Friday, December 25
Wednesday, October 28
Whiplash
There's this thing called reverse culture shock. I don't know a lot about it, since I lost my AFS Culture Trek password. So I've just been winging it.
It seems as if Germany finally punctured my hard heart. Who'da thunk?
Coming home, after my initial run-in with the bakery, felt totally natural. I felt like I had been stretched out, and I had finally bunched myself back up. I felt comfortable and relaxed. It was hot (Iowa gets toasty!) but not unreasonably. My life filled up with friends and busyness, as I have a habit of doing. I didn't feel like I had changed... except the speaking-German thing.
My first adjustment was with my friends. I had to find out and evaluate my relationships - which weren't affected at all by my absense, and which ones just didn't work anymore. I feel sad to admit that I've dropped some people, but it was for my own well-being. I can't hold on to something that is giving nothing back. I ended up with more friends, actually - one boy randomly adopted me in band. I guess he figured he was my friend since he was already friends with all of my friends? Whatever. I'm cool with it.
I also had to evaluate my German friendships. Which were worth keeping? Which wouldn't keep no matter what I did? Which ones could I not go without? (I think this person knows who she is.) And then I discovered something - I wasn't all nicely bunched up. I was more together than before - my center is where it's supposed to be - but I still have arms stretched back to Germany and Bonn. I've been giving presentations, like a good AFSer, in which I have more trouble taking stuff out than putting stuff in, and I appreciate now how much Bonn is my city much more than Jefferson was ever my town.
I still remember with clarity the day in October when I exited the train in Bonn - Beuel and looked up: the trees were perfectly colored. The cobblestones were coated in a happy layer of leaves, and the air smelled and felt like autumn. I walked slowly to my German lesson, 15 minutes earlier as usual. I detoured into the cemetery and found a bench to sit on. I just soaked it in - I was in Germany, it was fall, and everything was perfect.
German class was hard that day, and I was still with my first family. But in that moment I discovered why I went to Germany in the first place.
School started this August. I was really excited to be there, probably the only kid in my class to feel that way. THIS is how high school is supposed to be done. There are a lot of juniors in my classes, but I can handle that. My schedule was suddenly PACKED, though. Who knew the difference only having school till 1pm made? Getting home at 4pm after cross country practice seemed like the whole day was already gone. I work at the theater now, so there went my evenings. Fridays were for football. How can American teens balance these crazy-filled life? And they actually expect me to do my homework here! Probably because I speak the language.
It's been a few months now. I got a letter from AFS the other day; there was a certificate congratulating me for completing my AFS experience. I think you get that just for catching the right plane home. Also included was a reminder that AFS is here for us as we're going through Re-Entry.
Hah! I scoffed. Little late for that, isn't it? I thought.
Nope. I was sitting on the piano bench, trying to think of songs for Sacrament meeting (my unofficial calling) and I ended up having to get my German hymnal. Then I was listening to a musical and decided I liked the German version better.
While I was using it, the German language seemed awkward and hard and kind of complicated. Now my mouth misses forming German words, and my ears miss hearing it.
It seems as if Germany finally punctured my hard heart. Who'da thunk?
Tuesday, July 14
Greasy.
I think our traveling experience is a great example of the cultural difference and how we students were changed by it. We checked our extra bags in Frankfurt (after Dieter, despite my having a train ticket, drives me there for fun), said bye to our host families, were sent through the Security gate, and ... that was it. No chaperones or anything. We came to the waiting area and everyone bought a parting Bier, that they chugged before we had to get on the plane.
Plane ride was boring and long, but I enjoyed playing with my mini-screen and watching movies. Monsters Vs. Aliens isn't one of Pixar's best, by the way. Food was pretty good.
Then we got off the plane, went through Customs ("What was the purpose of your visit? Are you bringing any alcohol home with you?"), got our bags, and then stood around ... wondering what to do next. We were reluctant to show that we are not actually as independent as AFS says we are, but the fact was, we didn't know where we were supposed to be sleeping that night! Eventually our good friend Ned showed up and proceeded to apologize for not being able to find us, give the overview of the day, give it again in case we didn't hear, give it in paper form, and then lead us to where the Hotel Shuttle was, apologizing the whole way for the inconvenience of making us walk so far and having to go in two shifts.
As opposed to what we are used to, which is being told our instructions once, then being expected to follow them and to do whatever it takes to follow them, no apologies and no 'Questions Comments Concerns' forms. Also, orders given as orders and not as suggestions.
So we all start looking at each other. Is this normal? Did we miss something? Do you feel kind of coddled? Does the air smell funny to you?
All very legitimate questions.
We get to the hotel and after negotiating individual schedules for the morning, we all went to Wendy's and had to pay with either money leftover from September or with credit. We sat down with our greasy masterpieces in the empty Wendy's and then began to be astonished - the Ketchup is free.
Somehow I scored having my own hotel room, which I enjoyed to the fullest. My clock was a few (6) hours off, so I watched an awful lot of History Channel. I couldn't sleep very well anyway, because the air was an odd quality and was blowing out of this strange box under my window. So like any good German, I turned it off and went to open the ... nevermind. The window doesn't open.
The next morning I had to take a cab from the hotel to Union Station because there was neither bus nor subway. How odd. And there were police officers everywhere. And they were chatting. In English.
And then the kicker came - I found a bakery and walked around and couldn't find a single Brotchen in the whole place. So I had to buy a bagel.
Welcome to America.
Saturday, June 13
iRock
To console all those out there in Bloggerworld who are sorely missing my blogs, I would like to present the following excuse:I have been busy.
Why is this a great excuse and not the lame one everyone always uses?
Because me being busy means that I am Making the Most out of my Experience.
Blah Blah.
1.Earth Day is not celebrated in Germany, but it is in America. ... Think about it.
Demonstration in front of the Maritim Hotel,where the International Climate Negotiations were held by the UNFCCC in Bonn the last two weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.Earth Day is not celebrated in Germany, but it is in America. ... Think about it.
Demonstration in front of the Maritim Hotel,where the International Climate Negotiations were held by the UNFCCC in Bonn the last two weeks.
2. Schriftstellenfestival - Seminary Scripture Mastery Retreat
3. Mother's Day Weekend - I gave a talk in church! In German! And went to Phantasialand again. Buy 1 Get 1 Frei deal.
This was my favorite ride. Surprised?
4. Ben and Dad came! Ben ate the bread and Dad learned German through osmosis.
We also played fun games with my hostfamily and saw some castles.
5. Olga got baptised!
6. I wrote a test in English and actually did pretty good! (Translation is iffy.)
7. I went to Berlin with AFS and celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Germany As We Know It.
8. I watched The Testaments for the first time - in German.
9. Pfingsten is Pentecost. My family went North and I got to squat at Anya's since Koko and Patrick were gone for 2 weeks biking in Norwegen.
10. AFS Komitees Aachen, Bonn, Köln, and Siegen had our last Camp of the exchange!
11. I went to Köln with two Iranians from my class at school. We ate Persian food (yum lamb!) and I spoke some Persian to some people who thought it was adorable. Salom! Merci!
The Persian word for 'kiss' sounds a lot like 'much'. So one time in Greece, Mamubeh said, 'Thank you very much' (with her adorable accent) and then her little niece got out and said, 'Thank you very *muah*' to the cabby! Tee hee.
12. Fronleichnam is a holiday. I didn't have to go to school. What is that? Corpus Christi. But no one knows that - I know, because I asked them. I had to Wiki it.
13. Èlder Teusch has finally arrived in the Domican Republic, mostly in one piece. Next stop, Puerto Rico!
