PHOTOS need I say more?

I don't have time for a blog entry so I thought I'd show you a few pictures until I have a chance to blog again. This first picture is Renato and I. It's the last time I saw him. He's been the only constant thing in my life between switching families and trying to find a place that I belong here. It's hard to believe I may or may not see him again.
















The next two pics are me with a few kids from school plus renato.











































This is a pic from the Rotary District Conference which was the last time I saw all of the exchange students. I cried buckets, but alas alack so is life eh?















This is a ruin of a monastary where theatre performances are held. I saw a few rehersals, was able to do a small one day practicum, and see 2 of their performances. It was absolutely amazing. This ruin is in the middle of my last city Bad Hersfeld.















Going back to where it all started. Here I am again in Wasserkauppe ordering a crepe like we use to do all the time in August in Wasserkauppe when we were there for our language camp.















Here are 3 of my best friends. They are all exchange students and this was a picture of us after rediscovering Mountain Dew.

I'll write when I can but I'm super busy right now. I haven't forgot about you!! Take care reader.

Berlin Berlin wir fahren nach Berlin!! (Berlin Berlin we're driving to Berlin!) It's a song!

I got back from a week long trip in Berlin with Rotary on Sunday. I'm still pretty exhausted and sick. I always seem to come back with a cold, sniffling, and a sore throat. We barely sleep and since we've had trip after trip I've never really recovered. I have another Rotary weekend this weekend so I don't see more sleep in my future! Although, it is definetly worth it. I've seen a lot.

So I wanted to start off my blog entry with something that I noticed about Berlin. Berlin isn't a pretty city. For the most part it's pretty ugly, but it has a very interesting atmosphere. So although it's nothing much to look at Berlin is a really neat city and I really enjoyed my time there. I would go back in a heart beat.

This blog entry isn't going to be like a lot of my other entries where I tell you lots about myself. This entry is going to ask you to think and to feel. It might be a bit depressing. (Don't worry it has nothing to do with me.) History, especially these exerpts of history, can often be a bit depressing.

I'm just going to hit the highlights so here we go.

Things that I enjoyed or if not enjoyed (because the topics were depressing) important and worthwhile to see:

Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden

The Wall

Potsdam

Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand

Jüdisches Museum Berlin

Ampelmännchen

(Don't worry I'll go into detail just bare with me.)

Things I was dissapointed in:

Checkpoint Charlie

Pergamonmuseum

Random facts/points:

There are probably more Dunkin' Donuts in Berlin than in any other city in the world.

A political party apparently knows who Pinnochio would vote for. (LOL) Pinocchio würde SPD wählen. -- Für neue Märchen in Europa und weniger Holzpuppen im Parlament. Die Bergpartei. (Pinocchio would vote for the SPD (a political party in Germany). For new fairytales in Europe and not as many wooden puppets in parlament. The Bergpartei (another political party.)

This is a quote I read in a mueseum about Berlin. "Berlin is radical: the only tradition this city will accept is that it does not have a tradition. There is scarcely a single district, building, or monument that is sacred to the city. If you are lookinb for cosiness or classical beauty, you're not likely to find much in Berlin. Almost every generation seese Berlin trying out a new face: this is a city of experiment..."

This is another thing I read in one of the mueseumes: "Hitler's signature reflects his life and his state of mind. The first surviving signatures are still uncertain and awkward. The handwriting becomes firmer when is about 30. When the war reaches its final turning point in 1943 Hitler starts to go into a physcial decline: his health is affected, and the signature becomes increasingly tentative. He can no longer sign decrees and documents personally. The work has to be done my a machine. Immediatly before committing suicide in April 1945 he signs something for the last time--his will. The fifty-six-year-old can manage only an illegible scrawl before taking his own life."

Our trip wasn't as organized as it could have been. So we didn't see as much as we could have in a week, but we did see some pretty neat things and now I'll outline them for you!

So I'll start off with the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden. That was really intense and this is something you really can't miss if you travel to Berlin.

"Eisenman’s design is quite unique and has drawn both praise and criticism. Occupying about 205,000 square feet (19,000 square meters) of space near the Brandenburg Gate and just a short distance from where the ruins of Hitler’s bunker is buried, the Berlin Holocaust Memorial is made up of 2,711 gray stone slabs that bear no markings, such as names or dates. The slabs undulate in a wave-like pattern. Each is a five-sided monolith, individually unique in shape and size. Some are only ankle high while others tower over visitors....Visitors may walk through the memorial in any direction as there is no set pattern to the stones." http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/holocaustmemorial.htm

That description should give you an idea about what it looks like. It was a very memorable experience walking around this memorial. I'm not going to talk about how I felt, because if you go I don't want you to be influenced by what I felt. It's something you need to experience for yourself.

After walking around the memorial we went into the mueseum. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it would be to go through the mueseum. It was incredibly well done and I cried hard. I had prepared myself for Buchenwald, but I'd had no time to prepare myself for this. We didn't find out until the day of that we were going there. I was allowed to take some pictures of things in the mueseum that really affected me and now I'd like to share them with you. I think that means more than talking about how I felt. I think after you read these little bits and pieces you'll understand. There were 4 specific rooms in the mueseum.

The Introduction:

24 July 1935: SA men lead Christine Neemann and her Jewish boyfriend through the city. They have to wear placards on which are written, " I am a German girl and I have let myself be defiled by a Jew" and "I am a race defiler."

July 1941: After the program in Jassy, over 4400 survivors are crammed into two goods trains in baking heat and without food or water. More than half of the deportees had died of thrist or suffocated by the time the trains, after several days, reached their respective destinations.

At the invitation of Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office, senior ministerial civil servants and high-level Nazi Party and SS functionaries met in a villa at Berlin's Wannsee Lake on 20 January 1942. This meeting later would be referres to as the Wansee Conference. Heydrich explained the plans for a programme to murder all European Jews. The only matters for discussion was how this was to be implemented. The decision to commit genocide already had been made at a higher level. This programme of extermination was intended to encompass more than 11 million people, including Jews in countries beyond the German sphere of influence such as Switzerland, Great Britain, and Turkey.

So you thought the introduction was heavy. The next room was the room of dimensions which focused only on personal accounts found from Jews during this time. It showed the original document, the quote, and what happened to the person who wrote it and how old they were.

...After lunch the corpses from five vehicles were buried. From one vehicle a young woman was thrown out with a baby at her breast. It suckled its mother's milk and died. On this day we worked under the light from the searchlights until seven in the evening. Also on this day a vehicle drove so close to the pit that we heard the chocked screams and desperate cries of the victims as well as the pounding on the doors. Before work had finished 6 of the pit workers were shot...

But why are they in such a hurry to make the names disappear? Are they afraid, the civilised world could get an insight into how man thousands of lives they have taken? Are they trying to wipe out the traces of their crimes? Yes, then they will probably wipe out the few of us who remain.

Because of the great crush, the mass of bodies pressed together... could keep people...hanging in the air, this made it possible for them to stand for thirty hours. There were no conversations, no discussions....Everyone was only half in possession of their senses due to tiredness and exhaustion. The cramped conditions fatigued and debilitated everyone, and overwhelmed the spirit at the crucial moment. Only once was the door of the wagon opened: in came two gendarmes who, in exchange for wedding rings from the women, allowed them something to drink.

31 July 1942

Dear Father! I am saying goodbye to you before I die. We would so love to live, but they won't let us and we will die. I am so scared of this death, because the samll children are thrown alive into the pit. Goodbye forever. I kiss you tenderly.

Your J. **I remember this one imparticular. This was written by a child.

...introduced the gas...we carried the corpses of these...innocent women...which was brough to othe oven...and put inside an oven there...and forced us, to put it through a coarse sieve and it was later loaded onto a car and shaken into the river which flowed nearby and they covered over all traces. The dramas which my eyes have seen are indescribable. Approximately 600 000 Jews from Hungary, French people, Poles...

There were only one or two writers out of the 15 who lived. I don't remember which ones lived or died anymore. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of that. I wasn't exactly thinking straight.

The next room was the room of Families: I didn't take many photos by this time. It talked about groups of Jewish familes from all sorts of different backgrounds. You could also read who lived and who died. Most of them died.

