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
29 January 2010
07 January 2010
Happy New Year!
First of all, I’d like to wish everyone Alles Gute zum neuen Jahr! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. Like I said in my last post, I would be normally celebrating these holidays with many of you who read this blog. I miss all of you so much and I can’t wait to see you all again in June!
As you know, my host family and I were in Zillertal, Austria for Christmas and New Year. We had so many great experiences and I know I will remember each and every one of them my entire life.
One of my greatest experiences was skiing five days-four of them in the sun! Normally, I ski at Brundage Mountain Resort in McCall, Idaho every year during Christmas. We ski most of the time six or seven days and we’re lucky when at least two are sunny! I’ve been skiing ever since I was 4 years old, and it has always been a dream of mine (far back in the depths of my brain because I never figured it could come true) to ski in the Alps. Back in May or June, as I was emailing my host family, I soon realized my dream would come true. Ralf, Meike, and Sven took me to Hoch Zillertal/Hoch Fügen for four days and I went with Ralf and Sven to Zillertal Arena one day. Links to the websites are here: ski-optimal.at (Hoch Zillertal/Hoch Fügen and zillertalarena.com (Zillertal Arena).
While there could have been more snow (there was a lot of ice and brown spots), the runs were great. The crowds were huge (15,000 people skied at Hoch Zillertal on the day after Christmas), but I always found my sweet little patch of corduroy lol.
What were really to die for however, were the views. From the top of Hoch Zillertal, the Austrian Alps went as far as the eye could see. From Zillertal Arena, we could look in the distance and see the Dolomites in Italy. The bright sun made the views even more memorable and it is my greatest wish to go back and ski there with my real family.
My new ski boots (that I bought in Innsbruck in the Fall break) served my extremely well. They are so comfy and warm inside. Those who have ever been skiing with me know that I have problems with cold hands and cold feet, but my feet were toasty warm (though that could also have something to do with the new ski socks-Thanks Mom and Dad).
Everything with my gear worked out as well. I had brought over my ski pants, long underwear, jacket, helmet, and gloves when I came here in August. Then I bought the ski boots in Herbst Ferien in Innsbruck. All I had to borrow from the Windhorsts were skis and poles. It worked out really well because the poles they had were my size and Sven’s old skis that I used are 159cm (the same as my K2 Misbehaved skis at home).
Christmas in the Wohnwagen was also an experience I will never forget. First of all, the whole gift exchange took place on Christmas Eve, known as Heilig Abend (Holy Night) auf Deutsch. After we did raclette (cooking your own meat and veggies on a hot stone), Meike and I showered and when we got back, all the gifts were piled up around the Wohnwagen. It made me feel almost as if I were sitting in McCall on the couch with the rabbit blanket. I received a couple very personal gifts from my host family that I will cherish for the rest of my life, as well as many thoughtful and beautiful presents from my family in America.
On January 1, we drove to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to see the round of the Vier Chanzen Tournee that took place over three weeks in Germany and Austria. Basically, it is a ski jumping tournament where the best ski jumpers in the world come together and have four chances to win the entire tournament. The jumpers acquire points according to how far they jump and how good the landings are. Sometimes it can be very exciting because while one person could win 3 out of the 4 rounds, it is possible that they do not win the tournament. Although a German did not win the whole tournament, an Austrian, Andreas Kofler, ended up winning. I can’t wait to see how well he does in the Olympics next month! What amazed me the most was that the youngest jumper was a 16 year old! The best German jumper during the tournament was Pascal Bodmer and he is only 18 years old! Crazy! Another highlight to the day was that I got to wave my American flag around (although the two Americans in the tournament hadn’t qualified the day before) and Meike and I got free Milka hats (They are purple with white cow spots and cow horns). I know what you’re thinking and I know you’re jealous.
We had a great vacation, but I’m glad to be back in the Eifel. It’s supposed to snow like crazy on the weekend and apparently Aachen doesn’t have any salt left for the roads…so Aachen will be a mess. I’m prepared to hang out at home this weekend!
I miss you guys and I’ll post again soon because I have lots left to say!
Love,
Carrie
As you know, my host family and I were in Zillertal, Austria for Christmas and New Year. We had so many great experiences and I know I will remember each and every one of them my entire life.
