Last day in Germany... Full day.

Today was my last school day and also full day in Germany. We started by sleeping in until 8.30am, but I woke up at 8am anyway. I slept a little and did some more packing and got dressed for school. I went downstairs and didn't have enough time for a proper breakfast, so I got myself soemthing small and packed my bag. Julia came down soon enough and we quickly walked to the bus stop. We caught the bus at 9.10am and got off at Marburg. We caught another bus to the supermarket and bought bread rolls for school. We caught another bus to school and there ended up being a lot of people from school on it.

We got off and walked to school with everyone. I got to go upstairs with the lift and then we waited outside the classroom for our English teacher. She came soon enough and let us in, then decided to stop me as soon as I got in the door and hugged me and talked to be for what seemed like forever. It was nice of her though and I have to say hello to everyone in Australia for her. I finally got to sit down and she gave us the task of basically playing celebrity heads in English and I had to check everyone's grammar... We didn't really end up doing that. While she was out of the room talking to students one by one, we just talked and hung around. I guess we did end up playing the game a little bit in the end. I sat with Ronja for a while and talked and after mucking around for ages, our teacher came back inside and we sat down and the class was over.

Most of us stayed in the classroom for the break before Religion. We talked and took some photos. There was also a lot of playing with newspaper and burning it with the overhead projector... The room ended up smelling like, well burn stuff and we opened the windows, but our Religion teacher could still smell it when she came inside. When everyone was there, the class started and she talked for a bit and gave us all a handout. We read through it and then everyone had to make a timeline with it. We had a while to do that and before everyone we finished, our lovely short 45 minute Religion class was over.

We stayed in the room and eventually all my classmates came in and our homeroom teacher too. He started handing out everyone's reports and we looked through them and then everyone checked for mistakes in theirs. The class was over soon enough and then I got to say some goodbyes. It was quite sad, but I didn't cry at all. Ronja ended up crying quite a bit though... The goodbyes went on forever and then I said goodbye to our teacher and said that I would write and send photos. We went and stood outside the classroom, then walked downstairs. The others ended up taking ages and a few people left to catch their bus. I said goodbye and then the other girls came downstairs and we walked to the bus stop together. Ronja came up to me for the last time and then left to catch her bus.

The rest of us got on the bus, Lena, Sabrina, Sibylle, Jessie and I, then caught it to Salädchen. We stood in line and eventually got to the front and then had to wait for people to leave so we could sit down. We got seats and sat and ate whilst talking. We went outside when we were finished and I said goodbye to everyone, then we all walked in different directions.

I took the lift up the the Oberstadt and went to the record shop and then the surf shop to buy last minute gifts. I finally got to walking down hill and went to Julia's Oma's.

I knew Hannah had her piano lesson and would be driven home, so I rang the door bell and sat with Julia's Oma for about half an hour and talked. When Hannah came back from piano, we left and drove to Bürgeln. I had a special gift with me, one that I had hidden at Julia's Oma's house earlier in the week. I brought it inside and then gave it to Julia's parents. I bought them a deep fryer, which they had been wanting to buy for ages. They were really happy, but didn't like that I bought them a present.

Julia's oma stayed and I ate jelly with Hannah. Julia's mum also gave me a present from our neighbour, Heinz. Claude's daughter. Marie came over in the mean time with a little gift for me and a lovely card too. I ended up upstairs a bit later and really packing my suitcase. I ended up taking a lot more stuff out and even got the kitchen scales to weigh everything that I put in. I weighed my belts to see which weighed more, then decided to wear the heavier one. It was pretty full on. Hannah came and helped me and we repacked everything a little bit. Julia's mum also came to help. The bag was way too heavy though... Julia's mum checked the price of sending me some things and it ended up being a lot cheaper. I could send 10kg for 55€. We decided to do that and I took out things I knew I wouldn't need for ages.

In the middle of my packing, Julia's mum came upstairs and told me about the mailing, so that was fine. Hannah and I both went downstairs and said hello to Julia's aunty and her partner. They brought me roasted almonds too... :) We sat and talked for a while, it was really nice.

We took apart the 100 year old piano too and looked inside. After a while, another one of Julia's aunties came over to say goodbye. We sat and drank tea together, then everyone ended up leaving when it was nearly time to have dinner. I gave both the aunties Tim Tams and said goodbye.