Here are a few quotes I did take pictures of:

Believing that only men would be affected Abraham Hofman and his son Joseph Hofman hid with neighbours (when they knew that the police were rounding up Jews). The police arrested Abraham's wife, Baila Hofman, and those children living at home at the time. Together with thousands of other Jewish men, women, and chilldren most of them foreign, they were taken to Auschwitz. Abraham and only 3 of this children survived.

The firing squad sonsisted of about 15 Lithuanians who sood outside the pit, at its edge. In groups of ten, the Jews were forced to jump into the pit and lie down, the shooting commenced immediatley. I did not hear a command. It was a scene of wild confusion. They shot with sub-machine-guns. If they saw movement within the pit, they fired into it. There was no confirmation of death. The squad simply shot into the grave until there weas no more movement. Onoe man, it might have been a memeber of the SS, tore little children away from their mothers, shot each of them in the back of the neck and kicked them with his boot into the pit. The Jews met their fate with composure. But one Jew went after a police officer with a knife as he stood on guard, wounding him in the face. This jew was tied up, thrown in the snow and beaten to death. He was beaten between the legs, on his genitals with a cudgel. When he was dead, he was dragged to the pit and thrown in.

Song of Resurrection.

My little daughter, my first one Lorotschka/ Probably would have been a grandmother by now.// Yet for all time she remains a little child-/ One out of the bloody number of six million.//It sometimes seems to me in the silence of a sleepless night that/ I hear moaning, I hear weeping, a child is screaming.// This moaning, this weeping penetrates to the depths of my consciousness./ Although the years pass, the feeling and the shivering do not diminish.// That mortal enemy, that common criminal wanted/ To wipe out children's laughter in my peopole´.//That lunatic wanted to chop the thread that links generation to generation./ To burn it so that only ash remained.//But the thread will not be severed. Oh, no./ I am leaving a deep imprint on this earth.// The madman with those crazy ideas rotted away long ago./ My children will have grandchildren.//My descendents grow with every passing day-/my lovely, beautiful Elena.// Like flowers in the spring/ Marinushka and Ilya have come into bloom.// The sky will be bright and blue./ There will be wedding celebrations--weddings of the young and wedding anniversaries of the old./ / And my grandchildren will become grandmothers and grandfathers./ So let the music play- the great march of victory!//Nobody , never, in the whole wide world/ should ever dare besmirch the sanctity of childhood./ Peace and happiness-to the children!//...So that the horror never is repeated-/ I sing this my song of resurrection.

Matvey (Mordechaai) Kaplan April-May 1984.

The next room was the room of names. There you could sit down and listen short bio's and names of jews across europe who were murdered or presumed dead. "Reciting the names and the life-stories (short bios) of all victims as presented in this room would take roughly six years, seven months, and 27 days."

The last room was the room of sites and it talked about the major places where jews were killed. I would have liked more time to have looked around the room, but I was the last one, and they wanted me to go so I did.

The Wall

The wall was really really neat. We took some really interesting pictures. There are only 3 sections of the wall still standing. We went to the biggest one. (The East side Gallery) It was 1300 m long and it is the longest of the 3. My host parents told me they can still remember visiting Berlin when the wall was up. That's something I can't even begin to imagine. Parts of the wall are being repainted, because this year is the 20th anniversary of the falling of the wall. So they are redoing some of the paintings. We saw some of the artists working and it looked really really cool.

Potsdam

We went to the Schloss Sanssouci, which is pretty much a mini Versailles. It was really cute and I throughly enjoyed it. The gardens were great.

Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand

We went on a really neat tour in this mueseum. "The German Resistance Memorial Center
is a site of remembrance, political studies, active learning, documentation, and research. An extensive permanent exhibition, a series of temporary special exhibitions, events, and a range of publications document and illustrate resistance to National Socialism.The center's goal is to show how individual persons and groups took action against the National Socialist dictatorship from 1933 to 1945 and made use of what freedom of action they had."

http://www.gdw-berlin.de/index-e.php

So that should give you an idea of what it was about. The tour was very well done. The building actually contained Staufenberg's real office. (He was a man who attempted to kill Hitler.) I'm sure some of you have heard about the movie with Tom Cruise which just came out this year. That's about the attempt.

So the tour talked a bit about Staufenberg oh and by the way one of the guy's who I performed in the play here in Germany in my school, well he is related to Staufenberg's best friend who helped Staufenberg alot with this plan. Pretty neat huh? She also talked about a group called the White Rose which was a group of young people who made flyers against the Nazi's. It's a good example about how a group of young people made a difference during this time.

She also talked about how people in Germany knew a fair bit about what was going on. For example there were films about concentration camps made for the public to see (they definetly weren't showing them killing anyone, that wasn't generally known to the public, but the Nazi's were trying to establish fear.) There were also lots of buildings in cities where the SS and SA took people and tortured them if they did something or said something unacceptable to the regime. This was also not a secret. This was to install fear. So you had a few options stay silent and do what your told or act up and possibly get into a lot of trouble.

I also saw a map of Germany which was coded to show where the Jews or other 'undesierables' (in the words of the Nazi's) would be taken. So which concentration camp or extermination camp. I found my city and they were taken to the nearest one. Buchenwald.

As our guide told us there were not a lot of people who stood up to the Nazi's but the people who did were from a lot of different backgrounds, ages, races, started up their resistance alone or with others, resisted in different ways, and started their resistance at the begining or maybe even closer to the end, but there were people in Germany who stood up and tried to do something. For example there was a normal man who, after a year of preparation, managed to get close enough to Hitler to place a bomb. A normal man, working alone. Then there were groups like one Staufenberg belonged to within the army. There were a group of university students. Did you know there were 42 attempts on Hitler's life?

Jüdisches Museum Berlin

This mueseum was more focused on the Jewish lifestyle than on the Holocaust, although there were things which alluded to the Holocaust. It was a very interesting building and again it's something you have to experience because it's more about how you feel in the different rooms or areas than the information. We also had a very good tour. I bought a ridiculously expensive magnet there, but I bought it because when I have my own refridgerator I want to see that symbol for this mueseum everyday. I want to be reminded of what can happen when we look at a group of people and blame them, or think they aren't as good as us. I want to be reminded what hate can cause and how we divide ourselves from others. I want to remember not to judge other people even though it can be easy sometimes to lump people into categories. Humans may not be perfect, but we can strive for perfection.

One thing which just floored me at the mueseum was the following interactive question on a computer.

Do you think that in your circles of friends anyone hold predjudices against Jews?

I clicked my answer. These were the results.

41% voted yes

59 % voted no

These feelings haven't died since the Holocaust. Isn't that scary?

Ampelmännchen (On a light note.)

Ampelmännchen (help·info) (German: little traffic light man, pl. Ampelmännchen) is the symbolic person shown on traffic lights at pedestrian crossings in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany). Prior to the German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally male figure wearing a hat in the east.
The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in Eastern Germany,[1] "enjoy[ing] the privileged status of being one of the sole features of communist East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed."[2] After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen

Here's a bit of history about them. I am also in love with them. They are really really cute. Google them!

Checkpoint Charlie is really just a tourist trap. The real thing doesn't exist anymore. There are two men dressed up as an American solider and a Russian solider. They have flags and you can take a picture with them if you pay them. We didn't go in the mueseum, but I think that might have been good.

Pergamonmuseum

We randomly went to this mueseum which had nothing to do with Germany. I was rather disapointed. The mueseum was OK, but I'm more interested in German history than the Babylonian Empire.

I'll end this on a light note, because I don't want all of you to go into a depression, but I would encourage you to feel what ever you are feeling and think about it some more if you need to.

Yesterday instead of going to school I was given the opportunity to visit two rehersals from a famous theatre in my city. It's an outdoor theatre inside a ruin. IT IS AMAZING!!!! So I was there from 8:30am -4 pm and then from 8:30 pm -12 am. I saw two different rehersals. The Rotarian who made this possible, the owner, kind of abandoned me, but I know she's busy and I had a great time just watching. It's made me itch to be in another play. We'll see...I have the opportunity to go to two of the summers play performances. One is West Side Story. (Rotary invited me to this one.) The second one is Odessy which my last host family will take me to. I'm quite excited. That happens next week!

They have some amazing sets, costumes, actors, and directors. It's really cool and it's world known. So yesterday was a really cool day. Today I was back at school again, but this week is short because we have a few holiday days, but I'm away with Rotary again.

