Happy Halloween!

     Happy Halloween from the country that doesn't know how to celebrate it.  Though, I think it's only the US that knows how to. Hannah, who is living in London, and Kaylee, who is living in Italy, both say no one is doing anything.  Here they don't decorate, or dress up, or watch scary movies, or even make Jack-O-Lanterns. Apparently the little kids go around at night and ask for candy, but that freeloading.  It only counts as celebrating Halloween if you do all the other stuff.
     I love Halloween.  So I decided to pay homage to my Pumpkin carving palooza from last year and make a Jack-O-Lantern. (I also dressed up as Nyan Cat at school, but no one noticed because I took my ears off when no one else was dressed up.) I make a nice cute pumpkin and was all happy and joyous  and then my "sister" killed my Halloween spirit. I put my Jack-O-Lantern where I wanted to and she hated it. So she yelled and scram at me that no one could see it and I had to move it.  I politely told her it was my Jack-O-Lantern and that was where I wanted it.  She retorted with, "Well it's my house."
     Letting you guys know, never ever (!), say that to an exchange student. That crushed my heart a bit. So now I'm hiding in my room, trying to get diabetes from this bar of chocolate and am going to finish watching the Skeleton Key so I have a reason to cry.
     I still get to pass out candy to kids tonight so that is something to look forward too.

My Jack-O-Lantern

(Also I should have know she was a devil child when I showed her Nyan Cat and she didn't laugh.)

meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4

It's Been A While

     So two Saturdays ago I hoped in the family car and drove 5 hours to southern Germany, about 7km away from the Austrian border. The next day we met up with a friend from my mom and her husband and daughter, and hiked up a mountain. All the way up 3000 meters.  The view from the top was amazing. Southern Germany is so pretty, I want to go there again in my life for sure.  It's a lot like Humboldt, but instead of the ocean there are lakes. Tons and tons of lakes. On Monday we went to Schloss Neuschwanstein, the Cinderella castle.  It's #1 tourist spot to go in southern Germany, and I see why.  It was so pretty. We couldn't take pictures once inside, which is so unfortunate, because it's so pretty.  There are murals on every surface. There are tons and tons of stair, which were hard to maneuver due to my musklekater (sore muscles) from the hike the day before. The next day we came home stopping in a few little towns on the way.  I got to walk around a city on it's ancient wall to protect from invading armies.  History is pretty cool.

     The rest of last week was very nice and relaxing.  One day Elliot (from Mexico), Su (from Turkey), and I decided we were going to hop on a train and go somewhere, anywhere.  Durring the holidays we can go anywhere in Hessen for free with our bus card, so that's exactly what we did.  We started in Giessen and went west (I've finally traveled west in my life, crazy!) to Limburg.  It's a very pretty city on the Lahn. From Limburg we went to Wiesbaden. Then back on the train after exploring to go to Frankfurt.  We wanted to do something beside Frankfurt, so we hopped on a train again and went to Hanau.  That city is dead, even if it is where the Grimm Brothers lived.  There was nothing, so we went back to Frankfurt, got a few beers and enjoyed the night. Then we headed back to Giessen in time to catch the last bus home. 

     Then the best story of all.... I got to see my Grandpa!! Yay.  It was so fun.  Karl and Grandpa came over to visit on Friday.  I made my famous Schwarzwälderkirschtorte for them (I'm really good at making German food.  I made that cake for my dads birthday, and everyone loved it. It's a specialty of southern German. And last night for dinner I made Spetzla, another German specialty, and my host mom said it was shockingly good.  Maybe I'll live here for forever and open a resturant.)  We all had cake and coffee and Karl talked, he's good at that.  After Grandpa, Karl, and I went to go get a beer.  I've officially, legally, had a beer with a member of my family!  It was great to talk to Grandpa and hear his and Karls crazy stories.

     Friday night I got to finally attend a Disko!  It was so much fun to go out and dance.  I went with my neighboor Karina (22) and Anelena (17), Anelena's boyfriend, and her cousin. They are all so nice. The Disko was fun, and they played great music.  It's really different musik. When we left the club the amazing was happening, it was snowing.  Like real snowflakes. I woke up the next morning opened my blinds and my back yard looked like a Christmas post card.  It was great.  I went for a walk in th snow, before it all melted. As I'm tpying this it's trying really hard to snow.

