Things here in Deutschland are still going well! I´m in the process of posting more photos to SmugMug, so check them out at daniellesmith.smugmug.com!

On Thursday I woke up extra early for Biologie, which starts at 7 am on Thursdays! Way. Too. Early. My German is at its worst in the morning and my brain just can´t handle translating when it should be still asleep. We spent the hour looking at the cells of a Canadian water plant under microscopes and drawing pictures. Drawing pictures was something I could definitely handle, even in German, so that was good. Simon helped me out a bit to understand exactly what we were doing... and it´s great being an exchange student because even if you don´t do it perfectly the teacher is just happy that you´re trying to participate.

After bio I had Deutsch, during which Frau Rennert sat me and Gustavo out in the hall to read The Little Prince aloud to each other. After we finished reading we sat and talked for a while (in German of course, he doesn´t speak English), about Germany, Argentina, the USA, being an exchange student... it´s nice to have time to talk to someone who really knows what I´m going through. Eventually though Frau Rennert called us back into the classroom and set us to work on grammar book stuff.

After Deutsch I had Sport Theory, which seems to be a uniquely German phenomenon. I went with Daniela once again to Frau Rennert (she also teaches sport). She lectured for about 45 minutes about sport history, mostly the olympics. Like with most lectures in German, I could follow the general concepts but not all the details. Luckily she knows my German skills well and didn´t expect me to take notes or anything. It´s better for me to just listen at this point.

Then I had a free hour, so I went down to the cafeteria with Daniella and we sat with some of her friends including Linda and Wanessa who are especially nice. The cafeteria is really small and has a TV that is always playing American medical shows dubbed in German (usually Scrubs). American popular media dubbed in German continues to amuse me, perhaps because I never really watched it in the US. The bunch of us girls sat around talking about boys (well, they did, I just tried to keep up) and other typical teenage girl things. It was nice.

After that I had politics, which was not so good. The teacher was really nice and speaks English well so when I didn´t understand he could help me, but the whole two hours consisted of student presentations and I understood almost nothing. Politics has so many big and unfamiliar words, and Germans like to make words even bigger by squishing multiple words together (no hyphens). Apparently he wants me to help explain the American political and government system... I hope he means in English because there´s no way I could do it in German in front of the whole class.

Finally Politik ended and I went back home with Ramona. After a bit to eat, I laid down for a nap. An hour later, I was woken up by Ramona rubbing my cheek. Upon awakening I groggily asked her (in English, which she doesn´t understand) 'Is it Saturday?' (It was Thursday). Yeah, being an exchange student is exhausting. We then went downstairs and went for a bike ride into downtown Spremberg. We got some Eis (gelato) and mineral water (which I actually managed to drink), and then went into a shop so I could by a scarf. I felt very European.

That night, I read some poems out loud to Ramona to work on my pronunciation. My mouth still won´t make certain sounds, but I´m working on it. My German is so much better in the evening... I even managed to tell Ramona the story of my parents and I almost missing our train in Hungary.

So that brings us to yesterday, Friday. I only had two classes, so I got to go home at 11:15! Love Germany. I had Geschichte first, which is history. It was pretty much a repeat of Politik. But then I went down to the cafeteria with Linda and talked with her and her friend... Krissi? I´m still learning names! I had Mathe with Linda also so we walked up together. To my pleasant surprise, I managed to understand everything in math. Everything. Once I figured out the words for point, line, slope, and derivative, of course. I´m two semesters ahead of the class in calculus, so once I got the vocab down the math was a piece of cake. I even raised my hand a couple of times to answer questions :) I think I´ll even be able to do the homework! Math may quickly become my favorite subject after English, haha.

I biked home after math in the rain. Jörg was home from Berlin, so we had lunch (potatoes with quark, another uniquely German phenomenon... it´s a milk product somewhere between sour cream and cream cheese). An hour or so after lunch we sat down for what I call Kaffee and Tee time, where we drink a hot beverage and have a bit of cake or something sweet. Then Jörg and I went for a bike ride with Bruno on the bike path that runs along the river through the forest. We stopped at a picnic area by the river for a while and Bruno went for a bit of a swim. Then Jörg showed me the huge new solar panel facility and the windmills. Germany is very into alternative energy, Dad, you would love it.

We came back to the house for dinner, which was a rice salad, mixed vegetables, and applesauce made from scratch. I learned the words for burp and fart (although I can´t really pronounce the word for burp correctly), and we just laughed and laughed and laughed. That´s the German sense of humor for you... Then we watched Who Wants to Be a Millionare (Wer wird ein Millionär) and I translated the questions with a glass of red wine (a bit too bitter for me). We went to bed shortly after... I´m always tired.

This morning so far has consisted of a shower and a typical German breakfast of some Müsli (cereal... ish), fresh bread from the bakery with cheese, butter, and jam, and grapes. I also tried a Pfannkuchen, which tasted exactly like those sugar dough balls at China Rose, but it had some yummy jam inside.

Now it´s time for lists!

Things I love about Germany:
My host family
Bread
The beds don´t have sheets... just a thick comforterish thing that´s really wonderful
Everyone I´ve met is really informed politically and has an educated opinion on world events
Hearing and speaking German
Everyone bikes
When a teacher is sick, class is canceled
When class is canceled, we can leave the school and do whatever we want

Things I´m looking forward to:
Oma´s Geburtstag (birthday) tomorrow
My welcome party (?) next weekend
Going to my first Profi soccer game on Friday
English class

Bis dann!