SnOw SnOw SnOw

You’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to for the past couple of weeks. Apart from trying to stay happy (haha the weather is depressive), I have been busy with soccer, school, and Praktikum.

My soccer schedule has been pretty crazy. We had about a month off from training and games and now we are training again before the season starts up again on March 7. I have Step Aerobics for an hour (8:30-9:30) every Monday evening, training outside every Wednesday (last Wednesday there were 6 inches of snow on the field), optional Spinning class every Thursday for an hour, training on Friday (outside or in a gym when we can reserve it), and a practice game, indoor tournament, or training on Sundays. Yeah, so insane, but the Step Aerobics is quite fun….Spinning is not really my thing, but it sure is a good work out!

School has been ok. I got an unfortunate grade on my last math test, but I’m going to spend a little more time going over notes and having people help me so I can at least understand everything. We have been doing a lot of stuff with quadratic equations, parabolas, circle functions, and polynomials. Not exactly my cup of tea! I also got a 2 on my last English test because I didn’t “dig deep enough” into the short story we had to read. So that was a little disappointing, but I’ll do better next time! On the more positive side of things, I finished my abstract painting in Art. It is very colorful and is made up of triangles, circles, quadrangles (?? That sounds so weird!), and other funky shapes. It is now hanging above my bed and I am trying to figure out how to get it home to America! One cool thing that I am doing with my school is playing in an indoor soccer tournament on February 9. My Sport teacher plays soccer and so she is putting together a couple girls teams to go to this tournament and play against other schools in our area. I think Meike and I would get to play together on the same team, which would be really fun! Also, now that the first semester is over, I am going to start taking two new classes. My new classes are going to be Catholic Religion and Biology. I am not Catholic or anything, but I believe it is always good to learn about religions and the Church….at least to be able to understand other people and why they believe what they believe.

Hmm…what else? I got my ears pierced on Monday the 14 of December. Now it has been a little over six weeks. A couple of weeks ago, I took my original earrings out and put in the ones I got for Christmas from Swarovski, but then one of the backs came off and my ear was bleeding a little so I decided it would be best if I put the medical earrings back in for a couple more weeks. No other weird piercings or tattoos or hair colors though…you don’t have to worry! It’s actually kind of interesting because here in Germany, ear piercings for girls are not actually considered piercings…they are called Schmuck. Just like a little piece of jewelry or something to make you look pretty.

On the other end of the spectrum, I bought my train tickets to Weimar and back for ASSE/GIVE’s half year seminar. I am really excited to ride the train there. It should be a little chaotic since I transfer in Cologne and Frankfurt (in both directions) but also a great experience. I am also 99% sure that our “flying home date” is set for June 23, 2010. The thing I don’t know is if we must fly home through Washington D.C. That would be a drag since I know United Airlines flies non-stop/direct from Frankfurt to Seattle every day! Another adventure coming up is that I am going to London with a friend from February 5-7. The funny thing is that it is actually a 1.5 day bus travel (with no overnight stay in a hotel or anything), but we spend the whole day of February 6 in London.

Ok, so by now you are probably really wondering what a Praktikum is. First of all, in case I already explained all of this in a previous post, I apologize. I can’t help it that I am a teeny tiny bit forgetful! Basically, my Praktikum is a two week internship at a German military barracks in Aachen. I am helping in a Specialised Ammunition Technician English class. There are eight men in the class. The youngest has been in the military for almost 4 years and a couple of the older ones have been in the Bundeswehr for over 20 years. Seven of the men are in the Luftwaffe (Airforce) and one of them is in the Army. They have been learning about IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), landmines, missiles, mortars, and other weapons. The entire class is taught in English because it is important for the men to learn the vocabulary and explanations in order to be able to work with American and British troops in the field. I know you are thinking “Wow, that doesn’t really seem like something that would interest a 17 year old American girl”, but it is actually quite fascinating and the men are intelligent and funny. Some of the things that I have helped with in the class are making tests, correcting tests, helping with vocabulary and grammar, and helping the teacher prepare for the next four week session.

It has been snowing like crazy the entire day. We have quite a bit of snow and it doesn’t look like its going to stop anytime soon! I miss the sun. Yeah, sometimes it comes out a little during the afternoon, but the light seems weak. I can’t wait for April and May when spring comes and we can ride around in the Golf Cabrio with the top down!

I've got to head off to a soccer meeting soon so I'd better be going. Hope all of you are doing well in the States and if any one of you is coming to Germany in the next 5 months, let me know and we’ll meet up in Aachen and have some Spaghetti Eis after we go see the Dom!

Carrie