14. I switched from Chemistry to Physics for next year. Yay for Sis. Buxton!
3. Mother's Day Weekend - I gave a talk in church! In German! And went to Phantasialand again. Buy 1 Get 1 Frei deal.
This was my favorite ride. Surprised?
4. Ben and Dad came! Ben ate the bread and Dad learned German through osmosis.
We also played fun games with my hostfamily and saw some castles.
5. Olga got baptised!
6. I wrote a test in English and actually did pretty good! (Translation is iffy.)
7. I went to Berlin with AFS and celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Germany As We Know It.
8. I watched The Testaments for the first time - in German.
9. Pfingsten is Pentecost. My family went North and I got to squat at Anya's since Koko and Patrick were gone for 2 weeks biking in Norwegen.
10. AFS Komitees Aachen, Bonn, Köln, and Siegen had our last Camp of the exchange!
11. I went to Köln with two Iranians from my class at school. We ate Persian food (yum lamb!) and I spoke some Persian to some people who thought it was adorable. Salom! Merci!
The Persian word for 'kiss' sounds a lot like 'much'. So one time in Greece, Mamubeh said, 'Thank you very much' (with her adorable accent) and then her little niece got out and said, 'Thank you very *muah*' to the cabby! Tee hee.
12. Fronleichnam is a holiday. I didn't have to go to school. What is that? Corpus Christi. But no one knows that - I know, because I asked them. I had to Wiki it.
13. Èlder Teusch has finally arrived in the Domican Republic, mostly in one piece. Next stop, Puerto Rico!
14. I switched from Chemistry to Physics for next year. Yay for Sis. Buxton!
There you go - a little bite-sized update of what I've been doing!
So that people know:
10. Juli - Fly Away!
11. Juli - Go to New York!
18. Juli - Be home!
So that people know:
10. Juli - Fly Away!
11. Juli - Go to New York!
18. Juli - Be home!
Monday, April 27
forwards crookedly and backwards in the other direction.
What is going on here?!
All I know is that I have only 10 or 11 weeks left. And so many things to do… most of which can only be done on the weekends. Of which I have even fewer than of normal days, where I have to go to school and pretend that I care despite that I am probably getting no credit for any of it and, well, the kids are not that smart. I hate having a superiority complex, but I honestly have nothing to discuss with these people. Even if my German skills weren’t lacking, which they still are, a bit.
We’ll see what I can do with what’s left… I’m looking forward to:
We’ll see what I can do with what’s left… I’m looking forward to:
• Stake Conference
• Dad and Ben’s visit
• Going to Berlin
• a partially-planned Frankfurt Tempel visit
• catching up in Seminary
• finding out what Pfingsten is
• many Wednesday night activities
So now that that is out of the way, here is what has been going on recently…
SPRING BREAK!
I went with Allegra Bel, her hostmother Heidi, and her hostsister (who I love) Laura to Phantasialand, and then the next day to the zoo. We rode rollercoasters and saw dolphins and had a lot of fun!
The week before that was the week I went to visit Hannes in Cuxhaven. Click on the markers for a bit more information.
View Trip to Hannes' in a larger map
The Rest of the Pictures of this Week are here.
It was great to see Hannes again, to meet his family, to be able to talk about people from home with someone who actually knows them. It was also great to experience daily life with a different family – because of course, every family does it differently.
Before that, I went to Wiesbaden to take the ACT. I stayed with a very lovely American couple who live on the military base there. They are friends of the old babysittee of my mother. They had sheets on the bed, and Macaroni and Cheese in a box, and American-style plug-ins, The Ensign… all kinds of goodies! It was wonderful.
I got a 32… not shabby.
I don’t really like long-distance trains… but they beat long-distance Autobahn rides.
That about sums it up for right now!
-lauren margaret
The week before that was the week I went to visit Hannes in Cuxhaven. Click on the markers for a bit more information.
View Trip to Hannes' in a larger map
The Rest of the Pictures of this Week are here.
It was great to see Hannes again, to meet his family, to be able to talk about people from home with someone who actually knows them. It was also great to experience daily life with a different family – because of course, every family does it differently.
Before that, I went to Wiesbaden to take the ACT. I stayed with a very lovely American couple who live on the military base there. They are friends of the old babysittee of my mother. They had sheets on the bed, and Macaroni and Cheese in a box, and American-style plug-ins, The Ensign… all kinds of goodies! It was wonderful.
I got a 32… not shabby.
I don’t really like long-distance trains… but they beat long-distance Autobahn rides.
That about sums it up for right now!
-lauren margaret
Sunday, March 29
battle of the blogs
EDIT>>> Normal script is me, italics is Katie.
And I don't think I sound funny at all.
On Friday the 27th, Katie Came to Town.
And the world was changed.
Before this happened, a few other things worth noting occured.
First of all, Creepy Sunglasses Guy was on the bus. As usual. AND, he asked to borrow my pen. Which I allowed, because I don't know what he would have done otherwise. Scary scary man.
Then, Katie did not come. But her phone call came, and I answered it. And in Denglish, she told me that because of snow, her train was coming late. She says that isn't what she said, but that's what I understood. I love it.
Much waiting occured, and I bought a crazy looking bread thing for Andelyn. And some other stuff of goodness.
After much more waiting, Katie arrived! And the world was, as before stated, geändert.
after a 50€ train ticket, 2 ices, a 30 minute verspatung, a bottle of fanta, and a rogue encounter of the english variety (there was an english speaking man on the train), i finally made it to the bonn hbf.
thankfullz, meg was waiting for me.
A good chunk of my waitingness had been spent with a Ticketautomat, attempting to save katie as much money as possible. I ended up failing, but that wasn't my fault. So, prepared with infos, Katie and I boarded an U-Bahn to Anya's house.
this is sort of actually a lols story. i couldn't exactly figure out, why meg had switched host families TO LIVE WITH TWO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS. anywsays, it turns out we didn't go to her house, we went to anya's.
the general plan was to dye my hair.
the general plan sort of... dissolved. into teeny, tiny, bitsy pieces. the first thing the "professional" did was dump the conditioner into the dye, making it unusable. didn't like the color anyways, and we hop back on the u-bahn and make a flying trip to rewes.
The funny thing about that story is that Katie was not under the impression that, despite my assurances, Anya really is a professional. She is, like, trained and stuffs. In Cosmetology. Yup.
I take full blame because I was distracting Anya the whole time with my incessant chatter. I lost my voice eventually.
Anywhos, we went to ReWe. Turns out they don't carry hairdye. Not in the the hair section, or the fruit section, or the cleaning products section. We checked.
So we returned to the House of Anya, and Katie and I both got our self-done haircuts smoothed out by Anya the Amazing.
i was going to make a totes brilliant meg equals pithy squirrel reference. it's forthcoming, promises.
I have yet to understand from where this forthcoming reference is supposed to come, but it will most Definitely be brilliant.
well, have to have some incentive to keep the readers at it
Oh right. It's part of the evil plan of all bloggers. *had forgotten*
At this point it became run-to-the-bus time.
so i bought another bus ticket. hence the meg failing at saving katie money thing, that you'd remember if you just didn't skim to the dirty parts.
anywhooos, so we rode the u-bahn back to the bahnhof. when we were walking out of the hallway, i got confronted by two germans of the teenage variety. they did not seem to be drunk.
they approach me. i whip out the "es toooot meeer leeeiiid..." and look to meg for reassurance. i thought SHE SAID THAT THE BONN FOLKS WERE FRIENDLY.
