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
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
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
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I Went Extreme Walking in Frankfurt, Germany
I waved goodbye to my first host family on Saturday, but they sent me with enough candy to last a month, so I won't be forgetting them anytime soon. Two hours later I arrived in Frankfurt, and was greeted by the four people whose house I will be sharing for the next ten months. They greeted me with bug hugs from everyone, and we proceeded to throw my bags in a locker and go for a walk through the streets of Frankfurt.
Constantin (my host brother) and I soon discovered our common passion for jumping onto, over, and off of inanimate objects. We both agree that your surroundings are only as boring as you allow them to be. Especially in Frankfurt, there is always an audience to impress with how absurdly, goofily, and carefree-ily you can leap onto and balance on a metal pole sticking about a meter out of the ground (which there seems to be a strange abundance of). Susan and Heiko (host mom and dad) are also really fun, and every once in a while would cheer Const and me on when we accomplished some spectacular feat.
The family and I strolled nonchalantly past a McDonald's, and this event convinced me of how well my host sister, Marie, and I will get along. From the moment her eyes caught sight of the Golden Arches, she had a look of passionate longing on her face. That's actually not entirely true, but she does really like McDonald's, and this is the foundation of our friendship. It's actually not the foundation of our friendship, but it is something we have in common. Okay, I'm glad I wasted so many words on that seemingly irrelevant detail. I just get really excited when people like Mikee-Dee's. That's McDonald's.
Const and Marie are also late sleepers, so there is yet another attribute I share with this family. Unfortunately I have to wake up at around 6:30 in the morning to catch a bus to school. Gross... Speaking of school, I had my first day on Monday. It was pretty good, but I'm in the 11th grade, so everyone is a bit younger than me. I met one kid who is especially cool, though. His name is Phil. We're friends.
I have to take French, which is a little tough, seeing as I speak ABSOLUTELY ZERO FRENCH! This only gives me a little taste, however, of what my friend Mateo is going through. He, too, is an American doing a year in Germany. The difference between my situation and his is that he speaks only as much German as he has learned in the month he has been here. I would never have gone to live alone in a country where I didn't speak the language, but that is exaclty what Mateo is doing. I have so much respect for him, and you all should to. If you're reading this, send Mateo some good vibes and a mental pat-on-the-back, becuase he deserves it.
Warning for Alex S. and my brother: I'm playing a ton of ping pong, so y'all best be on yo game when I get back.
Peace and Love and Döner,
Tommy
Constantin (my host brother) and I soon discovered our common passion for jumping onto, over, and off of inanimate objects. We both agree that your surroundings are only as boring as you allow them to be. Especially in Frankfurt, there is always an audience to impress with how absurdly, goofily, and carefree-ily you can leap onto and balance on a metal pole sticking about a meter out of the ground (which there seems to be a strange abundance of). Susan and Heiko (host mom and dad) are also really fun, and every once in a while would cheer Const and me on when we accomplished some spectacular feat.
The family and I strolled nonchalantly past a McDonald's, and this event convinced me of how well my host sister, Marie, and I will get along. From the moment her eyes caught sight of the Golden Arches, she had a look of passionate longing on her face. That's actually not entirely true, but she does really like McDonald's, and this is the foundation of our friendship. It's actually not the foundation of our friendship, but it is something we have in common. Okay, I'm glad I wasted so many words on that seemingly irrelevant detail. I just get really excited when people like Mikee-Dee's. That's McDonald's.
Const and Marie are also late sleepers, so there is yet another attribute I share with this family. Unfortunately I have to wake up at around 6:30 in the morning to catch a bus to school. Gross... Speaking of school, I had my first day on Monday. It was pretty good, but I'm in the 11th grade, so everyone is a bit younger than me. I met one kid who is especially cool, though. His name is Phil. We're friends.
I have to take French, which is a little tough, seeing as I speak ABSOLUTELY ZERO FRENCH! This only gives me a little taste, however, of what my friend Mateo is going through. He, too, is an American doing a year in Germany. The difference between my situation and his is that he speaks only as much German as he has learned in the month he has been here. I would never have gone to live alone in a country where I didn't speak the language, but that is exaclty what Mateo is doing. I have so much respect for him, and you all should to. If you're reading this, send Mateo some good vibes and a mental pat-on-the-back, becuase he deserves it.
Warning for Alex S. and my brother: I'm playing a ton of ping pong, so y'all best be on yo game when I get back.
Peace and Love and Döner,
Tommy
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Three-Week Month
So this is my fourth week in Germany. The thing is that I can only remember two of the three full weeks that I have been here. I don’t have the slightest clue what happened to that other week, nor do I remember which week I have forgotten. Time is speeding by faster perhaps than it ever has for me before.
