even make pins from souvineers that I get from places.

So I am officially a Pin Fanatic...

DownGrade, to UpGrade

So here is the scoop. I was having some problems in my school because its not like in america where students love exchange students, its the normal here. So people just accepted me, but didnt care to know about me, which was odd. So the lack of being able to speak to people other than a handful every now and than, took its toll on my german skills. I enjoyed volleyball so much that I expected all the other students to be the same, but in reality its not that way. So finally I just gave up trying instead of being in the social circle and being ignored I just didnt even join the circle, and instead of talking to people just getting a one word answer, I just didnt ask any questions anymore. The classes were not better, because the teachers expected me to be at the same level as everyone else, and I wasnt. My english teacher was always out to prove that I dont know everything in english, and that just because I speak american english it doesnt mean that I know britian english which is what they learn, so she was always out to prove me wrong in everything, she had me read once in the class and said she was going to stop me everytime I made a mistake... it was not to much fun. So I gave up on school too, and one day I decided to simply not go to school, it was not the smartest choice on my part because by tryign to avoid my problems I was creating more. So than I wanted to switch schools so I could be with the kids in my volleyball team, and I went to talk to my couselor about it, but I made a mistake and wrote the president. So the president thought my coulselors were not helping me so he wrote them upset, and than they were upset, and called my school and my host parents wondering why I didnt write them, and they found out I ditched school. So all of a sudden I went from a little problem to a HUGE problem. So I wrote both couselors explaining everythign and said I meant to write my couselor dr. wurtz, but accidently wrote the president dr. wirtz.. now you can see how i messed those two up. I explained that I would try harder in school, and I am sorry for the problems I caused.

So today I went to school, and the principal took me out of class and said that my couselor had called him and told him I was having problems, and he said I should come to him if im having problems. Than he told me that he was putting me in the lower grade, and said the classes would be easier. He also told me I would stay in the same classroom with the same people all day and that it will be easier for me to learn names, and such.
So I walk to the room, it was like coming to that school on the first day, how I was so worried about what everyone would think of me. I get into the classroom the teacher introduces me, like what happend the first day of school, I introduced myself, like i did on the first day, and than the teacher asked if anyone had any questions for me, unlike the first day people actually raised their hands, and for the first time I was able to talk about school, my family, and everything. During the pause girls came up to me and asked how high school is like in america, and what are my friends like, and how long I have learned german. All of them said wow when i told them I never learned german before I came. They all said that they could never do it, and than explained that I can speak it really well for not having it before. It made me feel so much better about what I have accomplished, and than they invited me to come with them during the breaks, which normally were the things I avoided because I never had a circle to go into. Its strange to say that finally I got my first day of school that I wanted, once again a situation that could of turned out so badly, turned out to be the best. So even though I went Down a Grade, I feel I UpGraded to a class that cared that I was there. Some times you got to DownGrade to UpGrade in life... another lesson learned.

Nothing is as it appears on Halloween

Me and my friend margy were so excited that Rotary was throwing a Halloween party. We asked margy's host mom who is the counselor in Rotary if it was a costume party and she said yes. So for a week margy and I were getting our costumes ready, margy was crossed between going as a hippie or a drugy. Clint wouldent tell us what he was going as and just told us that his costume was the best. I said Clint should go as a girl because I was going as a guy. Margy and I went shopping for materials to make our costumes, mine was really easy all I had to do was buy some guy clothes. It was a challenge trying to find the right ones, and the fact that the changing room was a curtain box in the middle of the guys section. Margy had to keep a lookout as I was changing but finally we found the best clothes for it. Margy made her own pants and than she decided to go as a Hippie. The day of after school I came home and put on my costume, I got my hair all done, took off all the make-up, and used soem browns to shade in a mustache, I even decided to give myself a black-eye with make-up of course. I didnt see it at the time but that wasnt such a great idea to change in my costume just than because I still had to go to Margy's house which was in the other town. It was in the afternoon and I started walking down to the train station, at first it was okay but than I felt weird looks from people trying to make out if I was a girl or a guy, I was especially afraid of the guys because now I know the stare down men give to other males to tell them.." Yeah thats right I can kick you..butt". I got on the train where once again my luck ran out when a group of 5 amazingly good looking guys were standing next to me. I got off the train finally and got onto the bus towards Margy's house. The whole ride to her house a older man would not stop staring at me, I would stare back and usually that breaks there focus but not for him he had a locked stare right at me. I got off the bus as fast as I could and walked to margy's house, when i got there she was laughing and said " ohh my gosh you seriously look like a guy". I took that as a compliment :D, so for the next two hours margy and I attempted and failed to put dread-locks in her hair, we even tried braiding her whole head but still no luck so we just left her hair. Clint came over and was going to go into the bathroom to change into his costume... Right when he came in though I told him that I knew it he was going as himself... Margy and I were tryign to guess his costume forever because he would not tell us.. He came out of the bathroom as backwards man, so now we all set off to the Halloween party as a Hippie, a Backwards Man, and just a Man. The ride up there I was wondering why margy's host mom didnt have a costume on, but I didnt think to much of it but right when we got there i knew why.. It was not a costume party.. I was completly mortified, margy had already managed to brush her hair so she looked normal, and clint decided to stick it out and not leave me to fend for myself but there was no hiding my costume. I was even more embarrased when we had to stand, but at that moment I knew i had two choice.. One curl up in a corner and die in my self pity, or make the best of it and just have fun... So i chose the second one, i was craking jokes about myself being a man the entire time,, I was the most outgoing person well man there. Margy even said that I made that party so fun because of how i reacted to that.. I was dancing with everyone, Clint refused to dance because I was a man.. :D, however bruno and I danced and the girls could not stop laughing because I looked so much like a guy, margy kept on telling me i was right i was a hot guy.. but what I didnt know is that for those there at the party they actually really thought I was a man... not a confidence booster.. I had to say I was a girl everytime I went into the restroom, and when old women came in there they gave me the death glare.. Towards the end of teh night though i decided to take off my hat and left my hair down, everyone thought I was a man, I had to tell everyone who I was all over again, and Bruno making the best of it said he liked me better as a man... The Hot guys at the party were laughing when they found out I was really a girl, I think they thought I was a gay guy actually.. It was such a fun night though, and I have never been more outgoing in my life, I had a chance to make a night either horrible or amazing and the choice I made not only effected my night but made it a better night for everyone else.. So I cant regret it too much, Although I was embarrased beyond belief this night was really a chance for me to show that I can make the best out of everything, and how nothing is how it appears on Halloween.

