Preparing to go back to my roots

     Well, yesterday was 11 months.  11 months, since I hugged my family goodbye and waved once more after I got through security.  11 months, during which I have met challenges, trials, and joys.  11 months, through which I have experienced many different situations.  11 months, after which I am a changed and different person, even though I am really still the same person.

     11 months.  That’s a fair amount of time!  During that time many things can change.  But just how much has changed?  I only see the changes on my side, and I don’t even notice the most of them because they seem normal to me.  YFU has a really good simile for this situation, in which all exchange students find themselves as they near the end of their year abroad.  It’s really easy to catch onto, too: imagine a river that divides two different lands (the Rio Grande, for example, or the St. Lawrence Seaway).  By doing an exchange year, it’s like you take a bridge and cross over to the other side.  On the other side, there is (of course) a different type of landscape; maybe there are deserts, mountains, plains, whatever.  Here’s the thing: there’s a thick fog over the river, so you can’t see over to the other side, and those who stayed behind can’t see over to your side.  During this year, they go through a new landscape, too.  At the end of the year you cross over another bridge and meet up with your friends and family again.  You both have changed through your experiences; you can try to tell each other about what the landscapes were like and about how you had to adapt to different things, but it’s never quite possible to figure out exactly what happened on the other side.

     When I think about going home, I’m really excited.  I can’t wait to see everyone and to tell about my year!  And of course, (typical American, everyone tells me) I can’t wait to get back in my car and cruise down King Road.  I’m sure there are quite a few differences to how I was when I left, but I’m not going to stress out about them.  Right now I try not to think about that—I don’t want to make myself really sad.  It’s going to be rough enough with good-byes and all; I don’t need the stress about what will happen when I get home, too.

     Anyways…. What I’ve been up to?  Well, I’ve been so busy; I hardly have any time to sit down and sort everything out again!  Nearly every weekend I’m somewhere else.  Last week I was in Berlin with YFU for a meeting with the German Bundestag and American Embassy.  This weekend I’m going to a youth camp with the youth group.  Next weekend (my last weekend) my host sister and I are going to visit cousins.  And the next weekend I’ll be back in Frankenmuth!!!  When I say it like that, it’s really hard to believe that I’m already at the end of the year.  In just a bit more than two weeks (16 days, actually), I’ll be able to sit in the lawn and chill, or to go play tennis, or to go running, or… whatever I want to do when I’m back home.

     The other day I weeded out the garden for a while.  You can’t believe how good that felt!  I was so happy to just dig in the dirt for a while.  I guess I always will be a farm girl; I’ve already started to dream about what I want my garden to look like when I have my own house.

     Right now I’m in school.  I’ve got an hour free while my class has French/Latin (I can’t speak either language, so…).  Today I’m going to get my report card (when everything goes well)!  Based on the comments I’ve gotten from my teachers, it should be pretty good.  For an exchange student, at least.  And I plan in that they grade me a whole lot easier than the other students.  Sometimes I think that’s pretty unfair… But then again, I’m kind of glad that I’ll be able to bring back a good Zeugnis (report card), just so that I can say I did well in a foreign school. 

    And I guess that there’s not really much else to say.  Well, of course, there’s about a million things to say.  But I can’t explain them in writing as well as when I’m talking.  And I partially don’t really want to try to explain them right now.  Besides, the bell’s about to ring.  Macht’s gut!