So on that note I'll wrap this up. Sorry that I can't post pics. Ever since this computer erased my memory card I'm spooked! So I'll have to show you them when I get back. Take care reader. *hug* I thought maybe you'd need one. And remember if you can leave a comment, because it takes me awhile to write these and I do this willing and happily, hoping for some comments. Thanks =)

Fashion sending a message!

I forgot something completely awesome about yesterday!!

So yesterday I went into H & M and I bought 2 really cool t-shirts. H & M is doing a campaign called Fashion against Aids. They've teamed up with music artists to create a line of clothing to make people more aware about Aids. 25 % of the sales go towards HIV and Aids Education and Prevention Worldwide. I bought 2.

I was involved in a government panel before I left and our topic was making young people more aware about safe sex. We didn't get funding for our project, but our project was a lot like this one. We wanted to make t-shirts with slogans or stats about safe safe and sexually transmitted diseases. H & M have made this a reality. I was so excited to see this!

As many of you know, I have been accepted into the Fashion Program at the College in Lethbridge. My dream has been to make Environmentally friendly clothing, but I also wanted to make clothing with messages. Whether it's political or something like this. I think this is a really cool campaign and if you are close to an H & M I would highly encourage you to CHECK IT OUT.

Or if not thank goodness the internet is available!

http://www.hm.com/us/press/pressreleases/fashion__prfashion.nhtml

I think themes like this are important whether you are going to have sex now or not. Everyone needs to made aware so that we can help others, because we can't help others or raise awareness if we haven't learned about these issues ourselves.

OH and did I mention my t-shirts are made of organic cotton??? The icing on the cake!

Insect Boy, and so much to do!!!

I didn't want to leave you hanging for too long! Besides have a few excellent things to report, so get ready for an exciting blog entry!

So I finished my German course on Thursday. Unfortunately I don't recieve a certificate because I wasn't there for two thirds of the course. I just needed to be there for 2 more classes. It's a bit of a shame. When I wasn't there I was always on a Rotary trip or I needed to miss a few because of the play I was in. So that's too bad, but the course did help me out. I learned a lot more about German grammar by myself, but I had more opportunities to practice speaking and writing. So I think it was worth it.

After school on Friday I spent the afternoon with Caroline. I also met her grandparents who were really really sweet. We watched a few of my all time favourite movies that I've raved to her about and that I was able to find in the small library here. So we watched:

The Princess Bride
and
Lady Hawk

I have a list of my all time favourite movies and they are both on it! It was fun watching them again and it was so strange to watch them in German. After that I went to a girl from school's 18th Birthday party. It was fun. A lot of kids from my school were there, so that was nice. I stayed over at the birthday girl's house so we were the last one's to leave. We helped clean up a bit too. We stayed over at Patti's, the birthday girl, grandmother's house. Her grandmother had an adorable kitten! She was sooo cute!

I took the train back to Bad Hersfeld and while I was on the train a girl from my old drama group called and asked if I would like to go shopping for the afternoon in Kassel (a nearby city). I said yes and after being in Bad Hersfeld for an hour I was off again. There was also a festival going on in Kassel. So after we shopped we listened to some live bands ate Bratwursts (so German I know!) and took the train back.

On the train we met a really cool family! The family consisted of a mother and her two sons. They had travelled all day to buy some insects for one of her sons. He was so facinated by them. He kept taking them out and looking at them. He also talked to us about them and let us look at them in their plastic containers.

They heard my accent and asked where I was from. I explained to them I was an exchange student from Canada. So we talked about Canada for a while and then the boy, who loved the insects, said he'd love to talk to me in English, but he wasn't sure what to talk about. A passenger nearby told him he should ask for my e-mail address so we could be penpals. He could write in English and I could write in German. So that's what we did. I think he was probably 11 or 12. A really nice kid. I hope I hear from him. He was a really nice kid.

So I walked back home very smiley. I was like one of those people that you see walking down the street smiling for no reason and when you see them you really want to know why they are so happy and why they are smiling so much. That was me. It was a wonderful day.

Today I'm going to cook for my host family and show them my pictures of Canada and then tomorrow I'm off in Berlin!!! So I'll have loads more stories to tell you then. Take care reader!

7 am Jogging??, No more Handball! WOHOO!

I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote. I've been busier than ever lately. I'm always gone on the weekends now with Rotary and I'm trying to wrap up my life here in the next two months. So sorry!

Last weekend I was on a Rotary trip, but get this, it was in Rotenburg an der Fulda. Strange huh? I thought so. I mean Rotenburg is very pretty, but it's a small city. It didn't end up mattering, because it was a Sport weekend. I'm still a bit sore, but it was soo much worse on Sunday. Oh man... We played all sorts of games, none of them were really sport sports like soccer or baseball. We did relays, were woken up at 7 am to go jogging! (Seriously! Completed with you have 10 minutes, 9 minutes, 8 minutes....1 minute!!) Oh man...it was boot camp, but it was fun. I met a lot of new people. It wasn't only our district who was there. A few more English speakers to, which was nice, because the only time I speak English is with my parents and sister back home.

On the last night the guys had to dress up as girls and the girls had to dress up as guys. It was really funny and it ended up being fun. I outfitted 4 guys. It was so much fun! We had a fashion show and threw our shyness out the door. (So if you see some manly pictures of me on Facebook that's why. hahaha)

We also had awesome weather which was a bit unbelievable. We went swimming in an out door swimming pool which was also nice. It was so nice laying out in the sun! The week started off warm, but it's cooled down somewhat.

I've been buying grammar books, normal German books, cd's, and anything else that can help me when I'm home so I don't lose my German. I think that's my biggest fear right now. I've worked too hard to loose it.

I've been reading up a storm lately. One book after another. It's hard to believe I was reading children's books in November, young adult books in February, and now adult books. Pretty cool! I'm loving living in a city again. OK there are only 30 000 people living here, but it's almost 3 times as big as the last city I lived in.

My last German course is tomorrow and next week I'm in Berlin with Rotary! Yay I am really really excited. You'll never guess what I just finished watching. Random I know...Dirty Dancing. I watched that for the first time last year. It's a fun movie.

In Gym class a few weeks ago we tried out something really cool. (No more hand ball, yes!!!!) It's a mix of a skateboard, snowboard, and surf board and it's called The Wave. At first I was thinking oh my goodnes...I have to stand on that thing?!?! I thought the teacher was nuts, but after playing around with The Wave for a half an hour I have to say that I love it. Check out this site for more details it's so cool!

http://www.streetsurfing.com

As I was walking through Bad Hersfeld today I wandered onto a little market. One of the stands was selling one of my favourite Christmas treats here. (Gebrannte Mandeln) They are warm carmeled sugar coated nuts. AMAZING. I need to find a recipe for them. I'll miss them too much otherwise!

Well I think that's all I really have to say. Stay tuned for my adventures of Berlin sometime after June 7. I'm so excited! Take care reader.

Warning: This is going to be a bit heavy.

Hey sorry it's been awhile! I got back from a weekend with Rotary on Sunday where we visited Wiemar, Eisenach, and Erfurt. It was a great weekend. Luckily it didn't rain. (It's been raining quite a bit lately and it's rather cool again.)

We visited Johann Sebastian Bach's house in Eisenach. Our tour guide played a few pieces of music on some different musical instruments. There were some really comfortable chairs with speakers or headphones to listen to some of his music. It was nice. I also learned some interesting facts about Bach's music after his death.

Felix Mendelssohn helped bring Bach's music back into fashion so to speak. Pretty soon Bach's music reached a new height of popularity. Hitler and Goebbels were also big fans and paid homage to Bach's work. Mendelssohn however, was a Jew. He was considered "a dangerous accident in musical history who played a decisive role in rendering German music in the 19th Century degenerate." Bach's work was used the Third Reich's ideas. In Hitler's Diary before he declared his Final Solution, killing all of the Jews, he wrote the following sentence: "I listen to Bach on the radio for one hour every afternoon. One feels practically newborn, when one can draw renewed courage from the comforts of music."

However music was more deeply involved in the Final Solution process. "Already the task groups in the eastern territories had played music from loudspeakers near the ditches in front of which an in which the mass executions were carried out. Near Lviv (Lemberg, today Ukraine), at the death camp Belzec (550, 000 killings) Jews were greeted on arrival with music and song from an orchestra of 10 prisoners. In the death camps Treblinka, north-east of Warsaw (750 000 killings) and Auschwitz Birkenau near Krakow (1 million killings) prisoner orchestras entertained the SS guards. " The prisoner orchestras also performed for the SS (guards) in the camps.