Drei Amerikans

My best friends here are the American exchange students, because we know what each other are going through and its funny if people ask if we all went to the same school because before our exchange we did not even know each other exsisted. We more or less had to be friends because we are all we've got. There are times where we laugh and tell each other that if we were not on thsi exchange that there would be no way we would of ever known the other, or talked to them, or became friends. We have polar opposite personalities but we can connect on a level that not alot of other people can connect on. So I would like to say some things about my american friends.

These pictures by no mean does any one of us justice...

That is Clint, he is 19 years old and comes from Wooster, Ohio. He is my guy friend here, and this is us before we went to the Hollywood club. Margy actually paid him so I could fix up his hair, It took half a thing of hairspray and a thing of gel to master his hair, but after I was finished it was as hard as a rock but atleast it stayed. What the picture didnt capture though was how many times he opened my window/door. I didnt think the hairspray was that bad, but when my friend margy got a hold of it... it was a deadly weapon looking to burn his eyes. Margy was bansihed to the chair during the process because of her incident with the Hairspray... It was a fun night though.

That brings me to margy... She is 18 years old and is from Northfield, Minnisota...doncha kno... Oh and she wants to make a shout out to Holly my sister telling her she is representing the best state... This was us before we went riding together. Her and I spend alot of time together and I got her involved in Volleyball with me, and now she rides with me too. Its great because although we are completly differnt we can really connect about topics. She is always a ball to have around because she is just so funny about things, she is one of the biggest hippies I have ever met, and is all for the green. She can eat a whole resturant and I still dont know where she packs it all. I have alot of fun hanging out with her because she makes me become more outgoing, which it a necessity here.

Well those are just a few things about my New found american friends, and I am sure that when we get back we will still keep in touch, well at least for a little while anyway :D

Oktober Wochenende

This last weekend I had a Rotary meeting with former exchange students called Rotex. We were suppose to meet in a town outside of Koln called Solingen. I have never been to good at trains or buses so luckly I had my friend Clint who seems to know everything, and has all the times down. I just followed him for the most part and nodded my head if he asked me a question if i think we are on the right train, even though i really didnt know if we were. My host mom likes to make sure that i am fully prepared for everything so when Rotary gave us a list of things we should take, she made sure i took all of them. So I had a backpack, and a large gym bag full of clothes, a sleeping bag, a pillow, and a sleeping mat. I told my mom i only needed two pairs of clothes and a sleeping bag, but she insisted that I take it all, so going through the busy train stations, and bus stations were a task. We made it to where we were suppose to be, and were assigned a host family for the night. I was in the same host family as my friend Heide whose from brazil and a girl from mexico named marianna. We had alot of fun together, and they taught me how to do some traditional dances, and laughed when they talked about how americans dance. We woke up in the morning and went to a gym where we unloaded all our stuff, and were sperated into two groups. My group traveled first to a castle, I never quite got the point of why back in the day they made it so complicated to get around the castle, we had to go through different rooms that lead to different doors, that lead to staircases and finally made it through the rooms. The castle was beautiful though, and people in germay do a great job of maintaining the castles to keep them in good shape, after that I went to a scissor factory, where i got to see how they are made, and even got to polish one of my own, although they are not polished very well. It is alot harder than it looks to make them shiny because all i had was a file and some sand paper. I also got to see the largest knife and the worlds smallest scissors, which needed a magnify glass to see them. After i visted all of that i came back to the gym where we played soccer, it was the americans and brazilians, vs. the mexicans... we lost but it was still a very fun game, after that we had some pizza and split into another group so we could write a letter to ourselves in german so that at teh end of our exchange we can see how much we have improved, I did not know that was the point of it so i actuallly had Clint write some of mine, well a sentence and than i resorted to small english sayings just to make me laugh such as " Learn to ride a bike better", or and these are my words " stop sucking at germany" that is a saying margy and I say because we are hopeless when it comes to german buses, or trains, or trasportation, we guess most of the time, and usually just end up back where we started. I wrote things like that, and clint wrote something in german. Finally we were all done and than we had a Dance, well more of a fiesta because the number of mexicans out weighed the number of everyone else. It was alot of fun and they helped me to learn some more dances, but after a good 3 or 4 hours of dancing i was tired, but that did not stop them from finishing their fiesta. So as i was trying to sleep the only ones left were the mexicans and their loud music, i am still not sure how much sleep i actually got, and than in the morning i woke up to soem more spanish music. Its great to see how proud they are of where they come from, and i wish that we as americans could do the same. It was a great weekend filled with alot of fun, and well funny moments. Im glad that i got to go, and even though on the way back clint and i got in a train jam, and ended up in a train for abour 4 hours, it was still worth it... Rotex threw a great Oktober Wochenende

Its all downhill from here!

For the last week I have been in Silandro Italy. The first thing I thought of when my family said Italy was the alps, and than snow, and of course snowboarding. Little did I forget that it is still late summer, and there woudl be no snow, but it did not take away from the beauty of the mountains with their white peaks.

