Hey all.
So some of you might have noticed my total lack of posts recently....
I promise I have tons of them planned, written down on scraps of paper, jumbled up in my head screaming to be let out! I have so much to tell, so much to talk about.
But right now I just don't have time. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. School started after Christmas break, I saw some old friends, Sabrina got sick, and now I'm writing papers and studying for exams! Where did the semester go???
So I promise to get back on the horse as soon as things die down! Give me 1 more week and I will overload you with posts! PROMISE!!!
Lots of love from Germany!
If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone, cause I’m going to make this place your home.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
10.12-16.12: A sad and rough week with some perks
Class Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as usual. Thursday night was a rough one. I'll save all the drama for another post.
I spent this week at Sabrina's. I think I went to my dorm room once for a few hours on Tuesday. It was a hard week for both of us. We both had things going on at home. Sabrina's Opa was still in the hospital. It's been really hard for her and the family as a whole. And she was really starting to break under it all. We started looking at different options for New Years. Originally we were going to go to Belgium with Dayna and Bert. But then her international friends from her semester at GV decided to all meet up in Amsterdam for a few days and she wanted me to come with. But as of the beginning of this week she just didn't want to be that far away from home in case anything happened. So we started looking for other options.
We spent a lot of time this week watching funny, uplifting movies. No Grey's. No hospital stuff. Not the right time.
This Friday was the second lesson we were going to have about the Gingerbread man in my second grade class. I somehow was put in charge of planning it all. But with everything swimming around in my head (especially after Thursday) I let go of the reins for it and turned it over to Frau Jung and the others. I just didn't have the brain power or the concentration or the energy. I barely slept Thursday night. I spent most of the time skyping with my family. It was rough.
Friday morning I got up and went to my school. Frau Jung (and the kids too of course) were really happy to see me and almost immediately upon walking into the room I had a smile on my face. It's like the kids somehow knew I needed some cheering up. They were super loving and clingy. Bert wasn't with us again this week because he was already heading home.
We reviewed the gingerbread man vocab. Then we moved on to the activities. There was a song for them to learn. I read the story them again. There was a counting game (with candy) and another activity with different spices. The kids had a lot of fun and time went waaaaaay faster than we thought! We only got through one rotation of the activities. Oh well. Maybe next week!
Sabrina picked me up and we headed to Adelberg. On the way we stopped in Göppingen to do a couple quick errands. We picked up a gift certificate for a massage for Mama Binder's birthday. Then we went in search of a fabric store for me. There were a couple of crafty things I wanted to do. The store was a major bust though. They didn't have much fabric. Oh well. It can wait until I'm back in the states. We stopped at DM and picked up some things we needed. Then we grabbed lunch at the Weihnachtsmarkt. Why can't those be up year round? For reals though. The food is so yummy and cheap and quick to eat! Finally we headed home to Adelberg.
That night I got the devastating news that my mom had to put our cat down. And then about an hour after that I learned about the shooting in Conneticut. There will be a post about that soon.
Saturday was a day of respite. Lazy day. Preparing for Sunday.
Sunday was Mama Binder's birthday. So people started arriving not too long after 10 am and stayed until about 4 pm. Sabi's cousins Nico and Tom were there. I got to meet some of her dad's side of the family too. It was a nice day. It makes me wish my family lived closer together. It's practically impossible to get us all together and completely impossible to get together as often as Sabi's family. But it helps that they all live within a half hour of each other...
Monday back we went to SG. Ready to go for the last week of classes before our 2 week Christmas break! Woo hoo!
Lots of love from Germany!
I spent this week at Sabrina's. I think I went to my dorm room once for a few hours on Tuesday. It was a hard week for both of us. We both had things going on at home. Sabrina's Opa was still in the hospital. It's been really hard for her and the family as a whole. And she was really starting to break under it all. We started looking at different options for New Years. Originally we were going to go to Belgium with Dayna and Bert. But then her international friends from her semester at GV decided to all meet up in Amsterdam for a few days and she wanted me to come with. But as of the beginning of this week she just didn't want to be that far away from home in case anything happened. So we started looking for other options.
We spent a lot of time this week watching funny, uplifting movies. No Grey's. No hospital stuff. Not the right time.
This Friday was the second lesson we were going to have about the Gingerbread man in my second grade class. I somehow was put in charge of planning it all. But with everything swimming around in my head (especially after Thursday) I let go of the reins for it and turned it over to Frau Jung and the others. I just didn't have the brain power or the concentration or the energy. I barely slept Thursday night. I spent most of the time skyping with my family. It was rough.
Friday morning I got up and went to my school. Frau Jung (and the kids too of course) were really happy to see me and almost immediately upon walking into the room I had a smile on my face. It's like the kids somehow knew I needed some cheering up. They were super loving and clingy. Bert wasn't with us again this week because he was already heading home.
We reviewed the gingerbread man vocab. Then we moved on to the activities. There was a song for them to learn. I read the story them again. There was a counting game (with candy) and another activity with different spices. The kids had a lot of fun and time went waaaaaay faster than we thought! We only got through one rotation of the activities. Oh well. Maybe next week!
Sabrina picked me up and we headed to Adelberg. On the way we stopped in Göppingen to do a couple quick errands. We picked up a gift certificate for a massage for Mama Binder's birthday. Then we went in search of a fabric store for me. There were a couple of crafty things I wanted to do. The store was a major bust though. They didn't have much fabric. Oh well. It can wait until I'm back in the states. We stopped at DM and picked up some things we needed. Then we grabbed lunch at the Weihnachtsmarkt. Why can't those be up year round? For reals though. The food is so yummy and cheap and quick to eat! Finally we headed home to Adelberg.
