Die Praktikantin

Found out her name is actually spelled Aimeé, sorry Em.

Notable Thoughts:  Horse poop looks like giant coffee beans. Horse pee looks like toxic slime. Haribo Gummy Bears are better when they’re frozen.

We have a Praktikantin (intern)!  Her name is Lisa and she is 14 years old and thank god she was here for the past week.  She made my job so much easier.  She wants to be a veterinarian, or a musician, or a therapist—she’s not sure yet.  I told her she better figure it out soon.  It’s not like she has a whole lot of time left to decide.  She is doing a two week long internship with Melanie for school.  For this period of two weeks, all of the students in her class are working full-time in classrooms, hospitals, stores, and wherever else they are interested in working when they do finally figure out what they should do with their lives. I think so far she is enjoying it here, but let’s be honest, it’s more shoveling poop than it is learning about animals.

Lisa looks like a white Asian person. She is tiny with dark brown hair and when she speaks English with me, she has more of a Japanese accent than German. We go back and forth between German and English throughout the day so we can both practice. 

Märchenfee

Guevarra

Lancaster

Lisa, Märchenfee, Sky

Märchenfee, Lancaster, Ramina

On Thursday, the three of us quickly finished all of the work because Melanie had a meeting in Köln that afternoon.  It’s about 50 km away from Kescheid.  The two of them planned to drop me off in the city so I could explore for a few hours while they went to the meeting just outside the city. When we got there, we all had lunch together at a Thai place in the train station. We’d been in the city for maybe a total of 5 minutes, walked maybe a total of 200 meters, and were standing in line to order when Lisa leaned over to me and said, “I hate big towns.”  I said, “Yeah, I like them every once in a while, but I’m from a small town too, so I get it.” She said, “Really? (As if all Americans come from LA or NYC) How many people are in your town?” I said, “Oh I think only 12,000 or so.” She said, “In my town there are 87.”  Touché, Lisa. Melanie also said she didn’t like when she had to come into the city, which is apparent, because she spends almost every day on her farm and hasn’t had a vacation in over 20 years. It is safe to say that I have been going a little stir crazy here, but I did have my adventure in Köln, and that has helped.  Plus I went grocery shopping again today, score!

So I parted ways with the party poopers and went off to explore. As you walk out of the train station, you are standing smack dab in front of the Köln Dom.  It was pretty magnificent, and I don’t think I’ve ever used the word magnificent before. I took a few pictures, but none of them can really do it justice, partly because I couldn’t fit the whole building in one frame.  I also forgot to go inside because I was too busy trying to figure out how to get to the Schokolade Museum. 

Köln Dom

The short part....

Whats up Tom Builder!

 The Chocolate Museum.  History of Chocolate.  Chocolate Production.  Cacao Beans. Everything in the world you could want to know about chocolate.  Some of my favorite facts (a.k.a the only ones I remember): 75% of the people that harvest the cacao beans (who all live in Central/South America and Africa) have never even tasted chocolate before. I thought, that really, really sucks. The average amount of chocolate consumed by each American for the year of 2012 is about 6 kg. Germans? 9.8 kg.  Swiss? Over 10 kg! I was inspired.

They had a whole floor that was like a miniature sized chocolate factory, so you could see all the different steps in the process of making chocolate.  There is a staff member who stands next to a huge chocolate fountain all day and hands out little wafers dipped in chocolate.  Even going into the gift shop (which is usually dumb) was cool.  They had crazy designer chocolate bars with all sorts of toppings and flavoring.  Oh, and half of the second floor was a place where you could design your own chocolate bar.  You could pick what you wanted in it and then watch them make it through the glass windows, it was pretty cool.  I’m sure it was also expensive, so I got the heck out.

So yes, half of my time spent in Köln was actually spent in this museum. I make good choices.  I also took these other pictures to make it seem like I have other interests:

The best place to be in a museum, outside

Rhein

Thought this was a cool building...

Ice Cream Buildings

 I walked back along the Rhein River because I had to meet Melanie and Lisa at 5 pm. I had about 40 minutes, so I went into a Media Markt and tried to get a German SIM-card for my phone.  3 euro later I was out the door (later figured out that it doesn’t work, but I think if I go into an actual O2 store, they will make it work).  I made it to the meeting spot, in front of the train station, with 5 minutes to spare.  I bought a Brötchen from the sausage stand nearby and stood in the cold, waiting for the little blue car to pull up.  When 5:30 hit and I was still standing there, I thought, this would be a great time to have a phone that works. Then I was accosted by a group of 14 year olds who wanted 100,000 euro, my Brötchen, and then a hug.  I said no to all of their requests, but respected them for their technique (starting big, so the last request seems small—smart kids) and then when they left, laughing at how funny they were, I thought, well done, Hayley, because I spoke all in German with them and understood everything. 

