The Start of my Study

Hey Readers (I know you're there!),
Check out this sunrise, it was my first morning in Celle. I couldn't have thought to make it any more beautiful.

Thanks Maryann and Mom for your input! The title of my story is the ‘Grandma’s aren’t so nice’. You can see at the bottom I included some pictures from the week spent in Washington D.C. that I never got to show.

Here’s the story.



I go to Oma’s (Grandma’s) for the competition; I can’t help it I’m a competitive person. I can run fast alone but I prefer to race so I can cross the finish line first. I don’t compete to be first, I compete to find out my limits. That doesn’t mean when running a hundred kilometer sprint, I don’t thoroughly enjoy the gap behind me and my competitors. At least once a month Nadia and I visit our Grandparents. Nadia goes because Grandma always buys her favorite chocolate and cooks her favorite soup. I go to talk with Opa (Grandpa) about ‘the old days’ and play board games with Oma. Her sister lives in the same village as her, so when we wipe the dust off the board game box we invite her over to play too. I included a picture of how the board looks in a December post but I’ll show another one.

Here are the rules if you’re ever to come across this game. Each player gets a dice, whoever rolls the highest number starts. The starting player can roll three times; you need a 4 to remove the blocker chip. You can place the chip anywhere on the little black circles (where the players go), but when beginnings it’s more fun to put it directly in front of someone’s house. Next player, same story but if they have the chip in front of their house they need a one to get out. After the first round of each player (maximum of 4) rolling three times, it starts from the first player and they are only allowed to roll one. When he/she rolls a six, they're allowed to roll again but have to use the six first. If all of your players are blockaded by the chip you have to forfeit your turn. The point of the game is for all 5 pieces in your house to make it across the board, and through the Door, without being knocked out from when another player lands on you.

After coming home from Berlin, I packed my bag in five minutes and rushed out the door to drive to Grandma’s with Nadia. For dinner we had warm milk with a piece of bread torn up and thrown in (first and last time I will eat that). With full bellies we all took our seats (Grandma’s sister too).  Two pots of ‘Relaxation Tea’ later, Nadia and I had only two players left in the game, and the two Oma’s had all of theirs. When the game starts it’s funny to land on people and to send them back to their house, but after four hours of playing and the rules begin to change then we’re not laughing so much. As the game develops we insist on new rules such as ‘when it is a players turn, no other player is allowed to talk or they have to sit out a round’. Nadia made this rule because I would always overlook a turn to knock Nadia out and Grandma would give me advice. Grandma makes it appear like she wants to win, but she just enjoys sending everyone’s players home. Tante Hedwig (Aunt Hedwig) Oma’s sister, has only one time ever gotten a player through the Door, so she plays for the company. Nadia plays for the chocolate that the Oma’s bring.

 It was Nadia’s turn, two 6’s and a 4. She wasn’t able to land on Oma’s player that was standing two spaces away from the Door. She went to move another piece but I recounted her steps, nope she couldn’t land on Oma. I rolled my dice a millisecond before Nadia was done, a 5. Everyone, except Oma, concluded it didn’t count because I rolled too early. I rolled again, one 6 and a 3. I could land on Oma! As I reached for my player she screamed ‘stop, stop, stop’ over our laughter. She was so happy before she had one player almost free! Before I could knock her little blue piece over in sweet success, with a brush of her arm she cleared the board completely. Tante Hedwig was laughing, and Nadia stared at her with a ‘what?!’ face. She insisted that I should have sit out a round because I recounted on Nadia’s turn. But the rule was that I didn’t say anything, and I didn’t. I thought it was hilarious. Here’s this little Oma with her perfect circle glasses drinking her tea, and she in a frenzy practically flips the board over. ‘I guess I need to buy some stronger Relaxation tea, huh?’ she said and we all broke out into laughter. We ended up talking until 1 a.m. and eating a fruit cocktail mix. I always leave my Grandma’s with a sore side from laughing so much.

The pictures! For any desperate CBYXers who made stumble upon my blog and want to read how the Washington Week went, I'll write a complete blog on that later.



Arriving in Washington D.C. from Connecticut
Hallway or dance floor? Hahah, hallway.



