Just stay a little bit longer!

I'm not referring to the cough that became a part of my life after our first concert at the beginning of the month. I've had worse, but as we neared our next concert and it wasn't really getting any better, I got a bit worried. The evening before we departed to Kiel (waaaay up north), Maria had me take the kids sledding in the below-freezing weather. My thoughts: "What the heck, I'm coughing, I have a concert this weekend and you tell me to go out in this weather?!?" I don't know if that really made it worse, but I wasn't able to sing that weekend at all. I lip-synced to the whole concert. But if you want to listen to us, here's a recording we (minus my voice) made: Kammerchor Vocalis: Noel, die heilige Nacht

Tuesday, I picked up my mom from the train station. Best Christmas Present Ever! The stupid thing was that my mom stayed with our exchange student's family because of the concert. And I couldn't even sing. Oh well. Anyways, my mom and I had a lot of fun. We looked at town, went shopping, etc. We talked and watched movies together. And on Saturday, we went to this place called the Autostadt (car city). VW has a factory and a museum thing in Wolfsburg, which is rather close. They had a bunch of cars from the beginning of the automobile down to Lamborghini and even a Bugatti Veyron. Wow. Oh, and they had this special thing at the park where performers came from the Alps. So we got to listen to a traditional brass band (with accordion!), see some dances from the old days, and listen to Alpenhörner. What are those, you ask?  Be glad I took a picture! 

The whole thing was really cool. I love any German-speaking land culture and history, so this was extra awesome.

Speaking of German culture, I finally got to celebrate Advent properly. I wasn't really in the mood though, because Mom was leaving the next day and I wasn't getting any time with her. Not only did we eat together and such, but then we had to go caroling down the street. I was downright miserable. 

I don't really want to leave on such a sad note, but nobody wants to read a freaking novel here. I'll report on Christmas soon :)

I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains

So... I got to see the Hobbit yesterday! That's right, America, yesterday. And it was fabulous. I'm just bummed that I have to wait so long to see the next part. I won't spoil it though. Besides, if you really want to know, just read the dang book. I loved Bilbo's various facial expressions, though. You'll see. I hope...
I do have to actually pack my bags, though not for the Misty Mountains. That would be exceedingly awesome, but alas, I'm just going to Kiel with my choir. I've had a cough for almost two weeks now, and I hope I'll be able to sing. I don't think it helped that I had to take care of a sick child yesterday. And what do three-year-olds want to do when they're sick? Cuddle. Dang it. I can't get even more sick. Not with the concert and with my mom coming Monday.
I got a letter from my friend who's serving a mission in Mexico today. They must use actual snails to deliver snail mail, because the letter is from the end of September. It's still fantastic getting real mail, no matter how late it is!
Jilli learned the word "no" finally. And man, does she love it. Her sister asked her a bunch of questions auf Deutsch, to each of which she gave a resounding "NO!" accompanied by a huge grin.
I've discovered a new flavor chocolate bar. Ritter Sport came out with a Gebrannte Mandeln one. Wow. It's realllllly hard not to eat it. Chocolate isn't so good for my stupid cough, as I've discovered lately. The Ritter Sport people just need to discover peanut butter, and then life will be complete.
By the way, the soundtrack for the Hobbit is also splendid. I'm just glad I could see the movie in the theater. I was too young when Lord of the Rings came out, and I was super jealous of my brother when he got to see Return of the King in the theater. I read the books in eighth grade so Mom would let me watch the movies. I've been a fan ever since.

Something about Christmastime

It appears to be winter now, at least to me. Snow= winter. It snowed earlier this week and hasn't entirely melted, which is foreign to me. Back home, it lasts a day. Two tops. The kids even played on a sled. I don't think I've ever actually seen a sled before, let alone one in use... It's also supposed to snow two to four inches tomorrow. At least it's pretty, right? Fitting for Christmas.
I got to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt once again. Thing is, I had to wait all freaking day. They said we were going in the afternoon. We left shortly before six, and it was dark out. What the heck. So much for Christmas shopping... Maybe I'm supposed to learn patience here.
Christmas here... lots more chocolate, advent calendars, snow... it's pretty magical. At the Weihnachtsmarkts they have these cool nativity things called Pyramide. And it's typical to have a mini version in your home. They are beautiful! This pic was stolen from the internet, obviously. I love that it's acceptable here to have a huge nativity in the middle of town. I can't wait to see the Adventskranz tomorrow. It's a wreath with four candles, one for every week of Advent. Tomorrow we'll light two candles. I wasn't here last week to see the first one lit. Thursday was Nikolaustag- the children clean a pair of shoes and place them outside the front door for Nikolaus to put treats in. The Adventkalenders make it easier to wait for actual Christmas and the presents. I mean, a countdown with chocolate? Best Idea Ever!
I have a bit of a cough, and last weekend's choir practices and concerts certainly didn't help matters. It better be gone by this weekend because have a big concert in Kiel. People are actually paying to hear us. By the way, don't eat peanut butter if you have a dry throat and are trying to avoid coughing. It's a bit counterproductive.
On the bright side, I'm almost done with Harry Potter und der Orden des Phönix. I'm on page 912 out of 1021, so I might just finish it before Monday. I don't think I'll reach my goal of finishing the whole series by Christmas, though. Ok, I won't. But five books is pretty good.
Can I just say how thankful I am for Skype? Today I got to talk to my old roommate who will be following in my footsteps as an Au Pair in 11 days. I'm so excited for her to come over here, even though she'll be all the way in Berlin! And I have appointments to skype with two of my dearest friends as wells as my family tomorrow.
OH, and I get to see The Hobbit on the 12th. Be jealous, my American friends.

Shine a Light

I had the opportunity to serve a mini-mission for a week. Wondering what on earth that is? Well, Read On! Members of my church (aka Mormons) can voluntarily go on a mission to spread the gospel and the light of Christ throughout all the world. Guys go for two years, girls for eighteen months. As the name implies, mine was considerably shorter. It was fabulous, though!

I got to do everything full-time missionaries do. I got to talk to people on the streets, ring doorbells, help teach lessons, go on a ridiculously long bike ride to a less-active member, study the gospel, wake up at 6:30 every day, wear a skirt every single day, and any- and everything else. It was so awesome! I was worried that I'd have difficulties talking to people, especially about religion, but it was actually ok, especially considering that I haven't even been to the MTC or really had training. It was so awesome to see missionaries in action! The two sisters I was with were shining examples.
I finally cut my hair off that Monday. I hope it makes a cancer patient very happy, since the lady cut off six more centimeters than necessary. I confess to crying a bit when she chopped off my ponytail. I don't mind my hair being short though, now that it's done and over with.

I got back from my mini-mission on Wednesday. I had to go into town that evening to buy a shirt for choir. I stumbled upon the Weihnachtsmarkt- O Happy Day!!! I've been dying to see one ever since I found out that such a thing exists. Advent here is pretty magical, at least for me as a newcomer. I feel like a child again, except that the presents don't matter. I wish I could properly convey the smorgasbord of sights and smells that presented themselves. Like I said, it's magical. 

And what Advent would be complete without Christmas concerts? We gave a few this weekend. We went to Idar-Oberstein. Dude. I got to sing at some castle ruins and then go inside. Childhood dreams we fulfilled that day. Ja, so I've been in castles and palaces before, but none of them were this old and they were all modified and renovated and stuff.

I love this country.

It snowed Saturday night, just in time for 1st Advent. Snow is so beautiful! I don't know if I'll be able to say that in a few months, but for now it's nice. 

And my dear mom will be here in two weeks! Just a short visit, but that's the best present I could wish for.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

This is the strangest life I've ever known

It's been an... interesting... past two weeks. Ok, honestly, it's been rather dull, but some instances broke up the insipidity.

I had to eat the nastiest "hamburger" that I've ever tasted. I'm weird and don't like anything that could go in a salad on my burgers. Luckily neither lettuce or tomato were present. Mayo is a crime in my book. That slime should not even exist. This so-called burger was covered in it. And the patty wasn't a patty. It was a flattened meatball thing, and I'm about 167% sure it was pork. Ummm... no.