When 5:45 hit, I started thinking, hmmmm, what should I do if Melanie never shows up? I decided I would try to call first, so I went inside to a payphone.  Of course, when Lisa picks up, she says, we’re here! What a waste of a euro. Turns out their meeting went a little late and then they got lost on the way back into the city because Paul (the GPS) wouldn’t turn on. 

On the way home that evening, Melanie turned on the radio to play some German songs for me.  When they started playing, Lisa turned to me and said, “Not all German music is this bad!”  There was one song that I could actually understand, though at first, I wasn’t sure if I was hearing it correctly:

....Wasser, Wasser, Wasser, überall,

doch wir haben nichts zu trinken,

wir brauchen Rum, Rum, Rum....

Simple translation: …Water, water, water everywhere,

                              But we have nothing to drink,

                              We need rum, rum, rum…

I have posted the YouTube link to the song, because I think this is the kind of German my dad would understand. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHDVEETkYBw)

My German is coming along. I have had several people tell me that I speak it well within the past few days and the conversations are getting longer and I can participate more than I used to.  I am growing vastly appreciative of the fact that I can even speak one language. 

Tomorrow, Melanie is driving back to Köln to pick up her next WWOOFer, Roy.  He is from Hong Kong and speaks only a little bit of English.  I get to be the translator and teach him what to do.  I have no idea why he is coming to Germany or how long he’s staying, but I guess I will find out tomorrow.  Then, on Tuesday, I am going to spend a few hours in a German classroom with Melanie’s mom (she’s a teacher) and then take a train to Zürich to see Anja!  It will be really nice to be with someone that knows and understands me for a few days.  And then I can get this horse smell off of me.

The Farm in Fotos

The Seminarhof Waldwiese

Looking to the right..

Looking to the left.
Didn't actually know until today that that was there...

A little bit closer

Nothing but forest down the road

Front of the house

Looking back up from the front door

Just inside the front door

Where we eat our meals!

My bed for the first two nights

Back of the house, the stalls

The dreaded stairs, steeper than they look!

Outside horse area

The actual stalls

Outside of the stalls

Sky, the Polizei (he keeps everyone in line)

Sweet Emi is sleeping!

Emi again...wondering what I'm doing...

Scheißberg

Wooden board path...so the wheelbarrow can make it up

Standing atop Scheißberg

Looking back at the house

Beloved Schubkarren!

Indoor training center

"Wir sind die Neuen"

Here comes Aaron..

Very curious

Posing

Like a boss

Such a handsome guy

HEU!

Hungry Ramina (Sky's GF)

Also hungry

This one's for you em, a little too high to dunk

Dark winter day

The view from the top of the stairs!

Looking back at the stairs

Where the heck am I? (Door to the apartment on the left)

My room

My bed

My first letter from home!!

From a few days ago, pretty sunrise

Murphy!

The Bite

Today Melanie was bit by a horse for the very first time in her life! After 33 years of working with horses. She pulled up her sleeve a minute after it happened and there was already a gigantic, mouth-shaped bruise on her arm.  I feel honored to have been there for this special moment and also felt very glad it did not happen to me. Melanie went to grab one of the hay nets and Maggie, the horse, didn’t like that for some reason. Chomp. Things are a little crazy on the farm right now.  Maggie is a new boarder and has only been here since I have, so she is still on her own and slowly being integrated into the group.  Then there are five more new horses who are being boarded here.  They were all raised together and have lived in the same place for all 19 years of their lives. Until yesterday.  Needless to say, coming here was very confusing for them. So all of the confusion may have led to “the bite”.

In other news, I think I have found a favorite horse.  As I was shoveling and hauling poop around yesterday morning, I stopped to pet a brown horse with a white stripe down her nose.  She’s quite big.  I scratched her for a while and then went on my way to dump the poop out.  About ten minutes later, back and shoveling, I saw her head pop around the corner and watch me.  Cute, I thought, kept shoveling.  Next thing I know, I see some horse legs standing to the side of me and when I turn to see which one it is, she puts her head down and rests her whole forehead against my stomach.  I have no idea what this means in horse language, but I felt like I was in a Disney movie breakthrough moment.  I also have no idea what her name is.  I think it’s Emi or something, which would make sense because why would I ever love an animal that ISN’T named after my best best friend?

