Sushi & Truth or Dare

Today after German Class..
I went to my Chinese friends house with my Japanese friend, British friend, Slovakian friend, and my Romanian/Australian friend to make sushi and have a girls night. We left class and took the train a few stops to my friends house. BTW this morning there was a bomb scare in the Dusseldorf HBT (on my platform.. damnit!!) any way.. we went to her apartment which was really cool and quaint. She taught us how to roll sushi...which is a lot harder than it looks I will tell ya! hahah then my Chinese friend had prepared some other Chinese dishes like chicken wings in coke(huh?) and then a cold dish that was tofu and fermented 100 yr old egg (a black egg..it's a delicacy in China and I couldnt stomach it when I was there.. bleeegh). After we finished eating we played... truth or dare.. but basically truth. It was so funny because most of these women are in their 30's-50's. It was a good time for sure!!
then on my train back to Mettmann there was a huge group of people with santa and reindeer hats.. singing german christmas carols hahaha

Do you have a rubber?!!

DONT FREAK OUT!
today in English class.. Miriam Bonn asked me if I had a rubber..
I paused.. almost laughed.. and then I remembered that a rubber means eraser..
bahah
no, Miriam I am sorry but I don't have a rubber..
real mature Sally..reeeeeeeeeal mature.

Selly

today a girl in my Spanish class wrote me a message on facebook..
and she spelled my name Selly..........
that's a first.

locked in the swimming pool

Yesterday Leonie and I went swimming in Mettmann
the way it works is that you pay a certain amount of money.. and you get a chip or a card.. and you use that to go through  the gates when you enter and then exit.
well when we were leaving.. Leonies bag got caught on the gate.. and I was about to go through so I said wait wait let me put my card in and ill go through with your bag.. hahah
well Leonie got a little excited when I put my card in.. so she dragged her bag through.. but I didnt make it so it locked
then we had to call the Swim director person to let me out hahaha
good tiiiiimeeesssss

Am bisschen Shoppin gehen!!!

Today I went to Wuppertal with Leonie to go shoe shopppping! I invited my Japanese friend, Misaki, to join us. She was SO excited to come!! her emails were so funny haha.. any way.. I picked up Misaki in Dusseldorf and then we went to Wuppertal!! I got two pairs of shoes for like a 100 euros.. so i did pretty well I think ahah considering I really needed shoes!!
any way.. after that Leonie had to be somewhere so Misaki and I went to the Dusseldorf Wiehnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)
it was so cool.. and festive with TONS of people!! hahah it was a good day.. minus my stupid Haglunds deformity killing mehaha

anyway.. Misaki kept saying thank you and bowing.. she's goofy!! but ya gotttta love her

guten morgen!!!

This morning.. I woke up.. and literally wanted to rip out my throat hahah.. it hurt SO bad!! and i was sleeping with my mouth closed to I know that wasnt apart of it.
any way.. my first class wasnt until 9:55 so I went down town ..
on my way to the train station I saw the Turkish ladies that I met with Evy when I went to work with her one day. This was like 2 months ago that I met them. We recognized each other and stopped to talk for a minute. They actually remembered my name!!! haha I didnt remember theirs-hey give me a break.. I have a lot of names to remember! haha any way it was really cool that they remembered me.. and spoke in German

I am at a point now.. when I can speak it pretty fluidly.. it's just vocab.. and some grammar.. ive come quite a long way though..

then i got to school for my spanish class only to find out that my Spanish teacher was out.
a word about German Schools- you don't have substitute teachers.. haha so when your teacher isnt there.. you dont have class.... bad ass eh?

coffee.

I feel so old drinking coffee.. hahahahah
it's like when you get glasses for the first time and you feel so intellectual...
coffee+cinnamon+ a little bit of nutmeg=delicious.

whatd i do??