One day I took Dana to ballet. At one of the Straßenbahn stops, a grandma started to talking to Dana. Dana is really shy, so the old lady said, "It's ok, mama's there" and smiled. Do I look old enough to have a six-year-old daughter?!? Especially when we look nothing alike? What the heck!

On the same line, not a week later, I introduced myself to the members of Vocalis. I told them I'm 20, and some guy actually said "WIRKLICH?!?" (really?!?) quite loudly. Like I heard him from the other side of our large circle of thirty-something people. Apparently both my parents had a similar problem.

We had another Probewochenende (rehearsal weekend) for Vocalis. Yay singing!

I don't know why, but Dana hates it when I pick her up from Kindergarten. I get tired of fighting her every single day. I wish I could describe just how obstinate this child is. Just imagine the most stubborn child you know, throw in some animal-like grunts, barbaric yawps, wildly swinging arms and grimaces, and that should suffice. I was fed up with her stopping every few feet and trying to grab onto anything firmly planted in the ground or just flopping on the ground, so I just picked her up. That was fun.

I FINALLY got to go to some second-hand stores yesterday. It was lovely, even if I didn't buy anything. I've been keeping a list of the ones I see around town, and only got to go to a few of them as they close at six.

Oh, and after four months, I got a cell phone. I miss my old full keyboard phone. Typing's a pain in the butt, but I guess I'll get used to it. At least the price was right. It's not worth it to buy a smart phone for only eight months, especially when they all come with two-year plans. And as much as I'd like to stay here that long, my visa won't let me. I'd need either a university acceptance letter or somebody to marry. Ha.


Mostly I just sit in my basement after the day's work and read Harry Potter and periodically check Facebook. Facebook has let me down, though. It's only good for telling me who got their mission calls or engagements. Thanks for reminding me that I'm off the beaten path. At least life's an adventure that way...

Thinking how it used to be

Sometimes people ask me what I miss about 'Merica. I can never think of anything on the spot. But I have nothing else to do, so here's the list as of right now:

1. My family.
2. Independence and all that comes with it.
     a. Eating what I want.
     b. Avoiding certain foods like the plague e.g. pickles, mayo
     c. Going outside when I want. And by that I mean late at night.
     d. Making plans.
     e. Going on bike adventures.
3. Having a cell phone.
     After my last adventure, I told my host dad/boss that I want to get a cell phone. He told Maria I was looking for one, and she looked very surprised and asked why. Oh gee, in case I get lost on my way across the country... Or I might want to text my few friends... or you know... emergencies... whatever. NBD.
4. Random foods I didn't eat all that often, but aren't available here.
     a. Popcorn. Ok, you can get it here, but we don't have a microwave.
     b. Pumpkin pie
     c. Reese's.
     d. Peanut butter. Thank goodness my brother sent me a jar. It's saved my taste buds a few times.
     e. Squash
     f. Broccoli. Well, it's here, but we never ever eat it since Jared doesn't like it.
     g. Baby carrots.
5. People automatically knowing in what language to speak to me.
     Here, preferably Deutsch. Some people just refuse to get the memo or switch between languages. I'm never going to be fluent if this continues. I speak German, people. If I don't understand, I'll ask. Sheesh.
6. Being seen as a single adult.
     a. Since I usually am with a kid or the whole family when I go out, I've lost my identity as a single person.
     b. An old lady today thought I was the mother of the six year old. Not only am I too young for that, but we look nothing alike.
     c. More than once has Maria grouped me with the children. Hello, you're paying me to take care of the children...
7. Hugs.

I don't miss the country. Just some small things that I could fix given if the situation was a little different.

Should I stay or should I go?

This past week. Wow.
And I'm not talking about the early hours.
I love going to the temple. It was totally worth taking care of obnoxious children without all their toys.
Somehow, it so happened that I ended up spending a good deal of time with the sister missionaries this week. It was so cool to see them share the gospel and the light of Christ! By the way, sister missionaries serve for a year and a half. They completely give up everything for that time so they can fully focus on bringing people to Christ. It's a major commitment.
I also got to hang out with an amazing Spanish girl who is about to put in her papers for her mission. We were both in charge of children while the parents were in the temple. We bonded very quickly- she even said that being with me was like being with her sisters! We had a lot of fun talking and just hanging out.
These two things were the main catalysts in me starting to seriously think about going on a mission. When I was 18/19, I really really really REALLY wanted to go, but I was too young. I guess it just fell out of my mind, especially as I had a lot of other things going on.
And then last night, we went to a church meeting. I ran into the senior missionaries. I went to talk to the sister, and I heard these (or similar...) words come out of my mouth: "Are there any sister missionaries close to Braunschweig? I want to go with them and help." And just like that, we were on our way to find out from the zone leaders where there were sisters and if I could help them out on the weekends. Then we went to my host dad to see if it'd be alright, and he got waaay excited and asked if I could go on a mini-mission. I hadn't dared to ask about that, seeing as I thought there'd be no way I could take off from work for a week to go help the sisters. Yeah, I do have a month of vacation, but I thought I used that all up while they were on vacation back in August. I guess not... So now it's all in the works. I'll spend a week, probably later this month, with the sisters in the city over and see what it's really like to be on a mission.
I think I do want to go on a mission. So I'll prepare, and if something else comes up, then ok. It never hurts to study the gospel :) I don't have anything else to do come July 24th anyways. Hopefully they'll send me to Germany...

Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tschaikovsky the news.

Hello again!
I do actually have some news :) I'm officially a member of Kammerchor Vocalis! It's a really awesome choir run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Just google it.
My trip to Friedrichsdorf for the audition/Probe (choir weekend) was rather more... eventful, shall I say, than planned for. Even before the actual trip, I had a lot of difficulties. I mean, schedule conflicts, transportation issues, a change in location after I bought my train ticket... you name it.
After it came up that the first Probe night would be in Frankfurt instead of Friedrichsdorf, I had to find a way to get from Friedrichsdorf to Frankfurt. I found a member of the choir who would be able to take me. Brilliant! So Friday morning the whole family set out to Wuppertal for my host-mom's parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was strangely cheaper to catch a train from there as opposed to from Braunschweig, even though it takes about the the same amount of time.
My first train took me to Köln (aka Cologne). No problems. I just wish I had had a bit more time so I could properly see the Cathedral as opposed to just seeing it from the train. It's right next to the Hauptbahnhof.
The next train was fine. Until I decided to get off. The time was right, but not the town... And the dumb train didn't have the little LED display that tells you what stop you're at and nobody came on the loudspeaker. I somehow missed the sign at the station, but got off anyways because the time was right. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. It turned out to be some random tiny town without even a proper station and no sign of a pay phone. I still don't have a cell phone, but it won't stay that way for long... Anyway, so I panicked a little bit, prayed a lot, and my miserable situation improved. Some random dude asked me for a lighter, which I definitely don't have, and I asked if I could use his phone. I was able to call the girl who was to pick me up later and we got things sorted out. I took the train to the next bigger station to buy a ticket to Frankfurt. Yay! There went thirty Euros!!!
And life was looking up.
Then...
Just before Gießen, my train randomly stopped for a few minutes, causing me to miss my train to Frankfurt by about ten seconds. I literally ran up the stairs only to see it pulling away. CRAP. Somebody really doesn't want me at this audition. So I got to use a payphone for the first time in my life. Of course, they were in rehearsal, so she didn't pick up. I got on the next train just hoping that somebody would be at the station to find me. Luckily that was the case :)
So, it took me all freaking day to make this little journey. Was it worth the time and money? Well, my friends (and random people), I'm going to have to say yes. It's sooooo good to be in a choir again, especially one this good. To sing. To have something to do with people my age. To be a part of a group, even if I don't know the people yet. To belong.

