Since once again I've been really bad about updating my blog, here's a not-so-quick recap of what I've been up to for the last month. This will go up until Christmas, and then sometime after New Year's I'll write a post about Christmas, the break, and New Year's.
25th-27th November: Rotary weekend in Wernigerode! An average sized town in the Hartz Mountains in Sachsen Anhalt, it looks like a place where traditional German fairy tales would take place. We got there on Friday (all District 1800 inbounds), our group from Braunschweig was the last to arrive, we thought they forgot about us while we were waiting at the Bahnhof. We got to the youth hostel, and after room assignments (I bunked with Annie (Taiwan), Allison (USA), and Karla) and dinner we walked to the Weihnachtsmarkt and got a mini historical tour of the town. On Saturday we were up bright and early to catch the old steam engine train that goes to the top of the Brocken. The view was beautiful as we were going up the mountain sides, some leaves were still on the trees in autumn colors. We got off long before the peak, and the plan was to hike the rest of the 10 km of the way up then take the train back down. But we complained enough until they changed the plan so that we did a big loop, but it still ended up being about 10 km. The rest of Saturday was taken up with our 2nd orientation, and that evening we went again to the Weihnachtsmarkt, this time unchaperoned- it was fun trying to not get lost. As always we played the pony game and then the 2 that we sing in Spanish so I don't know what they're called. There are only ever two reactions from people when they see us: Either they get pissed off, or they think we're really cool and take our picture. Saturday night we had to be in our rooms by 11pm, so of course everybody snuck out and we ended up having a mini party with 15 girls in our room. Every time someone new knocked on the door it was a mad dash to hide in case it was the Rotary people. It started out with Karla teaching Annie, Allison and I how to dance like Mexicans (because they're all really good), and we were being really loud so everyone heard us through the walls. On Sunday we toured the Wernigerode Schloß (castle) then took the train home.
So far in December I've been to the Braunschweig Weihnachtsmarkt multiple times- it's HUGE, and there are so many booths selling food and little knick knacks-it's really expensive though. We went for the grand opening, and out of the thousand or so people there I ran into my host aunt and cousin. I've also been to the Helmstedt, Schöningen, Bremen, Wernigerode, Wolfsburg, and Uezeln Weihnachtsmarkts.
2/12 I went to the Helmstedt Weihnachtsmarkt with Kathi and Ana, and afterwards we saw Breaking Dawn- Kathi was making fun of it the whole time- the only reason she read the books was to laugh at how bad they were. 3/12 I went to Emmi's dance recital, and then on 4/12 we baked Christmas cookies.
6/12 I went to Ana's house after school and before our German lesson, but her host mom wasn't there so we had to make lunch ourselves. Pasta, how hard can it be? Well, first we put in too much pasta, we had to have 3 servings each to finish it because apparently her parents don't do leftovers. We also used a pot that was too small, the water burned and boiled over- but the pasta didnt burn. Then there wasn't enough sauce to go with the amount of pasta. It took us about an hour to make it.
7/12 I went to the Schöningen Weihnachtsmarkt with Emmi-it wasn't that big, but it was better than Helmstedt's. Bremen was last Sunday (11/12), my host cousin lives there so my host mom's extended family all went there for brunch, the Weihnachtsmarkt, and then lunch. Its about a 3 hour drive from Schöningen. This time I saw the Bremer Stadtmusikanten! It's actually really small and by the side of the building, not at all like I thought it was going to be since it's so famous.
I went to Wolfsburg last Friday (9/12) with Birgit, Ana and Karla. We went to the designer outlets, where everything is either for sports or old people and way too expensive, and then we walked across the bridge to the Autostadt for the Weihnachtsmarkt and ice skating. It was the first time Ana had ever been, and only the 2nd or 3rd time for Karla, so it was pretty funny watching them try to stay upright.
We (the 10 Rotary exchangers around Braunschweig) decided to do a Secret Santa this Christmas, because it's fun, and we're too poor to buy gifts for everyone. We exchanged gifts on Friday, but by then everyone already knew who everyone else had. That was the beginning of our Rotex weekend in Uezeln, which was once again A-MAZ-ING.
Friday: There wasnt enough time for me to go home after school and then be back at the bahnhof to catch our train, so Karla and I went to Anas house after school. But we ended up only having 4 classes instead of 6 because Karla's class had the last 2 hours canceled, and Ana was in my class for the last 2 weeks while her class did praktikum, and my class had religion for the last two classes, but they were getting back the test that I didn't take so I didn't have to go. Her parents were going to pick us up at the school at 1, but since we got out at 11, we walked to her house instead-in the pouring, freezing rain. Then, when we got there, Ana realized that she'd forgotten her key. So we stood on the neighbor's front stoop because it had greater roof coverage for about an hour. By the time Ana's mom got home I couldn't feel my legs. Then we had to go first to Braunschweig, and from there it was a 2 hour train ride to Uezeln, but it was direct so we didnt have to change trains again.
It had been snowing the entire train ride, and our group included 2 Brazilians (Ana and Iara) and 2 Mexicans (Laura and Karla) who had never seen snow before, so when we got off the train they were pretty excited. We slept in the sport hall of the Realschule in Uezeln. Friday night was a buffet dinner, and of course we stayed up all night. Everybody went to bed around 3 except for 6 of us who decided to explore the rest of the school. Saturday we toured a milk/sugar/cocoa factory-I was practically falling asleep, but what I found way more interesting than the way they made their products was the machines that they used to package them. Then we had a talk about Eurotour(!!!!)- I'm so excited for it. That night we went to the Weihnachtsmarkt, then stayed up until about 4 or 5 again. Sunday all of next years' outbounds came, and we presented each of our countries. Then we went home.
Thats it for now, I'll update again in January about German Christmas, what I did during break, Silvester, and my family switch. Tschüss!
