Gee Whiz... It's Christmas

Helloooooooo there! Merry Christmas, how ya beeeeeeen?
It's been a long long time, and I have so much on my mind… I guess I should start to say, gee whiz. It's Christmas...

This has been a challenging couple of weeks. The semester was winding down for Weihnachten Pause, our Mid-Year Report was due and the need to have an Internship lined up before the end of January was and still is steadily riding my coattails…

Am Mittwoch 11.12.13

This day was bit extra saddening for me because it was the birthday of a close friend of mine from middle school and High school who was shot and killed last year just a few days before his birthday. Everything I was feeling and thinking that day was a bit overwhelming, I even put a pause to my internship search for a bit because I kept thinking of the funeral and how it was all so sudden. I don't remember leaving my room because it just reminded me that once I stepped foot out the door, I would no longer be in my little world. I would be back in the German speaking reality. I decided to hide from Deutschland and just sleep the day away. It was one of those days where you just needed a redo button. So I went to sleep and tried to start over.

Am Donnerstag 12.12.13

I took a super early train towards Stuttgart with Dawn and we went to König Cafe to meet with another PPP'er Andrew and our GIZ Bundesland representative. I finally met with my GIZ representative in person and discussed our first couple of months in the Uni-phase, how we have adjusted since arriving to der Hochschule-Reutlingen, she wanted to hear our German, and most importantly "HAVE YOU FOUND A PRAKTIKUM YET?" My German at that point was schlecht, I lost the drive to continue learning it as often as I should and I became a little depressed, but things have improved a bit since then. 

After getting a Glühwein on the GIZ's dime and seeing the Christmas market for a hot second, we said goodbye to our rep and ran to the train station. All of us had a pre-planned trip to Strasbourg, France and I couldn't wait to get there. It was so cold in France, it was like having an Icebox where my heart used to be. We saw as much of the city as we could without getting hypothermia. We saw the beautiful Le Petite France which looks just as spectacular at night than during the day.

We couldn't feel our toes.

Do we look like popsicles? Because we are.

playing some new game for iPhone where you compete with people answering historical and pop culture questions. It was fun, but all in German! Good Grief!

This should go on the CBYX website, I'm just saying (from left: Dawn Noyes, Me, Andrew Scheperle, & Andrew Thomas).

Disgusted look from missing our Umsteig (transfer) and having to seek shelter from the cold in an elevator.

Am Freitag 13.12.13

Earlier that morning both Dawn and I were in Tuebingen at the Deutsche Amerikanisch institut. The coordinator over the Rent An American program which we volunteer for established an exchange program for high school students in Tuebingen who would be venturing to the United States. Living and attending school there for two weeks! We volunteered our time to talk to the students about adjusting to life in the U.S. seeing that a lot of them would be going for the first time! The students will be spending two weeks attending a high school in a city that I believe is fairly close to Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Our job was to basically be "The Americans" and answer any questions they may have had about how things are in the U.S., any customs or cultures that are majorly different (New Mexico has a strong Native American culture) and of course get them to speak a bit more English. After introductions, an overview of where they would be going to school, and a small photo op for the local paper, we split into two groups and Dawn and I spent about an hour talking to the students about various things. My group was a bit larger than Dawn's and a bit more energetic. Our discussion ranged from things to do in New Mexico, dangers of wildlife, to favorite cartoons and music. Surprisingly we had a lot in common as far as tastes in Musik and shows. My goal was to let them get to know me more and make them more comfortable. If they didn't feel comfortable asking questions in English, then we would switch to German for a bit. Overall it was a great experience, and I can't wait to see those wonderful students again next month before they leave for the U.S. in February.

Later that afternoon, Ashley, Dawn, and I met with our Patin (which is basically our godmother/representative in the Bundestag German Parliament in Berlin). We were sent an invitation just a week before and really didn't know what to expect other than maybe a quick meeting, maybe just a "hi and bye" type of thing. Boy were we in for a treat.

We arrived at her office around 4pm. Our Patin's office aide guided us to a room that had a nice little spread of Brezeln und klein küchen mit Apfel schorle. 