Day after flying out from D.C.
All exchange students in Frankfurt, Germany Airport
At least people from twenty different countries were present



















Next Sunday six AFS exchange students are coming to our school for two weeks as a part of a ‘Midyear ‘program. Another AFS’er from South America is coming to finish the year with Chiara, Claudia, and I in our school. As for me, a new semester has started which is a fresh beginning. When I arrived at school I was over a month behind which made it extremely hard to do homework. But not that we’re starting with new topics I can do the homework with more success. I’m excited to go to school again!


Roof of the Washington D.C. Mall
Last place where you can find pumpkin chocolate before landing on German soil
They make almost nothing with pumpkin here!!

  

In front of the Cannon Building after my meeting with
the representative of Joe Courtney, we talked for two hours!

Time's starting to fly quickly. Some of my classmates are alreading wearing floral print, which means Spring is around the corner! It feels like yesterday I was sitting in my Geometry B math class, staring out the window thinking about how cool it would be to go to Germany.

I also downloaded a Bible research program. It includes Commentaries, the Bible in multiple versions, the Greek dictionary, and the Hebrew dictionary. There are a million other helper tools, it is incredibly phenomenal and FREE. Here is the site:
http://www.e-sword.net/support.html

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

to God be the Glory,
Genevieve



Rain and Retrospect

Hello Readers! We’ve had amounts of rain comparable to a tropical rain forest. It has rained for four days now. I wouldn’t be surprised if I bumped into a tree and it fell over roots up. Five days ago I sent my camera home for repair which made me somehow less inclined to venture outside . Which means that this blog is going to include pictures from the beginning of my journey up until now. The first month I was in Germany I could not figure out how to attach photos into my blog so come with me and lets look back in retrospect. The second part of this blog I’m going to answer a couple of basic questions from a friend that I thought would be good for everyone to know.

Plant at Oma's house with woven spiderweb
and caught raindroplets.

  How is school going? 

School is going well. I just finished reading my first BOOK for German. It was one-hundred fifty pages long and I read it from front to back. I could not understand every word but I can understand paragraphs. I started the first chapter looking up every word I didn’t understand. A couple hours later and only three pages completed, I decided to try a more relaxed approach. I packed my fluorescent yellow dictionary in the drawer, and just read. I understood the plot line perfectly, and learned phrases that I wouldn’t have picked up in conversations. For example,‘This place is not the bellybutton of the world’. Who would have thought in three months I could complete a novel cover to cover in a week?

I live near the dot on the right and I will be traveling
for my midyear camp to the dot on the left.
Practically across the country!
http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/Germany_map.jpg

Are classes and expectations different (more difficult?) Than here in the U.S.? 



American high school seniors have SAT’s, German seniors have the Abitur, or known as ‘Abi’. The last two years of highschool are in preparation for this test. The student can choose two primary subjects (History, English, German, Math) and four others (Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Economy, Geography, Politics, French, Russian, Latin, PE). The primary subject tests last six hours each and the others last four hours. In total, twenty four hours of testing. Doesn’t seem so hard compared to our six hour SAT break included test anymore does it? The teaching methods are also different. Rather than taking for example one course on the French Revolution and jamming decades of history into six months, the Germans learn gradually. Their method is to teach for example the French Revolution starting in 8^th grade and every year go more into depth. This way of learning would have really benefited me, and students in general. The majority of my USA school classmates including myself would tell you based on how much we are expected to learn and be evaluated on, we memorize facts and concepts until the test date. Then somehow we relearn everything a couple days (a week or two for me) before midterms or finals and somehow pass with flying colors.

Chandelier in the Celle Castle

The information isn’t completely gone, but it would genuinely take a while for me to recall a piece of knowledge, like finding a piece of paper filed in an eighteen-wheeler sized file cabinet. Which brings me to my answer of the question, there are different expectations for students because their tests are different. I am in the 11^th grade and am watching the frustration of my classmates. They said that the jump between 10^th and 11^th grade was too big, what is expected from this is too much. Can I get an American High School junior amen? The teachers are frustrated that students don’t complete homework, and the students are frustrated with the amount of homework. But they don’t meet everyday like we do, I only have Economy once a week. English meets on Wednesdays and Thursday. German on Monday and Friday. As an unbiased witness, I can understand both sides of the situation.