That night I got the devastating news that my mom had to put our cat down. And then about an hour after that I learned about the shooting in Conneticut. There will be a post about that soon.
 |
| My baby boy. I miss him so much. |
Saturday was a day of respite. Lazy day. Preparing for Sunday.
Sunday was Mama Binder's birthday. So people started arriving not too long after 10 am and stayed until about 4 pm. Sabi's cousins Nico and Tom were there. I got to meet some of her dad's side of the family too. It was a nice day. It makes me wish my family lived closer together. It's practically impossible to get us all together and completely impossible to get together as often as Sabi's family. But it helps that they all live within a half hour of each other...
Monday back we went to SG. Ready to go for the last week of classes before our 2 week Christmas break! Woo hoo!
Lots of love from Germany!
3.12-9.12: Gingerbread man, Mercedes Benz, Weihnachtsmarkt
Just another boring week in school :) But the end of the week got a little more fun!
The English lesson for my second graders this week was about the gingerbread man. Frau Jung had brought up this idea a few weeks before. The lesson this Friday was going to be working on vocab and reading the story. Bert and I were in charge or reading the story. Well Friday morning I received a message from Bert that he had a family emergency and wouldn't make it to class. Poor guy. (All was okay in the end. No worries people!)
So off I went to read the book solo! The kids were sad that Bert wasn't there but they got over it and were very excited for the English lesson. They are so much fun. They work so hard to remember those words and there were a lot of them! Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, flour, eggs, baking powder, old man, cow, horse, fox, old man, old lady, farm, oven, river. They did so well!
I read the story twice. Then switched to the other book Frau Jung had. We read that one twice. Then we talked about the differences between the stories. They actually caught a lot of them! I honestly didn't think they would understand so much! I set the bar waaaaaay too low for them. What little amazing sponges these kids are :)
After school I headed back to the Wohnheim to finish up a few things before I headed to Sabrina's for the weekend. Bert needed to borrow my bed again this weekend because he had another friend coming to visit. So I had to clean, change the sheets, pack, and I was finally finishing up Sabrina's birthday present. Her birthday was in August. Whoops. But it's hard when we are so far apart. And then I just never got around to it. But I got it done! I made her a big poster with pictures of the two of us and put a couple of cute sayings on it plus the TWO cards I had for her. One store bought, one hand made!
She picked me up and then we turned around to take the bus to go into town. She had to buy train tickets for our excursion the next day so we stopped there first. Then we went to Marktplatz to buy her some tights to keep warm tomorrow. We stopped at H&M, got tights, and then walked around the Weihnachtsmarkt. I really wasn't in the mood to hang around downtown but I didn't have much of a choice. A couple of her friends met us in town and they all went and had Glühwein. It's this warmed up wine pretty much. The Germans drink it at Christmas time. There is also a non-alcoholic kind (Kinderpunch) which is what Sabrina normally drinks due to the fact that she doesn't like wine normally. I didn't feel like having any. I really didn't feel like doing anything but curling up in bed. Don't know what was wrong with me that day. It happens though. Another friend came too. Sabrina saw I was kind of miserable and shaking because it was cold so she found us a spot in front of the fire. Not too long later we headed home and I went to bed right away hoping sleep would help me shake off the bad mood.
Saturday we (as in all of the Erasmus and tutors) were going to the Mercedes Benz museum and then to another Weihnachtsmarkt in Esslingen. A good 8 hours of sleep sadly did not help shake the bad mood. First thing that made me smile that day was Bert :) He was borrowing my room for the weekend and I realized I didn't have a good purse with me for Saturday. So in the morning I sent him a text begging him to bring me a specific purse. And he's a rockstar and did! :) There he was, on the bus, carrying a purse :) Love that kid!
We went to the train station and waited around for the train. I chatted with Christoph a little who I hadn't seen in what felt like ages. We all got on the PACKED train. Sabrina, Dayna, Bert (and his friend), Christoph, and I all stood together. It was a good train ride. Let's just say that by the time I got off the train my head was in a MUCH better place. We walked to the Mercedes Benz museum and waited outside while Sabrina bought the tickets.
Alas, inside we went to put away our coats and bags. I kept mine with me because it was just easier and I didn't really trust the big bin everyone was using...
We all got an audio tour thing to carry around. I got the kids version but in German. :) Sabrina, Christoph and I walked around together looking at everything. Cars aren't really my favorite thing. And neither is history. But it was nice to look at all the different things. If only all the walking didn't make my back hurt so stinking much! :/
Christoph was taking tons of pictures. Sabrina and I just walked and talked. Dayna found us at one point and joined our little group.
We got on the train (apparently the rest of the Erasmus students were on it too) and headed back to SG. When we got off we decided to go back to Marktplatz. I had some shopping I wanted to do and was finally in the mood to do it. Plus it was only like 5:30 or something like that. We started walking towards town and Bert and his friend followed us :) As we were walking Bert stopped. He had found a nice (and it looked practically brand new) smartphone in the snow! A couple of teenage boys claimed it was their friends but couldn't prove it. We decided to take it to the information center in Marktplatz if it was open. The boys came back with their friend on the phone who they claimed was the owner of the phone. The kid on the phone said it was his brother's phone. But once again couldn't even tell us the color or make of the phone. So sorry greedy boys. You aren't getting this phone! As we continued to walk the phone rang (just as I was saying we should look for a home contact or a mom or dad and call to let them know we have the phone). The name on the caller ID was Mama! She was so grateful we had found the phone and was at the Mexican restaurant just down the street. Bert and his friend had somewhere to be so Sabrina and I took it to the lady. Just to be sure we asked her a question about the phone and she got it right so we gave it to her. She was so happy she forced us to take 5 euro, no matter how much we said no. So we decided to give it to Bert and were on our way (finally) to Marktplatz.
