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.