I´ve now completed my first week of school!

But let´s start with the weekend. On Saturday after my last post, Jörg and I took Bruno to a dog group, where he could play with other dogs and also get a bit of training. The dogpark was in an old, run down part of town that was very former east Germany... grey and industrial and broken windows. It was cold, but the meeting was nice nevertheless. I´m definitely a dog person, and Bruno is totally awesome. He´s really well trained, never barks (except in his sleep), and sneezes constantly. He´s just adorable.

I came back home and watched a bit of professional cylcing on Eurosport (perhaps my favorite TV channel) and yearned for my road bike... alas, a fixed gear mountain bike with jeans is just not the same. Oh well. Then I went to Baumarkt (like Home Depot) and Kaufland (like Walmart except a bit classier) with Ramona to buy a flower and licorice for Oma´s birthday presents.

We came back home and we watched soccer highlights and I taught Jörg how to say Home Depot. Totally hilarious... but he can now say that better than I can say to burp (rülpsen). We then watched a German movie that I had been wanting to see in America called the Baader Meinhof Komplex, about the radical leftist terrorist organization in Germany in the 70s called the Red Army Faction. The audio was of course in German, but we also put on German subtitles so I could read as well as hear, which was a lot easier and I actually understood a lot of the movie.

Sunday was Oma´s Geburtstag! Martin and Jezzy came to the house, and then we drove together to a restaurant a stone´s throw from the Polish border. Maria and Thomas were also there along with various family members that included Oma, Mannfried (her brother), Aunt Barbara and her husband (his name is escaping me). After lunch we went to Oma´s appartment for kaffee, kuchen, and various... other beverages. We toasted with calls of 'Prost!' (and looking in each other´s eyes, it´s good luck). We sat around and talked for a while, I was again asked about America´s speed limits, drinking age, and driving age. These seem to be favorite questions of Germans. Soon Mannfried broke out the Schnapps and I had the joy of seeing 77 year old Oma throw back three in a row with no hands. Probably the funniest thing I´ve seen yet in Germany.

So that brings us to Monday, during which I had English for the first time. I sat with Simon and helped out with irregular plurals and various grammatical things. It was nice to be the source of knowledge, haha. They were also reading about social class in America, our welfare system, and the classism in our educational system. I helped explain the debate over welfare to Simon, and then the teacher had me speak aloud about our educational system (secondary and higher) and if it was equal among the classes. Luckily I had just read a book about social class and education (Creaing A Class, I recommend it), so I had plenty to say. I tried to speak slowly so everyone could understand (since I now know how hard it is to understand native speakers at lightning speed), and the general reaction was quite positive.

I then had two canceled classes in a row, so I spent time in the cafeteria with a whole bunch of girls and Simon, including Daniela, Linda, and Vanessa. I was again asked about the drinking and driving ages, of course. It was nice to just sit and relax. I even saw a Lady Gaga music video for the first time on the TV in the Caf... I can´t even escape her here.

I then had politics, which again was a mess of not understanding anything. The teacher wants me to make a presentation on the american political parties and the upcoming election... in mostly German and some simple English. I have a few weeks to prepare, but I´m already nervous!

I came home by bike and had dinner with Ramona, and then we went to the Kino to see my first German movie in theaters! We went to see Boxhanger Platz, a movie set in East Berlin in 1968. Most of the characters spoke in the Berliner dialect, though, so I didn´t understand a while lot. I pretty much gathered that there was a love triangle and a murder, but not much beyond that.

So that finally brings us to today, Tuesday! I had Biologie, where we continued to look at cells under microscopes and draw them. Today it was potato (Kartoffel), rice (Reis), tomato (Tomate), and carrot (Morübe). It was a bit boring, but drawing pictures is something I can do so that was nice.

Then I had German, which without Gustavo (I think he was sick) wasn´t too much fun. I finished my first German children´s book and then worked on some grammar.

I then biked home at 11:15 (love German school) and had a delicious vegetable casserole type thing (Aufbau, in German) with Ramona. After lunch we took Bruno for a walk in the forest, and then it was time for me to leave for Sport class, which is swimming until November! So Ramona and I biked to the town swimming hall, and then I waited for my classmates to arrive since I was a bit early. Luckily I soon saw Daniela and she explained to me how the lockers work and everything.