So we went to H&M again where I found a couple of things for a couple of people back home (which I have yet to send. Not sure if I reeeeeally like what I bought....). We were cold and hungry and tired so we decided to go back to Sabrina's, pack the car and go to Adelberg.
The English lesson for my second graders this week was about the gingerbread man. Frau Jung had brought up this idea a few weeks before. The lesson this Friday was going to be working on vocab and reading the story. Bert and I were in charge or reading the story. Well Friday morning I received a message from Bert that he had a family emergency and wouldn't make it to class. Poor guy. (All was okay in the end. No worries people!)
So off I went to read the book solo! The kids were sad that Bert wasn't there but they got over it and were very excited for the English lesson. They are so much fun. They work so hard to remember those words and there were a lot of them! Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, flour, eggs, baking powder, old man, cow, horse, fox, old man, old lady, farm, oven, river. They did so well!
I read the story twice. Then switched to the other book Frau Jung had. We read that one twice. Then we talked about the differences between the stories. They actually caught a lot of them! I honestly didn't think they would understand so much! I set the bar waaaaaay too low for them. What little amazing sponges these kids are :)
After school I headed back to the Wohnheim to finish up a few things before I headed to Sabrina's for the weekend. Bert needed to borrow my bed again this weekend because he had another friend coming to visit. So I had to clean, change the sheets, pack, and I was finally finishing up Sabrina's birthday present. Her birthday was in August. Whoops. But it's hard when we are so far apart. And then I just never got around to it. But I got it done! I made her a big poster with pictures of the two of us and put a couple of cute sayings on it plus the TWO cards I had for her. One store bought, one hand made!
She picked me up and then we turned around to take the bus to go into town. She had to buy train tickets for our excursion the next day so we stopped there first. Then we went to Marktplatz to buy her some tights to keep warm tomorrow. We stopped at H&M, got tights, and then walked around the Weihnachtsmarkt. I really wasn't in the mood to hang around downtown but I didn't have much of a choice. A couple of her friends met us in town and they all went and had Glühwein. It's this warmed up wine pretty much. The Germans drink it at Christmas time. There is also a non-alcoholic kind (Kinderpunch) which is what Sabrina normally drinks due to the fact that she doesn't like wine normally. I didn't feel like having any. I really didn't feel like doing anything but curling up in bed. Don't know what was wrong with me that day. It happens though. Another friend came too. Sabrina saw I was kind of miserable and shaking because it was cold so she found us a spot in front of the fire. Not too long later we headed home and I went to bed right away hoping sleep would help me shake off the bad mood.
Saturday we (as in all of the Erasmus and tutors) were going to the Mercedes Benz museum and then to another Weihnachtsmarkt in Esslingen. A good 8 hours of sleep sadly did not help shake the bad mood. First thing that made me smile that day was Bert :) He was borrowing my room for the weekend and I realized I didn't have a good purse with me for Saturday. So in the morning I sent him a text begging him to bring me a specific purse. And he's a rockstar and did! :) There he was, on the bus, carrying a purse :) Love that kid!
We went to the train station and waited around for the train. I chatted with Christoph a little who I hadn't seen in what felt like ages. We all got on the PACKED train. Sabrina, Dayna, Bert (and his friend), Christoph, and I all stood together. It was a good train ride. Let's just say that by the time I got off the train my head was in a MUCH better place. We walked to the Mercedes Benz museum and waited outside while Sabrina bought the tickets.
We all got an audio tour thing to carry around. I got the kids version but in German. :) Sabrina, Christoph and I walked around together looking at everything. Cars aren't really my favorite thing. And neither is history. But it was nice to look at all the different things. If only all the walking didn't make my back hurt so stinking much! :/
Christoph was taking tons of pictures. Sabrina and I just walked and talked. Dayna found us at one point and joined our little group.
We had fun.
We finished walking through the museum and sat at the cafe downstairs to have a snack. Then we went back up to meet everyone else and then head to Esslingen. Once people got their ducks in a row (which took way too long for a bunch of college students) we were off to Esslingen. We got off the train in Esslingen, Sabrina told them when trains would take them back to SG, and off we all went in our little groups. Sabrina and I just stuck together. The Weihnachtsmarkt was huge! There were 2 parts: one normal and the other was medieval/middle age! It was cool. Sabrina got Glühwein (the real stuff this time!) and we walked around. I had a lot of people I was trying to find gifts for but nothing grabbed my attention. Bummer.
There were so many people it was hard to get any good pictures of anything. After about a half hour we were pretty much ready to head back to SG but had to wait almost an hour for a train. So we did a few more walk throughs, got food, and started walking back to the train station. But we STILL had time to kill. Plus it was cold. There was a small mall that we decided to pop into just to warm up and waste time. There was a huge Christmas tree inside where we snapped a few photos.
We finally headed to the train station but we were still early. So more pictures it was.
So we went to H&M again where I found a couple of things for a couple of people back home (which I have yet to send. Not sure if I reeeeeally like what I bought....). We were cold and hungry and tired so we decided to go back to Sabrina's, pack the car and go to Adelberg.
Another low key weekend for us. Just the way we like it :)
Lots of love from Germany!
