The Biggest Karneval Post Ever!!!.....Of All Time!!!

So my dear friends, family, and accquaintances; many of you were promised a special Karneval edition blog post, and the rest of you weren't promised anything....so deal with it. In any event, this is a blog logging the amazing time that I had during Karneval! Karneval started last thursday, and ended on tuesday.

For those of you who didn't pay attention in your social studies classes, Karneval (Carnival in english of course) is celebrated in many different countries as a precursor to lent and a time of fasting. Basically the idea is, lets have a weeklong party before lent and be really bad just to get it out of our systems. Sounds like a fun time right? Karneval is notably celebrated in Brazil, Venice, New Orleans, and of course Cologne and the Rheinland area of Germany!

Enough background, lets move along to the tasty center of this blog.

THURSDAY
Well, this is where the Madness all began on "Weiberfastnacht"..Which basically translates into Women's Karneval night, but the guys celebrate as well!
Since Karneval is such a big deal here in Cologne, we get school off from friday untill tuesday, with a big Karneval party being held on Thursday.

Of Course I was up nice and early putting on my "Roman" costume, since everyone is dressed up like halloween!!



After our school party, I hopped on a train with a bunch of friends and headed downtown. Cologne during Karneval is an insane experience; you are surrounded by crazy drunk people, loud music, and cops in full riot gear! Yet everyone seems to have a good time! We all went to a square in the middle of the bustling oldtown area to celebrate!
Of Course, I left my jacket on the whole time...this warm Arizona blood is not used to temperatures under 40 degrees!









After the madness there was over, we met up in a huge party tent for the evening karneval celebrations...For the record, I'm not really sure where the hat came from, but it was there!



At that point, it was like 1 a.m., and we had been celebrating since 7 a.m., I was pretty pooped out to say the least. I think I slept until 2 or 3 the next day!

During all of this, the kids were off doing their dreigestirn duties all over the City!

FRIDAY
Well I'd love to tell you all how exciting friday was, but the problem is I slept through about half of it...oops
However I did go to a nice little celebration with our youth group from the local church.


SATURDAY
Another big day! Hylary, a friend of mine from language camp arrived to spend a few days in Cologne, and to celebrate Karneval with us! Right after football practice (yes I play football now that the rugby season is over, more to come later!) I grabbed her from the train station, and we were off to another party tent!! For lots of singing and celebrating of Karneval!
AND! there was a small costume change at this point! I ended up throwing on a swimsuit and a beach hat and going as the "Arizona Man" since thats something costume worthy across the atlantic!








SUNDAY

Sunday was a great day! First we were off in a different villiage watchig a parade. Then came a huge Costume ball in our villiage, and for the first time during Karneval, I got to spend time with my little german brothers!
They were in full Dreigestirn regalia, but we had a fun time mixing things up!








The two little girls you see all dressed up are always the the Dreigestirn, the are called paginnen and are like litte cheerleaders (ok a little bit of a stretch there) for the three boys











MONDAY
Monday was the big fun day in our little villiage where we had our Karneval parade!












TUESDAY
All good things must come to an end, even Karneval. Hylary left early tuesday morning, and I spend the day in Pulheim (where I go to school) watching the parade, and celebrating a great week!








And thats all folks!!
I hope you enjoyed it! I know I had a great time (although I've still got a splitting headache), and it was a once in a ifetime experience!

I'll leave y'all with two pics.
1. The Best beer ever poured
2. our little prince is a little tired!





Till next time!!

Karaoke Spam and a Seminar

Soooo guten Morgen to everyone!

This week was probably one of the high points so far here in Germany! I had three awesome experiences; a karaoke night with friends, a trip to Monty Python's Spam-a-lot the Musical and I attended our halfway point seminar for our exchange program.

During the weekend I met up with a friend of mine from our exchange program, Martina; and we went with a bunch of our german friends to a karaoke party in the City. I'll just let the pictures do the "singing", because I definitely cant!

Next comes a little Spam...I'm sure most of you have heard of the Monty Python Musical on Broadway and in London (and if not, then figure it out!), it is now playing in Cologne; completely translated into German! I got the tickets for christmas, as did a friend of mine, so the two of us went together.



The bottom line is, the musical is amazing! It was really well done, and super entertaining. Comedy, good music, and dancing were all combined to produce a great show. Anyways, now that my little advert for Spamalot is over, lets get on to the seminar!



We all got in Thursday night, many of the kids had been on trains since early in the morning, but luckily I was just 20 minutes away. This was the same group of kids from language camp waaaay back in august, so it was great to see everyone again. We all just chilled the first night, sitting around sharing stories about our lives in Germany.