The rest of us set the table and waited for Julia and Hannah to get back for the horses for dinner. I don't know if w actually have this in Australia, I have never seen it... You get a little pan and put say olives, ham, potato and everything on it, the a slice of cheese on top. You put that under the grill infront of you and wait for all of the chesse to melt. So, that was dinner. It was nice because it took a bit to cook and we got to talk a lot.

After dinner, we all sat around the table a bit longer, then Julia's mum came in with presents for me, so I rushed upstairs and got my presnt to give to the family. I was made to open mine first... I got a little bulldog keyring from a family friend, it was really sweet and then a pair of earrings from their neighbour Heinz. Then I got to open my presnts from the family. I got a t-shirt from the school Julia goes to and then... It's seriously awesome. A vintage 1956 AGFA camera. :) It weighs nearly a kilo. but it amazingly cool. I then got to give out my presents, which was of xourse the deep fryer for Julia's parents. A mug for Paul, a notebook and diary for Julia and paints and a beanie ofr Hannah. We talked a bit more amd drank some champagne to say goodbye. When we were finished, I said goodbye to Julia's oma and she left.

I went back upstairs and finished all of my packing. I took out the rest of the stuff to be sent and then weighed my bag. It was only 1 kilo or so over, that was fine. I got changed into my pajamas and went downstairs to sit with everyone. We all went to bed soon enough.

Socks, done.

Wednesdays are always nice because of the lovley long sleep in we get. I woke up an hour earlier at 9am anyway and did stuff around my room. At 9.30am, I got dressed and went downstairs, everyone was either out or asleep. I made myself some breakfast and then Julia came downstairs, but went back to bed when she realised she had woken up too early. Julia's dad came downstairs a bit after too and drank coffee while I was eating. Julia's ended up coming back down when she heard the Baker driving around and went outside to buy us some rolls. She ate breakfast and I made myself lunch for school.

I started trying to find out how much it costs per kilo, if my bag is too heavy. That took me ages, I called so many numbers that it was stupid and I had to speak German the whole time on the phone... I finally found a person who knew and he told me at costed 55€ a kilo... That's when I went upstairs and startd pulling out things I didn't need to keep... I got about 2 kilos out and then packed my bag and left for school.

Julia and I caught the train, then got off at the Hauptbahnhof and caught a bus to near Ahrens. It was Ronja's birthday, so we chose a flower each and bought them for her. We walked over to Rossmann's and bought chewing gum, then waited for a bus to get to school. We caught one and walked to school. We walked to our classroom and a few people were alreay outside. We waited for the French class to leave the room and then sat inside for our break.

I wrote a quick letter to Ronja, to go with her flower. Ronja came in a little bit later and we all sang happy birthday and lined up to hug her. She was really happy and loved my letter too. Everyone came in and then our History teacher came in too... She talked a lot, like usual and then made everyone read and takes notes for ages. She then talked a lot more and then the class was finally over!

We all walked to Chemistry and waited for our teacher. We sat in the room and talked for a while. He asked us if we enjoyed Monday and then went around the room collecting any money from people. A few people went out of the room to photocopy and then the class list got handed out. He finally started getting everyone to do some work and we learnt some more about Galavanic cells. He explained everyhting and then class was over. :)

I walked to the bus stop with Julia and some other girls and then waited a while for the bus... It finally got there and we all caught it. Ronja came and stood with me too. Julia and the other girls got off earlier, because they had to go back to school. Ronja got off at the City Hall and I continued on to the train station... I missed my train by 3 minutes and stood outside and waited for the bus. I had to wait about 20 minutes, but it ended up coming 5 minutes early. I got on and it was completely full. I got off at Bürgeln and walked home.

When I got home, the soup was still warm so I ate lunch while Julia's dad and Paul did Maths homework. When they were finished, I sat in the lounge room with Paul and knitted while he made little things out of wool. He ended up watching a movie with Julia's dad and I finished knitting my socks. so I finally have a pair done. We watched the whole movie and then I helped Paul make some more thing out of wool.