Of my newfound hobby/ies and others

     So.  Sorry, I don't really have any applicable pictures to add to this post, so you'll just have to be happy with text to read.  But that's how life goes!  Not all the time is it the most interesting, right?
     In case you're wondering what I'm doing with my time....  Today, for instance, I went to Jugendchor, the choir for kids between ages 12 and 16 (alright, I don't fit the criteria, but there are only ten or so kids, so they were happy to get another voice).  Although I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't better fit somewhere else; more than once I feel like just telling the other kids to knock it off and focus!  But yet, in the adult choir where I also sing (one of the new things I picked up here in Germany is singing, obviously), I definately don't fit either.  Usually I want to bring a bit more action and energy to practice, but the "oldies" don't really appreciate my attempts, I think!  So maybe I'm just best off singing on my own or something.  Or I've just got to suck it up and live with it, right?
     Next thing I love doing: reading the newspaper.  Most of the time I just skim the headlines, and if something sounds interesting, I read it.  But I try to at least keep up with topics that are pretty important these days (I decide that something is a major discussion if it shows up within the first four pages for about a week in a row).  This is a vielfaeltiger Vorteil (many-sided advantage???); I know what's going on, so I can participate in discussions in Politics class, I can discuss these issues with others I meet and see what they think of the topics, and I'm improving my German at the same time!  Yeah, it's such formal German, but that's helpful for tests and such.
     So, now I have a (better) idea of what's going on in the world these days than I had before!  For instance, the debate about Julia Timoschenko (oh yeah, I didn't even need to go look up the name in the papers, that's how on top of it I am! I'm so proud of myself), her treatment in prison, and how Germany, the European Union, and the world should react.
    There are also a lot of political debates, of course.  One of the most recent ones was about Betreuungsgeld, whether stay-at-home parents should receive money from the government just to look after their kids themselves.  I find this discussion very interesting, because I can understand the viewpoint of both sides.  On the one side, some parents may not have enough income from only one job, and the bit of extra money may just be enough to help keep them on their feet.  But on the other side, there's the argument that this encourages parents to keep their kids at home until they go into first grade (Kindergarten is like preschool here; it's totally optional and is for kids about 3-4 years old).  This is very important to Germany as they try to solve the problem of immigrants who inadvertantly keep themselves separate instead of mixing in with life here (not learning the language, only hanging out with people of their own culture).  When the children of such families remain at home until they are required to attend school, this "aloofness" is passed to the next generation.  The decision in the government was "no" to this suggestion, but the debate continues on.
     On to less heftig topics.  The weather here has taken a turn towards summer!  Today it was 25 degrees Celsius and sunny.  The whole weekend it was nice as well. It's almost too dry--normally there's a lot of rain with the heat as well, but this year it's not.  Which, of course, is not as pleasant for the crops... And for the risk of fires.  But while the sun shines, it's just a bummer that I've got to sit in school for most of the day... Ah well, I knew that was coming when I signed up for this exchange!
     School is going great!  I fit in really well in my class, my classmates are all really friendly, and the teachers know me well enough now to know how to react to me in class.  We're going to start taking tests really soon, because there are some different rules in school about how often tests can be taken; only one per day, and a maximum of three per week!  But they're a lot more difficult than tests in the USA.  And time is starting to get a bit short-- we've got quite a few days off because of holidays in the near future, and when you consider that we only have subjects once a week...  It's a bit tight!!!
     So.  There you have it.  I'm still alive.  And doing well!  And that's that for now.

Skiing, Stuttgart, Easter, and much more!

      Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote!  I've just been pretty busy.  Mid-year meeting for YFU, tests at school, Berlin, birthday parties, and-- most recently-- enjoying my Easter Break!  Which included a trip to Austria.  To go skiing.  Yup, you read that right!  I got to go skiing in the Alps with my family! 

     We got to our vacation apartment in Muehlbach am Hochkoenig Saturday afternoon.  Some relatives were vacationing in the same town, so they came over that evening and we played some games and chatted.
     On Sunday I started Ski School.  The lady asked me if I had ever skied before, and I said yeah.  As a little kid, I did actually go skiing.  Once.  My host family had advised me to mention that, because otherwise I'd get put in the beginners' course, where they hardly do any "real" skiing, it's just on the practice slopes.  Plus, I'd catch on quick, they said, and if I were with the beginners I'd neer get anywhere.
     So, I was put in the Intermediate group.