What started as a simple meet & greet turned into an actual interview (alles auf Deutsch) and I swear I never felt so nervous in my life. There were two interviewers, a man and a woman, but there there was a third person there with one of those gigantic studio video cameras recording our reactions and answers. I was starving during the entire interview process. I slowly devoured that Brezel and kept switching the side in which I was chewing my food so it wouldn't be on camera. If you want to read the article it is available here. Below you will find a photo that is also featured on our Patin's website.

Later that evening my friends Jenna and Jan came in from Radolfzell to visit me for the weekend. The Hochschule planned an outing that Saturday to Rothenburg ob der Tauber which is the historically beautiful Medieval town surrounded by a wall that you can in fact walk on almost the entire length of the city. We did a walking tour of the stadt, explored the Christmas market, and tried the local delicacy known as the "Schneeballen" which is a pastry made from shortcrust pastry. In English "schneeball" means snow ball, which is where the pastry gets it shape. 

Jenna & Jan with their warm delicious Glühwein!

A variety of Schneeballen flavors!

Am Montag 16.12.13

Monday involved waking up at 5am and heading down to the train station to take a 6am train towards Rottweil for a volunteer school visit. We went to talk to students about differences between American and German Christmas as well as bake Christmas cookies with them. I was in charge of organizing the group to make sugar cookies and decorate them. The other group had to make chocolate chip cookies. The age groups were between 13-15 years old so they could not really speak the best English which is fine by me, I was there to challenge them and have them ask me questions in English in order to make sure the recipes came out great (or at least edible).It was a lot of fun to watch the kids scramble around trying to do the measurements properly, mix the ingredients, and knead the dough while I supervised. The ingredients are a lot different here in Deutschland, so we had to make due with what we had. The end result was a variety different tasting cookies, all pretty good just prepared different ways. The important thing is no one burned anything and the kitchen wasn't catching fire, so I believe the odds were ever in our favor.

Am Dienstag 17.12.13

Dienstag war ein sehr lange tag für mich. I had to do another school visit, this time at the Wilhelm-Maybach Schule in Bad Canstatt which is in Stuttgart. I was asked to visit two classrooms and create a poster which detailed 

1. Which stereotypes do the German students have about Americans? 
2. Which stereotypes do you as an American have in mind about Germans?

I later had to explain and discuss where do these stereotypes come from and which are partly or mostly true. Also discussion on whether or not Stereotypes are dangerous. The presentations started at 7:45am and ended at 11:30 with a break in-between classes. Afterwards I got a tour of the school by some students and we went out for lunch. I even received a variety of Schwäbisch and Weihnachten beers as a gift from one of the classes.

Am Samstag 21.12.13

It's always remarkable how you are given 24 hours each day and you can either do SO much or SO little in that amount of time. Dawn, Nial, and I made the most of our time and got up at 6am to take our train to visit a very famous German city called Nürnberg. It's located in the German state of Bavaria (which to the residents of Bavaria is a country all on it's own).

We embarked on our journey at 6:45am and traveled for hours, arriving right at 11:30am. We met up with another PPP'er named Zack who had taken a night train and arrived in Nürnberg around 4am that morning (surprisingly he didn't pass out from exhaustion).

We saw the Christmas market and walked through the city and had a little Stammtisch with some of the PPP'ers that were placed in Saarbrucken for language school. That was interesting to say the least. Later we ventured to München and met up with a couple other PPP'ers. Saturday seemed to last forever. The next day we went to the this awesome winter festival called Tollwood and tried an authentic Feuerbowle. A feuerbowle is similar to Glühwein, except its placed a special mug where you can place a sugar cube on. The sugar cube is then doused in rum and set ablaze lighting the entire drink on fire. It's so delicious, but like everything else in München, pretty pricey. Later that evening I had to leave early to catch a train back to Radolfzell to visit my host family for the holidays. They had invited me the week or so before and it was such a treat to have the opportunity to see them again! They told me that we were spending the holidays with a friend of theirs in Algasterhausen, Baden-Württemberg which is not too far from Heidelberg (give or take 30 minutes).

Am Dienstag 24.12.13

Christmas Eve in America is Christmas Day here. Germans celebrate Christmas a day earlier because they're pretty awesome like that, so season's greetings and Frohe Weihnachten from me and my host family!

drinking Irish Kaffee. Frohe Weihnachten und a Gutes Neue Jahr!

Bis nächste Jahr (until next year)!