Muenster, Bochum, and back

Friday after school my Betreungslehererin took me to see Muesnter for the afternoon. We drove to her house with her Fahrgemeinschaft and sat in the garden with her husband for a bit. We had a nice fruit/yogurt lunch and then headed into Muesnter. Both she and her husband studied and have lived in/near Muesnter for most of their lives, so I got a lot of the "inside scoop."

There's a church there with giant cages on the sides of it- cages that used to hold the bodies of people, who went against the church. It was actually pretty crazy to see that they used to normally be on display in the middle of the inner city. Muenster and the surrounding area are still very Catholic, and the Bishop owns most/a good chunk of the city.

We had some coffee (well I had Kakao)...and crepes before heading home. Needless to say it was a nice day (the weather was beautiful). Planning on meeting Mary there on Monday to shop around.

On Saturday I met with four other Fremdsprachenassistentinnen in Bochum. One of the girls, Emily, has been placed there, so she met us all at the train station. After we all found each other, we headed to the hostel for the three of us that were staying there for the night. Then we were out and about for a bit. Starting having a few drinks and just chatting around 3-4, and the night continued from there.

We all got a bit sleepy, but otherwise it was a really fun night. Nice to be with some friends and realize that everyone is a little awkward at their schools. It was really fun.

Monday I went to a hip hop dance class with Steffi, my roommate. I have to be honest I was really nervous because it was a mid-level course, already 5 weeks into the choreo, and I've never danced a count of hip hop in my life. Needless to say I'm wicked sore, but had a good time, and will probably be going back next week (after a lot of practice).

Here's a video of the dance school. If you want to see the kind of stuff I'll be doing. It's a lot slower than the current piece though.

As of right now this is my problem. There is this cat that always runs over my feet into the building everytime I open the door. Then it follows me up the stairs and I have to try to sneak in as fast as I can.

I don't know what to do about it, and it bothers me. I'm scared to pick it up for some reason, but I know it belongs to the apartment two stories below me. Advice?

Bis bald,

Sara

Huzzah!

Today there was sun...and rubarb cake....that should sum it up.

Text mash-up

I don't know why it always puts all my text in a big blob. Doesn't make it fun to read. Sorry!

Wowzas...these kids are crazy.

So second day at my school was today... let's recap. Monday I went in afer 1. Stunde to meet my teacher. She's really really nice, and I went with her to her 12th grade class. The students were half scared of me half nervous around me I think, but they were really nice to me. We were learning about the "American Dream." I mean, really? I don't know if I've lived mine out yet... So after they wanted me to profess my love for Obama for about 15 min. I got to observe the rest of the class. Let's see we listened to "American the beautiful" but it was an old blues/folk version. Needless to say the kids did not enjoy it because he sounded like he was in pain. Following that we listened to a political song by Pink, which led me to have to define what "No Child Left Behind Act" entails...that's a bit much. Other than class it was just lots of new names with lots of new information. All is well...it's just occasionally frustrating to have the vocabulary of a 12 year old. I want to stand up sometimes and shout "I'm not dumb, I swear...I just don't know how to say what I want!" It's also trippy for me to switch back and forth out of English and German. My brain tut mir weh. At night I went with my teacher to a get together with 13th graders. Everyone brought food and we just sat around and talked. Unfortunately/Fortunately we talked in German, which made it difficult for me to participate, but nevertheless, I had a good time. Got home around midnight, crashed, and got up at 6 this morning. Today was a lot of student face time. I sat in with 6th nad 7th graders. Questions I was asked today: 1. Do you love Robert Patterson? 2. Have you read Twilight? 3. Will you go with us to the Disco? 4. Favorites of all kinds: Movies, colors, etc. 5. Were you sad when Michael Jackson died? 6. Do you have a husband? 7. Do you have a boyfriend? 8. What is your favorite Michael Jackson song? 9. Do you like techno? 10. Do you like Lady Gaga? 11. What is your favorite Michael Jackson song? 12. Did you vote for Obama?/ Do you love Obama? Needless to say, some I didn't know how to answer. The schools are sooo different though. I mean some things I knew about, but I never really put it all together what that meant. The students stay with the same group of 20 or so for every class, while the teachers move from room to room. (As a future teacher, I would SOOO hate that...you can't set things up in the room ever beforehand). The kids are CRAZY! Well not crazy, the teachers just often think it's their choice to pay attention, so kids can talk through the whole lesson, or sort of dominate it if they want. I know it's just a difference, but I was struggling not whistling at them and telling them to listen up. The discipline is just a lot different. There's not principal or detention threats. Only one teacher used the extra homework threat. I mean it definitely has it's benefits, it's just going to take some getting used to. So far everyone has been really nice though. Any ideas for a club I could start? I'm lacking ideas (I had a good one, but COMPLETELY forgot it today when she asked what my ideas were). Oh and if you want to send me anything (highly encouraged...I love letters), here's my address: Sara Storti Drosselweg 6 48231 Warendorf Germany If you are sending a package (not suggesting you have to...) Let me know so I can expect it, otherwise I may not get it.

Hatred of the German Weather Gods

Today I decided to do a little more adventuring, but when I woke of up of course it was raining. I looked up the weather and it said only in the morning. So around 1 the sun came out, seemed like it'd be a nice day. So off I went...

