My Host Family...

...is great!

I figured since I've been with them for almost a month now, I should probably tell you about my home life here in Germany.

If there is one word to describe them, it's "relaxed."
The second word would be "funny." They love to poke fun at eachother and have a good laugh, and if you know me, you know that I love that.

I have a host mother, host father, and a 17 year old host sister. My host sister and I get along fine, and we have a few similar interests, which is always good. The really have done an incredible job making me feel welcome and at home since the very first day. 

Last Monday, we went to this big family gathering for a relative's birthday. I didn't feel uncomfortable or out of place at all. I was included in conversations, and everyone was really friendly. I really felt like I was at a family gathering. Then on Thursday and Saturday, we had two other birthday parties of family friends. I met so many other people. I'm basically a professional at introducing myself and answering the standard questions everyone asks (where I'm from, how long have I been here/will be here for, do I like Germany, do I speak German, etc.). Of course, each person has something specific they want to know, and I have to say my favorite question was "So what do the Americans say about the Germans?" I wasn't expecting that, but I answered. Then I threw the question back at him and wanted to know what Germans say about Americans. I'm pretty sure the answers won't surprise anyone, but they said that we're fat and have no general knowledge... 

These were also great opportunities to speak German, and I've been noticing lately that I've been speaking a lot more. 

My host family has been great with helping me learn as well. They speak slowly when they're talking directly to me, but I'm usually able to follow their conversations with each other. My host sister speaks English, so she is also really helpful when I don't know a word that I want to say or I don't understand something. If I'm being honest, we probably speak too much English when it's just us two, but I'm working on that. 

On Fridays and Saturdays, I either do something with my family or hang out with friends. Sundays are interesting though because it's part of German culture to not be so active on Sundays. It's actually really great because I never have to worry about when I'm going to have time to study German and do schoolwork because that is what Sunday is for. I sleep in, relax, have a big meal (lunch), do homework (or anything else I must do), paint my nails (it has become a weekly ritual), have "Kaffee und Kuchen" (coffee and cake) at about 4 or 5 with my grandparents, get ready for the week, have a small dinner, hang out with the host family, then go to bed. As mellow as Sundays sound, I would say it's the most productive day of the week for me. 

On Saturday I went to Berlin with my host sister and a couple of her friends to go winter clothes shopping. It's 55 degrees here and only September; needless to say I needed to buy a winter coat and winter boots. 

Next Friday is a national holiday, so we have a three day weekend. We're hosting a barbecue for our friends, family, and neighbors; it should be a lot of fun. On Saturday, we're going to Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, the state I live in. It's supposed to be really beautiful, and it has tons of things to do. 

Two pieces of unrelated, yet very exciting, news. First, I made it into the newspaper! I went to this cultural event for small children about Asia and Austrailia with a few other kids from school, and we learned some Chinese calligraphy. We ended up in the newspaper! Second, in two weeks I leave to go on a school trip to Brussels, Belgium!!! Then two days later, I have two weeks of fall break! The first week my host family and I are going to the Baltic Sea for vacation! Then about a month or so after that, I'm going to Izmir, Turkey also with my school. This trip, unlike the Brussels trip that is "touristy", is apparently a research trip. I honestly have no clue what I am doing there, I'm just going for the experience *said literally every exchange student ever* In all seriousness though, we have a sister school there, so we're staying with host families for the week. Could this be considered a meta-exchange? An exchange student on exchange in Germany going on a short exchange to Turkey...?

Anyways, I've heard Izmir is beautiful and the trip is a lot of fun! 

Just a bear casually wearing Lederhosen...

Middle of the night in Sacramento when I walked past the World Time Clock. 

Anything blue and white means it has to do with Bavaria (southern Germany), which equals Okterbfest.

We walked past this spot at around 11:15 am from the metro station and there was a man simply writing words on the sidewalk with chalk. When we were walking back to the metro station at around 5, this is what it looked like. The best part is, he was still going at it. I would have loved to know what more he was adding to the picture. 

Hey look, it's me!

Daily Routine

I could easily say my daily life is about 75% less hectic than that in the US. That is okay with me, and I am keeping myself busy here. 

This is just a general overview of how my weekday is spent, but of course some days I do way more than others.

