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.

Talk of politics in German really hurts my head.

Today Julia and I both had another nice sleep in. We has the first 2 periods free, slept in a bit then showered and slowly got ready for school. We caught the bus at 9.10am with Felix from our village and then got off at Maburg Hauptbahnhof and caught another bus to school.

We walked to school, went inside and sat outside our classroom. Most of the other kids came and sat outside with us. When the break was over, our teacher came to the class and let us in. We had 2 periods of English... We finally got our tests back, but not until she had finished talking forever and showing us a magazine to learn English with. We all got our tests back, one by one after speaking to here about it first. I got 11 points out of 15 in my grammar, only because I wrote like I speak, dropping a few 'had's' here and there. Then I got 15 points out of 15 on my text that I wrote, this ended up being 14 points overall. I can speak English, good to know. She spent the rest of the class explaining how to write a charactisation and everything, then asked me if we go through things so thoroughly in Australia... I said we don't, because we don't. Class was over and we spent the break in the classroom.

We had 2 periods of Religion after that and our teacher brought in some books and then we just spoke for the whole lesson. We ended up only having one period of Religion and then I walked to a different bus stop and caught the bus to the Hauptbahnhof. Julia and I were planning on catching the train home, but the bus came sooner. We caught it and walked home. I spent time at home after that, we had something to eat when I got home... It would be good if I could remember what it was. Julia had training quite early, at 4.30pm becuase we had to go out afterwards. In the mean time, I sat and knitted, then had something to eat before getting ready to go out.

I got ready and Julia's dad and I started driving to pick up both Hannah and Julia from training. 5 minutes into the drive, we got a phone calls telling us we could come in an hour, so we drove all the way back and waited around. After a bit, we got back in the car and Julia's dad drove me to Kirchhain where Julia already was. We were going the New year presentations for the city of Kirchhain. Julia's runs trains in the city and is extremely good, so was invited, I was a plus one. There were a lot of politicians there, the major of the city, the newspaper and then more people who were getting awards and so on. After so many thank you's and then a few speeches, Julia got called up to the stage and got given a children's book... The rest of the people on our table got called up because they all had to do with athletes, until I was left alone... That was fun. Everyone sat back down and a lot more people got called up because they were German champions of something, or had donated blood 100 times... It seriously went on forever, but there was music everyone so often, so that made it bareable. At the end, we got something to eat and then Julia's mum picked us up.

We got home at about 10.30pm and I watched some of the movie Perfume with Julia's dad, then we all when to bed after 11.30pm.

Wednesdays with spiders.

Today Julia and I had a lovely sleep in until about 10am, but we both woke up a bit earlier. We had to hurry a little bit, especially when making food to take to school. we put everything in our bags and left. We walked to the train station and still had time before the train came. We sat on the train and then an inspector came around and checked our tickets. In the progress of getting her ticket out, Julia's chips fell on the ground and it was a whole lot of fun after that.

We finally got off the train at Marburg and decided the catch the bus to school. It took while to get there. We walked to school and went straight upstairs to the classroom and waited until the French class that was in there to leave. We sat in the room for the break and talked until our History teacher came. She talked for a while and then two girls had to present projects to the class. It took a while to set up the computer, but then we heard about Otto the third... I really just know he became a King at the age of 3... And then another about women in the middle ages. They were good and we ended up going over time and were slightly late for Chemistry.

We took the lift down to the bottom level and walked to the Science rooms. We sat down in the classroom and our teacher handed out forms about a trip we are going on, on Monday. He spoke about it some more and then he ended up demonstrating a battery cell with Copper and other elements... Zinc? Everyone wrote down some theory from the board and then we were finished.

After school, I walked and caught the bus with Julia and some kids from our class. Julia got off the bus earlier becuase she still have 2 periods of school and I stayed on the bus and went to the train station. I was planning on catching the bus to Bürgeln, but I went and bought something to eat and then realised there was a train, so I walked quickly to the platform and got on it just before it left. When I got off the train, I saw Felix and ended up walking home with him.

