Everyone I've talked to is psyched for the deutschland tour! Not much to say about today. I have a deutsch lesson here in the next few minutes though so I don't have much time. I just went to school, had a normal day, then came home and ate and walked the dog, got my passport back, and now I'm waiting for my deutsch teacher to get here.....sorry. I just had my lesson. I didn't get to finish my post in time. My teacher's dogs are having a litter so I won't have deutsch lessons next week. Then I have deutschland tour so my next lesson isn't until the 25th of October. Crazy huh? Time flys I'm tellin ya. No wonder she assigned a ton of homework. Oh well. I could do like one excersize a day and be done wayy before the next lesson. Or deutschland tour lol. I just checked my stats today. My blog has been viewed over 1,200 times! Woo!

I forgot. I'm terrible at guessing ages here. I have no idea how old anyone is. I've been chatting afterschool with this guy on the bus for a week or so now. I thought he was at least a year older than me. 17-19. Found out yesterday that he's 15!! He's turning 16 in late October. Wow....

Not too much to say about today. I didn't like waking up in the morning. But what else is new? I was having some really vivid dreams, I think about home. I don't remember them though. I just know that I woke up as my alarm was going off, but it felt like I woke up while I was still dreaming. So it was extra hard to get up. I've been pretty tired all day. Even though I went to bed at a reasonable time. Today in Music we sang. And the book had Summer Nights from Grease in it. I knew all the words and I was really theatrical with it so the whole class barely sang at all. They just watched me and smiled. They found it really entertaining. But it felt good because they weren't making fun of me, they just genuinly enjoyed watching me. They had never seen that silly side of me before. A few of them started dancing a bit in their seat with me and getting into it. It was great. I'm going to the bank today to pay for Deutschland tour! woo!

Nothing to say about today. Except that I went to school at normal time today. When I could have slept in until 8. i was so mad. My first two blocks were taking a test today and I don't have to be there when they take tests. Oh well. I slept those two blocks on the couches in the front of the school with a friend.

Deutsch lesson today! I found moutain dew yesterday! I was sooo happy. You have no idea. I also tasted my first German beer. It was gross. I don't like beer apparently. So they mixed it with orange fanta! Then it was good :). This was at home at the dinner table with my host family lol. Then afterwards I walked with eika. But I asked Philipp to come with me since it was dark and unsafe to walk by myself at night especially since I had a little bit of alcohol in my system. Since I am inexperienced with alcohol, I thought it would be safest if he came with me. :) So he did. I had another dance lesson. But that was it for yesterday. Today it's been raining all day. I went to school. Meghan and I went to another town during our free periods. We went to this little boutique. I liked it alot. The clothes there were really cute so I told her that we should go back sometime when I have some spending money. Technically I have some, but I'm trying to save all my money for Deutschland tour. You never know what will happen. Right before tour, I'm going to transfer most of my money from my american account to my German account so that I can get money from an atm for free. Thats pretty much it. School was school. The end!

We were all actually dancing. Guys included. And the deutschland tour is from October 9-22. Hopefully soon we'll have a meeting all together about what to bring and such. Maybe a more detailed description of where we're going. I feel bad that I forgot cause I know that's something ya'll would want to know. I got up while the clock still said 10 today. all on my own. no alarm or anything. I fell asleep next to my computer last night. I was watching Anchorman. Has anyone ever noticed that even if something is funny, you don't really laugh or laugh as much unless your watching it with someone else? It's kinda weird. I don't have any plans today. Maybe something will come up? I don't know. Oh...I take that back. I have that dance lesson at 3. But besides that I don't have anything. I'm hoping for a miracle and somebody will call me or text me with something to do. Anything. Wanna come paint the walls of my room? Sure!! Wanna come do yard work with me? Sure!! Wanna go to the cinema and watch a movie that you won't even understand because it's in Deutsch and they obviously don't put subtitles on in a movie theater? Excellent!!!! haha That would be my life now. I'm pretty happy to be doing anything simply because that would mean doing something. But alles gut. I'll blog later if my miracle comes true.

That was fun :). We were on the actual dance floor all night. haha. Got home really late but thats ok. I slept in really late today on accident. Lunch never tasted so good lol. I finally got my Deutsch book so I did my homework. Bastian helped when I got confused. Thats it really. It keeps raining really hard and then the sun comes out. This weather is so bipolar. But its chilly no matter what so at least I wont get caught with out a jacket. I just realized that in Deutsch you say die welt for the world. Which is cool cause that means world is feminine. Which goes with mother earth and such. I dont know. I'm a dork. I just thought that was cool.

