Days Eighty something - I can't remember: Weihnachtsmarkt, Castles and Glühwein

Happy Thanksgiving to the USA! (If you don't know, Thanksgiving is an American and Canadian holiday so it's not celebrated here in Germany.) I didn't do anything special for the holiday, just hung out with Julia and we made some Christmas decorations with construction paper and listened to Christmas music. My friend, Veronika, from Ohmden picked me up around 10pm and we rode to her house for the weekend. Veronika lives about an hour from both Tübingen and Stuttgart. I LOVE German houses! They're so cleverly built, the house always looks small from the outside, but on the inside it seems to go on forever (I'm talking like 6 floors).

On Friday, we woke up early and took the train in to Stuttgart for the Weihnachtensmarkt. It was the coolest and most Christmas-y thing ever. The whole downtown was full of stand after stand of candles and ornaments and sweets and cooking supplies and food and anything you could imagine. Every stand was decoraded with pinetree branches and they each had a Christmas theme on the top. It was so beautiful and it smelled of Christmas. We stopped for some Glühwein (which is basically spiced, warm, red wine, it's Fabulous and the typical German Christmas drink--as opposed to apple cider in the states). I got two new mugs out of it :) After wandering the city for a few hours, we went back to Veronika's and had dinner with her family. I love German families and I love German hospitality. By the end of the weekend, I didn't want to leave. It makes me feel more at home to be with a family--and I'm learning a second language as well! I eve got to watch German TV! It's basically American TV, but dubbed in German. So I watched, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Scrubs, Spongebob Squarepants, and some other things all in German! It totally made my weekend---I was mesmorized. We also watched Bierfest...which I felt was necessary for my time here lol :).

On Saturday, we slept in and had lunch with Veronika's family. It was again Fabulous :). We drove out to two castles in the area. Neuffen is a castle of ruins (and, of course, been renovated into a resturaunt). It's so high up on the Berg that we even saw mountain goats up there--so cool!The view from the mountain was spectacular! You could see all the neighboring towns from up there. We had a good time taking pictures and climbing on the walls. After the Neuffen castle, we drove to Teck---which, I think, is the castle of Kircheim. That was quite a hike ~1 km up hill. The view was even more beautiful from there because it was so much higher. There was even a club there flying planes. It was really cool to watch. Later that night, Veronika and I met some of her friend for drinks. That was a fun time. I heard a lot of German and I learned some new German. Then we went home and calld some of our friends in the states on skype.

On Sunday, I went with the Müller family to the town church where there was a fundraiser lunch. Best schnitzel ever! Then Veronika drove me to the train station and I headed home :(. I had such a good time and enjoyed being the Müller family so much I didn't want to leave. It's officially Christmas time! and the Schokoladefest (chocolate festival) opens here in Tübingen on Tuesday! I had a Fabulous weekend. It was fantastic.

Days 80-86: [Insert Witty Title Here]

Haven't been doing much of anything these days, I spent the weekend reading/editing my roommate's thesis paper. Hong is from China and she has to write her paper in English so she asked me to read over it for her. Needless to say, I didn't understand a word of it because the subject was completely over my head, but I corrected the English as best I could. The rest of my weekend was devoted to translating my blog and studying for my grammar class.

I got up for class today, only to find when I got there that both my morning classes were cancelled. So I had the rest of the day free J. Julia, Matt and I went to our favorite coffee shop and spent the 3 hours of class we would have had drinking coffee and talking. I finally went back to the train station in attempt to get my BahnCard which has yet to arrive in the mail. I bought my BahnCard the day I arrived and was given a temporary card that was good until Oktober 31^st. Well my address changed and I went back to notify the office. It still hadn't come a month later so I went back and they said they would send another. Well it is now the end of November and I still haven't received my card and my temporary is expired. SO the nice lady printed me another temporary card and changed my address once again. Hopefully, that was the last trip I would have to make down there. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, nothing else going on really. No Thanksgiving for me this year (it's not celebrated here in Germany) and I'm spending the weekend at my friend, Veronika's, in Stuttgart. We are going to the Weihnachten Markt on the same fest grounds where the Volksfest was and on Saturday Veronika is going to show me Stuttgart. Then on the way back to Tübingen, we're meeting the rest of the group in Reutlingen for ice skating again (Super Fun!!!).