Sport is also with Frau Rennert (she´s my German teacher). She´s totally crazy and talks to me like I´m four, but I like her because she´s hilarious. I excelled in swim class! We practiced holding our breath under water, swam in circles, and swam under water. We also did some diving, during which we were actually graded on our skill. Thanks Coach Tracy for making us do starts every practice... my dive was an example for the class for a correct dive! I got a 15/15, or a 1+... which is equiavalent to an A+. Not that I´m getting real grades or anything, but still!Swimming was awesome! So then I biked home, and now I´ve been relaxing since. Tomorrow I get to sleep in an extra hour and a half because Musik is canceled! And then Freitag is my first Profi Fußball game! Totally excited! Oh also, tomorrow I think I have an AFS meeting in Cottbus.

That´s all for now!

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!

Today was another great day of school!

After getting a locker from the Hausmeister, I went down into the basement of the school for my music class. Simon was in the class, and after introducing myself to the teacher I sat near him at the front of the class. The teacher spoke very very quickly but I managed to do okay. For the first hour we listened to two different operas of Orfeo and then wrote down differences between the two versions. The teacher seemed pleased with what I wrote down although I´m sure it was very simplistic and grammatically incorrect... The second half of the class was much more fun. We sang, accompanied sometimes by the teacher on the piano and also by Simon on guitar. It was really quite funny for me, because we were singing American rock and pop songs! The first one we sang was Come As You Are by Nirvana! That would never happen in America. Then we sang the song ´Hey Julie´ which is apparently from Scrubs? And then finally a song by Donovan. It was really fun.

I spent the break between Musik and my next class (chemistry) with Simon by the lockers. There´s no specific time for lunch at the school, so people bring or buy snacks and just munch in the ten minute or so breaks between classes. I met a few more people, including Igor who is from Russia (although not an exchange student). Then I was off to Chemistry.

In Chemistry I again introduced myself to the teacher, explained to her that I don´t need grades (thank God), and took a seat. Daniela and Linda were in this class but there were no free seats near them. For the first hour the class took a test, so the teacher gave me a book and showed me what they were working on (Orbitals for electrons... I could barely understand it in 11th grade in English let alone in German). After the test the teacher did a bit of a lecture on oxidization and reduction and ions and charges and such... which I actually followed because she wrote on the board. I even raised my hand and answered a question correctly! Needless to say that felt really good :)

After Chemie, English was yet again canceled so Simon, Gustavo, and I had two free hours. In German school they don´t really have subsititute teachers, so whenever your teacher is gone you can just do whatever you want, including leave the school and come back. Simon invited me and Gustavo to go into the city with him and walk and explore to pass the time. We got a ride from Patrick and Max, who also had free hours and were going back to one of their houses. We walked around the city, Simon got passport photos taken in a shop, and then we talked and drank coffee and hot chocolate in an Eiscafé. It was really nice to just talk and actually understand and learn about Argentina and Deutschland and share about my life in America. We then walked to the hospital to visit a friend of Simon´s who was working there for her Praktikum, which is like an apprenticeship/workstudy thing that is common in German schools. Then we went briefly in a small grocery store, got some gummis, and then got picked up by Patrick and went back to school.

The three of us had German class, so Gustavo and I sat in the back and did our own work again. I spent some time with my grammar book and spoke with him a bit. He goes back home in November, unfortunately, since he´s in the Southern hemisphere and has been here since February.

After school, I came back to the house with my hostmother, and my hostaunt came over to visit. We talked with her and I showed her the Maine book and gave her salt water taffy. Then we went on a bike ride with Bruno! It turned out to be a nice day, although it was rainy in the morning and always cold. Then we came back to the house, I did some German homework, and now we´re watching the German national women´s soccer team play Canada. I think it´s a prelim for the world cup. It´s 1-0 Germany!

That´s all for now!

Today was a great day in Deutschland! But let me start with yesterday.

I woke up early in anticipation of school, got dressed, and then ate breakfast with Ramona. Then we went together into the school. We met with one of the directors (vice principal?) and he figured out my schedule. I will be taking English, Deutsch, History, Politics, Biology, Chemistry, Sport, Musik, and Mathe. Yesterday I was supposed to begin with three hours of English. I thought that would be a good start, since I can actually speaking English... but it turned out that the classes were canceled because the English teacher was on the class trip with the 13th grade. So we decided that I would just start the next day (today).

Instead of school we went shopping around town. Here´s an interesting difference between grocery stores in Amerika and grocery stores in Deutschland... you know how anoying people leave their grocery carts all over the parking lot and they actually pay someone to go get them? And how the carts are sometimes in the way of parking spots? In Germany the carts are locked together until you put a Euro in them. Then you can take one, and when you return it and lock it to the group once again, you get the Euro back. It´s perfect. Wunderbar. Also, I was reminded of how far in the former East I am when I saw Tempo-Bohnen (tempo beans) in the grocery store... it´s a former product of East Germany and is straight out of the movie Goodbze Lenin! I got really excited and took a photo. When we came back home, I napped and read a children´s book on the history of the world. Later we ate dinner and watched Who wants to be a Millionare and the Cottbus vs Karlruhe fußball game. (I am so happy to finally have ß ö ü and ä on my keyboard!)