26.11-2.12: Semester is 1/2 over and trip to Ulm
This week Herr Kornetta notified us the semester is half over. Whaaaaa?!?!?!? How did that happen so fast? It amazes me every day how fast time has flown! It feels like I have been here for a few weeks. But at the same time it feels like I've been here my whole life. Love and hate that mixture of feelings. Sabrina and I both agree this summer went by much slower. 8 weeks this summer seemed like a life time compared to how quickly the past few months have passed. I have been here for 8 weeks at this point, the same amount of time I was here this summer. It does not even come close to feeling like the same amount of time. I think a lot of it has to do with the routine I'm in. I go to school every day. I go to Adelberg on the weekends. It's pretty much the same day in and day out. This summer we went on trips and every week was different.
Anyway. This week was fairly laid back.
Friday was the big BW-Stipendium Jahrestreffen in Ulm. I know... translation please? I'll give you that AND an explanation. So I (along with a few other of the Erasmus students) am here on a scholarship. I still had to pay a good chunk of money (tuition for GV, plane ticket, etc) but the scholarship I have covers the rent for my room in the Wohnheim, my health insurance and then some. I may actually come home with extra money. That would more than thrill my father :) Well this scholarship (stipendium) came from the state (Baden Württemberg hence the BW). They hold a bi-yearly thank you event (Jahrestreffen) for all of the scholarship holders. This event was held in Ulm, a city not too far away. About an hour and a half from Schwäbisch Gmünd by train.
There were 5 of us from the PH that went to this event (Orsi, Mascha, Yulia, Dayna and myself). I haven't spent that much time with them, so getting this Friday afternoon/night together was nice.
I met them at the train station in SG after my praktikum. Bert and I had attempted to walk to Burger King (shout out to you Angela! :) ) and I just about made it there before Dayna let me know they were on their way to the train station. NUTS! Oh well. I don't need the fat and grease anyways.
We all got there, chatted for a bit, and then got on a train. It was so stinking cold! It was the first time I was wearing my big wool coat and I was still chilly! We stopped to get coffee and hot chocolate but I wasn't really in the mood. We had a tiny map that was of no help to us and had to ask a few people how to get to the convention cener where the whole thing was taking place. Eventually though we did make it. We shed our coats, signed in and quickly talked with Frau Becher. She was so happy we were all there. There were a few hundred of us packed into this tiny room. There wasn't anything to really eat or drink. It seemed like a real bust. There were different languages flying everywhere. It was almost overwhelming. I met a really nice guy from America and within moments of walking away, didn't seem him again, ha. Must have gotten swallowed by the crowd!
Suddenly there was this giant puppet person coming through the door. It was so weird, but totally cool too! It was made of a wicker like material and there were at least 5 guys making him move, plus the guy on the side making the music and noises. The "man" walked through the hall doing all this "cool" stuff (it was a giant wicker puppet. anything and everything it did was cool). Then it opened this giant door that lead to hallways and these big rooms. There was a room with chairs, tables, and a big stage. We all took a seat and the whole thing began. Not nearly as much of a bust as we thought! Well there were multiple speakers. Then there were 3 presentations. By the time all of the talking was done it had been 2 hours! We didn't think we would end up staying that long!
We were then dismissed to do any of the activities that were taking place in the convention center. The line for food grew instantly to an insane level. We decided to find a place to sit and wait until the line got a bit shorter. Dayna and I got something to drink at the bar and found a seat upstairs. There we met this really nice German guy who would be going to study in South America. We all chatted and had a nice time. Finally, Dayna and I got food. There were lots of traditional schwäbisch dishes. So delicious! We looked at the clock and scarfed down our food. Ulm had a big Christmas market up and we wanted to go see it before heading back; and I had a specific time I wanted to take the train. We had just under 45 minutes to go to the market before my train left. We walked through the main area of Ulm, took some pictures, but by the time we got to the market it was time for me to go to the train station. The other girls decided they were going to stay another hour so I headed back alone. I found my train (and triple checked to make sure it was the right one) and headed to Göppingen to spend the weekend with Sabrina. She was there to pick me up and we had a normal, low-key weekend.
Lots of love from Germany!
Anyway. This week was fairly laid back.
Friday was the big BW-Stipendium Jahrestreffen in Ulm. I know... translation please? I'll give you that AND an explanation. So I (along with a few other of the Erasmus students) am here on a scholarship. I still had to pay a good chunk of money (tuition for GV, plane ticket, etc) but the scholarship I have covers the rent for my room in the Wohnheim, my health insurance and then some. I may actually come home with extra money. That would more than thrill my father :) Well this scholarship (stipendium) came from the state (Baden Württemberg hence the BW). They hold a bi-yearly thank you event (Jahrestreffen) for all of the scholarship holders. This event was held in Ulm, a city not too far away. About an hour and a half from Schwäbisch Gmünd by train.
There were 5 of us from the PH that went to this event (Orsi, Mascha, Yulia, Dayna and myself). I haven't spent that much time with them, so getting this Friday afternoon/night together was nice.
I met them at the train station in SG after my praktikum. Bert and I had attempted to walk to Burger King (shout out to you Angela! :) ) and I just about made it there before Dayna let me know they were on their way to the train station. NUTS! Oh well. I don't need the fat and grease anyways.
We all got there, chatted for a bit, and then got on a train. It was so stinking cold! It was the first time I was wearing my big wool coat and I was still chilly! We stopped to get coffee and hot chocolate but I wasn't really in the mood. We had a tiny map that was of no help to us and had to ask a few people how to get to the convention cener where the whole thing was taking place. Eventually though we did make it. We shed our coats, signed in and quickly talked with Frau Becher. She was so happy we were all there. There were a few hundred of us packed into this tiny room. There wasn't anything to really eat or drink. It seemed like a real bust. There were different languages flying everywhere. It was almost overwhelming. I met a really nice guy from America and within moments of walking away, didn't seem him again, ha. Must have gotten swallowed by the crowd!