Are you living in the country or the city?



I currently live in a village, or small town. There are no grocery stores or any official buildings other than a hair salon. More than anything we are a residential village, we are fifteen minutes away from the central city. The ‘city’ is a cobblestone town square with a ‘CVS’, Church, Café, Travel Bureau, Clothing store and Shoe shop including repair.

Door. But their really cool here!

Eating my first Döner.Contents: big pita pocket with
lamb/meat (hah the vagueness)
cucumber slices, white cabbage, red cabbage, tomato.

Is it a long distance from “home” to school?
I am a fifteen minute bus ride from Boizenburg, the central city. Five minutes from a train station. And seven minutes from the closest grocery store and gas station. There are a lot of places to ride a bike in Dersenow that will lead you to other residential villages, but there is no sidewalk on the main road. Also, the main road is more like a highway because it is the only toll-free way between Hamburg and Berlin. That means we have cars and eighteen-wheelers driving by 24/7.

Host Dad picking pears in our tree.
We also have an apple and walnut tree!

Do you feel that it was a more positive choice to attend your senior year away rather than at your home highschool?

I knew that it would be at times difficult to complete my senior year away from home. The excitement of hearing from ‘dream’ colleges, writing dozens of essays, studying for midterms the last time….hahaha that doesn’t sound fun at all. More than anything I would be ‘doing’ I miss the friends I have grown up with. But those who are really important to me will be there when I come home no doubt. A test of true friendship. I know other exchange students are completing their college applications and will be graduates upon arrival, but I chose to complete the year in CT. I will be graduating with the class of 2013.

Flying out from Orientation Camp to Germany!
SO unbelievably hot that day.

I welcome any of your questions that I can answer as a comment. Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you guys think!

Blessings, Genevieve

Last Day in Celle, Germany.

WOW! What a month. First off, I'm very sorry that I haven't posted yet, it was a mix of no time and not knowing how to make a new blog entry on a German computer.

I was in Celle for 4 weeks to take lessons at a grammar school, volkshaupschule. Everyday from 9-12:15 we had lessons, I biked 4 km to school (but apparently have gained weight!) There were 10 of us, all CBYX students, all from America...so we spoke english. Which is natural because its comfortable, but in retrospect that was not a good idea. I spoke with my hostmom only in german, and my hostfather wanted to speak english which in restropect was also not so great. He helped me with my german homework, and I helped him with his English homework (he works for a german-american partnership company). We had about 10 pages of homework everynight which was fantastic because as I would be looking up words in my dictionary, I would hear it on the t.v. and in converstations! Its frustrating when I realize how much I don't know, but then I think that I am one word closer to being fluent. You have to stay optimistic.

Is the language hard? Yes and no. More than anything the most difficult things is pronunciation. What I didnt expect was for this experience to be such a blow to my confidence in communication. I find myself thinking very often how strange it is that people can communicate in a completely different way from other people. I also find myself thinking, wondering how I got to be sitting in an Eiskaffee in Germany!

The food? Excellent. Bread, chocolate, cheese. Repeat. The last week I switched from the whole bread for breakfast and dinner thing to yogurt for breakfast (taste like greek yogurt) and salad for lunch. Bread makes me more hungry. I wilol post pictures of the city at a later time, I am leaving for my next family in half an hour! I will be living in Dersenow, Mecklenberg-Vorpommern. (say that 10 times). I have a host sister who is 13, she has red hair just like mine, and a older brother who is 21. He speaks fluent english, but I, from this day on am only speaking German. I will be going to a Gymnasium in a neighboring village, yes village. And will post more later with my new laptop that is phenomenal (thanks mom xoxo).

Am I homesick? Yes and no. Everyday is a complete new animal, which is fun when I feel like exploring but hard when I need something familiar (someone send me a teddybear). The Germans are incredibly outgoing, friendly, and warm-hearted especially the Pallett family. They did an incredible job of sharing their life with me, which I am honored to have.

Praise God for keeping me safe and under His guidance,
pray for revelation in my situation, I am coming to realize how brave of a decision this was.

Until next time,
Genevieve

P.S. exceuse me for my bad english, this is the first time typing in a awhile.