Weekly Post #4

Hey everybody!

Boy has my week flown by! I can't believe it's friday again. I hope your week has been just as enjoyable as mine. It's friday for the fourth time so that means a fourth update. I hope you guys are ready, because my week was just packed. I also appologize in advance for any word choices that aren't the best I have already been forgetting some words in English.

23. August 2014:

Saturday was my last day in Warendorf. My Warendorf family and I tried to go to the innstatt for a last hurrah, but murphy's law kicked in. It rained all morning just until it was too late to make it worth it. Instead Geva and I made a Seepferdchen (seahorse) out of beads. I also gave my mom the picture of me and Geva in front of one of the castles we visited the week before. Needless to say I was pretty sad to be leaving all of my new friends and family in Warendorf. But I knew I had a new family and more friends waiting for me in Dortmund. My Dortmund family came for me at about 2 pm, and my Warendorf family and I said goodbye with a couple of tears in our eyes. We drove about an hour and 30 minutes to my new home in Dortmund. On the way my brother woke up from his nap. I have wanted a brother my whole life (no offense Katerina and Natalya I still love you both!). Even though I had to wait 18 years it was totally worth it. He is so cute and easy to understand. I love goofing around and plying with him. When we arrived at my home my sister, Hannah was waiting for us. She is really sweet and I can't wait to get to know her more. My new house is so beautiful. I have a room of my own and we have a gorgeous backyard with a trampoline. That evening a Dortmund soccer game was on. Some neighbors and friends came over to watch it with us. Sadly they lost 2-0. The spirit of the Dortmund soccer team fans is comparable to that of the Packers. Afterwards my family and I were flipping through music and I found out my dad and I both like bands like Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, and Arctic Fire. I thought that was pretty cool.

24. August 2014:

Sunday was my first full day in Dortmund. I learned at breatfast that morning that holunder vanilla marmelade is my favorite marmelade. We also had brot, meat, and bubbly water. After breakfast my mom, brother, and I made an apple, cherry kuchen. (It was pretty different from the ones dad makes in America) Later on in the day my host family came to visit. We ate kuchen, talked and played games. My host aunt even brought her dog which I got to sit and pet for awhile. After everybody went home I tried to teach my parents about american football. But it was a pretty bad match up even for the preseason so it wasn't that interesting, even for me.

25. August 2014:

On monday my mom and I dropped my brother off at kindergarten. He was so excited to introduce me to everybody at his kindergarten. It was really sweet. Afterwards my mom and I had to go to the innstatt to get me to be a registered German. Unfortunatly we were unable to do so, instead we ended up walking around the innstatt. Dortmund's innstatt is very different than Warendorf's. From what I saw in Dortmund many things seem to be newer than the very old innstatt of Warendorf. Afterwards we picked up my brother from kindergarten via bike. We got spaghetti ice and I got a Dortmund shirt. My mom also showed me the book store which looks really nice. When we got home my brother and I ended up having a tickle fight which I think was the silliest thing we have done so far. My mom and I made pasta for dinner. We made buttered noodles with pesto sauce.

26. August 2014:

On tuesday my mom and I went into my new school, Heinrich Heine Gymnasium, to figure out my schedule for the year. Finally after three hours I got all the details of my schedule worked out. I am in junior year with German and History as advanced classes. After all that was done we had to go back to the rathaus (city hall) to get me registered as living with my new family. Before we did that we had enough time to go to get something for lunch. We went to this one place that started with a V. It was so good I had Ratatouille, it was honsetly one of the best pastas I have ever had. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in Dortmund. Later on after dinner my mom showed me the way to a swimming pool. I tried out for a swimming team there but it ended up to be too much of a work out schedule for my short year in Germany. Even though that didn't work out I got to learn about Dortmunds transport loop.

27. August 2014:

On wednesday I had my first day of school. This has probably been the scariest thing so far for me. I have never moved outside of my school district so this was a completely new experience for me. My first class was regligion. I sat down next to a nice group of kids. They ended up have most of the same classes with me. Luckily they were able to lead me around for the whole day. I am so glad they did because my school makes absolutely no sense. On top of that there is construction everywhere which makes it even more confusing. In the first day I had Religion, German, History, Sociology, and English. By far German was the hardest. We were analysing a book in old german, I had no clue what we were talking about at all. After school I was so exhuasted I stared at the TV for about 45 minutes until my brother came home with a friend. I ended up jumping around with them on the trampoline. That was super fun and they are really cute. I also met our backyard neighbor and his guinea pig. They both seem really sweet, I can't wait to get to know them more. For dinner we grilled out with some of the next door neighbors who were all super nice.

