Goodbyes and Christmas

Thursday was my last day at my German Gymnasium. I was in the 11^th grade class and I got to know a lot of my classmates really well. I had been there for 3 months and I thought that leaving would be easy. When I 1^st arrived I enjoyed the teachers the classes were long and students were friendly but I did not have the connection with people for a long time, until around 3 weeks after my arrival. I met some people who took me under their wing and I got to know them, but I still felt like an outcast. English class brought some familiarity, but that was met with a bit of hostility to. The class was great, but I think some started to look at me like a teacher rather than a student and decided to make rude jabs at my home country.  My time ended and I said my goodbyes to the people who I had grown to care about, my 7th graders who I had taught English to, my friends who found out that I was just as strange as they were and the teachers who had helped me on this journey. It was actually difficult to say goodbye but the people who called me friend let me know that they were there for me, and, as with most things, it got better with time.

                Soon I will start a new journey with a different host family in a different city. I will miss everyone but I know that I will see them again.

On a happier note, Christmas was beautiful. My whole host family dressed up and both sides of grandparents visited us. We ate well, drank a bit too much and laughed the night away. We shared memorable gifts and stories and it all was amazing.  I was without internet during the Christmas season so it really allowed me to immerse myself in the love and warmth that surrounded me.  I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays.  

May you have a fantastic New Year!

<3 <3 <3

Lets Take a Moment

Hello Everyone,
This post will not be on a happy subject.
The mass shooting that happened in CT really struck me. Not because my mom is a teacher, not because I have helped teach kindergartners and not because I have a genuine love for children. It struck me because this is not something that I have had to face while here in Germany.
    Yahoo.com has this cool setting where I can check up on the most popular American Topics and the most popular German Topics. I frequent both sites often and there has been a clear distinction between what I have found. Today after the shooting on the American site there were at least 5 articles detailing the motives of the shooter, the number of deaths, what a teacher did to calm her students and reactions of people involved. Then after all of these articles there are videos of other things such as who wore it best, which foods are better for the body, a woman hopes that a furby will save her life and then we return to more violence of the NFL murder suicide tragedy. That is two instances of gun violence within the last 3 weeks. On  the German site there is one article about the shooting and the rest are about fashion, health, babies or movies.
   What saddens me the most is that I am used to reading about these horrible things daily. I am not saying that mass shootings happen often ( they should never happen by the way) but I have been getting used to death or at least the way that people die. I am used to reading about people being shot because of fear or someone dying because of a senseless act of  violence. In 2010 Germany reported that only  158 died from gun  homicide. In the U.S. the number of Gun Homicides in 2010 were 12,996. I don't know what to blame this on, because it could be a number of things. It could be the very loose gun regulations in the U.S. it could be the fact that the media (specifically movies and songs) glorify violence or it could just be some crazy people who needed mental health help. Again I am not sure, but what I do know is that my heart, prayers and comfort go out to the victims of this act of terror.
Stay Strong
<3 <3 <3

Friendship

I feel like it has been awhile since I have written you all ( Nov 1st I apologize for the lateness). Ok so what is their to talk about... hmmm...
Well how about friendship.
So from what I have seen female friendships are pretty much the same in Germany and in America. Females are allowed to be close and give each other hugs and scream when something exciting happens. I think in America there is still a bit of a stigma that if women hang out a lot or kiss each other on the cheek that they are lesbians. I think this idea is declining in popularity, which is good, but male friendships on the other hand have always been tricky.
          From my experience in the U.S. I see a lot of males holding back their feelings regarding other males. When men greet one another in the U.S. they shake hands give a quick pat on the back or something to show their appreciation but because there is a stigma about emotional men being gay I don't see any true emotions. In Germany I have seen many male friends greet the other with a hug or a quick peck on the cheek. No one questions their sexuality, no one makes fun of them, no one cares. I found it particularly heart warming to see a male student run to another male student and pick him up during one of the breaks during the school day. Another male student asked his friend to go grab something for him the other student said yes and while he was walking away the 1st student yelled out "your so sweet." It was absolutely adorable. I enjoy seeing two grown men singing Call me Maybe while taking a walk, or a girl kiss another girl on the cheek to show her appreciation, or a teenage boy hugging his best male friend and saying that he loves him. I enjoy how normal it is here to express the love you feel towards someone else without being called gay or a fag or a lesbian. I have not only seen it in German culture but in other cultures as well. At the school I was at their were a group of spanish men always hugging and kissing each other and every time I saw them they made me smile. Shouldn't we be able to live in a world where we are not afraid to love someone because we might be judged? I think so.
 <3 <3 <3