One of my greatest experiences was skiing five days-four of them in the sun! Normally, I ski at Brundage Mountain Resort in McCall, Idaho every year during Christmas. We ski most of the time six or seven days and we’re lucky when at least two are sunny! I’ve been skiing ever since I was 4 years old, and it has always been a dream of mine (far back in the depths of my brain because I never figured it could come true) to ski in the Alps. Back in May or June, as I was emailing my host family, I soon realized my dream would come true. Ralf, Meike, and Sven took me to Hoch Zillertal/Hoch Fügen for four days and I went with Ralf and Sven to Zillertal Arena one day. Links to the websites are here: ski-optimal.at (Hoch Zillertal/Hoch Fügen and zillertalarena.com (Zillertal Arena).
While there could have been more snow (there was a lot of ice and brown spots), the runs were great. The crowds were huge (15,000 people skied at Hoch Zillertal on the day after Christmas), but I always found my sweet little patch of corduroy lol.
What were really to die for however, were the views. From the top of Hoch Zillertal, the Austrian Alps went as far as the eye could see. From Zillertal Arena, we could look in the distance and see the Dolomites in Italy. The bright sun made the views even more memorable and it is my greatest wish to go back and ski there with my real family.
My new ski boots (that I bought in Innsbruck in the Fall break) served my extremely well. They are so comfy and warm inside. Those who have ever been skiing with me know that I have problems with cold hands and cold feet, but my feet were toasty warm (though that could also have something to do with the new ski socks-Thanks Mom and Dad).
Everything with my gear worked out as well. I had brought over my ski pants, long underwear, jacket, helmet, and gloves when I came here in August. Then I bought the ski boots in Herbst Ferien in Innsbruck. All I had to borrow from the Windhorsts were skis and poles. It worked out really well because the poles they had were my size and Sven’s old skis that I used are 159cm (the same as my K2 Misbehaved skis at home).
Christmas in the Wohnwagen was also an experience I will never forget. First of all, the whole gift exchange took place on Christmas Eve, known as Heilig Abend (Holy Night) auf Deutsch. After we did raclette (cooking your own meat and veggies on a hot stone), Meike and I showered and when we got back, all the gifts were piled up around the Wohnwagen. It made me feel almost as if I were sitting in McCall on the couch with the rabbit blanket. I received a couple very personal gifts from my host family that I will cherish for the rest of my life, as well as many thoughtful and beautiful presents from my family in America.
On January 1, we drove to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to see the round of the Vier Chanzen Tournee that took place over three weeks in Germany and Austria. Basically, it is a ski jumping tournament where the best ski jumpers in the world come together and have four chances to win the entire tournament. The jumpers acquire points according to how far they jump and how good the landings are. Sometimes it can be very exciting because while one person could win 3 out of the 4 rounds, it is possible that they do not win the tournament. Although a German did not win the whole tournament, an Austrian, Andreas Kofler, ended up winning. I can’t wait to see how well he does in the Olympics next month! What amazed me the most was that the youngest jumper was a 16 year old! The best German jumper during the tournament was Pascal Bodmer and he is only 18 years old! Crazy! Another highlight to the day was that I got to wave my American flag around (although the two Americans in the tournament hadn’t qualified the day before) and Meike and I got free Milka hats (They are purple with white cow spots and cow horns). I know what you’re thinking and I know you’re jealous.
We had a great vacation, but I’m glad to be back in the Eifel. It’s supposed to snow like crazy on the weekend and apparently Aachen doesn’t have any salt left for the roads…so Aachen will be a mess. I’m prepared to hang out at home this weekend!
I miss you guys and I’ll post again soon because I have lots left to say!
Love,
Carrie
22 December 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It’s hard to believe there are only 3 more days until Christmas and 10 days left in 2009! This year has gone by so fast. At this time last year, I had already mailed my CBYX application off to ASSE. At the time, I had no idea that one year later I would be heading off to Austria for Christmas break.
We’ve been packing the car for the past couple of days. Sven and Ralf put our skis in the car top carrier and we’ve got all of our clothes packed in the car. The Christmas presents are waiting on the steps, ready to be taken out to the car. I’m going crazy trying to make sure I have everything packed: camera charger, Austrian SIM card for my Handy, ski goggles…you name it. We’re leaving tomorrow morning after 5th period-about 12:15pm. When everything is normal, we should be in Zillertal around 6:15pm. Can’t wait! We’re also planning to go skiing 5 or 6 days and we have tickets to see ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on January 1, 2010. We’ll drive home on January 3 and start school again on January 7. I’m definitely looking forward to the break!
