Frosty der Deutscher Schneeman von Niedergebisbach

Er war von Kari gemacht.

Alles gute zum mein Geburtstag

Photos: The front of the house this mornign, then outside my window the birhtday snowman, then me on friday also outside my window.

Well, here's the update. We have over 2 feet of snow so far, and it hasn'e let up for the last day and a half. I go to school late on Tuesday's, and I get up and look out my window and there is a happy little snow man looking at me wishing me a happy birthday, compliments of Stefanie. So after I finish getting ready, I go upstairs and Stefanie is still here because the bus never came! WOohoo. So she was going to come with me. So we go and guess what, the bus I usually take at 9 never came either. We waited for 20 minutes and then went back home. So I am staying home from school today! On my birthday...only bummer is that I think some friends at school were going to do something for me, and I'm not there. Well thats okay, it can wait until tomorrow. Hopefully I can make it tomorrow. Tonite we are going to the theatre to see Der Nussknacker performed by a Russian ballet. I am looking foward to that, I have never seen a ballet before! Let alone the Nutcracker.

Yesterday I did something sehr super cool after school. I went cross country skiing in the ''back 40'' as American's call it, the land behind the house. I havent been cross country skiing (langlaufen) since I was really little! It was a little hard because all the snow is perfect powder, but then once i got to the top of the hill, i figured I could cruise down. HAH I still had to push with the poles. Well after a few times going over the same trails I made, I could finally go somewhat fast. That was sooo nice. I am sure my trails are covered with half a foot or more of new snow though. Oh well, later I will just make it all over again. woohoo! I am just loving this snow, it is SOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!! I love it, even if it causes problems. Like late or non showing buses. I dont care about that though, because then I get to stay home! And play in the snow yeahh!!! Ok that's all...oh and I head that there is snow in Redding???

7+ hours in the kitchen

Well I made Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We had chicken though...but by the time it made it to the table it didn't look like chicken. I dont really know how to cut chicken into pieces...but neither did the rest of the family. They don't eat chicken that often, and when they do, it's chicken breasts, and usually fried (that's one thing that I really really miss...food baked in the oven. The oven is mostly just used for baking...I only remember one time that a main dish was cooked in the oven...too much grease in the frying pan). Anyway, I was trying to cut it and then Manfred proceeded to take one of those bone meet electric cutter things and just cut right downt he center of the chicken and then Carola just kind shredded it into pieces and put it all on the serving plate. It was funny, but sad, because my beautiful chickens were mangled and torn apart. Oh wel it's just food and its all gone now. I made stuffing too, and that was some darn good stuffing, thanks to a mix of Aunt Kathy's recipe, allrecipes.com, and my own ideas. And then mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole (allrecipes.com), Jello (sugar free from the states...they have jello here, but only about 3 flavors..and no sugar free. I think everyone thought that I made it from scratch, lol, because they kept saying that I have to make it again), rolls (grandmas recipe mmmmm), and a pumpkin pie. I have made this pumpkin pie (same recipe) before and it came out beautifully. BUT because of the lack of fresh pumpkin, and canned pumpkin puree, I had to made due with chunks of pumpkin in a jar in water. I figured it would work, I would just blend them up and it would be the same. So I did that, and then see that they dont have sweetened condensed milk here, just condensed milk. SO then I had to check the internet for the content of sugar in sweetened condensed milk. 40%. ok...I'll just add 40% worth of sugar. Ok did that. The mix doesnt look dark enough. Ok a little more sugar and more nutmeg and cinnamon. Ok it looks ok i guess. Now put it into the pie dish. Stupid pie dish! Not the same as AMerican dishes, too deep. Half of my perfect crust has now caved in over the top of the pie. oh well we are just going to eat it. Ok in the oven. 15 minutes later I add the topping. 45 minutes and it should be done. 45 mintes later...well thats definitely not set. ok a little longer...and longer... ok it should be set by now. if i wait any longer the walnuts in the topping will be charcoal. oh good, its cooled and not shaking, althought it looks like its deflated. hmmm ok time to eat it now. cut cut cut, slice. well that definitely doesnt look or feel like pumpkin pie. more like mushy chunky slightly dipping pumpkin baby food. oh well too late now to cook any longer. put it on the plate. not pretty like normal pumpkin pie. the only thing that made it taste partially good, in my opinion, is the topping. everyone else liked it, or said they did. well they ate it, although didnt go for seconds, like normal with everything else i have made. i wasnt happy with it at all. i am on a mission to find real pumkin...and i saw a recipe on the internet that uses melted ice cream rather than sweetened condensed milk. and i at least know that ice cream has sugar in it. so i will try that one. it had a lot of 5 star ratings. so thats my plan.