Nothing to do, it's up to you

Thursday night, Maria told me I could have Monday off, so this would be a great weekend to do something with a friend or go somewhere a bit farther away. So I got on Facebook to leave a message for my friend. I wish I had a cell phone... It's been three months, and it seems my German family just doesn't care for technology outside of children's time detective books on CD and recording episodes of McGyver or the Mentalist on DVD. Sorry... ANYwho... Felicia and I finally got to talk/chat on FB last night. After much deliberation, we decided to go to Bremen for the heck of it. Deutsche Bahn sells regional tickets for twenty-one Euros, and you can add a friend for four Euros. Talk about a deal!
So I woke up dark and early this morning to start out on our adventure. And adventure it was! We almost forgot to get off the train in Bremen. We hadn't had seats the whole ride, so we were either standing or sitting  on the stairs and greatly desired to sit down. We finally got seats when a bunch of people got off. Thirty seconds later, Felicia said, "Wait, what station is this?" Luckily we got off in time :)

From the moment we left the station (for the third time-we had to check when our train departed and then we forgot a map...), we were greeted by the Freimarkt. It's a two-week festival/market thing that happens at the end of October every year for the past 977 years. But we opted to see that last, since it was just behind the Hauptbahnhof. 

We walked around town a bit and found Schnoor, the oldest district. It's super cute! The houses, which are now little shops, are smaller than tiny.

We then stumbled upon a flea market on the bank of the Weser. I wanted a bunch of stuff, like the records for one euro, and the fixie bikes, and... and yeah. Sucker for vintage!

 There was also a Fußball game later in the afternoon or evening. See the group of green shirts? The place was crawling with people in jerseys and other team stuff.

 This, friends, is the Freimarkt. Can I just say, Gebrannte Mandeln (roasted/caramelized almonds) are my new favorite thing! WHY have I never been introduced to these amazing things before?!?

That's all, folks!

Well it's too late tonight...

Thoughts of late
1. Why was I allowed to watch Indiana Jones as a child? And how did I not get nightmares from said movies?
2. The Germans in aforementioned movies are obviously Americans. Boo. Hire somebody who majored in phonetics or something to teach those poor people how to say their lines.
3. This is awesome.

4. Jilli learning how to count in English: "1, 2... 5..." Might be the cutest thing ever. If only she knew who she was unintentionally quoting...
5. I'm glad I have an obsession with checking the weather. I knew today would be shorts-weather. Maria didn't know that and wore a huge sweater and when she asked me to take the girls outside to play, she wanted me to put hats on the girls. It makes sense given the weather the past couple weeks, but it was seventy degrees fahrenheit!!! And it'll be 75 tomorrow. Summer's Last Stand before the Great Cold settles in for a while.
6. I will never let my children invite eight friends plus their three siblings to their birthday parties. It's a recipe for chaos.
7. What is up with the store hours here? 10-8? What about those of us who have to work from 11-5 and need to have dinner at some point?
8. I now understand why Autumn starts in September. Having grown up in the South...
9. How can anyone dislike chocolate?!? Especially German chocolate!
10. I'm a professional waster of time. You'd think that with no homework and a rather crappy internet connection, I'd manage to go to sleep at a decent hour. But no, I like to stay up doing absolutely nothing until I finally decide to read some Harry Potter until I'm tired enough to fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow. I think college ruined me in that respect.
11. iPod headphones suck. My decent ones broke two days ago, so I've had to use those crappy ones. Thank goodness for Skullcandy's warranty.

I understand about indecision...

I've heard this time of life (from about 18 to 20-something) called "the decade of decisions."
I think it should be called the decade of indecision.
The speaker was referring to how people my age have to make the most important choices of their lives right around this time.

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin in competition
All I want is to have my Peace of Mind
~ "Peace of Mind" by Boston

I'm grateful I know what I'm doing until July, when my gig as an Au Pair is up. But what then? I literally have the world before me. Back to BYU? Study in Germany? Go on a mission for my church for a year and a half? Go somewhere else in the world? Heck, I don't even know what I want to study or do for a living. Ha. Technically I've already started a degree to be a German teacher, but I'd rather just stay in Germany. And do what?
And I'm not the only one with this problem. I was just talking to another friend yesterday who has the same dilemma. And so many other friends don't know what to do either.
I can't even decide how to cut my hair. If I ever actually do get around to cutting it off... It's a love-hate relationship. Pathetic Me.
Remember that scene towards the end of Tangled where Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are on the boat just before the lanterns come out? Rapunzel says she's terrified because her dream is about to come true and she doesn't know what to do next. Then Flynn says "Well, that's the good part, I guess. You get to find a new dream." Time to find a new dream. Or a way to continue my dream of living in Germany. I'll figure it out eventually... right?

Letting the days go by

Life has been rather dull... not much news today. But I did say I'd put up some pics, so... yeah. These pictures are the moments that broke up the monotony and boredom.

One day, I noticed that the light coming in through my tiny basement window had changed, as if it were about to rain. So I went upstairs and found this pleasant surprise:

On a bike ride:

Yes, I took that while riding my bike. So please forgive the unnatural tilt.

We went to Schloss Wernigerode in the Harz Mountains on der Tag der Deutschen Einheit (the day that the two Germanys were reunified). I thought it was rather appropriate to visit a castle that day.

So... 70% of Blu-Rays don't have the regional restrictions that DVDs do. Hence I can watch movies auf Deutsch on my laptop! So... I kinda had to buy this. I may be a fool for spending all that money (I just had to have it now instead of patiently waiting for the price to go down), but at least I'm a happy fool!

See that "Leerbox" sticker up there? It makes it much less exciting to open the case for the first time. Leer= empty. You have to buy the box and go to the info desk to get the disc. Thank you, stupid thieves... 

Well, that's it.

Peace.

Say something once, why say it again?

I've gotten lazy with blogging... perhaps because I have started writing in my journal a lot more since I moved to Germany. Besides, most days are pretty boring. Sparknotes for Shelby's life lately?
Life goes on. It's settled into a sort of rhythm. Most weekdays, I help in the morning for about an hour while Maria helps Dana get ready for Kindergarten. Then I either help around the home or have free time until just before lunch, when I pick up Dana. Then the boys come home and we eat. Then I make sure the kids don't get into too much trouble, or teach piano, or iron, or... stuff like that.

Some funny things that have happened in the past bit:

We were listening to "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner when the Joni, who's eight, asked (in German, of course) what was so cold. So I told him, "a woman" to which he responded, "doch, women are as hot as the sun!" And this from an eight-year-old!

One day, Maria was giving me suggestions as to what to do with my free time the next day. I had a larger block, and so I could go do something that required a bit more time. One suggestion was to go to the Autostadt in the next town. VW has some sort of exhibit there in their home town. I'm not sure exactly what it is, as I haven't been there yet. Anyways, Maria said that she doesn't think I have any interest in cars.
I was wearing my Mustang Shelby Cobra shirt.

I've been teaching Jilli, the three-year-old, a bit of English. When we're alone, I just ramble so that she'll hear English and become more familiar with it and hopefully learn something. Apparently my method is working. Earlier this week we were making some Snickerdoodles, and I was rambling, as usual. I remember saying "Cookie dough is probably the most delicious thing ever. Actually, Jilli, probably not..." Then she said "Doch!" I shrugged off her rebuttal, thinking she didn't understand my prattle. But if the way she kept trying to eat the dough can be counted as any sort of evidence, she may have understood what I said!

Oh, and Dana thought it would be funny to moon me. Fortunately I was helping Jill put on her pajamas, so I didn't look up until she was laughing and pulling her pants up.

So those are the interesting things. Well, there's more, but even Tolkein split up Lord of the Rings into separate pieces to make it easier on the reader. Actually, I think the next post will have a lot of pictures... Yeah... Keep waiting like it's the premiere of Star Wars Episode Six. Or The Return of the King. Or a new Harry Potter. Or... never mind. It's just a jejune blog, filled with nothing but the everyday events of my life.

Cold as ice

This title refers to several things.
1. My toes. It's freaking cold in my room, although it's only September. I'm really excited for January...

2. Germany. It's 20 degrees Fahrenheit colder here than home. Well, I do come from the South... but really? It feels like late October or November to me.

3. The girls. Luckily Dana doesn't dislike me quite as much as she did the last couple weeks. But, as little toddlers often do, Jilli watched her sister and took in her example. She's finally hit the terrible twos, although her birthday is in a week. You should have seen her when I had to put her shoes on so we could go get Dana from Kindergarten. Actually, lieber nicht.