I usually am the type of person who likes to view things from a distance. I would be perfectly happy going on a vacation and sitting in the room and watching television, my parents can witness that fact about me on traditional family vacations where I am lounging on the couch with the remote. Its not that I do not love vacations, I just like to have the small fact that I have been there and thats it, I do not need to explore every oportunity to feel satisfied that I have been to that place, just sitting in it is good enough for me. My host family on the other hand likes to think other wise...so I have come to notice. We woke up at 2 in the morning to set off for Italy, I can understand leaving at night, or leaving in the morning, but it was such an irregular hour to leave that I half thought they were joking untill at 2 in the morning they came and got me, I think i slep walked into the van because i do not remmeber ever waking up or even opening a door, i just woke up when we were getting out of the vehicale to eat breakfast and by that time we were in austria. We stayed a little while in austria viewing some of the sites before leaving towards the alps. From a distance I could see their white peaks poking above the clouds, but as we apporaced closer i realized their true height. Once again I fell asleep and than we arrived at our hotel the montani residence. I half laughed when i saw the name, but the rest of the family did not catch the humour in such a name. I was expecting maids, or a dishwasher, or even at least towels, but none were present in the rooms. The rooms by no mean lacked beauty, but I would of enjoyed not washing dishes by hand or hanging the wet hand towels on the line, but none the less it was still a great place to stay. The montani had a pool, a sauna, and a fitness room, it also had a lounge place where there were tables for events that happended during the week. We attended a noddle dance, which was like how it sounds you ate noddles and you danced. I was even able to learn the Disco fox, and a folk dance while i was there. There was also cake served their in between lunch and dinner. The swimming pool was the place I spent alot of my time with my host family. Carina and I had an unanounced challange of who could hold their breath the longest, and I won by doing three laps in the pool in a single breath, Jona had a blast dragging me into the fitness room where i showed her how to work a treadmill, and she made me run on it.... alot. She would make an excellent fitness trainer some day because every moment that was not being used she would bring me down to the fitness room and tell me to work out as she watched, i actually have never worked out for so long in a fitness room before that or hard because she controled all the speed, weight, and incline buttongs on all the machines. Outside of the residence we walked down the markets where they sold fruits, and we went to outside stores, and a small shopping center, and ate Italian pizza. I am not a fan of onions but how they made them taste so wonderful was beyond me, i also had peperonie which was suprisingly spicy for the first time. I think that is because i have not had any thing such as salsa, or anything remotly close to being hot for a long time. I also even rode a mountain bike, which was really comfortable compaired to a regualr bike.

What made me realize however that my host family likes to experince a vacation and not just look at it was when we first arrived in Italy, the first thing they took us too, before the room, before lunch before anything else was the mountains. We drove to the base of the mountain where a ski lift was running. Everyone got out of the vehiccle and started putting on their hiking shoes so I did the same. We each got on the ski lift as starting out way up the mountain. I looked to the top of the mountain and saw that I would be on the ski lift for some time, and me being afraid of falling off of anything that seemed like an eternity away. Finally we reached what I thought was the top of the mountain and the end of the ski lift but as we reached the top I saw that we were not even a quarter up towards the end of the ski lift. Finally for what seemed an hour we got to the top. We started walking down our path and after 15 minuetes came to a barn, i was thinking this was teh end of the hike but as fast as the barn came into sight we soon walked the opposite direction. We hiked for 3 hours over water, snow, rocks, grass, and slim, winding, and not so friendly paths. Some of the paths were so small that if you stood with your legs shoulder length apart one foot would be off the side of the mountain, not a fun place for someone who like me has never been hiking before and was not to fond of deadly mountains. After three hours we came to a hut where we ate lunch, and had real apple stroodle, pepermint tea, and anything else to keep the cold away. I did not know we were hiking so I did not wear warm clothes, all i had on was a long sleve shirt with a vest and of course pants and hiking boots, but the bitter codl of the mountain could not be sustained by a mere cup of tea. We finished eating and the family said well we are almost half way there, my jaw dropped... almost half way there... My toes had no feeling, my knees felt like they were going to buckle and would need oil to losen them up and we were not even half way there. I did not once complain though even though there were moments where i was thinking of just rolling down the rest of the way instead of walking, but after all was done I was more proud of myself for that one day than I have been in a long time, becasue i had not given up. I was satisfied that I had finished and hade some great pictures to show for it, but little did i know that that was just the first day. The entire week everyday we went to new heights, new mountains, and the same agony of hiking. We hiked on Sonneberg which like the name meant sun, and after the first day i decided to be smart and wear nothing less than warm clothes, and when we got there it was so hot that i was getting sunburnt. Than another time i decided to wear medium clothes and i was freezing, it seemed i coudl never fit my wardrobe just right. The hike that stands out the most was when we were at the bottom of the mountain and my host father pointed towards a cross on the top of the mountain and said thats our goal, I though he was joking because the hight and distance to get there would take all day, but he was not joking we climbed the entire mountain to the top. I have never walked on such steep trails in my life, or climbed over rocks larger than me before in my life, every half and hour we had to take a break because we were so tired. My calfs felt like they were on fire, but i did not want to say that i liked it better when we went down the mountain instead of up because as hard as it is to hike down a mountain it is even harder to hike up. Finally we reached the peak and started to hike over snow and ice, we had made it to the cross but just as i thought we were done we started walking towards another even higher peak, we walked forever and the snow was getting into my hiking boots, when finally i saw the peak and the words i loved to hear it is all downhill from here. we tried and failed to make it over the top of that peak becasue the slim paths, the large rocks, and the steep drop of cliff side made it impossible and deadly to try to cross, we were temporarily stuck on the mountain as we watched carsten who is my host father try to fid a way out, i was without hiking sticks so i had managed to take to rocks and cracked them into the snow on the side of me to keep me from slipping. After a long while we had decided we had to turn back and could not go any further, it was even harder going down on ice and snow than it was coming up on it and it made it very tricky for us to get down, but finally after a few bumps bruises scratches and falls we made it down the mountain past the snow and ice and the rest was all downhill from there.

