6 Weeks in Deutschland!

With Tim Lobinger, a famous German pole vaulter, in Aachen on my birthday (it was his birthday too!)
Liege, Belgium

At the meeting point of Holland, Germany, and Belgium

Lammersdorf Kirche

(this is where my bus stop is)

At the highest point in Holland

Thursday marked 6 weeks in Deutschland for me! The time is going by so fast. Two weekends from now is October 3, which is Tag der Deutschen Einheit, or German Reunification Day. Also on that day, the CBYX kids in and around Aachen and their host families are meeting up in Aachen. It should be a fun day for everyone to see each other again and for host families to get to know each other. Three weekends from now is the beginning of the two week Herbst Ferien for Nord-Rhein Westfalen. So much is happening!

On Monday, I had school periods 6, 7, and 8. German 6th period and Chemie 7th and 8th periods. German is an ok class because while I don't understand very much, there are a couple of girls in the class who help me out and translate things for me. Chemie is also very difficult. I have never taken any sort of chemistry class, but I can usually follow what is going on if the teacher demonstrates an experiment or something. This week, the kids in Chemie were giving presentations on alcohol (they made alcohol with fruit juice and yeast as an experiment). Some of them talked about beer, others about wine, and one or two groups haven't gone yet. Our teacher is not going to be at school this coming Monday, so we won't have Chemie. That means I will only have one 45 minute class on Monday (6th period) and then I go home. Monday evening, I had soccer practice, which was fun, but the weather wasn't too great. It was cold, grey, and really rainy. Sounds a bit like Seattle sometimes huh?

Tuesday, I had Politik, Kunst, and Sport. I was supposed to have Mathe, but my teacher was sick. I don't know if I mentioned this, but for the Oberstufe, classes are canceled when the teacher is gone...as far as I know, we never get substitutes. We still had some math problems to do, however. I was hanging out during the two free periods with a couple of girls from my class and one of them had to go into the library/study area and write down the problems for us to do. A little different than sitting in class with a substitute and having a 40 problem worksheet to do! After school, Meike rode Amadeus and I ran along with them. It was way easier and more fun than running by myself! Plus, I got to see lots of cute cows, horses, sheep, and baby chicks :)

Wednesday and Friday I had soccer practice for an hour and a half each. Normally I have practice 2 or 3 times a week and one game on Sundays. I can tell that I am getting more in shape, which is good. Before I came here, I hadn't played soccer in 4 or 5 months!

Things have been going really well lately. I get a little homesick sometimes, but usually I am so busy that I don't have time to dwell on that. I am making friends at school and at soccer and my German is getting better.

Today, my parents and sister are getting our new puppy. It's hard for me to think that I won't see her in person for at least 9 months! :( But I can't expect everything to stop and remain the same while I'm gone. Life goes on, whether you are there to experience it or not.

Tonight I am helping Ralf make lasagna for dinner. Should be fun!

Hope you like the pictures. Let me know if there is anything you would like to see or hear about and I will try to post it.

Ciao,

Carrie

School

Well I haven't exactly been very good at updating my blog regularly, but I am going to try harder. Right now I am sitting in my bedroom looking out at the rain and the wind blowing all the trees around. It's 8:35am and you're probably wondering why I'm not at school. On Mondays, I don't start school until 6th period! This morning I didn't sleep in, but it will be nice in the future when I am really tired.

School is going pretty well. I have 8 classes and most of the German kids have 12 or more. I take Politics, Math, English, German, PE, Chemistry, Geography, and Art. Each class period is 45 minutes and after 45 minutes there is a 5 minute passing period. I have about half block classes and half regular classes. The kids are all really nice and they are very helpful when I need something translated or explained because most of them can speak fairly good English. The school itself is pretty big and is split into separate buildings that are connected by hallways. It is a little confusing, but I think I've got the hang of it.

Since I am in the 11th year, we get a few perks. There is a room called the Oberstufe Raum, where all the kids in the 11th, 12th, and 13th year can hang out, play pool, do homework, or sleep :). So when I have a free period, I go there and read, listen to my iPod, or talk to kids. Also, when a teacher is sick, or for some reason can't come to school, the class is canceled. Every morning before school starts, all the kids go look at a piece of paper that says all the classes that are canceled for the day. There is quite the celebration when a teacher is gone!

My school is made up of grades 5-13, but there are supposedly only 800 kids. Year 11 has 80 kids, which seems like hardly any compared to the number of juniors at MSHS! I think I am older than most of the kids, but I'm not sure. It's pretty much like at home, where I am on the old end.

This is kind of a short post, but like I said, I'm going to try to write more often, so there'll be more soon.

Bis bald,

Carrie