When I got home, we ate basically straight away. We had sausages made by our neighbour and then potato pasta and normal pasta. I did things around the house for a while, whilst Paul did his homework and then Julia got home from school. Julia's mum and a friend decided to go jogging, so I went with them and rode a bike, because I seriously annot run/jog, anything faster than walking. That took a while and we ended up getting home around 4.30pm...

I got changed and then went downstairs and started reading a German book that I bought the other day. I checked all the words in my dictionary, but didn't get too far before I went out again. I drove with Julia and her dad to OBI... Firstly, we parked in a spot that was not at all a parking spot... THEN, I didn't realise that they had animals last time I was there. Julia and I went too look at the guinea pigs and rabbits, then the mice and rats. We got to the birds and then the turtles... Then Julia was like, Oh Taiga, don't look at that. Of course I look and BAM! Massive spider right there. I end up running away in complete shock and find Julia's dad and hide. I felt so sick and itchy too... Julia and I ended up chasing each other around the store until there was a man in the way...

We found what Julia's dad was looking for and then went to the next level to get some other things. At this time, I was still in shock and felt sick. We got what we needed and walked to the lift and went downstairs to the plants. Julia and I looked at the cactus' and then the water fountains. Julia's dad got a phone call about the car they are trying to sell. The awkward thing is the colour and the fact that it's orange... When the man on the othe end asked what the colour was, he pretending he didn't know and asked Julia and I. We decided on an orange/red sort of colour... In the mean time, Julia found a little spider on the floor and decided to blow it in my direction, I ran away.

I sat on a pile of doormats while Julia and her dad went to check out the spider that freaked me out so much. Afterwards, we went got in line to pay for everything. Julia got us all lighter that we thought might be free, they didn't end up being free, but Julia dad bought them all anyway to avoid awkwardness... When we got outside, we realised that we were charged the wrong price for something, Julia's dad didn't mind, but Julia marched back inside. Julia's dad and I waited in the car for Julia to come out in handcuffs... But she walked out with the biggest smile on her face and 6€ in her hand.

We drove home and went inside. There was a massive truck that got stuck in the crossing and we just sat there watching for a while until the driver got the truck out. It was quite hilarious, during that, there was a drunk man walking around talking to the people in cars that were waiting for the truck to move... We got a phone call from Claude and I walked over with my socks to learn how to actually finish my sock off. I spent about an hour there and finally finished one sock. I went home after 8pm and sat down and had dinner.

I had a shower andwent to bed at about 11pm.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain.

Another early waked up to begin to day, I was feeling very lazy and I was half asleep when I got dressed. I still had time for breakfast and everything, then we went and walked to the train station. We caught the train with some other girls and then ended up being lazy, once again and cathcing the bus to school. We still had to walk a bit to school anyway. Julia and I waited in the main area until the doors opened then walked up all of the stairs and sat ourselves outside of the classroom.

Slowly everyone came and then our tiny, evil looking History teacher came and we began the class. She was angry about someone not being in class to do their presentation and then she just ended up talking and made everyone read about the Pope in their History books. It was over quite quickly and then we had one periods of Maths. We got handouts with instructions and everyone had to do the work she gave us. Near the end of the lesson, she gave us a sheet with a graph and we had to describe it, so that a blind person would be able to understand it. I followed along and then wrote down what was left on the board.

We had a 20 minute break and I ate my sandwich and started re-writing the instructions to knit socks, because I'm scared of forgetting what to do. I finished and our teacher came in for two periods of German. We talked for a while, she had to explain to the class waht to do for one of their presentations and then we started the class properly. A few people read through their short story and then we spent time giving them feedback. I found it really interesting to see how people like things to be written and what they offered as advice. We got through 4 stories and then the class was over.

We went downstairs and I waited with some classmates until the door to the sports ares was finally opened, then we went inside and got changed. After a bit, we went into the sports hall and began sport. We were playing badminton and Julia and I had brought rackets from home. At first a few of us stood in a giant circle and just hit it back anf forth, finally she got us to sit down and we had to talk through a little bit of theory, then we started playing. We did small exercises together for quite a while and then ended up doing a round robin type of thing, which didn't end up working and everyone had to move randomly... She also tried to speak English to me during the class and I found it hilarious. After the round robin, our class was finished and so was school for the day. I got changed and then went into the city with Lena from my class.

