Thursday May 16

Today was supposed to be a long day but because of parent/teacher conferences, we had half hour classes so we got out of school earlier than we usually would.  I did not know that, so I was wondering why all the classes seemed so short.  At hour break, my friends told me why it seemed so short and we continued to play tag.  After that, we only had one class period until school got out.  By the time school ended, it was only 12:30!

Math sounded cool because they seemed to be playing a math game about the area of parallelograms.  The kids kept whooping and groaning as their team won or lost points.  Then came Politics which was not as exciting as Math but still was fun.  In History, everyone gave a presentation while I studied my German Made Simple book.  It was a fun day and I think my classmates would agree.

Because of the short day, Kyra and I had to walk home from the bus stop.  I really enjoyed the walk because it reminded me of how I used to walk home from school.  It seemed so cool to walk through German countryside.  Especially when we had to climb a small hill and I could look over to my right and see a small town so far away it looked like a toy set!  It was the perfect picture for a postcard.

Wednesday May 15

Today I had P.E. twice, Bio twice and German.  I was supposed to have Math twice after that but Kyra had piano lessons so I went home early after German.  The math teacher and the P.E. teacher are the same so for some odd reason, he switched them today.  That means I had math twice instead of P.E. twice!  I think that is just weird but he must have thought differently.

In Bio we talked about birds and how they have adapted to their habitat.  The two main birds we talked about were ducks and seagulls.  We talked about how they get their food, where they live, how they take off from the water.  My friend Simon translated some of what they were saying.  I thought that was really nice of Simon and I am glad he did that.

In Germany, they say "Wie heisst Du?" which means "How called you?" or "What is your name?"  They also say "Ich habe hunger!" which means "I have hunger!" or "I am hungry!"  So I wonder if they say "I have sick" or I have happy/sad".  We Americans think that sounds funny but if you think about it, I am hungry sounds just as weird!  That is the cool thing about languages.

Tuesday May 14

Today I had Philosophy for two hours and English for two hours and Music for two hours.  With everything doubled it felt like a long day.  But English was fun because we started reading about a pair of twins visiting their grandma and grandpa.  Some of the British English is hard to understand.  For example, a flat is an apartment and trousers are pants!  Luckily I can understand most of the text in our book.

In Philosophy, we had a substitute.  I got out my German book and started to read.  After one chapter, I looked up and saw what looked like four leaved clovers with names in them drawn on the whiteboard.  I asked my friend Deniz what they were for and he said if one of us made the teacher angry, she would write our name in one of the leaves.  It didn't seem to be effective because several people had their names on the board more than twice!

Last was music where we continued from last week working in our groups to make a radio station with a topic of our choice.  My groups topic was children and how they get, spend and divide money.  I wrote a few sentences on how most children in Idaho do just that.  I got it done right before the end of school and gave it to my group to fit into our radio station.  I am not sure what this project has to do with music but it is still fun.

Monday

Today, I went to school alone because Kyra needed to go to the orthodontist.  I got on and off the bus ok, and quickly found my French room but realized I had forgotten my German Made Simple book so I had nothing to do for three class periods.  Then came English, where we did a few questions on a new story we are listening to.  The teacher started making an announcement in German so I continued working but it turned out she said that the last three hours of school were canceled.  When I found out, I realized that I didn't have my phone so I couldn't call Jörg to tell him everything so I called from the office.  After that, Jörg came and took me home and it was all fine until Merinda said that Kyra had gone back to school when she didn't have to so she could go home with me!  Oh NO!

There are some interesting differences between America and Germany.  For example, in Germany they don't have drinking fountains!  So, if you forget your Wasserflasche (water bottle), you are out of luck!  Also, in America, we eat our "warm meal" for dinner; here, we eat our warm meal for lunch!  There are some really cool differences in the world!

Lately, the weather has been cold and rainy.  After homework, I don't feel the urge to go outside for more than a few seconds.  Oh well, at least I am surrounded by cool relatives and friends.  I think homework is harder when it is rainy outside than when it is sunny.  I wonder why I feel like that ... when it is sunny, I think it would be harder to concentrate on homework but apparently not!

Holiday!!!!

Wednesday through Friday, we did not have school!  We picked up my uncle Ashley who came to Germany on Wednesday to do some work here.  Then, Thursday, we all, including Ashley walked to the Naaf river and made wood boats and a small stonehenge!  It was a lot of fun eating and playing at the Naaf.  Jörg even made me an Aikido stick to play with!

Saturday, we went to the Neanderthaler museum.  Neanderthalers were men like people who lived in Europe during the Stone Age.  Most Americans and Europeans have a little Neanderthaler DNA.  It was very interesting and the posters they had were in German but had English translations underneath!  I wish there were more museums like that.

On Wednesday, Ashley challenged me to a contest:  Who can speak the most German by Sunday.  He has been studying while I have been reading!  The score 
is (at the moment) three to three.  The scoring goes like this, we each come up with three sentences and three questions.  I so far have two sentences and one question.  I think Ashley has three sentences.

Settling In

May 7, 2013

Monday was another long day at school. It is very hard to sit in a classroom for so long and not understand a possibly interesting subject but if I complain, it only feels worse! I am feeling more at home in the school than at first so I am settling in. My core group of friends have welcomed me with open arms which helped my confidence a ton. They make me feel equal to them even though I do not speak German.

Tuesday is luckily a short day and it sped by quickly. Music is not the same as in America. It is not a band, instead, we learn about the instruments. We never get to play them which I think is kind of sad, but it is fun and the teacher is nice to us. Music is my favorite class we have on Tuesday.

Note: If you commented in previous posts, go back and look because I answered most if not all.

Life is Good

Saturday we spent the whole day moving closets and rearranging a lot of stuff. It was hard for Jörg, Merinda, and Kyra but Liam, Synja and I had it easy. All we had to do was watch. We were planning to continue working in the yard but didn't have enough time. So we did it the next day.

Sunday we went to the Freilichtmuseum in Lindlar and we saw a big loom.

 It was hand cranked and only made ribbon but it was as cool as it was big.

We also saw some (and tried out) old toys like stilts and a game similar to horse shoe but instead of horse shoes to throw, there were small rings!

Then it was time to go home and work even more on the hill but next time, we will probably plant the grass to extend the lawn. (If you don't know what "the hill" is, look in the blog archives at "What a Fun Weekend".