Welcome to May

The end of April in no certain order, here goes.

Rugby:  Last night I went to Rugby practice with Sam because she was too chicken to go alone even though she’s played for seven years which doesn’t seem to fit the stereotype because Rugby players are either scary or they have nice butts, but are never chickens.  Too bad she is.  But not too bad, because I really enjoyed it.  I felt that my background with golf might have hindered me from being a good rugby player, but having an older brother my whole life evened that out I think, so starting, I was just like any other normal person. There were boys and girls at this practice and at one point we played co-ed touch and that was at the same point in which I still did not know how to play rugby so I found this to be extremely difficult.  Luckily most of the people were very nice and there were some other first-timers there and they all helped me figure it out.  Above all else, STAY IN A LINE, they said to me.  Okay, but then what?  Whatever.  I think we made friends.  The best part was when Sam tackled me before we even started playing just so that I could know how it felt in case it happened in real life.  Then I was ready.  We ended by playing girls on girls, a game of 5 vs. 4 and who was on the team with 4? Me. Also there was an obnoxious girl on my team who had obviously been playing rugby for a while and was taking it waaaaaay too seriously, considering most of us were just beginning and it’s not a real club team or anything like that, just people who want to hang out and play rugby.  So she constantly yelled at everyone and then told us she couldn’t do it all on her own and kept saying it’s not that hard and you would have thought it was the Rugby World Championship game, if there is such thing, and that she was the world’s best rugby player.  So that was annoying enough, but then, at the end of practice, we all found out that she was 14.  I should have cussed her out in English because she probably doesn’t know how to speak it very well yet, unlike all of the other university students we were playing with…if only I’d known.

Verena:  She is my speaking partner.  We meet once a week or so and speak English and German together.  She is German, of course.  She’s also the nicest person and I actually haven’t spoken any English with her yet because she has obviously evaluated that her English is better off than my German and so she’s giving me more practice.  See? Isn’t she the nicest?  She was an Au Pair in Washington DC for a year and also just got back from a road trip through the west coast and Route 66.  She is studying to be a teacher right now and the other day we had an interesting discussion about propaganda from the Third Reich that she collects so she can later use it for teaching purposes, things such as newspapers or posters. And otherwise, having these items is illegal in Germany.  It was interesting and I thought she had some good thoughts about WWII, such as, “People always say the others should have stood up and done something, but of course, once it got to a certain point, if you stood up against Hitler, you and your family would have been killed, so I understand why some people did what they did.  What people could have done though, was 10 years before the war actually began, to keep playing with their Jewish friends down the street or keep shopping at the Jewish stores and not completely shut them out of society, because all of those small, daily decisions are what made the Holocaust possible.  It was a slow change of mindset.” Yes, that, I thought, was a good way of putting it. 

Isabel:  This is Sam’s speaking partner, who I just met today.  She is also the nicest and one of the most real people I think I’ve ever met.  She just doesn’t apologize for being herself.  Like the fact that she writes Eminem and Twilight fan fiction stories (coincidently, two of her characters in these stories are named Hayley and Samantha, booyah) and a multitude of other things.  She is also blind and currently writing her Bachelors thesis about eco-location for blind people, which is just about the coolest thing ever.  She can make a clicking noise with her tongue and then judge the space around her based on what she hears back, such as how far away a wall is, etc., just like a bat!  I can’t even imagine.  

My and Niklas and Freiburg:  Two weekends ago, Kevin and I went to visit our friends My and Niklas in Freiburg.  They are the same ones that had been in Heidelberg the weekend before.  We got to stay at their apartment with them and their four roommates, which was really cool, it was like a big family of students who all wanted to become teachers and who dined together.  I liked it a lot.  My took us for some tours of the city and we tried out the local beer and had a lot of fun exploring and speaking German.  We learned the Freiburger myth, that if you are a foreigner, and you step in the Bächlein, which are like foot-wide streams of water going through the streets, then you will have to marry a Freiburger.  I did not step in one, thank god.