On Friday morning we all hopped on a southbound train towards the city of Bonn, where we would be spending the day in museums and around town. The first stop was of course in a cafe, to get some much needed caffeine (most of us were still waking up).



Once we all had our doses of caffeine, we headed out to our first stop of the day, the Bonn Museum of Modern Art.



Being a modern art museum, some of the exibits were a little weird....


But some were pretty interesting...





After the excitment of staring at pictures was over, it was time to head over to the German History museum...But on the way we spotted an old friend of ours in the subway, Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of Germany...talk about one happy fellow


The History museum was very interesting, it covered the time between the end of WWII and Today, with a huge emphasis on the East/West Germany conflicts. Unfortunately photos weren't allowed... but here's one of us in the lobby



The next day we walked from our Youth Hostel to the city center of Cologne, and had a nice time shopping and exploring





Afterwards, we went to the Zoo! The poor little praire dogs were cold. So they stuck them under a heat lamp, just like french fries at McDonalds!







Afterwards we went to a movie in town, and had a little party in the Hostel! It was a really nice day.

But of course, all good things must come to an end, so on the last day we packed up our stuff and travelled back to our families. Of course, a bunch of us did spend the morning in Cologne, relaxing right next to the Rhine.







And to top off the madness, I found out this weekend that I will be giving a speech in front of the German Parliament in May, representing our exchange program. We voted during the seminar, and my peers elected a student named Sal, as well as me. I feel really honored to have the opportunity to speak in front of a National Government as a representative of the USA!

Adios!

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!!!....and a little bit of karneval!

Alaaf zesamme!

Or so we say here in Cologne during the Karneval season! For those of you that arent familiar with Karneval (Carnival in english), it is the time leading up to lent and Easter. It is taken pretty seriously here in Germany, Cologne especially. It begins officially on 11.11 (11 being a "special" number for Karneval, for whatever reason), but the main celebrations take place during the week before ash wednesday...So cultural lessons aside, Karneval is a big deal here. There is actually a significance to that little lecture...but that will come little later. So read on and stay tuned!!

SNOW!
Something we never see in Arizona...something I never expected to see in Cologne! Everyone I know here always said that it never snows here, and WHEN it does it is only a little bit. So imagine my suprise when I woke up to see...

And here is after a little shovelin!


and some more from our winter wonderland...


And here is Hubert the host dad sliding across a frozen lake....funny story about that, we were all strolling about on this frozen lake in Cologne when we heard a loud"CRACKKK"...luckily it was only a shift in weight. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me, and I was off that lake quicker than you could say Donaudampshiffarhtsgesellschaftskapitänsmützenband. And yes that actually is a word in German, believe me.

So a huge coldfront moved in and basically took Cologne hostage. Out temperatures are nearing 5 degrees fahrenheit, its nuts. This Arizona boy is having a rough time!

Anyways back to karneval, the triplets are what we call a Dreigestirn. Direct translation is "trifolium", it is a colonian Karneval tradition. It involves three men (or boys in the triplet's case ) ornately dressing up as a prince, a young girl, and a farmer. This group represents the village throughout the karneval season. It is a big deal where over 10000 euros can be spent. Anyways, we had our first set of "gigs" the other day, which basically entails travelling to other villiages' karneval parties and making appearances and such. It is tough to explain the significance of what the Dreigestirn is, one really has to experience it. Anyways, it is basically a big party, where fun is had by all. Singing, dancing, and drinking are extremely important! So here are a few pics from the festivities. Im in one or two pics as well, because I get all dressed up and help out! Enjoy









One of the cool things about Cologne is the Kölsche dialect. Basically a different form of German that is only used in Cologne. Normally people speal "high german" in everyday life, but during karneval or anything traditionally colonian, the people revert to the beloved Kölsche Sproch! here is a little example first in englisch, then german, then kölsch. Its also the motto for the triplets in their Dreigestirn!

E: Three times from the heart, from three funny kids

D: Dreimal von dem Herz, drei verrückte Kinder

K: Dreimul vun Hätze, Drei jecke Fetze



So as you all can see, its a pretty interesting situation here during Karneval, and I must say, its a blast! Thats All Ive got for today

And here is a photo that doesnt even need a translation!
Delicious!



Tschüß Zesamme!!

Ooops, took me long enough

Well, it seems as if it has been a month or so since my last blog post....oops. I guess I've just so caught up in all of the excitement here in Germany that I forgot to keep the blog updated, my bad!

So where should I begin? Certainly a lot has happened in the past month, so Ill just try to hit the main points. So here goes!

It seems as if I was in Austria for a week? Yea, kind of a big thing I suppose. Anyways, my host family and I headed down sometime in October, during the school's fall break. All I can say is, the Alps are beautiful and quite a wonder to behold. I ended up renting a mountainbike, and riding every day. If you want to see exactly where we were, google Vandans, Austria and check out the map. But I think I'll just let the pictures tell the story.