In other, other news, I finally got to leave the house last night.  It was amazing, refreshing, wonderful.  We went to the grocery store.  Going to the grocery store isn’t as simple as it seems here.  First, you have to drive 15 minutes or so to get cat and dog food from a friend of Melanie’s, then you go to the Bioladen to get fresh fruit and vegetables, then you go to the butcher for meat, the bakery for bread, and the actual grocery store, Norma, for the other remaining items.  I saw Pumpkin Seed Oil and got so excited.  Oh how I have missed it. The yogurt too.  It was a beautiful thing, grocery shopping. 

To answer questions: No, there is no car here for my use, especially because I can’t drive a stick.  The village of Kescheid is 3 km away, so I suppose if I had time and energy, I could go for a run and have a look around.  I’m sure I will do that at some point soon, but…it is a village still.  There are only a few shops/buildings in the actual center of Kescheid.  Yes, and pictures/videos.  Those will also come in time.  I am planning a whole tour of the house and stalls and land.  It snowed all day today, so that will make for some cool pictures tomorrow. 

Interestingly enough, Guido, Melanie’s co-habitator/manfriend/whatever you want to call him, was the very first WWOOFer here just three years ago. Two years later, he moved in! He is very nice and will come out and check on me during the day time to make sure “alles gut”.  He’s definitely more shy and quiet than Melanie, who is very extroverted and likes to laugh.  It’s a good mix. Frederick likes to watch TV and that’s all I know about him because all he does is sit and watch TV when he’s not at school.  To each their own.

As for my German, I think it’s getting slightly better all the time, but it is still difficult not to be able to participate in conversations the way I would like to.  Today, for instance, we were having a discussion over breakfast about dogs.  I get all fired up about dogs.  Well, Melanie was telling me about different rules and regulations in Germany for owning a dog and about how they test “aggressive” breeds to make sure they won’t bite kids or anything, which in itself was kindling.  Then she went on to tell me that in the Netherlands, dogs like Pit Bulls or Boxers or Rottweilers aren’t even allowed, and apparently at some point, someone brought their Boxer on vacation with them to the Netherlands and it was taken away from them and put down immediately.  AGH! I had no German words to be able to say what I wanted to say, all I could do was make noises of disbelief. This was frustrating. Oh well, maybe in six months I will come back and finish all of the conversations we started.

 

And now, as a special treat, here is a short video of the horses getting to know each other today.  Aaron and Nuts vs. Sky. Notice all their names are English...interesting.

 

 

The New Room

Well it's Sunday. I have finally moved into a room of my own. When Melanie sent me upstairs with my bags I thought, where the heck am I going? The stairs are in the barn part of the house kind of, super steep, and it looked like I was just heading into a loft with a bunch of hay in it. Once I got further up I saw that it was much bigger than expected, but still, it all looked more like a garage than a place to sleep. I was so confused. I knew that Melanie's mom lived up there, but I couldn't figure out where. There were no beds, it was cold....Finally I found a door and opened it up to find a very nice, big and modern apartment. The room that I live in was originally a storage room, but now is used as a room for WWOOFers. It's off to the side of the apartment, so I don't have to actually go through Grandma's house to get in.  

5 Things:

1. Gave a horse a bucket of water, he took a big gulp, then spit it back up on my shoes. (It was a little bit like Winema '08 Em, "This isn't Nike brand water!")

2. Learned that they drink water with rocks in it to get minerals...a little strange.

3. SLEPT FOR 11 HOURS LAST NIGHT. I went to bed at 7, totally skipped out on dinner. It was amazing. I have been so tired.

4. Was listening to the radio while filling hay nets yesterday, and of course all they play is American music. Except it's the bad music from America, not even anything good. I heard a song for the first time, it was called, "Sex Bomb". I know it was called that because those were the only lyrics, combined with "You're my..."

5. It doesn't exactly feel like I'm in Germany right now. It just feels like I'm on a farm with people who randomly speak German, but I could be anywhere. I am looking forward to living more of a city life-style, but this is good for now. And maybe when I get the chance to go explore the area, I won't feel so cooped up.

5 New Words:

1.  die Hafer (oats)--Melanie kept using this word on my first night here and when I heard it, I just kept thinking "half" in my head, not knowing what it actually meant. Made things a little confusing, but now I know.