LIES!
and then the guy starts speaking english.
he points at his wrist and says, i saw you on the tv yesterday, can i have your sign?"
and then they rambled some more and then meg pulled me away, so i could be harrassed by the next one in line.
which was the bus driver.
i get on the bus. i must buy another ticket (this is a reaccuring theme; i hope you're not bored by it yet.)
me: can i buy a ticket to... meg?
meg: blah this is my stop blah
me: what she said
bus driver: now you say it!
me: ??????
me: meg?
and then meg fed me the words and the guy asked me from where i'm from. no one knows where braunschweig is down here, so it's a bit odd.
i think he meant my nationality. but i whipped out the german, srs bsnss style, so all was in ordnung.
I personally found the busdriver rather friendly.
sure, meg. sure. i thought bonn was family-friendly; now i'm thinking again.
It is, except when you are here. The trade-off is that when you are here, the trains come on time. So I win.
By the way, the name of my stop is Bßhövn Abzg. Ganz simple.
that's for privacy protection
Then Samstag occured, bright and early the next day - we were awoken by the brightness of the sun at apprx. 7:40. How deceiving of it.
We made ourselves ready (as the Germans say) and went downstairs for shoes and stuffs, when we ran into Regina the hostmother.
Mama: Ack! If I knew you were leaving early we would have breakfasted earlier!! Here, smear yourself a Brötchen.
Me:...Bus in 5 minutes?
Whatever. We made it with only minimal light jogging.
Then Katie attempted to buy a Tagesticket (bus and train ticket for a whole day).
me: hallo, ich hätte gern eine tagesticket. region four. köln.
him: bonn?
me: köln.
him: bonn.
me: köln.
him: oh! köln (he says it the exact same)
and then he prints me a four card.
so we went and talked to him again, and he complained and gave me a day ticket.
then, on the bus, i was introduced to sunglasses man, meg's secret loooove.
the sparks were flying as he dozed romantically in the back of the bus.
clearly, it is forever.
Only because he refuses to take a different bus. Or a bath, I should say. There is nothing sexy about greasy hair and cut-up knuckles. Or bleeding eye sockets, but I suppose that was just once. Sorry, Katie.
sure, meg.
she's just in denial. THE SPARKS WERE FLYING; I TELLS YOU!
That was because the bus is reallllllly old. Honestly, the middle turny section is going to fall out some day.
We decided that, since we had put so much effort into getting a ticket that lets Katie go to Köln, we may as well go there. So we did. And, guess what?
It was raining.
Hard.
The wonderful thing about the Köln Dom is that it is like a massive wind maschine. It is like Chicago in the middle of the Köln Innercity. Ergo, umbrella = useless = we are wet.
and we blowdryed our hair and everything.
Luckily the rain was all, 'just kidding!' and we did not become soaked through. We eventually arrived at my personal favorite haven, The English Shop, which I find much amazing. Unfortunately the counter was not being manned this time by a hot British boy with one of those accents that melts the bones in your knees. Or maybe that was a fortunate thing - I was planning on doing a lot of walking this weekend.
well, i saw a llama. and that made me all melty-kneed, even though i was planning to do a lot of walking this weekend.
We then wandered a bit more until we came upon a S-Bahn. As we approached, the rain picked up. As we attempted to decide a direction, it picked up more. As it started down-ouring so hard that the rain - yes, rain, not hail - started bouncing off the ground, we ran for the side that we were closest to: and hid under the covering until the Bahn came.
We ended up on the other side of the river at a Bahnhof that I didn't know existed and took a train back to Bonn that I had never taken before and that went through stops that I had never heard of and I was very confused, but eventually we ended up on Track 3 in the Bonn Hbf so all was well again.
so then we were in bonn.
and we went a-walkin'.
we found a seriously cuties little store with odd things and went upstairs.
at the foot of another very intriguing set of stairs, there was a sign that said "private, but please come in. everything is for sale."
it turned out that it was a little overpriced thriftstore. i bought an amazing yolked blue fuzzy skirt and meg almost bought a magenta-themed pioneer dress and then bought like a 70's style shirt dress.
then i was hungry, so we went and nommed some noodles.
i learned to use chopsticks.
apparently, i am right handed.
Anya and I, through the invention of the Telephone, planned ourselves a ron-day-voo. And then it started hailing.
We found ourselves an S-Bahn and were magically (after a good 15 minutes) in Bad Godesberg. We went to the Haribo Fabrik!! (read - factory.)
me: So, where is this factory thing?
Anya: this will soon become apparent.
me: ... ?
After like 3 minutes: Large Red Arrow!
This is no cool thing like a factory tour or such. No no, it is a very large store fulllll of candy. The gummi bear kind, and other assorted varieties of amazingness. Also, a bear that talks. And gummi candy in the shape of Arnold Schwarzene... yeah. Him.
We wandered in a very interesting fashion, when suddenly I spotted a cooler! I like cool treats, so I peeked through the glass and spyed myself some FREEZE POPS!! Amazings. I bought one, and also a packet of them to take home. Calm yourself, it was only €o,65. Mmmm. Sadly, I had some difficulties with my package due to a lack of scissors. Photos forthcoming.
german precision engineering my oversized black eye-podular. i am experimenting with parental guidance non-required blogging.
Then - Kinopolis! Yays! Costing of money, of which Katie did not have im Moment. So,
me (what i heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldautomat?
me (what everyone else heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldmaschine?
I am officially going insane.
After ths getting of moneys, we returned to the theater, bought tickets, were confused about how to get in, and then were told that Katie's large camera of coolness was not allowed in the theater.
so i stuck it in a locker. it was not a positive experience. i experience seperation anxiety when parted from my camera.
We watched The Shopaholic. But before this occurence, we discussed glasses and their uses. And Katie's glasses, which she left at home, were described as "They're like a Bright Eye for Cutie glasses."
I died of laughter.
Scary talking mannequins. Otherwise good.
We then searched us a drug store to try this hair thing again.
except we got out of the kino at 6:02.
and we're in germany, so apparently people don't need hairdye or toothpaste or nailpolish after 6 o'clock.
so we went to karstadt. and bought like THE MOST obnoxiously coloured red hair dye ever. ever. ever. ever. it was like orange. i was like, okay!
so then we went back to anya's house and we had dinner with someone from the un and i got climbed over by a toddler for a while.
and then we dyed my hair.
it was suspiciously not-burny. but as we washed it out, we were sort of like... katie, your hair isn't really red.
but we almost missed our bus, so we went running with the soaking hair and then we did not miss our bus, but it turns out that on saturday evenings, the bus only runs every other hour.
so we went to meccas. and met some german gangstas, with mullets and overly tan skin and sweatpants and fanny packs. they were quite infatuated with one miss meg.
We were speaking English.
Dude #4: lol hehe Ich kann English! lol
me: Ich kann Deutsch! (said to myself/Katie)
#4: Oh, du kannst Deutsch?
Kontact had been made. So I sold them a dollar.
We discussed many topics: famous people (I'm from Iowa), drinking (he didn't until 18, when his gramma died), hamburger prices, Monster Energy Drinks, spring break, exchange year, spring break, $/€ exchange rate, so on. And then,
#4: Hey, can I buy your dollar? For a euro.
#3: Yeah! That's a 20 cent profit!
me: sure you can.
#4: Oh, I don't have a euro.
me: ....
#3: I'll buy it!
Sweetness.
Except now I don't have a dollar, and those things are great conversation starters. Obviously.
Then they randomly left. And the bus came. And Mr. Sunglasses was somehow not on board.
but meg was missing him, i could tell.
she was practically pining away.