Normal day today. I'm going dancing so I'm blogging now. I'm in a really good mood actually :). I'm excited. This should be fun.

I don't like making these titles. I'm thinking about stopping

Girls here do shave btw. Thanks for that little comic comment. Nothing much to say. Going dancing tomorrow. I think thats it for this weekend besides dance classes. I don't know. Maybe theres something I totally forgot. Wouldn't surprise me. The weather was wonderful today. It was the perfect temperature and the sun was out :D. Although I did have a few bad things happen. First of all, I set my alarm for 5:45 like usual. I had nightmares last night though so I was sleeping pretty deep. I vaguely remember hearing it, turning it off, then I guess I went back asleep cause I woke up at 6:45! I have to leave the house most days by 6:50 to catch the bus. But I didn't miss the bus lol. I think that's the quickest I've ever gotten ready. I felt disgusting the entire day though because I didn't get to shower and I was starving all day because I didn't eat breakfast. I had a full day of school today plus two afternoon classes. Thurdays are my hardest days. And it didn't help that I had math first. Then after school I ended up missing the bus home because there were too many people on it and they wouldn't squeeze together or move so that my friend and I could get on. So my friend said we were either gonna have to wait an hour for the next bus or she was gonna call home. So she called home, and while her sister was on her way to come pick us up, another bus just happened to come. Not sure why because it wasn't on the schedule. So I took the bus while she waited for her sister. I felt terrible leaving her, but I figured that it's better to arrive home on a bus then in a car and have my host family ask questions. So then I got home and ate a ton all by myself because it was only me and Benni home and he already ate. Then I showered and it felt wonderful. And the rest was just normal.

just got back

Just got back from my nightly walk with eika. Philipp walked with me this time :). Today I had my Deutsch lesson again after a full day of school. The bus' went smoothly this time thank goodness. My Deutsch teacher is weird lol. I'm not sure whether I like her or not. Everyone else hates her. After this I'm getting my Deutsch lessons by myself :(. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. I think I'm gonna go dancing again on Friday. This time with Benni (if i can convince him), Christoph, Meghan, and David. It will be more fun cause I'll have friends there. Friends that will dance with me.

Four weeks

How crazy is it that I've been here four weeks already? My bus driver decided she was too good for round a bouts today. She drove right over it. I'm not sure why, but everytime I looked around there was always someone staring at me today. It was quite annoying. I almost yelled at a few people on the bus because they kept pushing. I was gonna yell that if they push me one more time then I was gonna push them back and they weren't gonna like it. But I decided to be a good girl and keep my mouth shut. This morning in Deutsch class I noticed that there were English senteces written on the board from the day before. It annoyed me because they were wrong. And the teacher had obviously taught them that this was the right way to say it. There were two. They said "Have you got any children?" and "No, I haven't got any children, but I have some pets". Gah!! Thats so not right. It sounds funny. You're supposed to say "Do you have any children?" and "No, I don't have any children, but I have some pets". That sounds sooo much better. I have my first English exam tomorrow. I have to take it :(. It's four hours long! But I get to miss music so it's all good. Today I have my first Deutsch lesson. For real. Like my first language lesson. I'm taking two different buses to get there. I hope I get off in all the right places. I've never taken this route before. I don't even know where to get off really. Wish me luck!

Monday

Just another Monday. Nothing special. I forgot to say before though, Jasmin was looking through my yearbook when I was over at her house. There was a picture of a certain basketball player shooting. She laughed and said "uh oh...he didn't shave". And I was like "what?". Cause she was referring to his underarms. And I was like "what guy would shave their underarms? They see it as manly pride or something". So she told me that guys in Europe apparently shave their underarms. I thought that was really strange, but cool. So ya. I went to bakery today and it was yummy. But thats about it. I'm really loving this off campus free period stuff. I window shopped today in town :)

