hi friends and family.!.!.!
today i am leaving for my Europe Tour in about ten minutes, but i wanted to give a quick reminder for you all. in the next three weeks, i will be visiting:
-berlin
-prague
-vienna
-venice / lido di jesolo
-florence / montecatini terme
-niece
-lyon
-paris
-brussels
i wish you all could accompany me! dont' worry, there will be plenty of photos, and also, some of you will recieve post cards galore!
spring is here and the sun is warm and i am endlessly happy and thankful!
love you all the usa and back.
-jenny
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Springtime
Hello all! Long time, no see! Hee hee...
A few weeks ago, I took a 5 hour train alone to my host grandparent's house in Bad Neuenahr, and stayed with them for the entirety of my spring break - it was godly. The affectionate/intelligent/friendly/interesting Oma and Opa, as I called them, (means grandma and grandpa in German) brought me to...
- A Butterfly Green House
- Markusburg, a big old castle on a mountain next to the Rhein - the longest river in Germany
-Kammern, an old German village that's now open as a museum
-A Monastery
And meanwhile,
-I searched their awesome home, filled with old, german knick-knacks and trinkets from their many journies abroad...
-They taught me to bake a German Cherry Cake
-Biologist Opa taught me the names of all the birds that fly around outside the kitchen window
-I ventured through the endless forests and creeks surrounding their house
And THEN about a week ago, I got back from a really nice time in Mallorca, an island of Spain, with my Host Rotary Club here in Plön. I was the youngest by about thirty years, but it was really great. We stayed in a non-tourist filled Monastery in the middle of a big beautiful valley, with mountains surrounding us. I got my own little "Monk Cell" to sleep in, and there was a beautiful church within the area, and a little café. We would often have picnics in the nature surrounding us, witih the typical German meals of rolls, cheese, vegetables, meats... and every morning I'd eat breakfast up in the mountains, as the sheep and goats that roamed the area would sit and watch me, and wonder what I was doing in their territory. It was great and it's halarious to sit at the top of the mountains and hear all the goats baa-ing and their bells jingling from down in the valley.
And every day, all 33 of us were split into two groups: one group would take big, long hikes (up to seven hours) through the surrounding nature; and the other would take a bus to the destination and shop at the markets in the surrounding cities. But I was impressed that the majority of these people, some over 70 years old, would ALWAYS go with the hiking group. This is really an example of Germans' dedication for and love of nature.
It was a really nice time with all those old Rotary folks. I'll miss their releasing of endless knowledge on me during our 389028 hour long hikes, and asking me 39238 times what I'll be studying in college, to which I give the same reply, "Uhh, I dunno." Haha :)
But now, I'm back in school, and today I've got to work on a project for Philosophy about Ernst Bloch (?boring?) and one for English about Nelson Mandela (!exciting!).
Sorry I'm bad at updating. I do love you all! And I'll try to remember that I can also do SHORT posts. I always feel like I need to give long, explanatory ones, which makes me not to post so often. so, yeah :)
Love you all,
Jenny
A few weeks ago, I took a 5 hour train alone to my host grandparent's house in Bad Neuenahr, and stayed with them for the entirety of my spring break - it was godly. The affectionate/intelligent/friendly/interesting Oma and Opa, as I called them, (means grandma and grandpa in German) brought me to...
- A Butterfly Green House
- Markusburg, a big old castle on a mountain next to the Rhein - the longest river in Germany
-Kammern, an old German village that's now open as a museum
-A Monastery
And meanwhile,
-I searched their awesome home, filled with old, german knick-knacks and trinkets from their many journies abroad...
-They taught me to bake a German Cherry Cake
-Biologist Opa taught me the names of all the birds that fly around outside the kitchen window
-I ventured through the endless forests and creeks surrounding their house
And THEN about a week ago, I got back from a really nice time in Mallorca, an island of Spain, with my Host Rotary Club here in Plön. I was the youngest by about thirty years, but it was really great. We stayed in a non-tourist filled Monastery in the middle of a big beautiful valley, with mountains surrounding us. I got my own little "Monk Cell" to sleep in, and there was a beautiful church within the area, and a little café. We would often have picnics in the nature surrounding us, witih the typical German meals of rolls, cheese, vegetables, meats... and every morning I'd eat breakfast up in the mountains, as the sheep and goats that roamed the area would sit and watch me, and wonder what I was doing in their territory. It was great and it's halarious to sit at the top of the mountains and hear all the goats baa-ing and their bells jingling from down in the valley.