Just as I am starting to consider the house in which I sleep a home, the people with whom I live family, and the characters I have met as friends, I am climbing on a train for yet another new situation. Saturday I will be leaving, once again, everything familiar for something completely new. I am nervous, but excited. I will miss my family terribly, but just the idea that I got to share a month with them helps me out of the blues.
As to what has kept me busy the past two or three weeks (could be either): where to begin?
I went to visit my GAPP host family from two years ago on my ex-host-brother’s birthday. I took a train to his general vicinity and was picked up by a friend. The two of us went to a soccer game in Mönchengladbach stadium, which was TIGHT, and then proceeded to Jannick’s and his celebration. The thing was that he didn’t know I was coming, so I surprised him and his whole family with my presence. You might say, rather than bringing presents, I brought my presence… but you probably wouldn’t. That sounds like a pun I would make and nobody would laugh at. Anyway, it was great to see all of my old friends and family again, and I got to sleep in my old bed from two years ago. The family is amazing, and they’ve all grown up a little bit. Too bad I haven’t.
I’ve played soccer with the local team for the past few weeks. It is a really different experience than what I am used to. Rather than water breaks, they take cigarette breaks, and at the end they talk about what went good and bad during the practice over beers. That was perhaps the most extreme culture shock I have experienced as of yet. Physical fitness is quite apparently considered secondary to mental contentedness, which is just about as opposite as opposite gets from the American mindset.
I wrote a song on the cello about good-smelling girls.
This past weekend I went to see a really neat memorial to the German Kaiser Reich and discovered my host-mom’s extreme phobia of heights. She did, however, make it all the way to the top, which she had never done before, so we were all very proud of her. I also went to an old underground cave that was cool. Yeah.
Also on Saturday, we had a surprise birthday party for a classmate, and the celebration went late into the night. Anna (birthday girl) and I went extreme walking in Heiligenstadt while the others looked on and made fun of us. We watched a lunar eclipse from a playground and then everyone slept over at my house.
Sunday I went to the Harz, which if anyone has read Faust, is the place where he meets the devil. That was neat, if a bit touristy, and I took pictures with sculptures of really ugly witches and devils. I know how eager you all are to see those, so I’ll do my best to make them accessible sometime in the near future.
What else… my computer is dead, my converter/adapter is dead, and my mp3 player is flying around the world on a United 747. At least I have a camera (knock on wood).
I think I’ve spent about €27 on Döner in the past less-than-a-month. It’s just so good.
On Saturday I’m moving in with my permanent host family, so the next time you hear from me I hope I have lots of good things to say. They seem to be very different from the family with which I now live, but I love different, so I’m really looking forward to it. The downside: I have to leave yet another family and group of friends.
Life goes on,
Tommy
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Six Pieces of Pie in Two Days
That’s right. On Thursday and Friday of last week I did it. My family, the Göbels, feed me extremely well. Every weekday we have four meals. Breakfast (bread with anything you could imagine on it), lunch (the hot meal of the day), coffee (usually consists of pies and drinks) and dinner (usually the same as breakfast). I have also had four Döner in a week and a half. Döner is perhaps the best food ever. It’s a Turkish sin with lamb, onions, lettuce, sometimes cheese, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and anything else that particular shop decides to throw in. It is served in a triangular bread pocket that is open on two sides and closed on the hypotenuse.
Let me tell you, there is an art to eating this monster. It is so full of flavor and deliciousness that it will spill all over the place if you are not careful. You will never find a Döner that has a reasonable amount of food in it; there will always be far too much for the practical volume of the bread.
I love it.
I went to Berlin this past weekend and got to see some of places where I was two years ago. The city was definitely a bit quieter, despite being a bustling capital of the world. German pride was still present, but you had to look a little harder to find it. I have to say that I missed walking down the streets with my fellow GAPPers singing the few fragments of Disney songs that we knew.
And I bought bright yellow suspenders there that I’m probably going to wear to the Disko this weekend.
I also now have access to a cello! One of Christina’s friends brought it over, and it’s here to stay for a little while. On that same musical theme, I had Christina and Maria teach me how to play a little of their instrument: the accordion. It was really cool, but I really couldn’t do it. I’ve been doodling around since then, and I’m picking it up a little, but it’s harder than it looks.
I’ve also started my orientation course. Ten other Americans and I sit together in a classroom from 9-4 five days per week and learn how to speak German and get along in a new culture. The problem is (besides the fact that we are missing out on so much other neat stuff, like Döner) that we were placed together because we scored the highest on a language competency test that the program gave. Therefore, just about the only thing to do is practice, which would be much easier were we spending that time with our families or friends. Seven hours a day is a lot of school for the summer.
Side note: One of the girls in my class also did GAPP in 2005-2006. She’s from Michigan, but we were both in Germany at the same time. And we were both in Berlin during that time at the same time. And we both watched the World Cup semifinal from the same place at the same time. And we both went to see Blue Man Group in Berlin at the same time. And to top it all off, she’s going to Macalester College next year. And so am I.
