Mary Grace:
I wake up a little later than usual because my partner has first block off. We leave the house at 8:30 and walk to the bus stop. We go with Emma and that one kid to dm to get deodorant. Every person my age carries around dry spray deodorant when it's hot. So we had to walk a longer time and it is very hot out. I'm also wearing a dress because I would not want to be out in jeans in this heat. It is supposed to get to get to 90 degrees today. We sit in an open room until the bell rings. All of the Germans do their homework while we wait for class to start. We go to homeroom and talk about the talent night and how the rest of the trip will look. We learn the dances for the whole group number and we are practicing more tomorrow. Then we go to class. I go to Chemistry with Ryley, Elyssa, and Connor. We don't do much as usual. Then we don't have the last class, so a bunch of us are going to the swimming pool. We wait for some of the others and Sydney has to go home quick to get her swim suit. I stay with Meike and Ryley and get an ice cream cone. We walk to the Freizeitzentrum (literally free time center) to go to the pool. We stay there from about 1:30ish until 7:00. Early on some of us get something to eat and drink. Ryley and I see these interesting drinks that have candy brands on them. We buy a skittles shake and a twix shake. It was pretty weird, but it tasted like fruit milk and chocolate milk with a hint of caramel, respectively. All of us have a lot of fun going down the slide. We go in trains, pairs, backwards, frontwards, and pretty much any way you can think of. All of us Americans were super excited about going on the slide because there isn't a lifeguard monitoring how you go down. People race each other and some just sit out on the grass. I don't know if it has been mentioned in another blog, but when we went to Neuschwanstein, I shoved a big piece of raw salmon in my mouth and ate it for €1,14. So ever since then, we always bet each other to do things for €1,14, and I bet Grant to belly flop into the pool so I have to pay tomorrow. I am pretty sunburnt even though I put sunscreen on Eventually Hannah and I come home and we take showers. Then Hannah's parents want me to show them how to make American hamburgers. I have never made hamburgers in my life, so I have to google a video while Hannah was in the shower. I'm just gonna wing it. I just tell them how I eat my burgers at home and they think it's better than the German burgers they have. I don't know if I believe them or not, but eating them kind of made me sad because I miss home. After dinner, I finally showed them my ich buch. Frau Steiner, I know we were supposed to share them right away, but the mood wasn't right and at least I shared it. After we clean up, I go upstairs and brush my teeth and am going to bed after I finish this.
Sydney:
My partner has been sick today, so I spent the day shadowing Taylor and her partner Leah. The day at school was pretty uneventful but, all of the Americans got together during homeroom to practice are musical talents for the talent show. We also practiced our dances; we will be doing a compilation of popular American dance songs which we will perform for our German home stay families. Song such as the Harlem Shake, Cupid Shuffle, and the YMCA will be performed on our last night here. Today Taylor and I had our very first higher level English class! It was interesting; the students are preparing for a test which is over the book Coraline; they have to prepare a one and a half minute monologue about what the best trick the other mother used to convince Coraline to stay with them was. The German students are very good at talking about the subject considering how little they speak English in English class. But what am I saying? We barely speak any German in German class... After school I headed to the pool here in Blieskastel with Abbey, we spent about 6 hours there with the other GAPPies and it was a lot of fun! The pools here are different than in America, not in the way they look, but by the way they are managed. There were no life guards and people were allowed to pretty much do whatever they wanted, which was really fun for the Americans. We got to go down the slides in whatever way we wanted; backwards, sideways, and 3+ at a time! Some of the Germans got bored before us but we kept going and plan on going back tomorrow. After the pool Abbey and I went to get ice cream and we chilled for a little bit. Now I am at home, preparing to dine on some German barbecue and then go to bed.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Out of order: Wednesday June 22 Fieldtrip #3 MAINZ
n.b.: Frau S here. On Wednesday our entire group (44 people!) traveled to Mainz, which is the Hauptstadt of the neighboring German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. I have spent a fair amount of time in my travels over the years in Mainz and was excited to come "home". The city itself is approximately 2000 years old and was at one time the border of the Roman Empire. Mainz is also the hometown of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of moveable type and we were able to see four original Bibles in the vault of the museum. Some students even got to try their hand at using a replica of Gutenberg's printing press! Once in the city, we walked up to St. Stephan's church to begin a walking tour with a professional tour guide (we had mixed results...:-( ).
