Weihnachten in Mulheim

Even though I was a little homesick during the holiday season, I really enjoyed my exchange Christmas. German people do Christmas very well, and my host family was no exception. My host mom’s sister and her children came over for Christmas time, and we opened presents on Christmas eve before eating. That night I went to church with a few members of the host family, and then we went to sleep. On Christmas (German Santa Claus comes on the 6th of December) we ate two really good meals, and enjoyed good company. Here are some pictures:

The Christmas tree

Christmas eve dinner (my host grandmother/”Omi”)

Another one of Christmas eve dinner

My host mom’s sister and my host dad making “Feuerzangenbowle” (burnt wine?). They melted a block of sugar into a bowl of wine mixed with different fruit

I’m now finally done with my Christmas posts (although not my Christmas thank you notes), and can update some on the going-ons of late January and Febuary. Until next time

Zeugnistag!

• It actually really not that exciting, but today we received our Zeugnis (= report card). I’m happy to say I didn’t fail any classes, but let’s just say my grades here wouldn’t be getting me into Harvard.
• We only had a three hours of school today because we received our report card. My host mom also told me that her sister’s children get two days off when they receive their report card. Not sure if getting a piece of paper requires such a big reaction, but I’ll take the short day.
• I’ve discovered I’ve become sort of humiliation bar in all of my classes. If you did worse than the American in any class that requires German ability than the whole class proceeds to make fun of the poorly-achieving German. Any consideration that I might have studied or done well is thrown out the window
• When I got my schedule I was really excited about the class Sport LK. It literally translates to “advanced P.E.” I expected 5 hours a week of playing soccer or basketball and just enjoying the P.E. life. However it is nothing like American P.E. and we spend most of our time in the classroom studying sport theory about muscle contractions and ATP energy. When we do play something we spend a great deal of time going over correct form and procedures. It’s actually my hardest class . . . I miss American P.E.

Trip to the East

First of all I just wanted to mention that I did in fact stay up to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night (Monday morning). The coverage started at midnight, and at first I was watching the German broadcast. After ten minutes I couldn’t take how horrible it was anymore, and was driven to listen to the also horrendous Joe Buck. At 3am I was a little disappointed I’d stayed up to watch the game since it was over after the first half.

Before Christmas I went to Saxony (Sachsen) for a weekend. I left on the Friday that school was getting out for Christmas break with the bus. After a six and a half hour ride I arrived in Leipzig and was picked up by another exchange student who is a good friend. We went to his host family’s apartment and ate homemade pizza that his host dad had just finished. After that we went out and explored a little bit of the Leipzig nightlife. The next day we explored the city center and Christmas market a bit, and met up with some other CBYX exchange students.

In the afternoon I took the train from Leipzig to Halle which was very crowded because Halle FC had just played Red Bull Leipzig in Leipzig and all of the Halle fans were returning at the same time I was trying to get to Halle. Halle is home to the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg where one of my host brothers studies. Martin Luther was a teacher at the University of Wittenberg (about one hour from Halle, unfortunately I didn’t get to see the famous cathedral where Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door), and the current university bares his name after the University of Halle and the University of Wittenberg merged in 1817. After I arrived in Halle I met with my host parents who had driven from Mulheim in the morning. We then met with my host brother and his roommate and we all proceeded to go to a nice Italian restaurant and explore the Halle city center and Christmas market. On Sunday morning all five of us packed into the car for the trip home. We made the trip in about three and a half hours where as it took the bus almost twice as long. I think that was probably the fastest I’d ever gone in a car. We’d gone really fast on the autobahn before, but that day my host dad said we were going at some points around 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour).

When I was in the East I could definitely tell a difference between it and where I live in the West. First of all I don’t want to stereotype all Eastern Germans. However it seemed to me the people there were a little more alternative. Actually classmates had warned me before I left that the people were “a little different.” I guess living almost completely separated from the West for half a century can create a cultural difference. My friends host dad actually said he wanted to vacation in North Korea. That’s not a joke. I guess we know where his political views stand. In terms of appearance you can definitely tell some buildings are communist era, but overall it’s really nice. Apparently the East still receives a great deal of money per year from the west with which they start new construction projects as well as fix up older buildings. My host brother actually lives in a renovated communist era apartment building. By the way the East is very popular with you people because of its cost of living and progressive thinking. Last but not least, the green and red guys that say whether or not to cross the street are different. Apparently after reunification when the government tried to change the communist “street guys” to the same as the ones in the West there was a huge uproar and they ended up not being changed. I’ll post some pictures of them, but you should look them up on google for a little better quality.
Here are some pictures:

Leipzig

More Leipzig

An old style German band playing on a balcony near the Christmas market

The Saale river near the university in halle with my host mom, host brother, and his roommate

Abandoned communist housing near my host brother’s apartment

The “street guys”

Until next time

The Christmas Markets

I realize it’s February and I still haven’t finished up posting about Christmas. Hopefully I will get them done within the next couple of days though.