Can you say small “world?”
This week I also found a bunch of kids to play soccer with. I’m going to a practice tonight, and I think it’s a try-out, so it should be fun. They’re a blast to play with, and it’s nice to be around people who love the game as much as I do.
As I become immersed in a new language, I start to realize that you can’t always translate a word or concept. I have begun to think in German because I have found that it is easier to understand the people and their ideas. Although harder to express myself, speaking constantly in German gives me a new perspective on many things I have always taken for granted. My accent is developing so well that a nine-year-old didn’t believe that I was a foreigner. I was quite stoked.
I miss everyone, and I’ll try to get some pictures on the internet as soon as I can.
Stay Awesome,
Tommy
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Start of Something New
I would like to start off by asserting that I miss everyone already. It's great here, but there are a few key personality ingredients that I wouldn't mind having around. Secondly, the keyboard here is a little different than the one I'm used to, so if you see anything that makes absoltely no sense, just look carefully and see if you can figure out my typo.
Okay, so, the trip: The flight was almost eight hours long, and I was far too wired to do much sleeping action. I made some new friends and reconnected with a few students who had been at Fishkill, NY (where a pre-departure orientation weekend was held for YFU students in New England). I then got off the plane and split up with all of the kids who I had flown over with, save one. Depending on the savy we displayed on a short competency test, we were all going to different locations in Germany to take a crash course in the language and culture of our new home. I had no idea how well I had done on this test before then, but I guess I'm in level 5. Students in the level 5 class displayed the most comfort with the language and scored the highest on the test, so I guess I'm just wicked good at German (not to brag, or anything).
After shuffling around a bit, I finally ended up on the right train to the right place with the right people, and I passed out. I was so exhasuted that I simply could not keep my eyes open a moment longer.
I awoke when the train arrived in either Heidigenstadt or Heiligenstadt, I can't quite make out whether it's a l or a d, and my grandmother- and sister-to-be picked me up and brought me home. I stuffed some delectable brötchen in my mouth, as I had not eaten a meal for about ten hours, and then Christina (my sister) and I went back into town on some bikes.
I live in Westhausen, a tiny little "Dorf" just outside of H'stadt. We rode back into H'stadt which is also relativeluy small, and went down the main street and into the Kurpark. Now, H'stadt is what Germans call a Kurstadt, or a cure city. It is a place for sick people to go to get better, and it is verz easy to see why. The Kurpark was a blanket of green tranquility, spotted with fountains, ponds, benches, and playgrounds for children. I almost fell asleep walking my bike.
There was a small pool of water, maybe a foot deep, ten feet long and five feet wide, that people were walking in circles in. There was a handrail in the middle, the bottom was tiled and the water was crystal clear. I guess that some study proved that walking around in cold water every once in a while was really good for a person's general health. I'm pretty sure it was called a Wassertreter, but I'm not positive. I decided that it wouldn't be such a bad thing to start off my year with cold feet (pun- hahaha) so I did a few laps. It was really quite nice.
On the way home I ate Scheiße off my bike right in front of my new host sister in some really soft sand, but I was to exhasted to care at all. We made dinner together and I went to sleep.
Sixteen hours later (not a typo or exaggeration) I awoke and descende from my room on the top floor of the house. Iäm the only one living up there, and it's kind of nice to have my own bathroom. My family was sitting around the table in the kitchen eating lunch, so after introductions I joined them and proceeded to sate my ravenous appetite. I met the father, Joachim (Yo-ah-chim), the 13-year-old sister, Maria, and the 7-year-old sister, Angela.
I unpacked a bit, and then we all went to Oma's for the afternoon. It was a family afternoon, and we ate some meal consisting only of pies at around 4:00, and then dinner at around 6:30. Towards the end of the first "meal" all of the men had beers placed in front of them. THEY THOUGHT I WAS A MAN!!!!! Take that, all of you who make fun of me for taking a week to grow noticeable facial hair, real German Männer accepted me as one of them. The really cool thing was that there was no rush to drink it. It wasn't a chug fest or anything of the sort. The fastest any of the men finished one of the beers was about two hours. When I finished mine, they promplty refilled it. After that one, I politely refused any more, as dinner was yet to come.
It was delicious. I don't have any idea what I ate, and I don't really care. I love German food.
At the conclusion of this meal, all of the men (onve again, that includes me) were poured a a shot of some hard alcohol
that looked like apple juice (but tasted nothing like it) and the women all were poured something else. The burn I felt when I tossed that tiny sip down was about like the feeling of my muscles after climbing High School Hill three times in the Tour de Rumford (yeah nordic), except it was in my throat and stomach instead of my legs and arms. After a few deep breaths and a waggle of my head I felt alright, but I again politely refused as the bottle mades it's second round 'round the table. Decided that since I didn't know what it was, I'd better not push it.