"But the music was not played at Auschwitz for entertainment It was ingeniously intergrated in the destruction process. The woman's band played when the deportation trains arrived at the ramp in Auschwitz-Birkenau and camp pysician Dr. Mengela and his assistants starting selecting Jews. The doctors polietly explained to the exhausted and scared people that they were in a work camp. All the while, the women's orchestra, dressed in white blouses and blue skirs, played melodies...A surviving musician reports: The deportees waved as us happily, because they thought, 'Things can't be all that bad in a place where music is playing.' Two hours after a train pulled in, most of the new arrivals had been killed, without resistance, in gas chambers disguised as showers. The rest were worked to death..."

I just thought I would share some of those quotes with you. My skin has goosebumps just reading it again. The next day we went to visit Buchenwald. To be honest I wasn't sure how I'd handle it and I was surpised with how I reacted. I thought I would have reacted a lot worse, but I have my theories as to why, but I'll get into those later.

As we drove in my legs felt completely cold. It felt like my blood was cold. We walked towards the officers barracks and hurried into one of them to watch a film. It was in German, but there were English subtitles which I was thankful for, because although I could understand the German it's nice to see it explained in your mother tongue. I think it effects you more. The movie threw a lot of facts at us and was incredibly well done. I cried, but not as much as I thought I would have. I went with an English tour guide and he took us into Buchenwald.

I was struck at how green it was. How beautiful the trees surrounding the camp were and the view of the country side. Our guide told us the trees were planted afterwards. There was also only one barrack for the prisoners. So it was hard to look and see what it actually looked like. I was also struck at how cold, windy, overcast it was.

We went into the crematorium and that was hard. I was completely disguisted to learn that there was shoot that they dumped the bodies into and an elevator to carry them up. Everything about the concentration camps and the Final Solution is completely inhumane, but some of these little details the Nazi's 'looked after' make the word inhumane insufficent to describe how utterly disguisting the treatment towards these people was. The guide told us a lot of interesting things I wish I could have filmed him so I could tell you some more facts, but I'll do my best to remember.

Buchenwald unlike Auschwitz was not used primarily to kills the prisioners on arrival. So there were no rooms with fake showers where people were killed. People were still killed at Buchenwald of course, but it was a work camp first and formost. The man in charge of the camp was apparently quite sadistic and even the other officers were scared of him. Buchenwald is quite close to the city Weimar and occording to our guide the people were aware that it existed. They didn't know that they were killing people, but there was the threat that if you don't obey Hitler and the Nazi's you could get shipped off to one of these concentration camps. Their Jewish neighbours were being taken from their homes and the Nazi's were coming back to their houses and the possessions were taken or sold.

More than 250 000 people were imprisoned in Budenwald in a total of 8 years out of which 56 000 died. (Killed, worked to death, starved to death, died from illnesses, or were vicitms of medical experiments.) Prisoners who were doctors weren't allowed to work in the hospital for the prisoners. Other prisoners, as long as they weren't doctors, were allowed to work in the hospital for the prisoners. So you can begin to imagine your chances if you got sick or hurt. Homosexuals were injected with chemicals to see if there was a 'cure' for homosexuality.

95 percent of the inmates here were from countries outside of the German Reich. The prisoners were sold to work in the German armament industry.

Our guide also told us a story about them bringing a group of Soviet prisoners and secretly killed them. Secretly was important because the Soviet's had German prisoners of war and if they found out that they had killed their captured commrades than they would start killing the German prisoners of war. They took them into the stables and put on loud music. They went one by one to see a 'a doctor' who was actually an officer in disguise. He asked them to stand against the wall so he could measure them and then went to the room next store, opened a secret window, and shot the Soviet prisoner's in the neck.

Buchenwald also sent a lot of children and sick people to Auschwitz where they met their death. Near the end of the war Auschwitz sent a lot of Jews to Buchenwald because the Russians were closing in. The Jews were put into a camp within the camp. They were completely seperated and only given half the amount of food that was given to a normal prisoner.

There was also an underground group of prioners who took over and controlled the camp a few days before the US liberated the camp. The US was the first to read Buchenwald. They came to liberate 21 000 inmates. Hundreds died every day after the liberation because help and medical services came too late.

Germany was divided into sectory. Buchenwald actually lay in the Soviet sector, but the Americans advanced faster than the Soviets. When the Soviets reached Buchenwald then the Americans left. The Soviets created their own special camp in Buchenwald with workers and prisoners afterwards. So the suffering at this site wasn't over yet.

All of the exchange students were quite quiet during the tour which is really unusual. No one made stupid jokes or comments. A lot of people asked deep and meaningful questions. I didn't cry when we were inside the camp, but my blood did feel like ice. I think that my body really prepared itself and that it began preparing itself when I first found out we would be going. We've learned a lot about the Holocaust in school and of course I've also seen a lot of movies. However when you watch a movie or read some facts in school you can distance yourself a bit. When you are there, you can't. Since the things that happend in the concentration camps were so horrible I think my mind subconciously tried to protect itself.

None of us can even imagine what that would be like and on one hand I say thank goodness because that means we've never had to experience something like that, but on the other hand I think that's scary, because that means it could happen again.

In the film we also saw a famous hotel that we'd seen in Weimar that morning on our city tour and it was from that balcony that Hitler announced his 'Final Solution.' Pretty scary stuff...and we were right there in front of that hotel and were inside one of his concentration camps. I had a lot to think about after that day.

We also visited a castle, went on a few city tours, but none of that affected me as much as Buchenwald.

Now I know that was heavy, but I had a lot I wanted to say. However now I'm going to move onto something a bit lighter. I spent a lot of time with the new outbounds next year (the German students from my Rotary district in Germany who leave on their own exchange next year.) They are with at us at almost all of our meetings. It's really neat talking to them and they are all very open. They have all of the fears, dreams, and excitment that we did before we left. I can't help but thinking where ever they go though that someone will make some sort of Nazi joke or something like that.

Ohhh and another camera accident...oh man. So my camera in the fall died. Something was wrong with the lense and they said it was too expensive to fix. Well now part of the front of my camera has fallen off and I have no idea where it is. I can't even believe it. It still works, but I have to try and get it fixed. Crap!

Oh and you'll be happy to know that I seem to have gotten the hang of the bathroom lock. Now I can get out! My German course is almost done, so pretty soon I'll have a little more time during the weeks to myself. I get home pretty place. (5:30 pm on normal school days or 2:30 on shorter school days.)

The Rotarians also announced that we are still going to get a Berlin trip. They cancelled it because someone forgot to book us a hotel and they couldn't find a hotel. Well apparently now they have found one. So we are going to Berlin. AHHHHH!!! I am so excited. There are some many Rotary things coming up. Time is sure starting to fly by.

Two friends of mine fly home on Saturday. So if you really knew me you'd know that I'm kind of sad about that because I have no idea when or if I'll ever see them again. I hope so, but you never know right?

I think I said everything I wanted to say. I hope all is well with you reader, until next time. =)

The damsel in the bathroom.

When I signed up for this exchange the last thing I thought I'd be worried about on my exchange would be getting locked in bathrooms. Go ahead and laugh. I know I've laughed about it enough today! In my third host family I also got stuck in the bathroom a few times and as it turns out here in my fourth host family I've also gotten stuck a few times. Talk about embaressing!! Usually I am able to get out before anyone hears or notices that I am stuck in the bathroom, however that hasn't always been the case.

The bathroom doors have keys and they just so happen to be a little bit finiky (sp?) and the locks aren't exactly quiet as I try to free myselfe. So now I've had two host mother's ask me if I could use some help getting out of the bathroom and today my host brother was coming towards the door to help me as I finally managed to get out. He couldn't stop laughing, but he did manage to mention that the lock is a bit difficult. Just so you know that didn't all happen today. Today it was just the situation with my host brother, Yannik. Oh man...embaressing. So reader, beware of bathrooms.

I just thought I'd share that with you. Haha oh man..

Sunshine, Bruce Willis, and 3 suitcases and an armful of bags later...

