Easter

Easter has already passed but I figured I would write about it now since it was quite a lovely experience.

The night before Easter there was an Easter Fire in my village. Villages in northern Germany each spend months collecting brush and wood for an enormous fire, where the community comes and celebrates. A few days before the fire itself there is 'night watch'. People pay 10 euros for all they can drink/eat and they gaurd the wood from neighboring village rascals who may want to light it up before its official date. The guards did their job well for we had a HUGE fire on the intended night. The sky was red and although it was cold standing next to that beast of a 'camp fire' was enough to keep us warm. There were beverages, funnle cakes, sassages, and schnitzel to choose from. Neighbors came and we all stood around talking and laughing. It was a fun night.

The next day we prepared the table for Easter brunch. Rolls, lunch meat, cheeses, yogurt, fish, spreads, etc. covered the table along with little chocolate bunnies on each plate. My two sisters, my mom and dad, my grandma, and a cousin were all there to eat at 11. Afterward my mom and grandmother went outside to hide candy and presents, then the four of us 'children' went running about searching vigoursly in flower pots and wood stacks for sweets. With no stone left unturned we sat at the picnic table, divied up our candy, and matched the person to the intended gift. After a family picture and some coffee my grandma and cousin went home. I played scrable with my mom and sisters and after a while another cousin came and we played menopoly. Soon a few more friends had joined us and we decided to honor the tradition of going for a swim in the lake. My mom and dad stayed behind and promised to heat up the sauna for when we ruturned. (We did not end up using it though). Now let me tell you now, in past years a swim may have been totally acceptable as the weather was warm and sunny. This year however, though the sun was shining, it was not at all warm. Maybe 40 degrees if we were lucky. Not discouraged we gathered up some towels, got into our suits, and marched through the woods to the lake. Two people didn't dare get in but 6 of us did. After taking our time getting undressed and staring at the lake people started geting in one by one. Getting in was easy, it was the getting out which proved to be difficult. Everyone wanted out at once and the steps were slippy! I thought they were exagerating the low temperature of the water, but after I 'fearlessly' jumped in, I can attest to the cold. It was so fridged that I immediately lost my breath and strugged to breath. I was out in two shakes of a litle lambs tail. We took a picture to remember the day, dressed, and trudged back to the house longing for warm showers and tea.  No matter how cold it was outside, that water was COLDER. It was a fun Easter tradition which I'm happy to have taken part in.
Back home we found two more friends sitting at the dinning room table. We got some wine, rum, cola, and beer and sat around until 4:00 AM when the last three people left. I slept like a baby.

Easter was entertaining and I felt comfortable and happy celebrating with my German family. I didn't miss the states at all - not even after calling to wish everyone a Happy Easter - and I had a really great day.


All in all Easter in Germany was fantastic!

My German Family
Left to right: Mom, Dad, Me, Grandma, Sophie (sister), Charlotte (sister), Triene (cousin)

Who wants to learn German anyways?

Things have been going well for me here in Deutschland. The language is coming along with plenty of mistakes and miscomunication, but everyday there is improvement. I started a German course at a local community college and I am dicovering the truth behind Aristotle's beliefe that ''the more you know, the more you know you don't know''. Not only is German grammar patternless and imcomprehensive, but it makes absolutly no sense. With 16 ways to say ''The'' and masculine, feminene, and neutur nouns, German is quite complicated. Not to mention having to wait until an entire sentence is said before knowing what someone is talking about - this is because the verb often comes at the end of the sentence. I saw a quote once that read, '' Life is too short to learn German''. I forget now who the man was who wrote that, but I'm possive that his thoughts we shared by the majority of foreigners and scholars tackling the German tongue. I still find the language lovely, and I am happy that I decided to learn it.

 Here is a perfect example.  If you continue surfing this guys site you will see what I encountered while on my exchange. He isn't making fun of Germans (unless of course you are a German and you take offece easily), he just points out the quirks in Germany from an American's perpective. He is an American who has lived in Germany for 10 years, so he knows his stuff. My German friend actually told me about him. Maye to really get the humor you have to experience both cultures. However, It's still a good read.

Enjoy!!

 http://nothingforungood.com/2008/05/12/dont-learn-german/


He also has an equally humorous blog about quirks in America from an American's perpective.

http://www.andgoodis.com/



p.s. Fun Fact: The German word for ''Placenta'' is ''Mutterkuchen''. ''Mutterkuchen'', directly translated back into English is ''Mother Cake''. :)

 

A day in the life...

Wrote this a month ago and I am finally getting around to sending it.