 Today Evy had to go to Frankfurt and wont be back until Saturday. I was loading the dishwasher when she called the house. She was speaking with Leonie who was in the kitchen with me when she suddenly handed me the phone. I said hello Evy!!! and she asked how I was and I replied. Then she said.. is there something good you should tell me??
I paused for a minute.. then thought oh shit what did I do? is there something I should know?? ahhaha
so I asked her.. uhhhh no... is there something?
she just wanted to make sure I had a good day
hahaahah
WHEW!!!! she didnt find my drug stash.. thank goddd
JUUUUUST kiddinnnggggg.. I keed I keed!

Dear Throat,

Please stop hurting so that I can resume my daily routine without wanting to remove you.
thanks, yours truly
Sally

limp arm.

Yesterday morning.. I guess I had been sleeping on my left arm..
but my alarm starts going off at like 6:30 or something.. and in my sleepy daze I was trying to grab it with my left arm;however, my left arm was completely limp from my sleeping on it. I was too tired and lazy to get my right arm.. so I struggled for a good couple of minutes.. hahaha
Im glad Im the only one who saw.............

Give the gift of water

I am giving my holiday season to give the gift of water. I have recently started a campaign.. where I have to raise $7000 in 92 days. All of the proceeds go to developing countries that need clean water.
if you would like to donatttte then follow the link the below!!!
Thank you :)
http://mycharitywater.org/skhchristmaswish

Welcome to my German class

Misaki(Japan)

Purvi (India)

Zuzana (Slovakia)

Lingzhu(China)

Mariana(Romania/Australia)

Gulab Jamon(Indian dessert that Purvi made)

Jucelia(Brazil)

Horea(Romania)

Jackie(England)

Myeong-Jin(Korea)

Kyeong-Cheol or Pak (Korea)

Justin (Canada)

Stichtag

So yesterday was Sunday.. I had my soccer game (at an unusual time...5 pm) we lost in the last 5 minutes.. but let's not talk about that hahah.. so right from my soccer game I went to the movies in Dusseldorf..where I met leonie and some friends.. we saw the movie Due Date.. but in German its called Stichtag..German movie theaters are ridiculous.. ahah you pick your seats when you get your ticket..and they are just huge. Only in a German theater can you buy beer as well. OH yeah and their popcorn isnt salty.. it's sweet... it was a pretty funny movie...
I would have never put Zack Galafanakis and Robert Downy Jr together...

Deutsch Klasse Heute!!!

Okay so today in German class.. we did an international day and learned other peoples languages. Everyone in my class is from a different country.. so we focused on learning each others languages. I also learned that when you are writing in Mandarin.. there is an order to how you write it. You can't just start drawing line and connecting them, apparently there are certain ones that have to be drawn first otherwise it wont be written correctly. I am also going to learn how to make Sushi next week.. AND my friend from India said she would teach me how to make some Indian Dishes. ALSO, I am going to get some Brazilian recipes. Two other things.. the guy playing soccer for Fortuna (yes the arrogant one..) was talking to me today about college and stuff.. and EVERY single college he would talk about it.. it was always focused around how hot the girls were. It had nothign to do with the academics or location, just the hot girls. So I said (in a serious tone.. btu obviously kidding) " Yeah oyu know.. that dictated my college choice too.. all about the girls." .. he didnt laugh.. maybe he didnt hear me. But he was dead set on going to a college wtih goodlooking girls.. basically he makes me sick. He sits next this guy from Romania and they get along I guess. Doing their stupid immature guy thing. Any way, the guy from Canada always messes with the Romanian guy. Tonight we had to ask someone in the room some sentence with a specific structure... and so he asked the guy "Do you want to get a beer?".. and the Romanian guy had already gone.. so he was annoyed that the Canadian guy purposely picked him.. so he responded with" I am sorry, but I am already married." it was great. you would have never expected it from him either hahaaha.

"My name is Sally "(in some of the languages I learned today)

• Chinese: 我叫莎莉
• Japanese:私の名前はサリーです
• Korean:내 이름은 샐리입니다
• Hindu:मेरा नाम सैली है
• Romanian:Numele meu este Sally
• Slovakian:Volám sa Sally
• French: Mon nom est Sally
• Portuguese: Meu nome é Sally
• Greek: Το όνομά μου είναι Sally

Berlin

Check out the travel page for my latest Berlin trip...

just close your eyes.

