First of all, I apologize for not updating for so long. Yes, I am still alive, and yes, I am still all in one piece. I have been very busy, but have had a wonderful time so far. After I posted the last blog before this one I became very busy. In my language and culture school the eleven of us formed a friendship of shared experiences. We understand each other well, because we are all adjusting to a new culture and language at the same time. We often hung out together after school, and often on the weekends, either as a whole group, or just a handful of people. Our host siblings often hung out with us as well. During the month my family took me to Breitach Klamm, and Neueschwanstein. I was in Munich twice sightseeing, both with my class, once organized by us, the other time organized by the teachers. This left little time for writing on my blog. I knew I only had a short time with those people, and so spent as much time with them as I could. All in all, the experience showed me that I can be independent, and that I can handle life in another culture, and enjoy it. The friendships I made will hopefully last for a very long time. After the course was over, I rode the train from Munich (where my host family took me to the train) to a town near where I now live, where two of my host cousins picked me up. I stayed with my host aunt and uncle for a week because my host family was still on vacation in Italy. The extended family also lives in about a 10 mile radius around, and in the town where I live. All of the smaller towns around a central, and Belmond-sized town belong to the Belmond-sized town, which is where I now live. In the week I spent with my host aunt and uncle I got to know my host extended family, all of my host cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmas. I had lots of fun on the farm, ate ice cream at the local ice cream café in the town where I now live, went bowling (a rare thing here) ate McDonald's (better than in America, slightly healthier, and slightly smaller portions), and helped milk cows one evening, to sum it up in one sentence. I then got to meet the people I would be staying with until July. First impressions were very good. They took me home, and showed me the house. We then went to a fair that was also a market, and I met a few of the people who are now my classmates, as well as a good friend of my host dad. I had about a week with my host family before school started. I got to know my host family in that time, as well as meeting more of my classmates and getting to know some of the ones I met at the fair. The first day of school was a good first day. I met the rest of my classmates, who I will be spending the rest of the year with. I was surprised that I understood most of what was being said, and what was happening. I often didn’t understand all of the vocabulary, but could understand the gist of what was said. The second day of school was really the beginning of learning, and I came home exhausted from having to concentrate the entire day, and trying to understand what we were learning, in another language. During the last part of that week (school started on Wed.) and the next week I gradually understood more and more, and school became less exhausting. In the second full week of school the tenth grade class went on a class trip/graduation trip sailing on the Ijselmeer lake in the Netherlands. That was lots of fun. I got to know my classmates better, and learned a little about sailing. In Germany each class is split up into sections, and each section has its own classroom, and the teachers come to the class section. (except for the science teachers, and the teachers for the one subject that the students get to choose) Each section has a class teacher. For the sailing trip each section had booked its own ship. The three sections were all together in harbor each night, except for the first and last night of the five-day trip. We sailed during the day, and were in a different harbor each night. In the late afternoon and evenings we could go shopping in the nearby town, or stay on the ship and hang out. Each person had to take a turn helping out with the cooking. Overall it was a great trip. When we got back, and went back to school the next Monday I was surprised at how much my German had improved. It is no longer so difficult to understand what is being said. I then had one full week of school, the next Monday off, and then I went on a trip for three days with the choir to a youth hotel in a castle. We practiced on Thursday and Friday, had a party to celebrate our hard work on Friday evening, and then went home on Saturday. We then had two weeks of school before the two-week long fall break started. It is now the beginning of the second week of break, and so far I have relaxed, done some yard work with my host family, played card games, visited my extended family, had a concert with the band that I have become involved with, and taken pictures of the pretty fall colors so far in the break. I have also gone to the swimming club with my older host sister, and have attended the local Lutheran church, and gone to some of their youth meetings. I am also in the school choir, a choir affiliated with the school, and the school musical. As you can see, I have a very full, but fun program when school is in session. Overall I am having a great time here.
Some culture observations: The streets here are narrower, and the sidewalks are often almost as big, or as big as the streets, when the sidewalks on both sides of the street are set next to each other. Buildings are built solidly and to last. The people know how to get work done efficiently, but also when it’s time to take a break, and relax. I have also noticed that they take things at a more doable pace. They don’t run from one event to the next, but are involved in less, which means they have time to be really involved in the activities they do choose. It also means that they have time to sit and chat, and to drop in on family in the neighboring town, and the family has time for them. Taking time to meet with friends on a regular basis is also important here. Being driven to school is very unusual. Walking and biking are the main forms of transportation. There is a taxi service in my town. Buses have routes through all of the little towns, and the trains run through all of the somewhat larger towns.
Living in the German culture has gradually become normal, so that I don’t notice the differences between the two cultures much anymore, like I did when I first arrived. Speaking German all the time has also become normal, and German is the language that I automatically speak, instead of English. At first it was strange that everything around me was in German, but now it is normal. I have adapted to living here in Germany, in my host family, and in this community.
So, that was the last few months squished into a couple of typed pages. Hopefully I will have the next blog posted before February. J I will try to post more regularly in the future.