Germany is super! It is my second home and I will be sad when I will have to leave it in only 5 months. Time has gone by quickly and quietly. I have hardly noticed it pasisng. Days became weeks, and weeks became months. I went from speaking no German whatsoever to being able to participate in dinning room table conversations. Strangers became friends and my family is practically blood! 5 months have passed with little to no homesickness. I have found it hard to miss my motherland when I am as comfortable here as I was there. Don't get me wrong, I miss my friends, family, and my pets from the USA, but I don't long for them.
Things have been going well for me. The cold was a downer for a couple weeks, but Spring is hinting that it'ts just around the cornor. A scourcher of a day, at 32 degress Farenheit, called for no hats and no scarves. Windows were opened and heaters turned down. Now at 45 degress I only where one coat to school, and I leave the gloves at home. After -4 degress 32 degrees is pleasent!
The Elbe/ Alster river froze over in Hamburg which called for a celebration. On the 12 of February there were 1 million or so people at the party on the Alster. I, unfortunatle, was unable to attend. I was skiing with my sisters, and some friends an hour outside of Hannover. The skiing was at first a bit unpleasent because I am about as unathletic as they come, that combined with my fear of falling over meant that I stood frozen in place for about an hour, crying and feeling sorrx for myself before I called it quits and started for the cafe to sit and wait for the other to be finished. On the way my older sister, cousin, and I found an easy slope. I ended up having a really good time skiing on this less threatning slope.

School has also been going well. I heard something explained in my history class that I found funny, so I figured I would share it on my blog.

My history teacher was explaining the differences between the American Healcare System, and Germany's. He said:

''In Germany if you want to get a tooth pulled you can go ahead and get it pulled and it's no problem. In Germany if you chop your leg off, and want a new one, they give you a prosthetic leg. In the United States you get a wheelchair.''


He makes a good point.




Other than the cold and my twisted knee (thank you, ski trip) everything else is hunky dorry. 
My day starts at 6:00AM. I get up, go to school, ''get smart', then I come home and eat lunch with my sister. I go to a German class twice a week and on the weekends I am out with friends. 
This last weekend I met some new friends in Hamburg for a drink and a bite to eat. That was on Friday and on Saterday I went swimming with my sister and some friends. At first I was reluctant to go swimming. I have always paired swiming pools with 87 degree weather. I had heard rumors about ourdoor pools in Germany, even during the winter months, and I was not looking forward to freezing my bum off. As it turns out it was a blast! Hot tubs, a water slide, heated pool, wave pool, and a heated outdoor pool were all part of this swimming place. There was also a Sauna! Next to the outdoor pool, which was decorated with fountains, and plants, was a tiny pool of ice cold water. The point in to get into the cold water then immediatly back into the pool so that you body feels warm in the room temerature water. It works! Swimming in Germany = success. 


Sunday my family and I went for a long walk from one village to another. We got some coffee and cake and walked back. We went walking on an old time road that is now used only for walking and biking. We took the dogs and together we relished the sunny afternoon. 

Sometimes I find myself so happy that I want to cry! 
I miss all of my US friends and family, and I will enjoy getting to see them all again and start up at Chatham, but leaving Germany is going to be really difficult. 

How about you all come and visit me instead! :)

German Gymnasium

Although I've technically graduated high school I am back again. I am an 11th grader in a German high school called a Gymnasium. This doesn't mean that the majority of my classes involve handstands, handball, or anything else to do with physical education. (Even though I do have a volleyball class). Actually, Gymnasium is just the German word for the high school where most graduates go onto attend a University. To better explain the German School System I found this link, which covers the different types of schools:

http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/germanschools.html

The link might have some other interesting factoids about Germany as well.


I go to school Monday through Friday.

The day is broken up into ''hours'' or what we would call ''periods''. There are 8 hours everyday although you may only have 4 or 6 on certain days. I have 8 hours 3 days during the week and 6 hours the other two days. Every class is allotted two hours. That means that I wouldn't have 8 classes in one day, but instead I would have 4 classes, two hours each. After every two hours there is a 15 or 20 minute break. After the 6th hour the break is 33 minutes. This gives students time to go to the cafeteria if they want two. There isn't a lunch or study hall period in school here like there would be in the US. I am currently taking Latin, German, English, Ethics, History, a college prep course, Music, Politics, and Sport (volleyball). My favorite classes are Ethics and English. English, not because it's my native tongue, but more so because the theme of the class is Globalization and the subject matter covered is interesting to me. The English classes here, a foreign language class mind you, is almost at the same academic level as my English classes in the States were. The students use formal English when speaking to one another, and they are also learning Oxford English. (British English). I think the German/ British accents are cute, which also adds to the class's appeal. I also really like my History and German class. I try to take part in class, especially when I am interested in the topic. I find myself learning a lot, and the best part is I am learning things from an average German's point of view. I see how they see the United States, and matters concerning Americans. It's interesting to stand in a German's shoes and look at moral and ethical issues as well. Most of the day I am completely bored though. Everything (other than my English class) is in German. Classes are sometimes too fast for me to follow because of my limited language ability, and I can't do many of the assignments. Writing in German is very very hard for me. Although I am learning a lot and I can watch movies, speak, understand, etc. in German I can't write well and reading is not far behind that. Every day I get better though. I know I just have to apply myself by reading books in German and speaking ONLY German, but I am a slacker sometimes. I do speak mostly German at home unless I don't understand something. In school it's the same way. If there is something I have no idea how to say, I will say it in English, but for the most part I speak German. My German is dreadfully broken and simple, but it is coming a long. There are a few friends, who I speak all English with when we are alone though, or with particular friends. Tisk Tisk.