Sorry

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. I was at Jasmin's last night and yesterday was the swimming. Swimming was fun. It was way different than what I had expected. Almost all of it was indoor obviously. I was thinking one pool. Maybe a couple diving boards if I was lucky. Like the simple Olypic swimming type pool. Nope. Not even close. There were water slides and warm pools and cold pools and lazy rivers and kid pools. It was huge. Crazy. It was called Atlantis lol. I also had my first experience with the whole european nakedness. We went into the big group shower thingy to rinse off in our bathing suits. I get under the shower head, turn around, and there is a butt naked lady behind us. And another topless one. No shame. They were like full out showering. Crazy people. It was a late night, but I got to sleep in the next day so it was all good. Then I went to Jasmin's place and to her brother's bastketball game. It was fun. It was just like American basketball except on a smaller scale. There were even "cheerleaders" who cheered in English. They just wore a tshirt and shorts. All matching. They did a couple cool stunts, but....let's just say that cheerleading is definitely an american thing. Then I ate Mcdonalds for the first time since I've been here. I didn't think I'd be that into it until my big mac was in front of me and it was the best big mac I've ever had lol. Pretty sure Jasmin took a picture of me with it. Then we slowly discovered that we had the same taste in movies. Like completely. So we watched Step up 2. Which she owned and had seen a billion times just like me. And we watched it in English! Yay for no weird voice overs! It was her first time watching in English and she said it was cool because she could understand it now. And she liked the original voices. Then I got up today and went to Rotary orientation. It was boring. But I had to introduce myself in German. My name, what country I'm from, my host family, where I live in Germany, My host club, and what I expect of this year. I was so nervous, but my host family said I did really really well. So woo! I nailed it. That was about it. We left. Another dance lesson. The teacher used me as an example almost the whole time. Like an example to teach a new move. So I just had to figure out what to do based on his body cause I had no clue what he was saying. He's nice though. I like him. While everyone is practicing he likes to talk to me about America and my life and such. He speaks perfect English. It finally got out today that I've danced before and at the mention of my small amount of hip hop experience, he said that there was this guy at the studio I should meet. That he's famous all around the world for hip hop choreography and such. And he just happens to teach on wednsdays at this studio. And he seemed like he really wanted me to meet him and that this guy really was just amazing so I told him I would look at my schedule and see if I have time. I think I have German language lessons that day. But he was saying that this guy goes all over europe and stuff. And he's famous here in Germany and in Paris and all that. I forgot what else, but it was really impressive. So who knows? Maybe I'll get to meet this guy!

Yogurt

Yogurt isn't dessert. They seem to think it is here. Meghan is over currently. We're gonna go swimming soon :). Yay!! I'm excited. Had to borrow a swimming suit top, but oh well. Normal day of school today. Thats about it.

Thursday

No...i don't drink coffee here lol. They drink it plain with milk. Not even sugar usually. Otherwise I would be drinking coffee in the mornings. Thursdays are usually my busy days cause I don't have any free periods. Well everything was going as schedule until my last two class periods. In these periods, I have deutsch class. I showed up, but no one else did. I'm lucky I happened to be talking to a girl I met who went to kansas on exchange last year and helped me out. Theres a board they have to tell you which classes won't be going on that day. I never look cause I didn't know how to read it. They don't have substitute teachers here, so if a teacher is sick or not in town then the students don't have that class. Oh well. So I came home early. End of story. Bye bye. See you later ;)

Wednesday

Just another day. I did accidently go to the wrong class and also accidently fell asleep in English class today. But in my defense, he was lecturing in German for some reason. And he didn't stop talking the entire two periods apparently. I fell asleep within the first ten minutes and didn't wake up until the bell rang again for break and class was over. But I didn't get in trouble. He didn't say anything about it, nor did he care. No one woke me up at all. I was surprised by all of it, including just the fact that I fell asleep on my desk. I've never done that before, ever. And I wasn't just dozing. I was out completely. There isn't much else to say about today. I made banana bread last night and it was delicious this morning. Although it could have been cooked for a few more minutes. I brought like four slices to school and they went in like 5 minutes flat.

Three weeks today

I can't believe I've been in Germany three weeks. It's gone by so fast. This is going to be a good year though. I found out who my next host family is going to be, but I won't be moving until after Christmas, so I don't need to talk to them for some time. Meghan will actually be moving in with them in October and when she goes home, I will move in with them. Not too much to say about today. I couldn't get my bus ticket because the bus was too full. I'll do that as soon as I can. I'm not going to the movies this weekend either. But I am going to swim with Meghan and Christoph. This weekend is also my sleepover with Jasmine. Yay!!

these titles are annoying

So I only had one class today :). The other two afternoon classes were cancelled due to an assembly. I did't even go to the assembly. I just sat outside. They said I could, the teachers. It was cool cause I got to show up to school late and could have left early, but the assembly and Meghan was coming over after school for a few things and she had afternoon classes. It was fun :) I got to show her a bit of my life back at home. So she can put faces and names together now. I love this one picture we all took together on Saturday. We all love it. It's David's profile picture on facebook and mine and Meghan's screen saver on our computers. Then Meghan left and I came back to the house and had dinner. Then did dishes and walked Eika. Easy enough. I'm gonna buy a bus ticket tomorrow. I'll pay like 15 euro a month and I can ride the buses to anywhere at anytime as much as I want. And I'm gonna need it for deutsch lessons with David. And just going out with friends and such. Buses are so expensive otherwise. It's like 5 euro one way. Crazy. Money matters are finally getting worked out so I feel a bit better, but I'll feel really relieved when it's all done. That's really all for today. bye!

