Christmas and New Years in Germany

Oh gosh. I've become so bad at updating my blog. I'm sorry!! I've been really, really busy! I'd also just like to apologize in advance for any horrendous grammar mistakes because, well, my grammar is getting pretty bad. The other day I was skyping with my parents and thought that 'reunification' was a word. I meant reunion. Oh man. Anyways, here's my post for Christmas and New Years, read on!

If you told me this time last year that I would be with my family via skype for Christmas, I wouldn't have believed you. This time last year I had just submitted my CBYX application and was a freshman in high school! Anyways, Christmas was not as I expected it to be. For the most part, it just seemed like a normal day, which I was pretty thankful for because it helped with homesickness. In Germany, there's actually three days of Christmas. The first is on the 24th, called Heiligen Abend (Holy evening) and there's a thirty-minute church service followed by opening presents and a really, really great dinner. The second is Weihnachten, on the 25th. Christmas. I was lucky. Homesickness wasn't an overwhelming burden like I thought it would be, but it's pretty weird to celebrate with someone else's family when you have so many traditions of your own. We drove to my host grandmother's house (which is over 400 hundred years old and was super cool, by the way) and met up with that side of the family, complete with a great black forest cherry cake. Then, we drove back home and my host dad's side of the family came over. I skyped with my family back in Virginia, and we opened presents together. It wasn't the most fun day of my exchange, to be perfectly honest, but I learned so many new traditions. Buty host family was really understanding and helpful, and Christmas abroad turned out to be just fine. The next day, December 26th, was a "chill tag" and we all just hung out. There was an hour-long church service but it was a pretty uneventful day. Later that week, on friday, we went to Düsseldorf, a nearby city. There were two american food stores, neither of which had beef jerky. The poptarts and peanut butter, however, completely made up for it.

For New Year's Eve, I went all out. I went to Berlin and met with one of my best friends, Danielle. It's Europe's biggest Silvester party (That's New Years in German btw). 1 million people gathered at the Brandenburger Tor to celebrate. It was absolutely amazing. Crowded? Oh yes. very. But so, so worth it. There were plenty of famous people (many of whom I'd never actually heard of) and plenty of Lederhosen(I'm serious). The night was topped off with incredible fireworks after we counted down to the new year in German, and I wouldn't have wanted to spend my German New Years any other way!!

The next day, Dani and I played typical tourists. We started the day off at Checkpoint Charlie, where we got pictures with the guards and got to read a bit of the history behind the Berlin Wall. We saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe but weren'T able to go the museum as it was New Year's Day. The Brandenburger Tor is just around the corner, so we walked there and saw it by day, followed by a bike ride to the Berlin Cathedral. We weren't able to go inside, due to a concert being held,  but the outside was absolutely stunning. The Neptune Fountain was under construction, which was a disappointment but the Rotes Rathaus, where JFK gave his famous speech, was right there. We tried several times to go up into the Berlin T.V. Tower, or Berliner Fernsehturm, but the line was out the door each time. We drank hot coco in Alexander Platz at the Christmas Market, which hadn't yet been taken down. It was an insanely full day and pretty exhausting, but absolutely amazing. Of course, pictures are at the bottom.

The following day: Tourism, round 2. We went to the East Side Gallery, a stretch 1.3 kilometer stretch of the Berlin Wall covered in murals. The artwork was absolutely incredible, each piece having so much meaning and depth. Works from artists from all around the world are compiled there, and I strongly encourage everyone who goes to Berlin to add that to their itinerary. After a good half-hour there, we took a subway in an attempt to go on a tour of WWII barracks. It was full, however, and so we finished off the day with Hardrock Cafe. It was wonderfully American. I hadn't had chicken wings or a pulled-pork sandwich in as long as I could remember and the fact that ice came in the drinks and free refills were a given just seemed like the cherry on top. Finding a fried feather still attached to my appetizer was a bit startling (no, I didn't eat that one) but the meal was still amazing. I can now call myself the proud owner of a Hardrock Cafe Berlin T-Shirt.

On the 3rd, I boarded a fancy ICE train (travels at around 250 kilometers per hour, just by the way) and headed home. Berlin is absolutely fantastic, and I'm so glad I get to go back! Overall, my winter break was great. Granted, Christmas away from home is strange, but I learned so many new German traditions that it was worth it. Midyear with my organization is next week! I'll write a post about that. Tomorrow I'm going to Cologne with my school, and so I've been pretty busy. Until next time,
Tschüss!

The Memorial

Checkpoint Charlie...the pose was the guard's idea, I kid you not

Silvester!

Rotes Rathaus

Our bike tour. Who needs a Porsche when this sweet thing is around?