Odds and Ends

Many of my Fabulous friends and family have been asking me what I would like sent to me for Christmas. I never know what to say because I seem to be asking for all the same things from different people. Sooooo I've decided to post a list of things and if you want to send me something (no pressure...really.) you are welcome to pick and choose from here.

• Maccaroni and Cheese (boxed)
• mascera (anything not waterproof)
• grape jelly
• peanut butter (jiff or skippy)
• Fluff :)
• poptarts
• bisquik
• yarn (of any size, color, shape, texture)
• my dog
• nothing that requires a microwave please because I don't have one :(
• Coffee (any kind)
• tylenol
• 3M hooks with command strips (any size)
• band-aids
• lotion (curel or johnson's)
• measuring cups/spoons
• stickers and artsy stuff to send letters and cards
• warm black socks (above the ankle)
• brownie mix :p

Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 46

Zimmer 9.2

72072 Tübingen, Germany

These are some things that I either can't get here or they are really expensive and cheaper in the states.

Thanks everyone! I miss you guys so much, especially because the holidays are approaching and Christmas music is coming on the radio.

Kendra

Day 80: Want What You Have; Not Have What You Want

I decided to be a nerd and start posting my bible study lessons every week from the Thursday night meetings. This semester we are studying a series called "Wanted." Last week the lesson was titled, "Wanted: (At/A) Home." I apologize that I do not have the question sheet nor did I write the questions for this down, but I do remember that the lesson centered on Luke 15: 11-32 and The Parable of the Lost Son.

This week: Wanted: Money Luke 12: 13-34 The Parable of the Rich Fool

1. What are our greatest everyday worries and difficulties?
   
   1. How do we tend to deal with them?
      
   2. How should we deal with them?
      
2. Why does Jesus warn against greed in this passage?
   
3. Why does the life style of the rich man in the parable displease God?
   
4. In what way does God compare his relationship to us with that toward animals and plants?
   
5. What does God demand from his disciples (and us) with regard to a more meaningful life style?
   
6. Why is it so difficult to trust that God will provide us with all that he considers important for our life?
   

After our discussion, each one of us was given 5 Euro. This is an experiment thought up by one of the study leaders. She wants us to each take 5 Euro and do something helpful for someone and report back. I'm not sure what to do with mine yet, but I'm sure the moment will present itself when right.

"The desire for more is the root of all evil."

 

Day 76: Eishalle Reutlingen

"Life is what we are live to. It is not length but breadth… Be alive to… goodness, kindness, purity, love, history, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God and eternal hope." ~Moltbie D. Babcock

Today was ice skating day with Julia, Irene, Erika, Pedro and Matt. We have a new tradition on Sundays: ice skating. It's better than sitting around doing nothing and it's great exercise. We take the train to the next town Reutlingen and walk about 15 minutes to the Eishalle (ice hall). It was super fun! I haven't had that much fun doing a winter sport in a while. It was Irene and Erika's first time ever ice skating so it was quit entertaining to watch them in action. We skated for about 2 hours and took a dinner break and then went back for 2 more hours. I hurt all over so I know it was a good work out. I did learn to skate backwards so I was excited about that. Near the end, there weren't many people at the rink so we played a game of tag and that was pretty funny to watch. That was the only time I fell actually. I was trying to 'run' away from Matt who was it and I ran smack into another girl and slid about 6 feet across the ice on my stomach. It was pretty hilarious and I couldn't stop laughing long enough to get upJ. It was an exhausting day, but a good one.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." ~II Thessalonians 2:16-17

