so this week wasnt all that exciting... actually i dont really remember what happened i have to keep going back to facebook and looking at my posts or activity stream to see what i did lol. wednesday- friday in school was pretty normal i did my german book all day except for a few classes were i just sat there and stared off into space because my brain was fried from all the german. friday (11.11.11) was john and i's first anniversary. i spent most of the night talking to him, except for when i took a nap and he went to mcdonalds lol. saturday i was supposed to go to clara's for a movie night but it got changed to the next saturday and my attempts to find something else to do failed... its hard when half the germans dont have a facebook and you dont know their cell phone numbers... and theres no rotary ppl around.  sunday was a bit interesting... i got up and went down stairs at like 11 for breakfast and found peggy and toby putting a night stand together on the table... turns out peggy really doesnt like when things are on the floor so she went and bought a night stand / end table thing for me to put in my bed room next to the mirror where all of my cosmetics lay on the floor. lol. so after breakfast we decided that it was time for another Cake Day and they called up grandma and grandpa to tell them we'd be up later. sunday is also cleaning day... peggy was not very pleased at how the last few weeks of cleaning day have gone... basically nowhere. so all three of us had to do major cleaning of everything. this means bucket of water and a rag to clean all of the shelves and tables (of dust... usually you use a dry cloth but i just went with it), vacuuming the floors, and putting everything in its place. im not good at the whole keeping things in its place thing. things go where i drop them and i know exactly where they usually are. one time i put my credit card in my wallet and i spent 2 hours looking for it. i also tend to never have time in the mornings to put my clothes in the hamper (usually because there are still clean clothes in it from sunday night when i do laundry) and so my clothes go on the floor and if they are there for a few days (because i forget bout it because at home i dont pick up my clothes until i do laundry on sunday... which is what i did at my last house)  the end up on my bed which i guess is my hint... i try not to tho its just a habit and its hard to break. so then after cleaning i had a half hour of down time before going to grandmas and grandpas for cake and coffee. there was an apple cake which was the closest thing i have seen and i think germany has to a apple crumb pie (which sounds amazing right now) and some sort of cake with peaches in jello on top. they were both really good just like any other cake i have had in germany. this time i could actually understand part of the conversation and even joined in now and then. its hard though because both grandparents have an dialect and its hard enough to understand them just because grandparents always talk a bit different. we talked about their dialect a bit and then Andreas started speaking in his and i couldnt understand a single word! it sounded like he was speaking german with one of the new giant marshmallows that they came out with last year in his mouth. on satuday andreas had a telephone conference with some guy from texas and he impersonated him... he sounded just like the adults in Charlie Brown lol. after cake we went home and had dinner... it was steaks... rare. ive been raised with medium well or well steaks not rare... i like my medium well/well steaks lol. after that not much more happened other than going to bed. monday came and i drug myself to school even though all i wanted to do was sleep until 11 again. i walked outside and about had a heart attack it was so freaking cold. it looked like it snowed but i was only frost... a quarter inch thick frost. on the way to school my shoes kept freezing to the group with every step i took (no exaggeration).  this week is long classes so we had a double period of math... they took a "quiz" that was 2 pages long and was only supposed to take 15 minutes but ended up taking all 2 hours. the kids were highly displeased. after 8th pd i had to be at peggys office a half hour later to go to my appointment to get my visa (turns out i didnt need anything but my 50 euros). so i started walking home and ended up getting a ride from christel who was picking up Julie. then dropped my school stuff and grabbed what i needed and walked to town. i had to go to bank and get the money (i now have 16 euros for the rest of the month and i still havnt paid for johns present) and went to peggys just in time. we went and got my visa and then went home. then i had a hour until dance! so i ate a few pieces of nuetella bread and then went to dance. it was the last class. we reviewed everything we had done before and then that was it. tuesday i got up and got ready for school. peggy had me open my windows (they dont having any sort of ventilation systems in house and in most building (like my school) in germany so even though its below freezing outside they still open the freaking windows for air... so im sitting in school (always right next to the window im never on the correct side of the room) and freezing half the time... i also think that if germans had ventilation systems it would save them alot of money because in winter they use radiator gas heater things and then open the windows when ever... its like umm dont you think it would make more sense to keep em closed and save money?) when i went to open my windows they were frozen shut! i had to stand on my bed and push as hard as i could on my window (its in the ceiling thats why i was standing on my bed lol) to get it to open. other than that tuesday was semi boring in school i did a little bit of german and that was bout it. in the 7 & 8 class of geography i drew turkeys but i tried to make them life like this time... it didnt work out too well they ended up looking like balls of fire or bowling pins lol. after school i came home and looked up turkeys on google and did rough sketches of them in my notebook for reference later. they came in handy today considering all i did was draw turkeys all day. i did one in colored pencil and it came out pretty well and i almost finished one in marker... i tried to get it finished by the end of the day but in the last period (geography) the teacher wasnt in a good mood (like normal) and so i actually did a little bit of german so i didnt get yelled at. after school i walked home and anything that hadnt been hit by the sun all day was still frost covered so it looked like there had been a light dusting of snow. i just want the snow to come already if i have to endure this cold there could at least be snow so its more fun lol.   so thats about it for the week. saturday im going to claras for movie night.. i think im going to bake some of my cookies and take as a surprise (unless clara reads my blog before saturday lol). next weekend is when i cook thanksgiving dinner so i have to figure out what all i still need and make a list and talk it over with peggy since i dont know how to use half of the kitchen appliances. that weekend also is the christmas market in the city and i am really excited about it i cant wait to go and see what all they have... hopefully ill still have some money from mom by then and i might actually be able to buy a few small things.  the weekend after that is the next inbound weekend where i will be taking the extremely frightening test (dun, Dun, DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN) i am excited about the weekend though i cant wait to see all my exchange student friends... theres a bunch i havent even met yet because they werent at the last weekend. i am kinda hoping that this weekend doesnt involve tours of slate mines or castles though. then the weekend after that (the friday anyway) i am going to Bonn to the national history museum with   an exchange student from my school (story behind her: girl from montabaur went with rotary last year to mexico and now her host sister from mexico is living with her for a year... but shes not through rotary) and her host sister (the rebound). so thats what my next month looks like. oh yeah and i emailed my copy of my visa to my American YEO so hopefully im taken care of with all my paperwork as long as i keep up with my monthly reports. i just have one last thing... today when i got home from school and looked at facebook i saw that Jan Hill has passed away. Jan was the wife of Carl Hill, the man that makes all of this possible for all of the rotary exchange students from district 7350 and all who go there. she was a wonderful woman and i am sorry that i did not get to know her better. ive heard stories of her playing the bag pipes at rotary events and she was the person who handed me my very first Rotary pin for my Jacket. my condolences go out to Carl and his family and all of the people who knew Jan and who i know are missing her.

a year missing the Christmas music playing before thanksgiving on MIX95.1 ... how will i survive?!?!

my half finished turkey

my rough sketches for reference at school

first decent one

my fire ball

my bowling pin

my thanksgiving coaster craft from aunt karen

Me, John, and John's sister Tiffy... We love eachother lol... i had to put the computer on the floor and push the buttons with my toes lol

picture from my friend Fredi... we always have real life poke wars (opposed to those on facebook....she doesnt have a facebook)

4 pm sunset

half frozen pond in the back yard

frost on a bush

hahaha walking while taking picture of frost covered bush ...no editing

my amazing shoes :)

edited it for last friday lol