Even though at the moment I was not happy to be hiking, it really made me appreciate things alot more and it made the vacation more memorable, and my host sister todl me something that i think was wise for a 14 year old to say.. she said " as hard as it was at least we got some great photos, and can say haa I finished and have the photos to prove it" so Im glad that I went and that i was able to finish the mountain trails each day, even though I had to struggle to get up the mountain, just as im struggling to learn german i just have to think after that peak it is all downhill from there:D

The Horse Race

I was able to get the chance to see a real proffesional horse race. For me I always dream of the life of the funny big hats, and the glamour that comes with the track style. For one day I got to be a part of that life. Three other exchange students and I got the chance to go to the largest horse race in Köln. The race itself was on the fron page of the newspapers, and not everyone could get into this race. With rotary we were able to have a gentleman give us a tour. He use to be a steward at the track so we got to see and expereince things that not all the people who have been to a race could. We got to see where the jockey had to weigh in, we got to stand in the winning circle where the winner would go after the race was finished, we got to take a look into all the strategies to bet, and we even were able to bet. I bet on the first race, and to my luck I won, but that was the only race that I bid on that won. It was still the highlight of my day to be able to bet. We also as a souvenier were able to get a picture of the finish where all the horses heads are counted to see who won, just like in the movies when they take the final snap shot. I am not sure if we are suppose to have that photo because there are alot of regualtions in the races with that sort of thing, but we still have them though :D. I also got to see a famous person from germany, and although I dont know who he is I saw people asking for his autographs and he was able to stand in the center of the viewing stable to see which horse looks the best and could possibly win. Of course I took a photo of him, although it is not the best photo in the worl, it is still one all the same. Now I will say some of the strategies that I was taught to bet on a horse.

First they show the horses in a circle where the groom will walk the horse around and you can view it from all sides to see the height of the horse, if it looks more stout of muscular than the rest. Than you are able to see the horse being saddled, and than walked around again with its number represented on it so you can see what the horses name is, and the jockey who is mounting it. I was also able to notice how the horse reacted, for example there was this horse that had to have two grooms walk it around because of how big it was and for the fact that it was lets say really high spirited, no bush was left unkicked, so in my mind I thought that this horse had alot of energy, so I bet on it. Than you can also check the newspaper so see what horses are highlighted, or you can go to a building that has the number of the horse that each newspaper will think will win, and these are from the experts so it has alot of impact on the race. Than you can also look inside your packet, or brochure to see the numbers the trainers or the horses, and even what the Köln tip says who will win placing them. In that there are three possible horses that could win, or be in the first three horses to place. Finally if you are done looking at that you can look onto the screen where the favorite picked horses number flashes, and than you can see the amount you will receive back for each euro you bet. Usually the favorite hores amount is less, and than the least is the most, these numbers also have alot of affect because if you want more money back than you will pick the horse that could possibly win and has a higher amount of money that can be returned per euro. Finally you pick up your betting ticket and you have to mark what race you betting on, the amount of money you are betting, and what type of bet such as this horse will be first, or it will be in the first three, or combonation bets such the horse being either first or in the first three.. and so on. Than you bet on the number of the horse you think will win, and than you can either watch the race, or some people go into another room where they can do all of that and just watch the race of the TV screen. After the race allo the horses go into the circle, and the winner comes in last. No one will shake the winners hand though until after they are weighed in. That is another thing you can look at when betting is how much the rider weighs so you will know how much the horse must carry. There are also what is called a handycap race where all the horses have an equal chance to win because everything is the same in that race. Although this makes it harder to bet on, the money is higher in this race. Finally if the jockey passed the weigh in then they are called the winner of the race, and only after all of this is runned in can you return you bidding ticket and recieve you cash back. There are alot of things people consider when they are betting, or some just go with the first choice of the newspaper, or the favorite horse for the race.

The race itself was also very interesting, they had different races that had seperate lenghts, or different starts, and the starting gate was actually just a little movable box. All the horses had to be trained to get into this box because they had a time limit and if the horse did not go in they would be fined and disqualified because the horse was not trained enough. They were also only allowed to whip their horse 7 times. Another rule was that if the rider did not try all they can to win they were also fined and suspended. There were also tests on the horses to make sure that they were not given any drugs and the jockeys were tested as well. The horse also had to be trained enough to withstand the racing or the rider could not race for 3 weeks until the horse was once again up to raceing stamina. Overall I had a great time at the Horse Race, and I even got to see how the upper class live their lives on the track. I would love to go to another horse race, and I will never forget this experience.

Zwei, zwolf, ahhh dundun

Every practice for volleyball after we get done running we go into a circle. First we do ten situps, and than ten pushups, and than we do the superman. Its where you lay on your belly and put your arms and legs up slightly of the ground, and than you move your legs and arms up and down without touching the ground. Now doing this is not nearly as hard as doing this and counting in german. We have to count all the way to 50 and I do great untill we get to the larger numbers.

It goes like this everyone has to say a number and we go around in the circle so if the person on my left says 5 i say 6 and so on, but in german. So sarah, and sarah..., always laugh at me when we get to this because no matter how hard i try i always get stumped, and than mumble randoms things such as dundun, oh ahhahah, or i grrrr. Its not because Im mad but becuase im trying to think of the number that comes next. So of course everyone laughs at that, but they laugh when i say the numbers too because although i cant tell how I am saying it wrong they can. I often times mix up 15 and 50, and 17 and 70. ´They sound the same to me, but I guess they are said differently :S.