4. The strange sizing method for pants here. Ok, so it's not exactly cold, but nobody bothered to tell me about it. There are three methods (as far as I can tell): a S-M-L-XL one for things like jeggings (an ugly word for an ugly idea), inches (WHAT?!? this is Europe. We use metric here! Or so I thought... but that's what a sign at H&M said, so I guess I'll go with it), and some weird two-number system that I can't make heads or tails of. It doesn't help that the latter two systems both use numbers around 30, but in different ways. Lets just say that my search for a pair of jeans after the Reißverschluss AKA zipper on my favorite pair of jeans went kaputt was rather frustrating. I did find pants, but not blue jeans. That's ok though, because I've wanted red pants for a while and I've been meaning to replace my khakis for forever. Forever= since about last summer when I had to make the old ones into shorts because they got ripped on my bike gear thing.

5. The lack of thrift stores in this country. I miss hunting for cheap clothes, especially awesome vintage stuff. Go ahead, Brand Me as a Hipster. This isn't helvetica font, for the record. I'm only half a hipster.

6. I think this country forgot all the good music that came about before the 80's.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE 80's music, but there was a lot of good stuff in the previous two decades. And I don't like the vast majority of what's popular today.

7. Smoozies. This is how they pronounce the word "smoothies" and it makes me smile. Maria got a blender for her birthday last month, so she's been trying out different combinations. They call the thick ones "Eis" as in "ice cream", which also makes me smile, since it's definitely not ice cream...

8. I have to go alone to open my bank account tomorrow morning.

Well, now that I'm finally all toasty, I've run out of things that are cold. Makes sense, na?

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

Someone asked me the other day if being an Au Pair is an effective birth control.

I just kinda laughed.

My real thoughts? Well, no. It makes me want to have my own kids someday, of course, after I get married and all that jazz. I mean, there are days when the kids are super obnoxious and they make me want to scream, but that's typical for children. I still want kids of my own. This experience is opening up my eyes to how I want to raise my future children. For example, they almost never watch anything on the TV. No shows, no movies, nothing but MacGyver. I had previously thought that it would be great to raise my kids without TV, but now I'm thinking a bit of down-time never ruined a child. Some days it would be really nice to just say, "here kids, let's watch Lion King" or whatever.

On a completely unrelated train of thought...

I really want to visit a walled city. Braunschweig once had a wall, but, like most other cities, it was torn down. 

 vs.

I also dream of owning a record player, preferably a vintage one, and a bunch of awesome old records. Hipster much? I learned the other day that my host dad/boss (I never know what to call him...) had one until just before I came. He got rid of it to make room for me :( Well, my record collection is nothing more than a wish list, so I guess that's ok...

Another dream: live in Germany for forever. We'll see if that happens. I'm working on it :) 

One last dream: to cut my hair off. I just can't seem to get around to it. Or find a shoulder-length-ish style that I like that isn't some hairstyle worn by some classic rock star back in the day. I think there's a lot more freedom in that department back in the States.

I've been running down this dusty road

Today I woke up early-ish. We decided to take a mini-trip to some kid's park about 45 minutes away, and I wanted to go jogging before we left at 10:45. So I went for my tiny mini-jog down a dirt road, and I was ready on time. Except we didn't leave as planned. And lateness really bothers me. I mean, I'm usually fine if someone tells me what's going on, but nobody told me anything. I was left to do, well, nothing. My computer decided it doesn't want to connect to the internet while I'm in my lovely basement chamber. Turns out our friends, who we were meeting there, needed some more time. We left at 12:30.
I still am not entirely sure why I went along to a kids park on my day off.
This park was SUPER huge. I couldn't help but wonder as we wandered and stood on the dusty paths just how big it is. It had all sorts of playgrounds and interesting things. Some of the things were borderline creepy. There was a part about bugs, and there were sculptures that made me feel as though I were the tiny bug. There was also a playground-thing under a huge pavillion/in a room decorated with toys, including no less than two Teletubbies. I also got to take Jilli (the two-year-old) on a course over water. I'm sure the course was not meant for small children, as there were jumps and steps that her little legs just could not reach. You can imagine how much fun I had carrying her over some wobbly chain-paths. I would've taken a picture, except I was kinda busy making sure Jilli didn't fall off.
And to top the experience, There Was A Petting Zoo. Petting Zoos are one of my least favorite things on the planet. I'd rather change dirty diapers all day then spend 10 minutes in a petting zoo. At first, it wasn't so bad. There was a little sheep-area to the left of the path, and turkeys to the right. Nothing could touch me, so life was tolerable. Then we moved down the path, past goats and horses and llamas, and then BAM! the only way through was through the pig-area. Shoot. Me. Now. I really don't like animals. So I quickly made my way through to the other side of the fence, only to find that next to me was the geese area. One time, as a young child, I was chased by some geese at a place called Samuel's Farm. I can still remember sitting on top of an old tractor long after the geese were gone, just hoping that a grown-up would come. Needless to say, I REALLY don't like geese. Yay for childhood trauma stories.
After the horrid petting zoo with all the stinky, filthy animals, we had some ice cream. Because I want Eis after being slightly chilled all day. Then came the news: We're having McDonalds for dinner! Thoughts on the matter: yay. my favorite restaurant. will someone please go order my gravestone? So I had some fries for dinner. They're the one thing that I can tolerate from that place. Supposedly McDonalds is better here, but that doesn't mean much. And I really don't want to have to order auf Deutsch. I mean, there are a whole lot of things I don't like on my burger, and life's better, healthier, and easier if I just order fries.
And, inconvenience of all inconveniences, I had to go upstairs to get any internet.
At least tomorrow will be a better day. No petting zoos :)

I was born in the USA

I find it slightly ironic that I got my Visa to live in Germany on the Eleventh of September. This didn't even occur to me until around 23:00 (11 PM). I feel slightly embarrassed that I didn't even realize that it was the eleventh until I saw it all over Facebook. Oops.
When I was younger, I was super-patriotic. For my own country. I guess I've changed a bit in the past eleven years. Ha. Now I want to move to another country permanently.
On a more positive note, I got to help make apple sauce today. I also answered the phone for the first time. I really, really, REALLY hate telephones. I would normally avoid the phone, but I had to pick it up today, as my host/boss said someone was going to call around five and he and his wife would be gone. So I had no choice. Luckily it went rather well, all things considered. But this doesn't mean I'll be making a habit out of it. I fully plan on avoiding the phone like the Plague. Well, if I ever get a cell phone over here, I'll use it. But then I'll only be talking to people I know, so it'll be fine.
I tried to go shopping for some new jeans today. That sucked. I came back empty-handed. The only jeans I can afford are cheap crappy jeans that are so tight, they are like a second skin. Not gonna happen.
Can I just say how much I hate money? Super much.
Sometimes I want to cut my hair off. Problem is, I don't think cutting my hair off would be a very good idea. It probably wouldn't be that cute. I've been debating with myself for at least six months. I'm sure everybody wanted to know that. Whatever. I think someday I'll just cut it off, and then I'll know how I feel about it.

Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

Well, in this case, it was measured in kilometers, but that's besides the point.
I went to another Tagung. The destination was the exotic Darmstadt, Germany. Never heard of it? That's ok. I had only heard of it because one of my roommates was from there.
I left Thursday afternoon to go to the train station. I met my friend Anna there. We were to take a train to Hannover, where Felicia was to pick us up so we could then travel to Darmstadt in her rental car. For some unknown reason, the train was randomly cancelled. Luckily we were able to take the next train and everything worked out perfectly. We had a great time traveling through the country. Darmstadt is not quite four hours south of Hannover, depending on how fast you drive. Autobahn, you know... Germany is such a beautiful country! I know I've said that before, but, honestly... We were fortunate enough to see the sun set over some mountains in Hessen. I think I shot more pics of the sun than the actual Tagung...
The Tagung was... well... a Tagung. Nothing Special. There were three dances, some workshops, a sport day, etc.... Interestingly enough, I think I met more international people than Germans. Felicia and I hung out with some Scandinavians and a pair of British girls, usually. I did hang out with some German friends too, but they were mostly talking amongst themselves. That tends to happen when you are thrust into a new group of friends that have already known each other for years. I'm not saying they were excluding me, because they certainly weren't, but only that it's sometimes easier when the others in the group are also pretty new to the scene.
Points of Awesomeness:
1. The Awesome Kammerchor Vocalis is having auditions next month. They need women, especially sopranos. You should have seen me when I found this out.
2. Remember the Scandinavians? Some of our Danish friends rented a really awesome BMW M3 for the trip. And guess who got to go for a ride in a four-hundred-twenty horsepower beauty? That was the coolest thing ever. Except for what happened to my hair. It was my first ride in a convertible and DANG was it freaking awesome. I was drooling over it before we were even offered a ride.
3. And our rental car? Well, it turned out to be a Fahrschule (driving school) car. Still wondering about how that happened... I didn't know you could even rent those.