Me, Kevin, and My at Feierling Brewery

The Farm: The next weekend, Kevin and I traveled down to Burghausen together and stayed with the Stadler family on the farm.  We arrived late Friday night and Oma picked us up from the train station and gave us big hugs and then took us on a night tour through Burghausen so that we could see the castle all lit up, something I hadn’t even seen before! I realize that I have been using a lot of run-on sentences, but I will not apologize for it because there is simply too much to write about all the time.  Anyway, we sat and had some food with Oma and Opa and I concluded that Kevin had acquired a new favorite woman in his life and it wasn’t me.  But that is okay, I understand.  We woke up the next morning and went to breakfast at Bettina and Georg’s apartment and Kevin finally got to meet everyone and the girls.  There were also two 15 year old girls there, who were interns for three weeks, and one wwoofer from Munich who was our age.  So the farm was full.  Anna and Marlene, the two oldest daughters, were having an open house at school that day and Kevin and I got to go to it.  We first went to Anna’s Latin class presentation, which was a bunch of old Roman food that they had all made and it was the most delicious thing in the world.  8^th graders know how to cook. 

Then we watched Marlene play the trumpet and Anna sing in her choir and just so everyone knows, this is how an auditorium looks at a German school.  They don’t have concerts in school gyms, oh no. 

Anna on the very right!

What was also really funny was that Anna kept introducing me to all of her little friends, and Kevin would be standing right next to me, but she never introduced him, and after a few times of it happening, Kevin finally goes, “She hates me! She hates me!”.  And then every time she did it after that was just ten times more funny than the last.  But we got free lunch from the school cafeteria in the end and that was delicious, so maybe it was still worth it for him.  Afterwards we walked around Burghausen a bit, set foot in Austria, and climbed up to the castle and explored that area for a while.  Bettina came and picked us up and brought us back to the house and we got ready to go milk the cows.  But before we could do that, we enjoyed some tea with the grandparents and then coffee with Bettina and her friend, oh the European lifestyle, time is just a figure of speech.  Milking the cows was wonderful and came back to me easier than riding a bike.  Kevin also got a few good squirts out once he got the hang of it! It was really fun to have him with me while we did all the farm work.  Feeding the pigs, the goats, putting down new hay, petting the calves, letting them suck your finger.  All in a days work.  That night we all had dinner together and then wine and beer and then there was singing and laughter and instrument playing and it was a very enjoyable thing.  The next day we woke up early for milking again and afterwards got to go on a family bike ride through the forest nearby with Georg, Bettina, Sofie, and the dog, Beni.  It was such a beautiful day and it made me think of going for bike rides with my family as a kid.  After we got back, we sat down outside for a short lunch, and then we rushed to the train station to get back to Heidelberg.  All in all, a very enjoyable weekend with amazing food. 

Cute...

My parents initials carved into the window!

Sofie and Kevin petting the newest calf

Kevin makes a friend

Sofie found this thing...

and she liked it so much she wanted to put it in Kevin's basket for the rest of the bike ride

Fish border! 

Classes:  This is currently my third week of classes and so far they are awesome.  One is about teaching a foreign language, which is so interesting and also taught very practically, as in, here are good strategies to correct written or spoken work from your students and here is how you should work through a text book.  The difference between my classes in America and Germany is probably just the fact that the classes here are much more practical, whereas all of my classes in the states seemed to be very meta(insert subject), as if we were learning how to think about subjects, instead of just learning the stupid subjects! So annoying.  My other class is with Herr Dörr and we turn in essays every week to be corrected and hopefully at the end we will be the best of writers, so I like that one, naturally.  Then on Fridays for three hours I take a Swedish class! It’s strange and fascinating to learn a new foreign language through another foreign language.  I like it.  And since my last name is Peterson, I am the best in the class.  And I’m working on making a German friend, the girl that sits next to me in class.  She’s used my eraser approximately 4 times now and also shared one of her papers with me.  It’s happening. Besides that, Sam and I are still doing our internship at the German school and teaching English to 7^th and 8^th graders.  Our 7^th graders are the best.  We are starting to get more comfortable in the classroom and it’s a lot of fun.  We are also teaching 7^th grade boys how to play rugby in PE class and that is the best.  Good thing I just learned how to play rugby myself.  Also someday I will write about the amazing person that is Albrecht Shorck, our mentor teacher for our internship, but he needs a post all of his own and I just don’t have time for it right now. 