     Today was my first real day of school. Or should I say college.  That's pretty much the way the school is set up.  It is nothing like US High Schools. It is literally like college, minus the school spirit.  School is just a place to learn here. No mascots, no sports, no clubs, no library.  I have to buy my Biology text book. And a book for my English class.  I guess when I get home I'll be a pro at going to college.

 Pina and me on the top of the mountain.

 The view from not even half way up

 Our final destination

 Those mountains are Switzerland

 Those mountains are Austria

 Grandpa, Karl, und mir

Babs und Opa

Turns out College isn't that great...

     Last night I got to Skype Nadia.  It was so nice, I've missed talking to her. It was shocking to find out she hates Santa Cruz.  She was never really excited to go there, but she said she really doesn't like it.  Maya and Mahayla both say that they hate SF State. Everyone doesn't hate school; I know Treyce loves CCA and Jack really likes Santa Cruz.  But it's shocking that a lot of people really don't like their schools.
     It's not that college is really hard.  It's just that they hate the school it's self. This scares me.  I don't know where I want to go.  Humboldt may not even be a logical choice in the end, when it comes to saving money.
     College is too stressful, it cost disgusting amounts, and doesn't guarantee much.

Kochen Kochen Kochen Kochen

     I spent my entire day baking.
     Last week Pumpkin Pie came up, and my family is fasinated by it, so today I made it for them.  Well, am in the process of making it for them.  You see, they don't have canned pumpkin or pre-made pie crust over here.  So I embarked on the process of making 100% home-made Pumpkin pie. Today was also Elliot's Pasta Party, so I had to make a sauce for that.  I decided to make a Butternut Squash sauce, I'm really into the Kurbis lately.  It's also my host Dad's birthday on Friday, and I'm making him chocolate chip cookies.
    So today I went to the grocery store and tried to buy everything I needed.  Things they don't have Germany: Shortening, Brown Sugar, Half and Half, Canned Pumpkin, Pre-made Pie Crust, real chocolate chips. So I did my best and came home with 30 euros worth of groceries I though would work out.
    First was to deal with all my Kurbis!! I peeled and gutted and diced, where necessary, and threw it all in the over to bake.  Then I started with the pie crust.  I HATE making pie crust, though I have to say it's so much better when you're not using shortening, the texture isn't as horrible.  The crust looks pretty good for being just butter.
     Then I got a call from Elliot asking when I was coming over, the party had started. Whoops!  I though it was 4 hours later. So I quickly made my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, thank you Kit for the recipe in German measurements!) Then I purred my squash and made the sauce.
     Elliot's was a lot of fun, and we did more cooking!  We made home made pasta.  I reminded me of making it with my mom and brother, it was always fun. It was a lot of work, and took a long time, but the pasta was great, and so was my sauce.
     Now I'm home and it's 8.  Im not sure if I'm going to make the pumpkin filling for my pie tonight, or do it tomorrow... hmmm

I wonder if they have the right dish to cook the pie in?

My wonderful chocolate chip cookie dough.

Wie viele Kürbisse? Alle Kürbisse.

My lovely complete sauce.

 Everyone was so sad about murdering the poor defenseless Onions they couldn't help but cry.

How many people does it take to roll out pasta dough?

 Our family portrait. Deutschland uber alles.

O MyIkea!