And every day, all 33 of us were split into two groups: one group would take big, long hikes (up to seven hours) through the surrounding nature; and the other would take a bus to the destination and shop at the markets in the surrounding cities. But I was impressed that the majority of these people, some over 70 years old, would ALWAYS go with the hiking group. This is really an example of Germans' dedication for and love of nature.
It was a really nice time with all those old Rotary folks. I'll miss their releasing of endless knowledge on me during our 389028 hour long hikes, and asking me 39238 times what I'll be studying in college, to which I give the same reply, "Uhh, I dunno." Haha :)
But now, I'm back in school, and today I've got to work on a project for Philosophy about Ernst Bloch (?boring?) and one for English about Nelson Mandela (!exciting!).
Sorry I'm bad at updating. I do love you all! And I'll try to remember that I can also do SHORT posts. I always feel like I need to give long, explanatory ones, which makes me not to post so often. so, yeah :)
Love you all,
Jenny
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Island of Fohr with Rotary
hi!
this weekend i was at another district Rotary meeting on an island called Föhr. our district (district 1890) met up with district 1940, who all come from the Berlin area (lucky!). so all together we were about 100 foreign exchange students. we stayed and slept in an old school there in Föhr. on friday night, we all met up and danced and talked and ate. saturday, we ventured out into the wind and cold (there was a big storm over the weekend), went to an indoor swim hall, then went to Hotel Atlantis right on the beach and ate from an assortment of 10 or so different types of cake, all for free. mmmm. saturday night, the students gave a short sort of presentation representing their country - singing, a skit, a dance, anything really. mexico and brazil and venezuela were the loudest and most energetic, as always. argentina did a nice tango presentation, chile also danced... it was extremely entertaining :). we all went home on sunday morning...
in other news, my Rotary club in Plön (not my district club; this club is with all the old men and women Rotary members in my town) has invited me to four free days in Mallorca (an island in Spain) with them from April 10-13. they said "as long as you can handle four days interacting with people more than twice your age, you're welcome!" i was already in Mallorca with my host family in October, but i'm more than happy to go again :)
my Rotary club in Plön also invited me to Denmark with them for one day on March 18.
i was supposed to give them a presentation of America in return at one of their Monday night meetings, but they scheduled in on the day i'm going on my Euro Tour with my big Rotary District (that is from April 28 - May 16).
i'll keep in touch!,
jennyg
this weekend i was at another district Rotary meeting on an island called Föhr. our district (district 1890) met up with district 1940, who all come from the Berlin area (lucky!). so all together we were about 100 foreign exchange students. we stayed and slept in an old school there in Föhr. on friday night, we all met up and danced and talked and ate. saturday, we ventured out into the wind and cold (there was a big storm over the weekend), went to an indoor swim hall, then went to Hotel Atlantis right on the beach and ate from an assortment of 10 or so different types of cake, all for free. mmmm. saturday night, the students gave a short sort of presentation representing their country - singing, a skit, a dance, anything really. mexico and brazil and venezuela were the loudest and most energetic, as always. argentina did a nice tango presentation, chile also danced... it was extremely entertaining :). we all went home on sunday morning...
in other news, my Rotary club in Plön (not my district club; this club is with all the old men and women Rotary members in my town) has invited me to four free days in Mallorca (an island in Spain) with them from April 10-13. they said "as long as you can handle four days interacting with people more than twice your age, you're welcome!" i was already in Mallorca with my host family in October, but i'm more than happy to go again :)
my Rotary club in Plön also invited me to Denmark with them for one day on March 18.
i was supposed to give them a presentation of America in return at one of their Monday night meetings, but they scheduled in on the day i'm going on my Euro Tour with my big Rotary District (that is from April 28 - May 16).
