I think I'll just skip the part at the beginning where I should say how embarrassing it is for me to be failing so miserably at writing my blogs regularly. You all know it's true, I am humiliated, but it's because I'm having such a good time. It's hard for me to justify writing this when there are so many other things to do, that actually interact back. You know what I mean? Good.
I've got a few good stories this time too. I don't think this post will be too boring, and I'll do my best to keep it less than a novel, but we'll see what happens...
I'll start with the rest of January: Vacation ended, we got report cards, mine was good, and I went to a couple birthday parties. Riveting stuff, I know. Soccer also started up again. You may be thinking, "Oh, that's wonderful how Tommy has an indoor soccer field available to him so he can play soccer inside and not freeze outside where it's 20° or less!" Well, that was not exactly the case. Starting, I believe, on the 16th, we practiced four days a week OUTSIDE on a full dirt field so the nice field wouldn't get wrecked. It was rather frustrating for me to realize that it was plainly cold enough to allow for snow, but that instead of feeling that soft, forgiving, wonderful substance under my feet I felt bumpy, solid-frozen dirt. Nice. Good thing I like this sport as much as I do.
February rolled around and the preparation for the soccer season continued. Practice four times a week, sometimes a scrimmage on weekends. As my money continued to dwindle, my patience with overcast, cold, windy days did the same. I spent every week day looking forward to the weekend, when my boredom would be replaced with a few hours of excitement found at an 18th birthday party. I had no school for two weeks straight at some point, I'm not really sure anymore when it was. On the Monday of the first week was a school wide volleyball tournament, and then the 12th grade had all the other days off becasue local universities had openhouses and seminars for prospective students, which means basically everyone. At the end of that week, much to the dismay of many of our female friends, I gave one of my good friends dread locks. I stared at his head for more than seventeen hours in three days, but it was worth it. Now he owes me a beer and a schnitzel sometime.
The second free week was "Project Week," during which every class prepared a project on the topic of their choice and then presented at the end of the week. My English class decided to act a few scenes from the play A Raisin in the Sun, and that ended up being a blast. I bonded a lot with them, and we did a fair job on the performance, but I don't think a single person in the entire audience understood a single thing that happened. The only stuipd thing about it was that we had such short school everyday that I'd get home and have nothing to do for six hours until soccer. I ended up baking a few cakes out of boredom, and they actually turned out quite well. I was surprised, and since then I've been cooking and baking more regularly. I want to get good at it; I feel like it's an awesome way to make friends and get respect from people, but mostly it just tastes good.
Oh yeah, I also tried kick boxing at some point in there, and it was awesome. I really want to pick it up, but I just don't have any time now. I think I'll start next year if there are opportunities at college. I feel like I'm made for that sport. Big, muscley, tough, violent... those are just all words that come to mind when I think, "Tommy Symmes."
On the 14th I took a train to Hamburg, a harbor city in northern Germany. There I took part in a week-long seminar for exchange students in my program. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the first half of our year abroad, see a cool city, and make friends with some other exchange students. It was one of the best weeks of my year. It was an unforgettable experience to have German as the only common language for kids from all over the world. Out of forty of us, three spoke really good English, so German was THE language. I made friends from Moldova, Estonia, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, Denmark, Ecuador, China, France, Russia, Hungary, Thailand and a number of other countries. I heard German altered slightly by both native language and the dialect of the area from which any particular student might come, and there are A LOT of different dialects here in Germany. On top of wonderful company, the location was amazing. Hamburg has a thriving music scene, active night life, and a rather... interesting... red light district. It's rich with its own history and culture, and you can just tell how the people who live there are proud to be, you guessed it, Hamburgers. And that's not a joke. A citizen of Hamburg is a Hamburger.
I climbed from a sad goodbye to my new friends into a train headed to Cologne, the capital of the German holiday called Karneval. Mardi Gras is very similar, in case you have any more experience with that, but it's basically a week long, costumed, happy party in the streets. There are parades, concerts, themed balls, and creative costumes everywhere. A friend I met in my orientation month now lives in Cologne, and she had invited me to come experience the holiday in full. She met me at the train station and handed me a Kölsch, the traditional Karneval beverage, and we walked out into the party. I really don't have enough room here to describe the feel of Cologne besides a good mood. Everyone had a costume on and everyone was happy (probably partly due to the fact that everyone was at least slightly drunk). Emma was dressed as a nerd and I was a bunny rabbit. Five friends and I had ordered the same one-piece rabbit costume, and I ended up spending three days walking around in it. I must say, I make an adorable rabbit.
I spent seven and a half hours in a club starting at 10:30 on Saturday night, and then walked around a recuperating Cologne on Sunday night. I thought it was a really cool city. There is a fascinating mix of old and new, and, like Hamburg, it is a very proud city. I would have liked to spend more time there and really see a few things, but the next morning I headed towards home to celebrate the last real party day of Karneval in Mainz, a city right near where I live. I met my furry fellows at the train station and, accompanied by two lady friends of ours dressed as angels, we marched forward into the... I don't even know what to call it. It was the most amazing, positive, good chaos I have ever seen. We watched the parade, which was full of political commentary in the form of floats. We danced, sang, cheered, danced, drank, ate, wandered through the city, danced, laughed, laughed some more and danced. I don't know if I will ever experience something like that again in my whole life, but I know, if I ever come back to Germany, what time of year I'll be coming back. It was incredible, and these few words did absolutely no justice to the experience. If you really want to know what it was like, ask me sometime when you don't mind me getting really excited and talking for twenty minutes without taking a breath.
And here I am, back to normal life. The uneventfulness is a bit depressing, but Constantin's birthday is coming up, so I'm really excited for that. I'm also running in a road race sponsored by a brewery in the end of March, so that should be interesting as well. I had my first real soccer game in the 2009 season today, and my host-grandma patched some holes in a really old sweater of mine. I also ate a lot of pie.
I miss everyone out there a ton, and I think of you all at the funniest times. We'll hopefully be seeing each other in not too long.
Take care,
Tommy
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Soooo, this is a bit awkward. I haven't written in a long time, and I'm sure you're all really mad at me. I realize how heavily everyone out there depends on my literary prowess to brighten up their days. I am aware of how much you all rely upon my published experiences that you may live vicariously through me while still going about your normal lives. I apologize for not having been there for you. I have been bad.
I really am a bit of a, let's say (for lack of a more accurate but still appropriate word) jerk. The reason I just made fun of all of the people who are nice enough to read my blog is because I'm quite embarrassed that it has been so long since the last time I've had the resolve to sit myself in front of the computer and brag a bit about my experiences. Maybe I should have played the I-was-doing-everyone-a-favor-by-not-writing-about-my-cool-experiences card and said that you all would have just been really jealous. Oh well, too late. You know, the funny thing is that it's not too late. I could VERY easily rewrite these last two paragraphs. It's not like I'm using a type-writer, although now that I think about it, that might be a good card to play too...
Alright, I'll get started now that I've wasted a couple paragraphs and hopefully drawn a forgiving smile to your lips, faithful reader.