Tonight I was driving home from Berlin with Evy. It was raining and we were on the autobahn..and it was dark..
i thought that i saw some fog.. and so i asked if it was fog.. adn she said no just rain
then i realized that it was the rain from everyones tires because htey were all driving SO FAST.
I closed my eyes because it was honestly a scary as shit experience..

no shit?

Today Leonie and I were walking back to the train station when she said something ...I replied with "no shit??" and she said"yes, shit!"
hahaha it was great!

CRS

callie knows me all too well.. apart from being the absolute best friend in the entire world :)))) today started out to hectic.. I woke up at 6:50... took the train 2 hours from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf.. then BARELY made the train to Mettmann.. I went straight from there to my soccer game..but that's okay because I came home to an amazing care package from CALZONE!!!!!! what do we have hereeeee

1. People,Cosmopolitan, and Shape magazine!
2. PLAYDOH COOKIE MAKIN STATION!
3. 3 packs of big red.. oh god
4. 2 packs of GUMB BALLS.. oh how I miss wasting my quarters on gumb ball machines..:(
5. snickers, reeses, and starbursts!!!
6. FLANNEL PJ BOTTOMS!
7. 2 pairs of insanely, warm, fuzzy socks!:)
8. Ice Age 1&2 AND The Emperors new groove.. OH MAN!
9. A CD with a music update.. yeehaw :)
10. a lovely letter
11. supa cool signs/notes from her friends at school (Brenna and Lauren!)
12. and a BUCKEYE!!

LOVE YOU CALZONE!:)

Frankfurt

So I just got back from my weekend in Frankfurt. Leonie and I went and stayed with her friend that traveled to Canada with her last year. Her name is Annika and she was really really cool. I also met up with Marius, who went to Sayre for half a year last year. He can drive now, so he drove an hour to see us!! it was really really nice to see him. He's definitely a lot different in Germany, than in the States. Probably because he's in his home country..idk! Anyway.. Friday night we went to have dinner.. walked around a bit.. and went home. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then headed to the city. First, we went to the market- to buy apples OF COURSE! hahah after that we wondered around and had fun. We went to teh top of this building that overlooked Frankfurt. Despite the rain it was still really cool. When we were leaving a shopping mall we saw this stand with these people decorating yellow rain boots... so we stopped by to check it out. We ended up each buying a pair and decorating them. We didnt decorate them ourselves.. they had different stencils you could choose from. Seeing as though I didnt want a rose or leopard on my rain boot.. I got my initials. The proceeds went to some art foundation! After wondering around a little bit more and doing a photo fun booth, we went back to Annikas. There, we made a ginger bread house!! that was fun.. it's strange seeing allllllll the christmas stuff out and about.. especially before Thanksgiving- oh yeah.. they dont celebrate that here! hahah
anyway.. on the way back.. leonie and I KNEW we would be cutting it close catching the RegioBahn (train) back to Mettman.. so we were running running running through the station in our yellow rainboots.. and when we hit the stairs to go to our platform.. it was like slow motion!!hahah it was so funny.. but we made it luckily
I made it in time for my soccer game.. we tied- SHOULD have won!! we outshot them by ..idk how much.. but it ended up being a tie- which is okay because its better than losing haha

embarrassinggggg

So about two months back Experiment sent out this form that every exchange student had to sign..promising not to download music..
i signed it.. dated it. whatever.. but never sent it.. so they sent me an email saying if you dont send it back then we will have to give you a warning.. so i was like ohhh shit i gotta get this letter out..
Last week.. I finally mailed that letter
today, that letter came back to me..
Wanna know why?
BECAUSE I ADDRESSED IT TO MYSELF.

REBECCA DAUER!!!

I just found out that my friend Rebecca Dauer (upper left hand corner) is studying in Paris, France all year............

France.. HERE I COME!

Angry Experiment comments...