Day 75: Birthdays, stolen road signs, beautiful stars and weddings

Crazy party at Prinz Karl tonight, just like always. It was Catalina and Virág's birthday, so naturally, we found it as a reason to party. I love being an observer at these parties because I get to stand around with a camera and watch all the intoxicated individuals make fools of themselves. When they see the pictures on Facebook the next day their reactions are always the same: "I don't remember doing that!" or "When did that happen?" It's always enjoyable. The place got so crazy at one point the guys actually began dog-piling each other in the hallway and then stealing each other shoes! After the party got moved outside on the way to a club the guys actually stole a construction barrier right off the street. Possibly one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

I went home after that to watch my oh-so-fabulous friend Jenna's senior recital on the school website. On the walk home I just happened to look up and saw the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. The sky was completely cloudless only to be replaced by millions of stars. The brightest stars I had ever seen! I've seen constellations before, but there were constellations in constellations. It was one of those moments that remind me of God's existence and how big God really is. This is what he created and it can be witnessed every second of every day. It was simply amazing. I must have stood in the street staring up at the night sky for near 5 minutes.

My plans to watch Jenna's concert were foiled when the site kept telling me 'page not found' so I guess I have to wait for the DVD L. In the few minutes following this disappointment I logged onto Facebook to find that my best friend and roommate, Laura, was engaged! At first it was another blow to the fact that I wasn't there for my friends and I felt like I was missing out on important events in their lives, but I was so incredibly happy for her! She did of course call me not even a second after I logged onto Skype and we spent about the next hour talking about the engagement and the wedding (I'm a bride's maid yay!).

This is the hardest part about being so far from my friends and family. Life goes on and while I'm living my life halfway around the world, they are living theirs. I feel horrible about missing so many things in their lives. This school year I'm missing 3 weddings, Jenna's senior recital, college graduations, my brother's 16^th birthday, Christmas with my family and I'm sure there are some other things I have left out. I know that this is a decision it took me 1 year and 4 months to get to and it's something that I have to come to terms with on my own. I do know that I am incredible lucky and blessing to live in the 21^st century with all this technology like Skype and Facebook to keep me in touch with everyone. Heck, I even listen to my usual radio stations from home through iTunes. All in all, I'm doing well here and I'm really enjoying myself. There are lots of festivals coming up for the Christmas season and I can't wait for the snow to fall J.

Day 74: 'Oh yes it's ladies night!...'

'Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.' ~Ephesians 4:3 Tonight was our second monthly girls night! There were 13 of us on Friday the 13th...just thought I should throw that out there.
'Though I have seen the oceans and mountains, though I have read great books and seen great works of art,...there is nothing greater or more beautiful than those people I love.' ~Christopher de Vinch

Day 73: A Newly Found Bible Study

'My child, don't lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace.' ~Proberbs 3:21-22

My grammar class was, again, extremely tedious (I crochet during class...how bad is that?!?!), but we got out early and I got to go home before getting back on the bus to go up to Fichtenweg to try out a bible study that I saw advertised in the international building. I hate walking into a new place/meeting by myself when I don't know anyone. It's so scary, but after I sat down and the meeting continued I wasn't so horrified. We sang from an international phrase book in English, German, Chinese and Korean...it was interesting and I enjoyed it. Then we all split into 2 groups; english and german and read a passage from Luke and discussed it. I so loved being in a bible study again and I think I may make this one a habit, but there are a few more I would like to investigate. I met some new people outside of Start Kurs, which was really encouraging because I feel that I really need to meet other students outside this little circle the international students have formed from the early days of the Start Kurs.

I've been looking for a bible in German...they are really expensive, but I feel that it will help me with learning the language when I float betweent the english and german study groups.

'Our road will be smooth and untroubled no matter what care life may send; if we travel the pathway together, and walk side by side with a friend.' ~Henry Van Dyke

Day 72: Class and Naps

Went to class this morning/afternoon and then headed home for a much needed nap. Then I did some studying and some homework and catching up on my blogs and such. Keep in touch everyone!

Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 46
Zimmer 9.2
72072 Tübingen, GERMANY

:) :) :) :) :) <3! <3! <3! <3! <3!