The following are widely studied and accepted statistics. By me. The average German visits two Christmas markets during the winter holidays. An overzealous tourist/exchange student spending the holiday seasons in Germany visits at most 4 Christmas markets. Your favorite American exchange student visited as many markets as two Germans and one of them crazy foreigners. That's right, eight. And a few of them multiple times as well. I just loved the amazing atmosphere that permeated the entire... atmosphere, I guess, of all of the markets. Everyone was always bundled up and huddled around mugs of Glühwein (hot wine) or wandering past stands displaying locally made fineries. The sense of good cheer was always accompanied by the scents of all sorts of edible edibles. Schnitzel, currywurst, steaks and french fries consistently conspired to spark an inner desire for some greasy goodness. The sweet aromas of candy apples, chocolate covered strawberries, and crepes crept in the nose and tickle sweet spots on my brain. Even the tiny markets, like the one my 3000-person town put together, are just so cozy that they tease the corners of even a particularly frozen mouth into a smile.
Despite the lack of snow, and probably largely due to the Christmas markets, I got that Christmas feel a lot earlier this year than I ever have before. Somewhere around the 10th I was ready for the pine-needley scent of some evergreen foliage to start wafting through my house. This feeling continued until the 23rd, when just about all of the markets closed and real German Christmas started. It was time to decorate the tree, finally. I was a little dissapointed that my family had bought one unceremoniously from a parking lot, but I know a lot of families do that in the US too. What really was strange for me was how little work a family puts into actually making anything feel Christmasy. The tree was scantily decorated in 20 minutes, a few snowflake ornaments went up around the house, and that was it.
In Germany, Christmas is a plural concept. The evening of the 24th until the 26th are all included in the perception of the holiday, which was a new thing for me. And here Santa isn't provided with the opportunity to put the presents under the tree, which must be a big bummer for him. Gifts make their way to their resting place during the day when the family places them there. Family showed up in the evening, and we opened presents and then ate dinner. Don't get me wrong, it was a real good time. It was great to meet a few more family members, eat a big dinner, watch everyone appreciate my gifts, and get a few in return. I know Christmas is all of those things, I just usually feel something more. The next morning I woke up for the first time in my life to a normal day on the 25th, and it was a little bit of a bummer.
I realized that for the first time in my entire life I was a little bit homesick, which was a feeling I was VERY unused to. I realized that there are a lot of things I truly miss about where I'm from, and you are all a part of that. I just want you all to know that I really do miss you. I may have said it before, but then it was just kind of a "It would be nice if I could see you," type deal. This time I really mean it. I miss all of you.
One of my presents was a ticket to the concert of a really famous German band, Die Toten Hosen. Literally translated that means The Dead Pants. Solid name. They're an 80s rock band who have written every type of hit that exists: party songs, soccer songs, politically critical songs- you name it, they've done it. The concert was on the night of the 26th, and Constantin and I were dropped off together in Frankfurt with a bunch of rowdy fans ranging in ages from probably fifteen to fifty years old. The band was really talented, and the music was fun, but seeing (or hearing) as it was a loud concert I could understand very little, and I didn't know any of the songs beforehand, so it was a little hard to get into. It was still a cool experience though. This band was pure free German spirit. They loved their partying, they were frustrated with their politics, and they were adamant concerning their soccer.
Then, a couple of days later I entered 2009 at least six hours before almost all of you. Jealous? You should be.
Shortly thereafter I went skiing in Austria. It was sick. 'Nuff said.
Now I've been back in school for a week, and it's nice to see all those goofs who haven't graced my line of vision in a few weeks, but I miss having no worries. Not that I have many worries in school, either. Let's just say that I am making the most of the fact that this year's grades don't count for anything. ;) I was actually very surprised at how my grades are. Considering the fact that I spend next to zero hours dedicated to school at home here and that German is not my first language, I am rather proud of myself. One piece of work I did, a philosphy essay on the existence of love, turned out really well. My teacher even said it was, "poetisch." That means poetic, in case you didn't pick up on it. I'm thinking I might want to put the essay up in english somewhere because it really was interesting (if you're into that kind of thing) but I'm not sure yet.
Lastly, I now have a haircut that I haven't had since 7th grade: a buzz cut. It's amazing to me how the relationship between the cost of a haircut and the amount of money in your bank account can determine for you how fashionable said haircut is.
Along that same train of thought, I thought I'd put a little advertisement out there. I am looking for a job this summer, and I REALLY need to have one waiting for me because I'll be getting back after all of those inconvenient college hooligans. And I don't have any money. So in the case that any of you have fallen in love with my clever literary wit and know of any employment opportunities, I'd love to hear about them.
I promise that it will not be this long before I write to you again, and I offer once more my humble apology that it took so long this time. I hope you can forgive me.
Hope you are all enjoying your new year,
Tommy
I really am a bit of a, let's say (for lack of a more accurate but still appropriate word) jerk. The reason I just made fun of all of the people who are nice enough to read my blog is because I'm quite embarrassed that it has been so long since the last time I've had the resolve to sit myself in front of the computer and brag a bit about my experiences. Maybe I should have played the I-was-doing-everyone-a-favor-by-not-writing-about-my-cool-experiences card and said that you all would have just been really jealous. Oh well, too late. You know, the funny thing is that it's not too late. I could VERY easily rewrite these last two paragraphs. It's not like I'm using a type-writer, although now that I think about it, that might be a good card to play too...
Alright, I'll get started now that I've wasted a couple paragraphs and hopefully drawn a forgiving smile to your lips, faithful reader.
The following are widely studied and accepted statistics. By me. The average German visits two Christmas markets during the winter holidays. An overzealous tourist/exchange student spending the holiday seasons in Germany visits at most 4 Christmas markets. Your favorite American exchange student visited as many markets as two Germans and one of them crazy foreigners. That's right, eight. And a few of them multiple times as well. I just loved the amazing atmosphere that permeated the entire... atmosphere, I guess, of all of the markets. Everyone was always bundled up and huddled around mugs of Glühwein (hot wine) or wandering past stands displaying locally made fineries. The sense of good cheer was always accompanied by the scents of all sorts of edible edibles. Schnitzel, currywurst, steaks and french fries consistently conspired to spark an inner desire for some greasy goodness. The sweet aromas of candy apples, chocolate covered strawberries, and crepes crept in the nose and tickle sweet spots on my brain. Even the tiny markets, like the one my 3000-person town put together, are just so cozy that they tease the corners of even a particularly frozen mouth into a smile.
Despite the lack of snow, and probably largely due to the Christmas markets, I got that Christmas feel a lot earlier this year than I ever have before. Somewhere around the 10th I was ready for the pine-needley scent of some evergreen foliage to start wafting through my house. This feeling continued until the 23rd, when just about all of the markets closed and real German Christmas started. It was time to decorate the tree, finally. I was a little dissapointed that my family had bought one unceremoniously from a parking lot, but I know a lot of families do that in the US too. What really was strange for me was how little work a family puts into actually making anything feel Christmasy. The tree was scantily decorated in 20 minutes, a few snowflake ornaments went up around the house, and that was it.