When Julia's mum got home from work, we slowly got dinner ready and put everything on the table. Hannah went out and the rest of us ate. During dinner, a family friends came over to say goodbye and we sat at the table for a while and talked. She left after a while and the rest of us went into the lounge room and watched Bonanza. Paul went to bed and we watched TV and talked for a little bit longer.

Packing bags...

This morning was completely normal, I woke up at 6.30am and got ready, then came downstairs and ate something. We left the house on time and ended up making the train with plenty of time. We caught the train and walked to school with some friends. I went straight to school and some of the girls in my class eventually came to school and we talked. We went upstairs when the dorr opened and got tho take the lift up. We waited outside the classroom until our History teacher came.

During History, the teacher basically talk the whole time, then showed us an Astrix comics and made us read pages in the text. She talked more and more, then the class was over right in the middle of when she was explaining something. Our Maths teacher came in nearly straight away and started the class. We had to do the worksheet she gave us last time and then do the questins that she put on the boards... Of course, I just really watch and foloow along, but only do the work that is really straight forward. We spent the whole class doing that, she explained things a little bit along the way, then it was break.

I went downstairs to the cafeteria with some kids in my class, of course via the lift. I bought something to eat and then we headed back up before German. Our German teacher came in and talked a little bit about what we did last week and then we ended up reading about 8 short stories that people had wrote and giving critisism and praise. We had two periods of German and a break in between. The class was really good and most of the stories were really easy to understand.

After German, we went downstairs... Via the lift and then waited near the entry to the sports rooms. We talked for a while, most of the class was around and then we went into the changerooms. We all got changed and went out into the hall and started playing Badminton. The teacher talked through different ways to hit the ball and then we got into partners and played a bit. I was with Ronja and we ended up hitting the ball most of the time, until she gave us slightly different instructions. We had a small break inbetween the two periods, but then we kept playing. We finished a little bit earlier so that we could pack up, then we got changed and I went with Lena to the bus stop.

Our first stop with Ahrens and I looked for some little gifts for some friends. We didn't find much, but Lena had another idea for better gifts. We caught another bus to near the movies and went to have lunch at Salädchen. It was really good nd we actually got to sit at a table becuase it wasn't overly busy. We sat there for a while, eating and then walked down to street to the Marburg shop and I bought some small things. Lena and I walked back and then past the movies, over the bridge and to Media Markt. I needed to go there to buy a gift and then I ended up buying some DVDs. We carried the bags to the bus stop and I waited with Lena until her bus came.

I left and walked all the way back. It was very hard to walk due to the size of what I was carrying in one of my bags... I made my way to the lifts and then ended up in the Oberstadt. I walked through the toy shop, another little shop and then the skate store. I spent a little too much money and then walked all the way down the hill to Julia's oma's house. I popped in and said hello, then a secret exchange of goods happened and I left again. I was planning on walking ot the bus stop, but I thought it was easy enough to walk all the way to the train station, so I speed walked there. My bus was already there, but it was more than 5 minutes early. I got on and sat there for ages until it left. I wondered why I bothered wlaking so quickly if my bus was there anyway...

I caught the bus to Bürgeln and walked home. When I got home, I sat at the table and Julia's mum made Julia's dad and I waffles. We ate and then Julia's mum and I went over to Claude's house. She was so sick, that we weren't let into the house. We talked a bit and then wished her well and walked home. I went upstairs into my room and started packed my suitcase... I packed nearly everything, then weighed it and I still had a few kilos to fill. I realised that I had packed everything that was really light and the few heavy things left were quite heavy... I got nearly everything in and it was 25kg... It was meant to be 23kg. i still had a bit more to pack though.

Dinner was ready, so I went downstairs and we had steak with salad and potatoes. After dinner, I went back upstairs and backed some more into my suitcase. I got my shoes and packed them and then some more of the delicate things. I went downstairs and sat on the couch for a while. I did a little bit of knitting and then folded the washing. I found more clothes that I had to pack, so I went upstairs and put them in my suitcase and weighed it... It weighed 27kg and my hand luggage weighed 8.5kg, it was meant to be 7kg. I went onto the internet afterwards, searching for the baggage fees and if the airline was really strict with the weight... I didn't find anything except for the fact that you can take 10 litres of holy water as carry on lugagge...