     Today I embarked on the journey that is Ikea.  It was nothing like I expected.  I've always heard, "They design Ikea in a maze so you can't get out!" or "You always spend 5 hours in Ikea, it's horrible." Well that was not my Ikea experience.  It was wonderful
     I went and got my Visa this morning (Woohoo, I'm legal!) and then we were going to go to Ikea.  There was a car crash on the Autobahn, so we went home and hung out for a while, why do it in traffic? Then finally we embarked for Ikea.
     It's only about 35 minutes away.  Eventually I saw it looming in the distance, the GIANT blue mecca of fashionable furniture. We got nice close parking and went in.  We waited to eat till we got there.  I wasn't totally sure why, but I soon realized.  They have a cafeteria in Ikea!!  But it's like good, real food.  I had a pancake filled with some sort of gravy substance.  Then we got to the good stuff, shopping.
      I want to live in Ikea.  Everything is so pretty.  They have little faux-houses that are prefect.  Yes Ikea is in a maze style, but there are maps, and you can't really get lost. It is wonderful.  If I ever get married everything in my house is coming from Ikea, seriously. The even have a Garden department.  I miss my cactus back home, so I bought myself one. It's very cute.  I like cacti because I can't kill them.  Seeing as I'm terrible with plans, yet I love them so much.
     The nursery section of Ikea makes me want to have a baby so much.  I think Ikea in general makes me want to have a family. I feel like lately I've been thinking a lot along the lines of I just want to start my life already.  I need to remember I'm young, and to go have some fun.
     On our way home we go suck in car crash traffic.  It was the most epic car crash I have ever seen.  There was a dump-truck that had it's bin up, and the bin got caught on one of the HUGE signs that cross the entire road.  It ripped the sign out of its foundation, I didn't think that was possible. A lot of traffic was stuck there until the sign and truck got craned off the road.  We luckily got there late enough that the traffic had already been re-routed, so we just got stuck in the slowness.

That is what the truck ripped out of the ground.  I wonder how fast it was going?

My new best friend.

Busy Busy Busy

    There's so much to do here.

     I finished with my last week of language class.  I hated it at first because I wasn't out meeting people at my school, and starting my life already.  But I miss it.  It was safe and nice. I liked the people, and they liked me. For our last day of class we went to Frankfurt for the day.  We saw so many churches and buildings.  It's still weird that it's common for things here to be older than the US.  I went shopping and actually bought clothes.  And they were brand new! I can't remember the last time I bought something, let alone something that was not consignment.  I bought new tights because my host mom freaks out every time I wear the pair I came with, because they have a small hole.  I wonder when she'll notice the skirt I wear frequently doesn't have a hem...

     Now begins two weeks of vacation.  I'm hoping to be able to catch up on some sleep.  I'm so tired all the time, it's getting annoying.  I went to a Tupperware party with my host mom after spending the whole day running around Frankfurt. It went so late and coupled with my fatigue, I had to go to the bathroom at one point and just cry from exhaustion. Sometime I feel like I have the same defense mechanism as an onion, but instead of making other people cry I make myself cry.

     Friday I wnt to Victoria's school and made lanterns for a holiday in November with her class.  The kids were all very sweet, and I was told I can come when ever I want. Can I just go to school there?  I got to see the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir with my mom and sisters.  We even got to host 2 of the boys.  They are every well know in Germany, and Europe as one of the best choirs.  They held up to that expectation.  It was magical.

     Yesterday I got to spend 5 hours at the swimming pool (Schwimmbad) with my sisters and Mimi, Victoria's friend. It was so much fun, and I actually felt like a sister to them.  They have such fancy swimming pools here, but they are kind of expensive.  Though I'm not used to actually having money, let only money that I'm supposed to spend.  Maybe 4€ isn't expensive to go swimming.

     Today my family is at a Floughmarkt.  It's essentially a giant communal yard sale. It's really quite cool, I went to one the second day I was here.  I was supposed to go later in the day with my Dad, that way I could sleep some.  I woke up and got ready and no one was home, so I decided to walk to it.  I'd been there before, so I knew where it was, and it would be a nice walk.  So 30 minutes later I got there, no one.  There was a kind group of people a few years older than me hanging out there, and they told me the next Floughmart was in December.  So I walked home quite confused.  My Dad was home, and it turns out the markt is on the other side of Giessen (15km away).  Whoops, at least I got a nice walk in.

    Tonight I'm spending the night at a friends house. Woohoo! Then tomorrow it's off to get my Visa. I'll be all official.