Just the other day we all got into a circle and started to count as we normaly do, this time i thought to myself that i was going to count all the way through, although i failed at counting the superman, when we streched i was able to count all the way to 25. Now I can of course count 25 to myself but when we come in a circle I dont know what number goes next and usually i get really confused, but yesterday I did it everytime. I was pretty proud of myself for counting, I dont know if it is something to get really excited over but it was another accomplishment. I think learning the numbers are the hardest thing for me here, such as when i go to pay for something they say the number really fast so i throw out a euro that i know is higher than what they asked so i dont look to stupid trying to figure out what they say, than once i get teh receipt i check it and make sure they did not rip me off. although i think our way of counting is better when we get to that larger numbers such as when we say 52 we say it fifty two, but they say the numbers backwards so it is said zweiundfunfzig so like we are saying 25 but really it is 52, it took sometime to get use to but i see the point in doing that because than you dont need to learn fifty, and sixty, and learn all the larger numbers you just need to know 1-10 and than the ending such as zehen, and zig but it is zig for any larger number than twenty :D, I finally am getting the jist of that, but i dont think i am quite ready to take on the circle and count to 50 just yet...

Ogallalalalala & 5€ Foot Long, and 1€ Mcmenü

This weekend was more of a girls night out. Margy and I got invited to eat at subway with some friends of margy´s who play tennis. Margy and I go to the subway and we see that they have 5 euro foot longs there. I started cracking up and singing the commericial of five dollar foot long, except i put five euro instead. No one understood of course, but for an american that was pretty funny.

The next day margy and I discover a McDonalds in meckenheim. We walk down there and right as I was about to order margy pointed out they have a 1 euro McMenü. We started laughing again because than we started talking about every thing we could think of that was on the dollar menu in america. It is so funny to see sometimes how some things are so similar to america, but at the same time completley different.

When I introduce myself to people here and they ask what state I am from I say Nebraska. Than they say ohh in the middle of no where,,, what town in nerbraska, and than I say Ogallala. Everyone stops me there and asks me how do I say my town, and I say it again. No one can quite get saying my town down, so when my mother sent me a shirt saying how to pronounce Ogallala everyone got a kick out of that. I now here Ogallalalalala. The person who I hear it most from is my 7 year old host sister. She was actually the first one to say my town and she is so adorable when she says it because she has lost both of her front teeth, and than she says hannah is from O... Ga.. lala. Now every american she sees she askes if they are from O...Ga...lala. Jona really enjoys everything, and is one of the most sweetest little girls I have ever met, and it makes my stay here so much better because I am used to having so many sisters, so its nice when there are alot of people. So sometimes I feel alone because I am use to a crowd at the table and everyone telling stories or embarrassing moments and stuff like that,, so when Jona says O..Ga..lala at the table it makes me feel so much more at home, although I dont really know why. Well those are just a few of the many things that have happend to me this week. I have actually now begun to get invited to places from people in meckenheim and I do not go to school with any of them, so its nice that they think I am worth inviting to places. There was also a fair thing this week in my town, and it was so much better than any theme park in america, it just goes to show you the gras is greener on the otherside,, and that is literally too it really is alot greener here :D

If all else fails shout a country.

Now I always knew that when I came here I would be associated with america, but what I did not expect was how they were going to do it. I thought that everyone would say oh because your american you can do this, or your an american so you like that. I thought those were the things people would associate me with, but actually i have now just become "the american". The first month everyone would call me by my first name, but there are so many hannahs here that I never know when they are talking to me. They then began to call me by my last name, but that did not work out to well because my last name although simple to say sounds like ellen to them. Actually on the first day of school people thought my name was helen because of hannah allen and I would say it to fast so they just caught helen. People began to think my name was allen for a little bit there too because the teachers would call me by my last name to take student role. Then one day a teacher came in and asked where the american was, not even a name just the american, and of course everyone pointed to me. It was then lite, the new name of the american. All teachers notes, tests, and homework is addressed to the american. It is alot simpler for them to call me the american because of course I am the only one, but now students call me the american too. They know my name but they usually get a response from me when they say american. Now it is partly my fault that I would not respond to hannah but to the american becuase although there are many hannahs there is only one american here..... me. Today I think was finally the last american straw, and no im not getting bothered by it, i just think that they have put american into almost everything of mine but i did not expect this. I did not have a computer account in the school, so I cant do a power point in biology. So my friend jasmin went with me to set up one. All I had to write down was my first and last name, and than they would set up an account for me. I knew I needed a password but I was thinking that they would put a random order of numbers to begin with. Today I finally found out my account infromation. My login name is HannahAllen and of course my password is amerika.... spelt with a K. Now that just set my friends laughing because it was just so funny because all of them got a random order of numbers for their passwords but i got amerika. So if you have a foreigner in your community and you just cant seem to remember or pronounce their name... if all else fails shout a country.

Festival weekend

This weekend my host family was leaving to go see their old friends from another town. They decided not to take me, which was fine with me because I would feel very lost. They asked margy´s host family if i could stay the weekend with her, and tehy agreeded to it. I was really happy because she is one of my best friends here. On friday she took me through her town, and we went into the store to get some things to eat.... that is when i saw it.... the love of my life in america just got here in germany ;D;D Dr. Pepper. I could of screamed with happieness if it wasnt for all the dr. pepper margy and I staked up on. Now I know for alot of you pop does not seem like something to get excited about, but when you have been two months with just milk and mineral water, than tell me pop is not exciteing.

So we got some junk food and brought it to her house. My parents had sent me a large package and put movies in there for me to watch, so i brought them over to her house. We stayed up really late, and had the funnest time speaking english because although you would think, we dont get to speak alot here. On saturday margy had a tennis club party, and they invited me along. Now my older sisters are pretty much tennis champions but I have no hand and eye cordination for that, yet I was at a huge tennis party. The people were suprisingly very very nice, and they all said I should join with them and play tennis... to tell you the truth I am actually considering it. Finally the party was over and margy and I went back to her house and slept.

