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