So the kids that I am on the program with always write messages to Experiment through their facebook status' it's quite humurous.. and if they dont directly say Experiment.. it is directed towards experiment..
so check out the newest page to the right to check out some angry experiment messages..
btw- Experiment is the base of my program...

Anthropologie

is it terrible that I still browse the Anthropologie website?

Project stick man...

So in German class last week.. we had to draw these little pictures then have the other classmates figure out what it is. My friend from China had drawn a stick person in front of a car. I couldnt tell what in the world the figure was in front of the car ... apparently it was a stick figure. In China, they draw stick figures differently. Chinese stick figures have 3 legs.... My German teacher said " and what may I ask..is that third leg-like thing sticking out? I have to know" hahaha she said that in China that is how they draw stick figures. So I started thinking about it.. and I think that it would be cool to start this project called Project Stick Figure. I would set up a website or blog.. and get people from all of the world to submit how they draw stick figures... Im not sure how to go about this?

is that stupid?

Got caterpillars?

bahah..
so cool.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/01/caterpillar-automato.html

Funny...as...hell...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity

SOCCER WARM UPS!!!

Here are our new soccer pull overs... mm fleecy.. despite the maroon color.. haha

A Wild Sheep Chase

The book that I am reading right now is called A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami. I am pretty early in the book so I can't quite critique it yet.. it's holding my interest so that's a good sign. Any way.. I woke up this morning and read some of it.. and I thought it was pretty funny but here is what I woke up to reading:
"There were of course, no whales in the aquarium. One whale would have been too big, even if you knocked out all the walls and made the entire awuarium into one tank. instead, the aquarium kept a whale penis on display. As a token, if you will. So that was my most impressionable years of boyhood were spent gazing at not a whale but a whales penis. Whenever I tired of strolling through the chill aisles of the aquarium, I'd steal off to my place on the bench in the hushed, high ceilinged stillness of the exhibition room and spend hours on end there contemplating this whales penis. At times it would remind me of a tiny shriveled palm tree; at other time, a giant ear of corn. In fact, if not for the plaque- WHALE GENITAL:MALE- no one would have taken it to be a whales penis. More likely an artifact unearthed from the Central Asian desert than a product of the Antarctic  Ocean. It bore no resemblance to my penis, not to any penis I'd ever seen. What was worse, the severed penis exuded a singular, somehow unspeakable aura of sadness."

It then proceeded to talk about this girl that he met up with. She was an ear model and he got in touch with her because he was blown away by her ears. They had a blind date set up and had dinner. They discussed her ears.. and she said " I am my ears and my ears are me."

Feuerzangenbowle

This is an ancient German drink.. we had it last night at my friends birthday party..
it comes from this Old German film that was filmed and produced during the war. It's in black and white.. im not sure what happened but one of its major trademarks was this drink..
you have a big pot of red white.. and over it you drench a slab of white sugar in this alcohol.. then light it on fire so that it melt into the pot..
here's a youtube of what it is..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXrEKfgXXw

and this is hte movie that it comes from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giQ76mCyLYU

Things coming up..

1. Monday- no school.. it's like a memorial day type of deal
2. Nov 5-7 FRANKFURT.. with Leonie to visit her friend and my friend MARIUS!!!!
3. Nov 8-10 BERLIN with Evelyn.. because she has a job there and I am tagging along to see Berlin of course!!
4. Nov 25-Thanksgiving- even though they dont celebrate it officially in Germany
5. December 5: Soccer season ends
6. December 7: I have a dinner meeting with my Bundestag Representative, Micaela Noll.
7. December 19 (aside from Emmas bday).. I am going to a show on ice in Dusseldorf with my Betruer Wolfgang, his family, and his other exchange student from Thailand!
8. December 21- German class is over :(
9. December 24(yes the 24.. at night) GERMAN CHRISTMAS aka Weihnacht 
10. December 26- Leonie goes to Brazil! 
11. December 29- CLAIRE COMES!!!!
12. Jan 2-8 skiing in Austria!!!
13. Jan20-23- MIDYEAR in Bonn
14. Feb. 9-21-MOM & EMMA