Connor:
Wednesday, June 22nd. This morning I go to sleep in a little longer. It was needed since we kept busy the day before. Our plan was to meet at the train station and head to Meinz. Hannah and Marygrace picked Daniel and I up since both his parents were working. We meet everyone else at the train station around 8:30. There we all chatted and talked until our train arrived. The train ride took about 2 hours. On the train I ended up sleeping. I was awake for maybe 20 minutes of the ride. At Meinz we had to hurry to our tour. We met our a church and start our tour there. While walking towards the church, we passed many restaurants and it made me even more hungry. Once we reached the church we were split up in 2 groups. Our tour guide talked, like an overview, and after what felt like a long time just standing there, we entered the church. Walking into the church, the temperature seemed to drop, getting very chilly, almost ice cold. There he told us about the stained glass windows. Not staying too long inside, we headed to a little courtyard. There he told us what so special about this buliding, the way it was built and why it's still standing. After leaving the church he took us around the city and to the Guttenberg mesuem. There he showed us how they printed paper in the old days. There he took three people to help him. I wasn't one as I was fine sitting down and relaxing. Then he showed us 4 very old books and he talked a long time about them. Then after that we had free time till 5:30. So everyone headed to a burger restaurant called hansund gluck. I had a wilde western burger that was 10/10. After that we had about 2 hours to kill, so a couple other people and I went looking for a book store. This was because I brought books with me, but during school I read so I was running out of reading material. But sadly no book store had English books in them. So then we walked around and eventually met more people around a sitting area. There pictures were taken and eventually walked to a huge 3 floor store that had anything but food. There I killed time by chatting and trying not to be bored. But I became bored anyways. After a while we walked back to the meeting place and meet everyone else from GAPP there. There we had to hurry to the train again. Another two hour ride back. But I didn't sleep on this ride. This time I sat next to Colin and talked with him. He was nice enough to share some food. Not too long into the train ride, Elyssa and Marygrace ended up sitting on the stairs next to my seat. They were also kind enough to share gummy bears with Colin and I. Then after a couple seats opened up, they went and sat in comfy seats. So Colin and I plugged our headphones and listened to music. Almost fell asleep but not quite. After the train ride, Hannah's mother took us back home. There we had dinner, spaghetti, which was 8/10. After eating we were both tired from walking all day, so we went upstairs. I plugged my music into his speaker and played a mix of different bands off my phone. We played need for speed and I ended up getting three new cars for him. All of them better then his mustang he had before, but that's not hard to beat. 2 hours later we decided we should sleep so we are not tired at school tomorrow. I went to my room, read a couple chapters out of my book, Asylum, and went to bed.