2. fleißig (diligent, hard-working)--When I was up at 6 am the first morning, Guido, Melanie's boyfriend...manfriend I should say, passed me in the hallway and said, "Schon fleißig?" I just laughed and nodded, but had no idea what it meant, so I went and looked it up really quick. "Already up and going?" Since 4 am, Guido, since 4 am.

3. das Heu (HAY!)--I just like this word. It looks cool, sounds cool, plus it's Hafer of my name. You see how that gets confusing?

4. die Schubkarre (wheelbarrow)--Yeah...We are best friends by now.

5. die Spülmaschine (dishwasher)--I already knew this word, but I am adding it to the list because Melanie just got a new one a few days ago. It's me. They have no dishwasher. Unfortunately that means their Leo doesn't know how to close it.

Okay, I better go be fleißig again. Horses can't feed themselves, you know. They are such stupid animals. JUST kidding. I like them. 

(Tried to post pictures, but it's just not working.  Let's pretend it's 1278 and there are no cameras.  What would you do?)

The First Day

I have officially been in Germany for 25 hours.  It’s pretty much the exact same experience as when I went to Salzburg. Only exchange the college students for horses, the English for German, and the city for a village. Actually, the horses probably pee in more appropriate places than some of my classmates did at the time.  Okay, okay, it’s not like Salzburg at all.  Fine.  

I left my home in Gladstone at 6:00 am Wednesday morning and arrived in Frankfurt by 3:00 am Pacific time.  I was just a little tired. Then I hopped on a train to Siegburg/Bonn and really hoped that my host, Melanie, would be waiting for me, even though I was an hour later than we agreed to meet.  I came up the stairs to the entrance of the train station and saw a woman standing there… “Sind Sie Melanie?” And just like that, the German speaking began.  We got into her car (which smelled of horses) and started making our way back to her house. 

On the way we stopped at her favorite vegetable store.  It was just a small place with a bunch of fresh vegetables and fruit, a little farmers market.  Everyone knew each other by name.  The owners asked where I was from, and then didn’t believe me when I answered because I don’t have blonde hair and long fingernails...no comment. But I got a free apple.  It was a pretty drive after that, the buildings becoming sparse as we approached farmland.  When we arrived, Melanie’s son, Friederick, came out and took my bags in for me.  He’s got a Jamaican look going on, dreads, baggy clothes, but very, very white.  I met the dog, Leo, and the two cats, Toby and Sam.  (Make new friends? Check.)  Then I met all of the horses.  There are currently nine and they’re all very nice.  Che Gueverra had a nibble on my coat and seemed to think I was okay, and since he’s the head honcho, all the other horses agreed. 

We had some dinner and then did the nightly feeding and watering of the horses and by then it was 7:00 pm and I was exhausted.  I went from understanding half of the German I was hearing, to about a fifth of it.  Yeah, it was time for bed.  I took a shower in my worst nightmare of a shower, the one thing I dislike about Europe.  It’s a bathtub with a showerhead that is stationed by your knees.  So you hold it up and get yourself wet and then when you put it back in the holder to soap yourself up, the water goes everywhere and also your whole upper half is freezing.  But it felt good to get clean. And then I got in bed and passed out within minutes.

Promptly woke up at 4 am this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep.  Once 6:30 hit, there was movement in the house and I heard Friederick in the kitchen with that song playing “You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals…” Laughed.  Melanie and I had some breakfast, bread, meats, cheeses, yum! Then the work began.  I felt like I got a second breakfast with all of the hay that seemed to find its way into my mouth.   I stuffed all of the hay bags for the horses and then shoveled poop and wheelbarrowed it out to the poop pile, more like a poop mountain, and then dumped it out.  Over and over and over again.  I willingly picked up horse poop with bare hands today because I was too lazy to go get the shovel when some fell out of the wheelbarrow.  Don’t worry, it wasn’t warm or anything. 

 For the most part, I can understand Melanie enough to figure out what she wants me to do.  Sometimes she tells stories and I only get bits and pieces, but luckily, I do understand body language, so I know when to laugh at least.  Today she asked me to do something, and then asked if I understood.  I said, we’ll see.  Turned out I didn’t understand, but she is nice enough to just laugh and explain it again.  

Although, this morning, she did tell me that I speak with good grammar.  Score.  Alright, well, we just had lunch and now I am sitting on my bed.  There is more work to be done soon, but I figured I should update the blog, you know, for all of my fans out there (i.e. MOM).  Okay, pictures and more interesting stories to come.