I now understand why people travel from all around the world to see the German Christmas markets. They were one of the few things that really put me in the Christmas spirit. Not to mention, as my host mother said (in German), “it’s not often you get this many happy German people together in one place.” The Christmas markets sell traditional German Christmas wares, and also offer some good food and drinks such as Bratwursts and Gluhwein. Here are some pictures:

Dortmund Christmas Market with their huge Christmas tree (the biggest I saw at a Christmas market)

My host parents at the Essen Christmas Market that we attended together

Essen Christmas Market with a canopy of lights

My host grandmother at the Duisburg Christmas Market that we attended together

Leipzig Christmas Market

At the Halle Christmas Market

Halle Christmas Market

Until soon

Couple of concerts at the Essen Philharmonic

I’m starting my string of Christmas recaps today, and hopefully they’ll be done in the near future.

Some of you that know me well may be surprised to learn that I actually went to a philharmonic. However the concerts were pre-Christmas and really helped to get me in a holiday spirit. I saw a concert with only American Christmas classics played by a swing band with my host grandmother (who understood none of the words but still enjoyed it). It was really nice to hear some of the classics we hear on the radio in the US starting 20 seconds after Thanksgiving ends till Christmas day. I also saw Handel’s Messiah with my host mother. Although not entirely Christmas orientated it was a truly powerful performance. They were both fun concerts to be with my host mother and grandmother and to get a little bit into the holiday spirit. Here are some pictures:

Host grandmother and myself in front of the Philharmonic

Inside the Philharmonic before the Christmas concert with my host grandmother

Host mom and myself in front of the Philharmonic

In front of the Philharmonic

Until next time

Frohes neues Jahr and my Parent’s visit

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope 2014 is a great year for all of you.

My parents arrived here in Germany on New Year’s day. It was so great to see them and share a little of my year with them. My host family was so generous in allowing my parents to stay with us for the days they were here. On New Year’s day we hung out at my house and in my neighborhood before having a delicious barbecue with my host family.

The day after they arrived we travelled to Belgium. First we went to Antwerp and saw there main square and their enormous cathedral. We went inside the cathedral as well to see its famous collection of Peter Paul Rubens paintings. I also tried my first Belgian waffle. We then moved on to Brussels where we stayed the night. In Brussels we visited the Atomium which is really fascinating to look at. However we decided not to wait in the humongous line to get in. In the city center we visited the Grand Place which is absolutely stunning as well as numerous chocolate shops. At night we went back to the Grand Place where they had a light show which had all the buildings illuminating in different colors to music. We also went to the Brussels Winter Fest which is very similar to a Christmas Market in Germany just without the Christmas theme. After a short night’s sleep we returned to Germany because I had basketball practice.

On Friday the 3rd after returning from Brussels we had a good dinner at my house before getting some good sleep for the days ahead. On Saturday we went to Cologne in the morning and had a tour in English of the cathedral. In Dusseldorf we went to the Altstadt (old-city) for a traditional German lunch, and we also saw people in the Altstadt who were wearing their Carnival (which starts later) costumes. In Dusseldorf we also walked along Rhine promenade, and went to see some classic cars. We ended the day back in Mulheim at a really creepy but tasty schnitzel house. They had stuffed witches everywhere which slightly undid my mom. On Sunday I showed my parents my school where they were having a handball tournament that we watched for a little bit. Sunday night we met with some German friends who used to live in Alabama at a Greek Restaurant. Monday we went to Dortmund. We started at Signal Iduna Park with a trip to the Borussia Dortmund Museum and a stadium tour. We then went to have some very good Doner in a Turkish restaurant before looking around the city a little bit. That night we enjoyed some pizza at home with my host family before my host Dad and I took my parents to the airport the next morning.