We caught the bus to Salädchen, the best salad place in the world and sat down to eat there. It was reall busy and the place is small, but we took our time. We finally said goodbye and Lena went to the bus stop, I had time before my train came... (so I thought) So I went shopping and bought some presents. I went to multiple bookshops and finally bought most of my gifts... Then I went to the toy store, becuase there was something I could only get there that I wanted. I ended up walking around the whole shop and looked at everything. It was really cool, so much stuff! I found what I need, but only after asking... Along the way I had collected little gifts that I wanted to buy. I got Paul a straw with his favourite cartoon character on it and then Julia's mum a little pug toy becuase she thinks they're hilarious. I finall got out of there and headed to the train station, I didn't have long at all to get there...

I ended up getting distracted by another shop and going in and buying some christmas decorations. The man infront of me took forever, wanting his little rabbit figures gift wrapped... Finally, I made my way to the lifts to get down to the ground... The shops are up reall high, on a giant hill. I ended uü walking most of the way and then catching the lift. I then had to try to find a bus stop I could get to, this was with 10 minutes until my train. It's weird and complicated because there are one way streets everywhere and because the roads are the other way around, I have no hope. I walked back to the movies and then got to where I knew I wouldn't get lost. The bus took ages to come and then I realised I had missed my train.

I got off the bus early and took this chance to go to Rossmann's and buy some stuff I needed. It was raining at this stage too. I slowly heaed back , by foot to the train station and waiting inside the door until the bus came. I went outside and got on it, caught it correctly and then walked home. When I got home, I showed Julia's mum and everyone what I had bought, then I gave them their gifts. Paul liked his straw and he put it to use straight away whilst doing homework. Julia's mum couldn't stop laughing about her pug.

I sat with Paul and tried to help with his homework, I also did some sock knitting. When Paul was finished with his homework, we loaded into the car, Hannah, Paul, Julia's mum and I. We drove into Marburg and dropped off Hannah's resume to a baker for work experience. We drove back a bit and went to Tegut, the supermarket. We wandered around, Hannah and I ended up playing with soft toys and it didn't end well... It was fun though. We got meat from the deli and Paul got a piece of cold meat, like all little kids. I said that I wnted one too, but quietly and the lady heard me anyway. Hannah and I both ended up getting meat too. :)

We finished up the shopping and drove into Cölbe to buy some stationary for school. We drove home and I walked to the post box to post a letter for Julia's mum. I noticed that the moon looked cool behind the church, so I went to my room and look some photo out of the window. The strange man across the road opened his door and stood there staring at me... I thought it was weird, so I stopped talking photos and went back downstairs. I did some knitting and then Paul and I chilled out in the lounge. Julia's dad came home and we ended up having something to eat. We had bread with different meats and cheeses. He went back to work and then I knitted while Paul finished his German homework. After he was done, we moved the the lounge to watch Bonanza. I folded the washing with Julia's mum and then relaxed for the rest of the night.

Mondays hurt.

Today, was a Monday. That meant school and a nice early wake up... I got up at 6.30am and chucked on some clothes. I tried to get ready quickly and then go downstairs. I ate breakfast and did all the usual, then got out the door on time and walked to the train station. We caught the train with the girls from our village and then walked to school. Julia and I went straight to school and waited in the main area until the doors open. We were the first people up the stairs and sat outside the classroom. More people from our class came and then eventually our German teacher. We didn't do too much in class, she made us sit in groups of 4 and work through our stories, I got to relax a bit then. The class was only one period and finished quickly. We had a break and then the bell rang, but our always on time maths teacher wasn't there yet. She came in a little bit late and got everyone working on their tasks from last lesson in groups, after of course checking everyone's homework. They had the whole class to do that, then we had a break.