Just got back

Just got back from my rotex weekend! It was great. The group of kids were so easy to be around. You could really just be yourself. No one cared if you sang to your ipod or not. They would be more likely to sing with you. It was so cool being around all the different people from the different cultures. We had like four or five languages going. Most of the time they explained things in English though because most everyone understood it. But everyonce in awhile they would translate it in Spanish and/or Portugese. Usually Spanish. I can't wait for Deutschland Tour. It's going to be the best ever. We took a tour of the Schalke stadium (soccer). It was huge. Soccer here might even be bigger than Texas football. I haven't decided yet. Going to this stadium made me realize how many people here literally live and breathe soccer. There was even a chapel in the stadium. Some people like to go to kind of church there. And people get married there. It was crazy. I took tons of pictures of the weekend and the stadium though so you'll get to see on facebook. (Stop buggin me about the pictures. I can't just choose a couple to put on here. There's too many.) We got to take a big tour of the stadium and see the museum inside. After that we had an interesting experience. We had to fit all inbound students, rebound students, and rotex people on one bus. We were packed so tight that it was like sardines in a can. You literally could not move. It was soo hot. Everyone was sweating all over. I will never complain about a bus being crowded again. Once we got back, there was alot of relaxing and just talking. We visited with each other and eventually ate dinner. Then they had some games planned for us for the rest of the evening. Of course they had to make the games as awkward as physically possible. It was fun! LOL. Unfortunately during one of these games, a rebound had a seizure I think. They had to clear out the gym and an ambulence picked her up. It was sad and everyone was very worried. But we went back inside and turned on some music to lighten the air. It ended up being this spanish dance music that was amazing! All the latin girls and guys got up and showed us a thing or two about dancing. They were super nice though and taught us all how to dance haha. We were all dancing till like 1 or 2 in the morning. Then everyone split up into little friend groups and talked or whatever. Then the night was over. I got a whole three hours sleep. And no nap lol. And now school tomorrow haha. Oh well. So is the life of a teenager. The morning was uneventful. Just got up, cleaned, had a relfection time so they could improve their weekends. But everyone said that this one was the best one yet. Then we left. I came home, showered, wrote half of this entry, ate lunch, and left for ball room dancing with Benni. After that he took me to meet with the head rotary guy for the exchange students here and I got some stuff worked out. Then came home and ate dinner and walked eika. Now I'm finishing this and I'm gonna put pics on facebook :P ciao!

And no...

No I can't the way I want to. I have too many pictures and to put them on my blog would mean one by one. and there wouldn't be near enough room and I don't have the time. So everyone who wants to see should just add me on facebook. I'm making you cooler by force. hehe. My name on facebook is Taylor marie c. for people who are trying to find me and are having difficulties. I don't put my last name on there for safety purposes.

woo!!

My phone works finally!! yay!! It took forever, but it finally works. I have no idea why, but thank the Lord Almighty! I was in desperate need. lol. Now to figure out how to use it....it's kinda a dinosaur compared to my old phone. Nothing new at school today. Baked a cake with Rebekka for tomorrow. No entry tomorrow cause I'll be at a sleepover! Ciao! I spelled it wrong before.

Nothing eventful

Nothing eventful happened today. Toby caught me this morning on the bus. We talked and he walked me to class even though his class was all the way across the school. :). Classes were long and boring. Nothing much to tell there. Got home. Everything was normal. I get to sleep in until 8 tomorrow though so that's exciting. I'll probably go to bed early tonight too, so I'm gonna be really well rested. That's pretty much it. Sorry this entry is so short. It was just a normal day though.

Wow...