No, that was just my throat from talking all day. *croak* *croak*
because she was talking about SUNGLASSES MAN.
i win.
anyways, so we came home and went to bed and the time sprung ahead and then it was this morning and i went to church.
meg is the first real mormon that i have ever met. but now i know a lot of them.
they are semingly very nice, but no one knows with these types and their "people jackets".
it was sillies, because they kep saying "zeugnis", which i know as report card.
which actually also means report card. and testimony. everyone also thought we were sisters, because apparently our hair and our eyes are like the same.
The retro-ness of our clothings may have also played a part in that.
sure, meg. i TOTES believe you. secretly, i am from iowa. you heard it here first.
and then one of the missionaries asked me if i wanted a book of mormon.
i was like, sure?
so they came and visited my house. well, meg's house. but whatever.
spreading the gospel and all the jazz.
with his "people jacket".
well, that's all from this end of the spectrum.
all the love (tooth and nail)
katie
I'm not much of a sign-offerin, but I am feeling the peer-pressure.
warm-fuzzy-feelings from buschhoven!
-lauren margaret
And I don't think I sound funny at all.
On Friday the 27th, Katie Came to Town.
And the world was changed.
Before this happened, a few other things worth noting occured.
First of all, Creepy Sunglasses Guy was on the bus. As usual. AND, he asked to borrow my pen. Which I allowed, because I don't know what he would have done otherwise. Scary scary man.
Then, Katie did not come. But her phone call came, and I answered it. And in Denglish, she told me that because of snow, her train was coming late. She says that isn't what she said, but that's what I understood. I love it.
Much waiting occured, and I bought a crazy looking bread thing for Andelyn. And some other stuff of goodness.
After much more waiting, Katie arrived! And the world was, as before stated, geändert.
after a 50€ train ticket, 2 ices, a 30 minute verspatung, a bottle of fanta, and a rogue encounter of the english variety (there was an english speaking man on the train), i finally made it to the bonn hbf.
thankfullz, meg was waiting for me.
A good chunk of my waitingness had been spent with a Ticketautomat, attempting to save katie as much money as possible. I ended up failing, but that wasn't my fault. So, prepared with infos, Katie and I boarded an U-Bahn to Anya's house.
this is sort of actually a lols story. i couldn't exactly figure out, why meg had switched host families TO LIVE WITH TWO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS. anywsays, it turns out we didn't go to her house, we went to anya's.
the general plan was to dye my hair.
the general plan sort of... dissolved. into teeny, tiny, bitsy pieces. the first thing the "professional" did was dump the conditioner into the dye, making it unusable. didn't like the color anyways, and we hop back on the u-bahn and make a flying trip to rewes.
The funny thing about that story is that Katie was not under the impression that, despite my assurances, Anya really is a professional. She is, like, trained and stuffs. In Cosmetology. Yup.
I take full blame because I was distracting Anya the whole time with my incessant chatter. I lost my voice eventually.
Anywhos, we went to ReWe. Turns out they don't carry hairdye. Not in the the hair section, or the fruit section, or the cleaning products section. We checked.
So we returned to the House of Anya, and Katie and I both got our self-done haircuts smoothed out by Anya the Amazing.
i was going to make a totes brilliant meg equals pithy squirrel reference. it's forthcoming, promises.
I have yet to understand from where this forthcoming reference is supposed to come, but it will most Definitely be brilliant.
well, have to have some incentive to keep the readers at it
Oh right. It's part of the evil plan of all bloggers. *had forgotten*
At this point it became run-to-the-bus time.
so i bought another bus ticket. hence the meg failing at saving katie money thing, that you'd remember if you just didn't skim to the dirty parts.
anywhooos, so we rode the u-bahn back to the bahnhof. when we were walking out of the hallway, i got confronted by two germans of the teenage variety. they did not seem to be drunk.
they approach me. i whip out the "es toooot meeer leeeiiid..." and look to meg for reassurance. i thought SHE SAID THAT THE BONN FOLKS WERE FRIENDLY.
LIES!
and then the guy starts speaking english.
he points at his wrist and says, i saw you on the tv yesterday, can i have your sign?"
and then they rambled some more and then meg pulled me away, so i could be harrassed by the next one in line.
which was the bus driver.
i get on the bus. i must buy another ticket (this is a reaccuring theme; i hope you're not bored by it yet.)
me: can i buy a ticket to... meg?
meg: blah this is my stop blah
me: what she said
bus driver: now you say it!
me: ??????
me: meg?
and then meg fed me the words and the guy asked me from where i'm from. no one knows where braunschweig is down here, so it's a bit odd.
i think he meant my nationality. but i whipped out the german, srs bsnss style, so all was in ordnung.
I personally found the busdriver rather friendly.
sure, meg. sure. i thought bonn was family-friendly; now i'm thinking again.
It is, except when you are here. The trade-off is that when you are here, the trains come on time. So I win.
By the way, the name of my stop is Bßhövn Abzg. Ganz simple.
that's for privacy protection
Then Samstag occured, bright and early the next day - we were awoken by the brightness of the sun at apprx. 7:40. How deceiving of it.
We made ourselves ready (as the Germans say) and went downstairs for shoes and stuffs, when we ran into Regina the hostmother.
Mama: Ack! If I knew you were leaving early we would have breakfasted earlier!! Here, smear yourself a Brötchen.
Me:...Bus in 5 minutes?
Whatever. We made it with only minimal light jogging.
Then Katie attempted to buy a Tagesticket (bus and train ticket for a whole day).
me: hallo, ich hätte gern eine tagesticket. region four. köln.
him: bonn?
me: köln.
him: bonn.
me: köln.
him: oh! köln (he says it the exact same)
and then he prints me a four card.
so we went and talked to him again, and he complained and gave me a day ticket.
then, on the bus, i was introduced to sunglasses man, meg's secret loooove.
the sparks were flying as he dozed romantically in the back of the bus.
clearly, it is forever.
Only because he refuses to take a different bus. Or a bath, I should say. There is nothing sexy about greasy hair and cut-up knuckles. Or bleeding eye sockets, but I suppose that was just once. Sorry, Katie.
sure, meg.
she's just in denial. THE SPARKS WERE FLYING; I TELLS YOU!
That was because the bus is reallllllly old. Honestly, the middle turny section is going to fall out some day.
We decided that, since we had put so much effort into getting a ticket that lets Katie go to Köln, we may as well go there. So we did. And, guess what?
It was raining.
Hard.
The wonderful thing about the Köln Dom is that it is like a massive wind maschine. It is like Chicago in the middle of the Köln Innercity. Ergo, umbrella = useless = we are wet.
and we blowdryed our hair and everything.
Luckily the rain was all, 'just kidding!' and we did not become soaked through. We eventually arrived at my personal favorite haven, The English Shop, which I find much amazing. Unfortunately the counter was not being manned this time by a hot British boy with one of those accents that melts the bones in your knees. Or maybe that was a fortunate thing - I was planning on doing a lot of walking this weekend.
well, i saw a llama. and that made me all melty-kneed, even though i was planning to do a lot of walking this weekend.
We then wandered a bit more until we came upon a S-Bahn. As we approached, the rain picked up. As we attempted to decide a direction, it picked up more. As it started down-ouring so hard that the rain - yes, rain, not hail - started bouncing off the ground, we ran for the side that we were closest to: and hid under the covering until the Bahn came.
We ended up on the other side of the river at a Bahnhof that I didn't know existed and took a train back to Bonn that I had never taken before and that went through stops that I had never heard of and I was very confused, but eventually we ended up on Track 3 in the Bonn Hbf so all was well again.
so then we were in bonn.
and we went a-walkin'.
we found a seriously cuties little store with odd things and went upstairs.
at the foot of another very intriguing set of stairs, there was a sign that said "private, but please come in. everything is for sale."
it turned out that it was a little overpriced thriftstore. i bought an amazing yolked blue fuzzy skirt and meg almost bought a magenta-themed pioneer dress and then bought like a 70's style shirt dress.
then i was hungry, so we went and nommed some noodles.
i learned to use chopsticks.
apparently, i am right handed.
