Endlich wieder mit mienem Deutschen Familie.

I went to Eichstätt this weekend!!!!!! So much fun. Ok but I will start with before that. But that was very exciting. Last week Maike left. Sad day. The new aupair came, her name is Katie, she is from South Carolina, doesn't speak a lick of German, first heard of being an Aupair in July and two weeks later decided to come here, and is great so that is wonderful! We went out to a pub on Wednesday night as a little farewell dinner. The new aupair Katie came and then it was Maike, Tina, and I. We had the Frankfurt specialty - Apple wine! I like normal wine better but it was still good. The other Frankfurt specialty is called green sauce and you put in on potatoes (of course) and it is made of a bunch of herbs and some egg in it as well which kind of is a no go for me but I've tried it before and it was tasty! Tina was supposed to be hear till February but apparently her guest mother was a terror so she left yesterday! So now it is just Katie and I! We met up and wandered the city and had some delicious snickers brownie at my favorite cafe yesterday. We both come from 5 children families but she is the youngest. AND we decided that the children of big kid families are bad at making the small decisions but good at the big ones because she is also as laid back as I am. Trouble. :) Andrea had her trip to London so I had the kids for a night and then on Friday morning I got them a bit decked out in Halloween costumes to wear to school. Let's just say I'm not very good at decorating faces in circus makeup. Well, and they didn't want that much. But they were cute nevertheless!
Last week was my first week of German classes! There are probably a little more than 10 people in my class from all over the world. No one else from the States but instead from: Morocco, Sri Lanka, Japan, Pakistan, Great Britain, Armenia, Russia, Mexico, Korea, India, and a few others. I think it's pretty cool that the only way we can communicate with each other is in German because many don't speak English. But a few do. :) The class is super laid back - we have homework everyday but, at least for me, it isn't very hard at all. And there aren't really grades - it's more just about being at class I think. No test really. There is two tests I could take that are offered every month if I wanted to. One is free and I'm not really sure what it is for but to check your progress maybe?? and the other costs 105 euros and is a certificate which people will then use to get jobs or the equivalent of a green card here. I might do it in March.

Eichstätt!!!! So after school on Friday I came home and got my bag packs and ate a quick lunch while talking to some cute German guy that Phillipp was working with. He studied in Kentucky for three years - who goes to Kentucky?! - and then I walked to the Main train station by way of the PalmenGarten. Love those flowers! The train ride took about 4 hours and I finished my book on the train. It was good! It's the same guy who wrote The Alchemist but this one was about death so kind of depressing but still good. Called Veronika decides to die. I had to switch trains four times which would have been no big deal but since it's five minutes between each train - Ah! - a bit stressful. I made them all though. Only ran once! Got to Eichstätt - Esther, Maria, and Johanna were there to pick me up and I couldn't believe how tall Esther had gotten! She is now 14 and as tall as me and the other girls! This picture is of Johanna, me, Esther, and Olivia.
We picked up some groceries headed back to the house to eat. Benjamin had been sick two weeks with Bronchitis but is now all better. Parents weren't there - on vacation on a small island in northern Germany - but they got back late Saturday night so I saw them Sunday! Anyways it was WONDERFUL to hang out with my german siblings and just chill around the table, eat chocolate, make buttons, and chit chat. Saturday morning Maria and I were the first up so went for a walk in the crisp morning weather. Then after a delicious breakfast with everyone Maria and I went "Knipen" which is when you walk around in this freezing water from the mountains and it's supposed to be really good for your immune system or something. Anyways we biked there and did one loop in the freezing water and then got out, put two pairs of socks on, had a cup or two of tea and then biked back to the house. After lunch Johanna, Esther and I went and picked up Olivia who was Johanna's room mate for a year but has now been dating her cousin for over a year! She is adorable. She's from Spain but also grew up in Frankfurt I believe and then goes to the university with Johanna in Regensburg. So we got her and then came back to the house and made some Coconut cupcakes - yummmmm. Then we decorated them - well Johanna and Olivia did most of the decorating because I had a visitor - Anna Streller!!!!!

She came over with her boyfriend, nice guy :), and it was wonderful to see her again of course just a couple months after she was at my parents house! Then Olivia, Johanna, and I headed out to Johanna's boyfriend's (Alex) house where we would get ready for the Halloween/birthday party of Susi's (my exchange student in high school!) boyfriend. We weren't very creative so we just all through on some black clothes and black makeup and were "the three witches." Sure! lol. Alex is best friends with Susi's boyfriend Stefan and he lived literally two houses down. So we walked to the party with our delicious treats and very creative outfits and I saw Susi for the first time in 5 years! As well as a few other friends from then such as someone I named Mr. Man because his name is Herrman. I didn't remember calling him this but Susi told me that I used to always call him this. And Schneller was there and Gobsi and Nena's (who I lived with for a month 5 years ago) boyfriend Benni!
So Susi and I drank half the bowl of jungle juice with strawberrys in it and had a jolly time. Talked with Susi's sister Julia about the crap health insurance system in the States, Mr. Mann a bit, Susi and I giggled a lot, Nena on the phone because Schneller insisted on calling her, and a cute guy named Lou who is friends with Johanna and goes to school with her. It was a fun night and quite a few people dressed up. I think Alex was the scariest though as the "Nerd of Death."
We slept in Sunday and then after some coffee and a plum cobblerish thing and coffee headed back to the Schödel house to see the Parents!!!!! It was SO EXCITING to see Klaus and Waltraud again. Ah! Loved it. Maria and I got to work on making two pizzas - one vegetarian of course! Then we lunched. I love eating with this family. Everyone together and it is craziness. It's what my family is like when we are all together. Kind of. Haha. After lunch we had a short break before my other favorite time - Dessert!! We ate a Raspberry refrigerator torte that Esther and Hanni had made on Saturday morning, the left over cupcakes, and some yummy big waffle crackers that Waltraud and Klaus had brought back with them from the Island - Amrum I think - and you put whipped cream on top of them and then also some Jam made of this German plum called zwetchgen - same thing I had for breakfast. I find it quite yummy! Then Alex came over and taught us how to play a card game Dominion. I was on Esther's team! Then, sadly, I had to leave in the middle of the game to catch my train. Maria drove me to the train station and we talked about what we should do in life. :) Sad that it was such a short weekend but so grateful to finally be back in Germany and be able to see my German family!!!!!! I missed them so much.

Last night at movie night the people sitting in front of me were speaking American English so I though, what would Whitney do?, and I started talking to them. They are here for a year, the same age as I, and have been here just as long as I. One of them went to school at Lewis and Clark in Portland - crazy, and another studied at the university in Eichstätt last year - Crazy!!! But yes, so exciting. We exchanged numbers and we''ll see what happens!

P.S. It wasn't a horror movie - yipee!! Because that would have just been embarressing to have to get up and leave the theater and not talk more with my new friends because I'm such a lame-o. Instead it was the Ashton Kutcher movie Spread which, let's just stay, is a whole lot more graphic then I imagine it ever being in the States. WOW.