I went downstairs with Julia and we slowly made our way to art. We waited outside the class room and some other people from my class came over and talked to me. We all went in when our teacher got there, but lots of the class were away. Our teacher started talking and trying to organise a trip to the Art gallery in Marburg with the class. We eventually all decided on a date and time to be there. He put up a painting my Carravaggio and made us all talk about it and describe it, after a while, he made us get out paper and draw an outline of the figures in the painting. We got a while to do that and talked while we were doing it. After we were finished, we talked more about the lighting in the painting and then he gave us sheets with the outline already drawn and we had to shade the darker parts in. The class finished while we were doing that and we got it as homework.

I walked to the bus stop with Julia and some girls from our class. We all caught the bus and went to Ahrens to look at school folders. Julia and I left to catch our bus before anyone had decided on what to get. We caught the bus to the train station and then sat in the photobooths, waiting for about 10 minutes. We walked to our platform and then met one of the boys from our village. We caught the train together and then walked home.

When Julia and I got home, it was quite early, so we relaxed a bit and then Julia and I made pizza baguettes for our first lunch, then she got her laptop and forced me to go on because I could talk to my friends in Australia. We ate lots of mandarians and then we used skype to talk to one of my friends in Australia. The whole family met Steph and we talked for a little while. I was shocked by her accent and couldn't stop laughing for ages. We fniished our conversation when it was time to eat. We ate Julia's oma's soup that she had made us the day before... It wasn't so nice and we didn't end up eating much. We all decided that there much be some strange amount of lemon juice in the soup, but later on we found out that it had just gone sour. We all ate yoghurt to fill ourselves up a bit. I sat on the couch with Julia's mum. I got ready to go exercising, but Julia's mum and I went to Claude's first to learn how to knit the rest of a sock. We drank coffee and I learn quite a bit, then Julaia came and got me so I could go bike riding while Julia ran.

We met with two kids from our village, Svenja and Felix. Svenja and I rode bikes, while Felix and Julai ran. We had fun and ended up doing two laps of the village before eventually getting home. I went straight to Claude's after getting changed and brought her over some Tim Tams. I sat with her daughter and did some knitting while she made butteflies, then Claude came and showed me all the steps to knit. I wrote down everything and it took a while to learn it all. We finished the heel of one sock and then I went home to try it myself.

We had dinner first, which was just bread and then I continued knitting and finally finished the heel of my sock. I had a shower and then went to bed after 11pm.

More Athletes Competitions.

This morning, I got a bit of a sleep in and woke up around 10am. I wondered around the house for a bit while everyone was slowly waking up. I sat in the kitchen for a bit while Julia's dad drove to get us bread for breakfast. Hannah came home from church and we all sat down and ate together. After breakfast, we all juct relaxed and I ended up doing some knitting, I probably did something a little more productive too, but I really can't remember what it was.

At about 12.15pm, Julia's dad, Julia and I loaded into the car to drive to an Hessen championship athletes competition. We dorve to pick up Julia's aunty and her partner and then into Marburg to pick up Julia's oma. Then we started driving to Frankfurt, to the competition. It took about an hour to get there, so it was 1.30pm when we got there. We all sat down and watched the high jump, pole vault and lots of sprint. Julia had to run at 3pm, and before her were the 200m and the 400m. Eventually, just before 3pm, she got up and went onto the track. She had already warmed up. She was in the 2nd race, they had already run the first na dthe times were a lot slower than Julia's normal times. She had to share a track with a girl from the frist 50m and that made it really hard. She tried hard to overtake the girls, but couldn't get there and was cut off. She ended up coming in 4th, with a really slow time that she runs in training. She was pissed off, but it was okay.

We left after Julia had gotten her certificate and cooled down. Julia's trainer said goodbye to me, even though I realised a bit later that we were going to see each other on Thursday. We walked to the car, eating chocolate and Julia said that we were going to drive straight to McDonald's and she was going to get fat. Later she decided that she'll run every day this week. We drove home and dropped everyone off on the way home. When we got home, we made something to eat. We got out all the bread and mad ourselves a late lunch. Julia's mum started making dinner and I helped her. She was making pig's stomach, not the actual organ... Stuffed with bacon onion, cheese and flour. Then on the side, pasta and salad. I was a bit creeped out by the meat becuase it had hair on it still, but when it was ready, it tasted good.