I’d like to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas. I see most of you during the holiday break every year and this year I am really going to miss visiting and catching up.
I’m thankful for all my friends and family who email me and read my blog/comment on my blog. Every time I hear from you it brightens my day!
Fröhliches Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!
Carrie
Lammersdorf, Germany
December 22, 2009
We’ve been packing the car for the past couple of days. Sven and Ralf put our skis in the car top carrier and we’ve got all of our clothes packed in the car. The Christmas presents are waiting on the steps, ready to be taken out to the car. I’m going crazy trying to make sure I have everything packed: camera charger, Austrian SIM card for my Handy, ski goggles…you name it. We’re leaving tomorrow morning after 5th period-about 12:15pm. When everything is normal, we should be in Zillertal around 6:15pm. Can’t wait! We’re also planning to go skiing 5 or 6 days and we have tickets to see ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on January 1, 2010. We’ll drive home on January 3 and start school again on January 7. I’m definitely looking forward to the break!
I’d like to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas. I see most of you during the holiday break every year and this year I am really going to miss visiting and catching up.
I’m thankful for all my friends and family who email me and read my blog/comment on my blog. Every time I hear from you it brightens my day!
Fröhliches Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!
Carrie
Lammersdorf, Germany
December 22, 2009
08 December 2009
Seventeen Days!
The countdown to Christmas 2009 began December 26, 2008, but now there are so few days left, that it actually makes sense for one to announce to the world how long 'til Christmas.
I sent my 16.9 kilogram package to America on Saturday, November 21. According to an article in the newspaper the week before, people should send their packages by November 27th if they want them to get to America from Central Europe by Christmas. As of Sunday, my parents had not received the package, but hopefully it will arrive this week. The package cost 65 Euro to send. With an exchange rate of 1 Euro to $1.49, that comes out to a grand total of $96.85. A tip to anyone thinking of sending packages from Central Europe to the U.S.: Make sure to send them well before the date you want them to arrive, and think about sending only one big package the entire year. I will definitely not be sending 3 or 4 more $96.85 packages to America anytime soon! (And that total doesn't even count what I spent on the things in the package!)
So far, I have been to two Weihnachtsmärkte in Germany. My host family took me to the huge Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen twice, and on Saturday, my host family and I, along with my host dad's brother, sister-in-law, and niece went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen seems huge to me, but I know there are bigger ones in Nürnberg and other places. The entire square in front of the Rathaus in Aachen and the entire place between the Rathaus and the Dom is filled with wooden huts and vendors selling jewelry, soaps, ornaments, clothing, shoes, roasted nuts, bratwurst, waffles, Reibekuchen (sort of like hashbrowns), pastries...basically every holiday themed thing you can think of is sold at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau is smaller, but nevertheless very popular with bus tourists from England, France, Belgium, Holland, and other parts of Germany. One thing I noticed about the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau is that it seems like more food is sold there than non-edible items. I always assumed there would be a couple stalls selling food, but everywhere I looked, there was another vendor selling Glühwein or Lachsbrötchen.
The night of December 5-6 is called Nikolaus in Germany. Check out this link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus#Celebration_in_Germany
Meike let me borrow one of her riding boots to put outside my bedroom door. When I woke up in the morning, there was a bag of chocolate ornaments, a chocolate Santa, and shinguard bands in the boot! I think I am probably a little old for this tradition (just like Halloween) but I loved it, and having never experienced Nikolaus before, it was another experience to add to my list.
This Saturday, we are going to Herne to see Christal and Willie one more time before we leave for Österreich. I love going to Herne and visiting them because it is so different from Lammersdorf. Lammersdorf is up in the Eifel, exposed to the wind and the rain and the snow. It's also a lot of farmland with tractors on the roads and farmers leading their cows to a new pasture. Herne, on the other hand, is made up of 8.4% Turkish people, has an U-bahn, and is in the huge metropolitan area that also includes Düsseldorf, Bochum, Essen, and Dortmund. Many people live in apartments and there is more diversity than in the part of the Eifel that I live in. In addition, Christal and Willie are so nice and I feel really comfortable around them. They remind me sometimes of my grandparents.