In Germany, Christmas is a plural concept. The evening of the 24th until the 26th are all included in the perception of the holiday, which was a new thing for me. And here Santa isn't provided with the opportunity to put the presents under the tree, which must be a big bummer for him. Gifts make their way to their resting place during the day when the family places them there. Family showed up in the evening, and we opened presents and then ate dinner. Don't get me wrong, it was a real good time. It was great to meet a few more family members, eat a big dinner, watch everyone appreciate my gifts, and get a few in return. I know Christmas is all of those things, I just usually feel something more. The next morning I woke up for the first time in my life to a normal day on the 25th, and it was a little bit of a bummer.
I realized that for the first time in my entire life I was a little bit homesick, which was a feeling I was VERY unused to. I realized that there are a lot of things I truly miss about where I'm from, and you are all a part of that. I just want you all to know that I really do miss you. I may have said it before, but then it was just kind of a "It would be nice if I could see you," type deal. This time I really mean it. I miss all of you.
One of my presents was a ticket to the concert of a really famous German band, Die Toten Hosen. Literally translated that means The Dead Pants. Solid name. They're an 80s rock band who have written every type of hit that exists: party songs, soccer songs, politically critical songs- you name it, they've done it. The concert was on the night of the 26th, and Constantin and I were dropped off together in Frankfurt with a bunch of rowdy fans ranging in ages from probably fifteen to fifty years old. The band was really talented, and the music was fun, but seeing (or hearing) as it was a loud concert I could understand very little, and I didn't know any of the songs beforehand, so it was a little hard to get into. It was still a cool experience though. This band was pure free German spirit. They loved their partying, they were frustrated with their politics, and they were adamant concerning their soccer.
Then, a couple of days later I entered 2009 at least six hours before almost all of you. Jealous? You should be.
Shortly thereafter I went skiing in Austria. It was sick. 'Nuff said.
Now I've been back in school for a week, and it's nice to see all those goofs who haven't graced my line of vision in a few weeks, but I miss having no worries. Not that I have many worries in school, either. Let's just say that I am making the most of the fact that this year's grades don't count for anything. ;) I was actually very surprised at how my grades are. Considering the fact that I spend next to zero hours dedicated to school at home here and that German is not my first language, I am rather proud of myself. One piece of work I did, a philosphy essay on the existence of love, turned out really well. My teacher even said it was, "poetisch." That means poetic, in case you didn't pick up on it. I'm thinking I might want to put the essay up in english somewhere because it really was interesting (if you're into that kind of thing) but I'm not sure yet.
Lastly, I now have a haircut that I haven't had since 7th grade: a buzz cut. It's amazing to me how the relationship between the cost of a haircut and the amount of money in your bank account can determine for you how fashionable said haircut is.
Along that same train of thought, I thought I'd put a little advertisement out there. I am looking for a job this summer, and I REALLY need to have one waiting for me because I'll be getting back after all of those inconvenient college hooligans. And I don't have any money. So in the case that any of you have fallen in love with my clever literary wit and know of any employment opportunities, I'd love to hear about them.
I promise that it will not be this long before I write to you again, and I offer once more my humble apology that it took so long this time. I hope you can forgive me.
Hope you are all enjoying your new year,
Tommy
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I'm A Social And Culinary Success!
On Sunday I made the most delicious baked good I have ever made in my whole long life. It's called a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, and it is just the embodiment of everything dessert should stand for. It's a torte with three chocolate layers and one firmer cakey crust on the very bottom to hold it all together. Between these layers come cherries and whipped cream, and the entire thing is decked in a ton of more whipped cream. Fine grated chocolate is sprinkled on top, accompanied by a few more cherries. The last, most challenging step is putting this treasure away in a cool place to let it chill out for later without burying your face in it first. Parting with this miracle the moment after I had finished it was heartbreaking, I don't know if I can express it. Imagine Beethoven having his hearing taken away. Oh wait... bad example. I think you get my point, though. Later, when we finally sat down to eat it, you could almost feel the electrons in the air buzzing more buisily than usual from the tension. This was a big moment! What if it didn't actually taste as good as it looked? What if it turned out I was lactose intolerant? What if Santa wasn't real? Well, my doubts were set to rest when Heiko made it through his whole piece without saying any comprehensible words, choosing instead to stick to moaning and heavy breathing in between chewing. It was amazing. I feel like a more successful human being after having baked that baby.
And it actually snowed here on Sunday night! The 23rd is officially my favorite day of the month. I was so happy that I went outside and did my First Snow of the Year Dance. If you've never experienced it before it's a sight to see, let me tell you. Anyway, I must have energized the Snow Gods or something, because that night it snowed more than my family could remember it ever having snowed here before. I didn't actually ask them about that, I'm just assuming that was the reason they only had two pairs of snow boots for a five person family. Me included in that five. Well, short story long, Susan, Consty and I all went outside and played in the freshly fallen Freude. Freude is the German word for happiness. Sorry, I needed to make use of my bilinguisticity (I just made that word up) to complete that alliteration. We built a snow man, threw snow balls (I nailed Susan in the head) and skidded around the solid three inches on a bike, which was a new experience for me. I also saw part of Miami Vice in German that night and ate wurst with cheese in it. And another piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Delicious.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine flew to the US for a little while. I asked him to bring me back some Cheez-its for a little taste of my country and because salty snacks are hard to find in Germany. He brought me back four boxes. FOUR BOXES! I gladly spread the wealth, having known I would never have gotten through them alone. I love Cheez-its, but they are extremely dangerous for me. I never reach a point where I think, "There is no way I will fit one more of these miniscule crackers in my stomach," so then I eat one more. And one more. And one more. Suddenly half of the bag is gone. I swear, I have no idea where they all go. I only eat them one at a time! That should mean I don't eat very many, but it just doesn't.
I was invited to two birthday parties this weekend. I'm just a really big deal here. You know, like a celebrity. I think people invite me to things because they want to further observe my curious behavior. They want to know, for example, if I regularly break out into song upon the smallest, most obscure cues. The answer is of course yes, and everybody seems to be okay with that.
I'm going to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with a half-American friend. I'm really excited, and I hope there is good stuffing. I looove stuffing. Is it weird how so much of what I consider relevant enough to write about concerns food?
Consty got an iPod Touch. It's really cool. I looked at Concord on Google Earth and saw my house.
Christmas time here is going to be so cool, and I only have 15 more days of school until vacation. I can't wait.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful to you for reading my blog.
