Kinopolis

Today I went with my new host family to the movies. This is the first time I have been to the movie theaters here in germany. When i first walked in a noticed just how many movies were playing. It wasnt what I was use to because in Ogallala there are only two movies there at a time.... here there were more than a dozen to choose from. We picked our movies and than went to get some snacks. I have been on a really strict diet for the last week or so, so I was just planning to getting something really small.

For christmas my counselor gave me a free snacks ticket for Kinopolis.. so I used that. I got Apfelshorle to drink and than they asked me if I wanted sweet or salty popcorn.. it was weird having a choice of what popcorn I am normally use to only having the choice of how much butter I was to pump onto it. Once I ordered they came with a huge back that looked like someone would order two large popcorns in america and stick them together thats just how big it was... and get this that was the normal size. My host family was sort of laughing because they knew I was on a strict diet and they wished me the best of luck with this giant popcorn. I also thought it was funny how they also sold beer at the movie theaters too..... I just cant escape it :D. Once we walked in I took my seat... each seat literally felt like an arm chair.. well without the leather.. it was not one of those crapy pull the seat down before you sit on them sort of thing.. and there was so much leg room no bumping into people when you walked by them to get to your seat or when you sat down you didnt have to bunch you feet underneath your chair... the only problem was there were no cup holders.... ohh how i missed the cup holders instead I had to hold my drink the entire movie.. The movie wasnt to bad im pretty sure if it was in english I would of hated it but it was nice because it was in german and I could understand it all because they talked so slowly.

Once again another story to add to the book of something new I did in germany!

Family trip here.

I have been counting down the days till part of my family comes up to see me and its funny how time works... how slow the days go but when they are here how fast they speed up. On the day they arrived I was like a kid at Christmas just waiting to open my presents. I was waiting in the airport when I spotted mom through the automatic doors. I started getting really impatient because the doors would open and than I would see them in the back and than the doors would close... they were the last ones out of the airport. I thought that I would not recognize them, or that because I havent seen them in so long there wouldent be anything to fill the awkward silence with.. but it wasnt like that at all. Actually it was like I never left them. We picked up right where we left off and jumped from one conovorsation to the next. There are alot of fun things we did so here is just a run down on some of them. On friday they arrived and we went back to my guest parents house and let abby and christine settle in while mom and doug were at the hotel doing the same. We all met here at my host families house for diner, and some wine. We stayed up pretty late... well i know abby christine and I did. The next day we got up early and headed down to a government bunker. Where if there was ever a nucleur war a select 3000 people would be able to sruvive a month down in thsi bunker. That was pretty cool to see, and than we ate lunch and had some more wine... well actually I forgot to mention it was my birthday so we had cake and champagne througout the day. Than on sunday it was a longer tour. We went down the Rhein and visited castles, forts, went to the point where the two rivers meet. We also visited the bridge of Reamagen. We saw alot of places that day. Than on Monday we went around Rheinbach and Meckenheim and everyone got to see my schools, and than later on went shopping and site seeing in Bonn. Than on Tuesday my host mom took us to the museum of history in bonn and than we went back to Rheinbach so they could meet my first host family. Finally on wednesday we went to Koln where doug and I climbed all the stairs to the top of the Koln Dom, we did some shopping again, and than everyone met my counselor and we went from a pub to a pub where we ate. It doesnt seem like we saw or visited alot by just writing it down but really we were everywhere. I was not lieing to the family either when I said they walk ALOT here. Abby and christines legs were both sore from all the walking. Mom was enjoying every minute of it while remembering back to when she lived here. Doug liked to see all the site seeing and was the only one up to walk all the stairs to the top of the dome. I am pretty sure you will all hear from them what they got to do. It would be a little to much to write down here.

So this morning I had to watch them as they left and it really didnt hit me until I was home that I was once again alone. I half wanted to jump on the next plane after them because I miss just having that closeness with my family again. I think I can survive one more month though and I am excited to see everyone when I get back :D

St. Joseph Gymnasium

I am one of those people who really enjoys old fashion. I think movies set during a different era, or place fascinate me more. I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, well I liked all the moves based on Jane Austen s novels. For those of you who have seen any of these kind of movies know what I am talking about when I say those wide victorian mansions... or the houses that should be considered a castle. Well thats exactly how my new school looks. I feel like I am entering someones home every time I go to school... and I swear that it could be used in any film.

When I thought of what my new school might look like I was thinking just a regular school... nothing speical just a place where kids have to go and learn, or in some cases sleep. As my host moms friend pulled up to the school I was looking at this old building that to me looked like some rich persons house.

