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.