On May 1st I switched families for the last time. I have to say I'm relieved that it's the last time. Moving families isn't easy and it's always quite internally stressful and emotional. Of course there are many benefits in staying with 4 families. All of mine have been quite different and they have given me a more rounded view of the German people. I've also lived in a village, a town, and now a small city. I've also been very lucky with all of my host families. I talked to a lot of friends on the Euro Tour who had been in some pretty sad guest family situations.

Before my move I went to a BBQ with a few people from school. The weather was amazingly nice. (It had been raining the few days before.) I also took some nice pictures of Rotenburg, but I'll tell you later why they aren't on my blog...

So now I'll introduce you to my new guest family:

Vanessa- my host sister, 16
Yannik- my host brother, 18
Angela- my host mother
Manfred- my host father

Vanessa and I have gotten along pretty well so far. She showed me around Bad Hersfeld and invited me to come out with her friends for her birthday party. One of her friends just got back from being in Vancouver for 6 months. It was neat talking to her. She is a die hard Canucks fan. It only took 6 months for her to fall in love with hockey. Haha gosh I miss hockey.

Yannik and I have talked a bit, but so far we've just mostly watched movies together. In the past few days we watched 2 movies. Both of them had Bruce Willis in them. The one we watched last night, 16 Blocks, was okay, but the other one we watched was really good. I can't remember the name of it, but there was an actor in it who was also in Star Wars and was often with Yoda. Anyways it was quite funny and we both enjoyed it.

Oh last week when I got back from the Euro Tour a few of my classmates had purchased a class hoddy for me. Every class makes their own hoody and people buy them. So now I have a class hoody!

I recieved another package from home which is always exciting!! I watched Ashgirl the play my sister was in in the fall. It was so cool!! You did a great job Julilla and hats off for Morgan and Greg and the rest of the cast.

I thought I had more to write, but I seem to have run out of things to talk about. This weekend I'm going on another Rotary trip, just for the weekend, which I am quite excited about. So I'll have more things to talk about next time!

Oh I almost forgot. The computer here erased all of my pictures on my memory card. Don't worry my pictures from before and on the Euro Tour I had already saved on my portable hard drive so I still have all of them. However all of my beautiful pictures of Rotenburg, my last host family, and Caroline are gone....I was a bit chocked. I have time to take more pictures of Rotenburg and I can ask my last host family for a few pictures, and I'll have to take another picture of Caroline so all of you can see what she looks like. So no real harm done, but oh man...OH and then I took some pictures of Bad Hersfeld the new city I am and it erased them too! So now I am completely spooked.

So there will be no more pictures on my blog. Sorry, but I'm too scared to risk it again. So if I have a chance to get on another computer than maybe!

Oh one more thing! I share a bathroom with my two host siblings here, now I know you didn't want to know that,but it's important! So we made a schedule and I am the first one there in the morning. So anyways, now I have so much time in the mornings. I can leisurely do everything. It's rather strange, because I'm usually always rushing around at the last minute. I have to wake up a bit earlier anyway because I have to catch the train to Rotenburg, so I'm a bit more tired than usual. I am able to read my book on the way to school which is nice. The train going to school is perfect. On the days I come home earlier from school the train is also perfect, but on the days I am at school longer I have to wait awhile, but that's OK too because I have a chance to read some more.

I think that's everything. Maybe I'll think of something more later. Take care reader. Remember leave comments or write me an e-mail. Either will make my world!

Crazy tourist exchange students set loose in Europe!! What will they do next???

Hey! I'm back. I'm going to try to sum up all of the crazy adventures and stories I have for all of you guys. I'm just going to hit the high lights so bare with me. So first of all it was great to see all of my long lost buddies from my language camp. I connected really well with a whole bunch of the girls in the other district so we haven't seen each other since August, but it didn't even matter. It felt like we picked up on the page we left off at. They are a wonderful group of girls. A couple Americans, a couple from Thailand, one from Quebec, 1 from India, and one from Indonesia. So we were all attached at the hip.

Quick facts:

Fav cities: Budapest (SERIOUSLY), and Venice

Weather: Incredible only a few rainy days, lots of sunshine and 20 degree plus weather

Travelled: 6 000 km

Countries visited: 11

Random Fact´: We watched all of the Harry Potter movies on the bus!

A memorable moment was when we first arrived in Paris. Sara, one of my American buddies and I had to go to the bathroom so bad...when we got off the bus we had to beg the councellors to let us run and find a bathroom. After a few seconds of running we realized we needed to pee so bad that running was uncomfortable so we walked as fast as we could to a nearby mueseum. We tried to go in one door, but the Body guard like man there told us we had to use another entrance. We ended up having to pay an entrance fee to the mueseum 5 EUROS! It was the most expensive bathroom trip of my life. We asked a random guy in the museum to take a photo of us in the mueseum. I thought it was a good story.

We saw the Eiffel Tower at night which was gorgeous and Jacinthe (the girl from Quebec) looked in the direction of Canada and waved to our mom's. It was a nice moment. We also ate Subway in Paris for supper which was a schocker...to be honest it just about killed me to know we had to eat subway and that there were French bistro's with real french food around the corner.

We also went to Monnaco which I thought was quite interesting and random. Did you know that if you are a foreigner who wants to move to Monaco you have to pay one million euros just to be allowed to live there??? There is also 1 police officer for 60 citizens. CRAZY. It was very pretty right on the ocean.

We stayed in a little city near Florence at a hostel which was a building Mussilini built for his olympic athletes to stay at and train in. How cool is that?? This hostel also had an amazing buffet for supper. It was so good the next day Jacinthe and I decided to eat nothing for lunch and eat as much as possible at supper. It was sooo amazing. Real, home made Italian cooking. It was also right on the ocean, much to Sara (the Californian's) dissapointment it was a stone beach, but it was still gorgeous.

Pisa was really neat. Of course we all took the pictures with us holding the tour up or pushing it down. Every tourist took those photos. It was really actually quite funny to watch all of the tourists trying to do this. It looked so goofy.

We were in Rome on Easter Sunday, so I was able to see the Pope on Easter Sunday. Of course I didn't meet him personally or anything there were about a million other people there watching him. Rome is probably my third favourite city we visited on the tour. We spent 2 days there and it was very easy to walk from tourist attraction to tourist attraction because they were all so close. The colloseum was worth going inside to look around at, and the icecream in Rome was too die for. Joghurt and Lemon are my two favourite flavours.

Megan (another American) and I also saw two people with Free Hugs signs so we went and got free hugs. It made our days. We both talked about how we are used to getting a lot moe hugs back home than we are getting. So we were both thrilled.

We also watched Euro Trip at the hotel in Rome. Now any of you who really know me, will definetly know that that isn't my type of movie. However it was kind of funny because a lot of the places we visited they also visited in the movie.

I've already been to Venice before with my parents, but I have to say it is still in my top two favourite cities on the Euro tour. It's so fun to go to Venice on a boat and then to walk over canals and discover romantic little corners with a street musican or see a gondala glide across the water. I wish we had had more time there. I bought a murrano glass necklace and earring set which I adore!

I missed Vienna because I was sick. (Alot of us got sick, because of course none of us were sleeping alot. That adds up after 3 weeks.) Although it's not very tragic, because they speak German in Austria so it's an easy country for me to travel back to because I can speak German now. The country side there is so pretty. My next trip might be to Austria!

Budapest was a beautiful city and everything was also very reasonable priced. The 3rd largest Parliament in the world is in Budapest and it is such a beautiful building. There were a lot of beautiful buildings in Budapest. A few of us went out in the evening to a traditional Hungarian folk dance which was really cool. The costumes were amazing and the music was also really cool. Our hotel was also beautiful in Budapest and we had Wifi internet so I was on my ipod touch sending a few e-mails.

Our last stop was Prague. That was our only bad weather from the entire trip. Our tour guide in Prague wasn't very interested in being there, so that was unfortunate but there were these hilarious t-shirts that said "Czech me out!" Get it! Háhaha we all thought that was so funny. So I bought a badge for my blazer that says that on it. I found one of my fav stores in Prague called Top Shop. I was soo excited!

Then we drove back to Germany. It was a very emotional goodbye because alot of those people I won't see in Germany again. Hopefully we'll see each other after our exchange year but nothing is certain. So I cried a lot. As did everyone else. After the tearful goodbye alot of us went out for Mexican food which helped us all relax, laugh, and feel like the world as we knew it wasn't over. Then I took a train back to my city in Germany and I arrived lateish on Saturday night. I've been trying to catch up on sleep. I still need to catch up on sleep!!! I'm also getting a bit sick again. I should be sleeping now but I wanted to give you a short update. So I'll try to write some more stories here and there.