I love road trips, and this one was a lot of fun, but I'm glad I'm home. Time for a vacation from vacation.

Who are you?

Since I've been back... Interesting things have been happening.
Strangely, the five-year-old, Dana, decided she no longer likes me, and tells me even to "geh raus!" (get out) when I walk into her room. Yesterday, when I went to pick her up from Kindergarten, she refused to come, and then when she finally did come, she howled the whole way home, since I wouldn't let her sit in her sister's stroller. Fortunately, she's been better behaved since then. At least she'll talk to me now!
The almost-three-year-old, Jilli, has finally caught the terrible twos. Joy. It's not bad. She just likes to say no.
I've started working on genealogy. I have ancestors from Germany/lands that were once German/whatever. Luckily the guy I work for is really into this stuff. Like overboard. So he helps me to read the really old handwriting. At the beginning, I was convinced it would be easier to read Jilli's scribbles. I'm beginning to get the hang of it, though S's look like F's and I can't tell the difference between i, e, m, n, w, or most other letters. Basically, that leaves lucky guesses. At least they weren't very creative when it came to first names, right? I've only been working on it for two days, so it can only get easier to read... hopefully... We've already found almost fifty people! It's really sad, though, because a lot of them were babies that died in the first month or two. One couple had four babies or so that died, then the last one lived but was killed on the battlefront. It's really interesting work, but also slightly depressing.
I should mention that yesterday I got to eat my first Döner! For all of you who don't know what that is, here's a picture of one. Not mine, specifically, since my picture makes it look rather unappetizing. We had take-out instead of eating at the shop, so the sauce kinda got everywhere. And I didn't have lettuce and tomatoes, since those are nasty. I was a little apprehensive at first, since the ingredients are exactly at the top of my favorite foods list, but I was pleasantly surprised! I had one problem: my mouth is almost too small. It's good there wasn't any Salat in it, or I really would've had difficulties...

I have found a new love for banana chips.

Tomorrow I'm hitting the road yet again. This should be the last time for a while. Luckily I'm traveling with two friends, so the trip should be rather pleasant :) We're going to another Tagung in Darmstadt. Blog fodder!

Out here in the fields

Running in Germany... much better than in Provo. There are some fields right by our neighborhood with paths all around them. I can run without looking like a fool in front of people! Not that I run much... But I'm gonna change that. If I can't eat as much fruit and vegetables as I want, I should at least do something good for me, even if I hate it. And now I don't have to worry about accidentally stumbling upon somebody I know while I look like crap and am out of breath... yeah...
I skyped with my mom last night and told her about the possibility of going to a university somewhere over here. Her reply was something to the effect of: "I had a feeling this would happen..."
Well, I have some stuff to do before I have to watch the kids, so I better get my lazy butt up and get busy...

It's getting hard to be someone...

But it all works out.
Strawberry Fields forever.

But seriously, I've been wondering what to do with my life. I mean, what on earth can I possibly do? Technically I have a major that I'm working on... Except I kinda sorta left school for a year... My major is German Teaching, but what if I don't want to go back to 'Merica? Do I even want to be a German teacher?
What if I studied here, in Germany? It'd be cheaper... and way awesome... and super difficult... but I think I could manage... if worst comes to worst and I fail miserably, I could just go back to BYU... any recommendations as to German universities? Preferably one that doesn't charge tuition.
When I visited Leonie in Lüdinghausen, I was able to go to Gymnasium with her. This had two purposes: spend time with Leo, and also to get to know the education system a bit better. German teachers usually teach a couple different subjects. Since I'm considering being a teacher over here, I should pick some things that I could teach. Biology, Chemistry and Math are out. They were never in the question. I could teach English, music, maybe German, history... This could work out! I need to fast and pray a lot.

Sometimes I wish life came with a road map. That would defeat the purpose, though...

Hit the Road, Jack

Honestly, guys, I'm tired of playing Catch-up Travel-log.
Sufficeth to say, I had fun with Felicia. We went to the Steinhuder Meer Festival thing, and we chilled and watched movies and such.

I went back to Braunschweig. I was at my actual home for less than twenty-four hours. Wednesday morning I helped my friend Anna with a film project. I walked to the store to get food. I really miss buying my own food. I don't have too much of a say here... Dang it, I wish I could go to the store too instead of watching the kids while one of the parents goes to the store... So I bought fruit. A lot of fruit, considering how long I'd be home...

 But oh my goodness, was it delicious :)
Banana, orange, apple, nectarine, grapes... I really miss being able to eat all the fruit I want.

Thursday, I went to the kids' cousins home. They live on the other side of town. For some reason, the kids adore me. The twin ten-year-olds love that I have nail polish and earrings. That makes sense, but the other two children just like me... I don't know why, but they were all begging me to stay longer. And their mom and I were like, "chill, kids, Shelby will be here for another ten months..." BTdubs, Despicable Me is a lot more funny in English. It's not that I couldn't understand the script in German, but that a lot of the humor just doesn't translate well. Like the famous "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!!" is just "it's cuddly!!" It's just not the same...

Early Sunday morning, I took the train to little Lüdinghausen to visit my friend Leonie. Unfortunately, she was really busy this week. She's still in Gymnasium, so I got to visit the German equivalent of high school (more or less). Her parents showed me Münster, which is a cool town. The Thirty Years War was brought to and end there (ok, partially... these peace treaties tend to take forever to draft). I've discovered that apple pie isn't all that American, as I had something that was just like it here. And rotkohl is delicious :)
So, I read the second Harry Potter at Leo's house while she was doing homework or in class. My new goal:

 

before Christmas.

She let me borrow the remaining five :D

I think it's totally feasible.

I'm kinda tired of traveling by now. I'm going to a smaller Tagung in Darmstadt next weekend, too. This means living in five different places in less than a month. I'm not complaining; in fact, I'm really glad I've gotten to see so much! I'm just ready to take a break from taking a break. Good thing the kids are starting school Monday, so life will settle down nicely. 

The long and winding road that leads to your door

Friday was my last day in Wien. I couldn't decide what I wanted more- a couple more days at the Tagung, or a whole lot of sleep.
After the closing meeting, we had to say our farewells. Saying goodbye is always an unpleasant affair, especially when you don't know if you'll ever see your friends again. I also had to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. My train back to Hannover didn't leave until midnight-ish, so I had waaaay too much time on my hands. I had originally planned on staying with Felicia and seeing a bit more of the city, but her flight left four hours before my train, and I wasn't particularly found of being alone in a foreign city on a Friday night. Luckily I ran into Kerstin, who lives in Wien. She said I could stay with her and she'd show me more of the city. Score! Life just improved about a thousand times :)
So I went to Kerstin's apartment. Kerstin, her friend Miriam, and I ate lunch and chilled. We were all super worn-out. Then they decided to go to Tichy. It's apparently the best Eiscafe (ice cream shop) in all of Wien. And the Eis really was delicious! I had strawberry, chocolate, and hazelnut. Four scoops is the smallest size you can get. And it was pretty cheap too!
On the way back to the city center, we found these guys on the bus. You can imagine my excitement when we got on the bus and there were five guys wearing Lederhosen at the front of the bus.

From there, we went to see Schloß Belvedere. It's really beautiful, but lacks the view of Wien that one can enjoy from Schönbrunn. 