Connor:
Wednesday, June 22nd. This morning I go to sleep in a little longer. It was needed since we kept busy the day before. Our plan was to meet at the train station and head to Meinz. Hannah and Marygrace picked Daniel and I up since both his parents were working. We meet everyone else at the train station around 8:30. There we all chatted and talked until our train arrived. The train ride took about 2 hours. On the train I ended up sleeping. I was awake for maybe 20 minutes of the ride. At Meinz we had to hurry to our tour. We met our a church and start our tour there. While walking towards the church, we passed many restaurants and it made me even more hungry. Once we reached the church we were split up in 2 groups. Our tour guide talked, like an overview, and after what felt like a long time just standing there, we entered the church. Walking into the church, the temperature seemed to drop, getting very chilly, almost ice cold. There he told us about the stained glass windows. Not staying too long inside, we headed to a little courtyard. There he told us what so special about this buliding, the way it was built and why it's still standing. After leaving the church he took us around the city and to the Guttenberg mesuem. There he showed us how they printed paper in the old days. There he took three people to help him. I wasn't one as I was fine sitting down and relaxing. Then he showed us 4 very old books and he talked a long time about them. Then after that we had free time till 5:30. So everyone headed to a burger restaurant called hansund gluck. I had a wilde western burger that was 10/10. After that we had about 2 hours to kill, so a couple other people and I went looking for a book store. This was because I brought books with me, but during school I read so I was running out of reading material. But sadly no book store had English books in them. So then we walked around and eventually met more people around a sitting area. There pictures were taken and eventually walked to a huge 3 floor store that had anything but food. There I killed time by chatting and trying not to be bored. But I became bored anyways. After a while we walked back to the meeting place and meet everyone else from GAPP there. There we had to hurry to the train again. Another two hour ride back. But I didn't sleep on this ride. This time I sat next to Colin and talked with him. He was nice enough to share some food. Not too long into the train ride, Elyssa and Marygrace ended up sitting on the stairs next to my seat. They were also kind enough to share gummy bears with Colin and I. Then after a couple seats opened up, they went and sat in comfy seats. So Colin and I plugged our headphones and listened to music. Almost fell asleep but not quite. After the train ride, Hannah's mother took us back home. There we had dinner, spaghetti, which was 8/10. After eating we were both tired from walking all day, so we went upstairs. I plugged my music into his speaker and played a mix of different bands off my phone. We played need for speed and I ended up getting three new cars for him. All of them better then his mustang he had before, but that's not hard to beat. 2 hours later we decided we should sleep so we are not tired at school tomorrow. I went to my room, read a couple chapters out of my book, Asylum, and went to bed.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Technical difficulties!
Hi, everyone! I just deleted two posts because the were some how overlapping each other and were garbled up. Reposting in a few minutes after I log out of the blog...
Saturday, June 25
The long-delayed canoe trip on the Blies is supposed to be today, but I woke to rain at my house, so I am hoping it will not cause the canoe tour to be cancelled completely. Frau S.
Friday, June 24th: Last day of school
June 24th
Samantha
Today when we got to school, we stayed with the Americans and practiced our dance for the talent show on Sunday! Our dance consists of a bunch of songs such as “the Cupid shuffle”, “cha cha slide”, “watch me”, “hit the quan”, “ymca”, etc. all mashed together. Our dancing has definitely improved, but it's still really funny to watch! (Grant’s stanky leg is on point). After practicing a few times, we all ate our lunches even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. Then, since we still had a lot of time left, a group of us walked down the hill to rewe to get candy and flowers for our host families to thank them. However, we had a bit of an issue with keeping the flowers in water until we got home. For the rest of the day, we all carried around bouquets in water bottles or in my case, a coffee cup (I spilled water everywhere I went and yes, everyone looked at us weird). Anyways, after getting our flowers, we walked back up to the school and went to 3rd period with our partners. Unfortunately, my partner had German class which I do not understand at all, so I read for most of the class. After German, I had religion with Sydney, Taylor, and Jacob. We also didn't understand that class, so we drew pictures and wrote strange stories. After school, I took the bus to Emma’s friend Lavinia’s house because she had her confirmation tonight. When we got to Lavinia's, her grandma made us this really good soup and then we ate Popsicles. Then, Lavinia had to get her hair cut, so I awkwardly sat in Lavinia's room while Emma took