I move host families this Friday. So send me an e-mail if you want my new address. This is my last move! OK so I really need to sleep. My eyes are barely staying open. I'll upload one picture for you for now. More pics are coming. I just need to get better and rested first! Love you! Take care! HUGS!

OKAY you get more than one pic because I couldn't choose between a few! Haha

Random Sum Up of My Life!

This is going to be my last post before my Euro tour. I am back on April 25th. So sometime after that you can expect a long blog with lots of pictures and lots of good stories. I'll quickly catch you up on my life and then I desperatly need to finish packing. The Rotex told us we can only take 15 kg with us and of course with my first pack I am over 15 kg. Not too much, but enough that I need to rethink some stuff. AHHHHHH!

This is a bit random, but I watched Pretty Woman for the first time. I've always heard a lot about this movie, but I never watched it. I have to say I enjoyed it and yay Julia Roberts.

I'm still sick, but slowly getting better. My nose is running a lot these days, but you probably didn't need to know that, I hope you weren't eating. If so, sorry! The rest of the play performances went well. Out of our 4 shows I had people who I knew who came to see me at 3. All of my guest families came. That was really special.

I'm sad it's over, but it was an amazing experience. I have a CD of pictures now. I'll have to go through them and put a few on, but I won't be able to get to that today. (OH ya, in case you are wondering why I haven't showed you my Art project it's because I haven't gotten it back yet. I hope to get it back after the easter break!!)

I've been on a few outings to different small towns and I've also gone on a few hikes. I'm still going to my German course and it's going well. I have to miss a few classes because I am on the Euro Tour which is too bad.

Last weekend I spent the weekend with my guest Omi (Grandmother) in Kassel (a city near by.) We had a great time. We went out to a movie, watched a play (Hamlet in German), shopped, hiked, visited a few castles, visited a zoo, and explored downtown Kassel. She also cooked Salmon for me.....I haven't had salmon in so long. It was glorious. I also recieved a lot of hugs and grandmothering. It was very nice. She's a great lady. She's also a traveller. So we have a lot in common and had a lot to talk about. I haven't had a grandmother for a very long time, it was nice to have one again even if only for a weekend.

I'm now trying to read a German book in our German class. It's old German so I am having a lot of trouble understanding it. I'm having a lot more luck with Twilight, which I can read like it's an English book now. Going to the movies is also practically effortless to understand now. Not quite the same as English, but getting there. I also went on a tour of one of the castle's with the Omi and we had a guide who of course only spoke German and I understood what she talked about for the hour we were with her. Learning a new language really is an incredibly feeling. And I have to brag a little, because I am so proud of myself and I think for how hard I've worked I can brag just a little.

We're STILL playing Handball in Gym class. We've played it forever...I wish we would move onto a new sport, but our gym teacher loves Handball and here in Germany or at least in our school when a teacher loves a sport you can spend half a year just playing that sport. BUT apparently I can do the jump throw and the drop throw pretty good. So yay for that.

I went on a field trip today with the class that I was in for my practicum back in September. It was really nice I was able to see all of them again. They are sooo cute. We had a great time.

I think that just about sums up my life up until this point. I hope I have more exciting things to post for you after the Euro tour! I miss you all and I hope to come home to see lots of comments!! I'll be thinking of you. =) Take care.

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES

Again this is just going to be a quick one. I still haven't recieved pictures from the play, BUT on the school website there are a bunch and I am in a few of them so CHECK THEM OUT!!!

This is the direct link:

http://www.jgs-rof.de/bildergalerie/2009/2009_0313_rosengarten/album/index.html
If for some crazy reason that doesn't work here is the school website home page and you'll be able to find them from there.

http://www.jgs-rof.de/

All of the performances went really well and all of my guest families came and saw me. I was so touched. I'm pretty sad that it's over, but it was a wonderful experience. We are going to all get together again after the easter holidays to watch our video and the real DVD at our directors' hause. Pretty cool. I am so excited. (I also shared some Canadian love with all of them and gave them some Canadian presents. They were pretty happy.)

I'm still sick, but now it's more coughing and sniffling than anything. Other than that I am doing good, but I am going to wrap up my computer stuff and call it a night early.

I'm sending all of you hugs. =)

I beg your pardon. I never promised you a rosegarden! Along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometimes. (song lyrics)

This is just a quick one. I wanted to show you the poster for our play. Our last performance is tonight. I've been sick since Thursday. I stayed home from school. On Friday I was well enough to go to school and perform than we all went to one of the girl's houses and hung out late. So my ears are plugged and I'm sneezing and my voice is a bit scratchy. My also had the worst headache ever from Thursday until Saturday, but luckily that's over now. (Although my voice is better today.) I'll write more later on this week, hopefully when I am feeling better! 2 weeks until my Euro Tour BAHHHH! OH and random fact of the day I've been waking up at 5 am every day since Wednesday. I have no idea why, but after that I can't really sleep. So this is the first time I've been sick here in Germany, not bad considering how long I've been here.

Take care!!

The title of this blog are some lyrics from a song that really should be in our play, but isn't. Sweet eh?? Here's the whole song. The most famous version is by Lynn Anderson. Enjoy and feel free to sing a long. =)

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden.

Along with the sunshine,

There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.

When you take, you gotta give, so live and let live,

Or let go.

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden.

I could promise you things like big diamond rings,

But you don't find roses growin' on stalks of clover.

So you better think it over.

Well, if sweet-talkin' you could make it come true,

I would give you the world right now on a silver platter,

But what would it matter?

So smile for a while and let's be jolly:

Love shouldn't be so melancholy.

Come along and share the good times while we can.

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden.

Along with the sunshine,

There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.

Instrumental break.

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden.

I could sing you a tune or promise you the moon,

But if that's what it takes to hold you,

I'd just as soon let you go,

but there's one thing I want you to know.

You better look before you leap,

still waters run deep,

And there won't always be someone there to pull you out,

And you know what I'm talkin' about.

So smile for a while and let's be jolly:

Love shouldn't be so melancholy.

Come along and share the good times while we can.

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a rose garden.

Along with the sunshine,

There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.

To fade.

This and that.

So all of you who left comments pretty much rock my world. =) I was thrilled to find so many there today. (I haven't been on the computer for awhile.) So I'll update you on my life. Last weekend I had my first real weekend together with my host family. My host mother and I went to a mueseum in a Monastary near by, stopped for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake), and also visited my host mother's Grandmother. Who just so happens to be 98....wow...Other than that we were at home.

After school on Monday I baked Brownies for my German class. (The real Northamerican kind. The brownies are definetly taste a bit different here.) Marion called while I was making them and asked if I was available to go to Rotary. I said OK and threw my brownies in the oven. Between checking the brownies I frantically got ready. (I only had an hour.) My brownies ended up taking a long time to cook. The middle was raw and I was becoming a little panicky! When Marion arrived I took them out of the oven and they were done. THANK GOODNESS. It practically gave me a heart attack. Felix told me I had put it on the wrong setting. Oh man... So now I think I have this oven's settings figured out. Luckily the brownies tasted good.

I went to Rotary and we visited one of the Rotarians dental practice. It was a very handsome office with a large cylinder fish tank in the middle. It was nice talking to Marion again and it was really cool that we talked only in German. When I was living with them we talked more English because I didn't know a lot of German back then.

Yesterday I went with my host father's class (he's a teacher in a nearby city) to the Opel Car Factory in Eisenach. It was interesting, but the guide was very unfriendly. As I'm sure you've heard Opel is having problems. Their mother company is GM in the U.S.A.

6 American exchange students have come to Rotenburg for 2 weeks. I had a chance to talk to one of them really briefly. It was nice talking in English to someone.

Tuesday evening was our 2nd performance. It went pretty good. I think it was better on Friday, but we still did a good job and Herr Meyer recorded it. A few more students were there too which was nice. We only had one or two students on Friday. So we have two more peformances. It's been so much fun. I can hardly believe it is almost over.

I leave on my Euro Tour on April 4th BAHHHHH!!! I am SO excited. It's going to be so much fun. I have a lot of fun trips coming up with Rotary. Well that's all I really have to report. Take care.