We went to the Naschmarkt. During the day, merchants sell their goods, and a lot of them offer samples (hence the Nasch (nibble) part). We got there rather late, and so there wasn't a whole lot of naschen going on.

We also went to see the Hundertwasser Haus. Hundertwasser was this artist who had some really interesting ideas. For example, he made sure that the tenants were allowed to paint the exterior walls around their windows as far as they could reach. 

After that, we all went back to the apartment to eat and relax. We watched some tv show while we waited. Then the hour came, and we took the U-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. I was so sad that I had to leave that wonderful, beautiful city! My train was also kinda sketch... I think it came from Romania or somewhere in that part of Europe. It had a little cabin for each six people, kinda like the Hogwarts Express, but creepy. Oh well. At least the people in my cabin weren't creepy.

Around 6:00 I had to change trains in Munich. I wish I could've seen the city, but I guess I'll have to go to Bayern some other time... Then onwards to Hannover. Twelve hours of traveling. Talk about a long and winding road... I stayed for a couple days with Felicia there. More blog to come!

Why can't we be friends?

Wednesday in Vienna: classes. They weren't all that interesting, honestly. That night the whole 400 of us went into the city together and sang church songs to the light of candles that we brought. It was pretty cool! I couldn't help but think about the countless hosts of people in centuries past, whose only light at night was the moon and candles.
Thursday was sport and service project day. I'm not really into sports, but I went along anyways. We also had difficulty signing up for a service project, because most of the projects required German language capabilities. Anyways... we all went to a huge park somewhere in Vienna. I don't know where exactly since we took the U-bahn and so forth. I met a lovely girl, Kerstin, who actually spoke to me in German! This is really great because most everybody spoke to us in English. I can speak German well enough, but my friends... well, not so much... So I got to talking to her, and then she had to go to her service project, which was singing and talking to people in a nursing home. I decided to go with her. We went with the group clear to the other side of the city. We sang, of course. Then we were supposed to talk with the old people. I didn't trust myself to speak with the old people, since they most likely speak some sort of dialect that I wouldn't be able to understand. And there were a few too many young people anyway, so everybody had someone to talk to. Another guy decided to refrain from talking for this reason, so we just stayed in the back of the room and talked. He's an interesting guy from somewhere in southern Austria.
Back at the hotel, my friends and I skipped out on a political presentation. It was boring, and we don't really understand the whole Austrian government and politics thing. We decided to get ready for the last dance instead. It was a more formal dance, so we took our jolly time. It was actually a really good dance for once! I don't usually get asked to dance as much as I did on that night. Can't complain :)

You may find yourself in another part of the world

Tuesday in Vienna.

 We had several options to choose from: small tours to certain points, classes, or doing whatever. Felicia and I wound up going with Jeanette and her friends from Frankurt. We went with a group to see Schloß Schönbrunn. We walked around the grounds. None of us wanted to pay to go inside. If you walk around the back side, past the beautiful fountain from whence it gets its name, and up a hill and then look back towards the palace, you get a most lovely view of not only the palace but also the city. I was in awe the entire time! Palaces are beautiful, but Vienna! Oh Vienna! And to have it all in one! We had a sack-lunch picnic on the grounds.

Parliament

Later we met up with a friend of Jeanette's friends who is studying in Vienna, who then gave us a tour of the city. I don't know if I can remember the names of everything, but I do know that it was all lovely. We came up out of a U-bahn (subway) station and BAM! in front of us was the magnificent Stephansdom. It was so huge, I couldn't fit it into one picture. It didn't help that it was impossible to get far away enough and still be able to see it. Just google it. Here we ran into our Swiss friend, who decided to hang out with us. Then we went and got Eis (ice cream) which was heavenly! Nutella ice cream is a real thing!!! This is a dream come true! In no particular order, we saw the Rathaus, Parliament, some building where the Kaiser worked (I forgot the name of it), some ruins of a Roman wall... and a bunch of other things.

The building where the Kaiser worked

Vienna

 By this time, we were beginning to wonder when we would head back to the hotel for dinner. Then someone decided we needed to see Prater. It's a little theme park that's apparently really famous. Being an ignorant American, and a product of public education, I had never heard of it. At this point, Felicia, Jeanette, our Swiss friends, and I decided to quit the tour in favor of going back to the hotel. There was no hope for dinner at this point, but we would still be back in time for the dance. Besides being hungry and tired, we really wanted to be back for the dance because the theme was traditional dress. Can I just say, Lederhosen are the coolest things ever! Of course, not everyone had a Dirndl or Lederhosen, since they are rather regional clothes. Sadly dance pictures never turn out well... So to make up for it, here's a little gem we found on a staircase in the University of Wien:

"Only Chuck Norris finishes his studies in the minimum time"

Vienna waits for you

Holy COW. Vienna. Wien. I'm going to have to split this up into several posts.

Actually, I'm going to start with the Sunday before Wien. After church, my host family decided to go see the Heide. (Heide = Heather). The area is basically a super-huge field of heather, and there's nothing like it anywhere in the world. It turns purple! We were a bit early in the season (we've had a very cool "summer"), so it wasn't as purple as it could be. It was still very pretty.

The sucky thing though, was that I wasn't completely packed and ready to go for Wien. We got back around 9:00 PM. I was planning on getting to bed before then, but... oh well. It was worth it.

So I got about three hours of sleep when all was said and done. We had to leave the house at 3:30 AM so I could get on my train. That was fun. It was the earliest I've woken up, but in a way, it was kinda worth it! I have a rough time sleeping on public transportation, like planes and trains and such, so yeah... I was able to see a lot of Germany. Germany is so beautiful!!! I couldn't help thinking that throughout the whole trip.The best thing was that I got to see the sunrise (which I've always been to lazy to do) over some small mountains. It was waaaay awesome.

So I got all the way to Vienna all by me onesies. I had been a little nervous, because I've never been on such a big trip by myself before, and nobody was waiting for me at the train station. But I managed. And being the penny-pincher I am (or shall I say Eurocent-pincher?), I decided to walk from the train station in Vienna to the hostel. I had looked it all up on Google Maps and had my directions and everything. Well, Google let me down. It was supposed to take one-and-a-half hours, but it didn't. It lied. And Vienna lacks street signs. These things combined led me down the wrong road. Not very far, and I wouldn't consider myself lost, but it did take a bit longer than expected. I simply stopped at a gas station and figured it all out. No big deal. I got to see some of Wien that nobody else did. All those suckers that used the U-bahn (subway) missed out on quite a bit of Wien. And the sore feet and shoulders. Oh well. Wien is absolutely beautiful! And I didn't even see the touristy pretty area that day.
So, the first thing I did after check-in was take a shower. If you had just walked for 2.5 hours around a foreign city around 90 degrees Fahrenheit with all your luggage after being on a train or three for nine hours, you'd want a shower too. After dinner, we had a dance. Dances in Europe are way different than the Mormon dances I've been to in the US. Firstly, there is no such thing as a slow dance. Strange, yes? They have this basic dance step called the Disco Fox, which is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and then they just throw in some twirls and stuff. It is a lot more fun! Secondly, they dance this strange dance to all sorts of music. No crazy mosh pits or anything. Thirdly, they play a lot of unedited versions of American songs. They just don't realize that there are bad words or anything. Ironically, the only guy I danced with was from good ol' Idaho. We actually found quite a few Americans. By the way, the conference was for Latter-day Saints (Mormons) from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Speaking of Switzerland, I met my first Swiss person ever. I was a little too excited. I think the whole craziness of the day was manifesting itself...
After the dance, we went up to our room. Can I just say that there were some crazy coincidences goin on? My friend, Jeanette, who was my neighbor at the German House at BYU, had decided to come on the Tagung at the last minute. I thought she had signed up to be in our room, but she hadn't. Somehow, though, she was put in my room! What a coincidence! I was really glad about that though. So we just had a little English-speaking BYU room with the three of us.
I'm going to have to write about Tuesday on another post. Nobody wants to read about all of this in one sitting... But really, Vienna is fantastic. I would highly empfehl visiting there.