After dinner, we sat in the lounge room and watched Bonanza for abit until Paul went to bed, then I knitted and watched the weekly German crime show with Julia's parents. We all decided to go to bed early because we were so tired.

Erfurt!

Today, we all woke up at about 8am to go to Erfurt. Only Julia's parents, Hannah and I went along. We came downstairs and ate something for breakfast before leaving for Erfurt. We got everything ready and then got in the car. It was about a 2.5 hour trip to Erfurt, but Julia's dad drove quickly and we got there a bit faster. We parked and put enough money in the meter for 2 hours. We started walking through the city and when through a small walkway which led to all of these cite little shops that were on a bridge. We walked around and looked in the shops, then stopped for coffee at a little place that sold meats and mustard. There was a mustard there with beer in it and they suggested that I try it, so I did. It was actually spicy and did not taste anything like beer. We ordered coffees and then left after a bit.

We got off the bridge and ended up walking through what used to be a Fish market place. There were aome really pretty buildings there and also an art gallery that we ended up going to. We went in and looked around. It was all modern art, there were some reall cool graphics and then some stuff that was weird... Then we found a hilarious video involving black balloons and popping them in strange way. We all watched it for ages, we kept walking away and then coming back. I think I should really try to buy it on DVD. We walked through the rest of the gallery and then left.

We walked further and went into some shops, then got to a giant opening where there was also a market on. Julia's parents got something to eat and then we saw a nice place where you can buy horse meat... Behind the market place was a huge Catholic Church.

We walked up to the Church and wanted to go up to the viewing deck, but it isn't open in Winter. We ended up going inside and looking around. It was built in the year 728... So it was all really old and pretty.

We went around the back of the Church and looked around and then went to find the bathroom. We ended up seeing a huge hill in the distance and crossed the rode and walked up it to see what it was. It ended up being all old Miltary buildings from the Stasi, the German secret Police from the War. We walked around, looked at the view and then walked back down the hill.

We walked back the way we came and went all the way back to the Fish market place. Hannah and I got Döners to eat for lunch and then we sat on a bridge and ate them together.

We walked further and went in the direction of H&M and then Julia's parents went to drink coffee while we looked around. A bit later, we met up again and walked around a little more.

Eventually we started walking all the way back and went to the car. We stopped at one little shop on the way and there was a set of really, reeeeally nice old, run down building opposite it. They had some really cool graffiti on them too, which I took closer photos of.

We walked back to the car, by this time it was 3.20pm and our parking ticket ran out over 2 hours ago... We didn't get a ticket though, so it was fine and we started driving home. Hannah and I slept most of the way and I listened to the normal radio. We made one stop off on the way to a little village with a street named, 'Merbachgasse', which is their family name. We took a photo, Julia's dad was hoping there was some sort of normal street sign that wpuld be easy to take home with us, but the sign was bolted to someone's house.

We kept driving and got home in about 2 hours. Only Julia was home and Julia's mum went to pick up Paul, she gave us a list of things to cook for dinner. I had a super quick shower and went and hung out with Julia and Hannah. We ended up skyping with Molly and then brought the computer down into the kitchen, still with skype on while we started cooking. We had to boil eggs and cook potatoes, then make a sauce with herbs, cream and egg. The potatoes took age to cook and we didn't eat until after 9pm. We were still skyping with Molly and said goodbye basically when dinner was ready.

We ate dinner together and the herbs in the sauce weren't cut small enough, so everyone was choking on it. They all decided to tell me about a TV show that would be on tonight, it involved my least favourite animal, spiders and eating them. It started to put me off my food... Julia started telling stories and at the beginning of one that I found hilarious, I took a sip on juice... Really not good timing. The mixture of about to die laughing and choking on juice and parsley did not end well for me and yes... I ended up throwing up in the sink. What a lovely night. We all laughed for about 10 minute at what just happened and I collapsed on the floor for a while.

