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.

Ouch...

Julia and I woke up at 9am becuase we were planning on going into Marburg. We got ready and hurried to the train station. Julia had to run back because she forgot her scarf, but we had plenty of time. We caught the train at 9.40am and then got a bus to where we wanted to go.

Julia and I walked around, bought some things. I needed new socks too, then Julia spent some of her Christmas money on a new bag. We walked through the Überstadt, which is just a whole lots of shops on a hill. We walked around some more and then after a bit, Julia had to go back to the train station to go to training. I stayed in the city and walked around and did some shopping.

I had to buy Julia's birthday present, so I got shopping and found her a nice charm for her necklace. I also ended up buying some small gifts for friends back in Australia. Julia mum suggested that I go to the University Museum while I had time, so I caught the bus past and checked if it was open. I saw the gates open, so I walked in. It costed 3€ to go in and I was the only person there... It was really awkward which all of the security guards following me around the whole time. A lot of the museum was closed off because of renvatiosn or something, but there was some really nice painting in there. The majority were quite old, 1600-1900, but there were a few modern pieces too.

I had time, and I thought I might as well go to the Marburg art gallery and see the exhibtion. The gallery is really nice and quite small. I walked around, noting the artist's names. There was a modern art exhibition on and it was really interesting. There were only 2 other older men in the gallery at the time.

After that, I caught the bus back to the main train station, but I had to wait half an hour for my bus. I got something to eat, slowly looked at art magazines and then waited outside. The bus driver was extremely mean and angry, he yelled at multiple people...

I walked home from the bus stop and only Julia's dad was home. He informed me about the flooding in Queensland and that it was the size of Germany and France together... He left soon after to go to work and sat at home, writing. Julia came home after and we sat around the house. One of our family friends rang up and aksed if I wanted to go wool shopping later on as well.

Then interesting things happened within the next 10 minutes... I slid on the wooden floor and happened to slide over the one bit of the floor that was broken. I got a massive splinter in my foot, through thick socks and stockings. It was luckily easy to pull out... Then I sat on the couch and Julia came with. She brought Coke over and pured it out into a glass, then she decided to throw a shoe at me... The shoe hit the glass, coke went afterwhere. We lost the glass under the couch and tried to clean up, then I moved the Lego airport and it broke while I was walked... I had to fix it before Paul killed me.

After cleaning up, Claude came over to pick me up to go wool shopping. We drove into Wetter and to the shop. We spent a while picking out wool and they couldn't find some of what we needed, so it was slow. We didn't spend too much money this time and then went to another Patchwork shop on the way home. The shop was in an old house and it was really sweet. The lady there was nice and helpful.

We drove home and I got back to the house at about 6pm. Julia and Paul were both home and soon after I got there, we went to feed the horses. That was also eventful... There is a lot of ice near the entarance of the horse stalls. Just as Julia said, 'Be careful, it's slippery', there I was on the ground... It hurt. But the three of us fed the horses and cleaned their stalls and went home.

Julia and I had to leave it about an hour, so we hurried and got dressed. Julia's mum had to work the whole day, so she got home after 7pm with Döners... Yum. We ate quickly, then Julia got ready and we left to catch the train at around 7.40pm into Marburg. Julia and I caught the bus into near the movies, we bumped into one of the girls in our class. We got to the movies and met up with the rest of the girls in our class. We waited for a while and then went to get something to eat and drink. We went to a pub/restuarant and sat for a pick. We also went back to the movies to pick up our tickets and then to the supermarket.

The thing we were going to at the movies is where you only pay 4€ and you don't know what movie you are going to see. We went in and sat down, watched 30 minutes of ads and then it started. The movies are always ones that haven't come out yet, or are just coming out. It ended up being the movie, Devil. It was a horror movie, but I thought it was quite good. The movie was quite short and we all went downstairs to say goodbye.

It was past 12am and it was Julia's birthday. We all sang her Happy Birthday and gave her chocolates and champagne. Julia and I got a lift home with one of the girls in the class and got home at about 1.15am.

I ended up cleaning my room and folding up all of my clothes, then getting to sleep after 2am.

More schoooooooooool.

This morning was a usual Monday, woke up really early and went to school when it was still dark. We caught the train to school and it was -6 degrees when we left. We sat in the main area and waited for the doors to open with some friends. When they finally opened, we walked upstairs and sat outside our classroom. We had german first period and our teacher spoke to the class about the test that they have on Monday. The class was short, only 45 minutes because it was a single period.

Afterwards, we had Maths and the class learnt new work, even though they had their test later in the day. I could understand what the class was doing because I did it class term in school. :)

During that class I also came to the conclusion that even though everyone seems to think Australian school is a lot easier, it isn't. In Germany they have 45 minute class, the only end up doing one small activity each class and they get time to work on it. Then a lot of the classes they only have once a week and get the whole week to do any homework set. I guess they do have a lot more subjects, double actually but they seem to got do much in them...
Also, in subjects like maths, they get tested so small sections at a time, but in Australia we have to learn the entire topic and then get tested on it... So we have to know it all at once.
Maybe that is why it is hard though... They don't get enought time to leanr what they have to. Also, the teachers aren't as helpful and kind as in Australia.

We had a 20 minute break and then slowly walked to our art class. I found art to be so strange in Germany. I haven't had a teacher tell me what to do exactly since I was little. The teacher tell you directly what to do. Molly and I had finished Molly's painting last lesson, so the teacher gave us another activity to do. The people that had finished had to move to the back of the classroom and he gave us all paper... He got one of the students to model on one of the tables and we had to draw them in greylead pencil. Then he asked Molly to model and then another exchange student.

After that, he made us paint another 3 models, during all of these drawings we had a set ime limit. It reminded me of my life drawing class, except the models had clothes on... I gave up on painting the figures because the brush I was using was huuuuge and just ended up drawing.

That was the last class of the day for Molly and I because Julia had a maths test for two periods. We finished school at 11.25am and then caught the bus back to the main train station... We decided to catch the train back home because it was quicker.

Molly and I were the first ones home, so we decided to make ourselves something to eat and then watch Pirates of the Carribean in German. We sat on the couch and watched it, Julia's parents came home and we ate leftovers from last night with vegetables for lunch.
Molly and I went back and finished watching the movie and then ended up falling asleep...

We both woke up later on and I sat on the stairs with Julia's dog, Miak. I helped tidy up the basement, where the family keep all the shoes and drinks.

Julia's mum and I went into the next village, Cölbe and we went to pick up an advent gift for Julia's dad, then to the bakery and butcher. We ended up at the Rewe supermarket where they have a drink supermarket... It is like a bottle shop, excpet they have every type of drink. We brought back the old bottles and got our money back for them and got more drinks.

We drove home and through this little villages, Bernsdorf. There are only about 6 houses in the whole village, it is really sweet. I have also been seeing signs about Cölbe being the direct mid point of the European Union... Let's just hope I am understadning the signs correctly.

We ended up watching Mama Mia, the songs have subtitles in German and the translation is amusing. We watched Bonanza too.

For dinner we had the bread and meat that I bought with Julia's mum and I helped Julia set the table and cut up some vegetables. Julia remembered that I loved avocado from when she was in Australia, so the family bought me some. :)

We watched some more Bonanza and Monday night is 'Bauer sucht Frau' night, so we got to watch all the German farmers on that too.

Here is a photo of Miak and then a photo from out of the kitchen window... The firemen were doing something right outside the house. We are not sure what though...

Tomorrow is my advent day! Hopefully I will take more photos tomorrow, I really didn't get the chance to take any today...