Day 71: The Day the Wall Came Down

Today was the 20 year aniversary of the Berlin wall being torn down and there was big fest in the altstadt. There were tents selling anything and everything you can imagine. I found some cross earings for 5 Euro and a black belt (finally!) for 3 Euro. I was a happy camper and that was probably my biggest accomplishment of the day lol.

In my grammar class, we received back our first test and I got a 1! (The Germany system is numerical: 1 being the best and 6 being a failing grade.) It was exciting and I hope I can do it again on Monday for the big grammar test.

Day 70: The [Lack of] Snow Day

I woke up this morning to about a dozen statuses on Facebook saying it was snowing in Tübingen! I jumped up and rushing to the window to finnnndddddd....NOTHING! Apparently, it snowed very early this morning for about an hour and nothing stuck. Maybe we'll get lucky next time.

I am officially going to visit the Bushmanns for Christmas in Bavaria! Yay! And they suggested I bring a friend so I won't be alone on the train for 4 hours. I'm bringing Julia because her family's plans for visiting her for Christmas fell through, so she and I will be traveling together.

This weekend is Girls' Night once again!

The weekend of the 26th I'm going to visit Veronika in Stuttgart and we're going to the Weihnachtenfest! (Christmas festival!) I can't wait! and she's going to show me around Stuttgart, which will be really awesome because all I've seen of Stuttgart so far was the Volksfest in Oktober.

Classes are going just splendidly. I LOVE love LOVE my creative writing class. It's definately my favorite and all we do is write papers and corrected papers over and over again. Simple, but I love it. My conversation course is a bit tricky, but I'm warming up to it. We are basically learning 'spoken' German as opposed to 'written' German and believe me speaking and writing are two totally different concepts and sometimes I feel like I'm undoing everything I have learned in the past two years. We were just assigned a group project and my group is researching and presenting the different dialects in Germany! I'm really looking foward to it.

Otherwise, things are pretty slow going here. The temperature as fallen to about 3°C as a rough daily average so we're almost at freezing!

Day 69: A Studious Sunday

Today was Sunday and it was, of course, a blah day because nothing is open. So I took advantage of it and got a lot of work done. I finished all my homework and wrote some papers for creative writing. The weather has been cold, rainy and gray lately so I barely left my room all day. It was a normal Sunday.

Day 68: Crowded Buses

I wrote two papers today and Julia came down to get the rest of her stuff. She and I went up to Fichtenweg to hang out the group at Kuckucks (which turned out to be the absolute WORST club I have ever seen). I spent about 20 minutes up there and then headed straight for the bus stop to go home. I met up with Matt at the bus stop and on the way down the hill, at the last stop, about 100 people got on the bus. This is not an exageration. I had never seen anything like it before. People were sitting on each other, standing on the back of seats and in the isle like sardines. I could believe it! As the bus tried to move, you could here it hitting the road because of the weight of all the people. I'm surprised we made it to the hbf without any tires blowing. So because of this believe-it-or-not moment, the bus was about 10 minutes late getting to the bus station so I missed the next bus home and another wasn't coming for aobut an hour so I had to call a taxi and spend an extra 7 euros to get home. LAME!

When I got home, I did get to skype with many of my friends from home. My mom had a dinner party and a bunch of my family friends were there. It was really nice to see them and I was happy to talk with them :). Although sometimes I do feel like I'm missing out on the lives of my friends and family while I'm here.

Day 67: V for Vendetta

Julia came over to do laundry today and she brought all of her craft stuff :). After we started a load, we went into the altstadt to get some stuff for dinner and went to Mueller to get soap and some random things.

When we got back I dyed my hair...again. Now I'm officially a brunette (cafe latte to be exact lol) and I love it, it's so fun to be able to just change your hair color on a whim for 4,25 Euro. We did some crafts and watched V for Vendetta. I thought it was a really good movie, but it constantly reminded me of '1984' and I kept forgetting what I was watching.