After all of that, we ended up going into the lounge room and watching Bonanza until everyone was tried enough to go to bed.

Friday and Sushi.

Today was a lovely full day of school. I had to wake up at 6.20am, the norm and get ready for school. I was extra quick and came downstairs to eat breakfast. We caught the train to school and met our friends at the train station. We got off the train and walked to school together. I walked straight to school and ended up meeting up with another exchange student from China and then some class mates.

We had biology first period and walked over to the classroom when the bell rang. Our teacher talked through some more stuff about cells and then showed us a video. She gave everyone there marks for the subject and then gave us some worksheets to start and talk through. That lesson was over quite soon and then We had to walk back to the main building to German.

We took the lift up and went to class. We had an older man watching our lesson and I think he was examining how the class was run, so we did some weird exercises talking about the short stories that everyone had to write for the class. We sat down and talked a lot, everyone had to try to cut down their stories and then comment and how they found it. This class was also over fairly soon and we had our 20 minute break.

Next, we had two periods of Maths. She gave us all handouts and let us work on them. She talked to everyone about their marks for sport as well. I did the worksheet she gave us, because I learnt the same stuff last year in Australia. Everyone got the rest of the lesson to try and finish their exericses so that they had no homework. After the two periods, we had another 20 minute break and then English.

Our English teacher hadn't marked our tests yet because she was 'busy'. This meant that she wasn't able to give anyone back their proper marks. She gave us a quote, asked me to translate some words that I had no idea what they even meant in English and then made us write a commentary about it... While we were doing that, she talked to everyone about their verbal marks outside. Everyone was really angry about their marks, I waited behind with some of my classmates to get their marks as well. We caught the lift down to the bottom level and then walked to Physics, which ended up being nothing because we just sat there while our teacher talked to everyone about their marks.

After school, I walked to the bus stop and caught a bus into the middle of Marburg. I got something small to eat and then went present shopping and to Rossmann's. I love Rossmann's and all of their cute little creams and stuff. I went back to the bus stop and caught a bus to the train station. I was a bit worried that I would end up missing my bus, but I even had enough time to walk into the Newsagency.

I caught the bus to Bürgeln and walked home. Leon, a family friend was over. They had already eaten lunch, but I ate when I got home. We had carrott soup and decided it was the colour of the car that the family is trying to sell, but only when mixed with cream. We sat around a bit and then both Leon and Hannah went horse riding. While they did that, the rest of us went over to the horse stalls and unloaded a whole horse carrier trailer full on straw. Paul and one of his friends had fun jumped all over it and then throwing it down to us, to bring it to the back room of the stall. When we were finished, we left Julia's mum there to finish everything and the rest of us drove into the next village, Betszies dorf and return the trailer to another family friend. We sat inside and had something to drink and talked a bit. This particular man loves animals, and he also supplies the family with their duck for Christmas dinner. He has a lot of horses, birds, cows and so on.

We said goodbye and got back in the car, then decided to drive into Kirchhain and see if another man, that they buy their potatoes from was there. He was and we got over 30 kilos of potatoes and loaded them into the car. The man grow all of the potatoes himself and also has a lot of pigs... When everything was done, we drove back home. Julia was at riding then and everyone else was home. We sat down and ate some cherry cake together that Julia's mum had made. We sat down, talking and then played a few games of UNO. When Julia got home from riding, we had to get ready to go out. Leon was still at the house and while Julia and I were gone, Paul went home with his family.

Julia and I met our friends at the train station and went into the city. We caught a bus and got off at the movies. We sat and waited for another one of our friends and then walked around a bit. Our plan was to go and eat sushi. We stood outside the restuarant for a while and then decided to go inside. It was really quiet and none of the others had had sushi before. We picked the most normal thing sthere and then had to ask the man there was something was. One of the girl's understood that there was 'Hundfleisch' in the sushi, which means dog meat. The man reall had said, 'Thunfisch', which is Tuna. It was quite interesting... We paid and left.