You see right next to my school is another school and that is more recently built so when we pulled up I thought that the school which is actually the other school next to my school was the school i was attending ( say that 5 times fast ). My host mom pointed to the old building and said well theres your new school. I couldent believe it, I felt like I was in Pride and Prejudice like I just jupped into one of the pages of a book. The school is so beautiful on the outside and the inside as well. There are more stairs than I could possibly count, and all the floors are wooden, or marble. Every door is an old fashion door made out of a reddish wood, and even the bathrooms put to shame Shells gas station moto to have the cleanest bathrooms along the I-80. You cant tell by these pictures just how nice this school looks on the inside but as you can see from the front view of the school there is stained glass... thats because there is a church right inside the school... because most of my school is catholic we have religion class in that room. On a nice day the room shines with colors. Also in every room hangs the cross, and in every hallway. Each morning we have to say a prayer, and for each language class too...well mostly french. French is a little hard to pray with because we have to pray in french and I am not to good in french. Drawing the cross across my cheast will take some getting use to, at first I didnt know if after I touched my head if I was suppose to touch my left or my right shoulder first. Well of course now I know how to do it, but I have never done it before so it was difficult to pick of the first couple of times.

Its funny because I attend an all girls school, and everything about it is Romantic. It also looks just like any private school should look.... expensive. :D Well I am enjoying my fairy tale school, and I hope these pictures really grasp the full beauty of this school

The Worm

The only people who will know what I am talking about just by looking at the title would have to be two of my older sisters. I will tell you the first story so you will kind of get a background of where this story is leading to.

My sisters took me to the Imperial fair. Now anyone who knows me sisters know that they have a reputation for being the cool ones in school... well I do not have that reputation.
First we went into the dance and a up-beat song came on. People spread into a circle and started showing their moves. Everyone was doing something and than I saw a guy attempt to do The Worm... i thought to myself hey I can do that. So I got down and did the worm right in the middle of the circle not thinking that my sisters would be on the sidelines petrified at the sight of their younger sister embarrasing them. I never lived that story down, anyone my sisters could tell they did tell and still to this day laugh around the table as they bring up the story of me doing the worm at the fair.... after that my sisters made me promise I would never do that again. So I did promise...

so sadly I am sorry to them now that I have broken their promise. Before you start to judge a girl who is about to turn 18 and still preforms the worm hear my story out.

I had sport class today in my new school. I found out that we dance in sport class. They broke us off into two groups one were the ballet/ or more smooth moves so to speak.. and the other which i was in was more towards the hip-hop range and rap style dancing. We were suppose to get togehter with our groups and come up with some moves that everyone wanted to do. We started off with just popping, and doing some foot work.. but the girls wanted to throw in some other moves that they had to do on the ground. They first attempted the Coffee grinder, and some tried that move where you lay on your back and kick up your feet and land standing erect and that didnt work. Than they starting saying they wanted to do the welle... which is the wave. They were all on the groud trying to do the worm, and one girl asked if I could do it. I shyly said yes thinking back to the time of the fair. The girls than said oh show us show us... I said no no, but they were like oh please. Than the teacher came over and told me to show them so I felt like I had to. I did it for a split second and all the girls starting going OHH wow and applauding. At first I felt embarrased about doing the worm again but the reaction from the girls made me feel alot better about it. So I was trying to teach them the worm while the whole time I was laughing in my head at the sight of my sisters as they watched an entire class being taught by me how to do the worm :D.

After the class all the girls asked where I learned how to dance, and wanted to know how I can do that. So even though I did break my promise and me doing the worm is pretty much banned in the U.S.A at least I can show off my immature talent here in germany.

Thats right I am the master of The Worm in germany :D

History

I never expected today to be any different than any other day. I know people sometimes have moments in their life that change them forever. Just as I was changed when I first accepted Christ I never thought that my life would change so fast. You would think knowing that information that I would expect that one day an unexpected event would change my outlook on everything, but I was not prepared for what happend today.

