Since the last time I wrote...

-I went to a concert in Cottbus with Simon, Pati, and Hans. It was really crass, straight up German hardcore punk, without a melody to be heard and three chords and barking and moshing. I was generally unenthused by the music, but the atmosphere was cool and the company was of course great. Also, we stood outside for a while and there was a random, really adorable sheephound-type dog running around and we and some punks played fetch with him for about a half an hour.

-I had my first 'Turkish Pizza' - which is essentially a Döner in a wrap. Quite tasty.

-I woke up before dawn and biked to school for chemistry (which starts at 7 am on Tuesdays...ugh) only to have the teacher not show up. Mist.

-I kind of understood our lesson about enyzmes and substrats in Biologie, despite my complete incompetence when it comes to science.

-I finished my German pro cycling magazine! I also started to reread Die Gewehre Der Frau Carrar, which is the Brecht book that Frau Rennert gave me a month or so ago. The first time I read it, a dictionary was a necessity... this time, I have barely needed it at all!

-We started talking about democracy versus dictatorship states in Politik, and we've been listening to presentations about the political systems of Russia, China, Iran, etc.... and determining if they have democratic potential and to what extent they are dictatorships. It's quite interesting, and I've actually been understanding a lot!

-I started studying the Subjunctive (Konjunktiv) case in my German course... still tricky, but it's getting easier.

-I received a package from home complete with gum, gloves, socks, PEANUT BUTTER, Libby's canned pumpkin for pumpkin pie, cards, a puzzle, a bicycling skull cap, and Bicycling and AP magazine! I was quite pleased, and I made Pati his first ever PB&J. Of course I also had one myself :) Tastes like home.

-I had two free hours in the cafeteria on Friday and I spent them in the cafeteria with Ewa, Vanni, Karina, and Linda, helping with English homework and explaining Thanksgiving. We also played bowling with drink bottles and a calculator. Pretty fun :)

-I saw the first part of the 7th Harry Potter movie!!! I went with a bunch of friends including Simon, Pati, Ewa, Daniela, Vanni, and Anna and Erik. We also got pizza before (Pati and I split a really yummy veggie pizza!) and then got drinks in the Klaki (a bar in Spremberg) afterwards. The movie was really really good, and I understood it all! Unfortunately the ending is a horrible cliffhanger and now we have to wait until June or something... but oh well. The evening was really quite wonderful and I had a great time hanging out with everyone :)

-I went to Berlin with Pati and Hans yesterday! There we went to an anti-fascism demonstration in honor of Silvio Meier, who was killed by Neo-nazis in Berlin some time ago. We marched through the streets of Berlin with over four thousand other people... chanting and waving flags and such. There were even some fireworks set off from the top of apartment buildings, but I'm not sure if they were legal or not. It was really sureal and powerful and I quite enjoyed myself. It was definitely a cultural experience that I never would have had in America. The Germans, especially the Berliners, love their protest. Also, afterwards we went back to my house and had a fire in the garden and drank glühwein with my host family :) It was cold but quite nice.

-I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my host family! Minus the turkey, of course. I made crannberry stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, honey balasmic carrots, corn, pumpkin pie, and chocolate chip cookies! All from scratch! Although of course with a little help from my host mom... :) The cookies, especially, were quite a hit. Everything tasted like home and it was really nice to share the holiday with my host family, who were of course experiencing it for the first time.


So, yes. Things are good. I am quite enjoying myself here in Germany. In honor of Thanksgiving, I'd like to say just how thankful I am for this wonderful, crazy experience that I am living. I am so thankful for my great host family, for how awesome my German friends are, for the fact that I get to wake up everyday and get to speak German and learn about another culture... just for everything.

:)

Oh, and there are new photos on SmugMug for your enjoyment!