     As soon as our teacher got there, he asked us to go a bit up the slope and ski down-- nice and slow-- and do a curve, so he could judge about how experienced we all are.  Now remember, I had skied once in my life.  And that was as a 6-year-old or so.  Since that day, I had never stood on skis again.  So, I stood at the top of (what seemed to me) this steep, intimidating, mountain.  Alright, we were really only about 30 feet up the slope, and it was only the end of it, but keep in mind that I come from Mid-Michigan.  More specifically, the Saginaw Valley.  I consider just about any hill to be huge, so what am I supposed to think about this mountain, that is coincidentially about 1,820 meters tall?!

     Somehow I managed to get down the slope without falling, flipping out, or doing a proper curve.  Still, the teacher told me that I should come along on the lift, and we'll see how it goes.  His hope, I guess, was that I'd have a breakthrough and remember how to ski or something.

      Well, what really happened was probably a disappointment (and quite frustrating) for him.  I personally found it rediculously hilarious, because I could hardly ski ten feet without falling over!  At the end of the day, my snow pants were soaked from all the snow they had come into contact with.
     But I didn't let that get to me.  I figured, hey, one day-- you can't judge too much based on that.
     So I went back the second day, still excited and eager to try my hand again.  The good news: I didn't fall down as often as the day before.  The bad news: I still fell often enough to not even bother with counting.  (Haha, so I guess that I don't really know if I fell less often, but it certainly seemed like it)  And, I kinda got the technique and feel for skiing, although I still had trouble.  I felt like I was close to being able to ski well, and that was my encouragement to keep trying!
     That afternoon, after "class" was over, I met up with my family and went skiing with them.  We only went down the "blue" slopes (blue is the easiest grade of slope, followed by red as middle, and black as difficult), but I managed to only eat snow three times in those next two hours!  So I called it progress.  My family was impressed, and said that after two days of class, I was already doing well.  That made my day!  Of course, I could tell that they would have rather gone down other slopes (they all can ski for many years), but I appreciated that they stuck around to keep me company.

     The third day of school was my last.  Ski school is pretty expensive, and I wanted to have a few days to just ski with my family, as well.  But that third day was the day that it suddenly clicked, and I could ski!  Some others in my course joked that it wasn't as much fun when I didn't fall down all the time, because I only hit the snow a grand total of three-- three!!-- times that day.  Then it was as though there were no more limits; we went down a lot of new slopes, and even dared to do a few reds.
     That afternoon, after she saw my "amazing" progress, Mama commented that it is incredible that, after three days of school, I could ski so well, when she herself took about three years!

     The rest of the week went by really fast.  Once or twice I even went down a black slope, but as a general rule, I stuck to the reds or blues.
     Next thing you know, it was Friday.  Our last day on the mountain.  There was fresh snow, but it lay on top of the prepared snow on the slopes.  The weather took a turn for the worse (the whole week it had been sunny and about 45 degrees), and it was windy and cold.  Nevertheless, we went up and decided to give it a try.  You couldn't get going too fast, because the snow would make you break all the time.

      But the snow was good for something else-- snowman building!  Jonathon, Mathilde, Papa, and I had a huge snowball fight, and afterwards we built a snowman.  We stuck some skis underneath him and then it was finished!  After that we didn't want to ski much more, so we went back to the car and waited for the others to come.
     So, that was skiing.  One of my favorite memories of this year, I'm sure!  After all, how many people can brag that they learned how to ski in the Alps?

      We didn't go straight back home after the trip.  Instead, we stopped in Salzburg for a few hours, and then spent a few days in Stuttgart by relatives.
     While we were in Salzburg, I found this Chrysler minivan.  I just needed to take a picture of it!  Notice how much larger it is in comparison to the cars parked behind it.  And that is a Mercedes, which is already a pretty large car for Europe!  Haha, I guess the stereotype about "huge American cars" is true!!!

      In Stuttgart we took a walk around the city.  In the park, the Magnolia trees were in bloom, so we stopped and took pictures.  We also went to a museum there, where there is an exhibit about protests against the new train station they're building in Stuttgart.  That was interesting-- the people are very creative in how they make their point.  They made posters and strung them onto the construction wall around the building site.  At some point, the wall was removed (or replaced, I'm not quite sure), and the "Protest Wall" got put up in the museum, where the people can come and see it.