Wow. I just found a way to see how many page views I've had. I didn't know I could see. And my blog has been looked at 704 times since it started. It got more specific, but I don't want to go into it. It was viewed 40 times yesterday. How crazy is that. I never imagined it was THAT popular. I knew there were people looking. Quite a few people. But 704 times? That's amazing and it makes me feel so secure. So safe knowing that many people support me, so thank you. My phone is still searching for a network so I'm gonna wait another day, but if it doesn't work by morning then I'm gonna have to get Rebekka or Benni to check it out. I was gonna have Meghan over after school today, but her German lesson got moved up so she didn't have time. We'll just do it monday. It actually made my life a little simpler because there was this guy. His name is Toby. He is Christoph's brown haired cousin that I talked to on the bus one day and he was super nice. We laughed about the big student next to me who took up half my seat and could have crushed me. Today he sat by me on the bus this morning. We talked and stuff and he had asked what I do in the afternoons. I told him how I don't usually have alot to do besides family stuff and blogging to you guys and facebook. Reading and rotary meetings and such. He laughed that I'm an exchange student and I'm not like crazy busy. We got into the school before I went into class he asked if he could ask a favor. I said sure. So he said what is your name again? I laughed and told him taylor and asked for his name cause i had no idea. That seems to happen alot recently. I still have a friend that I don't know her first name. Then he asked if I want to meet after school. So I said ya, that would be good. But that it would be best if we rode the bus home first so I could drop off my stuff at home and tell my host family. Then we said our goodbyes till later. This was not a date mind you. I don't think anyway. Alot of German guys aren't like that cause there isn't much casual dating around here. You're just friends and you might flirt. Then you either stay that way or you start dating. For example, according to Jasmine and Samiel, if a boy kisses and girl or flip flopped, if you kiss basically, then you're automaticallly boyfriend and girlfriend. When two people get together here, theres alot of commitment involved. So that's why I say it wasn't a date. We were just hanging out as friends. The day went on uneventfully until free period. That's when I meet up with Jasmine and her/our :) friends. (I got my bus ticket though!!) She said she had a surprise for me during free period. And we were going into the city. So we walked, to the mall, and it was a great surprise. It was one of those machines with the pictures :). So we took a picture together and got a bunch of copies. Then we just walked around until free period was over. Then religion, then the bus. And btw, there was this nine year old girl on the bus who had an awesome cell phone! Way better than mine. I was astounded that a girl that age could A. work a phone like that, B. had a phone at all at the age of nine, and C. that she had a nicer phone than a sixteen year old girl (me). How sad. So I got off the bus and met up with Toby. We agreed to meet back there at 2 so I could go home and drop stuff off. Life went on. I got home, dropped off my stuff, told Sofia and Rebekka my plans, ate some crescent rolls (yummy!), and went to go meet him. We ended up walking to the store to buy bread, and peanut butter. Theres two stores right next to each other. We got the bread, american bread :) his pick, but neither store had peanut butter. Sad. So I said let's just eat bread :). And he thought that was crazy but was cool with it. So we walked with no destination in mind. It started raining of course, but it didn't really matter. We sat in a parking lot to eat and his mom just happened to drive by and see us. She insisted we get in the car and come home lol. She was nice. So we went to his house for a bit. We just hung out in the living room with his little sisters. he has 6 siblings I think. two younger sisters, two older brothers and two older sisters. I met the two little ones and his older brother and his mom. It was wonderful to be there because it was an atmostphere I was used to. The kid kind. We sat there with them and talked and ate chocolate. And he had four puppies. :) It was awesome to be greeted at the door by two big doggies. Both were mixes but one looked like a lab and the other like a soft german shepard. The german shepard looked alot like percy. And he had floppy ears and soft fur. They were both so sweet. Both about a year old too. Turns out the lab had 8 puppies recently with the german shepard and all were given away except two. So there was the cutest little puppies there. One was black with little blonde patches and the other all blonde. Both just looked like labs. They were darling. The entire time I was there I had all four dogs cuddled up to me and asleep. It made me soo happy. At about 3:15 I said that I should get going soon, cause my host family didn't tell me when to come home. I didn't want to worry them. So he walked me home. I got to keep the bread lol. He said he wanted me to have it cause he knew I said I missed the food back at home. I thought it was cute. Then we just said bye at my house and he walked away and I went inside. Then I announced I was home and sat down to blog about it. I got home at like 4. I think that's all so far. If anything interesting happens I'll try to type about it.

Long day so far.

