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<.

Losing My English...? WHAT?

Hey loyal readers. First off I just wanted to say thank you for still reading this. I mean it’s already been 6 months and I know all of you have busy lives. So thanks a bunch. It means the world and more to me.

On Sunday I redeemed myself while playing Uno. Johannes figures that he left his luck back in Faurndau (the town we stayed in over New Years). It was nice to spend some time with him. We’ve really become a lot more comfortable with each other. For instance yesterday it was so funny. I was helping clear off the table and I had to put something in their walk in cold room/ cupboard thing. I see Johannes there opening some chocolates or something and I definitely caught him red handed. I whispered in German that I hadn’t seen anything. Katrin was just outside the door so she heard and tried to stifle a laugh. Johannes and I also just talk a lot more naturally. It’s going to be strange starting over in my new family..

Eberhard had the weekend from hell at the hospital. I mean the poor guy picked me up from the birthday party on Friday night with Katrin. Then he’s called into the clinic at 1:30 am and is there until some time in the early morning. Then he’s called back in at 11 and is there until around 4. Then he had a decent nights sleep, but then he had to leave at around 2 pm to go back to the clinic, he missed supper and called to say he’d be back later. Around 9 pm he was back and then later that night he was called back to the clinic and worked practically all night before going back to work at 7 am. Brutal. I’ve never been interested in becoming a doctor, but now I am beyond certain that becoming a doctor is not for me.

I had both Monday and Tuesday off of school. So on Monday I had a big drama rehearsal from 10-6. The time actually went pretty fast today. I was rather surprised. It was a good rehearsal. We still have a lot of work to do, because that was the first day that we didn’t play all of the scenes separately, but we played a chunk of them together. However people are pretty good with lines, so I think we are in a decent place right now.

That night I watched the second episode of that awesome German TV series Die Wölfe I was telling you about. Awesome…just awesome..

The next day I trained it by myself to the near by city of Bad Hersfeld in the hopes of registering for a German Language Course. (It was cancelled last semester because of lack of interest. Too bad…definitely.) So they figured that I wouldn’t be in a Beginners Class but in one of their two intermediate classes. So I am going to try both and see which one suits be better. One of them definitely has enough people so it will definitely run, but the other one isn’t so certain they need more people. So we’ll see how it goes next week. I told them that I’d have to miss quite a few Thursday’s until the middle of March because I am in a play. They said that we’d figure it out. So that was also good news.

Katrin picked me up from the train station and we watched the last episode of Die Wölfe. I don’t know how many more times I can say amazing. So let’s just say amazing times a million.

This week was a really strange week. So I had both Monday and Tuesday off of school. It was a small holiday. Then on Wednesday and Thursday I only had a half day of school because it is Project Week and then I had no school at all day, Friday. So I caught up on a lot of sleep which was nice. On Thursday we had another play rehearsal and we filmed some of it. We were all dressed in black because we still need costumes, but Herr Meyers wife has a few ideas. Their baby is always at rehearsal with us. He is the cutest thing ever! He’s just started to say Mama and Papa. CUTE!

OH I almost forgot to mention that I'm starting to lose my English. I mean noticeably losing my English. Now I am very unsure what prepositions to use like in, at, or on. I'm not sure anymore. I'm also losing my spelling. I think words that are spelt right are wrong and words that are wrong are right. I also write sentences that I know aren't right but I'm not sure how to make them right. Kind of freaky. I'm losing the one language I am compatent in! Of course all of it will come back once I'm back in Canada, but ahhhhhh!

So that’s about it. As usual take care and I’ll update you soon. =)

If you are a History Buff....or just interested in History PERIOD check this out!

http://woelfe.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/28/0,1872,7509404,00.html?dr=1

This is a website which will connect you to the 3 part series I am watching right now about a group of kids who grew up in Berlin just after the war. It is amazing. I have no idea when it comes out on DVD. As soon as it does I am buying it, no questions asked. There is a book though, so I am seriously thinking of ordering it! (Actually I have decided that I am ordering it.) Check it out!!!!

That's all just had to share that with you!

Marita

OH my goodness I just discovered that on the site that you can watch it!! OH MY!!! The first part anyway. IT'S SO AMAZING! Actually you can watch all 3!! OH MY!! It's all in German, but seriously even if you have trouble understanding it, I would give it a try! It has a lot of real footage and you'll get the gist. =) SOOOO COOL! OK I'm really finished now.

Going Old School!

LOL isn't this completely AWESOME! So on Friday I went to another birthday party and the theme was to dress older. There were some pretty cool costumes, but I have to say I really liked mine! Katrin helped me. She looked in their attic for things I could use. Excellent eh? The party was pretty fun. People were dressed pretty outrageously, not everyone, but a lot of people. More girls did this than guys.

It was a birthday for 3 girls. I only knew one, but the other two girls were quite nice and thrilled to get a present from Canada. I also met a guy there who had been on an exchange in Australia for one year. So we talked about exchanges, Canada, and Australia.

I think now in half German half English and sometimes dream in half English and half German. I haven't had a totally German dream yet. He said that it was the same way with him. You'd think we would have spoke English, but we didn't only German. People are impressed with how much I've learned. I'm no where near perfect and I have a lot of work to do, but I really appreciate when someone says that and means it.

There were a lot of people there and a few girls that were 2 years younger than me actually in Theresa's sisters class came up and talked to me for most of the evening. They wanted to know this and that about Canada and of course I was happy to talk to about it. So Friday night was quite nice.

Then I slept in ridiculously long on Saturday even though I hadn't really been out late. Some friends of the Wagner's came over and we talked for awhile. I was thrilled with how I could actually keep up with the conversation even though they were speaking about a million miles a minute. Progress! BAH I love it! I also had a nice talk with Katrin over tea and cake. Then all of us watched Snow Dogs on TV. Fun stuff! The dogs are so cute!

Poor Eberhard has been on call this week and he was in the clinic for a good part of the early morning and then came home for a little while and was called back again. I felt really bad for him. Luckily last night he actually got a full nights rest, although he was called in again at around 10 and isn't back yet.

I also had a couple of Drama practices this week. Things are going pretty well, but I can't believe we are going to be taking a break for 2 weeks about 2 weeks before our first performance! AHHHH that is a bit stressful. We have an extra long weekend this weekend so we have Monday and Tuesday off of school, but I'll be at school on Monday from 10-6 practicing Drama. He said that we are going to start putting it together now that we've made all of the scenes separately. So that's good.

We also started to watch a really interesting TV Series about a group of kids who are living in the American Sector of Berlin when it was divided. It is really really good. So we watched the first of three parts on Thursday. I can't wait to see the next one. It is so interesting. Also, as we are watching it Katrin and Eberhard can tell me more information about what life was like then. It's really quite facinating. I'm going to try to buy a copy, but so far I am having trouble finding it.

We're also starting to develop ideas for a new Art Project. We need to use photos and with what ever we do we need to express who we are. I think I have a pretty good idea. So I'll pick up some supplies this week and we'll start up on Thursday. COOL eh? I am super excited about that.

So that's all my news. OH YA and it snowed again today. Crazy...we didn't think we would get any more snow. It's not a lot, but it is snow. Take care reader.