Suddenly there was this giant puppet person coming through the door. It was so weird, but totally cool too! It was made of a wicker like material and there were at least 5 guys making him move, plus the guy on the side making the music and noises. The "man" walked through the hall doing all this "cool" stuff (it was a giant wicker puppet. anything and everything it did was cool). Then it opened this giant door that lead to hallways and these big rooms. There was a room with chairs, tables, and a big stage. We all took a seat and the whole thing began. Not nearly as much of a bust as we thought! Well there were multiple speakers. Then there were 3 presentations. By the time all of the talking was done it had been 2 hours! We didn't think we would end up staying that long!
We were then dismissed to do any of the activities that were taking place in the convention center. The line for food grew instantly to an insane level. We decided to find a place to sit and wait until the line got a bit shorter. Dayna and I got something to drink at the bar and found a seat upstairs. There we met this really nice German guy who would be going to study in South America. We all chatted and had a nice time. Finally, Dayna and I got food. There were lots of traditional schwäbisch dishes. So delicious! We looked at the clock and scarfed down our food. Ulm had a big Christmas market up and we wanted to go see it before heading back; and I had a specific time I wanted to take the train. We had just under 45 minutes to go to the market before my train left. We walked through the main area of Ulm, took some pictures, but by the time we got to the market it was time for me to go to the train station. The other girls decided they were going to stay another hour so I headed back alone. I found my train (and triple checked to make sure it was the right one) and headed to Göppingen to spend the weekend with Sabrina. She was there to pick me up and we had a normal, low-key weekend.
Lots of love from Germany!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
19.11-25.11: Thanksgiving, a birthday, and a reunion in Stuttgart!
I pretty much spent the entire week at Sabrina's. Don't know why. It just kind of happened. I had so much stuff at her place I would have needed her to drive me home to get it all back. So it was just easier to stay at her apartment :)
This week I had 2 presentations to give. Terrifying. Both were in German. One was for my German language class. We had to present on a country. I chose France because... I don't really know why. I just felt like it wouldn't be too difficult. The presentation went fine. I wanted to die (even though there are 5 of us in the class and I'm friends with all of them...). But I survived. The other presentation was the next day. Dayna and I presented together to our family structure and socialization class. We talked about the big differences between American and German families. The class was really really nice about the whole thing. No matter how many times we stumbled (okay... I stumbled) or the countless errors we must have made, they were extremely respectful. I will talk about the presentation, and the big things we talked about in another post. There's a lot to say about it all :)
Thursday was Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a rough day, knowing my family and friends were all home enjoying time together. But honestly it wasn't that bad. Everyone at home kept asking if I had a good day, and truth be told, it was only another Thursday. Nothing was different about it. Dayna and I were going to try to cook a "Thanksgiving meal" to our best abilities, but it was just too much work, effort, and not the most cost friendly meal in the world. I will have many more Thanksgivings to come, so I'm really not that worried about missing out on one. Besides... I'm studying abroad in Germany. That beats Thanksgiving just about any day!
This weekend when we went home to Adelberg, it was packed full of fun!
Saturday morning Sabrina had to go into Stuttgart for her biology class. She had been gone the night before too for a reunion with the people she went to France with this summer. I spent the morning being lazy and then getting ready for a birthday party.
Saturday was Sabrina's youngest cousin's, Nico, 8th birthday! The way birthdays work here is way different. But that's a whole different post!
We spent the entire afternoon and evening at her aunt and uncle's house celebrating Nico. He got a ton of Legos and ran up to his room to start working on them. There weren't many people our age there, so Sabrina and I just went up to hang with the kiddos. Tom, her other young cousin, is 12. Then there is Nico who is 8. There were 2 little girls there too, but they are just family friends. The four kids, Sabrina and me worked on building all of Nico's new lego star wars ships. Brought me back to when my brother was younger!
Sorry, back from my trip down memory lane... Where were we? Oh yeah, we were helping Nico build his legos. Kid has soooo many! And he got soooo many more! He was in total birthday bliss.
Nico gave Sabrina one of the bows from his presents and told her she was now a princess. Why does she get to be a princess and I don't? So unfair...
There were multiple kinds of cake and coffee. Then we spent time building legos with the kids. Then we played Uno Attack with the kids and another one of Sabrina's cousins, Kim, who is a few years older than Sabrina. Uno got interrupted by dinner (sausages, bread, salads). After dinner we went back up to the kids rooms, where there were pillow fights, more games, and rummikub. We left around 10 pm. Man. A loooong day.
Sunday I woke up and got ready. I was going to Stuttgart to spend the day with Marianne Jozsi. We've known each other for practically forever! Our parents have worked together for quite some time now. She was studying in London and her and her flatmate decided to spend a weekend in Germany! How fun! She was flying out of Stuttgart and had a few hours on Sunday to meet up before her flight. I found her and her flatmate Sarah at the train station. Because it was Sunday, none of the hundreds of shops in Stuttgart were open. Bummer, no shopping today. We walked around, decided we were hungry and found this cute little restaurant to eat at. I had texted Sabrina asking where was a good place in Stuttgart to get a traditional Schwäbisch meal and she sent the name and location of a place. It was actually the restaurant we had just passed! So that was where we decided to get some grub. It might have been a little pricey, but getting a great meal was totally worth it. Marianne got Käsespätzle, Sarah got Wienerschnitzel, and I got a whole plate of different things, the best part was the Maultaschen. Oh my. To. Die. For.
