Berlin Seminar

Hallo Freunde und Familie!
The other participants of the CBYX program and I had our 5-day mid-year seminar this past week. It was a really exciting couple of days (unfortunately for us, too short). It was so great to see everyone from Bonn again. All 23 of us stayed in a nice hostel right in the middle of Berlin. In the mornings we ate breakfast together at 8:00 and then went directly to our seminars. We had presentations on subjects like Germany before and after WWII, the divided city of Berlin before the wall fell, the European Union, and the persecution of the Jews in Europe. We also had some guest speakers that we talked to in kind of a Q and A format. They were all very well done and fascinating. In the afternoons we went on various excursions around the city. It was extremely cold this past week (- 20° C!!), so we did not get to do as much walking around as we would have liked. The president of Israel, Shimon Peres, was giving a speech on Wednesday, so there were a lot of police and military tanks everywhere. That also made it a bit difficult, but we still got to see plenty. We visited the Parlement (Reichstag) and climbed all the way up to the top of the dome and had a great view of the sunset and the rest of Berlin. That was probably my favorite little trip we made.
In the evenings we had free time and most of us threw some money into a pot and went to the grocery store down the street and cooked together in the hostel´s kitchen. Living with them was really like an episode of the Real World, except it was realer than the Real World. The best part is that we all have really different personalities, but we get along so well. No drama, just fun. I don´t think I´ve ever laughed more in one week.
I got to know the public transportation pretty well in Berlin. It is really quite amazing. It is probably one of the best systems in the world. Everyday I become more and more used to all this great public transit in Germany, that I think I am going to be hit hard when I come back to the US. Especially since I have no intent on purchasing a car. That needs to be changed.
So all and all, a wonderful week in Berlin. There is a chance that when we have our end-of-year seminar in June, we will get to meet the Chancelor of Germany, Angela Merkel! Pretty exciting.
Miss you all and always love to hear from you.
Elena

Neue Gastfamilie

Hallo Freunde und Familie!
Agh, again I am terrible at writing on a regular basis. Bare with me.
The transition to the new host family has been extremely easy. I felt at home from the very first day. We have gotten into a routine now and everything is running smoothly. I work pretty much everyday with my colleague from the enviromental protection center on a paper conservation project. We go to different elementary schools and middle schools and teach the students about where paper comes from and how it is recycled (and hopefully convince them to conserve it). After about 10 days of this project, I feel like quite the expert on paper. I am becoming more confident with my german and I am now able to answer most of the students´ questions. It is really fun and I look forward to doing it everyday. Maybe kids aren´t as bad as I thought...
Last weekend my argentine friend Samuel came to visit me here in Göttingen. It was a really fun couple of days that included ice skating, building snowmen and a snow turtle, playing tennis, seeing a play and sledding. He is now back in Düsseldorf where he finishing up a german class he is taking there.
The other program participants and I are meeting up in Berlin this Sunday for a week-long orientation. We will probably be discussing our experiences and learning about the relationship between the US and German governments. Hopefully there will be time to shop around and have coffee in one of Berlins 100s of indie/alternative shops and cafes. This may require some prior planning! I should read that Berlin Guide Book for Young People that our program director gave us....I can´t wait!
So, short blog entry today. Mum and Stephen (brother) are coming in mid-February. I´ll probably get around to writing the next entry after their stay. Until then! Tschüss!

Christmas/ New Year

Dear friends and family,
Happy belated Christmas and New Year! My father informed me recently that I have quite a few more than 11 followers on my blog, so I will be extra careful not to make gramatical errors. I will also try to make it a little easier to read. I have not written in a while, so this entrywill be a bit long. A lot has happened since Decemeber 15th.

GOOD-BYE FELIX KLEIN GYMNASIUM
My program works as follows: Half a year in a german high school to learn german and get to know some german students. Half a year with a new host family working as an intern in a vocational field. My verdict for the first six months is: First two months in Bonn--awesome. Next 4 months in high school again--not so awesome. My host family has been absolutely wonderful. I have had only luck with host families through my entire Argentina/Germany exchange experiences. The fact is I was completely done with the whole high school scene and I was in no mood to try to break my way into the tightly-formed groups of german school girls. The last day before the vacation, I performed "Ride the Chariot" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with the school choir during the school church service. It was a little chaotic, but everything seemed to get pulled together in the end. I passed out earrings that I had made out of Sculpy to some friends the female students who a least bothered to introduce themselves to me and say hello to me in the hallways. Even though a good portion of the students have done an exchange program at some point or another, very few of them cared one bit about making the exchange students in their own school feel welcome. Luckily my fellow foreigners are always there for me. Despite the negative tone of this paragraph, I am walking away from the experience with some very nice memories.
CHRISTMAS
This holiday is celebrated a little differently in Germany. First off, the actual festivities take place on the 24th. My host family and I spent the morning tidying up the house and relaxing before the guests came at three. My "host aunt and uncle" arrived punctually, as is typical for Germans, along with Oma, my 89 year old "host grandma". We had Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake)and chatted for a bit. Then we sang some Christmas songs and read a Christmas story (Grandma recited a poem--it was the most adorable thing)and then we opened gifts. I got some nick-nacky things and some really useful things like a warm scarf, warm stockings and a travel mug. Afterwards we ate dinner constisting of 2 different types of potato salad, red beet salad and some bratwurst for the meat-eaters. I found it very strange that they do dessert, then real food. I was not at all hungry for dinner. At 11:30pm my host sister, host mom and I walked in the freezing cold to midnight mass at the evangelical church in our village. It was very well done I thought. Not too long, good music and a thought-provoking homily. The next day was just a chill-out day where supposedly most Germans visit family members, but we packed for our trip to the Canary Islands and left at around 3pm.