Top 5

People always ask me what are the biggest changes that I have had to adapt to since being in Germany. Well for all who want to know:
1) Germany has a different weather pattern depending on where you are in the state.
No matter where you are in Germany it rains but places in the south are generally colder than places in the North. It is really cold, wet and windy where I live but there is no snow. Some laces also get this strange wind from Switzerland that makes them have headaches, but that also depends on where you are.
2) I have to bike everywhere.
I am not against biking but there are sometimes where I feel that a car would be more useful. I have to bike to school when it is freezing and to the bank and to friends houses. I would not mind it if everything was warm but it is getting to feel like winter and when riding a bike to school wet and cold I miss having a car and a Starbucks near by.
3) Everything is closer.
When I do have to bike to town it is not that long of a trip (15 minutes) and I can park my bike at the bank and walk around. There is generally everything you need in a town and more. Within walking distance there are clothes stores, grocery stores, bakery's, a toy store, restaurants, a post office, a specialty designer store, etc.... The only thing is that selection is low and prices can be high.
4) Dogs are everywhere.
So to my dog lovers out there you may be thinking that is so cute... its not.  Dogs are allowed pretty much everywhere and it is a bit strange at first but generally many of these dogs are well trained and very quiet. I have a dog of my own at home and I do love dogs but not everywhere. I was out to dinner with my family eating a nice meal and I saw an owner come in with their dog and  as the dog kept walking I saw it leaving a slobber trail. It was kinda nasty.
5) I cannot always express my emotions.
I have been helping teach English at my German school and I have found it difficult to tell the class what to do because I have to make my English easier to understand. Generally I am very sarcastic and that has been another thing that the majority of German people that I have come into contact with do not understand.

All these things said I would not give up my experience here for anything. Part of being in a new country is acknowledging that their will be some changes, and if I didn't feel like I could handle them than I would not have accepted the scholorship.

<3 <3 <3

Health

Germany is wonderful, but this is the second time in two weeks that I have had some type of stomach bug. So because I am home today recuperating I decided I will write about my perception of health in Germany. Before coming the program stressed bringing medication from the states here because the dosing is different. Personally I have not had a problem with the slight change in medicine. I brought acetaminophen (Tylenol) but I have used headache meds when I was here and I felt fine. That being said, I have not used medication as often as I would back home. I had a horrible cough/ sore throat/ sneezing fit the 1st month with my host family and normally my dad would give me cough syrup or a medical tea of some sort, but when I asked my host mom for cough syrup she said she didn't have any. It kind of surprised me, but the tea that she gave me made me feel better and two days later I was feeling better.
From what I have seen it is easier to eat healthier in Germany. They, like the majority of the world, believe that many Americans are fat and that we eat McDonald's all the time. It is true that we have an obesity problem in America but I also believe that part of that is due to how expensive it is to eat healthy, especially now with the problems of the American Economy. There are fruit carts everywhere in Germany and the fruit is relatively cheap. Meat in delis at stores are also cheaper and veggies when they are in season. Eating fast food here can be ridiculously expensive. There is not really a version of a dollar menu and burger king for a burger, fries and drink is around 8 Euro ($10.40). There are so many other better, healthier, tastier options here for "fast food." They have wonderful fish sandwiches and Doner ( a pita like bread filled with strips of lamb, beef, chicken or pork and loaded with fresh veggies and a tasty sauce very similar to a Greek Gyro). With such wonderful options and all of the walking/ bike riding it is pretty impossible to not live healthier here.