After our late lunch, we kept walking and found a Starbucks. We each got a little something and then found a bench to sit and chat. After about an hour we decided it would be best to head back to the train station so the girls could get to the airport to catch a flight, and I could head back to Schorndorf so Sabrina could pick me up. By the time we got there I had all of a few minutes to catch my train! I briskly walked the track and hopped on the train right before the doors closed and it pulled away. It took me a moment to realize that the train had left 3 minutes early. At first I didn't think anything of it, until we came to our first stop and it dawned on me I was most likely on the wrong train! Gah! What was I going to do? I texted Sabrina in a panic. At the next stop I was able to see the sign saying where the train was going, and the major stops it would make. One of the city names stood out to me... Göppingen.... Göppingen... Wait! That was close to Adelberg! The other side of the mountain. Schorndorf is on one side, and Göppingen is on the other. I texted Sabrina letting her know the train would be going to Göppingen and could she pretty pretty please pick me up from there? Of course she said yes. Phew. Bless her heart. In the end it was fine. I figured out that the train I was supposed to be on came right after the one I had gotten on left. But it all worked out fine.
Crazy busy but fun weekend!
Lots of love from Germany!
This week I had 2 presentations to give. Terrifying. Both were in German. One was for my German language class. We had to present on a country. I chose France because... I don't really know why. I just felt like it wouldn't be too difficult. The presentation went fine. I wanted to die (even though there are 5 of us in the class and I'm friends with all of them...). But I survived. The other presentation was the next day. Dayna and I presented together to our family structure and socialization class. We talked about the big differences between American and German families. The class was really really nice about the whole thing. No matter how many times we stumbled (okay... I stumbled) or the countless errors we must have made, they were extremely respectful. I will talk about the presentation, and the big things we talked about in another post. There's a lot to say about it all :)
Thursday was Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a rough day, knowing my family and friends were all home enjoying time together. But honestly it wasn't that bad. Everyone at home kept asking if I had a good day, and truth be told, it was only another Thursday. Nothing was different about it. Dayna and I were going to try to cook a "Thanksgiving meal" to our best abilities, but it was just too much work, effort, and not the most cost friendly meal in the world. I will have many more Thanksgivings to come, so I'm really not that worried about missing out on one. Besides... I'm studying abroad in Germany. That beats Thanksgiving just about any day!
This weekend when we went home to Adelberg, it was packed full of fun!
Saturday morning Sabrina had to go into Stuttgart for her biology class. She had been gone the night before too for a reunion with the people she went to France with this summer. I spent the morning being lazy and then getting ready for a birthday party.
Saturday was Sabrina's youngest cousin's, Nico, 8th birthday! The way birthdays work here is way different. But that's a whole different post!
We spent the entire afternoon and evening at her aunt and uncle's house celebrating Nico. He got a ton of Legos and ran up to his room to start working on them. There weren't many people our age there, so Sabrina and I just went up to hang with the kiddos. Tom, her other young cousin, is 12. Then there is Nico who is 8. There were 2 little girls there too, but they are just family friends. The four kids, Sabrina and me worked on building all of Nico's new lego star wars ships. Brought me back to when my brother was younger!
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| Me, 13, and John, 8, in Bad Nauheim summer 2005 |
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| He can't be more than 2 years old here. Look at those chunky cheeks!! |
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| Why can't he still be this cute?!? |
Nico gave Sabrina one of the bows from his presents and told her she was now a princess. Why does she get to be a princess and I don't? So unfair...
Sunday I woke up and got ready. I was going to Stuttgart to spend the day with Marianne Jozsi. We've known each other for practically forever! Our parents have worked together for quite some time now. She was studying in London and her and her flatmate decided to spend a weekend in Germany! How fun! She was flying out of Stuttgart and had a few hours on Sunday to meet up before her flight. I found her and her flatmate Sarah at the train station. Because it was Sunday, none of the hundreds of shops in Stuttgart were open. Bummer, no shopping today. We walked around, decided we were hungry and found this cute little restaurant to eat at. I had texted Sabrina asking where was a good place in Stuttgart to get a traditional Schwäbisch meal and she sent the name and location of a place. It was actually the restaurant we had just passed! So that was where we decided to get some grub. It might have been a little pricey, but getting a great meal was totally worth it. Marianne got Käsespätzle, Sarah got Wienerschnitzel, and I got a whole plate of different things, the best part was the Maultaschen. Oh my. To. Die. For.
After our late lunch, we kept walking and found a Starbucks. We each got a little something and then found a bench to sit and chat. After about an hour we decided it would be best to head back to the train station so the girls could get to the airport to catch a flight, and I could head back to Schorndorf so Sabrina could pick me up. By the time we got there I had all of a few minutes to catch my train! I briskly walked the track and hopped on the train right before the doors closed and it pulled away. It took me a moment to realize that the train had left 3 minutes early. At first I didn't think anything of it, until we came to our first stop and it dawned on me I was most likely on the wrong train! Gah! What was I going to do? I texted Sabrina in a panic. At the next stop I was able to see the sign saying where the train was going, and the major stops it would make. One of the city names stood out to me... Göppingen.... Göppingen... Wait! That was close to Adelberg! The other side of the mountain. Schorndorf is on one side, and Göppingen is on the other. I texted Sabrina letting her know the train would be going to Göppingen and could she pretty pretty please pick me up from there? Of course she said yes. Phew. Bless her heart. In the end it was fine. I figured out that the train I was supposed to be on came right after the one I had gotten on left. But it all worked out fine.
Crazy busy but fun weekend!
Lots of love from Germany!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
12.11-18.11: Laid back week and an English lesson!