6:00 wake up

6:45 leave for school

7:30 school starts (it's funny because in Spain this is the time I woke up, and here it's when school starts)

2:00 arrive home from school

2:00-6:00 this is the time I get done whatever I need to get done: blog writing, journal writing, homework, reading, college applications, relaxing. At least one hour during this time is devoted to learning German. Other times I run errands and go grocery shopping with my host mom. 

6:00 dinner

7:30-9:30 watch TV with my host family or read

I'm usually asleep by 10pm

My host dad drives my host sister and me to school everyday, which is about 15-20 minutes away. I take the bus home, which is a public transportation bus and not exclusively a "school bus." The ride is about 30-35 minutes, and I love it. It's peaceful for me to just sit there, look out the window, and listen to music. The walk home is cool because I go through an actual forest, and it smells like pine. 

Maybe once or twice a week I take a 1 hour nap (thanks to Spain). Wednesdays I have volleyball practice, and I get home at about 5:30. Maybe once or twice a week I go running to this hill in my village. When you look out from the top of the hill there is basically nothing, but it's still pretty. 

I live in a very small village, so of course it takes time to adapt. However, I'm getting used to how everything is here. 

In unrelated news, over the weekend I tried baking chocolate chip cookies with a few friends, and they only came out okay. Brown sugar and vanilla extract are different things here than in America; however, I tried it out anyways. The cookies tasted like sugar. I'll probably bake them again, and I'm sure with a few adjustments, they'll be better. It was fun to do, though. My friends and host family didn't think they were that terrible. Given the German way, though, they would tell me if they didn't like them.

Shannon

Stream of Consciousness

I had 75% of this post written yesterday, but of course I didn't save it. This means I have to start from scratch, and I don't have that much time to write it. It's not like I have that much motivation to rewrite everything, either. Who knows how much quality this post will be. 

Things are still great here! 

I basically just have a little bit to say about many different things; here I go. 

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post about school was the amazing fact that I end school on April 23rd!!! The 12th grade has their university exams at that time, and the grades they get essentially determine where and what they can study. It's a big deal, and it makes taking the SAT not so bad. I'm not sure how many days the exams stretch over, though. 

I am noticing that I am learning and understanding more and more German everyday. Although, at school, I am understanding different teachers at different rates based on their speech style and speed. 

On Friday, I had my first German lessen with a teacher at school. She teaches Latin and Russian, but she is Ukrainian so German isn't her first language either. To asses my current knowledge, she asked me tons of questions about me, where I'm from, why I'm in Germany, my family, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was able to say. Even if my pronunciation makes ears want to bleed and my sentence structure is out of whack, at least I can get my point across and that's something!

That night I went the birthday party of a friend from school, where I also impressed myself with how much German I spoke. Everyone is so understanding, encouraging, and patient with my learning. I mean, I strive for the level of patience these people have.

The fun game with learning languages is that I have had to learn how to take whatever I want to express and find different ways of saying it because of limited vocabulary. For example, if I don't know 1 crucial word then I may need to use 10 words I do know to describe it. That's good though because then I have reenforced 10 words and learned a new one! 

One thing I have found interesting is that I have been asked a lot of these types of questions: "What is it like listening to German?" or "Do you like the sound of German?" They must be very aware of the fact that some people think German sounds harsh to listen to. Here is what I have noticed, though. As I am understanding more, German sounds more like words with actual meaning rather than random sounds being propeled towards my ears. Another thing, German really doesn't sound as angry as people think it sounds, it just doesn't necessarily have a nice flow to it.  

I had my first volleyball practice on Wednesday. Let's just say that within 10 minutes, I remembered why I only played for 1 year in middle school. I'm not really a huge fan of the sport, but I'm going to stick with it. 

I pretty much have no complaints.

Actually that's a lie.. The weather is difficult to deal with, but shockingly not because it's too cold for me. It's because the weather temperature changes drastically 10 times throughout the day. In California, it's either hot or "cold" (because we all know in Sacramento it doesn't really get cold). I also think it's unfair to have thunderstorms in September, but maybe that's just me. 

On Saturday, my host family and I were planning on going on this bike ride through villages. However, the weather was bad so we ended up driving through them and then going out to lunch. 