28. August 2014:

On thursday we started a project day. This was pretty boring because we spent four hours talking about slogans and mottos for respect. In addition I didn't have anybody from the day before in my class. Luckily this project only lasts two days. After school my mom and I went over to our next door neighbors house because it was her birthday. It was one of the nicest days since I got to Germany so we ended sitting outside the whole afternoon. After dinner my mom found a dirndl in our house and it fit me perfectly. We are already planning to go to Oktoberfest.

29. August 2014:

Today in school we made posters for the respect mottos. I ended up drawing a lot which is funny because my drawing skills are at most primative. After school (which got out yesterday and today at 1) my mom, brother, and I went to a swimming pool. It was super relaxing and I liked it, although I don't think my brother did too much because it was too cold for the outdoor slides. After dinner some neighbors, friends, and family came over to watch the Dortmund game. I got a chance to wear my Dortmund shirt, they won 2-3.

Thanks for reading!

Sandra

Weekly Post #3

Hey everybody!

So sorry for writing a bit late. I was so busy moving from Warendorf to Dortmund that I didnt have time for my weekly update. I have arrived safely to Dortmund and I am now bringing you my weekly update (I will still only go until friday to stay on track). I hope everybody had an awesome week and is having a fun relaxing weekend.

16 August 2014:

On Saturday our little band of Warendorf Americans ventured to Münster. We hopped on the train for thirty minutes to Münster. When we got there Lina (hey Lina!) gave us each a landmark to leas the group to. I went first and found a church. This wasnt too difficult given the conveniently placed maps around the city. One of the churches we saw had three cages at the top of its tower. In the middle ages leaders of rebellions would be put up into the cages to die. (Pretty gruesome right?) We visited another church down the street which had a courtyard. The corridors surrounding the courtyard looked exactly like those of Hogwarts. Needless to say I 100% geeked out. We grabbed some stuff to eat at the farmers market right outside the church and headed over to one of the palace lawns to eat. Afterwards Venessa, Alberto  (both are Mexican exchange students), Alison, Liam, Sean, Meggie, James, Lisa (the German event planner), and I went to the C&A to try on dyrndels (I know thats spelled wrong) and lederhosen. Alberto had never heard of lederhosen before so he ended up tying the suspenders behindbhis neck and used my belt to keep them from falling down. This was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. That night Warendorf had a Maria Himmel fahrt celebration. This is a celebration in honor of Mother Mary. They parade the Madonna through the innstatt after dark. My family and I went after everything was dark. It was just amazing. There were lit orange lanterns criss crossing across all of the streets and all of the store windows had special displays about Mary and the Maria Himmel fahrt. There were also nine beautiful arches dedicated to the Mother Mary.

17 August 2014

On sunday my host uncle, aunt, and grandpa took me and Geva to two castles. The first was completely round and surrounded by a moat. This schloss (castle) was pretty interesting. Even though it looked cicular on the outside the inside was completely hollowed out to make a court yard. I believe this schloss was used more for protection than it was comfort. The second schloss we went to was the exact opposite. This castle was so huge that it was actually turned into a university. This one had horse pastures on the side many forest walks and a huge garden with a pond on the back. The garden had many statues of animals and people. The castle was made completely out of brick which made it look even bigger anf more grand. Afterwards we we ent into Münster to have dinner and ice cream.

18 August 2014

On monday I began my last week of the OLC schooling. In school we learned about what Germans do in their free time and how history affects all the cultures around us. Monday was also Liams birthday so we sung to him in German and English. Later at lunch the Mexican exchanges also sang to him in Spanish. School ended at lunch today and we had some time to kill before Liam's birthday party. We hiked all the way over to the D&M (like a walgreens) and then found Anna's school in Warendorf. By the time we finished it was about time to head over to the bus. We arrived at Liam's aunts house and there were so many gifts on the table. We all thought this was absolutely amazing because half of these people had never met Liam before and those who had, had only known him for 2 weeks. Liam opened his presents, he opened the one from all of the Americans last and it turned out to be one of his favorites. We all pitched in to get him the german collectors edition of the Hunger Games. His face was absolutely priceless. After that we ate cake and all went for a walk. On our walk we found a playground with a mini zipline which we all played on for about half an hour until it started to rain. It only rained for 5 minutes but we were already on our way. By the time we got out of a short wooded area the rain had stopped and the sun was shining through. We saw a double rainbow and all freaked out because it was so special. Of course we then had to take a picture underneith it. I hope this was a super awesome birthday for Liam.

21 August 2014

Thursday was our last day with our culture teacher, Lina. We spent most of the day with her. We talked about what we had done in the past 3 weeks of clas, what we wanted to take with us, what we wanted to leave behind, and we wrote letters to eachother. In the afternoon we went to James' house to prepare for our going away party. We prepared The Cup Song, bought flowers, and made special gifts for each of the teachers and Lisa. We all ended up really sad when it was time to leave but I know I will see every one of them again.