Anya and I, through the invention of the Telephone, planned ourselves a ron-day-voo. And then it started hailing.
We found ourselves an S-Bahn and were magically (after a good 15 minutes) in Bad Godesberg. We went to the Haribo Fabrik!! (read - factory.)
me: So, where is this factory thing?
Anya: this will soon become apparent.
me: ... ?
After like 3 minutes: Large Red Arrow!
This is no cool thing like a factory tour or such. No no, it is a very large store fulllll of candy. The gummi bear kind, and other assorted varieties of amazingness. Also, a bear that talks. And gummi candy in the shape of Arnold Schwarzene... yeah. Him.
We wandered in a very interesting fashion, when suddenly I spotted a cooler! I like cool treats, so I peeked through the glass and spyed myself some FREEZE POPS!! Amazings. I bought one, and also a packet of them to take home. Calm yourself, it was only €o,65. Mmmm. Sadly, I had some difficulties with my package due to a lack of scissors. Photos forthcoming.
german precision engineering my oversized black eye-podular. i am experimenting with parental guidance non-required blogging.
Then - Kinopolis! Yays! Costing of money, of which Katie did not have im Moment. So,
me (what i heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldautomat?
me (what everyone else heard): Gibt es in der nähe ein Geldmaschine?
I am officially going insane.
After ths getting of moneys, we returned to the theater, bought tickets, were confused about how to get in, and then were told that Katie's large camera of coolness was not allowed in the theater.
so i stuck it in a locker. it was not a positive experience. i experience seperation anxiety when parted from my camera.
We watched The Shopaholic. But before this occurence, we discussed glasses and their uses. And Katie's glasses, which she left at home, were described as "They're like a Bright Eye for Cutie glasses."
I died of laughter.
Scary talking mannequins. Otherwise good.
We then searched us a drug store to try this hair thing again.
except we got out of the kino at 6:02.
and we're in germany, so apparently people don't need hairdye or toothpaste or nailpolish after 6 o'clock.
so we went to karstadt. and bought like THE MOST obnoxiously coloured red hair dye ever. ever. ever. ever. it was like orange. i was like, okay!
so then we went back to anya's house and we had dinner with someone from the un and i got climbed over by a toddler for a while.
and then we dyed my hair.
it was suspiciously not-burny. but as we washed it out, we were sort of like... katie, your hair isn't really red.
but we almost missed our bus, so we went running with the soaking hair and then we did not miss our bus, but it turns out that on saturday evenings, the bus only runs every other hour.
so we went to meccas. and met some german gangstas, with mullets and overly tan skin and sweatpants and fanny packs. they were quite infatuated with one miss meg.
We were speaking English.
Dude #4: lol hehe Ich kann English! lol
me: Ich kann Deutsch! (said to myself/Katie)
#4: Oh, du kannst Deutsch?
Kontact had been made. So I sold them a dollar.
We discussed many topics: famous people (I'm from Iowa), drinking (he didn't until 18, when his gramma died), hamburger prices, Monster Energy Drinks, spring break, exchange year, spring break, $/€ exchange rate, so on. And then,
#4: Hey, can I buy your dollar? For a euro.
#3: Yeah! That's a 20 cent profit!
me: sure you can.
#4: Oh, I don't have a euro.
me: ....
#3: I'll buy it!
Sweetness.
Except now I don't have a dollar, and those things are great conversation starters. Obviously.
Then they randomly left. And the bus came. And Mr. Sunglasses was somehow not on board.
but meg was missing him, i could tell.
she was practically pining away.
No, that was just my throat from talking all day. *croak* *croak*
because she was talking about SUNGLASSES MAN.
i win.
anyways, so we came home and went to bed and the time sprung ahead and then it was this morning and i went to church.
meg is the first real mormon that i have ever met. but now i know a lot of them.
they are semingly very nice, but no one knows with these types and their "people jackets".
it was sillies, because they kep saying "zeugnis", which i know as report card.
which actually also means report card. and testimony. everyone also thought we were sisters, because apparently our hair and our eyes are like the same.
The retro-ness of our clothings may have also played a part in that.
sure, meg. i TOTES believe you. secretly, i am from iowa. you heard it here first.
and then one of the missionaries asked me if i wanted a book of mormon.
i was like, sure?
so they came and visited my house. well, meg's house. but whatever.
spreading the gospel and all the jazz.
with his "people jacket".
well, that's all from this end of the spectrum.
all the love (tooth and nail)
katie
I'm not much of a sign-offerin, but I am feeling the peer-pressure.
warm-fuzzy-feelings from buschhoven!
-lauren margaret
Wednesday, March 25
Back to Reality
Well, this has all been fine and dandy, but when you get right down to it, between not speaking German and not being allowed to write the test, well, my school skills have ... disappeared.
Enter: ACT!
Me: oh dang.
Allegra Bel: Website! Bitte schön!
So this is me, sitting in the library after asking to be let out of Deutsch (see previous post involving book) doing test prep stuff on number2.com. And I begin the algebra section, and I get this little gem:
I feel smarter already. This is my kinda humor/learning.
Luckily, no, I did NOT bomb the English Practice Test. In fact, I aced it.
Algebra, on the other hand....
Enter: ACT!
Me: oh dang.
Allegra Bel: Website! Bitte schön!
So this is me, sitting in the library after asking to be let out of Deutsch (see previous post involving book) doing test prep stuff on number2.com. And I begin the algebra section, and I get this little gem:
6Do you know what this means?
Of course you do. It's a six, as in one, two, three, four, five, SIX. So what?
Well, right back at you: six whats?
6 horses? 6 cars? 6 cookies? 6 friends?
And you say, "I dunno, just 6." And that's exactly what's so important. Believe it or not, it was a HUGE advance for peoplekind when we first realized that what 6 horses and 6 cookies had in common was their SIX-ness.
That might sound too obvious to be deep, but it is deep.
Let's move on.
I feel smarter already. This is my kinda humor/learning.
Luckily, no, I did NOT bomb the English Practice Test. In fact, I aced it.
Algebra, on the other hand....
Thursday, March 12
It is called a Bat. You bat with it.
Last Saturday I went to Köln with Allegra Bel and we wanted to do something different (I was thinking museum, tour something...) so she called her friend whose name I cannot spell to show us around. We ended up just wandering a lot, which is what we always do. I was okay with that. What I wasn't okay with was how LOUD this girl was! Her voice echoed off the houses. Yes. Echoed. As we were walking Allegra Bel heard a lady lean over to her friend and say, 'Unglaublich' - unbelievable. Yes, it was.
But we did get a bunch of great pictures, which will be accessable from the right hand column once Allegra Bel gets them to me.
In an attempt to be a good little class participater, I blew 8€25 on the book we are going to read in Deutsch. Everyone had to buy it, they don't have cool things like 'lending' in the schools here I guess. The book is called 'Der Vorleser', or 'The Reader' and, I am not going to read it. Take a look at the summary to help you understand why. I was, however, proud of how quickly and effortlessly (in a literary sense) I was able to read the first 26 pages - which is where I stopped.
On Wednesday I got to watch Germans hit the ball with 'Das Ding' - the thing - in Sportlesson. After hitting the ball with the thing (amazingly) they ran around 4 mats and then dove into a big mat at the end for points.