Thats all i know for now...WOHO

Dusseldorf Flughafen

Today on my way back from Mulheim the train stopped at the Dusseldorf Flughafen Hauptbahnhoff.. (aiport train station) and I got a sudden surge of excitement for EVERYONE TO VISIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

host family changes

I am one of the few CBYX students that got super lucky with their hostfamily.. im not sure whether to thank experiment or not..oh well.. any way.. everything is great with my host family.. i couldnt ask for a better one.. adn especially after meeting some of the others.. it made me even more appreciative..
SO many kids have already switched families.. it's ridiculous adn some have gotten into stupid fights..
this will be entertaining ..so stay tuned:
1.) the girl who wants to be the next president of the USA.. has switched TWICE already.. her blog is rather humerous.. because she was addicted to her iphone and computer.. so she had communication issues with her host family adn htey got in this huge fight.. fun to read about haha
2.) another girl had 5 host siblings.. and they didnt have anything in common and according to her" one of the sisters was strangely jealous of her" so they also got in a fight and she switched host families
3.) A guy in northern germany who is rather young, country, adn ignorant is also having issues. At language camp he was stubborn about learning the language.. and it was basically his way or the highway. His dad is turkish, his mom is a teacher, and he has a little brother who he called a prick. Any way.. i asked him what was up adn he said that "his family was poor and they dont get along any more." He is really unhappy and theres no communication within his host family.. PLUS they dont travel. As a result of all this he has increased his Jack Daniels intake.. freaking ridiculous. This kid is... i guess it's an immaturity thing but good god...really? hahah He also doesnt like his betreuer.. so that's a bummer as well..his betreuer siad he could change and then the next day she was like what? why? So he is meeting with his betreuer right now to i guess work it out...
4.) One guys host family told him that if he didnt change then he would have to leave.. but this guy is really subdued and not crazy at all.. so i have no idea what happened there

**** so thank you to the Pfisters for being so wonderful and normal :) ****
yeeehaw

baha.. last night

So last night I went to a town called Mulheim to spend the night with my friend Rachel. She's from West Virginia and is also a CBYX exchange student.. I went to her soccer practice last night.. which was so refreshing because that team is good and they have productive practices. The coaches name was Oliver and he was hilarious. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. My friend got a meeting polo, sweat pants, a jacket, and a pullover.. and she didnt have to pay for a thing. JEALOUS! hahah it was really cool though.. I had a good time.
Her host dad is an engineer and he designed/built their house. So their house was really modern and cool. The dad was really chill.. but the mom was SO uptight.. ahh and awkward. I might eat fish.. but not all fish (ie..TUNA) adn they had these pieces of bread with tuna and melted cheese.. and i was like oh sorry i dont eat meat adn they go.. but its TUNA.. i said yes.. fish haha i dont eat meat.. and tehy were like just try its TUNA.. i wanted to be like DID YOU CATCH, SCALE, AND COOK THAT TUNA YOURSELF SIR?? BECAUSE THAT SHIT CAME FROM A CAN!!! nah.. that's harsh.. but i really don't like tuna haha.. any way.. it was awkward.. teh mom is really tense and doesnt work.. so shes always home.. adn this morning she dropped me off at teh train station and was just like okay see ya.. after having a long conversation about not communicating.. it was interesting. It could have been worse but i was so excited to be back in mettmann.. probably why I left early.. I lingered in teh Dusseldorf Hauptbanhof to check out the book store.. i got a new book called "A wild sheep chase" by Haruki Murakami.. it's pretty interesting so far.. he's a Japanese author

Doctor Doctor

So this morning.. I was leaving my dark room around 6:30 am.. and my bed is located very close to my desk..
so I tripped over my bed and got whiplash in my right side.. it hurts so bad
so that's embarrassing..
gonna be a good day

English Klausur

Today I took my English Klausur exam..It was easy- minus the fact that I had to write with a fountain pen.. god I hate those things!! My teacher is very very traditional too.. so Im not sure how she will like my out of the box thinking. We also had to count our words.. ? blah! i had like 9 pages too so that wasnt fun. Basically we had this speech from 2005 given by Tony Blair. The first assignment was to analyze it. The second assignment was to summarize it. The third assignment was to give your response ..kind of..