Well I will wrap this post up now. I am in the room at school where there are some books and 5 computers (3 that actually work). I wouldn't call it a library, but it is a study room for kids who have free periods.
I miss everyone and I hope you all are having a good holiday season.
Carrie
I sent my 16.9 kilogram package to America on Saturday, November 21. According to an article in the newspaper the week before, people should send their packages by November 27th if they want them to get to America from Central Europe by Christmas. As of Sunday, my parents had not received the package, but hopefully it will arrive this week. The package cost 65 Euro to send. With an exchange rate of 1 Euro to $1.49, that comes out to a grand total of $96.85. A tip to anyone thinking of sending packages from Central Europe to the U.S.: Make sure to send them well before the date you want them to arrive, and think about sending only one big package the entire year. I will definitely not be sending 3 or 4 more $96.85 packages to America anytime soon! (And that total doesn't even count what I spent on the things in the package!)
So far, I have been to two Weihnachtsmärkte in Germany. My host family took me to the huge Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen twice, and on Saturday, my host family and I, along with my host dad's brother, sister-in-law, and niece went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen seems huge to me, but I know there are bigger ones in Nürnberg and other places. The entire square in front of the Rathaus in Aachen and the entire place between the Rathaus and the Dom is filled with wooden huts and vendors selling jewelry, soaps, ornaments, clothing, shoes, roasted nuts, bratwurst, waffles, Reibekuchen (sort of like hashbrowns), pastries...basically every holiday themed thing you can think of is sold at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Aachen. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau is smaller, but nevertheless very popular with bus tourists from England, France, Belgium, Holland, and other parts of Germany. One thing I noticed about the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau is that it seems like more food is sold there than non-edible items. I always assumed there would be a couple stalls selling food, but everywhere I looked, there was another vendor selling Glühwein or Lachsbrötchen.
The night of December 5-6 is called Nikolaus in Germany. Check out this link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus#Celebration_in_Germany
Meike let me borrow one of her riding boots to put outside my bedroom door. When I woke up in the morning, there was a bag of chocolate ornaments, a chocolate Santa, and shinguard bands in the boot! I think I am probably a little old for this tradition (just like Halloween) but I loved it, and having never experienced Nikolaus before, it was another experience to add to my list.
This Saturday, we are going to Herne to see Christal and Willie one more time before we leave for Österreich. I love going to Herne and visiting them because it is so different from Lammersdorf. Lammersdorf is up in the Eifel, exposed to the wind and the rain and the snow. It's also a lot of farmland with tractors on the roads and farmers leading their cows to a new pasture. Herne, on the other hand, is made up of 8.4% Turkish people, has an U-bahn, and is in the huge metropolitan area that also includes Düsseldorf, Bochum, Essen, and Dortmund. Many people live in apartments and there is more diversity than in the part of the Eifel that I live in. In addition, Christal and Willie are so nice and I feel really comfortable around them. They remind me sometimes of my grandparents.
Well I will wrap this post up now. I am in the room at school where there are some books and 5 computers (3 that actually work). I wouldn't call it a library, but it is a study room for kids who have free periods.
I miss everyone and I hope you all are having a good holiday season.
Carrie
25 November 2009
Newspaper Article
Want to read the newspaper article about Andrea, Kaitlyn, Courtney, and me?
Click on this link: http://snovalleystar.com/category/schools
Carrie
Click on this link: http://snovalleystar.com/category/schools
Carrie
20 November 2009
Holiday Season
It’s official. The holiday season in Germany has officially begun. You are probably asking how I know that. Hopefully with this post I can begin to give you some insight about the holiday season as I see it in Germany. During the next 5 weeks ( I know, can you believe there are only 5 weeks until Christmas!?) I’ll keep posting more about Christmas in Germany-a land famous for its Christmas spirit.
As I was reading the paper at breakfast this morning, I noticed a huge extra section of the paper. I had no idea what it could be. One glance at the cover and I knew the answer. This section of paper contained profiles and information on many of the Weihnachtsmarkts and Adventsmarkts in the area around Aachen and NRW. The Aachener Weihnachtsmarkt, for example, starts today and runs until December 23, 2009. It is open everyday from 11am to 9pm and people come from all over Germany and all over the world to visit the Weihnachtsmarkts in Aachen and Monschau. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau (where my school is) is very famous. Although it runs only on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, thousands of people converge on the village during the 4 Advent weekends in November and December. Here is a link to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau: www.monschau-weihnachtsmarkt.de.
