So, its been a busy past few days, so i am going to try and catch up today! Lets see, so on Thursday, we had a sort of "free day". Each Thursday, we meet up and do some cultural activity with a lady at the DAAD center. This time, it was just an introduction type thing, and didn't last too long. It was also the first time i took the public transit system!! For me to get there, it involved a walk, a bus, and three train switches! A little bit stressful,but after riding the Ubahn all weekend, and getting lost, having to take a cab, and having to be picked up, I am feeling pretty confident now! BUt anyways, after the meeting, I walked around for a while with Tanya, Ellen and Essie, and we went to an area of Berlin called Kreuzberg. Its a lot like uptown in the way it "feels". It was a really chill time, we ate, drank, walked around, ate, and drank for about 5 hours, before finally going home! It was really relaxing and good to get to know them better.
On friday, i got to sleep in an extra hour (yey) before getting up and going to school. I watched the 6th graders do their music rehersal as well as their math class. Its pretty chaotic to say the least: 40 sixth graders running around a room, playing their instruments, etc! But it was good to get to know the kids a little better. I found out that many of them HATE english class (as for many, it is already their 3rd or 4th language), but they had no problems talking to me in German. I am so glad i can sort of speak enough to understand and get to know them all a little. School on Fridays is shorter here, so it was kind of nice to get home early and relax before going out for the night. I met up with a few of the girls on my program on Orangienbergerstr, kind of in the Jewish quarter of Berlin. We went to a few places, where i ate "Kartofellpuffers mit Apfelmus", probably one of my favorite foods! Ellen informed me that it is actually a very Jewish thing to eat, potato pancakes with apple sauce. Its crazy here, bars and what not, don't close, at least not until very late! I was out well past what bar time would be in minneapolis, and they were still hopping. I managed also to get home on the transit, which was a huge accomplishment for me.
Saturday, as i got home really late (or early, haha!), i slept in quite a bit. I then woke up and went to the movies with my host father, host sister, and her friend. We saw "Fluch der Karibik" (Pirates of the Carribean 4) in 3D. It was really fun, i have always enjoyed watching films in German. Films are really expensive here though, like 13 dollars! When we got home, we all played some games (Rummy, Uno, for example) and then had a barbeque. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so delicious!!!! We had a variety of meats (Wurst, Chicken wings, etc), German potato salad (with meat, eggs, and pickles), the really delicious vegatable dish (called Tajin, i think), garlic bread and of course, beer. It was nice weather too, so we got to sit outside on the patio. It really did make for a fantastic evening. After that, i took the bus and a couple of the SBahns to an area called Köpenick to spend a relaxing evening with Tanya.
Today, it took me about 2 hours to get home, as the trains don't run as frequently, and i decided to walk from the train station back home, instead of taking the bus. It was a nice day though, so good exercise. I kept thinking about how great it is to be here, and how much i am enjoying it. Anyways, so thats about it, i am just home right now, relaxing and getting ready for the upcoming week :)
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