The T.V. Tower

Brandenburger Tor, by day

Reichstag Building

The Hauptbahnhof, which was massive

Berliner Dom

East Side Gallery

This was hilarious. The guys are sitting on bar stools with pedals, biking and drinking beer at a mobile pub tour of Berlin

"Next wall to fall; wall street" I thought this was interesting 

The East Side Gallery

Thanksgiving from Across the Pond & Christmas Markets

Thanksgiving
The last Thursday in November, as I'm sure everyone is aware, was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated at all in Germany and so it was really weird to be in school while everyone at home watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. However, due to my love of culture (and turkey), I knew I needed to celebrate. I cooked the dinner on Saturday, when I had time, and cooked for about nine hours. Nine hours. My host mom and sister helped with the turkey, whom we named Francisco, but I cooked the rest. The most ambitious dish I'd ever cooked in my life was probably Paula Deen's parmesan cheese sauce. This consisted of about three ingredients: cheese, milk(or half and half), and, of course, butter. On Saturday, however, the menu consisted of:

• Garlic-lemon green beans
• Sweet potato casserole (topped with marshmallows)
• Orange-cranberry sauce
• Stuffing
• For dessert, maple bread pudding

I would have loved to make a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but canned pumpkin isn't available here and I couldn't see the scenario myself attempting to smash pumpkin ending well. Pecans are available although very hard to find, and so I settled on walnuts instead. I was so glad to have the measuring cups that my parents had sent over so that I didn't have to convert everything, which would have been a nightmare. I had to run to the grocery store to pick up celery and parsley, and we had to use a neighbor's oven for everything while we cooked our turkey. Finally, though, everything was finished. My host family and I sat down and all said what we were thankful for, like I've often done on Thanksgiving back at home. Finally, we ate. I have to admit, I was really proud of myself. We're still working on those leftovers. Leftovers are also another new idea for Germans. They typically just don't save food like that. Grocery shopping, at least in my experience, is just to pick up a couple things, whereas at home we buy a lot more, not as often. Of course, I included some pictures of this Thanksgiving dinner. I may have been thousands of miles away from my family, but I'm so glad I celebrated anyways!

Christmas Markets
My absolute favorite part of the Christmas season here has easily been the Christmas Markets. Almost every village and city has one. Some last for just a couple days, some last all of the advent season. My village had one which was absolutely precious. These markets consist of two parts. One: shopping. Two: food. There were over a million lights there and dozens, maybe even hundreds, of small wooden booths. Some sold mistletoe, others sold handmade crafts, some just sold toys and candy. I also roasted bread. In America, we may like roasting marshmallows, but here you literally just put bread dough on a stick and hold it over fire until you have a roll. To be honest, it was delicious. Then, today, I met up with an American friend in Dortmund. That Christmas Market was huge, complete with a gigantic tree. We also went to Essen, where there was yet another market. It reminded me of something that Busch Gardens, the amusement park, would try to do. Traditional accordion music, plenty of bratwurst; it really couldn't get more German than that! There was a ton of fruit for sale, so we felt obligated to buy a coconut...and we did. We also accidentally stumbled upon a medieval market. Everyone was in traditional dress, and the vendors ranged from selling rabbit furs to make-your-own various wooden toys. I had no idea what was  going on but it was great. Of course, I've included photos of almost everything below.

Oh! Forgot to mention. December 5th was Nikolaustag! I was on a class trip, but all of the children in the village walked around with lanterns and sang songs, followed by a visit from St. Nikolaus himself. Then, all of the children put their shoes out with bits of bread for St. Nikolaus's horse, and the next day there's candy inside the shoes. Also, thanks to my awesome host parents, I'm enjoying a lovely Kinder chocolate advent calendar. It almost beats the Lego one I got when I was little. Homesickness also hasn't set in yet, and I'm hoping Christmas-away-from-home won't be as hard as expected. It'll be strange though, that's certain. Anyways, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll post after Christmas, but until next time,
Tchüss!

Crowning the Beer King. There is a beer king.

That oh-so-fabulous Dortmund Tree

Literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen

Thanksgiving stuffing

Lemon and Garlic Green Beans (that container was temporary)

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Maple Bread Pudding

Francisco, the Turkey

Starting to put everything out on the table

My advent calendar. Eep. 

Wie War England?

Sorry I'm so late, I've been working on this for days. I got back from England on Saturday morning.

After 14+ hours of travel, I'm safely back in Germany with my host family. So how was England? Awesome. I was there for two weeks, as the only American Jürgen Matthes, which is over 30 years old, has ever had. I stayed with a British host family, who was great, and went to English lessons daily. (heh). Anyways, it was wonderful!