In America, the Christmas season begins for me the day after Thanksgiving. Every year, we go out to the trees my parents planted and look for the perfect Tannenbaum to cut. By the end of the day, we have a beautiful, fragrant Christmas tree standing in our living room, glowing with lights and decorations.
Yesterday, I got home from school at noon to find the house transformed into a paradise for Christmas lovers like me. Karin has so many beautiful Christmas decorations and everywhere I look, I see another one that makes me smile. We don’t have a large Christmas tree, but we have small artificial tree that lights up. Meike told me last night that we will take it to Austria and put all the presents under it in the Wohnwagen! So, I don’t know if you did the math, but we’ve begun the Christmas season this year a total of 8 days before I do normally in America. But I’m certainly not complaining!
That’s not the mention the stores selling Christmas wares. I noticed holiday decorations and advertisements coming out with the Halloween things! I’m sure there are places in America where this is the same, but I have never really seen anywhere like this.
Now to the other side of the news spectrum.
I took a test in Geography yesterday. There were three parts and it was all writing, no multiple choice questions or short answer! Those were the good ol’ days. Part A of the first part asked me (in German) to describe the climate in Colombia. Part B asked me to describe the climate conditions bananas need to grow. The second part asked me to describe the development of banana export in Colombia from 1920-2000. The third part asked me to decide whether or not banana growing in Colombia is a good economic undertaking. We had a couple of graphs and diagrams from the teacher, as well as an atlas that included climate maps and the locations of banana growing in Colombia. Obviously the questions were not hard. The hard part was writing everything down in German! My vocabulary and grammar skills are fine for speaking in class or in normal conversations, but writing a Geography test is a little different! I think it was a good experience though. I wasn’t required to take the test, but I wanted to take it just to see what it was like. We’ll probably get them back next Wednesday or Thursday.
This is especially for Grandma and the others who are interested in the countryside. I will try to describe a bit of it for you and maybe add some pictures. We’ll see. Right now, the grass is very green, but wet and muddy. All of the large trees have lost their leaves, but some of the small trees have a few leaves left. It is very windy almost everyday and I can always see the windmills (like in Eastern Washington) spinning. The region where I live is called the Eifel. There are all sorts of funny things people say about the Eifel. Some say the weather is almost always bad (not true), others say that in the Eifel, everyone knows everyone else (sometimes seems true, but that’s probably because I have only lived here for 3 and a half months), and I once heard someone say “I’ve got a sore throat” and someone else said “I think the entire Eifel has a sore throat”. Although the Eifel is quite large, the small towns do seem very interconnected. In addition, we are up on a steppe/plateau above the flat land around Köln and Aachen. There are rolling hills here and a lake called the Rursee. A lot of the countryside is fields with cows or horses in them. There are a lot of cows here! Also, a common sight on the roads around here is huge tractors driving what seems to be (in my opinion) very fast. Sure, one might see a tractor driving every once in awhile on 202, but only for a short amount of time and not very fast. I definitely see new things here that I have never seen before everyday.
I don’t know if it is completely obvious in these blog posts, but sometimes I feel like I am losing my English. Not so drastic, but there are definitely some times when my sentences sound juvenile or have punctuation and grammar mistakes. Also, when I talk to Kayla and Leilani, sometimes the three of us have problems saying something in English! Another thing I always laugh about is how often, one cannot always directly translate a word from German into English. Sometimes, there is a word I know in German that would be perfect to use in an English sentence. But if I am talking to my parents on the phone and speak a sentence in English with a German word stuck in there, it would make sense to me, but my parents would be wondering what I just said!
Well I’d better go post this now. Aren’t you proud of me that I wrote 2 posts in one week?
Carrie
As I was reading the paper at breakfast this morning, I noticed a huge extra section of the paper. I had no idea what it could be. One glance at the cover and I knew the answer. This section of paper contained profiles and information on many of the Weihnachtsmarkts and Adventsmarkts in the area around Aachen and NRW. The Aachener Weihnachtsmarkt, for example, starts today and runs until December 23, 2009. It is open everyday from 11am to 9pm and people come from all over Germany and all over the world to visit the Weihnachtsmarkts in Aachen and Monschau. The Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau (where my school is) is very famous. Although it runs only on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, thousands of people converge on the village during the 4 Advent weekends in November and December. Here is a link to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Monschau: www.monschau-weihnachtsmarkt.de.