Rockin' the German Theatre Scene!

So tonight was definetly one of the best days I've experienced here in Germany. It was amazing and get this it was even Friday the 13th. The sky was half blue and I went for an hour long walk in the nature outside of Rotenburg which was glorious. School was short and gym was bareable even though we are still playing handball.

Drama was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! BAHHHHHHHH!!!!! You have no idea how nervous I was....like OH MY GOSH...it's nerve wracking enough performing a play for an audience when you are fully compitent in the language. You can always cover your mistakes and your language skills don't completely disentigrate when you are flustered. But you'll be glad to know that we absolutely ROCKED IT. The energy was great, the failures were small and insignificant, we only had 5 empty seats out of 50, I didn't mess up, and we had a very tight show. Katrin and Eberhard were there (Johannes is sick at the moment so he wasn't there) they loved it and it was great talking to them. I have had more hugs today than I have probably had since my birthday here in Germany and I am so proud of myself!! OH and get this...this is absolutely rich! One of the audience members thought that I was a German student keeping up an English accent the whole time. How hilarious and sweet is that! He said that he thought wow she can really keep up the accent. Hahahaha sooo funny.

Not to mention lots of pictures have been taken which I hope and WILL have access to. Many of them were taken by the local newspaper and my new host mother is a reporter there, so I have an in. Also Herr Meyer told us that next weekend we will tape it. WOOOHHOOO. You can tell that I am on cloud nine, but I promise any drugs.

So my day was AWESOME, I hope yours was too. Thank you reader and goodnight. (bows dramatically)

And PS thanks for the comments on the last few posts. They always make my day! =)

I just wanted to let you know I'm OK.

So as some of you have probably heard there was a school shooting here in Germany yesterday. I wanted to let you all know that I am OK and I'm far away from the town where this happened, so it hasn't affected me personally. I would have written yesterday, but I didn't have a computer.

I watched a lot about it on the news and it brings up a lot more questions than answers. It's shaken me a little, but it hasn't affected me personally. I don't understand how some one could do that. I know that hurt people hurt people, but I cannot fathom making a choice like that. 16 are dead, 3 teachers and the rest of the victims were mostly girls. It makes me a bit sick thinking about it.

There was a note outside our school today talking about what happened although most of us had been glued to the news last night. The headmaster had written the note and it was well written. He also asked us to think about the victims today and to be kind to one another. I thought the atmosphere would be different in the school today, I can't say that it was, but I did talk to Caroline a lot about it on our way to school.

So I just wanted to let you know that I'm OK. I hope all of you are well and safe too. I'm sending you all hugs and I hope you know I love you.

And I've worked so hard to acheive this moment.

I just got back from Drama. We had a rehersal from 6 to 10 pm. It was our last rehersal and our first performance is on Friday. I think we have a play. BUT what's even more wonderful is that after we were finished I asked how well Herr Meyer could understand me. I was a bit unsure. He is always telling us to speak clearer and I'm always nervous with my accent in German that the audience might have a hard time understanding me. He told me that he was able to understand every word and I only made two small errors. Both of which were the wrong endings on a few words. It has to do with the German cases. German grammar is complicated and I'm too tired to try to explain it so you'll just have to trust me. Anyways other than that it was perfect. No harm done I'll fix that for Friday.

Two people watched us peform the play today and one of them told me that she understood me quite well. I was thrilled, because she hadn't read the book or heard me speak in German. So that was great news. I've worked so hard all year, and for what you might ask. For moments like these. I'm in a theatre piece in another language and I can be understood. I can participate in a group and I can now understand everything that is going on when we rehearse. I am no longer the girl who walked into the first rehersal who had no clue what was going on and was stumbling over the few senences I knew in German. I have come such a long way and tonight I'm damn proud of myself.

Tick Tock Tick Tock....Tick Tick Tick Tick (AHHHHHH!!!)

Sorry that I haven't written earlier, it's been a really crazy week and this one is just as crazy if not crazier. I do have a few pictures for you though, so I figured that would make you happy. The move was hard, and I cried, but it was inevitable. Mira also understood what was going on. When I left she looked at me with these huge sad eyes. It was hearbreaking. I recieved a text message from Katrin which said, "Sleep well Marita. Love, Katrin." Of course that was incredibly sweet. I can't say I slept well, but that was mostly because the clock in my room ticks REALLY REALLY loud. I've actually taken the battery out of it, because I can't sleep otherwise!

Being in a new family is also quite mentally and physically exhausting. So I'm even more tired lately than usual. I'm just starting to get the hang of where the light switches are and Renato taught me a trick so I can get out of the bathroom. (He was living in this family before me.) The lock is a bit tempermental, so I've gotten stuck in the bathroom a few times. However with Renato's advice I can always get out!

My host sister Franziska isn't home. She's in Chile right now. Felix and Christopher were home when I first arrived. Felix is still, but Christopher left on Wednesday for a week to go to Spain on an exchange. He's back this Wednesday. Christopher is 16 and Felix is 15. Before Christopher left he told me that he hoped everything went well for me while he was gone. Then he gave me a hug. I was pretty much struck speechless. I'd only known him for 2 days and people here in Germany don't seem to be very huggy. So that was really shocking, but sweet.

My host parents Gudrun and Horst were gone for the weekend, so my guest Omi (grandmother) came down and took care of Felix and I for the weekend. We talked a lot. She is really open, friendly, and has travelled a lot. She has even been to Canada! So she showed me her pictures. I also met one of our neighbours for the first time. She is a really sweet lady. The Omi and I went with her to see Der Vorleser (The Reader) in the cinema. It was well done and apparently it's a German novel. I need to read the book. Kate Winslett did an amazing job.

I was rehersing all weekend in the school. 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and 10 am to 7:45 pm on Sunday. We got a lot done and I think we will be ready for our first performance on Friday. We also did our first run through. It went well and luckily we managed to do it in under 2 hours!

I also ate the best döner of my life this week. There are döner shops everywhere here, but I've definetly discovered the best one here. Sooooo good. Yum. My stomache growls just thinking about it.

My German course is still going good once the play is over I can go twice a week. I'm still working hard in my other German book and I'm making more and more progress. I'm feeling very comfortable at the stage that I am now, but I still want to keep learning!

I'm hoping to get my Art project back on Wednesday or Thursday. As soon as I do I will post a picture! Renato is now in ma Art class because he switched into the 12th Grade. He was in the 13th Grade but they are taking their diplomas in a week and then they don't have to go to school. Of course he still has to, so now he is in my Grade, but we only have one class together. It's really nice having more time to talk to him now. We're both in the same boat.

It was really funny! One time we were in Art class and we were talking. (We were talking in English.) He prefers to talk in English and he is the only person I speak to English, so that was OK by me. Then a guy in our class comes over and says keep talking. He wanted to listen to us speak English. He also introduced himself and I feel bad, because I can't prononce his name!

We're also reading this strange book in German class which I found an English copy of on the internet. It's called Der Sandman (the Sandman) and if you are interested you can find the text on the web. It's rather creepy, but it's well written and the translation is also good.

In Music class today we started singing Happy Ending, by Mika. The text is rather unoriginal, but the music is really cool. We'll be performing that sometime in the future. In Gym class we are still playing Handball and we had to do these throwing dives. So my knees hurt! Handball and Volleyball are just not my thing. I liked Badminton better!

It's getting warmer here although it still rains a lot. Spring is on it's way yippe!

So remember people to leave comments. It can be as simple as read your blog. I just need to know you are reading this, because if people aren't than it's difficult to motivate myself or to find the time to write. It takes awhile to write a blog and even longer if I put in pictures. So remember to comment please. Miss you, love you, and take care reader.

This is a picture of my second host family the Wagners. On the far right is Johannes, in the middle Katrin, and on the left is Eberhard.

On my last day there Katrin and I made these special cookies that I wanted to make. Technically they are Christmas cookies, but what ever. Doesn't that look awesome.

Here are the cookies when they were finished. They didn't quite work out, but they look great!

The Big Move

Hello from grey Germany! I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but when you watch the news here in Germany and the weather report comes on Germany is always covered in grey. I mean literally covered. Somedays there is a bit of green peaking through. Hahaha well I thought it was funny.

