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!

Kindergarten!!

Lots of Stuff in little Hedersleben

Well, its only been a few days since my last post, but its been quite busy!

Last Friday 15 of us got to visit the local Freuwilige Feuerwehr (Volunteer Fire Department). The firemen there are all local townspeople, who volunteer one or two days a week as volunteer firemen. They used their three vehicles to drive the 15 of us to two neighboring towns, and to see the departments there as well.



Once we returned to the local firehouse, we had the opportunity to try on the uniforms and helmets. I even got to use the Jaws of Life! It was intense


Then after a few group pictures, we went inside to share some bratwurst and coke with the firemen. It was a very cool experience

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Now, the next day (Saturday), our teacher Rene took our class (10 Students) on a day trip to the neighboring town of Quedlinburg.





A little suprising right? Well it turns out there was a planned pro-nazi rally in the city that day. Luckily we saw no Nazis, and there were no problems. But it was a little freaky hearing about the rally. The sign pictured above states “Life is beatiful without Nazis.” This is the general consensus, among most Germans. It is only a few disturbed persons that wish to perpetuate Nazism. Regardless, the police were out in full force, it made one feel quite safe seeing the overwhelming police presence!




Anyways, once the fascism shenanigans were behind us, we proceeded to the top of a big hill in the center of the city, to the Schloßberg, literally-hill castle. it was really cool, there was a view overlooking the whole city and lots of traditional medieval buildings. The first picture below is of two classmates, Jay and Nathan. The second is of my friend Hylary
and I.







THEN! On sunday, we took a long hike down a nice trail to the next town over, Ditfurt. It was probably about a 6 or 7 mile round trip. It was a beautiful day! When we reached Ditfurt, the teachers had arranged afternoon coffee for everyone! Thats one of the nice little perks of Germany, every day around 3 or 4 everyone stops what they are doing and has coffee and pastries. Not bad right?




Now, that sunday night, we had a small incident back at the Convent. Two drunken men entered the building and were causing trouble. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the two men were taken by the police. But it was quite an interesting event!




And finally! Today (monday) our Teacher Rene decided to be awesome once more. He arranged for us to be driven to a lake called Concordia about 8 miles a way.





At the lake, we had an Unterricht (lecture) and got to walk around and explore a little bit. We talked only in Germany, and practiced vocabulary pertaining to the outdoors. Lots of fun, and lots learned.

After the lecture at the lake, we hiked into the forest, to a huge playground! It was enormous, and all of the playthings were made with things from the forest. It was a very fun day



Well, thats all I have today for y'all! Hope you enjoyed the monstrous post! Tune in next time!

Tschüß!

Beautiful riding, a talent show, and some Fussball!

First off, here are some pictures of the beatiful countryside I have been seeing on my daily cycling training rides!







The weather is perfect for riding, its in the 60's in the mornings and the sun shines all day!

We had a talent shoow two nights ago, naturally I did some drumming. All I had was a practice pad stacked on two chairs, but it was still very cool and fun. There were a bunch of other really cool acts; like some rapping, some acrobatics, and some other cool stuff!





And last night, we had an indoor football (soccer for the americans :)) tournament in the Hedersleben sporthalle. Basically an indoor basketball, handball, and soccer court. It was a blast! We had 3 american teams, and there were 3 german teams. The americans fielded two boys teams, and an all girls team; while the germans had a team of firemen, kids, and local teenagers. Pretty intense playing! My team got 3rd, and the german teenagers won the tourney! Much fun was had by all! Pictured is me playing goalie, during our final game, lots o fun.




Basically, everything here is amazing. I'm missing people at home a little bit, but Im having a lot of fun here. My german is coming super fast, I can understand all of the spoken german, and my writing and speaking are coming along fast.

Well thats all Ive got for today, hope to hear from everyone soon!

auf Wiedersehen!

Mark

Waschtag!

Ok, it may look like a meth lab, but in reality it was just laundry day! Quite the hassle really, 45 kids and one tiny Euro sized washing machine! Luckily we had a schedule, and we all had different times to go during the week. Since Im an [A] name, I got to go today...

This may not be too intereting, but for me it was pretty sweet, seeing as my clothes reaked of something nasty!



Well, thats about all that really went down today, besides a nice walk around the countryside!


bis dann!