Dancing Generation

Hello Readers!! I've been on the run with my host family since Friday (last day of school). We are doing a five day travel through Germany, which naturally means taking two hours to write a blog is not possible. Nevertheless, I woke up an hour before breakfast to make sure that you guys had at least some pictures and captions. I've learned this year that followthrough is just as important as the engaging initiative.

On the last day of school! To my suprise,
a good friend asked and was permitted to plant
a tree for the exchange students. I got to take the first dig!
You can see the tree in the back right, and also a piece of cake
that says 'Goodbye Genevieve' which a friend baked for me.
My class made a book with their pictures and they all wrote
something inside as a going away gift. We had breakfast together,
and I made a powerpoint of us throughought the year (Christmas Market,
Ice Skating, Volleyball tournament, chorus...) It was a really nice way to end the year with them.

Right after the last day of school, I got home and packed my bags for Dresden!

Dresden is called the 'Golden City'. When people asked me what I was doing

on the last day I told them that my host sister and I were going to Dresden,

they were thrilled. It is a 'must see' of Germany. This picture was taken from our

hotel, Friday evening. The drive took four hours so we only had time to freshen up and go

out to dinner.

Then the next morning we got up early at 8 to start our day. We saw this duck on the way. My host sister and Iwent down for breakfast, we found a table next to a group of four people. The hotel was very international, we had already met people from New Zealand, America, and China. But this group was from Italy. At the end of stay camp, I learned the first line of 'Enie Menie Miny Mo, Catch a Tiger by the toe' song from an American friend in Italian. The rhyme and rhythm was so cool, I asked my close friend (who is from Italy) if she could teach it to me. The song is about 20 seconds, and I know its about a doctor and apples.  A kid story. So, here was the table with four italians (I can recognize the language because I was there when Chiara skyped with her family in Italy), and you can guess what I did. I leaned over and asked, 'can you speak german?' they looked at me smiling with a question mark stare. 'english?' the man said 'little'. Then I proceeded to sing the song and they ALL smiled and laughed and sang the last stanza with me. The conversation couldn't go any farther than my 7th grade spanish (spanish is similar to italian) and their english. Nevertheless, it was so cool for me that I could make a connection to another land through a little rhyme song that I learned from a close Italian friend in Germany.

Picture of the Frauenkirche.

View of Dresden from the top of the Frauenkirche, here is a very informational website
that summarizes the history that dates back to the 11th century in a couple paragraphs. I urge you readers to take a glance, it is well worth it. http://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/zeittafel+M5d637b1e38d.html
When I was walking through the small cobblestone streets, and reading all the small signs
on houses that were under historical preservment protection I was in absolute amazement. In comparison with Germany, the United States of America is so young! Our foundation was July 4th 1774, and the German history starts at the formation of the Celtics in the late BC's.

From the top of the church, we spotted a market!
You could recognmize by the top of the white tents,
I thought it would be a fruit/vegetable/fresh honey market
like they almost always are but this was a fabric market!!

Buttons.

Das Grüne Gewölbe Museum,
spent three hours there! Here is another phenomenally informational link!
http://www.skd.museum/en/museums-institutions/residenzschloss/gruenes-gewoelbe/index.html

In March my Host Aunt and Uncle asked my host sister and I what we wanted to do for a trip. At first I said the Sächsen Forest, because there is a HUGE rock park that dates back to the medieval age where they used catapults. But we figured the culture of Dresden was a better option. On the way back, we made a 'small detour' (2 hours)and they suprised me by going!

The Sächsische Schweiz

The Bastei Bridge
READ THE HISTORY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastei

I am writing this blog currently in Hartz, Germany. Right after my hosts siter and I got home, we headed out the next day with the whole family to Hartz. We are staying until Friday, I will update the blog on Monday after our journey is finished. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, feel free to comment!

Last week this verse has been on my mind. He is not far from us.
'And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring'. Acts 17:26-29

God Bless You, Peace, Genevieve

P.S. I'll be home in 8 days!