It started off as any normal day, I was at Hollywood dancing club the night before so I didnt get up until around 12:00. By than it was already lunch time so I went downstairs to eat with my host family. Michael left to watch his team play in a field hockey match so he didnt eat with us. The convorsation was about the same things just what we plan to do when my family comes up, how school is going, and just about random things we each feel like talking about. After Lunch my host dad asked me if I wanted an Esspresso normally I say no, I only like them every once in awhile but I decided today was a beautiful day and I should take some time to sit down with my host family. So I did we drank the esspresso and I we got on the subject of where they have vacationed and where they have all been. They broke out the Atlas and started telling me stories of every where they have been, they opened up a map of the U.S and asked where all I have been so I showed them. By the time we were finished it had already been an hour so they went into the kitchen and got out some cake and offered me some coffee. Once again I said yes I would like so have some.
This is how we got onto the subject that would affect me in a way that I cant describe. I asked Jutta where I was going for my trip around Germany. She showed me place by place until she got to Munchen and said there is a concentration camp near there that we will visit. I have always been interested in the holocaust and I never really understood why it facinated me so much about the things that happend. I always thought I was crazy in a way because I liked to hear the stories about it... where most people try to forget it. As I thought about the concentratoin camps, they than got to the Berlin and told me I would see where the wall once was. Thats when I asked the question... Why was there a wall? I think they knew I was really interested in knowing the history of germany, and they may have been shocked that me an American wanted to know another countries history than just my own. They told me everything... from the Russians, to the French, to the British, and of course the Americans. I learned even about the Luftcreek which was when americans would fly into Berlin dropping supplies to feed the west part of Germany. I asked what would happend if someone tried to go over the wall, and they said that they would kill them... it was no mans land there, it didnt matter what side you were on the west would kill their own before having them cross over to the east. As I asked more questions my family got more in depth with the convorsation. I asked " what if people from the east had family in the west" my family responded that they were split and would never be able to see each other. They than told me of a Mother and her son who tried to escape towards the east by going down into the Check( cant spell ) republic. They took two vehicles one vehical had her son and the other the mother was in. The two vehicales got split up and the mother made it to the east, but her son didnt. They told me how the mother couldent go back to her son, and how her son couldent get to her... all because of the wall. I never knew how much of an impact one wall had on an entire country. How it not only split the country but families too. They than told me of all the troops in germnay... germany was completly overruned by military. My host father told me how he would see army tanks roaring down the street every morning and planes flying overhead. They than went back in time and showed me pictures of WorldWar2 itself.

They showed me pictures of cities that were bombed, and it was hard to believe than America was invovled in it. Picture after picture I saw beautiful cities that were turned into rubble. We came to this one picture. It wasnt of people, it wasnt of planes, or tanks... it was a church. My host fathers hands got shaky and his eyes turned red. At first I though he was getting mad but than I saw that he was crying. He told me of this church.... where the people stood outside of it white flag on the cross on top trying to save it. They were begging for the planes to not destroy this church. I still dont know why this one church was so speical. My host dad than began to cry even harder and he said while the flag was flying and the people where outside they bombed the church. He than began thinking to himself and was still speaking out loud. He said white flag on the cross. I couldent believe that than he was apologizing for crying. Just as soon as he started to cry he forced himself to stop and resumed telling me the stories. He told me of the Koln Dom being bombed and how the 500 year old glass was shattered. I could hear all the pain in each word he was telling me. We than went forward again to the wall where we started and he told me of check point Charlie, and where the wall was as he traced his hands along the map. He than flipped the page towards a picture of millions of people in the Check republic hoping to get accross the wall towards their families. I saw little kids crying as mothers held their hands through the bars. I saw a line of german police on one side and Check police on the other were pulling people off the bars. My host dad began to sob again when we got to this one picture of what appeared to be two sisters holding hands while the bars split them apart and in the background a police man coming. He quickly turned the picture and said he was sorry that he was so emotional. He said that its hard to think of all the thigns that happend. The history that was forced upon him. Not everyone choose to follow in Hitlers foot steps and just like in every other country you have bad people and you have good. He than told me of a story while he was in Norway studing in college how a man came to him and said you are a german boy yes... my host dad replied with a yes. The man than said I was in a concentration camp, my host dad didnt know how to reply to that question. Here was a man who only saw my host dad as a Nazi when really he never wanted any part in such things.

There were alot of other stories that I heard and it makes me sad to think that all this time I was upset because people in Germany dont like me because I am an american... but really they dont like me because they think I just think they are Nazis. I can understand how they feel because alot of people ask if I am racist because of the things that happend in the civil war. Somehting that I had no part in but that the history was thrust upon me. No matter where anyone one goes not a single country has a perfect history, there are good people and bad people no matter where you go.