Sunday: We arrived after 14+ hours of traveling at probably about 11am, but I'm not positive. We were all picked up by our host families, and there were no planned activities. Marlene, the other Jürgen Matthes student in the family, and I went for a hike, got really lost, and found our way back home after probably an hour. We had actually been about 50 meters from the house the whole time. The hike was absolutely beautiful though. Then, my host dad took us down to the town center. There's a store that my host family helps out with that sells, wait for it, American candy. Poptarts, Gobstoppers, Twizzlers, Nerds, then throw on the 10% friends and family discount and I'll be good to go for a couple months. I also had my first Starbucks in well over a month. I have to admit, holding that pumpkin spice latter really made my day. I also had my first KFC in probably years, which was another memorable moment.

Monday: On Monday we all met at the pier, bright and early, for a sight´seeing tour. We drove by the downs, which are chalk (I think) cliffs near Eastbourne. One in particular, Beachy Head, is internationally famous as a suicide point. I thought that was interesting, I suppose. Anyways, after the bus tour we had some free time. I bought a Union Jack umbrella which turned out to be very handy during the stay. Later was a JM meeting, which involved lots of strobe lights, lots of of German that I didn't understand, and a lot of papers. We got our bus passes and such, and soon after the meeting we had a scavenger hunt. We were also given 25+ JM hats, which we passed out to random members of the community. It was great. If I remember correctly, we had a JM party that night. There were a lot of JM parties.

Tuesday: We had out first day of school. I was in a minigroup, so there were only four other students and we went to the teacher's house each day. I learned some new British English vocabulary, which was cool. After class, I think this was on Tuesday, we had the choice of bowling or laser tag. Naturally, I chose laser tag. I was horrible at it but it was really cool, medieval themed with lots of neon paint and black lights. We had to wear these huge vests with guns attached. I go pretty into is.

Wednesday: If we had signed up, we had the option of going to London and going to the Harry Potter studios, the Lion King (the musical), and I think the other option was going to a stadium of sorts. I had signed up for The Lion King, so I didn't have class. It was absolutely amazing. I saw the show when I was about seven with my family, but then again, I was seven so I didn't remember too much. We took the train back home after some quality chicken McNuggets and then went to a JM party.

Thursday: We had class, and then an excursion to the nearby town of Brighton. Well, everyone else went to Brighton. I couldn't find anyone at our meeting point and ended up getting KFC and then walking on the beach and taking photos. So it really wasn't so bad.

Friday: Okay now my memory is getting foggy. We had class, Then I actually have no idea. Then we had, wait for it, a JM party.

Saturday: We had class, but afterwards had the choice of several things including mini-golf, bumper cars, and swimming. I went swimming. It was in a large indoor pool with what seemed to be the world's slowest slide, but every ten minutes there was a series of waves, which was really really neat. Not to mention a human-sized dryer for only a euro.

Sunday: We woke up painfully early, and waited for the bus at seven o'clock, and then it was off to London for a sight-seeing tour. We drove around the city, taking blurry pictures out the bus windows of Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, everything. We drove over the Tower Bridge and then went to Madame Tussauds. I took plenty of pictures with various wax celebrities, and there was a haunted house that I went through. My friends were really amazed by how loud I could scream. Here's the thing - it was dark and foggy, and in between strobe light flashes it was impossible to tell who was a real person and who was a wax figure. After that traumatic but fun event, we went on a ride in the museum called The Spirit of London, and you got to sit in little miniature british taxi cabs and see London's history. After Madame Tussauds, we drove around the city some more, and then I got to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen since I was nine. We spent a couple hours at the British Museum and got to see the Rosetta Stone, which is currently housed there, along with plenty of hieroglyphs. It was awesome seeing her! We had tea and talked in the museum cafe, basically filling each other in on what had happened in the past six years. It ended to quickly though, and I met back up with the group. Then we all headed back to Eastbourne...for a JM party.

Monday: We had our usual three - three and a half hours of school, and then, if I remember correctly, had a tennis/volleyball/soccer tournament. However, due to the fact that the first hurricane since the 1980's was passing through, well, it really turned out to be a less-than-mild storm of sorts, thankfully, but it still made Monday very cold and wet though. I went with the intention of playing volleyball, which I have never played in my life, but there was no one playing so i sat inside watching people play tennis. I got a third-place medal. I didn't even touch a racquet. Man, I wonder how well I would have done if I'd actually played! Anyways, after our failure tennis time, my friend and I got Starbucks and then went to Claire's in search of outfits for a bad taste party that night. Then, to complete our shopping trip, went to Primark and tried on animal pajama onesies. No shame, I ended up buying one. No shame. It's a tabby cat and it's fabulous. Anyways, we had our bad taste party, to which I wore a weird spider headband and made my hair really strange.