FUERTEVENTURA
I was very lucky to have my host family take me to Fuerteventura (strong wind in spanish) with them. It is one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.They have been going there for Christmas break for about 20 years now. The weather is very dry and hot there, but it is a wonderful break from cold, wet Germany. We were there for 10 days and had an absolutely marvelous time. A regular day there consisted of breakfast with the fam, laying on the beach and reading, swimming in the crystal clear water (no fish, no sharks!)participating in some hotel activities (archery, riflry, beach volleyball) and then dinning with the family at 6:30. The second day we were there I had to climb the mountain behind our hotel. This picture is a view from the top. On New Years we ate a big meal and watched fire works on the beach. My New Years resolution for 2010 is to read a least one book a month independently. I think it is one I can actually accomplish.

INTERNSHIP/MOVE
I am starting up my internship with the Biologische Schutzgemeinschaft and the BUND (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland)next week. The first project we are jumping into is a paper conservation presentation for elementary students. We will be going to the elementary schools to teach the kids about paper and where it comes from, how it is made and try to make them aware of how often we use paper and how we can conserve it. I am pretty excited about it but I feel really unprepared! I will be moving to another family so that I can go with my new hostfather/coworker to work everyday and get to know a different german family. I have already met them and they are really nice. They have a daughter my age who is now an exchange student in Utah and a nephew who is also an exchange student in Arizona. Luckily they will be back from the US a few days before I leave so I will get to meet them!

There are many things happening this month. 2010 has hit the ground running and it doesn´t look like it will slow down for a while. I hope the time doesn´t fly by too quickly! Hope you all had a great holiday. As always, I love to hear from you, even if you were only in english class with me sophomore year, I still read your comments/emails/facebook messages. :) Until the next entry! (sometime soon???)
Elena

Thanksgiving/Birthday

Plain and simply, my 19th birthday was awesome. I was woken up by my hostmom with coffee, shortbread cookies and tea candles. We had breakfast together then went into the city to by some warm boots for this awful german weather. The boots ended up turning into a coat instead. Then we picked up my hostsister and our friend from school and went home to make "Kartoffelpuffer" for lunch. They are basically like hashbrowns but we eat them with applesause! So yummy! After lunch I opened presents. The most awkward part of a birthday for me. I got some really nice gifts and I feel like I cannot express well enough how much I appreciate them. I got a new pair of pajama bottoms, some really good quality art supplies ("So you will stop borrowing mine!" said Maike) a dvd, chocolate and a few other things. Then we hung out a bit and the grandparents came over for coffee and cake. It was really pleasant. At around 5 we drove to my german course where my class surprised me with sparklers hugs and a birthday film. It was so sweet I wanted to cry. Afterwards my friends and I went out for a few drinks before we went dancing. It was just a really nice way toalt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415415847581983458" />

Birthday: become a year older.
The next week was Thanksgiving. I made a small dinner with some vegetarian favs like greenbean cassarole, mashedpotatoes, and stuffing. It turned out pretty well except my stuffing was a little dry from lack of broth. The next day I went to my american friend´s house to celebrate a little more lavishly. There were more people,great music and games, but it still didn´t prevent me from being a little homesick afterwards. :(
These last couple of weeks have been pretty normal except that I got my wisdom teeth out on Monday! It was so quick and painless, I didn´t even realize they were out until the orthodontist said I could leave. I had no swelling afterwards and close to no irritation. LUCKY! The other side comes out in January. Why they do it in two sessions, I don´t really understand.
I have been racking my brain lately trying to think of good Christmas presents. It is hard to buy for people who already have everything! Maybe I will just resort to making something like I normally do...
Hope everyone is winding down for Christmas break. Please let me know what you all are doing! My family and I are flying down to Spain for 10 days. I can´t wait to get some sun and practice my spanish a bit!
Schöne Grüße,
Elena

Come with us to Bremen!

This past weekend my host family and I went to the city/federal state of Bremen and Bremerhaven. We had a really great time. There is a pretty well known childrens´story about an donkey, a dog, a cat and a chicken that take a journey to Bremen. It is called "The Town Musicians of Bremen" Maybe some of you have heard of it? I got to take a picture with their statue! Bremen is a port trading city that started doing really well during the Renaissance. There are so many old, beautiful and quaint buildings! The damage to this city during WWII was not too severe, so almost everything is in its original state. We stayed in this super space-age modern hotel that really didn´t seem to fit with the old -world feel of the city, but it was still cool. On Sunday we went to the Klimahaus which is a really impressive museum on global climate change and environmental issues. http://klimahaus-bremerhaven.eu/ There is no way we could have possibly looked at everything in there in one day!