We then walked to the REWE supermarket because Julia wanted something to drink, we all ended up buying ice cream... Even though it's Winter. We walked back to near the movies and said hello to some more of our friends that we near there. We caught the lift up to the Überstadt and then tried to find a bar or something to sit in that wasn't full. We didn't find anywhere and ended up doing quite a bit of walking. We retraced our steps and went back to near the movies to Hugo's. It was also reall full, but people had just left and we got a table. We sat and talked for quite a while. Some other kids from our school came over and talked to us for a bit, but soon left. We ordered some drinks and food. One of the girls left to go home and then we sat for another 30 minutes or so. We went out to see if a bus to get home was there, but at night they are only little, tiny buses and it was full. We walked to the other side of the road and met with another girl from school, We called a taxi and soon enough, it came. We got driven into Bürgeln and decided to stop at the Kindergarten, between everyone's houses. Julia and I walked home and went to bed after 12am.

Minimal school is the best.

My sleep in was wonderful this morning, even though I decided to wake up at 9am to shower anyway. I had my lovely warm shower, go all my things ready for school and went downstairs, still with about an hour before I had to leave for the train. I made myself some breakfast and sat at the table relaxing. Julia's dad was sitting with me and we talked for a while until Julia's mum came home and then I helped her put away all of the grocery shopping before hurrying to the train. Julai was already at school, but I had the first 4 periods free becuase both my politics and english teachers were away. I caughte the train to school and then walked from the train station. I went and checked the class timetables in the main area and then found some of the kids in my class and sat with them until the break began.

When the break began, we walked upstairs and I went into my classroom. Julia was already there and I few other people too. The class soon filled up, our Religion teacher came in and then break was over. Our teacher passed around different objects from Eygpt anf people had to talk about them as they went around. Then she gave us a hand out sheet about teh Coptic Orthodox Church... I had no idea what that was before, but it is the largest Christian Church in Eygpt. The head of the Church is co0ming to the school in Febuary, so she decided to inform us. She also took everyone out of the class during the lesson and talked to them about their marks.

After 90 minutes of school, I got to leave and go home. Julia and I walked to the train station and then met one of our friends there. We caught the train together, met some more friends on the train and then walked home. As soon as we got home, we ate together. Hannah wasn't there, but we had pasta with vegetables and then yoghurt with berries for dessert. Julia's mum went to pick up Hannah and the rest of us hung around home. We watched TV for a little bit and I did some knitting. When Hannah and Julia's mum came home, we talked a bit and sat together, then Julia's oma came to pick me up to go frame shopping.

Hannah got driven to training, then we left to go near Maburg to OBI and buy a frame for the Christmas present Julia's Oma got me. We looked through all of the frames and finally decided on a nice dark wooden one. We paid and walked back to the car, then drove home. She dropped me off and I put my art work in it's frame.

Paul got home from Karate when I got home, and we played inside together for a while. Julia's mum got home from taking Hannah to training, Julia left for training... (It's all a bit busy...) Then we watched some TV together. I went with Julia's dad to buy drinks, so we loaded up the car with empty bottles and drove into Cölbe. The car ride was quite funny becuase of the narrow streets in the village, cars always get stuck and have to reverse. We bought all of the drinks and put them back into the car and drove home.

When we got home, Julia's parents went to feed the horses and I played with Paul. We got a call from Hannah and I had to run over to the horses to tell Julia's mum when to pick her up. She went to pick up Julia and Hannah, then the rest of us watched Bonanza together. I got the table set and all of food out for dinner, so we could eat when everyone got home. We finished watching the episode of Bonanza and then sat at the table together to eat. I got to have some yummy leberwurst, then I spent a while talking to Julia's parents about the cost of living in Germany and Australia. It's always an interesting topic, petrol is expensive, but food is cheap compared to Australia. It's good topic to talk about. Hannah tried to decide on a new piano teacher, and then we all listened to her play paino for a while.

Paul went to bed and eventually, so did everyone else.