I feel so bad for things that I had no part in.
I have been so changed today that I dont know who that person was when I was living in Ogallala.
I have to admit that I had the same thought of most people that germans were hostile and mean. That everyone could be associated with a Nazi in one way or another, and all my intrest in the holocaust lead me to believe that everyone had a part in it... which is untrue in every way. It wasnt everyone, but it all began with one mans desire for power. You could ask alot of people about Hitler and most would say they were ashamed of him, and what had happened.. I wish everyone could of seen the pictures, and heard the stories I heard today because I know everyone would of been changed too. There have been very few times in my life where I have seen a grown man cry, seeing my host dad cry made me want to cry too for ever thinking the way I did. I use to joke about being born in germany telling my friends that I guess im a Nazi, if anyone heard me say those things here I would never be able to live with myself because I didnt know anything about what they went through. I hope I can keep on learning as much as I can about the world so than I can have a better understanding of why thigns are the way they are.

My host dad said people dont forget history, but just because it happend doesnt mean everyone was a part in it.

So now I am done saying in breif parts of the convorsation I had today. I could go into more depth but I dont think anyone would have that much time to read it. I am glad that I sat down today of all days and took my host family up on their offer of coffee and cake. I hope even though I am not a very good story teller or not very good with words, and that I dont know everything about the thigns that happend that I may have changed at least one persons outlook by writing this today.

3rd times a charm

So for those of you who know me, and have been talking to me throughout this process... know the constant stress that has come to me with school. When I was in the 11th grade the classes were really hard and at that time I had no german so I had no chance of learning anything. I was than moved on to the 9th grade where the classes were good but the students were all going through what I like to call the "growing up phase" so they were all sort of connected at the hip and not really wanting me there. I guess the days just sort wore me down, and each day it was worse.

Normally when you get a new kid in school... at first people are intrested in this kid , than the kid feels out of place sort of because they are in a new enviroment but eventually this feeling wears down and the kids just accept this new kid and things to back to normal... well not for me I went through all the phases I just never went back to normal. At first kids showed some intrest in me talking to me every once in awhile and than they lost interest and thats when they pretty much discovered they just didnt want me there. I have friends in the 11th grade but I never get to see them until breaks and even than its only for 20 minutes or so and than back to class. I felt hopeless because I talked to everyone about it... family, my host family, my friends here, exchange students, and I was asking them all for advice. I talked to the rotary programm here and at first they just made things worse, I than talked to the one at home but they were at a loss because they couldnet help me. It felt like I was alone and I would always be stuck in the same situatoin. I got to the point where I was one conformation e-mail away from going home in 2 weeks. I than changed my mind... well more as found something to be more upset at ( dont worry (person) I forgive you for being harsh).

This Monday I finally came to my breaking point. After settign my stuff down in my seat and leaving the class room for two mintues. I came back in and found that not only had my stuff been moved but some of it was on the floor just thrown over the table... and there were no chairs... and I was not standing during a lesson. Thats when I pretty much went off the hook. Have you ever seen those Beta fish that are so pretty and nice and calm but as soon as you stick one beta bowl next to another both fish instantly puff up... well thats how I was. I didnt puff up but I was a pretty mad beta. I left the class and walked down to my counselor of Rotarys work. My counselor told me I could always talk to him and so I took him up on his offer. I went down there and told him everything that happend and finally stated that I was not going back to that school.. I half expected a Fine than go home response which would of been fine too but no all he said was. I know how you feel, and told me he would change me into a differnt school... A Different School,, I have been trying to change schools for the longest time, I have went to everyone and no one did aything for me and the one person I should of gone too was my counselor and he was changing schools for me. I could of almost jumped out of my seat because I was so happy. What was the worst day ended up taking every stress.. every problem and lifting it off my shoulders.

I just found out today that I will be in a differnt school Thursday. I am going to St. Josephs gymnasium. Its an all girls school,,, I know, I know I thought the same thing too an all girls school how boring. But the more I think about it... I wont have to worry about my hair, or makeup, or even fashion really I wont need to impress anyone there because the only reason I go through all that stuff is because there are guys in the school but girls... pshhh no way I need to get all pampered up for them. It could be a really good thing going to an all girls school..... I know Abby is probably cringing at the idea of no boys in school, but I dont think it will be to bad.

I felt so happy about my change that I almost forgot that I am leaving the two exchange students back at my old school. Filipe is okay with anything, I barely see him that much in school and we can always hang out after... but poor Jordan is going through the exact same thing I am. Not to such a full extent as me but still.

I hope that everything goes okay with this one... I mean hey 3rd times a charm right? :/