Tommy
And it actually snowed here on Sunday night! The 23rd is officially my favorite day of the month. I was so happy that I went outside and did my First Snow of the Year Dance. If you've never experienced it before it's a sight to see, let me tell you. Anyway, I must have energized the Snow Gods or something, because that night it snowed more than my family could remember it ever having snowed here before. I didn't actually ask them about that, I'm just assuming that was the reason they only had two pairs of snow boots for a five person family. Me included in that five. Well, short story long, Susan, Consty and I all went outside and played in the freshly fallen Freude. Freude is the German word for happiness. Sorry, I needed to make use of my bilinguisticity (I just made that word up) to complete that alliteration. We built a snow man, threw snow balls (I nailed Susan in the head) and skidded around the solid three inches on a bike, which was a new experience for me. I also saw part of Miami Vice in German that night and ate wurst with cheese in it. And another piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Delicious.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine flew to the US for a little while. I asked him to bring me back some Cheez-its for a little taste of my country and because salty snacks are hard to find in Germany. He brought me back four boxes. FOUR BOXES! I gladly spread the wealth, having known I would never have gotten through them alone. I love Cheez-its, but they are extremely dangerous for me. I never reach a point where I think, "There is no way I will fit one more of these miniscule crackers in my stomach," so then I eat one more. And one more. And one more. Suddenly half of the bag is gone. I swear, I have no idea where they all go. I only eat them one at a time! That should mean I don't eat very many, but it just doesn't.
I was invited to two birthday parties this weekend. I'm just a really big deal here. You know, like a celebrity. I think people invite me to things because they want to further observe my curious behavior. They want to know, for example, if I regularly break out into song upon the smallest, most obscure cues. The answer is of course yes, and everybody seems to be okay with that.
I'm going to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with a half-American friend. I'm really excited, and I hope there is good stuffing. I looove stuffing. Is it weird how so much of what I consider relevant enough to write about concerns food?
Consty got an iPod Touch. It's really cool. I looked at Concord on Google Earth and saw my house.
Christmas time here is going to be so cool, and I only have 15 more days of school until vacation. I can't wait.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful to you for reading my blog.
Tommy
Friday, November 7, 2008
Living It, And Living It Well
I am so happy with my life right now. I come home almost every day from school with "gute Laune" (in a good mood- in German it's something you have). Just about every day the first thing I do is have a yelled conversation with Consty, not because we're mad at each other, but because I'm too busy eating to go upstairs and he's too layzy to come down. We're both interested in each other's days, so we make use of the necessary volume of voice in order to communicate how it was exactly like the day before.
Everything has really slowed down and settled in a lot. My family feels like a family, my bed feels like my bed, and the food seems normal. I have an awesome group of friends and I make new ones every day. I have yet to get into a real argument with anyone, but sometimes they get a little frustrated with me because I don't feel too obligated to do well in school, and they have to. I try to always be outgoing and it continues to pay off; I get to know a new fun person so often that I don't even attempt to learn names the first time I meet people anymore. It might sound like I'm bragging, and I guess I am a little bit, but I'm just so excited with my situation. I'm invited to a birthday party for the next three weekends, and I'm totally stoked.
My soccer team hasn't been doing so hot, but it's still a blast. The team members are just really nice, supportive guys, and they're fun to play with. I start every game and play all 90 minutes. Along with daily pull-ups, push-ups and crunches, all of the soccer I'm playing me has me in excellent shape. That just means I can eat more. And I do. A lot.
I was in the paper, which is pretty cool. I'll see if I can get the picture up on the page.
My friends here have really cool names. Constantin, Florian, Mateo, Jonas; it's just makes greeting people a more enjoyable activity. My favorite greeting that I've learned is, "Gude," except you have to say it like there are about four Us. Just stretch that vowel like your life depends on it. Guuuuuuduh is roughly what it sounds like. People think I'm really friendly because I'm smiling whenever I say hi to someone, but it's really just because saying hi in German is so great.
On Tuesday night my American friend Mateo came over. We slept from 10:40 pm until 12:40 am and then didn't go back to sleep until we had seen the results of the election and speeches of the aftermath. We sat on the couch in front of a TV and a laptop so as not to miss anything, ate cake, ice cream, yoghurt, chocolate, and anything else we could find, and just did not sleep. As my family left the house for the day, Mateo and I crashed into bed and didn't wake up until around 2 pm. Germany is incredibly happy with the result of the election, to a degree that I'm pretty sure the American public would never be with the election of any foreign official. In many cases they are better informed about what has been going on in America for the past few months than about their own politics. The States really had the eyes of the entire world focused intently upon it, in case any of you hadn't realized it. I've met only one person who supported "MC Cain" (that's what the Germans call him) in the entire three and a half months I have lived here, so if the election had gone any other way than for Obama I would be living in a very unsatisfied country.
I'm going skiing this winter on a glacial resort with my Consty and a few more friends. We stay and ski for a week, and that's all I get for the whole winter. It'll be tough without snow this year, but that should be a blast. Hopefully I'll figure out some way to transport my skis from my house in Concord to my house in Trebur. If anybody knows any secrets I'd love to hear them. I really want to ski on my skis this winter, and I'm desperate to find a cheap way to obtain them.
Now for the inevitable sad-but-funny story you've all been waiting for. If you've been following my entries you already know that I have school until around 5:10 pm every Monday, and that I ride my bike. Well it kind of goes without saying that when you ride your bike somewhere in Germany you lock it up. Combination locks are not quite as popular here, and my lock is one of the more commonly found ones that uses a key. When my family first gave it to me I was really worried that I would lose the key, just like I lose just about everything I actually need to keep track of. I had been, however, extremely responsible and did not ever misplace it. The lock is an old one and requires jiggling and sometimes a bit of force to get it open. This past Monday school had finally come to a tiring but successful end, and I crouched down in front of my bike to try to get my lock open. I jiggled it one way, jiggled it another way, pushed it in, took it out, and did everything else I could think of to liberate my captivated steed (Josh, you better be laughing). Suddenly I heard a small click, but the two ends of the lock had not seperated from one another. I stood there dumfounded, and eventually realized the key I was holding in my hand was only half the size it had been about fifteen seconds before. The rest of the key was broken off. Inside of the lock. It might as well have been in another glaxy for all the use it would do me there. I stood there for about a minte, just staring at my situation, and eventually turned and trudged slowly to the bus stop. I waited another half an hour for the bus, rode another half an hour on the bus, got home, and was greeted by a raucously laughing family. They absolutely love how absurd it is that I get myself into these situations so often, and I guess I do too, it just takes me a few more hours than it does for them.
Well, that's about it. Sorry this entry was a bit uneventful, but my life just seems fairly normal at the moment. Maybe in the next couple of weeks something truly worth an entry will happen, and you will have your belly laugh at my expense. I'm more than happy to provide. ;)
I truly hope you're all satisfied with your lives. I know I am.
Tommy
Everything has really slowed down and settled in a lot. My family feels like a family, my bed feels like my bed, and the food seems normal. I have an awesome group of friends and I make new ones every day. I have yet to get into a real argument with anyone, but sometimes they get a little frustrated with me because I don't feel too obligated to do well in school, and they have to. I try to always be outgoing and it continues to pay off; I get to know a new fun person so often that I don't even attempt to learn names the first time I meet people anymore. It might sound like I'm bragging, and I guess I am a little bit, but I'm just so excited with my situation. I'm invited to a birthday party for the next three weekends, and I'm totally stoked.