i'll keep in touch!,
jennyg
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Sick! and Writing!
hello!
i’m sitting in my bed right now with a little stand of peppermint tea, a cut up pear, home-squeezed orange juice, a glass of water and a packet of tissues next to me. WHY? because i’m sick.
yes, sick.
it’s aggravating, because just the other day, i was boasting to a new australian exchange student at my school, Rebecca, how i never get sick. then she told me, “well i see you riding your bike to school with wet hair. the quick change in temperature in your head should normally make you sick.” the next time i rode my bike to school with wet hair, i got this bad cold immediately after. AH. just because she told me that piece of information, did i get sick. it’s all psychological!
anyway, as miserable as this situation is, i tend to see the orange juice glass as half-full, not half-empty (although, in reality, my orange juice glass is pathetically 1/18th full, i just measured); so even though i’m stuck in bed today, that means i’ve time to fill you guys in on my wild and crazy journeys as of late.
school. unfortunately, today, i’m missing my English test over MACBETH! you heard right, my german english class is reading shakespeare. shows you how advanced this class is. the “Klausseur” (test) is normally FOUR school hours long.
but for my other classes, things are alright; the other day, my WiPo (Wirtschaft/Politik = Economics/Politics) teacher said, “Ya know, Jenny. I think your German is good enough now that you can be a REAL student.” but honestly, things haven’t changed much in that class; i try to listen, understand the majority of a sentence, but one or two words i don’t understand, i look them up, and then in doing so i miss the next few sentences.
this same teacher told me the other day, as i walked out of class: "weiss du was, jenny? ich glaube wir werden dich vermissen, wenn du gehst." (ya know what, jenny? i think we're going to miss you here when you leave." aw, shucks.
well, i had been planning on offering/teaching an English Conversational Class that meets once a month in Ascheberg, through the “Volkshochschule” (community school), but the administrator of all the classes (and our neighbor), Susan, came over yesterday to say that only ONE or TWO people signed up for it. that means, at least this first month, no class.
i’d like to blame this lack of excitement over my class, on the fact that Susan misspelled my name on the Volkshochschule Class Flyer:
“Jenny Winegood aus Champaign, Illinois, USA”…
had they known my last name was Goodwine, not Winegood, they would have realized the pleasant joke of my last name (DO YOU DRINK GOOD WINE??), nicely set off by the fact that i’m from Champaign, another alcoholic drink, and consequently gladly signed up to my class. unfortunately, “Winegood” may have two familiar words in it, yet it doesn’t make much coherent sense. oh well, PESCH!! (too bad!)
in other news, i was invited last Monday to a “Kaminabend” (Fireplace Evening) by my Rotary Club; they sent me an email, saying it’ll be a nice dinner at the home of a Roary member, afterward a relaxed conversation, where they’d like me to talk a little bit about the presidential election and my impression of germany. fortunately, older people (which is what Rotary members mainly consist of) like to hear themselves talk more than listening. so, i luckily didn’t have to do too much. it was actually a really pleasant evening; there were 8 people, one woman was particularly friendly, reminded me of my grandma; we ate salad, shrimp/rice, then a fruit geletain for dinner (and even though Rotary is supposed to enforce the rules of “no alcohol for foreign exchange students” the prominent Rotary man, also the host, kept filling up my wine glass, haha! this IS germany, remember.)
the man i sat next to, very friendly, would explain some things being said at the table, or explained to me his view on certain political issues like the immigration of more Turkish people into Germany, or about his children who took exchanges into the US. the table yelled at him whenever he began speaking english to me.
after dinner, they served strong coffee in nice, tiny china with Merci chocolates (really really good chocolate you can get here in Germany – i should have sent that back home for Christmas instead of Marzipan, ew). and the host addressed the everyone and said now was time for me to explain a little about my time in germany. maybe i should have just started talking about anything, but i had them ask me specific question – which they got tired of really quickly, because after 10 minutes or so, they gradually began talking to eachother, and then in tinier groups, to the people next to them. funny. i didn’t mind, because all eyes weren’t on me, and there was a guitar conveniently to my right…
oh, and this Rotary group invited me to Denmark in a few weeks!
and i’ve got a steady flow of hobbies here now:
-yoga on Tuesdays (expensive – 6.50 euros each time, but i get it for 5; the teacher is young and friendly and a typical-looking yoga instructor; it’s usually 5 older women plus me, but it’s really relaxing and nearby and small and nice.)