I only have a couple photos from the excursion (sorry guys, I'm not a big photographer). The first two are of villages, (nothing I could do about the cars in the way). Nothing too special about them except that it's not really what America looks like. The cool thing was that to get from one to the other you had to cross the river. The only way to do that was by ferry, which can take cars, too! For the third, my host sister just called out my name, I looked up, then she shouted "Smile!" I really like the photo, and as it shows, I'm a happy American living in Germany. 

First week of school

Let me get straight to the point with what this post elaborates on: school is fantastic! 

The original plan was for me to join the 11th grade and on the first day I was to pick my classes to get my schedule. But things never really do go according to plan, do they? The woman who does the scheduling wasn't there Monday morning (but came later), so I went to my host sister's classes for most the day (Vanessa is in the 11th grade). Later on, I was able to choose my classes. I didn't know that this was going to happen when I chose my classes, but then when she handled me my schedule my the classes I had chosen, I immediately noticed that on Mondays and Tuesdays I finish at 1:15 and on Thursdays I'm done at 12. Every week. It's quite wonderful. This Wednesday after school I'm starting volleyball, which I'm very excited for. I can't explain enough how kind, supportive, patient, and welcoming everyone in my class and my teachers are. The Germans I've met here defy the stereotype that they're cold and shy. I'm really happy that they decided to put me in the twelfth grade. 

Because I don't really have homework, after school I study German for at least an hour. It sounds boring, but believe it or not, I love studying. I try to make it fun, too. I'll listen to a German song I like then translate it or create games that will help me learn word genders (my biggest problem). It doesn't feel like it is making a difference but Vanessa says she has noticed major improvement, so that makes me happy. I also usually journal, work on college apps/essays, and simply relax after school. 

Here's an interesting story: At the end of what was my first music class, the teacher was asking people to say one thing they had learned that day. I didn't think he would call on me, but he did (I'd like to remind you that I try to remain mute and unnoticed in my classes). Somehow my brain registered him asking me "Did you understand the lesson today," and I responded matter of factly with "No." The class was silent for a few moments, and the teacher looks a little stunned. Then he smirks and says "Um, okay..." The class proceeds to bust up laughing while I have an internal panic attack. Turns out the teacher was also asking me to state something I learned in class and I had given a flat out "no." My internal panic attack converted into an external one because I just disrespected a teacher (on my first day nonetheless), and I wasn't exactly able to explain to him my confusion because of the language barrier I'm dealing with. Everyone assured me it was okay, and the teacher is a cool guy so he wasn't offended. 

These are the courses I'm in:

PE- We're doing our first unit in Judo, which is super cool and a new thing for me to try! Also, the PE classes are separated by gender, which I thought was a bit interesting.

Biology- I'm pretty sure the teacher pities me, which is fine. I just kinda chill towards back with my German dictionary and look up words. Although, I can understand my biology teacher best out of all my teachers so I can pick up a lot of what she's saying!

English- This class is intense for a foreign language class. However, on Fridays I have German lessons with a teacher instead of going to English

German- I can already tell my German teacher is going to be my favorite (it's funny how in Spain my Spanish teacher was also my favorite). He doesn't speak a word of English, but he is so energetic my brain just really wants to comprehend what he says. We analyze poems in class, and I translate them to build my vocabulary at home.

History- I also think I'm really going to like this class and the teacher. I've been told I was put in an advanced history class, so it's harder and they meet more times a week.

Geography- It's a chill class, we only meet once a week. I pretty much just study the atlas in class.

Math- My textbook says "Analytical Geometry and Linear Alegra." I'll understand the the first 15 min of the lesson then it gets into unknown territory. 

French- French isn't really learned in this class, which is kinda annoying because I was hoping to actually improve my French here. My teacher is more of a "let's talk about culture and experience and languages" type of person rather than learn from a book, which I can appreciate. 

Political Science- I really wish I had this class more than once a week. I can't understand a single word this man mutters. He legitimately looks and speaks like Santa Claus. It's a small class and mostly guys. While they talk about who knows what, I look all the polices cartoons in the textbook. 

Music- This isn't really a goof around class. People in the class actually know a lot about music and we're currently learning how visual art connects to music throughout different time periods. It's pretty interesting. 

I'm really excited to improve my German so I can better understand and participate in class because I know I can learn a lot from most of these classes that I've never learned before.

Shannon