Yes, The Thing is a bat. And everyone had the most awful form. I mean, yelling 'Choke Up!' wouldn't even begin to help these kids.
Also, at some point a kid ran all the way around without having to stop. After his rather impressive dive into the mat, another boy yelled, 'Touchdown!' and I burst out laughing. He looked at me sideways, so I yelled, 'Home Run!' And that didn't seem to help him (or anyone else, for that matter) so I said, 'Wrong sport.' And he glared.
Sorry, dude. Don't mess with the national pasttime.
Another boy kept doing the hand motion for 'safe' when people got out. I didn't even try on that one.
Later, Elder Weng (the only German missionary) said that he knew what all those things should have been called and that the kids in my school must be dumb. But then, he has been rooming with American boys for a year or so, so I don't take his word on it.
This week I wrote a test in Informations 2, Math, and English. Pretty sure I bombed them all.
And lastly, I would like to quote Katie in saying that this is terrifying. When we discussed it in my Politics class today, some of the topics were that
'This is happening too often since it started in America,'
'Kids in America like school and enjoy being there more since they have activities there,'
'But they have metal detectors at schools in America too, and weapons still get in,' (which was followed by 'You can kill someone with a butterknife')
'They need to tighten up on gun laws in Europe, and Americans set a bad example. They all have guns in their homes.'
And not once did anyone ask my opinion. Do I need to wear a FLAG on my head?
But we did get a bunch of great pictures, which will be accessable from the right hand column once Allegra Bel gets them to me.
In an attempt to be a good little class participater, I blew 8€25 on the book we are going to read in Deutsch. Everyone had to buy it, they don't have cool things like 'lending' in the schools here I guess. The book is called 'Der Vorleser', or 'The Reader' and, I am not going to read it. Take a look at the summary to help you understand why. I was, however, proud of how quickly and effortlessly (in a literary sense) I was able to read the first 26 pages - which is where I stopped.
On Wednesday I got to watch Germans hit the ball with 'Das Ding' - the thing - in Sportlesson. After hitting the ball with the thing (amazingly) they ran around 4 mats and then dove into a big mat at the end for points.
Yes, The Thing is a bat. And everyone had the most awful form. I mean, yelling 'Choke Up!' wouldn't even begin to help these kids.
Also, at some point a kid ran all the way around without having to stop. After his rather impressive dive into the mat, another boy yelled, 'Touchdown!' and I burst out laughing. He looked at me sideways, so I yelled, 'Home Run!' And that didn't seem to help him (or anyone else, for that matter) so I said, 'Wrong sport.' And he glared.
Sorry, dude. Don't mess with the national pasttime.
Another boy kept doing the hand motion for 'safe' when people got out. I didn't even try on that one.
Later, Elder Weng (the only German missionary) said that he knew what all those things should have been called and that the kids in my school must be dumb. But then, he has been rooming with American boys for a year or so, so I don't take his word on it.
This week I wrote a test in Informations 2, Math, and English. Pretty sure I bombed them all.
And lastly, I would like to quote Katie in saying that this is terrifying. When we discussed it in my Politics class today, some of the topics were that
'This is happening too often since it started in America,'
'Kids in America like school and enjoy being there more since they have activities there,'
'But they have metal detectors at schools in America too, and weapons still get in,' (which was followed by 'You can kill someone with a butterknife')
'They need to tighten up on gun laws in Europe, and Americans set a bad example. They all have guns in their homes.'
And not once did anyone ask my opinion. Do I need to wear a FLAG on my head?
Monday, March 9
Sunday, March 1
Some Rather German Occurences
This weekend was gorgeous weather - 12°C! That is.... roundabouts 55°F. Holy smokes. I went to the store and didn't wear a jacket! I did, however, wear a scarf - thanks Jacinda. Regina planted some flowers in the backyard. One kind was a snow-something and she told me a story:
Yesterday I helped Ingo put together a ..schrank... wardrobe thing for Anna Lena's room
INSTANT UPDATE: Johannes said: 'Das ist keine Gründe auszuflippen!' That is no reason to flip out. *unstoppable giggle*
anyway, I was helping Ingo build the wardrobe and I remembered the basic rules of Helping:
As Regina and Ingo were getting out of the car on the way home from church (I had come home in the first cycle), a neighbor stopped them and asked after their American - 'Is she well? She is always running out of the houses wearing the lightest of clothing - why, once I saw her going for the bus with a skirt and no tights!'
I promise you - I wear them! I do! Sometimes they are skin-colored. So shoot me. Anyway, I am going to be more careful about what I do in the frontyard....
Something I have noticed recently is that all windows in Germany open. The weather has been, as I have mentioned, wonderful and I have begun to notice the mirror surfaces of skyscrapers being broken by little holes - open windows. I am starting to really like that all of the windows open - no air is better than fresh air.
And FINALLY: German organists.
All of those here who have ever used a Mormon hymnbook (i dunno about the other kinds) will know that there are little brackets above the bars marking what is the suggested introduction before the song. Therefore, the songleader watches these little sections, the organist play them, the hand goes up, the song begins. Smooth as pie.
Wrong! I have conducted for my hostsister for 2 weeks now, and not once have they played the suggested brackets! What are they playing then? No clue. Keine Ahnung.
On the closing hymn today I was confused and so I waited a second and the lady just took off without me - I had to catch up to her. Honestly.
The snow needed a color. It went to all of the flowers: the tulips, the roses. It asked again and again if it could have some color from the flowers, but all said no. Finally the snow asked the snowflower, who gladly shared its color - white - with the snow. In return, the snow promised to never fall after the snowflower had bloomed, so that it could live.
Aw, how cute.Yesterday I helped Ingo put together a ..schrank... wardrobe thing for Anna Lena's room
INSTANT UPDATE: Johannes said: 'Das ist keine Gründe auszuflippen!' That is no reason to flip out. *unstoppable giggle*
anyway, I was helping Ingo build the wardrobe and I remembered the basic rules of Helping:
- Do hand things instantaneously.
- Do not block the light.
- Do not make unnecessary movements.
- Do give helpful suggestions.
- Do not get in the way.
- Do NOT lose that screw I just handed you.
As Regina and Ingo were getting out of the car on the way home from church (I had come home in the first cycle), a neighbor stopped them and asked after their American - 'Is she well? She is always running out of the houses wearing the lightest of clothing - why, once I saw her going for the bus with a skirt and no tights!'
I promise you - I wear them! I do! Sometimes they are skin-colored. So shoot me. Anyway, I am going to be more careful about what I do in the frontyard....
Something I have noticed recently is that all windows in Germany open. The weather has been, as I have mentioned, wonderful and I have begun to notice the mirror surfaces of skyscrapers being broken by little holes - open windows. I am starting to really like that all of the windows open - no air is better than fresh air.
And FINALLY: German organists.
All of those here who have ever used a Mormon hymnbook (i dunno about the other kinds) will know that there are little brackets above the bars marking what is the suggested introduction before the song. Therefore, the songleader watches these little sections, the organist play them, the hand goes up, the song begins. Smooth as pie.
Wrong! I have conducted for my hostsister for 2 weeks now, and not once have they played the suggested brackets! What are they playing then? No clue. Keine Ahnung.
On the closing hymn today I was confused and so I waited a second and the lady just took off without me - I had to catch up to her. Honestly.
Monday, February 23
If I Could Frame My Mind, Where Would It Hang?
Karneval is probably the strangest thing whereon I have ever heard. It starts November 11th at 11:11 am and goes until the beginning of Lent, but it isn’t officially celebrated except by the hardcores until this weekend.