In America, the Christmas season begins for me the day after Thanksgiving. Every year, we go out to the trees my parents planted and look for the perfect Tannenbaum to cut. By the end of the day, we have a beautiful, fragrant Christmas tree standing in our living room, glowing with lights and decorations.
Yesterday, I got home from school at noon to find the house transformed into a paradise for Christmas lovers like me. Karin has so many beautiful Christmas decorations and everywhere I look, I see another one that makes me smile. We don’t have a large Christmas tree, but we have small artificial tree that lights up. Meike told me last night that we will take it to Austria and put all the presents under it in the Wohnwagen! So, I don’t know if you did the math, but we’ve begun the Christmas season this year a total of 8 days before I do normally in America. But I’m certainly not complaining!
That’s not the mention the stores selling Christmas wares. I noticed holiday decorations and advertisements coming out with the Halloween things! I’m sure there are places in America where this is the same, but I have never really seen anywhere like this.
Now to the other side of the news spectrum.
I took a test in Geography yesterday. There were three parts and it was all writing, no multiple choice questions or short answer! Those were the good ol’ days. Part A of the first part asked me (in German) to describe the climate in Colombia. Part B asked me to describe the climate conditions bananas need to grow. The second part asked me to describe the development of banana export in Colombia from 1920-2000. The third part asked me to decide whether or not banana growing in Colombia is a good economic undertaking. We had a couple of graphs and diagrams from the teacher, as well as an atlas that included climate maps and the locations of banana growing in Colombia. Obviously the questions were not hard. The hard part was writing everything down in German! My vocabulary and grammar skills are fine for speaking in class or in normal conversations, but writing a Geography test is a little different! I think it was a good experience though. I wasn’t required to take the test, but I wanted to take it just to see what it was like. We’ll probably get them back next Wednesday or Thursday.
This is especially for Grandma and the others who are interested in the countryside. I will try to describe a bit of it for you and maybe add some pictures. We’ll see. Right now, the grass is very green, but wet and muddy. All of the large trees have lost their leaves, but some of the small trees have a few leaves left. It is very windy almost everyday and I can always see the windmills (like in Eastern Washington) spinning. The region where I live is called the Eifel. There are all sorts of funny things people say about the Eifel. Some say the weather is almost always bad (not true), others say that in the Eifel, everyone knows everyone else (sometimes seems true, but that’s probably because I have only lived here for 3 and a half months), and I once heard someone say “I’ve got a sore throat” and someone else said “I think the entire Eifel has a sore throat”. Although the Eifel is quite large, the small towns do seem very interconnected. In addition, we are up on a steppe/plateau above the flat land around Köln and Aachen. There are rolling hills here and a lake called the Rursee. A lot of the countryside is fields with cows or horses in them. There are a lot of cows here! Also, a common sight on the roads around here is huge tractors driving what seems to be (in my opinion) very fast. Sure, one might see a tractor driving every once in awhile on 202, but only for a short amount of time and not very fast. I definitely see new things here that I have never seen before everyday.
I don’t know if it is completely obvious in these blog posts, but sometimes I feel like I am losing my English. Not so drastic, but there are definitely some times when my sentences sound juvenile or have punctuation and grammar mistakes. Also, when I talk to Kayla and Leilani, sometimes the three of us have problems saying something in English! Another thing I always laugh about is how often, one cannot always directly translate a word from German into English. Sometimes, there is a word I know in German that would be perfect to use in an English sentence. But if I am talking to my parents on the phone and speak a sentence in English with a German word stuck in there, it would make sense to me, but my parents would be wondering what I just said!
Well I’d better go post this now. Aren’t you proud of me that I wrote 2 posts in one week?
Carrie
15 November 2009
My week
I hope this is not a big repeat of something I have already written! (I also hope I am not boring you to death)!
In this post, I’ll try to give you a little taste of a normal week in the life of me in Germany (last week).
