The Third Day

Today was another school day.

I eat food during the school day. We have Brotdose and eat during the longer and shorter breaks. 

 The most important of course. My American friends loved it too! I dropped mine and it broke but Lisa traded since she doesn't find it as amazing as I do.

 Brotdose and apple flavored water.

Today was a longer day so I had a more to eat :D

In Germany (and also Hungary) the students have a different schedule for each day. Here is Lisa's schedule that I also follow.

Lisa made this for me :)

There are two breaks during the day. One is 20 minutes long and the other is 30 minutes long. 

First, I went to Religion class. The class was in their homeroom (as were all the other classes today) and the teacher is Herr Buldt. He is a weird single man (according to my sources) and he attempted to greet us in broken English. We watched a movie called Das Experiment. It seemed like an interesting movie but I understood nothing about the story. The teacher told us that the main character was the Brad Pitt of Germany (he said, "Er ist..." and a girl said, "schön!"). We found that entertaining. The main character is a taxi driver and the experiment has something to do with why people became Nazis... I think. I did learn the German word for push up: Liegestütze.

Next came Geschichte (History) and then Mathe but we also watched a movie here. We watched all of Schindlers Liste. It was very boring because even though the film seemed good, I couldn't follow it so I just gave up. 

The reason we're watching so many movies is because school is almost over and the students are not graded anymore in the last two weeks so they don't really do that much.

Also, something different about movies is that in America, we need permission slips to watch R rated movies and  if there is something inappropriate or risque in the film, the teachers usually turn it off or fast forward. Here no one really cares and the teachers do nothing. So we saw nakedness and inappropriateness in all 3 movies.

After "Mathe", we had a thirty minute break and Lisa said we might also watch a movie in Latin. I decided that if that was the case then I would go and ask Herr Milde or Herr G if I could join another class. Too much sitting and watching movies I don't understand is boring!!

During the break we played a game I bought. Spaß!

Luckily, in Latin we could actually do something. The teacher, Frau Stolpa-Kowitz, had a lesson planned but altered it so the Americans could join in. She asked us if we spoke German and we said, "ein bisschen" (a little) but Jens, a boy in the class, said that we spoke no German. She asked (in German), "If they speak no German or Latin, why are they here?" ...  Then she began speaking in English and tried to remember what she had learned. While the students read and translated Latin text out loud, she told us to underline words that were similar to English. 

Then we discussed in English the words we underlined and what we thought they meant and what they really meant. Then she proceeded to tell us, also in English, the story of Gaius Julius Cäsar (in English: Gaius Iulius Caesar) and why English had more Latin than German does.

I remember the part about unicorns being in Germany the most. She also told us that the Germans had no towns, lived in the woods and shot bows and arrows at the Romans.
Then we played a game where we demonstrated how little Americans know about the world outside America.
She asked two people trivia questions and whoever got it right went to the next person in the room, around and around. She spoke in English and tried to ask questions we could also know. I got two right: Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Österreich (Austria) and when I told her I was from Hungary, she asked the capitol of Ungarn. Luckily, I got it correct! But yes. Clearly, our school needs to teach us more about the capitols of other countries and other facts we didn't know.
Latin was much more fun than watching movies though! Overall, a day that was super boring but improved in the last two periods! And the German students enjoyed it because they got out of doing their lesson!

Also, my favorite picture from today comes from Latin:

 (taken by Kaitlin)

Lisa's friends were also very nice. Lena and Volbi spoke with me and slowed down so I could actually understand. Shelbi and I also planned our project we are assigned to present our Square Dancing project in an 8th grade class tomorrow and a 7th grade class Friday. In Lisa's Geschichte class, they're having a party tomorrow so Lena asked if we could also do dancing then. So tomorrow we'll do our presentation and then go to another one right away. Most of the others have already presented but this is Shelbi's and my first time in Germany.

I also talked to a girl who said she staples herself for fun in Physics. She said she likes pain.... I'm glad I don't have to go to Physics here but next year. I hope it's more fun in America. 

 We finally took a real (not mirror) picture of us together.

 That green H is the sign for the bus stop.

 There was a baby on the bus! Lisa thinks I'm crazy but I miss my babies. I also read the baby announcements in the newspaper yesterday. 

 Lisa loves these little candies we got for free from the bookstore (same company that gave me my Bananadose!!). I still had one from yesterday and she was happy when I gave it to her :)

 To get off, you press this button before your stop. I pressed it today. I know, I know, I'm so cool!

Also, on German buses you can't eat clouds in a cone. hehe.

After we came home, we went back to the school at 5 for a video presentation/ greeting for the American exchange students. 

 It took place in the auditorium.

 My whole family came!!

 Herr Milde is on the right and the other man is Herr Ulbricht. Herr Ulbricht organized the video project which included the Skype discussion our German class had had with a German student from this school. We discussed topics such as stereotypes, political events, religion in school, etc. It was last semester so I don't remember it all but I was in the video! Also, there were video projects done by German students on the same topics.

 The principal had greeted us on our first day but also greeted us today.

 Herr Geisinger und Herr Milde

 We got to try Amerikaners und Berliners. I preffered the Berliners but both were very tasty.

Americans are so weird. They take pictures of toilets. And some flush the toilet with their head.

 The container from above. Oh, with the school I forgot to mention that there are 3 floors. Ground, 1, and 2. 

 Berliner! My other favorite picture!

 Weird and crazy Americans.

 I'm a model.

 I'm trying to teach Lisa how to look more excited because I always look super excited and she looks so calm. Or maybe, I had one Berliner too many...

The event was very nice and we also saw a video our students made for their project about Fishers HS. It was very nice and full of explosions. The only problem was that there were no subtitles so some parts were hard to understand even for me. 

Another successful day. I'm having a lot of fun and learning German. I realized that as long as people can understand what I'm trying to say, it's okay that I butcher conjugation, adjective ending, past tense, and randomly guess der, die, and das... actually I think I usually just say das. I'm even finding that sometimes during the times when I'm with my American friends German flows out before English and sometimes I think in German. Now, I just need to start dreaming in German :)