My soccer team hasn't been doing so hot, but it's still a blast. The team members are just really nice, supportive guys, and they're fun to play with. I start every game and play all 90 minutes. Along with daily pull-ups, push-ups and crunches, all of the soccer I'm playing me has me in excellent shape. That just means I can eat more. And I do. A lot.
I was in the paper, which is pretty cool. I'll see if I can get the picture up on the page.
My friends here have really cool names. Constantin, Florian, Mateo, Jonas; it's just makes greeting people a more enjoyable activity. My favorite greeting that I've learned is, "Gude," except you have to say it like there are about four Us. Just stretch that vowel like your life depends on it. Guuuuuuduh is roughly what it sounds like. People think I'm really friendly because I'm smiling whenever I say hi to someone, but it's really just because saying hi in German is so great.
On Tuesday night my American friend Mateo came over. We slept from 10:40 pm until 12:40 am and then didn't go back to sleep until we had seen the results of the election and speeches of the aftermath. We sat on the couch in front of a TV and a laptop so as not to miss anything, ate cake, ice cream, yoghurt, chocolate, and anything else we could find, and just did not sleep. As my family left the house for the day, Mateo and I crashed into bed and didn't wake up until around 2 pm. Germany is incredibly happy with the result of the election, to a degree that I'm pretty sure the American public would never be with the election of any foreign official. In many cases they are better informed about what has been going on in America for the past few months than about their own politics. The States really had the eyes of the entire world focused intently upon it, in case any of you hadn't realized it. I've met only one person who supported "MC Cain" (that's what the Germans call him) in the entire three and a half months I have lived here, so if the election had gone any other way than for Obama I would be living in a very unsatisfied country.
I'm going skiing this winter on a glacial resort with my Consty and a few more friends. We stay and ski for a week, and that's all I get for the whole winter. It'll be tough without snow this year, but that should be a blast. Hopefully I'll figure out some way to transport my skis from my house in Concord to my house in Trebur. If anybody knows any secrets I'd love to hear them. I really want to ski on my skis this winter, and I'm desperate to find a cheap way to obtain them.
Now for the inevitable sad-but-funny story you've all been waiting for. If you've been following my entries you already know that I have school until around 5:10 pm every Monday, and that I ride my bike. Well it kind of goes without saying that when you ride your bike somewhere in Germany you lock it up. Combination locks are not quite as popular here, and my lock is one of the more commonly found ones that uses a key. When my family first gave it to me I was really worried that I would lose the key, just like I lose just about everything I actually need to keep track of. I had been, however, extremely responsible and did not ever misplace it. The lock is an old one and requires jiggling and sometimes a bit of force to get it open. This past Monday school had finally come to a tiring but successful end, and I crouched down in front of my bike to try to get my lock open. I jiggled it one way, jiggled it another way, pushed it in, took it out, and did everything else I could think of to liberate my captivated steed (Josh, you better be laughing). Suddenly I heard a small click, but the two ends of the lock had not seperated from one another. I stood there dumfounded, and eventually realized the key I was holding in my hand was only half the size it had been about fifteen seconds before. The rest of the key was broken off. Inside of the lock. It might as well have been in another glaxy for all the use it would do me there. I stood there for about a minte, just staring at my situation, and eventually turned and trudged slowly to the bus stop. I waited another half an hour for the bus, rode another half an hour on the bus, got home, and was greeted by a raucously laughing family. They absolutely love how absurd it is that I get myself into these situations so often, and I guess I do too, it just takes me a few more hours than it does for them.
Well, that's about it. Sorry this entry was a bit uneventful, but my life just seems fairly normal at the moment. Maybe in the next couple of weeks something truly worth an entry will happen, and you will have your belly laugh at my expense. I'm more than happy to provide. ;)
I truly hope you're all satisfied with your lives. I know I am.
Tommy
Monday, October 20, 2008
A Favorite City + The World's Biggest Indoor Rainforest + Only 1 Thing Broken = A Successful Vacation
This is a really long one (cue for you, Josh).
When I last wrote I was wrapping my 11th grade education up for the second time in my life. Today was the second first day of 12th grade I've had, and it went fairly well. I'm going to go ahead and brag about my vacation before coming back to school, so try not to cry with envy.
I said goodbye to the friends I'd made in my eleventh grade class by helping them eat the delicious cake they made for me. Let me just say, I helped them a lot. They owe me a big thank you, because I ate a lot of cake just for them. I did it just for them. Out of the kindness of my heart. I'm just such a nice guy. I do love a good cake though.... That was Thursday. Friday I played soccer, Saturday I celebrated life and Sunday I climbed in to my family's 5-seater car with all five members of my family and embarked upon a journey that I will never forget, setting aside a situation such as amnesia or Alzheimer's. First stop: Magdeburg.
This was the city where my host mom and dad ran into each other for the second time, completely coincidentally (or was it, which is a current topic of debate in my philosophy class), after meeting each other at a Bruce Springsteen concert. I think it was the Boss, but I'm not sure. I'll ask one of them later and get back to you. That's probably not true, though. If I'm wrong, chances are I'm going to leave it the way it is. We were staying at Susan's parent's vacation house where my belt loop got hooked on an indoor tree to create a slingshot with one of the branches, which flung a small, decorative angel across the room where it met its demise on the cold tiled floor. Magdeburg was really cool. It was about 1200 years old (WOAH) and had this huge cool apartment building that I want to live in someday. Google 'hundertwasserhaus magdeburg' and that's what I want my home to be. Despite it's blatantly pink exterior it's named something like the green citadel, which ended up being because there's a bunch of little grassy spots inside all over the place.
We continued on from Magdeburg to Tropical Island, the world's biggest indoor rainforest. You pay 27€ to get in and can stay as long as you want. There are two huge pools, a jungle to wander through, a really long sandy beach, gnar gnar waterslides and every cheesy tourist attraction you could ever imagine at a warm-weather resort, all packed into an artificially heated dome. I slept two nights on the beach and had a total blast. My routine for the day: go swimming with Const for several hours; run to the really hot showers; stand in shower for about 25 minutes; stroll back to the beach chairs that were the family's territory and eat; repeat until defeated by exhaustion; lie down on the sand and go to sleep.
Next we drove to Dresden, which I fell in love with. It was so pretty there, and despite being a big, street-filled city it managed to retain the smell and taste of fresh air. Sometimes Concord even stinks of pavement, but Dresden made me feel like I was wandering around an unaging scene from hundreds of years ago. The art, the cobblestone streets, the churches, the restaurants, the people, the atmosphere- everything just seemed so perfect. I have never liked just walking around cities before, but in Dresden it was a completely different experience. I'm pretty sure locations like that don't exist in America. The culture we chose to develop is not nearly old enough to acheive that feel.
Then I came back and we lost our soccer game. My new cleats are still awesome, though. The second week of my vacation was very relaxing. I played Risk, soccer, celebrated some more, slept a lot and went to the 16th birthday party for someone who I thought was a lot older. That was weird for me but the kids I went with and I who were all older ended up making the party. Today I went back to the Schule.