Well this week was pretty much as boring as it gets! There was a party at the PH on Wednesday. Sabrina and I had tickets to go, but by the time Wednesday came neither of us really felt like going anymore. Sabrina needed to work on her thesis. Dayna wasn't going. Bert was going later. My friend Sarah didn't get a ticket in time. I was bummed that everyone that I was hoping to see wasn't going (except for you Anne :) ). So I spent the night in my room, doing homework, watching a movie, just relaxing.
On Friday, Bert and I had our English lesson! We had planned it all out on Wednesday morning, so by Friday we were ready to go! We got to the school, greeted the kids and waited for Frau Jung to get there. Poor thing looked absolutely awful and she felt worse than she looked. She had some kind of stomach bug. She spent the duration of our time there either laying on the couch in the reading corner or running to the bathroom. Sorry if that was too graphic. Poor thing was miserable. For the first lesson she had the kids finish up their weekly activities: math, reading, writing, spelling, etc. Then it was Bert and my turn to teach! Ah! So exciting!
Bert and I had chosen about 10 words to teach the kids. They were simple words: dog, cat, bird, mouse, owl, frog, squirrel, run, sleep, cold. Frau Jung had a squirrel puppet we used to act out some of the words. The kids loved it! They laughed and laughed. After Bert introduced the words, the kids had to say it back to us a few times. Then we would pick a couple of kids to recite the word individually. They were adorable.
After the two of us and introduced and revisited the words a few times each, we moved on to a game to reinforce the words. We had pictures for each word hung up on the board. We had two kids come up to the board, their back to the pictures. We had a kid from the peanut gallery say a word, and the two at the board had to find it. It was fun watching them scramble trying to find the picture that went along with the word. They did way better than I thought they would! They are like crazy little sponges! It was great.
After everyone had a turn, we had them come sit down in "Kinositz" so like theater seating. A row of kids in chairs and a row of kids sitting on carpet squares, this way everyone can see the small board book. We ended up reading the story 2 or 3 times. They loved it :) I loved it. IT WAS AWESOME! Honestly. After today, I know teaching is 100% what I want to do. I love it.
Sabrina and I usually head to Adelberg after my internship on Fridays, but this week was different. Sabrina was taking a CPR/first aid class Friday and Saturday so we didn't get to go home until Saturday afternoon. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning cleaning, putting some finishing touches on the decor (not that I'll ever be done....). I was getting the room ready for Bert to use that weekend. He had a friend visiting and needed to borrow my room that weekend and possibly a little into the week.
My room was finally up to the standards of me taking pictures.
That's all from that week!
Lots of love from Germany!!!
On Friday, Bert and I had our English lesson! We had planned it all out on Wednesday morning, so by Friday we were ready to go! We got to the school, greeted the kids and waited for Frau Jung to get there. Poor thing looked absolutely awful and she felt worse than she looked. She had some kind of stomach bug. She spent the duration of our time there either laying on the couch in the reading corner or running to the bathroom. Sorry if that was too graphic. Poor thing was miserable. For the first lesson she had the kids finish up their weekly activities: math, reading, writing, spelling, etc. Then it was Bert and my turn to teach! Ah! So exciting!
Bert and I had chosen about 10 words to teach the kids. They were simple words: dog, cat, bird, mouse, owl, frog, squirrel, run, sleep, cold. Frau Jung had a squirrel puppet we used to act out some of the words. The kids loved it! They laughed and laughed. After Bert introduced the words, the kids had to say it back to us a few times. Then we would pick a couple of kids to recite the word individually. They were adorable.
After the two of us and introduced and revisited the words a few times each, we moved on to a game to reinforce the words. We had pictures for each word hung up on the board. We had two kids come up to the board, their back to the pictures. We had a kid from the peanut gallery say a word, and the two at the board had to find it. It was fun watching them scramble trying to find the picture that went along with the word. They did way better than I thought they would! They are like crazy little sponges! It was great.
After everyone had a turn, we had them come sit down in "Kinositz" so like theater seating. A row of kids in chairs and a row of kids sitting on carpet squares, this way everyone can see the small board book. We ended up reading the story 2 or 3 times. They loved it :) I loved it. IT WAS AWESOME! Honestly. After today, I know teaching is 100% what I want to do. I love it.
Sabrina and I usually head to Adelberg after my internship on Fridays, but this week was different. Sabrina was taking a CPR/first aid class Friday and Saturday so we didn't get to go home until Saturday afternoon. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning cleaning, putting some finishing touches on the decor (not that I'll ever be done....). I was getting the room ready for Bert to use that weekend. He had a friend visiting and needed to borrow my room that weekend and possibly a little into the week.
My room was finally up to the standards of me taking pictures.
Lots of love from Germany!!!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Where to start...
Where do I start? I have so much catching up to do! There are so many different things I have to say, so many events, days, activities, experiences to talk about. AH! It's been a great couple of months. I have done a lot of thinking. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I'll pick up where I left off.
06.11-11.11
This week was... well... just another week for the most part. Class in the afternoon/evening on Tuesday. Class at night on Wednesday. Class all day Thursday. The big event of the week was the start of ashort lived tradition, but nonetheless tradition. I don't know if I had mentioned it before, but I have become a part of a small, fairly close knit group of friends. Bert (aka Bertrand, he's from Belgium), Dayna (from the USofA, and GVSU), Sabrina (y'all know her by now), and myself got fairly close fairly quickly. We had lunch together in the Mensa one day and ended up sitting at a very wobbly table, which was soon deemed as an unstable table. Then at the bar crawl, we were all together and decided to make an official name for our little group. Only thing that seemed to suit us and our crazy personalities was "The Unstable Table". With a facebook group made that night, it became official. We were the unstable table. It's catchy. Say it a couple of times and try NOT to smile. I dare you.
