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