School got out around 11 on Thursday, but school was kind of a waste since most of the kids were – well, wasted. Or pretty close, anyway. A lot of them were wearing costumes too. I kept almost digging my camera out and then losing the courage. Thursday was Weiberfestnacht, or the Woman Celebration Night. They run crazy through the streets and cut off men’s ties. And then, they are totally in their rights to kiss said man. The Missionaries were VERY careful that day, but Elder Hopkins almost got kissed… I hear it was a close one. I personally went straight home after school, but later I went into the city to meet with Anya and Andelyn (Allegra Bel is in Italy with her hostfamily) and we ate Vietnamese food. Drunken people kept getting lost on their way to the bathroom. Afterward we went to their house and watched a few episodes of The Office… and my train didn’t come. Twice. So I missed the last two buses of the night… meaning that I had to overnight at Anya’s. Which I personally love to do, except it doesn’t really please her family for some reason that we do not understand.
The next morning, Friday, I caught the early train from Anya’s to Bad Honnef to eat breakfast with Thuy Tien and her family. Her dad is Italian and his two brothers were there too: their accents were amazingly cool! Her mom is … Vietnamese. I think. Anyway, of course the food was really good and the coffee was from Brazil, but I just drank hot chocolate with the Kinder. We watched Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (in German) and it was just as funny. I pretty much understood the whole thing, which is becoming more common these days. At 6 I drove, uh, took the train to Bonn Beuel (déjà vu!) and then walked to Konrad Adenauer Platz to pick up Andelyn. I walked by the missionaries on the way there but they were contacting to I just smiled and kept walking, and then we caught ‘em on the way back. The 4 of us went to visit a Russian investigator who is a single mom and I didn’t say much – Elder Eaton had the German Speaking covered – except to explain about myself and to bear a short testimony. She was very nice and had some good questions – I hope to go back with the new elders (that area is getting whitewashed Wednesday). We met an American in the Siegburg train station who was just out finding random people to hang out with for Karneval. Poor guy. And there were little alcohol flasks everywhere.
Finally I went home and changed out of the clothes I had been wearing for 2 days straight… stupid Karneval making train drivers decide to just not show up. Not that it isn’t socially acceptable to wear clothing two days in a row in Germany.
Saturday I stayed home and kept waiting to help with the Cleaning that I had been informed would occur… it never did. I was bemused but I did get a spot of Seminary done which was all spiritual and whatnot. I attempted to take the 4:25 bus to Duisdorf to go to an appointment with Anya and the Bonn-Mittel elders, and the bus did NOT come. So I had to ask Ingo to give me a ride, and I was very very unhappy. The appointment was with a less-active sister who is from Ecuador and her investigator friend, so although the conversational language was in German, the lesson was taught by Anya in Spanish. I (amazingly) got pretty much what she was saying, but the elders were lost. And then the Sister asked Elder Weng (a real German!) to read aloud in Spanish and it was hilarious.
We had a baptism on Sunday, of an investigator. He has been coming to church for a while and is so nice and really is the coolest. I am so excited to have him in our ward and for him to become a member of the Church. I opted to stay for the cake and conversation afterward, so Ingo just said I could take the bus which I actually do quite a bit. So I took the train to the Hauptbahnhof with everyone and then we all shook hands at the metro station. Anya’s hostfamily is acting weird around me these days (they used to get annoyed when I didn’t come over enough. Pick one.) so we went on a walk along the Rhein and in Bonn while waiting for my bus instead of just hanging out at her place like usual.
Meg: “I am confronting him in 2 minutes.”
*30 seconds later*
Meg: „Kann ich Ihnen irgendwie helfen, oder was?”
... and he said, “i want to talk to her. Let me talk to her. I want to talk to you (me).”
I(Anya) said, “about?"
he didn't understand me, said some german gibberish which could have been some kind of chant gone wrong to make us fall in love with him... since he said it 3 times.
in between we asked each other, "what?"
he said, "what's your name?"
I said, "kate."
you said, "lauren." (very original might I add)
he said, "Where are you from?"
me: America
him: What?
me: AMERICA
him: And you? (to you)
and you said.... (and I remember this distinctively because it made me laugh) “I also.”
him: You are here studying?
both: yes
then he looked at me creepily-longingishly and said, "you are a very cute girl"
me: thanks (meg's one step compliment accepting program ;)), but we have to go. we have a bus to catch—come.
*we exit*
somewhere in there he mentioned his name, but I forgot it before it left his lips.
me, a few meters later: “Hm, Elder Hopkins has been talking about how I need to get a boyfriend.” *turn around*
you: NO!
School got out around 11 on Thursday, but school was kind of a waste since most of the kids were – well, wasted. Or pretty close, anyway. A lot of them were wearing costumes too. I kept almost digging my camera out and then losing the courage. Thursday was Weiberfestnacht, or the Woman Celebration Night. They run crazy through the streets and cut off men’s ties. And then, they are totally in their rights to kiss said man. The Missionaries were VERY careful that day, but Elder Hopkins almost got kissed… I hear it was a close one. I personally went straight home after school, but later I went into the city to meet with Anya and Andelyn (Allegra Bel is in Italy with her hostfamily) and we ate Vietnamese food. Drunken people kept getting lost on their way to the bathroom. Afterward we went to their house and watched a few episodes of The Office… and my train didn’t come. Twice. So I missed the last two buses of the night… meaning that I had to overnight at Anya’s. Which I personally love to do, except it doesn’t really please her family for some reason that we do not understand.
The next morning, Friday, I caught the early train from Anya’s to Bad Honnef to eat breakfast with Thuy Tien and her family. Her dad is Italian and his two brothers were there too: their accents were amazingly cool! Her mom is … Vietnamese. I think. Anyway, of course the food was really good and the coffee was from Brazil, but I just drank hot chocolate with the Kinder. We watched Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (in German) and it was just as funny. I pretty much understood the whole thing, which is becoming more common these days. At 6 I drove, uh, took the train to Bonn Beuel (déjà vu!) and then walked to Konrad Adenauer Platz to pick up Andelyn. I walked by the missionaries on the way there but they were contacting to I just smiled and kept walking, and then we caught ‘em on the way back. The 4 of us went to visit a Russian investigator who is a single mom and I didn’t say much – Elder Eaton had the German Speaking covered – except to explain about myself and to bear a short testimony. She was very nice and had some good questions – I hope to go back with the new elders (that area is getting whitewashed Wednesday). We met an American in the Siegburg train station who was just out finding random people to hang out with for Karneval. Poor guy. And there were little alcohol flasks everywhere.
Finally I went home and changed out of the clothes I had been wearing for 2 days straight… stupid Karneval making train drivers decide to just not show up. Not that it isn’t socially acceptable to wear clothing two days in a row in Germany.
Saturday I stayed home and kept waiting to help with the Cleaning that I had been informed would occur… it never did. I was bemused but I did get a spot of Seminary done which was all spiritual and whatnot. I attempted to take the 4:25 bus to Duisdorf to go to an appointment with Anya and the Bonn-Mittel elders, and the bus did NOT come. So I had to ask Ingo to give me a ride, and I was very very unhappy. The appointment was with a less-active sister who is from Ecuador and her investigator friend, so although the conversational language was in German, the lesson was taught by Anya in Spanish. I (amazingly) got pretty much what she was saying, but the elders were lost. And then the Sister asked Elder Weng (a real German!) to read aloud in Spanish and it was hilarious.