I now ride my bike every morning and afternoon to and from school. I wake up at 6:27 am, fall out of bed and hope that I hit my clothes and they magically wrap themselves around me so that I don't have to waste precious energy by dressing myself. For some reason they never do, but I think it'll be a while before I give up trying this technique. I'm stubborn like that, and I'm not about to let a pair of normal pants defeat the great force of my willpower. I then take about two minutes to climb ten steps from my room to the rest of the house and collapse once more into a chair. Sometimes my aim is less than precise and I do not hit the entire seat of the chair, but I'm a little to embarrassed to go into more detail about that situation. I pour milk and cereal* into a bowl and stare at them until I realize that I actually have to lift the spoon in my hand if I want that food in my stomach.
*Interesting side note: In Germany all cereal is called corn flakes. Not all cereal is corn flakes, but it's like when we call tissues cleanex or band-aid-thingies band aids. That was a bit confusing for me at first.
Anyway, by the time I manage to get the first spoon full of cereal into my mouth it's soggy enough that I don't have to expend any energy chewing vigorously. Vigorous chewing is for morning people, and I'm not a morning person until 2:00 in the afternoon. I then shrug on a few jackets and my backpack, which I hope I packed the night before, shuffle outside, and mount my valiant steed. Well, I either mount a valiant steed or a beat-up, old, slow, too-small mountain bike on which the breaks are for some perplexing reason reversed.... It depends on how my imagination is doing on that particular morning. I begin my ride shivering through the wind and damp fog and continue to do so for approximately 15 minutes. At this point in the ride my body makes a split-second shift from telling me how cold it is to sweating all the way through the 19 jackets I'm wearing. It is also around this point when Constantin speeds by me on his moped with which. Like most mopeds, he has to use only minimal amounts of energy to travel at speeds much greater than those attainable by me on a bike at 6:20 in the morning. He smiles and waves, but I know that secretly he's cackling an evil cackle inside his warm, enclosed helmet. You can imagine my frustration. My day then begins when, after another 10 minutes, I arrive at school.
As to how it's different to be in 12th grade than 11th, the things I noticed today are few but stark. Every Monday I am at school for about ten hours. That sucks. And the kids I'm in class with are closer to my age. That's nice. There is definitely more to come in that department.
I am happy to know that I have already made a mark in Germany. All of the friends I hang out with on the weekends love the safety game (family, you know what's up) and that's what she said jokes.
One last thing: I VOTED
Love,
Tommy
When I last wrote I was wrapping my 11th grade education up for the second time in my life. Today was the second first day of 12th grade I've had, and it went fairly well. I'm going to go ahead and brag about my vacation before coming back to school, so try not to cry with envy.
I said goodbye to the friends I'd made in my eleventh grade class by helping them eat the delicious cake they made for me. Let me just say, I helped them a lot. They owe me a big thank you, because I ate a lot of cake just for them. I did it just for them. Out of the kindness of my heart. I'm just such a nice guy. I do love a good cake though.... That was Thursday. Friday I played soccer, Saturday I celebrated life and Sunday I climbed in to my family's 5-seater car with all five members of my family and embarked upon a journey that I will never forget, setting aside a situation such as amnesia or Alzheimer's. First stop: Magdeburg.
This was the city where my host mom and dad ran into each other for the second time, completely coincidentally (or was it, which is a current topic of debate in my philosophy class), after meeting each other at a Bruce Springsteen concert. I think it was the Boss, but I'm not sure. I'll ask one of them later and get back to you. That's probably not true, though. If I'm wrong, chances are I'm going to leave it the way it is. We were staying at Susan's parent's vacation house where my belt loop got hooked on an indoor tree to create a slingshot with one of the branches, which flung a small, decorative angel across the room where it met its demise on the cold tiled floor. Magdeburg was really cool. It was about 1200 years old (WOAH) and had this huge cool apartment building that I want to live in someday. Google 'hundertwasserhaus magdeburg' and that's what I want my home to be. Despite it's blatantly pink exterior it's named something like the green citadel, which ended up being because there's a bunch of little grassy spots inside all over the place.
We continued on from Magdeburg to Tropical Island, the world's biggest indoor rainforest. You pay 27€ to get in and can stay as long as you want. There are two huge pools, a jungle to wander through, a really long sandy beach, gnar gnar waterslides and every cheesy tourist attraction you could ever imagine at a warm-weather resort, all packed into an artificially heated dome. I slept two nights on the beach and had a total blast. My routine for the day: go swimming with Const for several hours; run to the really hot showers; stand in shower for about 25 minutes; stroll back to the beach chairs that were the family's territory and eat; repeat until defeated by exhaustion; lie down on the sand and go to sleep.
Next we drove to Dresden, which I fell in love with. It was so pretty there, and despite being a big, street-filled city it managed to retain the smell and taste of fresh air. Sometimes Concord even stinks of pavement, but Dresden made me feel like I was wandering around an unaging scene from hundreds of years ago. The art, the cobblestone streets, the churches, the restaurants, the people, the atmosphere- everything just seemed so perfect. I have never liked just walking around cities before, but in Dresden it was a completely different experience. I'm pretty sure locations like that don't exist in America. The culture we chose to develop is not nearly old enough to acheive that feel.
Then I came back and we lost our soccer game. My new cleats are still awesome, though. The second week of my vacation was very relaxing. I played Risk, soccer, celebrated some more, slept a lot and went to the 16th birthday party for someone who I thought was a lot older. That was weird for me but the kids I went with and I who were all older ended up making the party. Today I went back to the Schule.
I now ride my bike every morning and afternoon to and from school. I wake up at 6:27 am, fall out of bed and hope that I hit my clothes and they magically wrap themselves around me so that I don't have to waste precious energy by dressing myself. For some reason they never do, but I think it'll be a while before I give up trying this technique. I'm stubborn like that, and I'm not about to let a pair of normal pants defeat the great force of my willpower. I then take about two minutes to climb ten steps from my room to the rest of the house and collapse once more into a chair. Sometimes my aim is less than precise and I do not hit the entire seat of the chair, but I'm a little to embarrassed to go into more detail about that situation. I pour milk and cereal* into a bowl and stare at them until I realize that I actually have to lift the spoon in my hand if I want that food in my stomach.
*Interesting side note: In Germany all cereal is called corn flakes. Not all cereal is corn flakes, but it's like when we call tissues cleanex or band-aid-thingies band aids. That was a bit confusing for me at first.
Anyway, by the time I manage to get the first spoon full of cereal into my mouth it's soggy enough that I don't have to expend any energy chewing vigorously. Vigorous chewing is for morning people, and I'm not a morning person until 2:00 in the afternoon. I then shrug on a few jackets and my backpack, which I hope I packed the night before, shuffle outside, and mount my valiant steed. Well, I either mount a valiant steed or a beat-up, old, slow, too-small mountain bike on which the breaks are for some perplexing reason reversed.... It depends on how my imagination is doing on that particular morning. I begin my ride shivering through the wind and damp fog and continue to do so for approximately 15 minutes. At this point in the ride my body makes a split-second shift from telling me how cold it is to sweating all the way through the 19 jackets I'm wearing. It is also around this point when Constantin speeds by me on his moped with which. Like most mopeds, he has to use only minimal amounts of energy to travel at speeds much greater than those attainable by me on a bike at 6:20 in the morning. He smiles and waves, but I know that secretly he's cackling an evil cackle inside his warm, enclosed helmet. You can imagine my frustration. My day then begins when, after another 10 minutes, I arrive at school.