German Class today

ooooooooh goodness.. German class was amazing today..
1. it was Rosalias birthday (the Brazilian lady..who is crazy!! she cracks me up) any way.. she brought come kind of cake and juice.. later on she had the HARDEST time pronouncing ticket.. something with the Portuguese language that made her unable to pronounce ticket..it was hilarious. It probably wouldnt be as funny if she werent sitting there cracking up at herself.. not understanding at all!

2.) There is a new guy in the class from Korea. Actually he has lived in Germany for 9 years and knows no German. But now if you live in Germany you must learn German. Needless to say he's struggling. He works in a Korean restaurant as a cook. He is also hilarious. I dont even know how to describe him.. but we all decided that one day after class we would go to his restaurant!!

3.) My friend from China said that I could go to her house and we would make sushi

4.) My Japanese friend, Misaki, gave me a gift today..its a Japanese anime key chain :)

Toms Fail

This morning at approximate 7:30.. I was getting on the train right? I had my Toms on.. which have absolutely no traction.. any way.. it was a little wet on the train.. so I just slid and slipped right in.. now I have a big bruise on my shin.. good times.

Tissues..

If you come to Germany with a cold or if you get one while you get here.. no worries.. I can assure that almost every German that you ask will have a tissue. EVERYONE (this is no understatement) always has tissues. always always always. Germany is the only place that i know of where soccer players play with tissues tucked into their socks. You cannot escape tissues to go. I bet they think that I am really gross because I kick it old school with the sleeve....swipe and wipe baby! :)

Dough Ears

I am re-writing a college essay about my Dough Earsssssss... yeyeeeee

Regio Bahn Strike.

Soooo today the workers of the Regio Bahn (the train that I take to school every day.. AND to Dusseldorf for my German class which happens to be every Tuesday/Thursday.. oh it's Tuesday btw) decided to go on strike today and not work. So none of the trains were running today....This morning we took the bus to school which was PACKED because of the strike. There was a group of boy (about 11-13 I would say) sitting down.. and this one kid had on this black ball cap. Well the bald OLDER man infront of me randomly reached over, grabbed the hat, and threw it. He didnt say a word. It was so bizarre. He didnt know the kids either hahah..
and no I didnt go to my German class either..... lame.

bad.ass.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/13113979

invention...

Okay so I was running the other day and I came up with this great unoriginal invention. I always run with my ipod in my hand because I have better control over it and it's uncomfortable to have it either wiggling around on your arm or cutting off your circulation.As a result I came up with the IPOD GLOVE. It's more of a wintry exercising accessory but it's basically a lightweight, fitted clove with an ipod socket on the palm or back of your hand. So I then decided to submit this idea to Nike.. I don't know why haha. so a few days later they emailed me back thanking me for my submission but that they only take patented ideas.. so then I looked up how to patent something.. and it's definitely more work than I am willing to put in hahah.. ALTHOUGH.. I think that it would be a very profitable product.....bummer

Travel

Any one who is interested in a little tid bit from my Fall Break.. you can go to the Travel Page.....

Anyone who knows me will appreciate this photo...

HERBSTFERIEN.

Today of the OFFICIAL start of my two week Fall Break.. we are driving to
Leipzig for one night.. and I think going to a soccer game.. Germany vs Kazakhstan, then we are driving through Dresden. We will spend two nights in Nuremberg in a castle.. and visit several castles. We then head to Dachau where we will go to the first concentration camp built. We then head to Bodensee, Austrian border where we will visit Peters mom and brother. After that we will head through Stuttgart and then back home..
be back in Mettmann Sunday, October 17..
then it is off to Holland on Tuesday with some friends..

Student ID

dumdum

LARGEST APPLES.

