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.