As to how it's different to be in 12th grade than 11th, the things I noticed today are few but stark. Every Monday I am at school for about ten hours. That sucks. And the kids I'm in class with are closer to my age. That's nice. There is definitely more to come in that department.
I am happy to know that I have already made a mark in Germany. All of the friends I hang out with on the weekends love the safety game (family, you know what's up) and that's what she said jokes.
One last thing: I VOTED
Love,
Tommy
Monday, September 29, 2008
I Have Two Weeks of Vacation in Three Days
One thing that I'm quite sure I like more about the German school system than the American school system is the abundance of vacation. We have two weeks starting on Thursday afternoon, three weeks for Christmas and other winter-oriented celebrations, another two weeks sometime in the spring, and I'm pretty sure that's not all. I'm definitely going to need it though, seeing as I am moving up to the twelfth grade after this vacation. Although the lessons here are somewhat easier than what I experienced at CHS, my schedule is going to be absurd. On Mondays I'll be in school for eleven 45 minute periods. That number looks really bad, but upon closer inspection I realized it wouldn't be as dreadful as I thought. I have two free periods right in the middle, and the last three periods are gym, so it's really only six academic periods. Six is about what I have the rest of the week as well, except for Fridays. I only have two classes (four periods), and they are music and English. I get to wake up late, and the convenient subjects of my lessons lead me to believe that I won't really have to wake up at all. That is going to be rather nice. Oh, and Frau Ernst: Ich habe eine Deutsch Arbeit geschrieben und 9 Punkte gekriegt! Das war besser als die Hälfte der Klasse! Wir müssten einen Text lesen und interpretieren, und danach ein Absatz darüber schreiben. Die Lehrerin hat mir keine Bonuspunkte gegeben, 9 Punkte hab ich unabhängig verdient!!! Vielen Dank, für alles, dass Sie für mich gemacht haben.
Soccer is going extremely well. I just spent too much money on new cleats, but they are high-end and look like they'll last a good long while. Nomis is my new favorite brand. They are comfy, light, durable, and have amazing touch. You almost never find shoes like that. I played my first and second games on Thursday and Sunday, and on Sunday I played the entire game and earned an assist in our 2-0 win. I also got two warm-up jackets, a wind pant, and a t-shirt completely free, and there's a training jersey on its way. I haven't bought any clothes yet, but at the rate at which I am acquiring complementary attire I'm concerned that it's not all going to fit in my luggage on the way back. It's a harsh world, I tell you...
I've reached the point in my social situation where I can go to an event and already know people besides Consty's close friends. People come up to me and say, "Hi, we met last weekend! You're the nutjob American, right?" I'm really psyched about that, and I can't wait to meet kids my own age on my own once I move up a grade.
I've broken a few things since I have been here, but my family hasn't threatend to throw me out or withhold food yet, so I'm fairly positive it's okay. The worst was when I was helping Marie with English homework and trying to clarify the word "chuck." I feel like an idiot just thinking about this. She had one of those plastic, pincer hair clasp thingies that open and close and have really long teeth and look like a monster's mouth. She also has a really soft, cushy blanket in her room, where I was attempting to be useful and failing miserably. To illustrate the puzzling vocabulary I hefted her hair piece and "chucked" it in what I thought was the general direction of her comforter. Now Marie's room, like most rooms, has these things called walls. They are not soft and forgiving like a blanket. Quite to the contrary, they are as harsh and unsympathetic as the world we live in. That poor, brittle piece of plastic didn't stand a chance against such a force as unwavering physics. It shattered into small, defeated fragments, and I promptly left the room, without a word, to fetch some money for my traumatized sister and a replacement set of monster teeth. It wasn't too long afterwards that Constantin taught me the German word for klutzy. Ich bin tollpatschig.
I miss NH weather a lot. The past few days here have been nice, but in general it's overcast, cold and windy. A kid in my class has an iPhone, and sometimes he checks the weather in Concord. It's always something painfully pleasant, like 73 at 3:00 in the morning.
My camera memory card is screwed up, so I haven't been taking many pictures, but I plan on getting that worked out ASAP. Every single electronic appliance I brought with me is now unusable. Not that I'm bitter. Not that electronics are expensive.
A few things that are different about school here. The grades are made up almost completely of how well students do on tests that they have twice per semester, and on a participation (verbal) grade. That's it. Student's think Wikipedia is a legitimate site to reference, and teachers accept it as long as it sounds legit. That's basically all that is important. Also, everyone has anally neat class notes are. Even the guys color code their diagrams of cell organelles, and rather than writing in pencil and making use of an eraser, they write in pen and cover their mistakes with white-out. For notes, that no one but themselves is ever going to look at. My notes are really messy, and I get some pretty funny looks from some of my classmates.
Well, that's about it. As you can probably see I put some pictures up on this page- a couple to the right and a couple way down at the bottom. Take a peak.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm thinking of you and missing you, but I've got to stick this through. Not that it's much of a chore ;) Write me letters or emails or something to let me know you're alive!
Benehmt euch,
Tommy Symmes
Soccer is going extremely well. I just spent too much money on new cleats, but they are high-end and look like they'll last a good long while. Nomis is my new favorite brand. They are comfy, light, durable, and have amazing touch. You almost never find shoes like that. I played my first and second games on Thursday and Sunday, and on Sunday I played the entire game and earned an assist in our 2-0 win. I also got two warm-up jackets, a wind pant, and a t-shirt completely free, and there's a training jersey on its way. I haven't bought any clothes yet, but at the rate at which I am acquiring complementary attire I'm concerned that it's not all going to fit in my luggage on the way back. It's a harsh world, I tell you...
I've reached the point in my social situation where I can go to an event and already know people besides Consty's close friends. People come up to me and say, "Hi, we met last weekend! You're the nutjob American, right?" I'm really psyched about that, and I can't wait to meet kids my own age on my own once I move up a grade.
I've broken a few things since I have been here, but my family hasn't threatend to throw me out or withhold food yet, so I'm fairly positive it's okay. The worst was when I was helping Marie with English homework and trying to clarify the word "chuck." I feel like an idiot just thinking about this. She had one of those plastic, pincer hair clasp thingies that open and close and have really long teeth and look like a monster's mouth. She also has a really soft, cushy blanket in her room, where I was attempting to be useful and failing miserably. To illustrate the puzzling vocabulary I hefted her hair piece and "chucked" it in what I thought was the general direction of her comforter. Now Marie's room, like most rooms, has these things called walls. They are not soft and forgiving like a blanket. Quite to the contrary, they are as harsh and unsympathetic as the world we live in. That poor, brittle piece of plastic didn't stand a chance against such a force as unwavering physics. It shattered into small, defeated fragments, and I promptly left the room, without a word, to fetch some money for my traumatized sister and a replacement set of monster teeth. It wasn't too long afterwards that Constantin taught me the German word for klutzy. Ich bin tollpatschig.