    Easter was a great time!  I played clarinet in church, and introduced "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" to the Germans.  They found the tune beautiful, but they couldn't sing the English so easily.  What do you expect?  Try singing a hymn in a language you hardly, if at all, know!  Pretty hard.
    After that there was the Easter egg hunt at home.  30 hard-boiled eggs were hidden somewhere in the garden, but we only found 28.  So, there are still two somewhere out there!  We gave up after about 45 minutes of searching for these two eggs.  Then we divvied up the chocolate and treats; there was plenty for everyone!
     Yesterday Margie and Sandy were here!  That was really fun, we spent the whole afternoon chatting and laughing.  Of course, it was a bit difficult with the language barrier (for my family, I mean), but a few of them (Mama especially) tried out their English.  It was a great time, and I was sad when the day was over and we had to bring them to the train station.  But, as Margie informed me, I've only got 87 days left here!  So, I'd better enjoy it while it lasts, right?

Happy Easter from me and my family!

Further thoughts

Well, I guess that last entry about it being just about spring was a bit early!  A few days after that, we got a light snow "shower", if you could call it that.  The snow was really sticky, great for building!  Mathilde and I collected-- yes, you read that right, COLLECTED-- the snow into a pile and built in it for a good two or three hours.  At the end, we had a nice little table and three stools.  Granted, the stools were about Fisher Price size, and that mine broke every time I sat down in it and got back up, but still.  It was fun, and it was an experience for me!  I don't think I've ever had that happen before, that I had to actually search for the snow to build anything, whether it's a fort, a snowman, or whatever!
     And then the cold came.  There was a cold front or something from Siberia, and it was high pressure, so of course it stuck around a while.  About a week and a half, to be exact.  Temperatures were about   -20 C at night and got up to about -8 C by day.  That's what I call winter!!!  And we got some snow with it, too, althought it still wasn't really a ton.

     It froze hard enough that the standing water in fields froze over.  One day Mama and I went on a bike ride to one of the fields, and it was all covered in ice!  The next day we all went back with skates, and had a blast.  Of course, we had to push all the snow away first, but that didn't take long.  I had never been ice skating before (whenever I say that to any other American, they look at me and say, "I thought you were from Michigan???!!!"), but I borrowed a pair of skates that Jonathon had grown out of, and managed to survive.  For as long as the ice was there (it still is, just now it's not thick enough to walk on), we went ice skating every afternoon.

    We played hockey a bit, but we only have 4 sticks, so the team sizes were always a bit limited.  After a while, I was even able to join in on the fun!  But I wasn't too good.  Oh well, it's just the fun that counts, right?  Some neighbors met us a few times, and then it was really great!

     We took tea and Gluehwein along to drink when it was cold.  That was really great, and it warmed you right up!

     I've already decided, next winter I'll have to buy skates for at home.  It's really fun, and I really enjoy it!  I can't do any tricks, but now I've gotten a bit self-confidence out on the ice.  At least I'm not scared of falling down all the time now!
     Like I said, though, now the snow has all melted away again, and it's gotten a lot warmer.  Well, I guess I should say that it's probably positive degrees again.  Although that doesn't necessarily mean that it's warm!!!!
     For the past two weeks I've been doing an internship through the school at a bakery.  I really enjoy it, it's fun!  Even getting up at 5:20 doesn't bother me too much (okay, after a while of being the only person in the house who has to get up so early does get old).  Seeing such a typical German custom (eating bread all the time) is intriguing.  Plus, it's an opportunity for me to see what the baking industry is like firsthand and decide if it's really what I wanna do.  YEAH!!! :)