Upon coming home I handed out the gifts, which the entire family loved (way to go Mommy!) and then we played cards until about 10:30. It took me about four and a half hours to fall asleep (not a joke) and I woke up to yet another beautiful day.
Tonight I'm going to a welcome home party with Christina for her friends who were in Rome, so I'll get to meet some new kids. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to get on here is, but I will try.
I love and miss most of you,
Tommy
Okay, so, the trip: The flight was almost eight hours long, and I was far too wired to do much sleeping action. I made some new friends and reconnected with a few students who had been at Fishkill, NY (where a pre-departure orientation weekend was held for YFU students in New England). I then got off the plane and split up with all of the kids who I had flown over with, save one. Depending on the savy we displayed on a short competency test, we were all going to different locations in Germany to take a crash course in the language and culture of our new home. I had no idea how well I had done on this test before then, but I guess I'm in level 5. Students in the level 5 class displayed the most comfort with the language and scored the highest on the test, so I guess I'm just wicked good at German (not to brag, or anything).
After shuffling around a bit, I finally ended up on the right train to the right place with the right people, and I passed out. I was so exhasuted that I simply could not keep my eyes open a moment longer.
I awoke when the train arrived in either Heidigenstadt or Heiligenstadt, I can't quite make out whether it's a l or a d, and my grandmother- and sister-to-be picked me up and brought me home. I stuffed some delectable brötchen in my mouth, as I had not eaten a meal for about ten hours, and then Christina (my sister) and I went back into town on some bikes.
I live in Westhausen, a tiny little "Dorf" just outside of H'stadt. We rode back into H'stadt which is also relativeluy small, and went down the main street and into the Kurpark. Now, H'stadt is what Germans call a Kurstadt, or a cure city. It is a place for sick people to go to get better, and it is verz easy to see why. The Kurpark was a blanket of green tranquility, spotted with fountains, ponds, benches, and playgrounds for children. I almost fell asleep walking my bike.
There was a small pool of water, maybe a foot deep, ten feet long and five feet wide, that people were walking in circles in. There was a handrail in the middle, the bottom was tiled and the water was crystal clear. I guess that some study proved that walking around in cold water every once in a while was really good for a person's general health. I'm pretty sure it was called a Wassertreter, but I'm not positive. I decided that it wouldn't be such a bad thing to start off my year with cold feet (pun- hahaha) so I did a few laps. It was really quite nice.
On the way home I ate Scheiße off my bike right in front of my new host sister in some really soft sand, but I was to exhasted to care at all. We made dinner together and I went to sleep.
Sixteen hours later (not a typo or exaggeration) I awoke and descende from my room on the top floor of the house. Iäm the only one living up there, and it's kind of nice to have my own bathroom. My family was sitting around the table in the kitchen eating lunch, so after introductions I joined them and proceeded to sate my ravenous appetite. I met the father, Joachim (Yo-ah-chim), the 13-year-old sister, Maria, and the 7-year-old sister, Angela.
I unpacked a bit, and then we all went to Oma's for the afternoon. It was a family afternoon, and we ate some meal consisting only of pies at around 4:00, and then dinner at around 6:30. Towards the end of the first "meal" all of the men had beers placed in front of them. THEY THOUGHT I WAS A MAN!!!!! Take that, all of you who make fun of me for taking a week to grow noticeable facial hair, real German Männer accepted me as one of them. The really cool thing was that there was no rush to drink it. It wasn't a chug fest or anything of the sort. The fastest any of the men finished one of the beers was about two hours. When I finished mine, they promplty refilled it. After that one, I politely refused any more, as dinner was yet to come.
It was delicious. I don't have any idea what I ate, and I don't really care. I love German food.
At the conclusion of this meal, all of the men (onve again, that includes me) were poured a a shot of some hard alcohol
that looked like apple juice (but tasted nothing like it) and the women all were poured something else. The burn I felt when I tossed that tiny sip down was about like the feeling of my muscles after climbing High School Hill three times in the Tour de Rumford (yeah nordic), except it was in my throat and stomach instead of my legs and arms. After a few deep breaths and a waggle of my head I felt alright, but I again politely refused as the bottle mades it's second round 'round the table. Decided that since I didn't know what it was, I'd better not push it.
Upon coming home I handed out the gifts, which the entire family loved (way to go Mommy!) and then we played cards until about 10:30. It took me about four and a half hours to fall asleep (not a joke) and I woke up to yet another beautiful day.
Tonight I'm going to a welcome home party with Christina for her friends who were in Rome, so I'll get to meet some new kids. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to get on here is, but I will try.
I love and miss most of you,
Tommy
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