Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Just for Mom...

Because my mother complains that I dont update my blog often enough (I've been here less than 2 weeks and have posted twice, apparently once a week isnt good enough...:)), I'm posting yet again. :)

Last week was my first week of school here in Germany. It was pretty overwhelming. Normally I can understand basically what someone is saying when they're talking in German, but with the teacher's lectures it's COMPLETELY different. I understand maybe a dozen words or so in a 45 minute time period. They talk so fast and use all these technical terms....ahhh! And let me tell you, Germans have so of the worst handwriting I've ever seen. I try to take notes in class because I have no idea what the teacher is saying, but I still have to do the homework and stuff, so I try to copy what they have on the board...without success. Foreign language + horrible handwriting= Kaite copying random letters onto her paper and then trying to figure out what the word could possibly be using her dictionary. Soooo much work. Another thing I've noticed with school is that all the kids take super neat, super amazing notes. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. My notes are usually crazy sloppy and I usually cant read them once I'm done taking them. Same with every other American high schooler I've ever met. But not Germans. They're notes are always very neat and clean. They take them in blue ink (blue ink ONLY) and underline the headlines in perfectly straight lines (they use their rulers for this). And when them (very rarely) happen to make a mistake, they use their eraser pens (like you know how some highlighters come with an eraser? Thats what these pens are like.) The ink just fades away and then they write over it. So by the time class is over, their notes are ready to be published in a book. No lie. They're that perfect.


My notes...aren't they pretty? :) Oh, and this reminds me, my favorite pen that I brought all the way from America died the other day. Apparently I've been doing too much doodling. :)

This weekend I went with my host sister to Leipzig to see a sport called vaulting. Honestly it's the most insane sport I've ever seen. Basically there are 3 people on a horse and they do lifts and flips and jumps and dances and all sorts of stuff on it. It's like figure skating moving on a moving horse. INSANE. But it's actually pretty cool to watch. So we left for Leipzig on Saturday morning, watched the competition all day and then got up (toooooo early) on Sunday and watched the rest of it. It was pretty cool.


Me, Jule, and her vaulting team. And we ate Burger King, so we all got crowns. :)


This weekend, I think my host family and I are headed to Berlin to see the city and its sights and whatnot. I'll make sure I take some pictures (especially since I've taken a grand totally of 8 maybe since I've been here. :)) and update you all about it. :)

Bis bald,

Kaite


Monday, August 23, 2010

Random things in Germany

well, since i'm currently writing an email to my brother full of random things that i've seen in germany, i figured that instead of writing the same things twice i'd just copy and paste part of the email onto my blog. enjoy. :)

sooo....... what should i talk about? some funny happenings in germany maybe?
okay! (:
-on the way to their house from the airport in berlin
we were getting off the autobahn. there was a car just stopped in the
middle of the road. when we went around it we saw that it was stopped
because a guy was peeing in hte grass next to the car. definitely a
memorable first impression. (:
-yesterday (i think i told you already on
skype, but i'll tell you again just for the fun of it) we went to the
beach. 2 words. naked people. running around. on water slides. men wearing
speedos. yikes.
-according to my host grandpa, Salt, as in the
movie, is about food. otherwise why would they call it salt?

and yeah, that's all i've got right now. let's see... what else? i
started school today. it's different here. for one, i cant understand anything,
so i really have no idea whatsoever what went on today. i'm repeating the 10th
grade...in german... school was only like 3 hours today. and yeah, since i
didnt understand very much i cant really tell you what happened.

tonight i'm headed to a rotary meeting. my first on in germany.
i'm hoping my host club is hosting some other exchange students, but i
dont think that's the case. shucks... i love exchange students. the ones i
met on my way to germany (in philadelphia, but especially the ones that flew
with me to berlin) were super duper. i'm excited to see them again. i think
our first inbound orientation is in mid-september, so like a month away.
shucks.


And that's all i have to say today. :)

Bis bald,
Kaite

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I'm here!

After 21 long hours in an airport/airplane, I've finally made it to Germany! I met some awesome exchangers from 1940 along the way. :) I cant wait until we have our first inbound (!!) orientation to see them again. :) Lets see...things in Germany are...different, to say the least. But I like it. The town is so pretty and my family is so great. :) And I'm surprised by how much I can actually understand. :) But it's still not that much. It'll come with time though, or so I hope.


And now for some pictures. :)



one of my last views of america. in philadelphia with a bunch of other germany/france bound students. :)in dayton, before I left.
So yeah, that's all I'll say for now. :)

Bis Bald,
Kaite