-photography club on Mondays (with Herr Buchholtz (his last name is “Bookwood” in english – he signs his artwork as that) he’s weird and energetic and makes corny jokes and barks at doors when someone knocks)
-painting club on Tuesdays (with Frau Kok; she’s young and laughs really oddly; we just finished making our own canvases)
-i’ve picked up guitar and piano again; i’ve made a few songs, or tried at least (i made a song about me being sick in bed!)
-i found a UNICYCLE in my host family’s garage; i’m still working on mastering it, but i think i’ll be able to do it soon; more people do it here in germany than i’ve ever seen in the US; can’t wait to randomly ride it around on the quad next semester)
two weekends ago, i think, my Rotary District (not the Rotary men in my town, but all the Rotary foreign exchange students in all the surrounding cities) took a big charter bus and rode down to the middle of Germany, to see The Harz, which is a big mountian range. the weather was beautiful, but we actually didn’t see the mountains, haha. i guess it wasn’t in the plan; we were just in the REGION. instead, we went through a big old mine, went through a big shopping area with lots of traditional looking houses, and then went to the VolksWagon headquarters, which was EXTREMELY HUGE and impressive.
it was like a mini city, one main building which was sort of museum-like, very interactive, lots of art, food, etc. and then behind it were several more buildings outside, with hills and creeks and cafés and several art galleries all around - with references to their actual cars not very emphasized. it was really creepy somehow, really utopian-looking, really aesthetically pleasing, especially with employees in every random corner, reminding me of Big Brother is watching you sorta thing. example: a few of us decided to sit down on a nice green hill outside, after walking around for so long. maybe TWO minutes later, a guy with black sunglasses and a bald head came out of nowhere, kneeled down all friendly, saying, “hey guys! look, we have benches just a little bit away!” and he waited there until we finally got up and moved. yes, it was friendly, but it just shows how monitored this seemingly open and happy place is. by the way, ALL the employees were nice, TOO nice and TOO happy… very fake. it really really weirded us out. can’t say i enjoyed this place too much… a little too perfect, ya know?
oh, and the weekend before, i think, i went with my exchange friends, Allison and Barbara, to a German rendition of an “American Prom” as it was called. it was ALL wrong though, haha:
-there was an actual live band
- there was actual DANCING! and absolutely no “grinding” (all the adults reading my blog, go do some reasearch on this word)
- there was also alcohol served, haha. germany, figures.
so. actually an improvement on the American prom, i’d say! it was nice.
alright, that’s enough for now.
until next time.
i hope i write again soon.
PEACE,
jennyg
i’m sitting in my bed right now with a little stand of peppermint tea, a cut up pear, home-squeezed orange juice, a glass of water and a packet of tissues next to me. WHY? because i’m sick.
yes, sick.
it’s aggravating, because just the other day, i was boasting to a new australian exchange student at my school, Rebecca, how i never get sick. then she told me, “well i see you riding your bike to school with wet hair. the quick change in temperature in your head should normally make you sick.” the next time i rode my bike to school with wet hair, i got this bad cold immediately after. AH. just because she told me that piece of information, did i get sick. it’s all psychological!
anyway, as miserable as this situation is, i tend to see the orange juice glass as half-full, not half-empty (although, in reality, my orange juice glass is pathetically 1/18th full, i just measured); so even though i’m stuck in bed today, that means i’ve time to fill you guys in on my wild and crazy journeys as of late.
school. unfortunately, today, i’m missing my English test over MACBETH! you heard right, my german english class is reading shakespeare. shows you how advanced this class is. the “Klausseur” (test) is normally FOUR school hours long.