Finally on sunday, we decided to go to a festival in Bonn. Now her host mom told us how to get there, but she only explained it in german, not english. So when we got off the train at bonn, we were compleltly lost. We got on a bus, not knowing if it was the right one, margy just pointed out the most people were getting on that one.. so we did too. We took the bus untill nothing was familier, and than got off. We were so completly lost. We than walked back towards teh derection the bus came from. We passed some bus stops because they were shady, and we were a little bit afraid to go near them. Finally we found a decent one, and waited for another bus. We than hopped on that bus and it took us back to the train. We were still lost, so we did not get off at the train stop and just waited for the bus to leave again. The bus than took us over the Rhein River, and both margy and I have never been on the other side of the river. We were on the bus for what seemed forever. Margy had given up, and wanted to get off at the next stop, but I was tired and just wanted to nap.. so I told her to just wait. We were on the bus for a very long time, and than we came to a parking place full of cars. I told margy we should get off and follow those people. So we did, and sure enough we had found the festival. The funny thing about it was that my host parents had told me it was a small one but this festival put my towns to shame. There were rollercoasters, and rides, and american food, they had games, and auctions, they had just about everything. Margy and I were so happy to have found it, and even went on a ride. There were so many people that you had to wait about 15 minutes to get anywhere though. We did not get to stay very long at the festival because we set out to the festival at 3 and did not get there until 5 or 6 and had to leave by 7 to get back home by 8. We of course were very late getting out of there because the amount of people that were in one place. I cant wait till this weekend though, because my host parents told me that there is a bigger festival this weekend, and if they think that, that one was small, I can only imagine how huge its going to be this weekend. Although I did not get to do much this weekend, I think it was the funnest I have had yet because I got to spend time with a friend, and we had so much fun doing the simplest things. I have had a very festival weekend.

Lost words

I have now been in Germany for almost two months, now in writing that does not seem like a long time. But for me it seems like a lifetime I have been here already. I was told that one day the language would dawn on me and I would recognize that I understand what people are saying. Now that has happened to me quite abit, sometimes I listen to convorsations, and even though I cannot translate it exactly from german to english I still get the meaning of what they are trying to say. I think when it dawned on me that I am starting to learn more each day was actually in the strangest place; it was in my english class.

Jasmin and I had to write a text over an advertisment of VW. We had a piece of paper that had everything we should include in our text. I love writing speeches, so I always have a hard time just simply writing it in text form and adding no topic sentences, or transistion sentances, or rhetorical questions, or figures of speech. I love to include all of these things when I am writing, so eventually I gave up writing in text form and did it in more of a speech from. I put my three points of contention in my first paragraph, and my last paragraph I left them with a great closing. I also get carried away sometimes when I am writing and I do not realize just how much I am writing. So I did have to cut my "speech" a little bit shorter. I was finally done with it and was ready to hand it into the teacher. Now of all the classes I am taking english is one of my best subjects....imagine that. Well before we handed it in we had to give our homework to the person sitting next to us, so they could proof read it. I had already proof read my piece time and time again so I was thinking to myself that I had not a single mistake in my entire piece. The person sitting next to me was jasmin as usual, so I gave her my work and she gave me hers. I started to get carried away with jasmin´s paper and putting in little detailed corrections, and adding sentances. I really cant help it when I am writing or reading to do those things. So I gave her, her paper back and she was glad that I added to her work because now it was a full page. I looked down at my sheet and to my surprise there were check marks. I couldent believe it, that I was wrong in english class. So I looked at all the checks and realized that I spelt all the words right. I asked jasmin what is wrong with these words, and she smiled and said that they are right, so i asked her than why did you check them and she said they are right... but in german, we are in english class. I relized that I had spelt words in german. For example object in english is objekt in deutsch. It was not just little words like that either, I had forgotten how to spell words in english, simple little words that I never thought I would spell wrong. Its as if someone just hit me in the back of the head, and I than realized that I was losing my words. I than went through all the things I have written in english and discovered that I had mispelled so many words, and that I have forgotten my vocabualry. The strange thing is that I am happy I am forgetting english because than I will be able to speak better deutsch. It was definatly something I did not expect to happen, and in just under two months too.

I have lost words in my head in english, but gained them in deutsch.

Ticket Checker!

This post is actually about one of my new good found friends here....margy. Margy is a small blonde girl who has a deadly fear of ticket checkers. She once forgot to buy her bus ticket, and she saw the ticket checkers coming, and they asked for her ticket and she did not have one. She tried to explain that she could not speak german but they failed to acknowledge the fact. So she threw a 5 euro in their hands which is more than you actually pay for a ticket and ran off the bus. Now it seems that everytime margy goes onto a train, or bus, she gets checked. I however have the natural ability to repel ticket checkers. I have been on everything from trains to buses, and not once have I been checked, and not once have I bothered to buy a ticket either. Clint who is another exchange student goes to school with margy in meckenheim now and has the greatest laugh of randomly yelling ticket checker in the hall, and no matter where margy is she flips around and looks as if she is going to bolt off. I also have to admit to yelling ticket checker around her, and although funny to us, its not so funny to her.

I got margy to join one of my volleyball teams with me, and we had to take the train and bus to get there. The entire time she was saying how she was going to get checked, and I kept on assuring her that because she was with me she wouldent. We got on the train, and got off the train unchecked...... but right as margy went to get onto the bus there was a ticket checker. Now I am not quite sure what the ticket checker was doing but the next thing I see is that he shuts the bus doors, smashing poor little margy in between them. For a split second she was shut in between both doors, and the ticket checker opened them and yelled something at us and pointed to the bus halt stop. So we walked about two feet, to the bus halt, and than not a minute later the bus slowly pulls up to let us on. The ticket checker left... because I naturally repel them as I told you, but the entire way up to volleyball, I could not catch my breath because I was laughing so hard. Because here is margy with a deadly fear of ticket checkers, and than one slams her in between the bus doors. It was so funny for me because I was standing behind her so I got to see her face as she saw the ticket checker, and after he slammed her in the door. It was a priceless moment and I felt the need to tell everyone about it. I even told clint the next day at one of our Rotary meetings, and he found it about as funny as I did. Now we have a joke with margy, and everytime we yell ticket checker we also nug, or push her into something along the way. I think margy is over her fear because their is nothing else that a ticket checker can really do to her now that she has not already been through.... so next time one of you gets onto a bus or train watch out for the ticket checkers!!!