I watched TV with Julia's parents and did some knitting. At about 9.30pm, I started getting ready to go out and I walked to the train station... That ended up being interesting. At 9.40pm, no train comes... Only at 8.40pm, or 10.40pm... I walked back home and just as I was walking in the door, Julia's dad was walking out and he ended up driving me into the city, which I felt bad about, but he said it was fine.

He dropped me off near the movies and I walked there and walked inside. I started getting my ohone out to call my friends, but then they walked past, so all was good. We stood around and waited for Jessie to come back with the tickets. There were only 4 of us, Jessie, Ronja, a chinese exchange student, Ellen and I. We talked a bit and then ended up going upstairs. We were going to the 'Sneak' thing that the movies here do, so you don't know which movie it is. We got something to eat, then went and sat inside the cinema. They were giving out lollipops and small soft drinks at the door too...

We sat down and watched 30 minutes of ads... Finally the movie started and it ended up being, 'Brothers.' The movie was really good and I really enjoyed it. Ronja left a little bit earlier, juts before it finished really, because she had to catch her bus home. The movie finished late as well, at about 12.45am, but I got a lift home with Jessie. I got hom et about 1am and went to sleep a little bit after that.

Witerwander tag...

Well, this morning was quite eventful. We woke up at the normal time of 6.20am, I got ready, had breakfast, then slowly packed my bags. Hannah and I left the house about 30 seconds earlier than Julia, but were still late to catch the train and when we were about 50 metres from the house, the train came and we had to run the whole way there... A girl held the door open for us, so we still got on. When we were on the train, Julia had realised that she forgot her ice skates... We got off the train, then Julia and I walked to school. I waited downstairs while she went to do something and then we walked down the road to the buses.

On the way, Julia's dad drove past in his work car and made a lovely scene stopping in the gravel... He gave her the ice skates and then we walked to meet our class. We stood around for a while and talked until our teacher came and called the roll and we were allowed to go on the bus. I sat near the back of the bus with Ronja. We listened to music and talked a bit. The drive to Willingen, where we were going ice skating and swimming was about 2 hours.

When we finally got there, I got to walk in quite quickly because a few of us already had ice skates. We put on our clothes and put away our bags then went ice skating. We had about 2 hours of ice skating and I went around with the girls in my class. The whole year level was there and it ended up being a lot of fun. I fell over once... That was good too...

After the 2 hours were over, we all had to head to the swimming pool, even if we didn't want to swim. About half of us sat in the cafe and the reat went in the pool for about an hour. I sat once again with some of the girls in my class and we ordered drinks and something to eat. We left at about 1.30pm to start heading back. We all paid and walked back to the bus. I sat nxt to Ronja again and listened to music, then ended up sleeping a little bit. We got back to school at 3.20pm and walked to one of the bus stops close by. Four of us caught the bus together and 3 of us got off at the train station.

We waited on the platform for about 20 minutes, it was freezing cold. Our train ended up being 5 minutes delayed. Another girl from our village waited with us and caught the train too. Julia and I walked home and I ended up sitting and knitting when we got home. Julia's mum came home and I drank coffee with her parents, then Hannah got driven to training. Julia's mum and I ended up going walking with Miak and we went around the frozen lakes. It was only short and we came home and relaxed a bit, I think I ended up doing some more knitting too. Julia's dad did homework with Paul in that time.

When it was time to pick up Hannah, I drove with Julia's dad. Along the way we spoke about fines for speeding and manual and automatic cars, then he told me about a motorcycle accident he had. We drove Hannah home and after a while, ended up having dinner. We had a little bit of left over wild pig and then ate bread. Their neighbour had given them homemade red salami, I guess you'd call it and it was also really good. We all cleaned up the table and Julia went to driving school, to leanr all of the theory. Julia's mum went horse riding and I did some more knitting then ended up going over to the riding hall and watched Julia's mum ride. I spent nearly an hour there and then we walked home. Julia's dad was watching a movie when we got home, I watched a bit while knitting then had a shower and went to bed at about 11pm.

Suuuundays.

This morning I woke up at the average time of 9.30am. No one was actually out of bed yet, but I went downstairs and made myself something to eat. Everyone slowly got up, they all had breakfast and we relaxed around the house a bit.