It was sad to see them leave, but I am so happy they got to see a glimpse of my experience. I really enjoyed having them here. They also gave me some great encouragement to make the most out of my remaining five months which I plan to do. Some pictures from their visit and our travels are below. Once again Happy 2014! Until next time

Antwerp Grand Place

Atomium

Brussels Grand Place with Christmas tree

Maniken Pis

Brussels Winter Fest

My parents with me and my host family in front of the Cologne cathedral

My parents and I standing in front of the Cologne cathedral

Signal Iduna Park during the stadium tour

In the press area inside Signal Iduna Park

My parents before getting on a train

Frohe Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas to everyone back in the States and here in Germany! I realize I haven’t posted lately on the blog, but I have some stuff for the coming days. Christmas here is fantastic. Germans know how to do the holiday season right. However it’s been a little tough for me since it’s the first time being away from home for the holidays. I haven’t been too homesick during the entire exchange, but Christmas has gotten to me a little. Last night in the church when we were singing “Stille Nacht/Silent Night” I almost broke down. We have had a fabulous Christmas however with my host family and my host mom’s sister.

I’ll post in the coming days about:
-Christmas with my host family
-Two Christmas concerts at the philharmonic
-Christmas markets
-My trip to East Germany

Once again Merry Christmas! Until soon

Some Happenings from Germany

– Usually I can take one of two trains to school, but now it’s only one. One of the trains runs over an old coal mine shaft that is close to collapsing. This has caused it to shut down. It hasn’t run for a week or two now, and it could be another week or two before it’s back up. It may sound interesting and cool, but really it’s just a BIG PAIN because the construction they’re doing for it makes all the other trains late too. That’s the Ruhr Valley for you

– I’ve had a couple times this year where German people have made 9/11 jokes to me or with me around. Naturally I don’t find this amusing. Another CBYXer remarked about this as well on Facebook, and brought up a good point. She said that it’s undoubtedly inconsiderate, but if you go to an American high school you may hear a Nazi or Holocaust joke. That’s true and these jokes are also not funny, especially to Germans. The key point is that you should try and consider people’s feeling across borders and cultures instead of assuming the same things that do or don’t offend you do the same for others.

An International Thanksgiving Recap

As I mentioned earlier Thanksgiving and the holiday season in general are hard without your family. However I think I had a pretty good Thanksgiving with friends, my English teacher (who is wonderful) and her husband, and my host brother and grandmother. My host parents are away in Washington DC, and my other host brother who lives at home wasn’t present. My host grandmother and I cooked some Wednesday and all of Thanksgiving day to prepare our “feast.” Her kitchen expertise was greatly appreciated since I really don’t know what I’m doing in there. We cooked a menu of: Turkey, Homemade yeast rolls, Almond green beans, Dressing, and Jambalaya (I know, not really Thanksgiving food). The food received rave reviews which was great considering how nervous I was about its quality. The jambalaya and dressing were especially well praised. The dressing was weird though. We couldn’t find stalks of celery so we used a little of the German knob-celery mixed with diced Red and Yellow bell peppers. At least it still tasted good! For the Jambalaya we used Halal sausage because we had a couple of Islamic guests. It was a truly international Thanksgiving with people with Turkish, Kurdish, Serbian, Ghanaian, and German backgrounds there. Here is a picture of all of us (minus my English teacher’s husband, my host grandmother, ands some late arrivals):

I realized I should add a picture of the food so here it is, although it’s after everyone had already been through one time

Until next time

Iron Bowl=Incredible Game=Intensified Homesickness

Although I’m not an Alabama or Auburn fan, being from Alabama has made the Iron Bowl a big part of my life. I stayed up late to watch the game last night on the internet, and it was fabulous. If you haven’t seen the highlights you need to check them out. I realize that if I were not in Germany I still probably wouldn’t be in Alabama for college. However watching the end of the game alone at 2am made me a little homesick. I’m used to being with friends and family for the big game. I knew before I came to Germany I would be homesick sometimes when I got here. Some things you wouldn’t expect to set it off, like the Iron Bowl, do just that. I definitely have been homesick, but I don’t think it has been as bad for me as some of the other CBYXers. Germany is a wonderful place for Christmas, and I hope my homesickness isn’t too bad during the holiday season.

I know a post on homesickness isn’t the most exciting or happy, but I knew I’d have to write about it eventually. I had a good Thanksgiving with friends and my host family. Tomorrow I’ll make sure to write a recap of it. Until tomorrow