22 August 2014

Friday was my last official day in OLC Warendorf class. We spent the day playing games, making a scrapbook for Lisa, and laughing. We got out after lunch and were invited to go horseback riding with Liam's family. We rode around on horses and watched his little cousin run around with the little Shetland pony (by far the cutest thing I have ever seen). By the time 4pm rolled around we were all done. This was time to say goodbye to everybody. We all promised to meet eachother in München for the winter YFU meeting. Even though I know I will see them again it was a sad event and I will really miss all of them. When I got home some of the family friends came over and we did mini grilling in the house which was super fun. We stayed up until 1am laughing and talking.

Zukunft:

On saturday I will say goodbye to my Warendorf family and begin my year long adventure with my Dortmund family. I am so glad for these past few weeks. I have gotten to know so many wonderful people who I will never forget. I have gotten to meet my Warendorf family, Dana and Geva, and my OLC teacher and classmates. I want to thank them for all they have done for me and I hope to see them in the future. I look forward to begining school in Dortmund with my new sister, Hannah. I know I will have an amazing time in Dortmund with my whole family.

Thanks for reading!

Sandra

Weekly Post #2

Hey everybody!

I hope everybody got through the week. It's finally the weekend! Now it is time for my weekly blog update. I hope you guys had just as full of a week as I did.

9 August 2014:

On Saturday my family woke up early to get ready and packed for the camping trip that weekend. I packed my backpack with what I needed, and we loaded up the back of the car to go camping. It was a bit chillier than I had expected and I hadn't looked at the weather. We drove about two hours to get to what ended up being a coworkers parents house. They had three horses, two dogs (Emma and Fina), a herd of cats, and a herd of guinea pigs. After grouping together with all the friends, coworkers, and neighbors, we packed back into the cars and headed off to a petting park. The petting park was pretty big and very cool. They had rams, ducks, guinea pigs, buffalo, and many others. They had many goats which could come right up to you with no fence. Naturally I took this chance to befriend one, and he sneezed all over me. When we saw the buffalo Geva, very excited that I am Indian, said to me in german, "hey hey! Gahstie! you know those over there you know those things! You know those right?" I also became bestfriends with the little neighbor baby/toddler who is very shy. After several hours at the petting park (I said it was big), we packed back into the cars and headed back to the house. While dinner was being prepared one of the ladies brought out her horse for everyone to ride. Living in Warendorf (the horse city) I had to take this opportunity to ride. This was so much fun I rode around by myself for about 20 minutes. Once I got off my mom said I rode very western which was very American. Dinner consisted of mostly meat (pork), wurst, and bread. Everybody keeps asking me if I am full, to which I always relpy yes (because I truely am) but they never seem to believe me. After dinner the fire pit was brought out and I taught the Germans how to make smores. They don't have graham crackers so we used butter cakes instead. They all loved them. They also taugh me how to make this bread (I think it was called stickbröt) over the fire. I think I really burnt mine but it tasted sweet and bread like anyway so it was good. We stayed up sitting round the fire singing and laughing until two am.

10 August 2014:

When I woke up the next morning I had a really bad sore throat. For breakfast we ate vla (a pudding from the Netherlands), bröt, hard boiled eggs, and scrammbled eggs. We played the game who am I after breakfast, and my sore throat just kept on getting worse. By the time we left at 12 I had a really bad sore throat and runny nose. When we got home my mom immediately sent me to bed and made, honey tea, and brought me some honey medicine. I slept for the rest of the day. Although I do have to comment on how the common cold is treated. In America we hammer ourselves with pills during a cold, while in Germany I had honey. With the pills I feel out of sense, but with the honey medicine I felt completely with it while I could feel myself getting better. That is a pretty cool difference.

11 August 2014:

On monday I didn't do very much I still felt too sick to go to school that day. I ended up finishing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and I began on Bill Bryson's, Niether Here Nor There. Even on Monday I felt about 50% better than the day before, which really says something to the honey treatment.

12 August 2014:

On Tuesday I felt well enough to go to school. We talked about grammar and the environment all day because our culture teacher, Lina, was also very sick. Although, we did get a pause (break) for a half an hour which I took to go get some German sudafed. This was quite an experience because, both my friend Anna and I had forgotten the word for dry out (trocknen) and the lady behind the counter either didn't know English or refused to speak it. We sat there for probably five minutes trying to remember this word. It eventaully all worked out and I bought the right medication. We also took this pause to go and look at the kids books at the nearby bookstore. Liam, a friend from the class, found a really awesome set of the Hunger Games trilogy in German and continued to talk about it for the rest of the day. Later on in the school day we also got interview by three different local newspapers. When I arrived back at my house Ben (my moms boyfriend who arrived the thursday before camping) and I played magic the gathering until 11 pm when my mom came home from work. I actually beat him once which my mom tells me is only a once in a life time thing. She and I think it's pretty awesome that I beat Ben. We had a simple noodle dinner in which I learned Germans don't eat their noodles at all like we do. They either eat them with ketchup, mayo, BBQ, mustard, or sugar and cinnemon.