Anyway... So the unstable table decided to start a little tradition. We went out Thursday after our classes. There is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Gmünd that we had heard many good things about. So we decided to try it out. We got lucky. Thursday nights you get to roll a die for the price of your cocktail (and no matter what you roll it is cheaper than a regular priced cocktail). The four of us sat down, and each got a drink. Sabrina and I had checked the menu online earlier that day. My mouth was watering before we even sat down I was so excited for this food! We both ordered strawberry margaritas, but I was the lucky one to roll a 1 :)
We ordered appetizers and enough food for a small army. And it was all superb, delicious, wonderful. Can I say much more? We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
Please excuse the god-awful lighting in those pictures. Even trying to edit them didn't make it any better....
We headed back to the Wohnheim for more drinks and a game night. We played some of my favorite games. We laughed and laughed. We have a pretty awesome time together. It was a great end to a great night.
The next day was Friday. Friday is when I do my praktikum. This week I went to my new school, where Bert (and two of the Turkish girls) were doing their praktikum. I was excited to be with friends and to be into a classroom where I would have an opportunity to teach English! Upon arrival I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was hoping it would be a little better than my last school. And boy was it! This new school is a dream! I LOVE the teacher, Frau Jung. She's young, enthusiastic, and so much fun! She was so excited to have me there! It was adorable, I gotta admit :)
The kids started to filter in soon after we got there. They were excited to see someone new in the classroom! We didn't get to help out much that day because the kids had to take a test. I walked around the room and tried to help them a little (not too much obviously, it was a test!). As I did that, I started to learn names, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The kids were great.
In the middle of class, Frau Jung came up to Bert and me asking us if we wanted to do an English lesson the next week. We exchanged glances and immediately said YES! She handed us a book, explaining they were talking about fall, squirrels, etc. She said we could read the story, or do vocabulary, plan a game, whatever we wanted. She left us to discuss and Bert and I threw together a quick, very vague plan. When she came back to talk to us about it again, we told her we would love to introduce the vocab, play some vocab games with the kids, and read the story. She got a wide-eyed look and big smile on her face! She was so excited that we were willing to do so much!
At the end of the lesson, Frau Jung had the kids all bring their chairs and sit in a circle, including all of us "students". She wanted us to introduce ourselves to the kids. So around the circle we went, each of us older students introducing ourselves and answering the kids questions. They asked where we lived, when our birthday was, and so many other questions. It was really quite adorable. They are so much fun :) One of the boys even asked me a question in English. I was impressed.
After class, Bert and I chatted with Frau Jung as she made a copy of the book we would use for our English lesson next week. She is such a sweet person! I love her already! :) It's going to be a great semester with her and these kiddos each Friday!
Well that's about it for that week. On to the next!
Lots of love from Germany!
06.11-11.11
This week was... well... just another week for the most part. Class in the afternoon/evening on Tuesday. Class at night on Wednesday. Class all day Thursday. The big event of the week was the start of a
 |
| The Unstable Table |
Anyway... So the unstable table decided to start a little tradition. We went out Thursday after our classes. There is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Gmünd that we had heard many good things about. So we decided to try it out. We got lucky. Thursday nights you get to roll a die for the price of your cocktail (and no matter what you roll it is cheaper than a regular priced cocktail). The four of us sat down, and each got a drink. Sabrina and I had checked the menu online earlier that day. My mouth was watering before we even sat down I was so excited for this food! We both ordered strawberry margaritas, but I was the lucky one to roll a 1 :)
We ordered appetizers and enough food for a small army. And it was all superb, delicious, wonderful. Can I say much more? We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
We headed back to the Wohnheim for more drinks and a game night. We played some of my favorite games. We laughed and laughed. We have a pretty awesome time together. It was a great end to a great night.
The next day was Friday. Friday is when I do my praktikum. This week I went to my new school, where Bert (and two of the Turkish girls) were doing their praktikum. I was excited to be with friends and to be into a classroom where I would have an opportunity to teach English! Upon arrival I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was hoping it would be a little better than my last school. And boy was it! This new school is a dream! I LOVE the teacher, Frau Jung. She's young, enthusiastic, and so much fun! She was so excited to have me there! It was adorable, I gotta admit :)
The kids started to filter in soon after we got there. They were excited to see someone new in the classroom! We didn't get to help out much that day because the kids had to take a test. I walked around the room and tried to help them a little (not too much obviously, it was a test!). As I did that, I started to learn names, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The kids were great.
In the middle of class, Frau Jung came up to Bert and me asking us if we wanted to do an English lesson the next week. We exchanged glances and immediately said YES! She handed us a book, explaining they were talking about fall, squirrels, etc. She said we could read the story, or do vocabulary, plan a game, whatever we wanted. She left us to discuss and Bert and I threw together a quick, very vague plan. When she came back to talk to us about it again, we told her we would love to introduce the vocab, play some vocab games with the kids, and read the story. She got a wide-eyed look and big smile on her face! She was so excited that we were willing to do so much!
At the end of the lesson, Frau Jung had the kids all bring their chairs and sit in a circle, including all of us "students". She wanted us to introduce ourselves to the kids. So around the circle we went, each of us older students introducing ourselves and answering the kids questions. They asked where we lived, when our birthday was, and so many other questions. It was really quite adorable. They are so much fun :) One of the boys even asked me a question in English. I was impressed.
After class, Bert and I chatted with Frau Jung as she made a copy of the book we would use for our English lesson next week. She is such a sweet person! I love her already! :) It's going to be a great semester with her and these kiddos each Friday!
Well that's about it for that week. On to the next!
Lots of love from Germany!
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