I can hardly believe I have been living with my second host family for nearly a month now. The time seems to be passing so much faster than how it did the first half of the year. i really like my host family. They are really sweet. I thought it was going to take a little while, to feel used to their home, but surprisingly it didn't. From the beginning on, i adjusted pretty easily, and felt very welcome. I'd say, one of my favorite parts of this host family, is going on the walks with my host mom, Gaby, and the dog, Sally. It is nice to just walk and talk, and its really a good chance to get to know my host mom. On Friday, we decided to climb the Köppel again, when it was really, really snowing. And the snow was really deep, i would say about 15-18 inches! Normally, it takes about 1 hour, we hiked for nearly 3 hours, and then at the top, there is a little cafe, but they wanted to close, because of the weather, so we drank something quick, and walked back down again! By the time we got back to the car, my hair was completely wet, and i had no make up left on my face...!After the Köppel, we came home, showered, and then we went to Pongs. Pong is a Thai restaurant and cocktail bar, and the food there is so good! I had some Fruhlingsrolle, and this spicy chicken and vegetable thing. And then we just sat, drank, and talked for a few hours, it was a lot of fun.
Last week, i went with my host family to a birthday party, and ate some REALLY good cheese cake. And then my host mom said, oh, we can make that at home. So, my host mom and i made a cheesecake, and it tasted really really good!! It was a lot of fun too, just baking together, and laughing because i am still not used to the metric system, with 300 grams of sugar, i much prefer 3 1/2 cups of sugar. (Lots easier!) I also baked a traditional Wisconsin, Banana Spice Cake yesterday, topped with home made vanilla frosting! It tasted really good, but i think the frosting was a little to sweet for my host family. (And i even put 3 less cups of sugar than what it said in the recipe..) But they never had frosting before!! I couldn't believe it! At first, i translated it, into Zuckerguss, but then when i made it, Gaby said it wasn't zuckerguss. And then i made some no bake cookies! ANd that was a lot of fun! But instead of melting the ingredients on the stove, i did it in the microwave, and it was hilarious. At one point, i went to open the oatmeal, and it went everywhere..! But they tasted reallllly good!
I also received a package from the USA from my family, and inside were different candies from America, and some other small things. One thing that was sent, was cheese zip, that go on the sandwich crackers! And my host family had never seen anything like it before, it was hilarious! So, my host mom tried it, and liked it. And last night, i had my host dad try it, and the first thing he asked was, how many calories are in it! (90 calories per serving, 7 servings) He didn't like it...but we are planning on having an American dinner night soon. with different sorts of American food, and the urny girls will join us, =)
Last weekend, was a karneval Sitzung. My host parents went as pirates! As they were at the sitzung (meeting?), i went with a couple of friends to a beat-party, in a city called dernbach. A beat-party, is just like a disko, and a disko is just like a club in the states. It was pretty fun, just a chance to dance and hang out with friends! I came home shortly after midnight, and my hosts came home shortly after me. i stayed up for a little while, and talked to my host mom, then around 2 , we both decided we should get to bed.
The next day, my host dad went to Norway. He was there from Sunday-Tuesday. So, we all had breakfast together, and then when my host mom came back from brining him to the train station, we went to a 'Wild park'. A wild park, is kind of like a zoo, but the animals are allowed to be free. (Not the super dangerous ones of course) but like the deer, and billy goats. I finally got to see a wildschwein!!! (Wild pig?) They are the BIGGEST pigs i have ever seen in my life! And the noises they make are incredible!! And the males really do have these huge tusks!!! At first we tried feeding them some of the food we bought to feed the animals, but they werent to interested. So, we went a little further, and just looked. And we saw a little family, a dad, mum, and 2 piglets. And the dad and the mum started fighting, and then the little one ran off, then the other little one chased him, and they were squealing SO loud!!!! I could only say how big they were!!! (Since i have gotten here, i have wanted to say one these wild pigs, because apparently they are always running around in the forests, and i have wanted to see one, so my host mom thought to bring me to the wild park, then i could finally see one, and i still cant believe how big they are!!)
As you can see in the picture above, there is finally snow on the ground!! From the last two days, it has finally snowed. I feel a little bit like i am in Wisconsin, we really got a lot of snow!! Over the past few days, i would say we have gotten at least, 16 inches of snow! My host parents said they haven't seen this much snow in this area of the westerwald, in over 20 years! (I told them, it is because i am here, i brought the snow with my from Wisconsin..!)
Today, i went with my host family to a husky race! It was so incredible! There were over 100 dogs there, and i would say at least half of them were all huskies! As we first got there, all you could here was barking, and you could see the mushers getting them ready to run. The huskies looked extremely excited! It took, 4 huskies only 28 minutes to run 8 kilometers!!! It was really cool to see all the different dogs there, and all the huskies!I went with a Rotarian recently to a musical. Sweeney Todd. First, she picked me up, and we drove to koblenz, and had some time to sit, eat, and talk and get to know eachother a little bit. Then the musical started, having already seen the film, i knew what it was about, and as she read what it was about, she was shocked. It turned out the musical wasn't as bloody and gory as the movie, but it was still pretty...similiar to the movie. But, i still enjoyed being able to be in the Koblenz theatre, since we don't really have them in Wisconsin!
School is going well. I am starting to be able to participate more and more in my classes. And i am starting to meet some new people, so, i usually have something planned on the weekends! I dropped my math class however. I was in a calculus class, and i have never even taken pre-calc...but now i have another german course...we'll see how that goes. WE got report cards the other day, i didnt get one, but was told by several of my teachers, that they were proud of how far i have come in my German.
As i mentioned before, my host family is great. I really welcome in their home, and they make me feel as if i am a member of their family. I'm thankful to be living with them these next couple of months. Speaking of host families, i was able to catch up with my first host mom recently. It was nice to just be able to sit and talk with her for awhile.
***Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire***
=)
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