Halfway Point

In Hannover

     Today I woke up to the sound of birds singing outside.  The sound reminded me of nature's promise that spring will always follow every winter.  Which made me smile to myself.  During every winter we have the hope that a joyful spring will follow.  That reminds me of God's promise to us, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."  During every difficulty our Lord stands by us and promises to help us get through it.  I know that without Him, I would never be able to even think about surviving a year abroad.
     Because I know that I'm not alone, I can proudly say that I've made it six months so far.  Which means I'm halfway through!!!  That thought alone is strange to me.  Sometimes I feel like I've been here in Germany for forever.  And yet... more than occasionally I feel as though I've just gotten here.
     There are so many things I had promised myself I'd do when I'm in Germany.  And more than a few of them are left on my to-do list.  For instance, I was so sure that I would keep up with running.  Where am I now?  Well, let's just say that the last time I went running was two and a half weeks ago and it wasn't exactly a half marathon.  And I was really tired afterwards.
     I've really started to have a full schedule now.  In the week, I have something planned for every day.  Mondays is Jugendraum (youth group), Tuesdays choir, Wednesdays sometimes youth choir, Thursdays I go to an exercise group.  Fridays I have a bit of relax time, sometimes I'll meet up with friends and we'll do something.  Saturdays I usually meet up with a friend in Hannover (like I did yesterday) or I just spend the day at home, doing homework and relaxing.

     Like I said, yesterday I met up with a friend in Hannover.  She's also a YFU American exchange student who lives in the region around Hannover.  We got together about noon and spent the whole day walking around the city.  We visited a historical museum (all except the above picture are from there) and went shopping for a while.  Well, if you call shopping going through stores and laughing at what they offer.  Seriously, you can find some of the strangest things.  Or just things that, in my opinion, most people can live just fine without.  In fact, we found so many crazy things that we decided to write a scavenger hunt for the next time we meet up!  Some of the things on the list are just things that we haven't seen yet in Germany (or at least not that often), some things are just stuff that Germans don't usually have/wear.  For instance, a purple jacket/sweatshirt/top.  Usually Germans are pretty "reserved" on color of clothes-- a lot of dark or soft tones.  Not many vibrant colors.  (Once when I came to Germany with my parents, a friend who met us at the airport said it was soooo easy to pick out the Americans because "Europeans just don't dress like that.")
     Beyond that, we just sat in a cafe and chatted.  For about an hour and a half.  It was really nice to just sit and talk with a fellow exchange student about everything we're experiencing.  We can compare our lifestyles here in the school, community, and family.  A lot of the things she said were things that I had thought at some point, but thought it was just me or my imagination.  We never ran out of things to discuss.  When 9:30 pm came and she had to get on the train, I honestly felt as though we had just gotten together.  There were so many more things I wanted to talk with her about!  It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun.



Somehow I kept thinking of "Night at the Museum"
and expecting this guy to start moving!

      Speaking of how time flies... well, I guess that now I'm back to the thought of being halfway through!!!  It's so strange... Now every day I wake up is one day closer to the end of the year.  And every minute is one minute closer to next year at college... Hah, who am I kidding?  "Next year" is only eight months away, at most!  I've gotta start getting used to the thought that I'm almost a college student.... Weird!  But that's still eight months away.  I don't wanna rush into that situation.
     In case you haven't noticed, it's become quite hard for me to write in English.  I don't use it that often, and so it's getting really rusty and "worn out".  Sentence structure and grammar I've practically thrown out the window.  German and English is no longer separate in my mind.  Yeah, it might sound strange, but I'm at the point where I don't separate English from German and vice-versa.  All I notice anymore is that I understand what someone has said.  And when I say something, I just say whatever I think of first (which is, at this point, usually German).  Once I was talking with a friend from the US on Facebook, and I said something in German, and didn't even notice it until she told me!  I'm hoping that this is a good sign, and means that in the second half of the year I'll really get fluent in German.  Right now I'm still at the point where I have to think a bit about what I wanna say when it's anything more than three words after another.


     So, all in all, it's been six months.  And I'm still alive.  And I'm still okay.  And I'm still excited for today and tomorrow.  And the rest of the year.  Yeah, of course I can't wait to get home and be able to tell everyone about my experiences face to face.  But I'm also looking forward to experiencing more here!