After a long day in Amsterdam on Friday, Saturday wasn't as busy which was nice. I felt like I was on the go non stop since I had arrived. Although this is certainly not a bad thing! Saturday morning my host family woke me up around 10:00 am. Yes you read that right, I slept in! It was much needed and wunderbar (wonderful)! I then walked downstairs to the kitchen. As I walked in I was greeted with "Guten Morgen" (good morning). Usually my host family speaks in German and then translates it into English for me. I am beginning to catch on to words and phrases much better but I still struggle to understand everything! I am so anxious to be able to talk as fast and have a full conversation with them! Unfortunately, learning a new language to its full extent takes quite sometime, as you would imagine! Anywho, I notice after a few minutes everything they were saying was in German. Finally I caught on that we would not be speaking English this morning...at all! With questions and conversations flowing I tried my best to comprehend everything! Viola would point to things and do motions to help me understand the words and phrases. This was very helpful! I loved this! I truly believe you can never learn a new language unless you listen to it consistently and then practice speaking it! It reminds me of one of the seven habits with The Leader in Me. Habit number five: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. You certainly have to listen before you can speak this language! I had wonderful German teachers in middle school and high school however, I have learned more in six days than I did in four years! I don't know what it is, maybe the "hocks and spits" as some may say, but I love this language! This whole experience makes me want to go back to school and major in German! Don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't be doing that anytime soon!! :)
After breakfast, Viola and I went to the grocery store or as they call it here the "market". Doesn't "market" just sound so much nicer than "grocery"? We went to Aldi, which we also have in Kentucky! Although I have never been in the store I have passed it a million times going up and down Campbell Ln. in Bowling Green! The store was very nice! One thing (of a million) I love about Germany is how eco-friendly they are. I will be the FIRST to claim I am not eco-friendly! Do I recycle? Nein (no). When I get back to Kentucky, I will be "going green"! Here in OstBevern if you save your bottles (like water bottles) and take the to the store you can get money back. There is a machine in the market that you put your bottles in, then it calculates the amount in euros, and prints a receipt that you give to the cashier when you check out. You would be surprised at how much money you can get, just from saving the earth! Does anyone back home know if you can do this at our stores? If so, where have I been? *Note to my sister Maggie: If we have a machine start saving the bottles, sister! We will be rich :) Viola and I bought all sorts of things at the market! After Aldi, we went to Penny Market to pick up a few other things. We also went to the bakery next door. If I wasn't hungry before, now I was! You walk into a bakery here and want to crawl inside one of the warmers! It smells like heaven, if heaven has a smell! :) So much lecker (yummy) food everywhere we went! It's only right to go to the market, come home, and cook! After all, who isn't hungry after shopping for food?
The great thing about getting home from the market was when Viola called for her sons to come unload the groceries. She said to me, "The boys will take care of this part". If only my poor mother had this much help! Sorry mama! Bless her heart. Now, we cook! What's on the menu you ask? Ah, Pasta asciutta. Viola began cutting up the ingredients and I was the designated stirrer. Hamburger meat, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper,... must I go on? And, we had it with spicy noodles! Oh and of course a salad! DELISH! I'll tell you one thing, I am not starving here in OstBevern!
Later in the evening I starting getting ready for a night with some colleagues from JAS. We were heading to Münster for dinner and to go to some well-known pubs. Hannah and I were in for a good night and that's exactly what was accomplished! We talked about school and how the system works back in Kentucky! It was very interesting to hear how the school works here in OstBevern. Much different from our schools but I learned some great ideas I'm sure to use in my future classroom!
Pictures from the evening in Münster:
On the way home we listened to some familiar tunes that my colleague, Christina, had on a CD. I was loving her music! She has GREAT taste! We all had a ball together! It was so much fun seeing the "night life" in Germany! We are sure to go back and I hope its soon. :)
This concluded my first Saturday in Germany. If this is how my trip begins, I can't wait to see all the adventures in the future!
Till' Next time! :)
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