And there's plenty of other stuff going on too! I had a great time on halloween, met with a bunch of friends and went to halloween parties and such. Ive been quite busy with school, trying to bridge the langauge gap as fast as possible. Chemistry in German is definitely a swift kick in the rear end. However, my German has become exponentially better! My host dad thinks I'm almost fluent. Thats always a good thing!

I've made so many new friends here, and it seems like there is no shortage of things to do! Every weekend I'm training with my cycling team, or playing rugby, or just hangin out with friends! Instead of writing 8 pages of narrative, I think that it's best to let the pictures do the talking, and in the future I'll break things up into smaller pieces, and not wait a month in between. So enjoy the show!!



































So its pretty obvious by now that Im doing a LOT of stuff here, I'm truly having a great time and cherishing every moment I have here. Naturally, all of this action has left me a bit worn out, so I'll leave y'all with a little evidence of that! Stay tuned for the next entry! Hopefully it wont last as long.

finally, a new post.

Well, sorry everyone, seems as if I forgot to post anything for about a month. There is so muh going on here, Its easy to lose track of things. So this could very well be a blog post of epic proportions, since I've been slacking off for nearly a month.

So where to begin? There's so much...and unfortunately i dont have nearly as many pics as before.

Well I'll start out with my host family here, since everything basically revolves around them. My father's name is Hubert, he is an engineer in a power plant. Usually he is very active, but unfortunately he contracted a leg infection and had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks. Luckily he is ok now, and next week we are all going to Austria to go hiking and cycling. My host mom is Gerlinda, she definitely gets it done, so to speak. Somehow she managed to juggle 10 year old triplets, a sick husband, and an exchange student; meanwhile keeping the entire house in ship-shape. So hats off to her for all of that. Then of course there are the triplets, I think chaos is probably the first thing that comes to mind when describing them. As previously stated, they are absoloutely nothing alike; and like all brothers, they are always arguing or fighting or just not getting along! All three are completely soccer crazed; they all play together on a team, and naturally take it very seriously.

And then there's Pulheim, or is it geyen or Sinthern? or wait brauweiler? no no, it must be Sinnersdorf. Well in reality, I live in Sinthen, a small villiage outside of Pulheim (pause for google maps)....ok and we're back. If you looked at the map, you probably saw the veritable plethora of small villiages outside of the main city, Pulheim. Its always confusing to get around, with all of these little villiages and insane streets. Im lucky to make it home every night! Its definitely very pretty here, we are located right smack dab in the Rhine River valley. The rhine is kinda like the mississipi here in Germany, it is a huge artery for shipping and fabrication. Consequently, the are where I live is the most populated in all of germany.

Speaking of population, haw about Cologne? Im sure most of you know of that city in Germany. It takes about 15 minutes with the German mass transit system (i.e. train) to reach the city center. So far I have been about 4 times, twice with friends from school, once with my family, and I also met with a couple students from the exchange program. The coolest thing in the city is definitely the cathederal. When the entire city was razed by allied bombs during WWII, the cathederal was the only building not damaged.






When I was in Cologne with my school friends (second pic), we ended up climbing all 509 steps to the top of the cathederal. it was a pain in the rear, but the view was amazing.





And then some pictures with my fellow exchange students!



And what trip to Germany would be complete without a little bike racing?



There was a criterium in Cologne yesterday, I raced with my friend Dennis from the cycling team here in Pulheim. Unfortunately I flatted on the 3rd lap and couldnt get back in. but I had a good time regardless!




Right now Im on a two week school break, and next week we are going to Austria!

And there's one more thing! I was on a soccer team for a few weeks, but turns out Im no Ronaldino (good soccer player for all you americans :) ). But we had a rugby coach come to our school during sport class, and we played a game of rugby. Apparently I'm good at Rugby? I dont know, didnt see that one coming. But anyways, Im playing rugby in a city about 10k away. Twice a week we practice, and my first game is on the 17th October!

for anyone interested:

Cycling team- www.radteampulheim.de

Rugby Club- www.huerth-rugby.de

Arrival!

Hey Everyone!
It’s been quite a long time since my last blog entry, but that was because of the hectic move from Hedersleben to Host Family! It’s been quite the past few days, lots of stuff has happened!

So let’s get going,


Since our time at Language Camp was winding down, naturally we had to do a lot of cleaning in order to leave the place as we had found it. Pictured are Nathan and our teacher Rene. We spend nearly 2 days cleaning the Kloster, but we also managed to get a little exploring in!



No it’s not a dungeon (as far as we know), but rather the underground portion of the Convent. During one of our breaks, a few of us went underground to explore the nether regions of our home. It was really interesting to see the stone structure underground, especially after we found out that it was built in 1000 a.d.