I am usually home by 2 or 4 to eat a meal, and then I have the rest of the evening to not write blogs, play my ukulele, drink tea, and creep Facebook. Now it has come to the time when scholarship essays for college need to be written. Sadly, my English is getting worse as my German gets better, which is my excuse for my lousy grammar and spelling in these posts. I am also a bad/lazy proof reader. (A.k.a. no attempt is made to edit what I write other than an electronic spell check). 

I hope no one is bored to death my posts like this. I don't have any particularly amusing stories to tell. When I do though this will be the second place (after Facebook) where I share them. Mostly I'm trying to keep my darling parents from nagging me every time I call. ;)

Happy Belated Christmas and New Years!

As the title says I'm once again late in relaying information.

I did in fact celebrate a Christmas here in Germany. While many American families were preparing pies, putting out stockings, and attending a Christmas Eve church service I was enjoying a Christmas dinner with my host family. Christmas is northern Germany is celebrated on the 24th instead of the 25th. I have found that it is the same way in many other countries as well. The next two days are called the first and second Christmas days.

CHRISTMAS DAY (24th of Dec.)

Morning:

Breakfast
Cleaning
Decorating the tree with real apples and actual candles

Afternoon:

Visiting Grandma for tea and cake
(She knit me two scarves, a hat, and gloves!)

Evening:

Church with my family
Dinner with my parents and sisters
Exchanging gifts: We rolled a dice to see who would get to pick the next gift to be opened

12:00AM:

The neighbors came over and we toasted my dad's birthday together
We sat around for two more hours until we finally went off to bed

The next two Christmas Days were spent visiting friends, eating, and then celebrating my Dad's birthday at the house with all of his gentlemen friends.



NEW YEARS!!!

On the 30th I went to a friends cabin to play a trivia game with her and her friends. On the 31th I drove with my cousin and a couple friends to Münster (a city in western Germany) where my older sister, Sophie, was going to school. She had an apartment party there. We played board games, cards, and at midnight we went out on the sidewalk to light fireworks, sparklers, etc.

Germans have a really fun tradition of watching the skit ''Dinner For One'' EVERY SINGLE NEW YEARS. It's a British 20 minute skit in English, and it's worth taking a peek at. Everyone at the party was quoting it, laughing until they were crying, and enjoying the tradition. It is something I am bringing back to the US with me.



All and all I had a very lovey holiday. The two weeks off from school were also very nice. I spent a lot of time at Christmas markets in the City and in near by villages with my family and friends. Although it wasn't a White Christmas it felt enough like Christmas for me not to miss home too much. I was surrounded by family, friends, and laughter. That is part of what the Christmas season is all about.


I apologize for not keeping up on my blogging. I will try to make that my New Year's Resolution: Be a better blogger. :D

Hakuna Matata

For those of you that are familiar with The Lion King you know "Hakuna Matata means no worries..." as does the French phrase "Sanssouci". Why on earth is an exchange student in Germany be giving you a French lesson? "Sanncousi, roughly translated to "without concern or "without worries" is the name of Frederick the Great's former summer home is Potsdam, Germany. Frederick the Great, also known as "Der Alte Fritz" ("Old Fritz"), was the king of Prussia during from 1740 to 1786. I had the opportunity to take a stroll around the Palace ground while I was in Potsdamm for the weekend a couple months ago.(Just now writing about it). While there, my friend/ designated tour guide, gave me a quick history lesson, which I will try to briefly go over in this blog.

The palace was not as extravagant as other palaces from that time, explained my friend, because he wanted this to be a place to actually live. A place free from war and violence, where he could relax and enjoy his time "away from it all." To me the home looks huge and godly, but when taken into consideration the average palace of the time period, I can see how what she said made sense.

Beside the palace a saw a stone slab with the king's name. Beside it people had left potatoes. I was intrigued and sought out my "tour guide" for an answer.

During the reign of "Old Fritz" there was a famine in his realm.