I miss NH weather a lot. The past few days here have been nice, but in general it's overcast, cold and windy. A kid in my class has an iPhone, and sometimes he checks the weather in Concord. It's always something painfully pleasant, like 73 at 3:00 in the morning.
My camera memory card is screwed up, so I haven't been taking many pictures, but I plan on getting that worked out ASAP. Every single electronic appliance I brought with me is now unusable. Not that I'm bitter. Not that electronics are expensive.
A few things that are different about school here. The grades are made up almost completely of how well students do on tests that they have twice per semester, and on a participation (verbal) grade. That's it. Student's think Wikipedia is a legitimate site to reference, and teachers accept it as long as it sounds legit. That's basically all that is important. Also, everyone has anally neat class notes are. Even the guys color code their diagrams of cell organelles, and rather than writing in pencil and making use of an eraser, they write in pen and cover their mistakes with white-out. For notes, that no one but themselves is ever going to look at. My notes are really messy, and I get some pretty funny looks from some of my classmates.
Well, that's about it. As you can probably see I put some pictures up on this page- a couple to the right and a couple way down at the bottom. Take a peak.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm thinking of you and missing you, but I've got to stick this through. Not that it's much of a chore ;) Write me letters or emails or something to let me know you're alive!
Benehmt euch,
Tommy Symmes
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Celebrity Status, Soccer, Skip-bo and Schaum... Does it Get Any Better?
I am having an absolute blast. Let me start off with a disclaimer: I am not responsible for any tears shed in jealousy of my situation. Just kidding. But not really... ;)
I’m now playing soccer for my local club, but it’s different than what I’ve done before. This is legit competition. You have three subs per game, just like in the pros, and there are players in the league who get paid a little each month to play for a certain club. I’m not registered with the team yet, but I’ve been practicing with them and the paperwork is on the way.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a Schaum (Foam) Party. It was a club atmosphere in this huge tent with loud music and lights and everything, but there was something especially extraordinary about this party. There was a huge area where a machine periodically spat out foam in which many crazy people were dancing crazily. Naturally, I felt the need to join in and was absolutely drenched after about thirty seconds. Sometimes the foam would rise over seven feet high, and Const and I didn’t come out for about three and a half hours. Now his cell phone is broken. Riley, he knows how you felt.
Oh, and a quick note to the fam: they have skip-bo here in Germany! I was pretty surprised when my host mom whipped out an old deck, and she was surprised that I knew what it was. We play every once in a while, and it reminds me of Chappy.
On to details about school. My classes are Music, Politics and Economics, Philosophy (my favorite), Ethics, Math, French, English, German, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I don’t speak French, and the students have been taking it for about five years… Hmmm. I’ve taken tests in English and German, and I think I did pretty well in both of them. English is really fun. I hear all of these funny mistakes, but nobody is there to laugh along with me, so in that sense, it’s a little lonely. It’s okay though, because I’m usually the only one laughing, even when I’m with Americans. My favorite quote so far: “I’d like to put my finger in another subject.”
I feel really lucky to be in a situation where I can be so active. A couple weekends ago I played in a beach volleyball tournament with Heiko and Const (host dad and bro) in the middle of a city. There was definitely no beach anywhere, just a huge pit of sand in front of a train station in the middle of a city. That was a blast. I also go inline skating every once in a while, which is pretty good training for nordic. Once a week I go to volleyball with Heiko because they play soccer for the first 15 minutes or so to warm up. I go home after that, though. Then three days a week I have soccer practice, which is the jam. It’s really high level, but I’m keeping up fairly well. The team is nice, and it’s cool to be able to play with such talented athletes. Lastly, I played badminton this week, and that was really fun. My arm is exhausted, because we played for more than two hours, and it was pretty intense.
I am also now in possession of a cello. I’m really excited, because I get home from school at 1:30 each day, and I have very little to do until the evening. Const and I sit around and watch Youtube, which is really fun, but we’re running out of videos. We’ve watched “Can I Have Your Number” from MadTV about 80 times, and if you haven’t seen it, watch it right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFZyl7hfBw
I hope everyone is well. The weather here is not quite as nice as it is in NH in the fall, and I really miss that. I hope you are all enjoying it for me!
Tommy Symmes
I’m now playing soccer for my local club, but it’s different than what I’ve done before. This is legit competition. You have three subs per game, just like in the pros, and there are players in the league who get paid a little each month to play for a certain club. I’m not registered with the team yet, but I’ve been practicing with them and the paperwork is on the way.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a Schaum (Foam) Party. It was a club atmosphere in this huge tent with loud music and lights and everything, but there was something especially extraordinary about this party. There was a huge area where a machine periodically spat out foam in which many crazy people were dancing crazily. Naturally, I felt the need to join in and was absolutely drenched after about thirty seconds. Sometimes the foam would rise over seven feet high, and Const and I didn’t come out for about three and a half hours. Now his cell phone is broken. Riley, he knows how you felt.
Oh, and a quick note to the fam: they have skip-bo here in Germany! I was pretty surprised when my host mom whipped out an old deck, and she was surprised that I knew what it was. We play every once in a while, and it reminds me of Chappy.
On to details about school. My classes are Music, Politics and Economics, Philosophy (my favorite), Ethics, Math, French, English, German, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I don’t speak French, and the students have been taking it for about five years… Hmmm. I’ve taken tests in English and German, and I think I did pretty well in both of them. English is really fun. I hear all of these funny mistakes, but nobody is there to laugh along with me, so in that sense, it’s a little lonely. It’s okay though, because I’m usually the only one laughing, even when I’m with Americans. My favorite quote so far: “I’d like to put my finger in another subject.”
I feel really lucky to be in a situation where I can be so active. A couple weekends ago I played in a beach volleyball tournament with Heiko and Const (host dad and bro) in the middle of a city. There was definitely no beach anywhere, just a huge pit of sand in front of a train station in the middle of a city. That was a blast. I also go inline skating every once in a while, which is pretty good training for nordic. Once a week I go to volleyball with Heiko because they play soccer for the first 15 minutes or so to warm up. I go home after that, though. Then three days a week I have soccer practice, which is the jam. It’s really high level, but I’m keeping up fairly well. The team is nice, and it’s cool to be able to play with such talented athletes. Lastly, I played badminton this week, and that was really fun. My arm is exhausted, because we played for more than two hours, and it was pretty intense.
I am also now in possession of a cello. I’m really excited, because I get home from school at 1:30 each day, and I have very little to do until the evening. Const and I sit around and watch Youtube, which is really fun, but we’re running out of videos. We’ve watched “Can I Have Your Number” from MadTV about 80 times, and if you haven’t seen it, watch it right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTFZyl7hfBw
I hope everyone is well. The weather here is not quite as nice as it is in NH in the fall, and I really miss that. I hope you are all enjoying it for me!
Tommy Symmes
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