At about 11.30am, we left the house and drove to Julia's Oma's house. This was everyone one, minus Julia's dad who was working. We were having lunch together because Julia's Oma wanted to cook for me before I left. We got down to eating after a while and had soup, then wild pig... It was good, so different to normal pig, with these weird potato things and red saure kraut. For dessert, we had yoghurt with berries and sugar. We had a nice time and ended up looking at old photos and then going through all of the different spirits sitting on one of the tables. We left a little bit after 2pm to go home.

When we got home, we relaxed and Julia's mum and Paul went outside. I did some knitting and sat around a little bit. Julia went training at 3pm with some kids from the village and then Julia's dad got home from work. Julia's parents ended up resting in the lounge room and I sat in the kitchen knitting. Julia came home from running and then we started getting ready to go to Julia's aunty's house for her Birthday. Julia and Hannah didn't come with us, but we drove to Cölbe and carried a giant present into the house. We had bought a woodworking tool.... I'm not sure what it is in English. She really liked it and we sat and ate cake together. I ended up sitting with an old lady from the other side of the family who is meant to be quite mean... She talked a lot and told me stories which only some I could understand. Julia's dad saved me for a while, but then left me alone with her... Soon, most people left and we stood in the kitchen talking for a while until they decided to show me the woodworking room. We ended up looking through DVD's and taking some home with us.

We stood in the kitchen a while longer and talked. I played with their cat and then we ended up leaving at about 6.30pm. We got home and I set the table for dinner. We ended up eating when Julia and Hannah had got home from feeding the horses. We ate bread and so on, then Paul went to bed and I folded clothes and watched a crime show with Julia's parents.

Lovely day of art.

Today I woke up at about 10am or earlier, but sat in bed until about 10.30am. When I went downstairs, everyone had already eaten except for Julia and I. I made myself something to eat and then waited until the shower was free. I showered and got dressed, ready to go out with Julia's oma. I didn't know what time she was coming, so I waited in the kitchen and knitted for a bit. She came over a little after 12pm and then we drove to Stadtallendorf together. She took me to an old World War 2 monoxide factory, there was basically nothing left of it, just the kitchen and wash room, sort of, but there was a sign and then a map of where everything used to be.

We drove further and through some really nice villages. We ended up in Willingshausen, but it took us a lot less time than we thought and the place we were going to opened at 2pm. We spent a little less than an hour walking around the village, looking at the houses, the church and the castle that is now a house.

The village has the offical second name of, The painting village. We made our way to the house we were going to. It used to be an old Painter's colony. We went inside and waited for the lady to come. She was a little bit late, but didn't realise we were already there. She let us inside and talked to us about all of the art that was there. There were only two small rooms, but the art was great and all the artists that had painterings there, had also lived there. She talked to us for ages and then showed us the second room, where there were lots and lots of paintings on the walls. There was also a painted door that used to be in a musuem, but was now in the house again. The old lady that was showing us around, her Grandfather was painted on the door too. She showed us soem more paintings and then asked if I wanted to look at some small paintings by Marianne Heinemann, who is an amazing artist. All of the painting were of people in the traditional clothing, but it went through all of the different styles and colours to wear the different festivals. Now I can tell you which colours mean what. It was really interesting and she was so nice letting us see all the art in the house. At the end we look through a lot of prints of paintings and I ended up getting one by Adolf Lins, it has two little girls feeding ducks outside their house.

The old lady walked us down to the other art gallery. Julia's oma and I walked around and looked at all the painting. Some were amazing watercolours, but then there was a mixture of abstract and realism... We thought it was both really strangte because all the paintings were by the same man. You don't usually see an artist who does both things. We walked through, the realist paintings were really good, but that was about it. We paid and walked out and back to the car. We drove back to Bürgeln, but made one stop along the way and went to a tower in Neustadt, I think... The tower is decorate differently on each half, one is the style you see and the other is with little blue bits of wood.

We got home and a family friend, Ralf was over. We all sat at the table and Julia's oma and I got to eat a piece of cake. We spent a while talking and after a bit their aunty came over and sat with us. Ralf left and drove his tractor back to one of the villages close by... I thought it was hilarious. Julia's oma left after a bit too. Their aunty stayed for a while and talked.