13 August 2014:

In school on Wednesday we talked more about grammar and Lina was back so we were able to talk more about culture with her. After school I went to Alisons house to work on a presentation for school. We ended up mostly talking, and eating Haribo candies. On my way back to my house I stopped at a kiosk to buy that days Die Glocke newspaper. They had a small clipping in the local section with our picture and a quote from me. That picture will be up as soon as I am able to put it up. I also played magic the gathering again with Ben, but I never ended up winning.

14 August 2014:

On Thurdsay we talked about grammar and YFU rules. We also had another American come in who is started with YFU USA soon and wanted to know more about us for her recruiting process. After school I went for a walk to go exploring again. This time it ended up pouring and by the time I got back to the house my pants and shoes were soaked through.

15 August 2014:

Today marks the beginning of the last week in Warendorf. Today we started talking about the going away party and what the Americans would plan for it. There is a feeling of sadness and anticipation growing around us. In school we talked about grammar and culture shock.

Zukunft (future):

Over the weekend the American group will go to Münster, the nearby city. After that there will be a Maria Himmel Fahrt (Madonna parade/festival) which our American group will also attend. Sunday will be a family day which we might visit a few castles which I am super excited to see. On monday Liam has his birthday in Germany and we are all going to a party for him.

Any questions, comments or concerns please put in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Sandra

Weekly post #1

Hey everybody!

So I will be posting once a week on Friday's to inform everybody about what has been going on. Unless there is a special event/holiday please keep alert every Friday. If I miss a Friday feel free to fill my Facebook page with mad messages.

1 August 2014:

My group of Americans arrived in Dusseldorf around lunch. We were able to navigate our own way through the airport and get to the other side to meet our families. I rode with another family to Warendorf where I met my new family. I have a mom, a little sister, a kit, two birds, chickens, and bunnies. It was a tough adjustment, but after a week I believe I'm getting more used to everything.

3 August 2014:

Even on Sunday I was still very tired. My family and I ate breakfast with two of the family friends. We ate German pancakes and brötchen. Acre that we went swimming with them in a little lake. I really liked being back in the water. My family finished off Sunday with a grill out. Some neighbors and friends came over and we had käsewurst. One of the neighbors even brought his puppies over for everyone to play with.

4 August 2014:

Monday began our Orientation for language and culture (OLC) classes. There are eight students in the class and they are all super cool. Our group meshes perfectly together. Which makes learning super fun. I also went to my first Aldi Monday. It's exactly like an American Aldi but with German products.

5 August 2014

On Tuesday I discovered German shades. I think the German shades are the coolest thing. They are nothin like the American ones. They are metal and they are located outside the window. There is also a box next to the window inside which pulls the metal shade up and down. The shades also have little holes in them so you can have some light come in if you want.

6 August 2014:

On Wednesday I got lost going to and from school. (Maybe my sense of direction only works in America) in school we talked about school, homelessness, and comparative and supurlative cases. After school I went exploring in the innstadt (innercity) and discovered that most of the stores closed by 6:30.

7 August 2014

On Thursday we talked about conjunctions, communication, and grammar. After school there was a parents meeting and all the Americans decided to play fisbee. My sister ended up coming along and we ended up playing and listening to her go on in German. It's really quiet helpful to have her around because she talks quite a lot so I am able to learn more faster by listening to her.

8 August 2014:

Today we learning about the perfect tense, freetime, and grammar. After school I was pretty wiped out and everybody else was busy so I got lost on purpose in ky neighborhood to find my way around.

Zukunft (future):

This weekend I loom forward to camping with my family and their friends. In the coming week we will learn more about different aspects of everyday German life and grammar.

If you have any questions or feedback please leave it in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Sandra

First day

Hi everybody,

The past two days have been a whirlwind. After a day of traveling I was completely exhausted but relieved to be with my new family. I was introduced to my new cat, Leo, two birds, three chickens, a herd of bunnies, and a turtle. Everything is so different here. The roads and cars are smaller, the houses are smaller but very cozy. The people seem very friendly. After leaving the airport we were all split up into groups of twos to be sent to our houses. It was a shock to be on my own after being with all the Americans, but I have a very nice mom and sister who are here for me. I can't wait to see how everybody else is doing at our first OLC training meeting on Monday.

My fist full day has been really laid back. In the morning a friend came over for a birthday breakfast. After that we drove to the city to get some food. I never knew they had Aldi food store in Germany. Even though it is the same store, all of the products are German. Tonight we will stay in for a relaxing night to watch Tangled. I can't wait to watch one of my favorite Disney movies in German.

Thanks for reading!
Sandra