The best German students! Reading German books on the train

Franzl Fahrrad: I got a bike! He is great and wonderful and his name is Franzl and I can now go for bike rides as well as bike to my classes and it’s so wonderful.  Sam also got a bike.  We biked alllllll over Heidelberg a few nights ago.  Summer 2013, you’re looking pretty good so far. 

Kevin’s Goodbye Dinner:  We went to Klosterhof on Wednesday night and celebrated Kevin’s birthday and his going awayness.  It was just about the most beautiful day ever. So here are a few pictures.

Klosterfhof....the most beautiful part of Heidelberg

Haircuts:  Kevin and I got them a few weeks ago.

Königstuhl: Sam and Kevin and I hiked up a mountain by way of stairs called "Heaven's Ladder".  Whew.  Worth the view, but someone counted/spray painted the number of steps along the way and it's about 2,000.

Here's the top

Kevin Goes Home:  A terrible thing.  We had a lovely last few weeks, but unfortunately, on Sunday he had to fly home.  We spent our last weekend in Frankfurt together, with his Austrian friend, Philipp.  On Friday evening, after we got into Frankfurt and made our way to Philipp’s apartment, which is harder than it sounds, we made some dinner and then headed out on the town.  Kevin and I were so tired at this point, but we rallied, and thank god we did.  We went to a jazz bar downtown because Philipp’s friend, Martina, works there and apparently on this specific night it was bound to be fun because usually an older crowd shows up, for a reason unknown to me.  So we walk in and everyone is in their 30s or 40s, except a few people.  The first great thing that happened, was that about 30 minutes after being there, I hear a song come on that I recognize, but I’m not sure why I recognize it, and then I realize, it’s a song from High School Musical.  Playing at a German bar.  I don’t know who should be more embarrassed, me for knowing it, or Germany for playing it. At a bar. Or maybe the people that were dancing to it unaware.  I don’t know, but it made my night.  Another one of Philipp’s friends came and hung out with us too.  She is a break dancer and currently lives in Spain and I appreciated her being there because she would speak German with me and also danced with my boyfriend while a 35+ French guy swept me onto the dance floor and tried to teach me things about rhythm and also love.  What an experience.  We ended up staying out till 3 am and once Martina got off work, we went back to Philipp’s apartment and stayed up talking and laughing till 5.  I took a really embarrassing video of Kevin once the clock hit 5:08, but I will not upload it because I think everyone should have the chance to keep their jobs.  No, it’s not that bad, but it’s hilarious and provided most of our entertainment for the next day.  We spent half of Saturday in bed and the other half walking around Frankfurt.  The next morning was a sad one.  We took Kevin to the airport nice and early, had time to sit and enjoy a coffee together, and then walked him to security and said our goodbyes.  The month went by way too fast, probably on account of all of the fun we were having, but now it’s back to regular life for us, for a few months more anyway.  Luckily, Philipp hung out with me until I had to catch my bus back to Heidelberg, so I had a distraction for the first few hours.  I did definitely come back to Heidelberg and lay in my bed for a few hours though.  And then Sam and I went for that bike ride.  But it was still a sad day.

Frankfurt Opera House

Philipp, Kevin, ME

Saying goodbye at the airport

3 Months Left:  It’s strange to think I’ve been here for almost 4 months already and 3 months seems like hardly anything at all looking forward.  What’s most stressful is wondering what I’m going to do with my life once the three months are up, but I’m sure things will just fall into place, or something.  I’m excited to see what Heidelberg has in store for me. 

Graduation:  Hey, I graduated two Saturdays ago! It's a little anti-climatic knowing that I still have 3 months of school left in reality, but still, I think it's pretty cool.  Here's to four years of not being able to make up my mind, eh!? I should add that Kevin also graduated from his Masters Program! Except he missed the graduation as well. And still has one term left.  So we're pretty much twins. But we celebrated together, don't worry. 

Celebration beer/radler!

Plants: Also, I have plants.  One is named Basil, another Rosemary, the other tomatoes, and also yellow flowers guy.  I water them and positive talk them every day and they are wonderful and tasty. This is how they look.

And on account of how many times I've used the words wonderful, amazing, or great in this blog post, it's safe to say Heidelberg is treating me right.