So that brings us to today! I started school! It´s kind of odd to have walls, but the school is old and cold enough that it´s not too different fcrm MTA. It´s much, much easier to navigate. Today I only had four 45 minute periods, so it was a good way to ease into it. I first had two periods of biology. Simon, the boy that wrote to me on the German facebook (SchülerVZ), was in the class and I sat with him. He was incredibly welcoming and it was so nice to already have an aquaintance. The class was taking a test for the first period so I just sat quietly, but in the second period there was notes and a lecture about the parts of a cell. Many of the science terms are the same but I should´ve paid better attention in Ms. Mason´s 10th grade bio. While I could follow what we were talking about it was fast and mostly over my head. After class Simon introduced me to his friends Daniela (who is very nice and showed me around and let me sit with her and such also) and Patrick and Max (though I´m probably spelling their names incorrectly). Simon let me put my jacket in his locker cause I didn´t have one yet. I will get my own ´Schrank´tomorrow. I spent the break with them, and then I went together to German class with Daniela and her friend Ewa (like Eva). In German class I sat next to Gustavo, another exchange student. He´s from Argentina and has been here since February, but he didn´t know any German when he came so we´re more or less in the same place, although I´m sure he understands a lot more. He´s hard to understand becasue of his accent but very nice. The teacher gave he and I separate assignments, since we both don´t need grades and obviously can´t keep up with the rest of the class. He worked on grammar and I read a book from the 7th grade class. The teacher is totally crazy but really nice, she made me get up in front of the class and answer questions about myself! But she kept saying ´Kein Angst!´ which means ´No fear!´ Quite funny. she also told me that on Tuesdays we swim for sport class (she´s also the gym teacher) until November. Awesome! So then Ramona picked me up, we went to the small grocery store for a few things, and then we just ate lunch with Thomas (Maria´s boyfriend, he´s an electrician and is working on their garden guest house).

It´s cold and rainy here, and I´m sure it will only get colder. Despite this, next week I will take my bicycle to school...

So three days in I can understand pretty much everything that is said direclty to me, sometimes with a few words looked up or rephrased. It´s pretty fast, too. When other people are having their own conversations and with the teachers I can generally follow but not completely get it. I can understand kid´s shows but not much of regular TV... too fast. Especially news. My speaking still needs a lot of work but I am practicing! In a little while I think we´re going back into town to get a residence permit and go to the bank.

Everything is great! I can´t wait to go back to school tomorrow.

Dani

Ich bin zu Hause!

I have finally arrived safely in Germany!

On Tuesday I flew from Portland to Washington, DC with Emily, Sorrel, and Nate (fellow AFSers from Maine). After a short layover at JFK, we arrived at Washington Dulles and were met by Darin and Ryan, AFS volunteers and staff. From there we took a shuttle to our hotel. So began four days of orientation. We eventually met up with all of the other Congress-Bundestag students and got to know each other. Everyone was extremely tired, but excited. It was amazing how everyone at least seemed to get along with everyone else. Over the next three days we visited the US Department of State, the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, the Vietnam War Memorial, the German embassy, and our congressional representative`s offices. We also did a lot of workshops about being good ambassadors from our country and communication with our host family and German culture (etc etc). Although we are all going to different parts of Deutschland and may only see each other again at MidStay Camp in Berlin, I still became close with many people and will continue to check up on them throughout the year. The general consensus on the orientation was that it was necessary and at least somewhat useful, but difficult because all we wanted to do was finally get to Germany!

Although the moment seemed like it would never come, it finally did and we arrived at Dulles International Airport. Getting a group of 77 exchange students and two chaperones through airport secuirty and check in is not a good time, but we eventually made it. Soon enough, we were boarding the plane.

I was lucky enough to not only switch into Economy Plus (six extra inches of leg room) but to also end up sitting next to a friend I had made at the orientation, Ben (a fellow cyclist!). Neither of us were able to sleep much on the plane (maybe a half hour, if that), but having each other to talk to (and read German newspapers with) was definitely nice.

Upon landing, we went through customs and met up with AFS Germany. After splitting us into our train travel groups, we met up with other exchange students from around the world (I saw Japan, Thailand, Bolivia, and more). After a short wait, we went down to meet our train. I was able to actually sleep a little bit on the train, which was nice, but it was still a five hour train ride... and we did have to change trains once. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station). At first, I couldn´t find my family (I also wasn´t exactly sure who was picking me up) but I finally saw Maria, Martin, his girlfriend Jezzy, and Ramona (hostmom). They greeted me with ´Welcome Chocolate´ and the announcement that I was going to school on Monday! Yikes! At this point I was so jetlagged there was no way I could speak German, so we made our way to the Pizza Hut in the train station (I was starving) while speaking mostly English.