I just looked out my window and saw a man walking down our path with a hand cart full of beer...  That's Germany for you. And now he' come back with a fridge.  Probably another event I don't know about, but I will a few hours before it happens.  Later in the vacation, I'm not sure when or for how many days, I'm going to Bayern.  I know were going to see the super famous castel, that's about all I know though.

 I love getting mail from my parents. Mondays are starting to become my favorite days because that's always when the letters show up.

 An actual train station.  So cool, so loud, so many people, so different.

 Mainhattan, AKA Frankfurt. 

The Samsung touch screen table.  I love technology.

 Our choir boys with Pina, Mimi, and Victoria.

They have such beautiful clouds here.  I always look at the sky and miss Kaylee and want her to be here looking at them with me.  Maybe soon though!

I also finished applying to the CSU's and have everything but the essays done for the UC system.  Applying to college is a lot easier the second time, because all the information from the first time is still there. Will I apply to any private schools?  Who knows?  They make you apply to college too early.  I want to use this year to figure out who I am, and what I want to do.  Not much has changed in 5 weeks. I hoped things would become clearer and I would discover great new things about myself and what I want to do with ease.  But everything just seems more cluttered and chaotic.  I have no idea what to do with my life.

Prepare to be Jealous

     I got to hold a London 2012 Paralymipcs gold medal today, and met the proud owner of it.  It was pretty amazing.  The medal was SO HEAVY.  It's 2% Gold 95% Silver and 3% something else. The woman was Britt Dillmann.  She lives in Wetzlar and paddles at the club I'm now apart of. I wish I'd gotten a picture with her and it.

Ich bin immer Müde

     I have been so busy this last week.

     The three days I spent in Wiemar were so much fun.  I got to meet people my age, and make a friend or two.  It is still kind of disheartening because I don't have any friends that go to my school.  I keep telling myself that will happen soon.

     I woke up on Wednesday, and made it to the bus stop just in time to meet a girl and sit with her and her friends on the way to Wiemar.  They are all very nice, and I ended up staying in a room with them for the two nights we were at the hostel.  I was in a room with 7 other girls, so it was never boring.  When we first got to Wiemar we ditched our bags at the hostel and went walking around the city, seeing all the sights.  The students had to pick a location and present it, of course in German.  One of the teachers, realizing I wouldn't understand any of it, gave me a translator.  His name was Martin, and he was such a helpful nice guy.  After seeing Goethes house and Schillers house and numerous other ancient landmarks we had free time in the city.   I went with 4 other girls from my room to a little Creperie. I'm still not used to the German life style of eat all the time, so I didn't get anything.  By the end of the weekend Dilan said that I eat so little it's scary.
     That night we were going to see a Shakespeare play.  I didn't know I had to bring fancy clothes for it, being from Humboldt County where there is no such thing as a fancy event.  Luckily I had brought a dress to wear one day, so I through that on and the girls were so sweet and did my hair and makeup very fancy.  The play was... good?  As good a modernized Shakespeare in German can be for a girl who doesn't really like Shakespeare, or understand German.  That night we wandered around town, enjoying talking with eachother and seeing the town.

     The Thursday was a full day.  We went on 3 museum tours and wandered around town for hours.  Goethe was a pretty cool guy.  It is so amazing to me that he was so famous when he was alive.  It always seems like no one get's famous till years after they die.  I got to go into his house, which was so beautiful.  He had good taste in art (harharhar).
   
     This trip had one of the biggest culture shocks so far yet in it.  In the states school trips are never really fun and there are always a million rules and strict deadlines.  Not so in Germany.  We had our activities during the days, but after dinner there was nothing, and we could do as we pleased. The girls from my room and some boys all planned on going to a Sheesha bar that we had found in town that day.  So of course before hand the necessarily pregame was to be had.  At first when there were students running around the hostel 5ths of vodka in had I was worried the teachers were going to freak out and lock us all in our rooms that night, and sentence us to death.  No. The teachers didn't care at all.  I had never seen so much booze amassed in one place that wasn't a bar than in one of the students rooms. So we eventually made our way to the Sheesha bar.  Right after we got there Felix, one of Martins friends, didn't feel well, so the three of us walked back to the hostel.  On our way there we ran into the teachers hanging out on the street outside a bar.  It was so weird.  Two of the teachers took Felix and talked with him, trying to console him.  Then the 4 teachers and the three of us students walked to a different bar.  (WHAT?!)  There we met up with the rest of the students who were enjoying many a beer and a soccer game.  We eventually made our way back to the hostel late and I got some much needed sleep.  It was all so surreal having teacher not freak out with drunk students and students running around town.

