(i renumbered my agenda and i think i finally got it right ... it only took 7 times.)
sorry fot the lateness but i forgot it was the weekend. this week at school blew by i dont know why but it did. i really dont even remember what all happened. this is what i do remember: wednesday i went to BUGA, which i figured out is only in germany i thought it was the whole world but its not. anke took me (after she found my house ... i watched her drive by like 3 times then i went and stood outside lol) and gave me a mini history lesson of the city which i enjoyed because no one really tells me anything about the places we go they are just like look here look there. she told me the story behind the stupid fountain that sprayed me the last time i was in Koblenz shopping. she told me that the boy is supposed to be from when the french occupied the city and the men would have children with young german women... these boys were called "schaengel" and that is who is on top of the fountain. Buga went from the castle in Koblenz up to "Festung Ehrenbreitstein" (festung = fortress) that is on a mountain overlooking the whole city. to get to the fortress we had got to ride the cable car over the Rhine! me no like heights but it wasnt bad at all... now if it was open like a roller coaster i would have been laying on the floor holding on for dear life. we say so many flowers and there were different exhibits for the regions too. i discovered that there is lime green, orange, white, and purple cauliflower! i was like omg that is amazing! we also went to 2 major look out spots and i think i could see all the way home im not sure it was so amazing. its just like a huge valley and no matter what mountain you go to you still can see everything. then we went to the Deutsches Eck (the german corner) which is where the Rhine and Mosel rivers split. it was so cool being there because before i knew where in germany i was going our german class read about kids taking a boat trip from Bonn to Koblenz and they went to the Deutsches Eck. then i found out i was going to Montabaur and where it was and i got so excited. so after climbing to the top of the eck and almost dying, we went to the Basilica of St. Castor (oldest church in koblenz) and got to go in and see part of a service. it was really nice inside but i didnt want to take any pictures because they were having a service and they would have probably thrown me in jail or something lol. we left there, walked a little bit more and saw more flowers, then headed home. it was a good day.
Thursday started out with an English test that was ridiculous... there wasn't enough time for me to finish and i am fluent. its not like the questions required you to produce some spectacular answer or any thing all it was was analyzing the text. then we had a pop quiz in geography that i probably failed but oh well. that teacher seriously hates our class... the one time no one knew we were supposed to be in the computer lab and the whole class was 15 minutes late and the next time we have an afternoon class we have to miss 15 minutes of our lunch break and go to class early... then she wondered why for the last 3 classes no one participated... uhh let me think - you constantly act like its that time of the month, you make us miss our lunch break, and you give pop quizzes (which by the way the english on the test wasnt even right... you would think maybe she would have someone proof read it or something... or maybe she just wakes up in the morning and decides "i hate 10B im going to make up a dumb pop quiz in 5 minutes"). but yeah so after school i had a german lesson at school and it was a double lesson... with pizza. all of the exchange students are here now... me, 2 boys from Ecuador, and a girl from mexico... theres another girl who comes to the lessons that moved here 10 months ago from Camron, Africa. we got giant pizza for the lesson and didnt finish all of it between the 6 of us. we also took pictures for the school website (which of course i did nothing with my hair that day and i had gym so it was even worse) and we wrote a little introduction for the website. then after that lesson i got to go home and rest for an hour before my german lesson with herr stichert. so my last german lesson was supposed to be that day (thursday the 29th). then my teacher says oh im going to try to come tomorrow (friday the30th) too, but i have a lot going on so idk if i can make it or not... he didnt... rescheduled for friday the7th - red hot chili peppers concert... rescheduled for thursday the 6th - host family is going away ...rescheduled for tomorrow (wednesday the 5th) - teacher can't make it... rescheduled for thursday the 20th... anyone else starting to get the feeling that the lesson on the 29th was meant to be the last one? after the lesson i went to the store and bought cocoa rice krispies and made rice krispie treats... my family liked them... i put 3 small ones on a plate and took into the living room (there were 3 people in the living room) i walked up to Maurice (host brother) and asked if he wanted any and he said yeah and took the plate and ate all 3... i was like well ok...so that pretty much covers thursday.
Friday i went to school and took rice krispies to french class and everyone liked them... the teacher even asked for the recipe. we all got out 2 classes early to start the vacation. didnt do anything after school except wait on my teacher but he didnt so then i went on a walk with Christel (host mom) and then we went to the horse stables and i got to meet julie's (host sister) pony Madame.
saturday i slept until like 1130 and woke up to an empty house. ate my cereal for breakfast and then ended up going to the horse stables again with christel to see a riding competition. then we drove a while and on our way to a cafe in the mountains for bikers and hikers (we were meeting Gregor (host dad) and a friend there) we stopped at a really old catholic church. christel said that something significant happened here for her, her husband, and all 3 of her kids... not exactly sure what she said ... maybe baptisms. we went inside and sat there for a little bit.. it was kinda awkward for me because i dont really have a religion and so i dont really know what to do.... i realize that she is just trying to share things with me and i appreciate that. then she gave me 50 cents to go buy a candle and light it and put it in the little candle cubby hole thing... so i did. there were a bunch of plaques/signs on the wall that say "thank you maria" or "maria helped" or "please help maria" that are made out of like marble and things... i though it was kinda weird like if you buy this thing you will get more help than if you prayed. after the stop at the church we went to the cafe and met with gregor and his friend who had been biking together. we had a drink (i had a cappuccino which by the way in germany i think a cappuccino is just decaf coffee because they told me it had no caffeine and it tastes like coffee and theres no other flavors) and then we went home, after dropping the friend off at the hostel.