but for my other classes, things are alright; the other day, my WiPo (Wirtschaft/Politik = Economics/Politics) teacher said, “Ya know, Jenny. I think your German is good enough now that you can be a REAL student.” but honestly, things haven’t changed much in that class; i try to listen, understand the majority of a sentence, but one or two words i don’t understand, i look them up, and then in doing so i miss the next few sentences.
this same teacher told me the other day, as i walked out of class: "weiss du was, jenny? ich glaube wir werden dich vermissen, wenn du gehst." (ya know what, jenny? i think we're going to miss you here when you leave." aw, shucks.
well, i had been planning on offering/teaching an English Conversational Class that meets once a month in Ascheberg, through the “Volkshochschule” (community school), but the administrator of all the classes (and our neighbor), Susan, came over yesterday to say that only ONE or TWO people signed up for it. that means, at least this first month, no class.
i’d like to blame this lack of excitement over my class, on the fact that Susan misspelled my name on the Volkshochschule Class Flyer:
“Jenny Winegood aus Champaign, Illinois, USA”…
had they known my last name was Goodwine, not Winegood, they would have realized the pleasant joke of my last name (DO YOU DRINK GOOD WINE??), nicely set off by the fact that i’m from Champaign, another alcoholic drink, and consequently gladly signed up to my class. unfortunately, “Winegood” may have two familiar words in it, yet it doesn’t make much coherent sense. oh well, PESCH!! (too bad!)
in other news, i was invited last Monday to a “Kaminabend” (Fireplace Evening) by my Rotary Club; they sent me an email, saying it’ll be a nice dinner at the home of a Roary member, afterward a relaxed conversation, where they’d like me to talk a little bit about the presidential election and my impression of germany. fortunately, older people (which is what Rotary members mainly consist of) like to hear themselves talk more than listening. so, i luckily didn’t have to do too much. it was actually a really pleasant evening; there were 8 people, one woman was particularly friendly, reminded me of my grandma; we ate salad, shrimp/rice, then a fruit geletain for dinner (and even though Rotary is supposed to enforce the rules of “no alcohol for foreign exchange students” the prominent Rotary man, also the host, kept filling up my wine glass, haha! this IS germany, remember.)
the man i sat next to, very friendly, would explain some things being said at the table, or explained to me his view on certain political issues like the immigration of more Turkish people into Germany, or about his children who took exchanges into the US. the table yelled at him whenever he began speaking english to me.
after dinner, they served strong coffee in nice, tiny china with Merci chocolates (really really good chocolate you can get here in Germany – i should have sent that back home for Christmas instead of Marzipan, ew). and the host addressed the everyone and said now was time for me to explain a little about my time in germany. maybe i should have just started talking about anything, but i had them ask me specific question – which they got tired of really quickly, because after 10 minutes or so, they gradually began talking to eachother, and then in tinier groups, to the people next to them. funny. i didn’t mind, because all eyes weren’t on me, and there was a guitar conveniently to my right…
oh, and this Rotary group invited me to Denmark in a few weeks!
and i’ve got a steady flow of hobbies here now:
-yoga on Tuesdays (expensive – 6.50 euros each time, but i get it for 5; the teacher is young and friendly and a typical-looking yoga instructor; it’s usually 5 older women plus me, but it’s really relaxing and nearby and small and nice.)
-photography club on Mondays (with Herr Buchholtz (his last name is “Bookwood” in english – he signs his artwork as that) he’s weird and energetic and makes corny jokes and barks at doors when someone knocks)
-painting club on Tuesdays (with Frau Kok; she’s young and laughs really oddly; we just finished making our own canvases)
-i’ve picked up guitar and piano again; i’ve made a few songs, or tried at least (i made a song about me being sick in bed!)