We had a baptism on Sunday, of an investigator. He has been coming to church for a while and is so nice and really is the coolest. I am so excited to have him in our ward and for him to become a member of the Church. I opted to stay for the cake and conversation afterward, so Ingo just said I could take the bus which I actually do quite a bit. So I took the train to the Hauptbahnhof with everyone and then we all shook hands at the metro station. Anya’s hostfamily is acting weird around me these days (they used to get annoyed when I didn’t come over enough. Pick one.) so we went on a walk along the Rhein and in Bonn while waiting for my bus instead of just hanging out at her place like usual.
And we got stalked.
Yup, Anya noticed some guy following us in the bus bahnhof so we swerved around a bit and he was still there and we ignored him and kept walking and it got to the point where he was right behind us.Meg: “I am confronting him in 2 minutes.”
*30 seconds later*
Meg: „Kann ich Ihnen irgendwie helfen, oder was?”
I will let Anya tell the story after this point:
... and he said, “i want to talk to her. Let me talk to her. I want to talk to you (me).”
I(Anya) said, “about?"
he didn't understand me, said some german gibberish which could have been some kind of chant gone wrong to make us fall in love with him... since he said it 3 times.
in between we asked each other, "what?"
he said, "what's your name?"
I said, "kate."
you said, "lauren." (very original might I add)
he said, "Where are you from?"
me: America
him: What?
me: AMERICA
him: And you? (to you)
and you said.... (and I remember this distinctively because it made me laugh) “I also.”
him: You are here studying?
both: yes
then he looked at me creepily-longingishly and said, "you are a very cute girl"
me: thanks (meg's one step compliment accepting program ;)), but we have to go. we have a bus to catch—come.
*we exit*
somewhere in there he mentioned his name, but I forgot it before it left his lips.
me, a few meters later: “Hm, Elder Hopkins has been talking about how I need to get a boyfriend.” *turn around*
you: NO!
Monday, February 2
Breakin' the Bank Buyin' some Bread - Fotos von Weihnnachten
I went to Norddeutschland for Christmas and hung out with my hostgrandparents, hostcousins, and hostaunts and hostuncles for 2 weeks. It was much fun and we visited some places where I took some pictures.
Unfortunately, my hostgrandpa does not know what 'No thank you, I am full' means, even if I say it in German, so I pretty much gained a solid 10 pounds those two weeks. Well, they say that AFS stands for Another Fat Student, so I'm just fulfilling my duty!
Aand, I am going running later.
Ingo is a soldier so he has a little pass that he can flash and get into cool places. I tried to not let anyone know I was an American, just in case.
This is a statue of a man that used to walk around carrying water.
And you thought Lincoln was important.
Yes, I am wearing green skinny jeans - I love Germany.
This is the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, or, as much of it as I could get into the lens.
Yes, it is a three-section long bus. ''THAT'S THE BIGGEST BUS I'VE EVER SEEN!!!'' = direct quote.
This is the boat that takes you to the place where the König der Löwen is playing!!! That would have been sooo cool.
On the way home from Grandma's, Ingo Gideon and I took a pitstop in Bremen to look around.
Bremen Stadt Musikkanten! Or something like that. Anyway, these animals are pretty smart. And musical. And if you touch this thing, you get good luck. Yay!! Also yay for amazing scarves and hostbrothers with funny smiles. - that's Gideon.
I guess Jared isn't quite as awe-inspiring in Europe, so they had to get this guy instead.
Wednesday, January 28
An Ode to Etiquette
When someone, to you
a gift gives
You write a thank you note back.
When someone, to you
a good deed does
You do one back.
When someone, to you
a Kleenex gives
You say thank you and then leave the room with it.
When someone, to you
a letter sends
YOU SEND ONE BACK!
*snaps*
a gift gives
You write a thank you note back.
When someone, to you
a good deed does
You do one back.
When someone, to you
a Kleenex gives
You say thank you and then leave the room with it.
When someone, to you
a letter sends
YOU SEND ONE BACK!
*snaps*
Monday, January 26
Topic Goal List
Because Goals are for everyone.
- Christmas Break
- My House
- Character Profiles
- My Birthday
- Playlist
Wednesday, January 14
Studenplan - Berufskolleg HH082
This is my schedule. Let's go over it, shall we?The first hour starts at 7:45. Each class period lasts 45 minutes, with no breaks in-between (except the big ones labeled Pause). The different colors represent different teachers, since many of them teach more than one class. The Pauses are 20 minutes long, and I usually go to the library and get on the computer to work on my Abenteuer Deutschland, a workbook cd thing that AFS wants us to do here.
Informatiks are computer classes.
BWL, ReWe, and VWL are all business or math type classes, but I have no clue yet what exactly that all stands for... which makes it hard to follow along sometimes.
In Religion right now we are talking about homosexuality and groups are giving presentations on different aspekts, like how it is handled in Europe, where it is allowed/punished by death, and how it is seen in the workplace. I find the whole preface quite ridiculous and usually work on something else during this class. I am supposed to give a presentation on how America handles religious education in school (I told him we don't, but he didn't believe me) and how homosexuality is viewed in Amerika. (um, it's kind of a big country, and this is the wrong girl to ask!) Luckily he said to do it in English, so the class can get practice hearing it. Bleh.
School is cool, smoking isn't, have a great day.
Monday, January 12
My ReWe Homework for Tomorrow
I wanted my next blog to be about all the pictures I took on holiday; the one after that was supposed to be my school schedule. But I am not getting either of those done right now, so I thought I'd share what I am doing: my ReWe homework.
Homework is an interesting predicament for a number of reasons:
Then I write out everything auf English in a notebook, and then answer the questions on the same page. I would like to not have to write out the English translation, but I'm so bad at story problems and such as-is that I think not having it written out would make me completely worthless.
In this particular example, I got the first 2 paragraphs in half an hour. This is pretty normal time for me, but this is due tomorrow and I simply don't have the time, so I am using the computer instead of a dictionary. First I stick the whole thing in Google Translator and then I write it down in the proper word order. If something doesn't make sense (which is often when using a translator) I stick that word in Leo and see what I get.
This is what it looks like today:
Good luck with YOUR homework.
Homework is an interesting predicament for a number of reasons:
- I don't know what ReWe stands for, in German or English.
- It is in German.
- It is, I think, business-math related.
- I have only been in this school for 2 weeks.
Then I write out everything auf English in a notebook, and then answer the questions on the same page. I would like to not have to write out the English translation, but I'm so bad at story problems and such as-is that I think not having it written out would make me completely worthless.
In this particular example, I got the first 2 paragraphs in half an hour. This is pretty normal time for me, but this is due tomorrow and I simply don't have the time, so I am using the computer instead of a dictionary. First I stick the whole thing in Google Translator and then I write it down in the proper word order. If something doesn't make sense (which is often when using a translator) I stick that word in Leo and see what I get.
This is what it looks like today:
And as I finish translating this, I realize that to ever have a chance of having a clue, I would need to translate the entire last page. And I am simply not up to it today. I still have BWL (don't know what that means either) and Mathe homework - and I think a little bit of Spanisch. Thank Pizarro that I still remember how to conjugate gustar - both ways. That verb translates so much better into German than into English!
12. 01. S. 56 n° 56
The cost of purchase of a machine that on 3.Jan.07 was ordered/bought (see Footnote S.56 n°1) amounts to 200.000,-€. The expected useful life length averages 10 years.
a) Determine by linear depreciation each of the write-off amounts & rate of depreciation.
b) What is the applied tax-rate for the depreciation of AfA?
c) Set the write-off amounts for depreciation and decreasing linear (something) for at least the first four years in a table to determine the book or residual value for each year.
d) Book for the first year of machinery depreciation. Set up the following accounts: TA and equipment, depreciation on fixed assets, profit and loss account, final account balance.
Good luck with YOUR homework.
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