Today I went to Magdeburg with my host mom, Birgit, host sisters, Emelie and Finja, host brother, Mattis, and my host mother's sister and her daughter. We all piled into Birgit's huge volkswagen bus and drove to the former DDR. First we went shopping, then swimming. It was a normal day, until the very end. Where I live in America, if you want to go swimming, you go to the beach. When you're done you put on your coverup and go home. Here, you take a shower in the communal showers. Yes, that's right, communal. And I mean a full on shower, with shampoo and soap. For this shower, you have to get naked. The Germans definitely don't have a problem stripping down in front of complete strangers. It was only a teeny tiny bit distrubing.
Anyway, I love the food here! Even though I can't eat the wurst or the cheese, everything is still so.good. The weather was a bit of a shock though, it's too cold to wear shorts in August. And it rains every day. My German is improving, however. I still can't pronounce anything, but I can count to 100 and I know the names of breakfast, lunch and dinner. In my opinion, who needs anything else?
Well, as the Germans say, tschüss!