I got to talk to Laura (my roommie back at ECU) today, which always brightens my day and makes everything Fabulous. Love you Laura!!! <3!

Day 66: Housewarmings and Birthdays

My box from my mommy finally came today!!! I was so excited to finally get this box that has been sitting in customs for more than a week. In this Fabulous package were my going-out jeans, my crochet hooks, grape jelly, oreos, candy corn, 3 scarves, 4 pairs of gloves, 4 pairs of leggings, 2 pairs of earmuffs, a hat, lotion, my new bank card and several others things I have forgotten, but still greatly appreciate :). My room is definately starting to look more like a home.

After I finally dragged myself out of bed, I went into town a little bit before my class to run some errands and I ran into some of the guys out wandering. We all went to grab some coffee and then I headed to my 3 hour grammar class.

After my class I went up to Catherine's new place where we were throwing a housewarming/birthday party for her and Edu. We all had a great time sitting around drinking Sangria and playing 'never have I ever...' which, by the way, is quite a dangerous game lol. Then we all went down the hill to the Clubhouse, which is a club above the university's cafeteria (which is how college drinking and partying should be; controlled not restricted--just sayin'). I liked this place because it was free entry, but the music really sucked. It wasn't even German music, all the other internationals kept asking the Americans about the music, but none of us had ever heard it before.

Kendra

Day 61: Happy Halloween: International Students Style

My friend Nicki, who's been studying in Heidelberg this year, came in today to visit Tuebingen and go to the Halloween Party the international students threw. Julia and I met Nicki at the Hbf and went back to my place to make dinner. We made our own little concoction of lasagna, which actually turned out quite good, and socialized with my roommates. My friend, Veronika, from Stuttgart also came into town for the party. Veronika is a German student who studied abroad at ECU last school year. The four of us got ready for Halloween at my place and went up to Fichtenweg for the party. I have never seen so many interesting costumes in my life! A group of the guys even went as the Smurfs. I wore a Dirndel and went as a German, Veronika was a Pirate, Julia was a Cool Cat and Nicki was a Power Puff Girl. It was a pretty awesome night, even if I did have to babysit Julia for about 2 hours and put her to bed lol :).

Day 62

Took it easy today after last nights shinanigans. Julia and I went went to our favorite cafe (after seeing Nicki off at the Hbf) and went for a walk down the Neckar River. I took lots of pictures of the beauty that is Tuebingen in Fall. It is absolutely beautiful with all the Fall colors and the leaves on the ground. The weather is also getting chilly (I love it!) and I really hope it snows soon. My roommate told me that every year there it a Chocolate Market for a whole week here in Tubingen in November! I can't wait! and the Weihnachtenfest (Christmas Fest) in Stuttgart begins November 25th! What an exciting month ahead!

Day 63
Had the first meeting of my Aufbaukurs class today. This is the grammar class I'm taking that is 3 hours a day and 3 days a week. It was very long and extremely boring, especially because it is the same exact material that was covered in the Start Kurs I took in September. So, I asked my teacher if I could be placed in a higher and more challenging class. I will find out tomorrow or Wednesday. I really hope I can change because I'm not being challenged at all and I've already been through the book and it is virtually all the same subjects as the Start Kurs so I won't learn anything if I stay in this class. Anyhow, enjoy this pictures of this beautiful city :).

Day 59 of 330: More Placement Tests

I went up to Wilhelmstaße 9 today to take the speaking portion of the Aufbaukurs placement test. It wasn't bad, just a short little interview about how long I have been studying German and how long I was going to stay here and how my other classes was I taking. After that, I had to walk to the next street over for the written exam, which, of course took entirely too long. I hate taking these tests so much, I always feel like they ask the same questions repeatedly and there's no real way to study for these test, plus I get bored really fast. I tested into the A2/B1 class yet again (sometimes I feel like I will never improve).

I met some of the others in Fichtenweg for drinks and drinking games (I just had OJ) and then we all went down to the Clubhouse at the University campus. I ended up just talking outside with some friends and went home early.