I ordered a water (I spied Evian behind the counter, a brand I knew to be uncarbonated natural water) and a slice of cheese. To my surprise, the employee instead filled my cup with water from the fountain, which I assumed would also be tap water... wrong. Bubbly. I will have to get used to this! Haha. We then proceeded to get lost in the parking garage underneath the trainstation, but eventually dropped Martin and Jezzy off (they stay in Berlin) and drove to Spremberg. The Autobahn in this part of Germany looks remarkably similar to Maine´s 295, but of course with some differences (notably the lack of speed limit signs). We cruised along at about 140 km per hour, or about 85 mph. Welcome to Germany!

Although it had become dark, we took the scenic route through Spremberg because they´re making Baustelle (road construction) through most of the inner roads. It is a small and quaint town with typical German houses and gardens, but it has plenty of shops and restaurants and bars and the like. I think it is the right size for me. Upon entering the house, we were greeted by Bruno, a wonderfully energetic and adorable yellow lab.

I was then shown to my room and the bathroom (I was in desperate need of a shower). I love my bedroom! It is so nice and colorful and just... wunderbar. I unpacked a bit and came down to a late dinner of pasta with a homemade cheese sauce. Sehr lecker! Originally Maria and I had planned to go briefly to the birthday party of one of her friends, but it wasn´t scheduled to start until 11 pm and I was tired. So we went to the bar instead for my first German drink, beer with cola (this appears to be a uniquely German phneomenon, unless I´m just unfamiliar with it in the States). I´m in the process of aquiring the taste.

Then we went back to the house and I finally got to sleep! I actually slept so late that I missed breakfast, so I´ll have to write about the typische German breakfast tomorrow. Maria´s boyfriend Thomas was over, so I met him. I explored the beautiful and expansive vegetable, fruit, and flower garden with Maria, and then the four of us sat down to a delicious lunch of fresh garden zuchini, potatoes, and potato/vegetable pancakes (ish). Meatloaf also for everyone but me. After lunch, Jörg arrived and they opened the presents I brought them. I´ll have to give Martin his present later.

In the afternoon Maria and I carved a pumpkin, and then we all went for a long walk with Bruno through the woods, and we looked for nicht giftig(not poisonous) mushrooms for dinner. Ramona seems to be quite the expert on wild mushrooms. We walked for perhaps an hour or so, then came back to the house and I skyped with my parents. I showed my host family the memory book my mom made, and tried Mädchenbier (beer with fruit syrup/sugar). It was a bit too sweet for me. After that, we had dinner, and now I write! Everything is very good so far, and I start school tomorrow! That will be another whole blog post, I´m sure.

Bis dann!

PS: You can see my photos on my Smugmug account, daniellesmith.smugmug.com.

So, today I did a final bit of shopping for Germany related items... which today included tank tops, a frisbee, a map of europe, and map pins. It seems as if I finally have everything on my list, but this could change. I also did a bit of shopping in my closet and figured out what shirts/pants/etc/etc I'm going to bring with me (not a whole lot).

My creation of a SchülerVZ account was quite productive, as I received a friend request and wall post from a boy with whom I'll be going to school next year. If I'm correct in my assumptions, we'll even be in the same grade. He is a vegetarian and likes punk rock. I am very excited about this, even though he is sixteen (I will have to get used to this). A potential friend, indeed.

In other news, I have also created a SmugMug account (per the constant badgering of a certain Jeremy Willette) for my photos of the upcoming year. It's much cheaper than an external harddrive and puts my pictures on display for all to view. The link is daniellesmith.smugmug.com. Clearly there are no Germany photos yet, but I've put up some lovely shots of my American friends, my family vacation to Hungary, and my graduation. I figure folks in Germany may be interested to see these things.

The official countdown to departure for DC is fifteen days. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself until then, but at least for the upcoming week I've got lots of friends to say goodbye to. Quite sad, but inevitable I suppose.

That's all for now.
Dani

Today I spent the day gathering my belongings and making a big pile of everything I'm bringing to Deutschland. I even did a test pack and weighed my suitcase for kicks, it came in at only 25 pounds! And I have 44. So maybe I can bring those rainboots after all, or soccer cleats. I then talked to my host sister on Facebook for a while and set myself up a SchülerVZ account (German equivalent of Facebook).

I'm getting excited! Only three weeks until I leave the country... craziness!