Monday: After sleeping in until 8:30am, I get up and have my breakfast of toast and coffee with extra foamed milk. Unlike at home with our good ol’ Mr. Coffee coffee maker, we have here an automatic coffee machine. Push the big cup on the touch screen and 30 seconds later, there’s your cup of coffee, freshly ground. My friends and family know I am not a big coffee drinker, but if I had one of these machines at home, I’d probably be a caffeine addict. Just kidding! I leave to walk to the bus stop at 10:55am and arrive there a couple of minutes early for my bus to come at 11:05am. After arriving at the Simmerath Bushof (transit center for busses), I meet up with Kayla and we get on the bus that goes to the Monschau Parkhaus. By the time the bus gets to Monschau and Kayla and I have trekked up the hill from the village to our school, it is 12:20pm and we are just in time for the beginning of 6th period, our first class of the day. One period of German and two periods of Chemistry later, it is 2:50pm and school is done for the day. After taking the bus from school back to Simmerath Bushof, I get on another bus that takes me home to Lammersdorf. After walking home from the bus stop, it is 3:50pm. Last Monday, Ralf, Sven, and I went to the Alemmania Aachen game against Hansa Rostock. It was a great game because Alemmania won 1-0. Since I now have a season ticket for the rest of the home games, it makes every game even more fun.
Tuesday: I get up with Sven and Meike at 6:00am. After having breakfast and making some food take to school, we leave to walk to the bus stop at 6:50am. Tuesdays are normally pretty good days. I have eight straight periods of school, but two of them are easy (Art and Sport) and the other two (Politics and Math) are also not bad. In the 15 minute breaks after 2nd period and 4th period, my friends and I hang out in the courtyard and try not to get run over by the little kids playing soccer with a tennis ball! After school, I do homework and sometimes go grocery shopping with Ralf and Meike and Sven. Tuesdays are also good days because one of my favorite tv shows in Germany comes on at 8:15pm. The show, Dr. Mertens, Tiere Ärztin, is one of my favorites because it is about animals at the Leipzig Zoo (although fictional) and because it is easy for me to understand.
Wednesday: I have Politics first period, Geography second period, and English third period. My Politics class is interesting, although often hard for me to understand. I always have to be on my toes however because my teacher started asking me questions after the Fall break! Geography is interesting because I have never taken the subject before and it is fairly easy to understand. We’ll see how well exactly I understand soon…I take a test on Thursday. :S English is hilarious. I sit next to a girl, Rebecca, who speaks vey good English and we like to play hangman and make fortune tellers when we are done with the class work. It is a little boring for me sometimes, but I am always impressed with the English speaking skills of most of the kids. After English, I wait for one period and then take the bus home. I usually spend the afternoon reading, doing homework, or hanging out with Meike and Sven. During the evening, I have soccer practice, normally from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.
Thursday: My first two periods of the day are not too much of a wake up for me! I have German and although I try to understand as much as possible and do what the other kids are doing, it is most of the time too challenging. Right now, we are learning about fables and writing our own. In addition, the kids analyze the fables and talk about the morals and lessons learned. I sit next to Rebecca from English class and she is always really helpful in explaining what we are doing. Third and fourth periods, I have Geography is good because I have friends in that class who help me when I don’t understand. I have 5th period free, and then Chemistry sixth period. Kayla and I have Chemistry together which is nice because we can help one another translate from German to English and we also do the class work together. Thursdays comes my other favorite tv show in Germany, Alarm für Cobra 11. It is about two police officers with the Autobahn polizei who are always chasing down the bad guys. Very exciting.
Friday: I have English first and second period every Friday and I have Math seventh and eighth period every other Friday. Not exactly the way I want to end my school week, with two periods of Math at the very end of the day, but my teacher is quite funny and the math is not too hard. I got a 2- on the first test. Speaking of tests, I got a 1 on my English test, so I was pretty happy about that.
Saturday: We usually go grocery shopping, do chores, do homework, and just relax. My host mom gets home from work in the afternoon, and sometimes, we go into Aachen and go shopping after that.
Sunday: Nearly every Sunday I have a soccer game, which takes up a lot of the day. In addition, we do chores, like clean out the rabbit hutch and laundry. By the end of the weekend, I am always ready for a new week and a whole round of new experiences.
My parents are going to call soon, so I’d better get this posted! Have a great week everyone and once again, thanks for all your comments!
Love, Carrie
In this post, I’ll try to give you a little taste of a normal week in the life of me in Germany (last week).