-i found a UNICYCLE in my host family’s garage; i’m still working on mastering it, but i think i’ll be able to do it soon; more people do it here in germany than i’ve ever seen in the US; can’t wait to randomly ride it around on the quad next semester)
two weekends ago, i think, my Rotary District (not the Rotary men in my town, but all the Rotary foreign exchange students in all the surrounding cities) took a big charter bus and rode down to the middle of Germany, to see The Harz, which is a big mountian range. the weather was beautiful, but we actually didn’t see the mountains, haha. i guess it wasn’t in the plan; we were just in the REGION. instead, we went through a big old mine, went through a big shopping area with lots of traditional looking houses, and then went to the VolksWagon headquarters, which was EXTREMELY HUGE and impressive.
it was like a mini city, one main building which was sort of museum-like, very interactive, lots of art, food, etc. and then behind it were several more buildings outside, with hills and creeks and cafés and several art galleries all around - with references to their actual cars not very emphasized. it was really creepy somehow, really utopian-looking, really aesthetically pleasing, especially with employees in every random corner, reminding me of Big Brother is watching you sorta thing. example: a few of us decided to sit down on a nice green hill outside, after walking around for so long. maybe TWO minutes later, a guy with black sunglasses and a bald head came out of nowhere, kneeled down all friendly, saying, “hey guys! look, we have benches just a little bit away!” and he waited there until we finally got up and moved. yes, it was friendly, but it just shows how monitored this seemingly open and happy place is. by the way, ALL the employees were nice, TOO nice and TOO happy… very fake. it really really weirded us out. can’t say i enjoyed this place too much… a little too perfect, ya know?
oh, and the weekend before, i think, i went with my exchange friends, Allison and Barbara, to a German rendition of an “American Prom” as it was called. it was ALL wrong though, haha:
-there was an actual live band
- there was actual DANCING! and absolutely no “grinding” (all the adults reading my blog, go do some reasearch on this word)
- there was also alcohol served, haha. germany, figures.
so. actually an improvement on the American prom, i’d say! it was nice.
alright, that’s enough for now.
until next time.
i hope i write again soon.
PEACE,
jennyg
Friday, February 8, 2008
OOOOO
HEY EVERYONE.
sorry i haven't written in a long while, things have been happening non stop it seems lately. where does all the time go? things are going marvelously well, actually. maybe the sunshine in normally gray and cold northern germany has something to do with it.
this weekend including today, friday (i getta miss skooool) i will be visiting the Harz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harz), a mountain range in the middle of germany. i'm going with my Rotary disrict, and all the foreign exchange students within it. we have a few new ones, from new zealand and south africa, and a few other nicely exotic countries...
i have to leave in an hour, and i haven't packed yet - WHOOPS.
PEACE FROM GERMANY AND BACK,
jennyg
sorry i haven't written in a long while, things have been happening non stop it seems lately. where does all the time go? things are going marvelously well, actually. maybe the sunshine in normally gray and cold northern germany has something to do with it.
this weekend including today, friday (i getta miss skooool) i will be visiting the Harz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harz), a mountain range in the middle of germany. i'm going with my Rotary disrict, and all the foreign exchange students within it. we have a few new ones, from new zealand and south africa, and a few other nicely exotic countries...
i have to leave in an hour, and i haven't packed yet - WHOOPS.
PEACE FROM GERMANY AND BACK,
jennyg
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Es geht!
Helllllllllo everyone!
It's about 9:19 am on Tuesday, and I'm eating some breakfast while listening to my all time favorite band, The Books. School today begins at 10:30, and I think I'll ride my bike to school today, which takes about 20 minutes, although there's snow outside today. It had been warm, but it apparently got cold again :(.
I'll give you a quick update of what's goin on...
My German had improved OUTRAGEOUS amounts since I've gotten here. It's difficult to gain a perspective sometimes, because sometimes (like when I'm watching the Simpsons with my host brother, hehe) I understand almost nothing. While other times, like in class, I can understand most everything. And I can have a normal conversation in German now...
And I wanna say how weird it first was for me to realize how much English really is the World Language.
-In any sort of international place, like the airport I was at in Amsterdam or the tourist areas I was at in Spain, the workers automatically speak English to you.
-Phrases on shirts here are all in English.
-I was in a shoe store, I told the worker I didn't understand his German, so he started speaking English. I said, "Hey, how did you know I spoke English?" He said, "I didn't, but I know that basically everyone speaks English."
-At the Rotary meetings, even though the foriegn exchange students come from ALL OVER THE WORD, English is the default language. If our German isn't good enough, the leaders speak English. All these foriegn exchange students know their Native language AND English fluently. They all learn it in school.