The exodus is here

..Or will be, dark and early, Monday morning. I'm going to Vienna!!! That means I have a bunch of packing to do. I'm going to a church conference for young single adults. Of course there will be dances, and they have specific themes every night, plus different things for day wear. I've got so much to pack!!! My train leaves around 4:30 AM and gets there around 1:30 PM. This is going to be fun. At least I'll get to see a good bit of Germany plus some of Austria as I travel. And afterwards, I'm going to stay with my friend Felicia in Hannover for a couple days. My German family is going on vacation, so I've got some time to spend. Not much money though... Traveling is expensive :P
Other than my excitement about Vienna, life has gone on much as before. I watch the kids. Woohoo!
Ok, so something different did happen this week. Two cousins, roughly my age, came to visit for two days. Those boys made life interesting... We didn't really get to be good friends, but I'll see them at the Tagung in Vienna. It'll be good to see a couple familiar faces in yet another foreign country.
I also got to go to a church activity for JAE (young single adults) on a lake somewhere near Hannover. That was a loooot of fun! It was soooo good to be around people my age!
Nothing else really interesting happened this week. Next week will more than make up for that, though! So excited!!!

Nothing comes easy

I finally got to do something with people my age on Monday! We went to go see the new Batman film. I honestly didn't like it. It was waaaaay too violent and dark, and focused entirely too much on how bad things got in Gotham City. I don't mind battles and such in films, but this was overkill. I discovered, though, that in Germany, if the film is really long, they insert an intermission. It was a total shocker! On the bright side, I found out my friend, Anna, is also very excited for the Hobbit movie, just like me. I had a bit of a headache after the movie. It was like taking a very long and strenuous test. Since German takes more syllables than English, they had to speak rather fast.  I had to concentrate very hard to be able to understand the script.
One thing I really miss about living on my own, or even with my parents, is being able to get as much produce as I want. I really try to eat a lot of it, but they don't so much here. Even the families that eat "healthily" don't eat as much produce as back home, even though there are more options here. I've been known to eat in one sitting: three bananas, or most of a cantaloupe, or four oranges, a pound of grapes, or a bowl of peas, or half a bag of baby carrots, a huge bowl of Lima beans or a smoothie large enough for three people. So what if I don't like salad? My German family thinks that eating salad every other day makes them healthy. It makes me so very sad. I have eaten green beans and mushrooms and other strange fruits. They aren't easy to get through, but I'm dying for nutrients. Ok, so it's not as bad as it could be, but I miss eating something healthy at every meal and for snacks. That's why I bought myself two oranges yesterday.
Other than that, life has stabilized. I just watch the kids from 10-4 and make sure they don't do anything too dangerous. They usually get along together pretty well. Just your average kids. Except that they don't watch TV, like, ever. Only MacGyver on Sunday afternoons occasionally. Some days it would be nice just to say, "here kids, you're being waaaaay too obnoxious, watch this Disney movie." I agree that watching too much television is bad, but really, people?!?
I can't even unlock the front door. But I have a problem with keys...
It's strange to think, that if this stay in Germany was the length of the last one, I'd be on a plane back home right now... fortunately I have another eleven months :)

Just to see your face...

...Now I know what you mean to me...
Yesterday we went swimming. That was... interesting... I have swim shorts, and most of the men were wearing shorts shorter than mine or Speedos. *scarred for life* I watched the little girls, who are five and two. Honestly, that's more fun for me than to go swimming in the big pool.
In the evening, the family went to go pick beans in Grandma's garden. I opted to stay home. I'm really glad I did, since I finally caught my mom on Skype. I'm pretty tight with my family, so it was simply marvelous to be able to see them and converse face-to-face (sorta). We've been emailing, but Skype takes it to a whole 'nother level. Gosh, I miss them. Is it sad that I don't miss America at all? I just miss my family. I'll have to get used to being without them. It was hard when I went to college, but I got used to living on my own. And now, after just five weeks at home, I miss them again. It's kinda funny, but while I was home, I was dying to get out. Life would be beautifully perfect if only I could have my family here in Germany. I really don't miss America at all. And there ain't nothin' wrong with that. My mom and I talked for about an hour and a half. My dad popped in for a few minutes before he had to go back to work. My sweet little sister also stopped by the camera for a few minutes, but she was busy because she had a friend over. It was soooo good to talk to them! I really needed someone to talk to. I don't really have friends here yet, at least ones that live in Braunschweig. I'm so grateful that my mom is also one of my best friends!
Today, the missionaries came over to eat lunch. The members of our church take turns feeding the missionaries that serve in our area. One of them is coincidentally one that I helped at the MTC back in May. He really misses the American way of life. Fortunately I had baked chocolate chip cookies. I hope that helped him. I told him he could take some home, and he was really happy about that. I'm glad I was able to make somebody's day better!

She's a daytripper

The other day, I got to take a day trip to Berlin! I've wanted to go there for, oh, eternity. Ok, two years is a bit closer to reality.
I got to see a good bit of Northern Germany that day. The landscape is pretty similar. Interestingly, in the formerly East German states, there's a lot more graffiti. That's really the only difference. I was looking around for any signs of differences, but the Wall came down more than 20 years ago and everything's pretty much the same now.
Berlin is a really cool city! I didn't get to see much of it. In fact, we were traveling longer than we were in the actual city. Our small group included the 11-yr-old, a lady from church who was our guide, and myself. This is the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). It's absolutely enormous! I think it's five levels.

From there, we took a one-minute U-bahn (subway) trip to the Reichstag. That's where their Congress meets. You can go up in the dome, but you have to wait for like three hours.

Then we took another mini trip on the U-bahn to the Brandenburger Tor. I had imagined it to be much larger, but it was really cool nevertheless.

Around the block is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It's a really cool memorial. It's also really easy to loose people in it. That must be symbolic...

Then we walked down the road to the Siegessäule (Victory Column).

Then we took a bus and the U-bahn to Checkpoint Charlie. 

We made it back to Hauptbahnhof just in time. And to think, back at Checkpoint Charlie, Brigitte asked if we wanted to go to this huge mall on the other side of town... It's a really famous mall, but we really didn't have the time.

On the way back, we stopped in a town former East Germany for dinner. We even found a Trabbi! Back in the day, you had to put your name on a list and wait for years to get one. People would sign up for their child to get one as soon as the child was born. That's how long you had to wait. Personally, I think they're rather cute... :)

I took hours to come up with the list of sights and bus times and everything. We didn't use much of it at all. We missed our first U-bahn because Brigitte couldn't find it. We seriously walked around the whole dang station. Then we ignored the rest of the schedule and all of my hard work. She just asked around for directions. I found out on the way back that the last time she was in Berlin, the Wall was still up. That explains the incompetence a little. 

We returned to Braunschweig for a few minutes, and then we went to Hannover for Institut. All in all, I traveled more than 500 kilometers that day! How's that for a day trip? I can't wait until my friend Ary gets to be an Au Pair in Berlin in December- then I can visit her there!

Waiting for the sunshine, standing in the rain

It seriously rained at least once a day for the first week of my adventure.
Monday I applied for my work visa. That was fun...
Tuesday I got a tour around Braunschweig. This kind lady from church was my tour guide, and we had a great time. Sadly the Allies bombed down 90% of Braunschweig back in WW2, so there aren't many old buildings left. There are many old churches though. I got to go in this one church that's about 900 years old. That's something you don't get to see in America! Braunschweig is really a cool city, and I'm glad I'll be spending the next year of my life here.
That evening, I got to go to Institute, which is a church meeting for people ages 18-30. During the summer, it's an hour away in Hannover. The church is on the outskirts of the city, so I didn't get to see much. I met another Au Pair who is staying in Hannover. It's good to have someone to talk to!
What I really miss about living on my own is my independence. I used to be able to go anywhere, at anytime, and had plenty of friends around. But since I've moved in with a family that has small children, I don't have quite the freedom. No car, not even a bike yet...
Friday, the children got their report cards. The school year finally ended! To celebrate, we went to Pizza Hut. It's a lot nicer here in Europe. I don't think Europeans would put up with the cheap, dingy look of the ones I've been to in America. But really, I was quite shocked at the upgrade. They had really nice appetizers and all sorts of stuff you could get on your pizza. In Germany, you eat everything with fork and knife, even pizza. I wanted nothing more than to pick up a slice of greasy pizza, but alas, I had to fork-and-knife it. On the bright side, it was the first day without so much as a drizzle.
Saturday was my day off. I got to go to the mall. I really needed to buy a watch, since I don't have a cell phone over here. Luckily my iPod has an alarm clock on it... I ran around the shopping areas without even seeing a watch. Then I went into a store called New Yorker (aint that funny?) and found my watch and a cool shirt.
Next post: Daytipping to Berlin :)

It's been such a long time...