Tuesday: London, round three: shopping. Once again, there was no class, and we boarded the bus at a painfully early hour. Then, it was off to London once again. Those who had booked it ahead of time went on the London Eye, and I wasn't in that group so I started shopping with some friends. We also saw some guards and horses, who we took pictures with, and continued on our way. London had pretty much every store imaginable; from Chanel to Urban Outfitters to H&M. There were plenty of touristy "I <3 London" shops and then, of course, Harrods. I wanted to go but to be perfectly honest, six hours is not near enough time. I went when I was younger though, so I wasn't too disappointed. To get back to the JM meeting point, my friend and I took the London Tube which is always an adventure. Then, after an exhausting day, we headed home.

Wednesday: Our last day of class! Slightly sentimental. Then, we had a photo session followed by a scavenger hunt, which I didn't participate in. I did go to the photo session though. That was it for the day.

Thursday: Our final day started off with a JM meeting, where we were given plenty of JM pens and papers. We watched a slideshow from the two weeks, followed by an awards ceremony and final goodbyes. Then, that evening, we had a Halloween/Pajama party. I sported that oh-so-fabulous cat onesie, which was very uncomfortable to dance in but was worth it. My host family also had a small Halloween party with games like dunking for apples and pinning to tail on the cat. It was a great Halloween.

Friday: There were no planned activities. At 3:30 we got on the buses, and 14 hours later I was back home!

Updates from Germany:
I'm now assisting with a 5th grade English class every Monday, which I love. All of the 5th graders asked me if I spoke American, which made my week.

There are advent calendars here with beer. Wow.

I'm go to my first Fußball game on Saturday!!

In less than two weeks, I will be one-third through my exchange year. How is this possible?!

There's probably so many more but look at this long blog post I've just written. I'll try to write another post before December but no promises.

Big Ben!!

I took this from the ferry as we left France. I feel somewhat accomplished as a photographer

Have a Ferry Merry Christmas! Get it? *Ba-dum-ching*

One of the first things we saw in England - a castle. This was in Dover, where the ferry arrived. 

Eastbourne is lovely!

The pier in Eastbourne

That time I "hattified" Eastbourne, as I mentioned earlier - basically, during our first scavenger hunt, my group was given over 25 JM hats. We didn't need any, so we passed them out to people. The bus driver, the janitor, the woman behind the counter at the supermarket: anyone who would take one. The people in this picture promised to wear them to a party. 

Selfie with a guard. He's not the smiling type.

Seeing Astara!!

All of the JM students had group leaders, and here is my group's picture. 

Just Another Blog Post

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a blog post, so I figured I'd give some updates. I've been with my new host family for around a month. In this month, I've:
1. Learned how to rollerblade. Yeah, it's still a thing in Germany. Loving it.
2. Went to The Netherlands. THE NETHERLANDS. I'm lucky to live so close, it was a short car ride to Winterswijk, a town there. There were some really cool markets, and I was amazed at how the second we crossed the border (marked by a tiny blue sign that was hardly noticeable) the language changed. The next billboard we saw was in Dutch. I don't really know why this surprised me, but it was cool.
3. Went to a great Stadtfest. This featured people in traditional Dutch attire, music, candy, games, and of course plenty of sausage.
4. So, so much more.

My German is significantly better. I speak pretty much all German with my host family, filling in with English when I don't know the German word. In school, I still understand pretty much nothing. I think this has a lot to do with the speed at which the language is spoken and the vocabulary. I know almost no words associated with physics or history. That's okay, I'll get it eventually. I can understand more and more each day, and that always keeps me going. I can also laugh at myself like nobody's business. I've probably made some horrendous mistakes and am just not aware, but I think people understand that my German isn't exactly top-notch. Another exchange student came to my school this week, and she's from Malaysia. So it's me, a girl from Peru, and girl from Taiwan, and her. They're all great. I also went to my first English class at here, and there was a The Far Side comic in the textbook. Then we all drew cartoons about manners and politeness. I'm still taking German classes three times a week, which I really like, and as of today I'm off for two weeks for fall break! And, wait for it...I'm going to England! So. Excited. My host family is going to be in Turkey and I'll be in a town called Eastbourne, on the coast. I'll get to visit London at least twice. I'm with a program, and I'll have English classes too. I leave tomorrow evening and I think the bus ride is 11 hours. Anyways, really looking forward to it. If anyone has any questions about Germany or anything at all, feel free to comment or email me!

NOTE:
The application for CBYX 2014 - 2015 HAS come out for all organizations! I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to apply. I've been away from home for two and a half months and trust me, I'm glad I came. The website is usagermanyscholarship.org and, as I mentioned before, email me or find me one facebook and I'll be happy to answer questions.