Change

Guten nacht, Guten Tag!
Ich habe lang geschlafen....
These are now the things
I hear most often,

The questions have changed
The time is now wrong
What they sing here
Is not my regualar song

Night is now day
Goodbye is now tschüss
The road I now travel
Is not longer spruce

The tounge is twisted
The words are misunderstood
What is valued there,
Here is not good

My life is changing
I now must find me
There are no limits here
of who I can be

I am now the different
in the regualar society
my vocabulary must be altered
diminishing words like propriety

My normal world
hand only a first person view
Now I have to see
What is viewed by you.

Misunderstanding

Sometimes a word can mean one thing, in once place, but mean a totally different thing in another. Although confusing it does make for some good funny moments. Being misunderstood is not always fun, but sometimes such simple little words that are misunderstood have their laugh in the end. Here are some situations where being misunderstood had a funny effect.

I was playing volleyball on my team, and although I get alot of comments on my hair none can compare to when my freinds sarah came to give me a compliment on my hair. Sarah is a very pretty girl, and she treats me really well. Every time I make a mistake speaking german she laughs and tells me its so cute when i mess up, and that she loves my accent. She has been teaching me alot of german words, but this word I did not expect to hear, or take it the way i did. I was the gym getting ready to go, and I let my hair out of my pony tail. Now my hair is naturally curly and the only way I can tame the wild beast is with a large amount of moose. No matter how much I put in though everytime after I get done working out it seems that my hair wants to go into a large Fro. So I take my hair out and I am about to shove it into the hoodie of my jacket when sarah comes running out of no where and starts touching my hair, and saying oh your hair is so DICK. at first I just stared at her because I did not know what else to do. I have had alot of comments on my hair but none ever came close to calling my hair a dick. I smiled though and nodded my head, and thinking in the back of it, who calls someones hair dick. Later on that night I keept on thinking about her calling me that so I decided to look into my little hand dictionary. There I found out that dick means thick, and that she was not calling my hair a genital part of the men body. It was such a relief but that I began to laugh to myself because something she meant to say in a good way, was taking to completley different by me. Sarah also taught me some other words that I never expected to hear, such as one time i fell onto my but during volleyball, and she asked if i hurt my poo. I could not help but laugh extremely hard and long about that, but even though i still do not know how to spell the word for butt, it sounds like poo. So now everytime i fall in volleyball I think of her asking me if i hurt my poo. Another funny thing with sarah was the other night was her birthday party.

I was with one of my friends margy, and her and I spent a long time looking for a present for her, we finally found one and managed to ask the store keeper if she could wrap it. We than walked to sarah´s house and she opened the door, she smiled when she saw that i remembered her birthday present, and i smiled and said here is your gift. I said this right infront of her family, and friends that were already there. Now gift in america means a present, or something that you buy for someone else but in germany... gift means poision. So you can just imagine all of their faces, but luckly I had margy with me and she said no no a present not a gift. After they found out what i was trying to say they laughed about it but i still turn beat red, when i think about saying that infront of everyone and how i must of looked like.

Finally i discovered that one of my blogs names are Das ist gross, now when i wrote this i took it as O-ma calling the bug nasty or gross in english, but what i failed to mention was that a week later after writing that, that i found out that gross spelt groß means big. so she was actually saying that the bug was big, and even though both meanings fit for the bug, it was still funny that i took it differently. Its amazing how two languages can be so different in some ways, but have the same words, and even though you assume you understand, you really dont. I think I will walk through my learning process with a more open mind, and not assume just because its in english that it means the same thing in german.

The best "Shot" in the------ East?

Today I went to sport class, thinking that I would have to run, and make a complelete fool of myself in front of my entire sport class. I was thinking to myself the most running I have ever done was either runnig away from my sisters, or running after my horse. Even then I usually get tired and either let the horse go, or just let my sisters catch me. We got to the track, which was made of dirt so I was thinking in my head " oh this is it, im going to slip and do the splits or something, or im going to prove to them that we are Mcdonalds healthy". We started to run and I was keeping up with everyone else, I was actually jogging quite fast, and than I found out that we were just doing that for warmup. So I still cannot quite fully understand german so i did not know what we were doing. I finally saw them measuring out 100m and heard them say the word sprints. My body is not quite built for sprints. I have short legs, well more like a short body. I also have enough packing in my suitcase... if you know what i mean... to keep me afloat in water, but make gravity do its toll on land. They than started to seperate us into two groups, and the teacher last pointed to me and told me to follow the rest. We started to walk to the other side of the track and than i thought to myself "Oh no they are going to make me run the 200m dash", I was never really good at that event. But the teacher than took us to a pit, and I saw four Shotputs lying in the dirt. My heart jumped when i found out this is what we were doing, because i did this event in the Ogallala Track team. Everyone went before me and the teacher was explaining the technique in german to them. Finally it came to my turn and I stepped onto the concrete to throw. I threw like I normally would on track team, and the teacher stoped me. At first I thought I did horrible, but she told me in german to do it again so she could watch. So I did and than she pointed to me and said something to the class in german. I thought i was being used as an example of what not to do, but than the entire class circled around the concrete and the teacher told me to throw again. So i threw, and everyone was amazed at how far i threw. The teacher than said that I was on her special list and that I did really good. Finally she called over the second group and had them watch me as well. It was really nearve racking because I did not know exactly what it was I was suppose to be doing. So I just threw, and threw again, and again. My shoulder was done by this time and the teacher said I was really good. Than I went and did my 100m dash and for not running for 3 years 16.3 was not half bad. I was glad when i heard that you had to make it under 16.5 or do it again, so when i saw my time i was just happy to not run again. Than we once again went by the shot put pit. This time so they could measure our throws. I had thrown so many times that by this point my arms were on fire. So I threw my first throw, and the girls keept telling me that i was really good, and the boys were mad because i threw farther than them. I dont know if I was happy to do good or not, because I really am just trying to fit in and not put anyone in a shadow so It is kind of scary to be better than someone here. My second throw was not quite as good, but I could barley hold onto the shot. So I think I did very well today, and It was nice for once to be the best in something. I also like the fact that the teacher was happy with me because I may actually get mark 1 in her class, which is the best you can get. I think it will be my one class that I have a good mark in besides english. I am really happy that coach Vo made me work on my technique for hours at a time in Track, because now even if I do not try hard I am still rewarded for technique. So even though I was never good at Shotput in the west I can now say that for today I really was ....the best "Shot" in the East