I hope English doesn't make all other languages obsolete!...
Oh, we just watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in my English class. It's also a popular movie over here. Before that, we read a book called The Tortilla Curtain, about the struggles of Mexican Immigrants. It's a pretty in depth English class, and some of the students speak more efficient English than I do, really. Everyone in my English class, I would consider fluent speakers. Wierd, huh? But this is an AP English class, not everyone in my grade speaks fluent English.
In other news, now I have to do a 10 minute presentation about Elizabethan London for my English Class. Ich habe keine Lust. (I don't feel like it.)
Oh, and in Febuary, I'm going to Cologne (big German city) for "Karnival". I have to find a costume!
Okay, I hope that's enough for now. Keep in touch.
jennyg
It's about 9:19 am on Tuesday, and I'm eating some breakfast while listening to my all time favorite band, The Books. School today begins at 10:30, and I think I'll ride my bike to school today, which takes about 20 minutes, although there's snow outside today. It had been warm, but it apparently got cold again :(.
I'll give you a quick update of what's goin on...
My German had improved OUTRAGEOUS amounts since I've gotten here. It's difficult to gain a perspective sometimes, because sometimes (like when I'm watching the Simpsons with my host brother, hehe) I understand almost nothing. While other times, like in class, I can understand most everything. And I can have a normal conversation in German now...
And I wanna say how weird it first was for me to realize how much English really is the World Language.
-In any sort of international place, like the airport I was at in Amsterdam or the tourist areas I was at in Spain, the workers automatically speak English to you.
-Phrases on shirts here are all in English.
-I was in a shoe store, I told the worker I didn't understand his German, so he started speaking English. I said, "Hey, how did you know I spoke English?" He said, "I didn't, but I know that basically everyone speaks English."
-At the Rotary meetings, even though the foriegn exchange students come from ALL OVER THE WORD, English is the default language. If our German isn't good enough, the leaders speak English. All these foriegn exchange students know their Native language AND English fluently. They all learn it in school.
I hope English doesn't make all other languages obsolete!...
Oh, we just watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in my English class. It's also a popular movie over here. Before that, we read a book called The Tortilla Curtain, about the struggles of Mexican Immigrants. It's a pretty in depth English class, and some of the students speak more efficient English than I do, really. Everyone in my English class, I would consider fluent speakers. Wierd, huh? But this is an AP English class, not everyone in my grade speaks fluent English.
In other news, now I have to do a 10 minute presentation about Elizabethan London for my English Class. Ich habe keine Lust. (I don't feel like it.)
Oh, and in Febuary, I'm going to Cologne (big German city) for "Karnival". I have to find a costume!
Okay, I hope that's enough for now. Keep in touch.
jennyg
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Norway!
There's Norway; the view of from the house we stayed at...
Happy New Year! Or… Frohes Neues Jahr!
I just got back from ten lovely days in Norway with Markus (host dad), Pauline (host sister) and Jakob (host brother). Please take a look at my photos and their captions in addition to this blog entry – my words don’t really do it justice.
We left at 11:45 pm on Christmas Eve, right after my host family celebrated Christmas together, and drove 17 hours in a tiny car through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and finally Norway… We had to take two ferries to cross first the Baltic and then the North Sea. NICE.
We stayed with Markus’ girlfriend, Anita, (my host parents are separated) who lives in a village called Rendalen, in the middle of Norway nowhere – really, most parts of Norway are in the middle of nowhere. There’s only 4 million people in ALL of Norway, I think. But that makes the beautiful nature all the more noticeable; there seemed to be endless amounts of: mountainy hills (smaller than mountains, bigger than hills – do we have a word for that?), forests, rivers, lakes…. and perfect silence. Norway is quiet anyway, but with the constant snowfall (there was probably 3 feet of snow the whole time), the utter silence was outrageous… I’d ski over to a river near Anita’s house and the quiet rushing of water gradually got louder and louder because it was the only sound.