Turkey 0, Germany 3

Last night Turkey and Germany faced off in Soccer.. the game was held in Berlin.. and there were more Turkish fans, than German. This game was particularly interesting because of all the social/economic tension that is between these two cultures. Germany has a huge Turkish population. However there are still several problems with this. Germanys government provides money for those in Germany who don't work.. enough money to get them by in life. But a lot of the Turkish people coming into Germany are relying on that money and don't work; thus creating some friction. Also, to live in Germany now you must know or learn the language. This is another problem.. most Turkish people don't know German. Any way.. I find the whole thing really fascinating.
One of the major cultural differences is that the Turkish culture is based around male dominance within a family (traditionally..) The men in the family are everything.. the women are subject to them and if they disgrace the family then.. well the men in the family might even kill her. The women are expected to wear the head scarf.. not go out.. be a housewife.. etc. They are also married at a very young age and most of the time it is an arranged marriage.
There is a recent book that came out written by a women named Nourig Apfeld. The book is called Ich bin Zeugin: des Ehrenmords an meiner Schwester.   
Unfortunately they don thave this book translated.. but it sounds really interesting. The author is Syrian, but grew up in a Turkish family. She was the oldest daughter and very obedient. Her family was very traditional. Her younger sister was more rebellious, she went out, didnt wear the head scarf.. and she eventually ended up pregnant and had a few kids. This caused a huge disgrace on her father. One day the older sister was called into the living room where she found most of her family (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) crowded together.. beacuse the men had strangled her younger sister to death. It took a long time.. but the older sister eventually had enough of the family and left.. she went to school and finally wrote a book about her past..

I don't handle chaos well..

Today my betreuer, Wolfgang, was paying a visit to Mettmann. I met with him in Dusseldorf last week.. we had a great time.. but he also wanted to check in with the family. This didnt exactly go as planned..
Wolfgang was scheduled to come to the house around 5:00 pm today... Germans are generally very punctual people.. so yes, he was there at 5:00pm.. Just me and my host sisters were home at the time. Wolfgang rang the gate bell and I pushed the button to let him in. I guess him and Evelyn had come home at the same time. They were walking in together.. and I realized that it was taking them quite a while to come into the house. I went outside to see what was going on. Wolfgang was fixing the gate and Evelyn was limping towards the house with her pants leg pulled up..

I asked what was wrong and then noticed a HUGE GASH on her right ankle.. I started freaking out.. she asked if peter were home and I immediately averted my eyes from her nasty ankle and said.."nonono..he's not.. oh god .. oh god" and I think she said call teh hospital or something.. so i ran inside.. then back outside. then back inside.. I woke Leonie up from her catnap.. I then went into the living room to get teh phone. PROBLEM.. on the coffee table.. laid about 4 TV remotes and two land-line house phones.. they all looked the same..I was still running around like a chicken wtih its head cut off.. this is one of those moments when it would be nice to be able to drive.. however considering everyone drives stick shift here.. we would both end up in teh hospital due to teh fact that I cannot drive stick shift. Any way.. Wolfgang drove her to teh hospital.. She was getting stitches when I had to leave for soccer.. btu everything is okay now..
that was the highlight of my day...

Nightmare.

Last night.. I dreamt that I was 18 with two kids.. it was HORRIBLE.

which apple?

This afternoon while I was grocery shopping with my host mom.. I had a nice conversation with an elderly woman about which apples to get...
I suggested the Elstar(regional apple..) although they can be rather sour- but I like the sour ones.. So does she..what do ya know?
I then suggested the golden delicious because they are little sweeter.. but yummy!
good times.

Geht ab!!

I love talking to the dogs in German.. hahah I feel so hardcore

• Geht AB!!: get out
• Blieb!: stay
• Geht vecke!: get back
• Komme: come
• laufe!: run
• langsam: slow

New Zealand

My youngest host sister, Emily, will be spending all next semester (Starting in January) in New Zealand at a boarding school.. SUPA COOOOOL!

slice of home

Today I made oatmeal raisin cookies (some with macadamia nuts and cranberries..) and home made pesto..
solid day, eh?