Here are a few pictures and things...

This first one is my school. Mariengymnasium. Took me about 17ish minutes to walk there with my blister limp, so should be about 15 min. on average.

These two are of the horse riding school, as many of you know I happen to live at the mecca for German horse riders.

We have a lake! Emssee... ( I think) There's parks all around it, and it was actually quite pretty. Lots of birds too. (Not so pretty)

Another picture of "downtown" Warendorf. Whole place is a lot older than I thought. Quite the happening town in the 14-1500s

Now as I mentioned about my town has a thing about horses...so about every store/restaurant has this large plastic horse outside that they paint to match their store. Here are probably my favorites.

1.Lochness horse (in the middle of the lake)

2. Um no clue what the store is, but it's on the side of the building

3. Denture horse (on top of a dentist's office)

And what town wouldn't be complete with a Mister Ed's pub. (Irish pub, I do believe).

Those pictures might be all out of order...so anyway, here I am enjoying myself and being outside rather than in my apartment, and Germany decided I didn't deserve that. So it started pouring. I mean pouring.

Naturally I was about a half hour or so from home. So I started the trek back *Disclaimer absolutely nothing is open on Sunday.* After I finally get back to my apartment, water literally dripping from me and upstairs to change. I go back to the window and guess what. It's sunny with blue skies ahead.

Who knows, but at least I was outside for a whole 2 hours today. It's supposed to rain for the bulk of the week and hover around 60 degrees. So that's not fantastic, but I am making plans for a weekend trip to Bochum on Saturday.

Bis bald,

Sara

Und jetzt--was mach' ich?

So it's been about a week now since I've gotten here. Nothing too exciting, nothing not too exciting so far.

Last week on Monday morning I traveled to Koeln to meet other German Fulbright ETAs for orientation. Right off the bat everyone was really interesting and it was nice to be so social for the first time in a few days. We waited around until the buses came to take us to Haus Altenberg for orientation, which is a cathedral attached to an old monastary. The days were long and full of a lot of information (visas, trains, insurace, responsibilities, etc.), but outside of all that it was pretty fun.

It was beautiful there...only regret is I may or may not have opened the automatic side door to the cathedral during a wedding (oops.) Whatever, I'm getting used to being a dumb Tourist again.

I got to know a good group of girls who are in Nordrhein-Westfalen with me, and we're thinking of things to do to keep ourselves sane and occupied because get this...we only work 12 hours a week. Yep...12 hours a week, and we aren't supposed to work more. Fulbright wants us to have time to take other classes, travel, or other things while we're here. I don't think I've ever had so much free time in my life, and the other girls and I brainstormed new hobbies for ourselves.

I think hopefully this week, I'll start a course at the Volkshochschule (community college) maybe in another language...so italian, spanish, or french. Steffi my roommate takes dance classes and Muenster and has invited me along to see if it's something I would be interested in. Those are a little more expensive though. I'm also planning on taking up knitting, just need to travel down to Bolchum so Emily can show me what it is I need to get started.

Yesterday I took care of a lot of paperwork/formalities...opened a bank account, filed for my visa, and registered myself as a citizen of Warendorf (something Germans do everytime they move).

Today I didn't feel too well when I woke up, so I've been laying low and figuring out some logistics of things. Steffi is going out of town tonight for a party, so I'll be holding down the fort. All in all I think I'll take today easy and tomorrow go out and investigate the rest of my town.

I start work Monday at 8:30...so hopefully that goes well.

Otherwise nothing new, but if anyone has new hobby ideas for me, lemme know.

Bis bald,

Sara

Well...I made it!

So crazy excitement...I'm in Germany, and this will be the first time the "temporary" isn't so "temporary." I arrived in Frankfurt about 11am yesterday, and then had an epic journey to Muenster. Generally, all went well except when I wanted to take catnaps I couldn't because I was scared to miss the train or because the cabin of German servicemen I was sitting in got a little rowdy, but overall, it went very smoothly.

Steffi picked me up from the Muenster trainstation after we searched and stared awkwardly at each other for 20 minutes before realizing who the other was. She showed me around the apartment (which is beautiful...and so clean...it's like a real place), and then we went to the grocery store. I couldn't really eat because it felt like 4 am, but I forced something down and we chatted for awhile then I was off to bed around 9. (See above for apartment pictures).

And at 2am I woke up. Fortunately it's only 8 at home so I had a chance to talk to some of my loves back home before I could make myself fall back asleep (Thanks again to Tim for giving me that website to watch American TV).

Today it rained...all day. I slept in ridiculously late, or so I thought (11), but Steffi slept until about 1, so I didn't feel so bad. Ate, hung around, took a nap, then decided to go out adventuring for a bit.

Here's the toy store, you can't really see it but there are GIANT playmobil people on top. I do love me some playmobil.

These are the doors to St. Laurentis (I think that's how you spell it) Church. Can't really get a good picture of the whole thing on a phone, but it's one of three medival churches downtown.

And here is the "famous" Brauhaus in the city center. Can't say much about it because I haven't been there yet.

That's it for now, On Monday I travel down to Koeln for my orientation until Thursday. And I start working the 14th!

Bis bald,

Sara