Its been a long day so far. I had to get up to go to school in the morning. Which is normal, I know. But today it was extra exhausting. God definitely got me through this day. So many things could have gone wrong. I just got home. It's hard to type cause my fingers are stiff from the cold. I forgot to mention yesterday. The castle wasn't a castle with like gift shops. I didn't go inside because they still use it. Someone was getting married in it and theres actually a restraunt inside. Any way, Today I got to school and I was tired, but everything was fine. It all started down hill when I went to singing instead of tutor group on accident. Meghan had to search the school for me. She found me though and I realized what I had done. It was embarrassing. Then after tutor group I went back to singing on schedule. Then Meghan reminded me that we had a rotary meeting today right after school that I completely forgot about. So I was all stressed out trying to figure out how to tell my host parents this (even though it was on the calender) so that they know why I'm not home on time and that I need to be picked up. I couldn't find Benni after school so we went ahead and walked to the meeting. I used Meghan's phone to call home. Couldn't figure out how to use her phone. So she had to dial for me. My phone doesn't start working until later tonight or tomorrow morning. I found out a little late my phone from home doesnt have a sim card so I have to use one of my host familys old ones. I talked to Rebekka and told her about rotary and she said ok. I felt better except I almost fell asleep during the meeting several times. Meghan said thats normal though. I didn't though. It was sooo hard not to, but I successfully got through the meeting. So we were waiting for my ride home to arrive...and waiting...and waiting. And no one showed up. So I called home again. I said very nicely "I'm done with my rotary meeting now and I was just curious to know whether you were going to pick me up here or whether I should take the bus home?" They said take the bus. So I had to walk all the way back to the school bus stop and wait for forty minutes for the bus to arrive. Then the bus driver spoke no english. I'm really glad I got my paper today that says I'm a student at the gymnasium remigianum. She understood and I didn't have to pay. After that everything has gone smoothly. So thank the Lord I got here safely. Oh and one more thing. They don't have a charger for this old phone. So I have to use Rebekka's. I'm not sure how that's gonna work and I'm nervous to ask her cause I think I'm getting an annoyed vibe from her. She's never had a sister and my host parents tend to always ask her to take me with her when she goes places. I know she doesn't like that and I feel terrible about it. I'm not being annoying. But I feel like I'm annoying her. And I really don't want to add to that list by asking to use her charger all the time. Plus I feel like I'm annoying everyone because they have to speak english when speaking to me. It's like they're trying to rush me into speaking German now so they don't have to deal with it. Once again with the I feel terrible. I'm trying. I really am. Meghan says it will come, but it's gonna take a few months. There's no going around that. I've made flashcards though and I'm trying to learn simple sentences and vocabulary. It's hard....it's not something you can rush. I know I'll learn it though. It will come.

two weeks tomorrow

Today Meghan and I did the calculations and I will be in Germany around 40 weeks. I will have been here two weeks tomorrow. It actually didn't feel like two weeks. It's like, as long as I stay busy and always have something to look forward to, it's gonna fly by. Which is funny because you would think it would go by slower because I'm away from home and school is shorter. So there's more time on my hands. But I have so many small things to fill up this time and bigger things to worry about, that I hardly notice. For example, this weekend is the big rotex sleep over in the gym of my school. I'm super excited to meet all the other students. Theres gonna be like 60 there. Meghan says the entire front of my blazer is gonna be covered by the end of the weekend. This is the time to trade pins. Next weekend, Jasmine invited me to stay over at her house Saturday night. She told her mom about me and how I'm from America and her mom wants to meet me. Jasmine's older brother has a basketball game that Saturday so they invited me to come along and since it goes late she asked if I just wanted to sleep over! I'm going to ask my host parents tonight. Tomorrow is another rotary meeting. The routine, once a month ones. It'll be boring, but at least Meghan will be there so I'll have someone to talk to. And they feed us so free food is a bonus. I'm starting to learn a little more German today. I studied in my Physics class. I also got my residence permit today. I should recieve it in the mail in a couple weeks, but now I'm all legalized. After that I went to school and met Meghan. It took awhile to find each other, but once we did it was all good and we went to the Aldi and bought my phone card. I'm gonna ask Benni to activate it and such later. We didn't have enough time to go shoe shopping. So I went to class and she went home to call her dad. Yesterday was Father's Day in Australia. Then I had another free period before English. Jasmine was done with school so she took me to one of the nearest shoe stores during that period. Turns out theres a mall right by my school! I know where I'm going on my free periods now ;) lol. I'm so glad I went with her because I got the pair of shoes I wanted for 12 euro! Everyone said they would be like way more expensive. I love off brands :). I was choosing between two shoes that I was looking for and I just happened upon the off brand of the better one. So yay! I think it was like the German pay less, idk. But it was great. So now I have my phone card and shoes to go with my skinny jeans. And I have extra money so I can save it and have some if I need food or something. Extra money is always good. I don't have anything planned for tonight, so I think that's it for today. Email me and tell me how I'm doing with this blogging thing. If you don't have it, my email is pbandwaffles@yahoo.com. If you're reading this and you have something you want to say to me, but are hesitant because you didn't know how to contact me or you think you shouldn't because you're a friend of a friend and I don't know you, it's ok. Now you have my email, so shoot me one! I need feedback so I know what I need to improve on or if I'm doing ok.