But the week was really relaxing and interesting. We went skiing, “skifahren”, almost everyday, through the forests and hills, not down huge slopes or anything. We went sledding, “schlittenfahren”, down a lotta steep hills around. I told them that in my town, we only have one hill, which is actually just the leftover dirt from digging out the public pool. We also went skating on a makeshift skating rink. Some farmer layed it out over some of his property during the winter, and there’s a big old light with a big old switch there, and anyone can go out there at any point of the day/night and use it for free. Pauline and Jakob and I went out there from 12pm – 1am a few nights.
We spent a lot of time with Anita’s sister and brother inlaw, Berit and Vidar – they’re really young and relaxed and hilarious. I joined them in an awesomely odd Norwegian Christmas tradition, “Jule Bokk” where you dress up in weird clothing and put on a mask, you go inside neighbors’ houses, sit on their couch, and the neighbors ask you questions about yourself until they figure out who’s behind the mask. The two times I did this, we went out from like 12am – 1am; I asked Berit, how can we do this so late? She said, “Hey, if their lights are on, we know they’re awake. Do you sleep with your lights on?” And it really wasn’t a big deal to the neighbor’s either, in fact the two houses I went to, they were still up and kicking, hosting a few friends, and they graciously invited us inside… So, when they had guessed Berit and Vidar, they began questioning me. In Norwegian. But luckily, Berit and Vidar had prepared me with a one key phrase to respond with, “Jeg dritte”: I’m shitting. WHAT. haha, don't worry,
We spent new years tall up on a mountainy hill, watching big fireworks which from maybe 8 different spots. Afterward, we went sledding down the hill, and spent the rest of the evening at Berit and Vidar’s, socializing with Norweigians – and they all could carry conversations in English. I asked how they could all speak so well, and they said because they learned it in school, and also all the movies on TV are American movies, in English, but with Norwegians subtitles – so they hear English everyday. We also wanted to go swimming in a nearly frozen lake for 10 seconds or so for new years, but the lake had frozen over. Instead, we took part in a “Schnee Bad” – playing in the snow in our swim suits.
Ah! We also all rode in a one horse open sleigh, jingle bells included. Anita’s friend build two wooden sleighs, attatched each to a horse, and gave us a ride at night through the open fields and woods, with two candles next to us to lead the way (you could not see a THING on the road). They also provided the warmest blanket I’ve ever used, made out of 8 sheep skin, and Jakob actually got to use the guys’ coat, a HUGE thick thing also made out of sheep skin. They use animal skin a lot in Norway, like deer fur for these awesome boots that everyone there has.
Yeah, I also brushed up on my Norwegian a little bit... Haha, I actually did learn Ba Ba Black Sheep in Norwegian! And learned a few phrases ...
Ahh, okay. Enough for now. Thanks for reading..... One of my new year's resolutions is to write in here at least once a week, so keep reading!
much love,
-jennyg
P.S. a few photos:
Here I am on a frozen lake, in front of pretty pretty Norwegian mountains
we finally caught a shot of a moose!
pauline and i in a one horse open sleigh!
Pauline, Markus, Vidar, Anita, me, and Berit dressed up for JuleBokk!
Dinner at Vidar and Berits! We ate shrimp that we peeled ourselves, with mayonaisse and white bread...
Okay, nearly everyone in Norway uses this sleigh, called a "Spark" during the winter time to get from place to place. I have a picture up on flickr that shows 5 or 6 of them, all belonging to customers inside who used them to get there, standing outside the grocery store.
Norwegian Hallway from jennyg on Vimeo.
And here is a short video where you can hear some Norwegian from some people I got to know well over this break. This takes place my first day in Norway, in the foyer of Berit and Vidar's house (Anita's sister and husband), as Markus is trying on his new Norwegian hat and things... I thought this was such a strange experience at first, Norwegian being such a unfamiliar language, and me not knowing what to say... turns out they all speak English really well. Vidar is the gnome-looking one in the blue hat. He's awesome.
Ba Ba Lille Lam from jennyg on Vimeo.
I learned this Norwegian Children's Song, it's basically Ba Ba Black Sheep in Norwegian. This is Vidar singing to my camera so I could practice it later. :)
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