     The next day we saw some sights in the morning and then made our way home through the rain, getting there around 3.  I had just enough time to unpack and eat some food and then I was swept away to go "Kayaking".  It was white water paddling, in a swimming pool.  I went with my "Uncle" and "Cousin" who live next door.  It was so much fun to get to go to a pool and swim and get to try something I've never done.  They were both impressed that I did the "Roll" my first time paddling.  The roll is where you flip your boat upside down with you in it, and the try to get topside again.  It was hard, but went well with Harry's help.  I had pizza with them that night, and then got a few hours of shut eye.

     The next morning I was awoken by the sweet voice of Victoria telling me we were leaving in 30 minutes to go to my "Grandparents" house. I quickly got dressed, jumped in the car, and settled in for the two hour drive up north.  Wow, Germany is so beautiful.  It reminds me so much of Oregon.  It did nothing but rain the whole drive up and while we were there, but I didn't mind, it reminded me of home.  My Grandparents own a farm with horse stables where people can ride.  They have 42 horses, wow.  They also have the only German National Equestrian Team coach on their staff, high class. It was fun there, and I got to play with dogs and a cat!  I miss having pets. They're so much fun, and bring so much joy.
     There is so much road construction going on everywhere.  The drive home took us for ever, and I had planned to go to a musical with my friends that night at 7:30.  My bus left at 6:28, so we had to hurry home.  We ended up getting home at 6:20, I had to speeeeeeed to change my clothes, then Babs drove me to a bus stop where I could catch the bus in time. That is one thing I find different too.  Why not wait a little bit and drive me to the actual play.  German parents and American parents are very different.
     The musical was so cool.  It wasn't like a musical play, that I was expecting.  It was more like Glee.  They just sang and danced to a wide selection of songs.  Some serious, some funny, some in English.  The ones that were in German were songs I knew in English, so I could translate them in my head and it helped. When it was done I walked to the Bahnhof (train station) with some friends and got a mini car.  Babs didn't want me taking the bus home, because she was worried for my safety it being 11 at night and all.  I don't really mind, but I had to pay for it with my money, and I'd rather spend 15 euro on a scarf.  It was cool because I'd never taken a cab before.  The ride went fast, and the driver played good music.  I got home and got to talk to Kit for a bit, which is always fun.  Then quickly fell asleep.

     Today I'm supposed to go actual kayaking on the Lahn river, to a castle.  Then we are coming back and having coffee and cake.  Let's see if I can stay awake long enough to do that.

 I'm glad Humboldt was named after a famous German man, because I'll always have a little bit of home with me. 

 The church where Geothe married his wife.  It was so big.  He was so in love with her.  It made me sad to hear how sad he was when she died.

 Buildings older than The United States of America, no big deal.

 Shakespeare with his creepy eyes and skulls.  This was in a really big park near Goethes grave.  It is so pretty, I could spend an entire day just walking around it.

 I can't remember what these are called, but I know my mom has some. This is what they are made from.  Apparently they are really old and expensive and hard to make.

These cute little guys were in the 4 story museum of things Goethe was interested in.  

I can home from my trip and found this on my desk.  Can I claim to be a celebrity now?

I Think I'm Going to Like It Here

     I get to do so much traveling.
     Sunday I got back from spending the weekend in Marburg, and tomorrow I leave to go to Wiemar for three days.  I'm really excited, and I'll take lots of pictures.
     Tomorrow is also a National Holiday.  It is the reunification of the East and the West, so everyone gets the day off of work and school.  At the tennis courts near my house they are having a little Oktoberfest in celebration.  Unfortunately I'll be in Weimar so I'll miss it.  Fortunately, I'll be in Wiemar.