Two weekends ago I went to see the production "Der Mann in Schwarz " or The Man in Black, a take on Walk the Line and the life of Johnny Cash. I have to say I was a little disappointed, but I suppose I am spoiled by American entertainment. <.<>

I have been working with my future internship co-workers on small environmental projects in the area on Saturdays. It has been a lot of fun. I will be starting my internship with the ´Biologische Schutzgemeinschaft´ (biological protection community) in mid January. It is based out of the Umweltschutz Zentrum (Environment protection center) downtown. I will be involved in many different projects such as the Paper Conservation Project where we go to schools and give a little presentation and teach the students and teachers about what they can do to reduce the amount of paper used. I will also help keep up-dates on the marked trees in the city center. Because of the constant rain and moisture here, a lot of non-native trees in city get bacteria growth on the base of the trunk with makes it extremely dangerous during windy days (trees falling on pedestrians...not good) Another project they are working on is converting this old army shooting/training ground into a public nature reserve. The army had laid out a bunch of random concrete slabs everywhere for whatever reason, so we will probably work on getting those removed. There are a lot of other projects that were explained to me, but I just wanted to give you all an idea of what I will be doing in my internship.

Thanksgiving was a quiet day here although I still had to go to school (not a holiday here). I called my mom, grandma Krajeski, grandma Denton, and my best friend Rain to send some Thanksgiving greetings. It was nice to talk to them. Saturday evening I will be preparing a few small traditional Thanksgiving dishes for my hostfamily and then on Sunday I will be feasting with my american friend, Evisa, at her house. Then next Wednesday is my 19th birthday--kind of a boring year but it is an exuse to bake cupcakes! Hope you all enjoyed the holiday and that no one got hurt on Black Friday! I will try to send Christmas cards as soon as I can so they get to you all in time! >until next post!<

Elena

Hamburg!

This past weekend I went to the city of Hamburg with my friends from my german evening class. Luckily the Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) has a great deal for weekend travelers and we were able to take the train round trip and use the public transportation in Hamburg for only 14 euros a person. It was about a 4 hour train ride there, but it was pleasant because we slept most of the way and chatted a bit. As soon as we got there, my friend Evisa and I walked around the city (it was really wet and cold!) for about an hour while the others waited at the trainstation for other friends to arrive, then we took a boat across the harbor to get to where we were going. The reason for going there initially was to attend a birthday party of a friend of my Salvadorian friend. Crazy, I know, but that´s how Latin Americans are. The more the merrier. The best part was speaking spanish again! Most of the people there were originally from El Salvador, but there were also some Spaniards and Chileans. Of course it was an all-night party with lots of dancing and good music. It made me realize how much I miss Argentina. : (

We did a little city touring, but not a lot. I will probably make it back to Hamburg again before June next year. Next weekend my host family and I are going to Bremen to visit some museums and see some of the old Baroque and Renaissance architecture. I had to do a PowerPoint on Bremen for my german class in school, so I have a little background on the city this time!

All the action happens during the weekend. The weekdays are pretty rutine. School, german, german, german, maybe going out for a drink with a friend every once and a while and some more german. I am not complaining at all though--life needs to be monotone sometimes so you can appreciate the fun times to the full extent. Plus I have a lot of things to look forward to--Thanksgiving and my birthday! Bis das nätsche Blog!

Happy Halloween!

The past week has been just awesome. I recovered fully from the slight homesickness that I had a little while ago and now I have really found my nitch. I celebrated Halloween this year at this international english- speaking café in the city center. I´ve become a regular there now. I´ve gotten to know the owner pretty well and sometimes I run errands for him and he gives me free drinks! The party last night was a lot of fun. I think the German kids are really jealous of kids in the US around this time of year. There was a ´Haunted House`in the basement and the line for the tour went all the way out the door. There were classic halloween movies and halloween tv show episodes playing on the giant flat screen tv, the kids played games and did face paint while the adults drank and checked out some of the english books and DVDs that you can borrow there. I helped out here and there with everything. (My costume got in the way sometimes. :) ) I was a medieval princess, which I´ve already been, but it is such a cool costume that I wanted to wear it again.

I am finally getting underway with my internship. I am meeting all the people that I will be working with and learning about some of the things that I will be doing. I was recently sent some pictures of when we went to do some biological work in a field. We had to clear out some invasive plant species. See if you can find me in this picture!

It is now November--supposedly the most depressing time in Germany. It is rainy and cold all the time and everything is just dead and gray. Maybe we haven´t gotten there quite yet because the weather has been great lately. The colors are beautiful and the air is crisp. This picture here is from the woods near my house. Plus, American Thanksgiving is coming up and I can´t wait to share this part of my culture with my host family and german friends. I need to learn how to explain the history behind it in german first! I´ll work on that!