Although a few of us were a little frightened….



I guess many of you are used to seeing me in spandex, since I ride bikes. But it’s not often I get all spandexed out to……DANCE! That’s right! We had a dance party last Thursday night, Kloster style!



It was a blast, we got a few of our ipods together, made a bumpin’ playlist, and then had a big party for about three hours. It was a good time, although a little embarrassing looking back on the pictures.


Show some love for the DJ’s….




We also had a final talent show! This time I didn’t do any drumming, because it was too quiet last time on my practice pad. But! I did do a German pop song karaoke thing with a few friends!


There was lots of singing, naturally, and also a few skits too! Many people from the village came to see what all of the hubbub was about.



….But then, after all the fun and games, we finally had to go our separate ways. It was definitely a fun month; I learned a lot of things about the language and culture in Germany. Plus, I made many new friends that I can talk to all over Germany (and perhaps visit) this year. My ability to speak German increased exponentially, mostly thanks to my awesome teacher, Rene. I think the language camp set all of us up for a great year in Germany, even though it may have been a little boring at times. Nevertheless, we were all ready to leave. Which brings us to just that, the departure! Naturally there were lots of hugs and goodbyes and all of that nonsense. Especially for me, because I was travelling by car with another student’s family; not on the train like most of the others. So the 8 of us who were going by car (different places, granted, not all at once) said our auf Wiedersehen’s at the Kloster.









After all of that, I was finally on my way to my host family. The drive across Germany took about 5 hours, but it went by fast (probably because I was crashed out in the back of the car). Once I got to Flurweg 2, which just so happens to be my address, we realized a funny thing. My family wasn’t home! After a little talking with the neighbors, I found out my host mother, Gerlinda, was with the three triplet boys at a soccer match. Yes that’s right, ten year old triplets, quite a handful. It also turned out that my host father, Hubert, was in the hospital. He had gotten an infection in his left leg, it was serious enough that he had to be hospitalized. Luckily he should be coming home tomorrow.




Once we got everything figured out, all was well! Things have been flowing pretty smoothly here over the past few days. I had my first day of school on Monday, and although it is all in German, I can understand a lot of what’s going on. I am shadowing another student for the next week, so that I can get the lay of the land and figure out what classes I want to take, and all has been going well so far!

Outside of school I have been quite busy as well. On Monday, I practiced with the u19 football team from Pulheim, it was pretty intense. The Germans can play some good soccer. Yesterday I rode with some juniors from the local cycling team, covering about 70 km, it was great to finally ride with other people for once! And finally, tonight I have another football practice! So as you can all see, I am pretty busy here; but I am definitely enjoying myself!


More to come a little later on the Family, the Town, and other shenanigans!


Tschuß

Mark

Kindergarten!!

Well, here I am again, with more stuff from Deutschland!



A few days ago, we got the chance to go see a German "Grundschule," or Elementary school as we know them in American. It was pretty cool going to a school full of younger kids in a foreign country. It was cool to see how German 3rd graders act basically the same as American 3rd graders (minus the whole speaking German thing). The Teachers at the school were kind enough to let 4 of us sit in on one of the third grade classes. We got to talk with the kids, and help them do a little art project. It was pretty cool. They all wanted to know all about America and the cowboys in Texas. The stereotypes were pretty comical.

There were also a pair of stones in front of the school that the faculty wanted us to paint



Everyone put something on the stone, by the end they looked really cool! Now the 2008 CBYX students will leave their mark on Hedersleben forever!

Two days ago we went to the German city of Halberstadt, about 15 miles away from Hedersleben. We took a train to the central train station there, which was definitely cool. Once we were in the city we went to a really big (and old) church!




Of course, the idea of an old church in europe may seem a bit cliche, but it was pretty interesting. The cathederal was called der Schatzdom. It is the oldest and largest church in eastern Germany, and it has the largest collection of ancient relics in all of Germany. Unfortunately I couldnt take any pictures inside, because photography is not allowed so the historical items can be preserved. There was a whole room full of golden religious items. As well as a huge collection of ancient Robes, dating back to 800 ad. As well as some 600 year old tapestries.

After the church, we spent the rest of the day in the city shopping and eating!




Now this may seem little odd. but we were all really tired after spending the whole day in Halberstadt...We kinda crashed after doing yoga in the hallway.





There was also an Amateur soccer game in Hedersleben yesterday. It was the Hedersleben u19 team versus the team from a town called Germania. It was for the Harzmeisterschaft, which is the championship series for the Harz region, which is were Hedersleben is located.


So on saturday I finally get to go to my host family in cologne! Im really excited for that,
So stay tuned!