Random

• my host brother left for Jacksonville, Florida today for a month to get his pilots license.. so that's pretty cool..

• also the other morning at 2:30.. our dog, Mila, got out again... She was down teh street.. our neighbor called to tell us- and what was the neighbor doing up at 2:30am?? I'm not sure if I want to know..

• I also made a new friend here.. she spent all last year in Minnesotaaaa at a 100 person Catholic school.. mm hahah
• Fall break starts in 3 days.. oooh yeaaah
•  I have my Spanish License course test on Friday.. for 3 hours.. joy. License course is the Gymnasium form of an AP class
• I introduced Hummus to my host family.. AND nifty lettuce wraps!
• our sea monkey- which we started the day that I arrived in Mettmann.. are reproducing like crazy!!!!.. Evelyn and I put them in a clean vase today.. haha we used a small strainer to transport the Sea Monkeys hahah it was comical... however I realized tonight that we didnt put them in treated water.......ohshit.
• We actually have a chance to win this Sundays game.. but I don't want to jinx it.
• It's going to be an action packed weekend..
• Friday: Wolfgang is coming, I have soccer practice, then at 10pm we are going to this Argentinian Columbian music bar thing.. 
• Saturday: Since we dont have time on Friday (which is the 8th of October..) I am making brunch for my host family... then later that night Leonie and I are going to an Indie Rock all-nighter bahhahah.. for a band called The Killians..
• Sunday: Soccer game at 11:00.. then at 9:30 pm.. I have my friends Lillian and Kerstins birthday bashhh
• Monday: NO SCHOOL BECAUSE IT IS FALL BREAK!!.. for teh next two weeks..

Sushi with Misaki

Misaki and I went to go have sushi yesterday after German class. We walked around Immermanstrs. which is the Japanese neighborhood.."Little Tokyo"... In case you didnt know Dusseldorf has a rather rather large Japanese population. Any we went to this restaurant called Hyugo...which was suggested by another Japanese girl in my class..however it was closed. So we went around the corner to this other place. We sat down.. ordered a few glasses of wine.. We then starting pointing to different types of sushi and making sounds whether we liked that one or not... her favorite food is cucumber.. adn she really likes teh cucumber sushi..
so we got..
half an order of california rolls
Cucumber rolls
Crab Rolls
and then some realllyyy gross dollop of maroon fish on top of rice.. she said that it was good adn she likes it .. so I gave it a shot. Let's just say I loaded it up with wasabi and soy sauce to cancel out the taste. She has been here since last April.. and will leave next April.. she's 19 and is living with her aunt. She isnt going to school or anything here.. Her aunt is 50.. married to a German and has two kids ( a boy and a girl) Misaki has a 17 year old sister back home in Japan. She doesnt have plans for when she returns to Japan. She works at a bakery called Bakery my heart.. every Saturday in Little Tokyo- it's a Japanese Bakery.. I am thinking about surprising her some time! I asked her if she was homesick.. adn she said that she was before today because she hasnt had a friend since she has been here. She can understand very little english and German.. but we got by with a pad of paper and her handy little translator.. oh technology!!.. After that we got some gelato.. then I walked her to her train.. I told her that after Fall break.. she should come back to Mettmann with me for a weekend. I also introduced her to teh world of Facebook!!!

OMA und OPA.

Tonight Evelyns parents came to dinner.. for our swisssss meal ( read the food page...) any way.. they brought us each a chocolate bar and 10 euros..
gotta love grandparents..even if they arent really yours.. hahaha

WEG

Tonight I watched the World Equestrian Games on the news.. in German.. focusing on the German Equine team..................and all the horses wiping out on the jumps..

Misaki

Misaki is the 19 year old Japanese girl that sits next to me in German class. She's very quiet and understands little German/English. She is in Germany for 5 months.. just because.. no particular reason. She doesnt quite understand when I talk to her so I wrote her a note instead that told her if she ever needed help with German or wanted to hang out then she can contact me and I gave her my information. Yesterday she emailed me and the Email subject read "I am Misaki"... so we agreed to go have sushi after German class next week :)