almost two weeks

Not so much to say about today. I'm still sore from yesterday. I went to the rotary bbq today and Meghan was there so I had someone to hang with :). That was basically just parents talking and teens talking and we all eating. Then I changed and went to my first ball room dance class with benni. I liked the teacher alot. He was cool and even knew some english, so he explained some stuff when I was confused. It was a class for teens so I didn't feel as foolish. He told me just to come to him if I was having any problems. In Germany, the highest class and sometimes the 11th and 12th class get to go to this ball at the end of the year. It's the only "school dance" they have. I think it's like prom. And it's a huge deal. Like mega huge. So that's why benni is taking the classes. So that when he askes a girl to dance, he will know what he's doing. I thought that was sooo sweet. Teenage guys in America don't really care that much about it, but apparently it's common for guys in Germany to take dance lessons for this reason. There was some family over later and the rest of the afternoon was just relaxing and talking. School tomorrow. I'm gonna get my residence permit and get my phone card and look at shoes during my two free periods with meghan. Well, the latter two. The first with Sofia before school. Chau!

exercise

No one. Absolutely no one, can say I'm not exercising while I'm abroad. You know what I did today? I biked thirty kilometers with Rebekka and her friends. I feel like I have diaper rash and my back and legs are sore. I did it all on a bike that was too big for me. I can't even touch the ground on it. I haven't rode on a bike for so long that I had to relearn how a couple minutes before this charade. I had to learn how to ride, stop and start riding the bike that was too big for me the german style. Then I biked 30 kilometers. I only fell once in the bushes that happened to have a plant that gives you a rash. So my hands don't feel so good. And I did it all for you people. Cause I wanted to see the castle and take pictures for you. Hope it was worth it! LOL the pics will go on facebook shortly. I also rode the bike to Rebekkas horse school. One of the horses took a liking to me. I never knew how soft they are! This one kept sticking his head out of his stall and breathing on me and nudging me and trying to get my attention. He went as far as pulling my shirt with his teeth. I think he was trying to eat me. But he was cute! Theres something about horses I noticed today. They have alot of personality and they seem so sincere. I look at them close up and I almost feel.....like they're sad all the time. But thats probably just me. The disko was awesome!! Everything I thought it would be and more. I love it. The only thing was that I thought it was a big group of kids going, but it was just me and benni and christoph. It was still fun though. They pretty much just sat on the couchy thing and I danced. It will probably be way better with some girl friends. Muahahahahaha....tomorrow benni has to dance. You know why? Cause tomorrow is our first ball room dancing lesson. This will be interesting. Hes really tall and I'm....not. lol. Tomorrow is also a rotary bbq so full day. Today was exhausting. Early bedtime? I think yes.

Buses...

Buses are terrible. They are shortist. They are not for small people lol. I was almost pushed off the bus today when people were getting off. It's no mercy here. I also almost fell quite a few times. I'm excited for tonight. There's some things I need to do first though. Like get money for the sleep over off my account. And I was told that I would be provided with a phone here, but that doesn't seem to be the case so I'm gonna go and get a phone card at Aldi. It's cheap and everyone does it here. I also found that people here wear skinny jeans alot. I have two pairs, but I don't have any shoes to go with them because my tennis shoes look terrible with skinnys. My flats are not appropriate for the amount of walking I do each day, and my other pair of shoes are uggs and not seasonally appropriate. Girls here seem to either wear flats or converse or what look like keds. So I'm going to get some of the latter. So I have to get money for shoes and a phone card too from a different account. I also will probably shower cause my hair is straight for the first time today and its gonna look terrible if I get sweaty. Thats about it for today. Nothing too exciting at school. Just boring classes. I'm just happy I'm finally making a few friends!

Two new things

Two new things today. I got to try my first bit of champagne :). I was surprised when it was offered to me by my host parents, but then I remembered and decided to try it. I wasn't sure what I thought of it, so they mixed it with orange juice and I had a glass of champagne mixed with the juice. They were also drinking this. I also made a new friend today and she asked me to go dancing with her and her friends sometime. I was also asked this by christoph, but I told him no because I need to go with girl friends first. And I just thought it wouldn't be good for me to go dancing with just me and a big group of guys. Then later today Sofia said that Christoph had come by earlier. I have to hand it to the boy. Turns out a huge group of kids that all live near here are going dancing tomorrow and my new friend and Christoph had talked and both wanted to invite me and Benjamin. So I get to go dancing tomorrow! Since Benjamin is 18 now, his birthday was today, he can write on a slip of paper that he is responsible for me and I can stay out later than midnight. He could also drive me there, but some parents of the kids are driving everyone. Or Sofia said she would drive us. School was boring. Some friends of Rebekka's came today and are staying until tuesday. They are very nice. There's one in particular that has alot of common interests as me. That's about all for today I think.

oh!