Frederick the Great tried introducing potatoes into his kingdom, but the peasants were reluctant to abide by his orders in 1774 grow potatoes as protection for human consumption. Towns people of Kolberg replied: "The things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?". People were weary of the potato since it was new and had never been used for the dinner table. Old Fritz decided to try a different method of getting his kingdom to accept the potato and had a large field planted with the crop and guarded by his own soldiers. People, believe that if the crop was being guarded than it must be worth stealing, did exactly as Old Fritz had intended, and sneaked in to the field to steal the plants fr their own gardens. Fredrick the Great had even gone so far as to tell the guards that if they see a thief, to turn a blind eye. His strategy worked and he was able to save his kingdom from hunger.

So, thought for the day: Why worry when you have potatoes!

Hamburg, Germany

HERE ARE SOME MORE PICTURES! < Click there to see the pictures. These are from my trip into the city of Hamburg in Northern Germany. The city is only about a 40 minute drive from my village without traffic.


The pictures include:

Shots of the Red Light District

The building with the green roof is the government building (Town Hall). The German name for a Town Hall is "Rathaus" Pronounced Rat House. I think the name fits! ;)

There are some pictures of an old burned church this is:

"The Gothic Revival Church of St. Nicholas (German: St.-Nikolai-Kirche) was formerly one of the five Lutheran Hauptkirchen (main churches) in the city of Hamburg. It is now in ruins, serving as a memorial and an important architectural landmark. When Hamburg residents mention theNikolaikirche, it is generally to this church that they are referring, and not the new Hauptkircheof St. Nicholas, which is located in the Harvestehude district.
The church was the tallest building in the world from 1874 to 1876 and is still the second-tallest building in Hamburg."
(Wikipedia)

The church was left standing after it was destroyed in the second world war as a reminder of what war can do and as a warning to future generations.
They installed an elevator in the church which is how I got the areal shots of the city.

You can probably see the Harbor in some of the pictures. Hamburg's harbor is the 3rd largest in Europe.

There are a couple pictures of another church, which is one of 5 of the mother churches in Hamburg.

The picture of a waterway and on either side a long line of brick building is what used to be the Old Harbor. The buildings are now used for, I believe the storage of carpets. There is also a Maritime Museum and a couple other things to see inside.

The picture of me with the guitar is taken in the Red Light district. It's actually a memorial to The Beatles, who made their start in Hamburg, not far from where I was standing. Looking down on the memorial it looks like a giant record. Then there are the statues of the 4 known Beatles and the 5th Beatle who left the band on good terms to peruse an education at a prestigious art school in the city. Not long after leave the band he died suddenly from natural causes. He was the one who gave the Beatles the "look" that we know today as belonging to the band.

The swans in the picture have the best life a swan could have. There is someone working for the government, who's job is to take care of them They live in the Alster, which is a right tributary of the Elbe River. During the winter months they are moved to another part of German to "vacation" in an ice free pond.

"After more than four months in their winter quarters, Hamburg's “swan father” Olaf Nieß lead several boats to move 120 birds to the port city’s outer Alster lake.

The animals will now be able to find sufficient food on their own, a spokesperson from the Hamburg-Nord district said.

At the end of the November the swans made their traditional trek to their winter retreat in the Eppendorf district’s mill pond, which is kept free of ice year round.

They have been a part of the city landscape since the 11th Century, under the care of a “swan father” - Hamburg’s oldest municipal post – since 1674.

The birds now grace the Hamburg city emblem, and their return to the Alster signals the start of spring each year. " (http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100412-26495.html)

There is one picture of an apartment building painted red with the word "OUT" on it. This is one of a few building which belonged to the government. They were unoccupied and a group of squatters moved in. Soon these squatters had families and turned these building into their homes. When the government went to sell the buildings the squatters refused to leave. After numerous arguments the squatters won. This is how I understood the story. Apparently the buildings are now owned privately and the apartments are leased to the people who live there.

"The Hafenstraße (Harbour street) is between Landungsbrücken, the most tourist crowded place in the city, and the fish market, which is open only on Sunday morning from 4:30AM-9:30AM. The street between was a place for squatters in the 1980s and was well known by the media when there were battles between the Autonomous movement and the police. Some houses still exist there, though the 80s-Myth is dead. You can go to the Punksbar onkel otto or eat at the vokü." (http://www.live-like-a-german.com/destinations/show/hamburg)

The black and white pictures are just old pic (that I took from a screen) of Hamburg. There is one of the St. Nicholas church.


I hope you enjoy the pictures!! I also hope all of my information is accurate. Some of you already got this stuff in an email. I will make a new post at some point to give you something new. :)

I took the pictures while giving a friend of mine, who lives in another part of Germany, a tour of Hamburg. I had confessed to the father of a friend that it was absurd for ME to be giving a tour of Hamburg when I know next to nothing about the city. He replied,
"In the kingdom of the blind the man with one eye is king"

Sounds good to me! :D