school

I usually only attended the first four lessons of school a day so i could than go to langauge school, so even though i have been in school for almost a month now, today was actually my first real day of school. I am lucky with my mondays because i do not have a first lesson, so i have more time to sleep in. My first class is german and so is my second, than we have a break after the third lesson period and it last for about 20 minutes. Than I went to art which is actually the only lesson i can get through with out anyproblems. It is manly because the teacher does not really need to explain things to me, he just sets something infront of me and says draw it. I can choose how i want to draw it, and even sometimes he comes over and helps me shade my drawing. He knows I cant understand him but he will everyonce in a while say some things. In all actuallity though I can understand what people are saying, for the most part. I try to make an effort to listen to the keywords of the sentances, but somehow i forget to look for it and than i still understand what they want to hear from me, or if they are telling me something, or just asking a question. I have an easier time understanding german than speaking it, and my friends always encourage me by saying that half of the people in germany cant use grammer still. So even though my sentances are choppy they repeat my question or what i just said back to me in the correct form and than either say somthing back or answer my question. If i really do not understand it though they do not mind speaking english to me which is a huge help. I usually have double lessons so when i go to german class the next period i have german again, same with art. I had art class so my next period was art. Than after the 5th period we have another break that is 30 minutes long. Than after the break i went to social science, which is not really like social science in america. It is actually a mixture of politics, history, and government. I know politics in english are the same as government but maybe it is different here. Because they go through the democrat´s and republicans, and then they go through the system of government. So i think that they are best explained in two seperate subjects that what we do in america and just put them into one. I only had once lesson of that, and than i went to french class. I think everyone from everywhere except america has the ability to pick up foreign languages really fast. They all could speak fluent french in teh classroom, and i have been in french class for three years, and still do not know half of the vocabulary. I also noticed that here all teh students participate. When a teacher askes a question everyone raises their hands to answer it. Teachers do not even bother really asking questions in america because most of the time we will either wait for the teacher to answer or laugh at the person she chooses to answer it. Its great to see how eager they are to learn new things, and school is not viewed quite how it is in america. Although everyone has to attend school it is thought of more as a privalage here than a right. I only had 7 periods today, and each day i have different classes and a different amount of periods i go too. I go to one class three times in a week, but i have 10 classes all together. I really like how they scheduale it like that because than it gives you alot of time to do homework, and gets you through the school day alot faster. The days are not so boring because you have different classes everyday, so each day is new. Even though there are alot of classes i do not like, its easy because i only have to go to them three times a week. But homework is assigned alot more here than in america. I think that all the students are better prepared for college because they must learn to work outside of school. Homework will have to be something I will ahve to get used to doing, but until i can fully grasp the langauge i think i will stick with just paying attention in class. First comes listening, than speaking, and than i will start to do homework. Being an exchange student is not about just not doing anything in class, so i will eventually have to get up to pace and focus very hard on homework. But it is nice that the teachers do not expect me to be up to par with the rest of the students. Even though everyone is alot more shy here, they are very nice when you get to know them.

I really enjoy school here, and I like almost all of my classes. For classes I take religion, math, art, social science, sport, biology, french, german, spanish, and than of course my favortie subject english. The hardest classes to the easiest are as such, math-german-spanish-french-religion-social science-biology-art-sport-english. I bet everyone notices that languages are at towards the hardest of my classes, and it really is hard to learn all these languages. Becaus the teachers in each subject only speak in that language, and than when they explain things it is in german. So when i cannot understand something than they say it in german and I still cannot understand. I will catch on hopefully towards the end, and it will be nice to come back to the states being able to speak all those languages, but for now i will just try to learn german. I also noticed how advanced their math was, i thought that math would be easy because it is just numbers, but their math is so advanced that I do not even now how to begin to solve the problems. One of my friends told me that 11th grade math here is close to professional math in america. Meaning a mathmatician in america, which I am no math person to being with, so I cannot even come close to what they are doing. I was happy when I went to biology though because my teacher in my old high school was really up to date on teaching and I acutaly already went through everything I am learning now, so i can really understand everything. Also all the names are scientific so they are used everywhere, so i can understand that as well. Sport it easy because all i have to do is watch the rest of the students and figure out what we are doing. Social science is not hard, but more boring to me. It is funny to see that people here in germany know more about our government than we do though. I am also very lucky to have 7 classes on mondays with now first period so i actually only have 6, i have 8 on tuesday, than it goes 6, 6, and 5 on fridays. I really like it also that my class representative put me in all the same classes of my friends jasmine except of course german, and french. She really helps me alot in my classes, and she likes to speak to me whether in english or in german. Some school days are hard, but overall i really enjoy coming to school here. Oh and i also like it because here it is okay to wear the same thing two times in a row, or even a week if you really want because in germany they are not so materialistic as we are in america. So its nice that i do not have to change outfits so many times, and i can re-wear the same pair of pants two times in a week. I think my sister christine would love it here, because than she could even wear her p-j´s to school if she really wanted to, and she could wear them all week. I definatly could get use to not being so materialistic..