And after the second period there is a 20 minute break. And after the fourth period there is a 15 minute break. But no lunch break or anything. Five minute passing periods. Thats it.

Schedule

Mondays: Four free periods so I don't have to show up until 11:20, so at 11:20 Physics, then free period. Then on week A I have music from 1-2:30. On week B I have English from 1-2:30...

Tuesdays: 7:35-9:10 Deutsch (German), 9:30-10:15 tutor group (German language tutoring), 10:20-11:05 Vocal Practice or singing (its not choir, more like practice for ppl wanting to sing opera. No performances), free period, 12:05-12:50 Math....

Wednesdays: 7:35-9:10 English, 9:30-11:05 Music, free period, 12:05-12:50 Religion....

Thursdays: 7:35-9:10 Math, 9:30-11:05 Physics, 11:20-12:50 Deutsch, no afternoon classes on week A, but week B I have Vocal Practice at 1-2:30...

Fridays: Two free periods in the morning so I don't have to be at school until 9:30, so 9:30-11:05 Religion, 11:20-12:50 English, no afternoon classes on week A, but week B I have Deutsch 1-2:30...

That's it. I know that's confusing. Week A and Week B just rotate. The only difference is if I have afternoon classes and which ones if I do. Tell me what you think of my classes!! Different eh?

Sorry about the delay

Sorry about not posting last night. I was exhausted. There was so much stuff to do and so little time and I had to get to bed to get up for school in the morning. Ok so...where was I? Second day of school? Yes I believe so. I met Mr. Rose at the beginning of school because he had my schedule. The first class period I had to be with him as he taught 6th grade English. My German class wasn't ready for me yet because she was preparing and I would have just been in the way. So I helped him teach the 6th grade English. It was the cutest thing. They could only speak in simple sentences. So he had them go around the room and each ask me a question. They thought it was the coolest thing ever that I'm from America. I learned something too. I learned that 6th grade German boys are very attracted to me. I was hit on several times by the little ones. They were all nervous to talk to me, but made it very obvious they thought I was pretty. One whispered to his friend that he wanted to ask me if I had a boyfriend. A big group laughed because he didn't say it as quietly as he thought. But by the end of the class I think they liked me because they asked if I could come back more often. After first period Mr. Rose asked me if I wanted to go to his second 6th grade English class that day and help again or if I'd rather go to the German class. I went with him because the German class isn't my German lessons. It's just like how Americans take English. I wouldn't be learning anything. The second class I didn't like as much because there were two boys in the front that were bigger than the others. The same age, just matured faster. They took an extra extra obvious liking to me and were constantly asking me questions such as...what is my favorite color, astrological sign, etc. One thought he was being funny and asked for my number. I told him I didn't have one. They kept staring at me and it was uncomfortable. I liked all the other students. It was just those two. You know how when someones staring at you and you can't quit checking to see if they're still doing it? Then you meet their eyes and it's way weird. Well that's what kept happening with these boys. Except worse because I think they saw it as encouragement. I was glad to be done with the class. But over all I liked helping to teach the kids. Then I had tutoring in German. After that singing and then free period (I have nine free periods a week). Then math was my last subject that school day. I went home and almost got on the wrong bus, but Benjamin saved me at the last minute. At four I went to the bank and got my account set up. At seven was the rotary meeting. I had like three dinners that night because I ate some before the meeting, during the meeting, and after was Hartmut's party. I didn't realize they would be feeding us at the meeting so I ate before to tide me over until dinner after at Hartmut's party. It was really boring, the meeting was. They had this huge slideshow of a 60 million dollar boat. I have no idea why. I was sleeping with my eyes open. Then I left, came home, socialized for an hour, showered, wrote to you, and slept. Today was alot simpler. I got up. I went to school. I made a new friend at school named Jasmine. She is very enthusiastic that I'm an American. So she introduced me to all her friends and they were nice too. Theres a few kids in my classes that are starting to recognize me. Everyone says cool when they find out I'm from America. So I spent my free period with her today. My classes were boring. I had English today though, normal English. And I had to be their walking dictionary. I also had to read an article out loud about President Obama taking our troops out of Iraq. It was from the New York Times. Then I had to explain all about that subject and September 11th and such. It wasn't a fun subject. I didn't realize there are German and Australian troops out there too! The American news doesn't tell us much about this. Only about the American out there. Then I had my other classes and my free period and went home. And this is where I've been. Nothing going on tonight except Benjamin's birthday is tomorrow and Philip's dad's is tonight so Hartmut and Sofia are going over there. I'll make another entry for my schedule. It's complicated. ttfn