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. 

Dec. 21st-23rd

Friday, Dec. 21st.

Freeedom!!!! I met up with Anni and we drove to her hometown of Iserlohn. I got to meet her grandparents again, both who were really gracious and gave me big hugs. Upon entering their apartment, I noticed all of the great decorations. There were candles and wreaths everywhere. It was really pretty.

 I also noticed her Omi's orchids. She had at least 15 all throughout the house and all were beautiful and in bloom. A green thumb indeed.

The several plates of Christmas cookies placed around the house did not go unnoticed either.

Don't mind if I do!

The sign says "Merry Christmas!"

 After we had unpacked and settled in, I got to meet Anni's aunt, Maike, who lives above her grandparents. We got to have dinner with her and a few of her friends and we watched a movie as well, Mirror, Mirror. It's another Snow White story (Schneewittchen in German), but it was fun nonetheless.

On Saturday, the 22nd, it was Omi's birthday! I got up and had breakfast with Anni. It was a proper German breakfast, with rolls, assorted sausages and meats, cheese, nutella, jam, and the like. I was in heaven. I usually am too impatient for breakfast and grab a yogurt or banana, so this was nice for a change. Around 3, Anni's uncle, Thorsten, and his wife and children came over to celebrate Omi's birthday. They have four children, including one really sweet 6 month old, Lukas. Her uncle teaches English at a high school near Iserlohn, so I had fun getting to know him and his family. Carl also came over for the celebration.

 However, I was unprepared for the epicness that is a German birthday. I am used to a single cake for a birthday. That cake usually comes after a family dinner. Here, however, we got to eat cake first. And not just one cake, there were at least 6 different kinds to choose from. Mind you, these were all homemade by Omi. No box cakes here! My brain could not compute all of this at first. Here are just two of them:

I think I managed to make it through three different slices, but had to give up after that. But there were leftovers, so another day I shall try again. Afterward, we all sat around the table and talked. It was fun trying to discern the different conversations going on at once. Anni and Carl were really kind and would translate for me if I didn't understand something. Something I did understand was when Anni's aunt said that it might snow for Christmas. All at once, everyone stopped and said "WAS?!" (in English: WHAT?!) It was really funny. I hope it will snow, but it doesn't look good. The temperature has been hovering around the 60s.

After the cake had time to settle, we had supper. It was spatzel with mushrooms. I really enjoyed this as well. What with the cake, cookies, and awesome meals, I am on track to gain at least 10 pounds by the end of break. Totally worth it.

Afterward, Carl, Anni, and I played Triominoes. I don't know what it was, but I hit a really lucky streak and won two games in a row. We talked about popular German movies like Sissi, which is a series of movies from the 50s about Elisabeth, the princess of Austria.

On Sunday, the 23rd, we got up to go to church. I got to help Anni with the children's service, which was a special one because it was Christmas. We spent the morning singing Christmas songs, eating cookies, and playing games. It was my kind of service. I even got to meet Anni's best friend, Rila. She was super-nice and we all took part in a game called "Blitz, Feuer, Wasser, Wind" (Lightning, Fire, Water, Wind). Basically, the object of the game is to wear the kids out. It involves a lot of running. For example, if Anni yelled out Blitz! the kids would have to lay on their stomachs to escape the lightning. If she yelled Wind! then they would have to run and touch a wall. It was hilarious, because Anni was really good at stirring the kids up. She would say stuff like "There's a tornado right behind you, you better run faster!" and "Only one can survive, who will it be?!" I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. It was really good for me to hang out with kids as well, because I actually understood a majority of what they were saying! I am thinking about enrolling in a preschool close to university. That's a sure way to improve my German!

After church, we went home and had lunch. We also decorated the room we were staying in. Anni brought all of her ornaments and decorations from home, and we had fun hanging it all up.

Anni getting her swag on

After this, we went upstairs to see Maike and have a girl's day. We painted our nails, put on facial masks, and watched a reality TV show about weddings. The language was not too terribly difficult, and with a lot of help from Maike and Anni, I understood most of it. Plus, it was a really fun show as well. When the show was over, we decided to play some Wii bowling and Mario Kart. We stayed up pretty late, but it was a fun day overall. That's it for now, Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and I am super excited! Schüss!!

German Word of the Day: Die Glocken- "the bells" Die Glocken on Sunday morning are a nice sound to wake up to. 

First Week Back

Tues. October 23rd- Saturday October 27th

Tuesday I had my second discussion group. It was kind of like pulling teeth since no one wanted to discuss. However, after many awkward silences and a lot of  prompting, I finally got some of them to talk. I will have to work on that for next week. After this, I had my Victorian literature class. It was interesting, and I met a really nice girl named Natalie. We discussed some short stories by Oscar Wilde and signed up for presentations later in the year. 

On Wednesday I had my American lit course. We are now discussing The Jungle. It was written in 1906 by Upton Sinclair and was meant to bring about change in business and labor practices in the U.S. However, it's mostly known today for its graphic and detailed descriptions of the meat industry at the time. I don't want to give too much away, but one story is about rats and their involvement in the production of ham. Yeah. There are some parts I just have to skip/skim over.

On Thursday, Chris and I baked a cake for a Laura's birthday. It was a Paula Deen recipe (naturally) and actually turned out ok. It was an "Ooey Gooey Butter Cake" and called for a yellow box cake mix. However, we could only find chocolate, and it ended up looking like brownies instead of cake. It also had the consistency of unbaked brownies as well. Now that I describe it, it doesn't sound all that appetizing, but trust me, it was good. Especially since we added sprinkles to the top. All desserts taste better with sprinkles.

Laura's birthday was on a Friday and we started out at a Mexican restaurant.  I met even more German friends! We were also told by the waiter that we couldn't eat the cake at the table. I was baffled. Apparently if we wanted to eat dessert, it would have to come from the restaurant's kitchens. What is this, a caketatorship? A mutually exclusive culinary circle? We were kind of upset and plotted to sneak bites of it without anyone noticing. We also sang Happy Birthday in both English and German.

After this, we went dancing at a club. That was fun as well. I could tell that most of the songs had English lyrics, but I had never heard of them. They were funnily put together as well. I remember one line repeated about 50 times "Put a jacket on the toad" kept making me laugh. Or maybe that wasn't the exact lyric, but that's what I heard.

The rest of my weekend went pretty smoothly, Bilge came over to watch "The Big Lebowski" and that was a fun time. She'd never seen it before, so I had to explain some parts to her, but in the end, she said she liked it and that her favorite character was Donnie.

All in all, a nice week back, I'm happy I didn't miss too much. Schüss!!
German Word of the Day: Kegeln- "bowling" After a long day, sometimes it nice to have fun and go kegeln.