February 1st-11th

Friday February 1st
 After a long week, I had a girls night with Laura. We drank some champagne and had a bunch of junk food and then watched Sex and the City and some of the sequel. I had never seen it before, but it was really funny and we had a fun time.

On Saturday, I went to Kriztina's birthday party at her house. It was really sweet of her to invite me, and I got to meet all of her friends and see some of her old ones as well. Markus, Joana, and Crissy all came to the party and it was fun to catch up with them, as I hadn't seen them since we went to Münster. We played a few games and looked through their old yearbooks. Her mom had also made an awesome spread of snacks and finger foods that I got to try. It was a really fun party and I got to sing in both German and English. Alles Gut Zum Geburtstag just doesn't have the same ring to Happy Birthday, but  it was still fun singing it.

Sunday, Anni invited me to Iserlohn to attend her choir concert. I got to see her family again as well as go to another Sunday school lesson, and really enjoyed both. Plus, she is an amazing singer and had two solos, and it was really impressive. I know how nervous I used to get before piano recitals, but at least with that, you can make it seem like you know how to play. If you can't sing, then it's immediately obvious and there is no way to cover it up. However, Anni doesn't have to do this, because she knocked the socks off of her songs. Afterward, we went back to her house in Iserlohn and Dieter and Carl came over. We had planned on staying up, ordering some burgers, and watching the Superbowl, but we were all really tired by 10 pm. Unfortunately, kickoff doesn't even start until midnight over here, and there was no way I was going to make it through. Plus, Carl told me they don't even show the American commercials, which is one of the reasons I watch, so it was just a bust all around. Oh well. It was still fun to see Carl and Dieter.

Monday was Opi's birthday. I now have the privilege of having attending both Omi AND Opi's birthdays. Now it's just Anni's and Maike's and I'll have collected the whole set! Jokes aside, it was a really sweet day, with cake (yesssss!!) and Käsesuppe (cheese soup) that is basically the best thing I've ever tasted. I really want to the recipe, even though whatever I try to recreate will be a complete failure compared to Omis. Later, we went upstairs and played MarioKart with Maike. It was really sweet of Anni to invite me to both events, and I enjoyed seeing everyone again.

The rest of the week was spent trudging through more snow, taking my last final, shopping for souvenirs for when I go home, and packing my bags for my visit home.  I am trying to get take home some of the stuff I brought over here so I won't as much in July. That's it for now, Schüss!!

German Word of the Week: das Gepäck-"baggage" I really hope that my Gepäck is not lost on the flight over.