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!