a shower and everyone else was gone. When Lavinia got back, Emma did her hair and Lavinia did her makeup for her confirmation. Once Lavinia was ready, she was wearing a really pretty pink dress (looked like a homecoming dress) and her makeup and hair was all done really beautifully. Then, we went to the church and I sat with Taylor for two hours not knowing what was happening or what anyone was saying. Although, Taylor and I did end up entertaining ourselves. During the confirmation, Taylor decided that she was a palm reader and began reading people's palms and telling them they have good things ahead of them and that they must've had a rough past. Also, I can't leave this out (sorry Taylor)... At the beginning of the confirmation when the bishop walked down the aisle, Taylor leaned over and said, “is that the pope?!” What a gal. After the confirmation, we walked outside and these sirens started going off and no one knew what they meant. According to Emma’s friend Benni, if these sirens were 7 seconds long, it meant there was nuclear war or something?¿ Luckily, they lasted longer than 7 seconds, no nuclear war!!!! Next, I went to a really fancy restaurant with Lavinia, Emma, and Lavinia's family. Lavinia’s godfather is from America so he was able to translate the menu for me and it was really nice to be able to speak English even more. I ended up getting this really good pasta with shrimp, sugar snap peas, some type of sweet curry sauce, etc. (I'll share a pic). We stayed at the restaurant for about 3 hours and then Emma's dad showed up and we went home. It was a fun day and I'm actually sad that we are done with school :(
Samantha
Today when we got to school, we stayed with the Americans and practiced our dance for the talent show on Sunday! Our dance consists of a bunch of songs such as “the Cupid shuffle”, “cha cha slide”, “watch me”, “hit the quan”, “ymca”, etc. all mashed together. Our dancing has definitely improved, but it's still really funny to watch! (Grant’s stanky leg is on point). After practicing a few times, we all ate our lunches even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. Then, since we still had a lot of time left, a group of us walked down the hill to rewe to get candy and flowers for our host families to thank them. However, we had a bit of an issue with keeping the flowers in water until we got home. For the rest of the day, we all carried around bouquets in water bottles or in my case, a coffee cup (I spilled water everywhere I went and yes, everyone looked at us weird). Anyways, after getting our flowers, we walked back up to the school and went to 3rd period with our partners. Unfortunately, my partner had German class which I do not understand at all, so I read for most of the class. After German, I had religion with Sydney, Taylor, and Jacob. We also didn't understand that class, so we drew pictures and wrote strange stories. After school, I took the bus to Emma’s friend Lavinia’s house because she had her confirmation tonight. When we got to Lavinia's, her grandma made us this really good soup and then we ate Popsicles. Then, Lavinia had to get her hair cut, so I awkwardly sat in Lavinia's room while Emma took a shower and everyone else was gone. When Lavinia got back, Emma did her hair and Lavinia did her makeup for her confirmation. Once Lavinia was ready, she was wearing a really pretty pink dress (looked like a homecoming dress) and her makeup and hair was all done really beautifully. Then, we went to the church and I sat with Taylor for two hours not knowing what was happening or what anyone was saying. Although, Taylor and I did end up entertaining ourselves. During the confirmation, Taylor decided that she was a palm reader and began reading people's palms and telling them they have good things ahead of them and that they must've had a rough past. Also, I can't leave this out (sorry Taylor)... At the beginning of the confirmation when the bishop walked down the aisle, Taylor leaned over and said, “is that the pope?!” What a gal. After the confirmation, we walked outside and these sirens started going off and no one knew what they meant. According to Emma’s friend Benni, if these sirens were 7 seconds long, it meant there was nuclear war or something?¿ Luckily, they lasted longer than 7 seconds, no nuclear war!!!! Next, I went to a really fancy restaurant with Lavinia, Emma, and Lavinia's family. Lavinia’s godfather is from America so he was able to translate the menu for me and it was really nice to be able to speak English even more. I ended up getting this really good pasta with shrimp, sugar snap peas, some type of sweet curry sauce, etc. (I'll share a pic). We stayed at the restaurant for about 3 hours and then Emma's dad showed up and we went home. It was a fun day and I'm actually sad that we are done with school :(
Tuesday, June 21: Field Trip #2
N.B: again our student bloggers have not turned in their reflections. Today after school we went to Festo, which is a pneumatics company and we learned about what they do at their newest plant. I will have to track down some teenagers and make them do their "homework". Frau S
Monday, June 20: Field Trip #1
N.B.Our bloggers are MIA. We went to school and had a field trip to Saarland Rundfunk. When I get the blogs from the students, I will post them. Frau S
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