Life has been fairly normal lately. Although last weekend was really great. I helped sell cake at Johannes' school on Saturday. It was a school show case day, so I helped out with Katrin. That was really fun. All of the ladies with us were really great and I had a great time. The two English teachers who I had come into their classes for a day came up to me and chatted me up for awhile. They told me how appreciative they had been and how amazed they are with my German. Things like that. So I was over the moon happy and I really appreciated what they said.

I had also visited Johannes' Chemistry class on one of the days I was there. I saw his Chemistry teacher and she told me that I needed to come with her to see what her class had done for this school show case day. They had made home made icecream. It was soooo cool. I recieved a photocopy of the recipe, so I am definetly making some when I get home. YUM.

It was a wonderful day.

This week was pretty much the same as usual more school, more German learning by myself and with my course, and Drama. Our first performance is on March Friday the 13th. Yes way! We still have a bit of work to do, but it's really coming together. I saw the posters yesterday. They are sooo awesome. I will take a picture of the one I brought home and post it on the blog.

Ummm other than that I have been packing for "the big move" which will take place on Sunday. It hasn't really set in yet, but I'll manage. It's a strange feeling saying Goodbye.

OH and this week I made major progress with understanding the cases in German. I still can't use them in speech and I am just starting to grasp how to form and write sentences using the different cases. It's a great feeling because I have been so confused about how they work. So slowly, but surely I am going to work on this foundation.

That's about all I have to report. So I'm going to wrap this up. I'm finding it difficult to write in English. My head will even start to ache when I talk with my parents and sister for a few hours. Don't worry I'll keep posting! I don't know what my access to internet will be like in the next host family, so I don't know when I'll be writing next, but I imagine that it's no problem and you'll hear from me next week sometime.

Take care reader. Ich denke an dich.

Marita

My Spidey Senses Are Tingling!

I just wanted to post a few photos so this is going to be a quick one. On the weekend I was on a Rotex exchange students weekend. We were in Marburg, so all three pictures that I've uploaded are from that weekend. We met the January inbounds a ton more Brasiliens and a couple other people from a few other countries (ie. Australia, New Zealand, etc.)

I recieved some nice pins and the food at the hostel was a bit better than some of the other hostel food we've eaten. The showers were another story...there were three of them, but there were no curtains. Yup, seriously. You probably don't want to know this, but most of us when on shower strikes, BUT it was only a weekend so it wasn't a big deal.

We went on a scavenger hunt to get to know the city on Valentine's Day. It was pretty cold, but we were all over the place so I was able to take a few pictures. Like the ones I am posting now.

I bet you thought Spiderman didn't exist. HAHA guess again, he's living in Marburg.

I handed in my wicked new art project. Note the word wicked. I am sooo proud of it. I put the final touches on it at school and I didn't have my camera with me, so I will post photos when I get it back. It turned out well, I think. You can think what ever you want, but I am super proud. I love art class.

We've hit crunch time for Drama. Our first performance is 3 weeks today. SO INTENSE. We definetly aren't quite ready yet, but I think we'll be ready by then. I'm really proud about how it's come together. It's going to be so cool. =) Although, the patients' costumes (I'm one of the patients) are hideous. Hahaha they are these green old school sweatshirts and sweat pants. Oh did I mention they are huge and MINT green? Haha although I think they really pass.

We're still playing Handball in Gym class. Although luckily this week we didn't play with the advanced Sport Class who completely destroyed our normal class a few weeks ago. Haha that was pretty funny.

Oh I don't think I've mentioned that there is a chance for our Drama group to participate in a showcase of High School Theatre. It's not for sure yet, someone will come and look at our play and then they will decided. Only 12 plays out of our entire province of Hessen will go. I hope we are one of them!

School is pretty much the same. I move next weekend to my 3rd host family. So please send me good vibes. That's one of the hardest things for an exchange student I think, moving. I'm really going to miss this family and I know I'll cry when I leave, but I knew when I came in November I'd have to leave and I knew that I'd have more than one host family when I signed up for this. It's going to be super weird though. I've become really comfortable here.

I also have my place reserved for my Euro Tour. Sweet eh? I am so excited. Although there weren't enough places and some people didn't sign up right away so they can't go on our Euro Tour. That's really too bad, but they might be able to go with another group.

There has been more snow here in Rotenburg an der Fulda for as long as people can remember. Apparently I brought it in my suitcase. Haha. Although I think Renato, the other exchange student here from Brazil, should have brought the sun with him. For the past two days the sky was blue. It was so beautiful. It's back to grey again, but those two days were wonderful.

Well I think that's all I have to report. I'll make sure to get another entry in before I move next weekend. Take care! OHHH and my guest family and I might make smores this weekend. I am sooo excited. =) Miss you.

Randoms (Pictures, stories, thoughts, everything lol.) It's just kind of random!

I don't have many new pictures, but I have a few to show you so I thought I'd post a handful.














This is my school, in my school hahaha. I've been waiting for a blue sky to take a picture of the Jacob Grimm Gymnasium (my school), but so far it's only been grey. So I'm still waiting, but this is a pretty decdent art project showing what it looks like.




















This is another piece of student artwork in the school that I just adore.

Here is a recent piece that a few kids at school did. I think it looks awesome.

Here is a picture of my blazer, of course it is far from finished, but I thought you'd like to see a few things that I added.

And these beauties I bought yesterday. The shoes I brought are sooooo beatup, I've been looking and looking for shoes, but found nothing that I liked. I mean they are literally falling apart now, so it's about time I found some. So I found these jems. I LOVE THEM. =) They also have decent grips and a good arch. =)

Friday night I went to see a Operation Walküre - Das Stauffenberg Attentat in the Badhersfeld movie theatre with my family and my next host family, plus Renato. I thought it was well done. Tom Cruise also did a good job, and I'm no Tom Cruise fan. It's about a group of people in Germany who tried to kill Hitler. Of course anyone whose gone through Social Studies in school knows that there is no way it could have succeeded because Hitler committed suicide. Anyways it was good and it was a piece of German history to boot.

On Saturday I was in my school for a few hours because Saturday was the Tag auf die öffnen Tür which pretty much means that it was a day for the school to show off and for parents of potential students to check it out and for all sorts of crazy things to happen. There was food, science experiments, drama games, singing, all of that jazz.

Later on my guest family and I went up to Kassel to go shopping. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did buy the MOST beautiful locket. I've always wanted one and now I found the perfect one. I also bought the Host by Stephenie Meyer in English and I'm really enjoying it. It was my treat to myself and a pat on the back for working so hard on my German.

I have also realized while living here that every once and a while it's nice to have a good cappucino. Yum...not every morning, but every once and a while. It's really great. =) Katrin and I didn't have any luck in the spring clothes department. Too bad! I can't believe that all of the spring clothes are out already! Katrin and I also stayed up really late talking and we both realized how good my German has become. We had a really good and long conversation in German. I was really proud.

Sunday was a fairly normal day. Katrin and I went on a long walk with Mira which was nice. I also SKYPE'd with my mom and my sister. I got to bed late and then before I knew it, Monday had come. The weather has been awful this week really wet and cold. Today it snowed, but that's a completely different story. It tried to blizzard unsuccessfully, but the snowflakes were huge and beautiful.

On Tuesday, yesterday, I went to my first day of my German course. There are enough people for it to run. I was thrilled. I was at school all day and then caught a train after school straight to Bad Hersfeld. I had 45 minutes before the class started, so I looked for some normal shoes and found some! You've already seen them! Then I went to class. The teacher was very nice, friendly, and encouraging. Her name is Frau Brill. I really like her. There were 6 other women including me and I found out one is only one year older than me. The rest are in their early forties. I left extremely motivated and happy.

I read Twilight in German on the train and was in a very good mood. I've been learning alone for so long. I'll keep doing that of course, but it's nice also to have a teacher and classmates. It's nice to have a little competition. It's motivating. Normally I would go on both Tuesday's and Thursday's, but until the plays finished I can only go on Tuesday's she said that was no problem, so that was also great.

Today of course I already mentioned that the weather is nuts, but other than that it's been a fairly normal day. Katrin is at her course so Johannes and I ate together for lunch. Now I've got all sorts of things I need to do this afternoon, one of them being writing this blog.

OH and one more thing. I was thinking as I was walking home today what it's going to be like going home and sleeping in my own bed. Usually one of the things people miss when they go on holidays is their bed and their pillow. I don't remember what mine feels like anymore. I wonder if it will still feel like >mine<.