Happy Fall!

Things here are going good, and getting better and better. I’m learning lots of German and, as it is getting into the Christmas season, I’ve started to experience the loveliness that is German Christmas desserts and pastries. Like Lebkuchen. And Vanillekipferl. Yummm. And we baked our Christstollen, which I’m excited to try out in 4 weeks.

Halloween was a lot of fun. It’s relatively new in Germany, so there aren’t too many kids out and about, but there are enough, and it was so cute. I think they are far more inventive with their little “Trick or Treat” begging. Here they say “Süßes oder Saueres” which means sweet or sour, and oft they make up a little rhyme to go with it. Really cute. To celebrate, my host siblings went out for candy, I baked some banana bread and roasted some pumpkin seeds (which they found yummy) and went to a family friend’s house to eat dinner and chill.

Since then, I’ve just been going to school and all that jazz. We’ve taken some tests, which are different than American ones. They’re always written, no multiple choice or fill in the blanks. The questions themselves aren’t really that hard, it being in German is hard. It takes me so long to read through a text and be certain that I understand it, and then formulate what I want to say and make sure it’s grammatically correct. I have only gotten back my math, German, religion, and art tests back. On a scale of 0-15, with 0 being worst and 15 being best, I got a 5 in math and religion, a 7 in art, and in German the teacher didn’t give me a grade. I had hoped to do better in math, but that wasn’t too bad (and it was actually better than some others). I’m quite proud of my art grade. I’ve taken physics, history, and English tests, but haven’t gotten them back yet. I expect to get maybe a 1 in physics; that test was so bad. I just made stuff up. Good thing I don’t care that much. And in English, I had better get a good grade! Otherwise I’ll feel really stupid. But everything is getting better, and I don’t constantly feel lost in class. Huzzah! And I’ve even participated a bit in class.

It’s getting colder here, but I got a new jacket that keeps me warm, even when I’m riding my bike to school. Winter is definitely on its way (or here already). And because Germany is further north, the sun is setting by 4 and it is dark by 5 or 6 o’clock. Which is weird for me. Things are going good with my host family, we get along really well. My host mom had her birthday recently, which was fun. I gave her some Yankee Candles I brought from America, which she seems to like and think are really cool. We went to a restaurant in Wiesloch called Schmidts, which used to be a slaughterhouse. It was really cool, and even had some American foods (hamburger, fries, milkshakes, banana splits) but I went for something I hadn’t tried before. I forget what it was called, but it was really yummy. I’m finding that instead of comfortably sticking to things I know (as I did before I came here), I often choose the thing I know the least. My taste buds have gotten really quite adventurous. My host siblings are as cute and süß as ever. We all go on walks quite often. That’s a typical pastime in Germany, which I like, even if it’s really cold. Preparations for Thanksgiving have begun already. My host family is excited, I think. Haha, they’ll probably think Americans are crazy when they see the “weird” stuff we have for Thanksgiving, like those sweet potato casseroles with marshmallows, and stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We are going to get a fresh turkey (because Birgit was totally repulsed by the idea of a frozen one), which I think is about 11 pounds. For what I’m used to, that’s small, but it should be enough for the people we’ll have there. On one hand, I’m super excited to share with them American Thanksgiving, but on the other, I’m totally scared that I’m going to mess it up or they’ll think it’s disgusting. Either way, it’ll make a fun story or something one day.

Anyways, things are going great here!