Germany. Land that I love :)
It's been a long two years since I was here. Ever since I left the first time, I've known I had to move here, at least for a little while. And now my dream has come true! At least for a year while I'm an Au Pair.
I've been here a week now. I finally got an adapter so I can use my laptop instead of the family computer. It's so nice to have all the keys in the right places... And even though I've only been here a week, I've already had some adventures.
On the flight over, I got bumped up to Business Class. That was nice. It was also the first three-course meal I've had, and the first time I've eaten duck. It tasted like chicken to my unrefined taste buds. Despite the roomy seating, I had the worst time getting to sleep ever. By that I mean, I don't think I properly slept all night. Once we got to the airport, the host family's grandparents picked me up for the four-hour ride to Braunschweig. I stayed awake all day, even though it kinda killed me. We went to this huge shopping mall in that was built inside the walls of a Schloss (palace) that was bombed out except the outer walls during the War. I went to bed at 20:00 (8:00), which is 2:00 PM back home. Usually I'm doing well to get in bed at 2:00 AM... but my plan worked. I didn't have jet lag except that first day, and I didn't really even get to sleep the night before.
The family with whom I'm staying is super nice and fantastic. The kids are great, and usually very well behaved. I'm lucky enough to be staying with a family that believes in the same religion that I do, which makes life much much much easier. We went to church Sunday, and some crazy things happened. One of the first faces I saw belonged to a guy I had seen before, seven thousand miles away at the MTC. How's that for coincidence? One more crazy thing: the family that sat in front of us was that of the older brother of some friends I had at BYU.
Being in Germany feels like coming home, except my family isn't here.
I'm going to make another post for this past week, since nobody wants to read a novel about this anyway...

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown.

Well, I've been home for a month now. 
I'm leaving Thursday. I think my family has gotten used to me being here, since sometimes it feels like they don't realize I'm leaving in less than a week. Sometimes it's like I never moved out the first time. I never moved back in, never fully unpacked my suitcases. 
We've had some adventures. We went window-shopping at a mall up in Atlanta. I can now say I've been in one of those Anthropology stores. They had some cool stuff, but I honestly don't see why it's necessary to spend that sort of money on clothes. Lennox Mall is ridiculous. 
We rooted for Germany in the UEFA tournament. We didn't watch a game until the quarter finals. They won every game until we turned on the tv. Funny, that's exactly what happened in the world cup too. I should just move to Germany if I want to watch the games. Oh wait, I am moving to Germany.
Mostly  I've just hung out with my sisters. Gosh, I'm gonna miss them. 
I think I got my summers backwards. Normally, people go home after their first year at college, then stay out there and take a quick vacation back home the other years. I stayed at college that first summer, and now I've spent a good deal of time here this summer.
It's time to move on, move out, at least just get out of the house for an afternoon... 
I think my left pinky toe tried to commit toe-icide yesterday. I've broken it twice already, and yesterday I unintentionally kicked the piano bench. Always the left pinky.
Home. Home again. I like to be here when I can.


Some days are just Pink Floyd days.

Nothing to do, it's up to you

Now that I don't even have a job, I really don't have anything to do...
Which is why I texted my friend, Carla, yesterday, asking her to hang out. She had just woken up from a nap and was watching Animal Planet with her roommates. The show is called "Infested," I believe. It's about families whose homes are infested by some sort of nasty bug. There was one family, who lives in a town about 15 minutes south of our hometown, whose home was infested with bedbugs. Carla and I concurred that Senoia on tv doesn't look like Senoia in real life. Then there was this show about wardens in Maine. Wow. Why did anybody decide to make a show about that? Even so, watching boring shows with friends is better than being bored alone.

Then we went to our local thrift store for the heck of it. We had a great time finding interesting stuff to try on. I found a lovely pair of 80's slouch boots. They're dark navy blue, and genuine leather. Six dollars for barely worn, vintage boots? Yes, please!!!

Today, I almost died of boredom.

I decided to take my bike and go anywhere. I ended up at the mall on the south end of town. I haven't the foggiest idea why I went there, since I have no money. But wandering about a mall is better than sitting at home. At least I got some exercise, right? I eventually wandered over to J.C.Penney's. I found some Adidas tennis shoes for $20.Here's another part of my obsession with Germany. Adidas are German, and Nike is American. The Adidas I had before these last shoes lasted a lot longer than the dumb Nikes my mom bought for herself and then gave to me when she decided she didn't like them. Since my old tennis shoes were literally falling apart, I went for it. Maybe now I'll actually go running...? 

While we're on the subject of awesome shoes, I would like to mention my old converse. I got them six years ago, for my 14th birthday. They've been with me on all my road trips, taken me to Europe, and been through a lot of work hours. They're looking pretty miserable by now. I think it's time to part with them, especially since I only have so much room in my suitcases, both for going home next week, and moving to Germany in July.  

I also made cookies this evening. I'm not the only one in the apartment who needs to get rid of baking supplies within the next week or two. My roommate learned of my boredom and asked me to make cookies. For some unknown reason my roomies think I make the best cookies. I just found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website.... Whatever. Not like I had anything else to do. And thus I gained back all the calories I lost biking to the mall.

We are the champions, my friend

Saturday, I went up to the campus library in order to get something to read. What else do you go to the library for, especially during summer? I wanted to get Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and even checked online before to make sure they had it. Three copies. Yes. I found where the books were supposed to be, but, lo and behold, no Hitchhiker's Guide. Dumb. So then I texted my brother to see if he could recommend anything. They were out of that book too. Even more dumb. So, I wandered about and came across the Harry Potter books. Guess what? They have them in German. That's right. English, and German. Not even French! Ha! So I go to check out my book, and they kindly let me know that I have to turn it in on Monday because I'm not enrolled in Summer or Fall classes. Ok, fine, but why two weeks before Spring semester is over? First my job, now my books... Yes, I'm not going to class, but "you didn't have to cut me off!" (wow. i just quoted a pop song..) I did kinda want to sing that to them, rather loudly, but that may have been a bit awkward. So I made a goal for myself: finish the book before the library closes Monday.
I wasn't able to do a whole lot of reading right away, since I had plans with a friend of mine that I haven't seen for a couple weeks. We had dinner at her apartment, watched a dumb movie, and then came over to my apartment to have a mini dance party in my living room. Our best dancing was to Coldplay's Paradise. We did some really great interpretive dancing. And the best part is that the guys in the apartment across from mine saw us dancing and then started dancing in their apartment! Kudos to them. After Haley left, I read.
Sunday, I read and went to church. I read some more. Then a guy came over to tell us that they were having a cookie night in their apartment in about an hour. I decided I could make time to make some cookies and hang out with some friends. After hanging out for a while, I came back here and read. Around 2:30, just as I was deciding whether to read a few more pages or go to bed, my quite talkative roommate appeared. This video accurately describes how I was feeling.

Guess what I spent all day today doing? Reading :) Gosh it feels good to read for hours on end without having to worry about what you should write the upcoming essay on the book about. I felt pretty beastly when I finished the book at 7:45. Ziel erreicht! Goal accomplished! It helps that these books aren't exactly college-level reading. I read this book, in English of course, in the fourth grade... But it definitely made me feel good about my German skills. I don't think I would've read it too much faster auf Englisch. 

But now what? I've got nothing to do... sort through my crap again? Start packing up? I'm going home on June 7th. Still plenty of time... 

Last call for hanging out.... I have nine days.