"Hast du Lust, Pizza zu essen?"

     Morgen!

    I want to start this week with a funny story. On Wednesday, my friend asked if I wanted to run to Combi, a store right around the corner similar to a CVS or Walgreens, to meet her mom so that she could pick up her phone during the break which was about 20 minutes long. So we ran through the city to get there. Her mom wasn't there so she used my phone to call her mom to ask where she was. However, her mom misread the plan and said she'd come during her free period later in the day. So we laughed and decided we had enough time to simply walk back to school. She and I met up during the free period since I also had it free and we walked to Combi again to meet her mom. And again, she wasn't there! So we stood in the parking lot talking about cars and German grammar. Once we realized what we were talking about, we laughed at ourselves and simple walked back to school. As soon as we sat down, he mom walked up right behind her and gave her her phone! Talk about awkward! But right after that, her whole friend group had a double period (so basically a block class) free. They invited me to go eat pizza with them! I was lucky, I had my next class canceled. So, guess who has two thumbs and had her first hangout with German friends this past week? This girl! As for the pizza, I had Spaghetti Pizza. Blew me away. Who knew you could put pasta on pizza ;)

    The next day, Thursday the 3rd, was the Tag der deutschen Einheit so we had no school. During my hunt for bread for breakfast, I started helping my host mom with baking pizzas. There were so many that needed to be made that I was doing that from about 11 until 2! But it was really fun. She could talk forever and she always has really funny, interesting stories to tell. I can actually follow along pretty well, so my German has to be getting better! Then I helped my host brother build an attachable wagon for his Kettcars. Really, this guys builds all of his stuff! It's absolutely incredible! 

    Then the weekend came! Saturday was my host brother's 15th birthday! It was interesting really. There was no big celebration or a special dinner. It was like every other day. We went to a Middle Ages market about 45 minutes away in Minden. My oldest host sister and her boyfriend drove us there so we didn't have to take a train or anything like that. They had jousting, sword fights, and a lot of weapons and clothes for sale. So we just walked about and looked at everything. On the way home, my host brother kept falling asleep and he would wake up and just look at me then turn away to go back to sleep! It took all my power to not bust out laughing!

    That evening, he wanted to watch the movie he got for his birthday, Iron Man 3. Instead of going upstairs to the living room with the DVD player, we took the TV downstairs into my twin-hostsister's room, plugged it up to her DVD player and her surround sound system, and all got into her bed with 5 different blankets and watched Iron Man 3. Probably one of the most hilarious moments of my year so far! 

    And Sunday, the church brass choir played at mass by the Leverner MArkt. So I got to play trombone with the choir that morning. And one of the members had a birthday so she invited everyone to the drink stand after mass for a little. So I joined and she was really nice and started talking to me. ONce I said I was from America, she told her son he could practice english with me. He hid behind his sister! I laughed and simply said that I know english is boring so we can just speak German and he laughed. So It was a good time. (Culture difference!! When it's your birthday and you invite people to drinks or dinner, you pay for it all, people don't pay for you. Just remember that ;) )

    I realized something else today about my host brother. He likes to play fight. So what do we end up doing every time we pass each other in the hallway? Try and hit each other's belly? Yes. Try to get each other in a headlock? Yep. Bend arms behind backs? Most definitely. I will be big and strong when I get home ;)

    I was talking to Hannah, my roommate from camp, about how being an exchange student it both new and exciting, but also awkward and more awkward. Awkward moments don't even phase me anymore. I'm used to starting a sentence and then realizing that I don't know how to end it. I'm used to zoning out during a lecture at school then being asked by my neighbor if I knew what was going one. I'm used to understanding the whole class lesson, until my teacher asks a question. And most of all, I'm used to Germans not being afraid to stare at you, even when you stare back. Life here in rural NRW is kicking butt and I'm excited to see where it takes me, but in no particular rush to get there (:

An afterthought, 

  The Dalai Lama is at Emory in Atlanta the 8-10 this month. If you get a chance, go see him. You don't have to be a certain religion or certain age to really appreciate what he has to say. If you can't make it, there are live broadcasts of his visits online. If you have 5, 10, 30, or more minutes to spare, just give it a shot! 

If there are questions, let me know. I don't know what you're mostly interested in hearing about; differences, day to day activities, etc. Until then, enjoy your week!

~Katy 

I love my sunsets..