<3 <3 <3

P.S. These are some random pics :)

The Standard

Hi Guys,

Sorry I could not post this on Sunday. I have been spending some quality time at the Grandparents and have been out of internet range for 3 days, no internet= no blog posts= Sorry.  So my host sister and I occasionally play a game of Sims, she really enjoys it and I think it’s fun to watch because she builds these amazing houses, but every time she makes a family I get a bit annoyed. She makes a tan/ darker woman who is skinny, slightly fit and has huge breasts. She always gives them blond hair and the make-up of a Barbie doll. Along with that she makes a boyfriend (always a boyfriend) with a little bit of a lighter skin tone and blond hair with an unimaginably perfect body. This has not been once but multiple times, and normally I would not mind but yesterday she asked me to make a family. I started to make a whole big group but I was tired and I narrowed it down to one man. He had blond hair, was of average build, and was not athletic but not unhealthy looking either. So as I continued to play the game I found a pre-built female and we moved in together. Well my host sister said that I should make her look prettier. Her hair was kind of outdated as well as her style so I decided to give her a makeover.  I could not find any hair style that worked except for a buzz cut. She had no hair but she had big earrings and a wonderful make up job to match. I thought she looked very feminine but the minute I finished my host sister said “I thought you were trying to make her prettier?”  So I let her have the computer and re-do my makeover. The woman is very dark and she gave her blond hair, blue eyes and Barbie makeup. So I guess this is my problem. Thanks to the media and our insecurities we are all brought up thinking that beautiful has a face, or a color, or a style of hair, or a body type so you better have good genes or a lot of money so you can make yourself beautiful, but this idea is not helpful for anyone. My host sister is 13 and I see her almost every day putting on self-tanner lotion, make up and trying to reach this standard, but she will always  fall short because the world has told her to not accept herself. So I guess my question is what is beauty and how does it differ from country to country? Food for Thought.

Rain

Yes. I am tired, so my brain juices are pretty much done flowin for today, but I still wanted to update people about my life. So this week has been pretty interesting. Let me start off by saying how much I love German weather! It rains a lot here and the temperature is generally around 60-70 F and it is wonderful weather to drink a nice black tea and, if you are like me, read the majority of books owned by your four year old host brother and ask him questions about the pronunciation of words, yeah... . So this week it was projected that there would be rain throughout the week and generally in the morning, this is good for me because then my host mom drives us to school and I can wear a skirt and spruce up my outfit a little more (shallow I know but it is impossible to ride a bike with a skirt). So Monday came, no rain until the afternoon. Tuesday came and no rain came until the afternoon. Wednesday arrived and repeated the same mistake made by Tuesday and Monday except that the downpour came when I was riding home against the already very strong wind. Then glorious Thursday happened and I heard Thunderstorms the minute I woke up. I cheered (internally) as my host mom drove us to school. Then Friday decided to play with my emotions a bit. In the morning it was pouring and I was getting excited hoping that I could get driven to school. Then during breakfast the rain stopped and I knew that it was going to be a cold, bike trip to school that day. Five minutes after heading out I feel these little wet drips on my clothes and 2 seconds later I am being showered upon from the sky. I pedal slowly to school, I started off at a wonderful pace, but as jeans get wetter they get heavier and every push down on a pedal begins to feel more and more like a burden. I arrive at school with no part of my body spared from the free, unnecessary bath that I was just given. The minute I walk into school I see others who look like me, wet cold lumps of cloth and hair trying their best to find a way to get dry. I stand next to them and look outside, only to find that the rain had stopped.
Moral of the Story: Own a Car :)