Monday: After sleeping in until 8:30am, I get up and have my breakfast of toast and coffee with extra foamed milk. Unlike at home with our good ol’ Mr. Coffee coffee maker, we have here an automatic coffee machine. Push the big cup on the touch screen and 30 seconds later, there’s your cup of coffee, freshly ground. My friends and family know I am not a big coffee drinker, but if I had one of these machines at home, I’d probably be a caffeine addict. Just kidding! I leave to walk to the bus stop at 10:55am and arrive there a couple of minutes early for my bus to come at 11:05am. After arriving at the Simmerath Bushof (transit center for busses), I meet up with Kayla and we get on the bus that goes to the Monschau Parkhaus. By the time the bus gets to Monschau and Kayla and I have trekked up the hill from the village to our school, it is 12:20pm and we are just in time for the beginning of 6th period, our first class of the day. One period of German and two periods of Chemistry later, it is 2:50pm and school is done for the day. After taking the bus from school back to Simmerath Bushof, I get on another bus that takes me home to Lammersdorf. After walking home from the bus stop, it is 3:50pm. Last Monday, Ralf, Sven, and I went to the Alemmania Aachen game against Hansa Rostock. It was a great game because Alemmania won 1-0. Since I now have a season ticket for the rest of the home games, it makes every game even more fun.
Tuesday: I get up with Sven and Meike at 6:00am. After having breakfast and making some food take to school, we leave to walk to the bus stop at 6:50am. Tuesdays are normally pretty good days. I have eight straight periods of school, but two of them are easy (Art and Sport) and the other two (Politics and Math) are also not bad. In the 15 minute breaks after 2nd period and 4th period, my friends and I hang out in the courtyard and try not to get run over by the little kids playing soccer with a tennis ball! After school, I do homework and sometimes go grocery shopping with Ralf and Meike and Sven. Tuesdays are also good days because one of my favorite tv shows in Germany comes on at 8:15pm. The show, Dr. Mertens, Tiere Ärztin, is one of my favorites because it is about animals at the Leipzig Zoo (although fictional) and because it is easy for me to understand.
Wednesday: I have Politics first period, Geography second period, and English third period. My Politics class is interesting, although often hard for me to understand. I always have to be on my toes however because my teacher started asking me questions after the Fall break! Geography is interesting because I have never taken the subject before and it is fairly easy to understand. We’ll see how well exactly I understand soon…I take a test on Thursday. :S English is hilarious. I sit next to a girl, Rebecca, who speaks vey good English and we like to play hangman and make fortune tellers when we are done with the class work. It is a little boring for me sometimes, but I am always impressed with the English speaking skills of most of the kids. After English, I wait for one period and then take the bus home. I usually spend the afternoon reading, doing homework, or hanging out with Meike and Sven. During the evening, I have soccer practice, normally from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.
Thursday: My first two periods of the day are not too much of a wake up for me! I have German and although I try to understand as much as possible and do what the other kids are doing, it is most of the time too challenging. Right now, we are learning about fables and writing our own. In addition, the kids analyze the fables and talk about the morals and lessons learned. I sit next to Rebecca from English class and she is always really helpful in explaining what we are doing. Third and fourth periods, I have Geography is good because I have friends in that class who help me when I don’t understand. I have 5th period free, and then Chemistry sixth period. Kayla and I have Chemistry together which is nice because we can help one another translate from German to English and we also do the class work together. Thursdays comes my other favorite tv show in Germany, Alarm für Cobra 11. It is about two police officers with the Autobahn polizei who are always chasing down the bad guys. Very exciting.
Friday: I have English first and second period every Friday and I have Math seventh and eighth period every other Friday. Not exactly the way I want to end my school week, with two periods of Math at the very end of the day, but my teacher is quite funny and the math is not too hard. I got a 2- on the first test. Speaking of tests, I got a 1 on my English test, so I was pretty happy about that.
Saturday: We usually go grocery shopping, do chores, do homework, and just relax. My host mom gets home from work in the afternoon, and sometimes, we go into Aachen and go shopping after that.
Sunday: Nearly every Sunday I have a soccer game, which takes up a lot of the day. In addition, we do chores, like clean out the rabbit hutch and laundry. By the end of the weekend, I am always ready for a new week and a whole round of new experiences.
My parents are going to call soon, so I’d better get this posted! Have a great week everyone and once again, thanks for all your comments!
Love, Carrie
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