I helped with dinner and we made a chicken stirfry with rice. I cut the vegetables and then we let it cook for a while. We ate together, well Hannah wasn't home. Ralf and his wife came bacxk over to pick up something and then after a while Julia and I went to a friend's house and watched TV for a while. We had some little pizzas and salad to eat and watched whatever we saw on TV.

At about 12am, we walked home and everyone was asleep. We went to bed basically straight away.

Nice night out. :)

This morning, it was another early wake up. I did the usual, got up at 6.20am, got ready, ate and left for school. I was meant to be going to a German primary school with Claude from our village, but she was sick. I went with Julia instead and we got off the train at Marburg and caught the bus with some other kids from our village until we got to near the Elizabeth church. Julia and I were over 30 minutes early to meet the people from our class. We were spending the first few periods in the city library with our German teacher. We went to Julia's oma and it turned out that we caught her just before she left for work. We got a key and sat in her lounge room for a while. Some friends called to see what we were doing and they ended up coming to Julia's oma's as well while we waited. Just before 8am, we made our way to the library which was only about 100 metres away.

We met everyone at the library, put our bags and jackets away then went upstairs. The lady there went through all the resources and then we were told what we had to research for German. I helped out... Probably didn't help at all... Well I spent time with Ronja who is in the class and we ended up talking a lot more than working. After just over an hour, our teacher let us start heading back to school and we all walked and caught the bus to school.

We went back upstairs and met our teacher outside our classroom. She talked through everything we did in library and then let us have a break and go to the cafeteria. She let us finish the lcass 10 minutes early and I went down the the office with some friends and then to the cafeteria to get something to eat. We went back upstairs and sat in the classroom talking for a while. Our break was over quite quickly and then we had English.

Our teacher came in and talked a lot... As usual. Then she got one of the girls in our class, who spent 9 minths in Australia to read out her text that she wrote in our test a few weeks before. It was really good and of a really high standard for the German students. Then she went through the whole classes marks and gave us an average, they decided to go with the average without my score because it was lower... Class was over and we all went to the science rooms. I got to catch the lift down and then walk over.

We had 'Chemistry'... This ended up being just a huge discussion about our trip on Monday and how people don't want to go and don't want to swim and everything. We sorted it out and gave our forms and money to our teacher. We kept talking for a while and then the class was over. :)

I walked with two girls in my class to the bus stop, because Julia still had classes. We caught the bus together and they got off earlier to have lunch. I was very tempted to go with them, but I thought I might as well just go home for lunch. I went to the train station and then waited on the platform for about 10 minutes until the train came. I got off at Bürgeln and walked home.

Lunch was ready when we got home, we ate maccaroni cheese with eggs and I think salad. During lunch, Leon came over because he was going horse riding. We sat and talked for a while, then he got ready and left. Hannah left soon after to go horse riding too. Julia got home early becuase her classes turned out to be cancelled, she went horse riding and Julia's mum drove Leon home. I walked Miak around the village and it took a while because he likes to go nice and slowly. We got home and then just cilled around the house. When Julia got home from horse riding we had something to eat and then started slowly getting ready to go out.

At 7.40pm, we caught the train into Marburg with some girls from our village and then bought chewing gum and caught a bus further to the movies after waiting for aaaaages. We were a little bit late and we met everyone inside the movies. I didn't realise so many people were coming, it ended up being a big part of my class then a some friends from the village. It was supposed to be a little bit of a surprise and I guess it was. We ended up walking to the lift and going up to the Oberstadt. The place we wanted to go had two tables free, but they were reserved becuase of the soccer game that was on. We went back up and walked aaaaall the way back to the movies and went to Hugo's. We sat there and ate, drink, talked. I few more people joined us a little later.

At about 10.30pm, we headed to the bus stop becuase we had to catch the last train home. We stood at the bus stop for ages until one came. In the mean time there was a French/Russian tourist... I really don't know. His German was good, but he was really creepy. He got on the bus with us and then got off where we got off. We all rushed to the train station and said goodbye. About 5 of us caught the train home and then walked home together. We got hoome at about 11.30pm and went to bed.