Day 67. Tuesday, October 4, 2011. The Discovery of the True Reason I Did an Exchange.
sunday was not my best day. i woke up and went down and ate breakfast. christel said that maurice was going to a friends, julie was going to the stables, and her and gregor were going hiking, and asked what i was doing. i said i dont know and so she said i will go hiking... i hate hiking. i went hiking... for 5 freaking hours. during the first half an hour i was not a happy camper (i am keeping this polite) i mean theres 9 adults and 1 16 yr old .... how do you think that its going to be a fun time for me i felt like that 5 year old kid that mommy and daddy have to drag with them everywhere and never gets to do what they want. i had no one to talk to and i was climbing over mountains in really hot weather. definitely not a happy camper. i think christel realized i wasnt happy and started talking to me so maybe i wasnt so bored. 3 hours later we came to a small town where we were supposed to eat lunch. that didnt work out too well. we went to 2 places and they were done serving food (sundays in german are not days for any business to be open) so then we went to another place that was supposed to be open for a while longer.... we get there and they are closed because they were on vacation. so we sat at the tables that they had outside and ate trail mix and drank water, apple juice, and wine (yes wine... gregor took a bottle of wine in his backpack i was like wow i am definitely in germany). all of these people go hiking together twice a year... they have been doing it for like 24 years. i was like holy crap why would you put yourself though that. so after our "lunch" we started hiking again... this time it was all up hill and off the beaten path... literally. after seeing it was all up hill i became furious and forced all my rage into keeping up with the guy leading everyone. i was with him the whole time the whole 2 hours. when we finally got back to the beaten path we had cut out about 4 km and saved a lot of time which i appreciated a lot. we finally got back to the car and went for icecream which was the only thing that made the day better. that and the ice cold shower after ice cream. oh yeah and i had people take pictures of me so i had proof that i was actually hiking.
monday i had nothing to do so i decided to go into the city and needed to pick up a few things ... i get there and realize its a freaking holiday and every store is closed except the cafes. so i went to a ice cream place and had a waffle with bananas and a scoop of ice cream. one thing i miss from the US is the sundaes... they have big ice cream dishes here but not same thing as a sundae. so then i went home. later i was supposed to go to a dance class that is being offered through the school. so i get ready and i walk to the school (got lost a little but i made it). i get there and no one else is there... i waited a while to see if anyone showed up and they didnt so i walked home. i guess i got the wrong information (again) and so i have no clue when it actually starts. on the way home was when i discovered the true reason why i did an exchange. in my application for the rotary exchange i wrote something about how you always hear about people backpacking though europe and how cool that would be. well between the hiking and the 2 unnecessary walking trips on monday i realized i would have never survived the backpacking through europe. i chose the exchange program to LIVE in europe... backpacking would have caused me to DIE in europe. i dont understand why people would want to backpack through europe. you get dirty and sweaty and waste a ton of energy. i would be ok with hiking for maybe 2 hours but definitely not a month or what ever these people do.
tuesday what was supposed to happen that day actually did. i went into town and the stores were actually open so i got the stuff i needed. then stopped for an ice cream cone for the way home. then i went home and started getting ready for the Rotary dinner meeting with the governor of district 1810. i ended up being ready an hour early but at least i was on time. i put all the pins on my jacket which added like 3 pounds to it. andreas picked me up and we went to the meeting. Anke gave me pins from Buga (all the shops were closed when we were actually there so she bought me some and brought them to me). i met the governor and shook a bunch of peoples hands... some people like killed my hand i was like omg take it easy on the bones they do break. after the speech from the governor we ate and then had dessert then i gave the president from our club and the governor my club banner and i got one from Montabaur club for Chambersburg club and the governor gave me a pin. i gave all the Rotarians my card with my blog address, cell phone number, and email so all of them should be able to keep up with me and contact me if they want to. after the meeting andreas, anke, and another guy idk his name went and had drinks so i had a fanta. after that andreas took me home (after stopping by the house to pick up a letter that came for me from tiff... she put some crazy address on it idk where she got it because i sent her nothing like that).
today is just a lazy day... i got up at 11:30 and only left bed to eat breakfast. my plans for today are to finish the blog, upload the pictures on here and facebook, do laundry and thats bout it.
i am having technical difficulties uploading photos i will put them in the next entry.
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