It snowed another few inches last night. I just love it. Its so pretty but sooo cold! The other night around 9pm it was -12°C....that's 10.4 F- and the daytime temp hovers around 0°C. But thats good because it means the snow isnt melting. Its snowing right now too. Melanie, last night I ate some snow for you. I just finished taking a shower and opened the window to let the fog out and scooped some fresh fallen snow off of the window sill and ate it for you. I love the sound too. When it is dead quiet, but you can just hear it all falling and landing on the ground and in the trees, etc. I even when trotting around in the snow covering the lawn outside my room before I showed. in a tank top and shorts and even rolled in it...it was dark and cold and snowing but fun!!!! muhuhauhauha

Guess who woke up this morning to 8''+ of WHITE FLUFFY SNOW??

ME!!!! Apparently the weather people were predicting a lot of snow today...and they were right. Going to bed last night I hoped for snow, and sure enough, it came. I woke up (late...turned my alarm clock off. how typical of me), and Stefi told me to look outside. And all was white!! Well dark too, but WHITE! It was like Christmas or something. So I went and ate and rushedly got ready and then we walked down to the bus stop. Had to link arms to support each other as adidas samba indoor soccer shoes aren't made for the snow. It was so fun though! I walked outside...everything was dark, but perfectly covered in soft, dry, light, smooth snow. And then a gust of wind comes and lifts up a bunch of powder off the roof and blows right into my face and half open jacket...hadnt fully buttoned it yet and was still wrapping my scarf around my neck. The bus was 20 minutes late and then school was hard staying awake. I sleep more but still always seem to be so tired. Maybe it's becasue the classroom was perfectly quiet. Well even in the other classes that werent quiet....

Anyway. Came home and so after eating I put on my snow pants and jacket and got my camera and went picture taking. Stefi was walking the horses around and Manfred was blowing snow off the street and driveway with their way cool high tech snow-sucker-upper-blower-thing-machine. Anyway it looks expensive. hehehe And Carola was baking Linzer Torte (German cake thing. its good. mmmmm) And then I saw Stefanie with the horses and after we put them back went on an adventure to attempt sledding with the only sort-of-sled thing they had. Well I dont know if you could call it a sled...its just made for a butt to sit on. Well it didnt work as the hill wasnt steep enough we'd already trekked far enough up hill in the snow...so I just proceeded to make fun of the hill and did summer saults all the way down. I love the snow!!!!In some places there is as much as a foot. And there was snow in Säckingen too, but only a few inches. OK well I gotta go. I'm going ice skating tonite! AHHHHH Never done that before....that just means I will have a very bruised butt tomorrow! Tschüss!

this is not Redding weather

Last night I had soccer practice. And the field was frozen...now who can say they have played soccer or any other sport, on frozen used-to-be mud??? It was like we were playing on a hartplatz, a dirt field (which are just as common here as grass fields due to the weather), with little pebble. SOmething like 23° F outside. Yeah that's cold, coming from me, from California. I mean, we get cold weather in Redding, but not really cold. And its just the beginning. Average temp in the day is something like -10°C....Somewhere around 10-20F in the day, I believe. And they are predicting an entirely colder winter than before with lots of snow. That good for me, but also bad...because I am already freezing! So theres the weather report.

In other news....For the last week every night I have had dreams in German!!! Not entirely German, but there is German, and also spoken by me!!! That is so exciting!! Ich habe auf Deutsch geträumt! (i dont know if that last word is spelled right...I wrote it from hearing it,....).

And I saw Harry Potter!!! In Basel, Switzerland...very pretty city. It's about half an hour out of Säckingen with a car. The movie rocked, I loved it...havent said that about the first three. But I really enjoyed it. They can finally act. And another aweseom thing.....STARBUCKS!!! IN BASEL!!! SO of course I had to get myself a chai tea latte...and it was kinda expensive...3 to 4 euro...and then I got all my change back in Swiss Francs. Pretty money. Ok I have to go.

und kommt der schnee

Yes, it snowed, but only a little bit. But I got to practice in the snow...that was cool. Then the snow blowed north and it was just darn cold. But Pop, thank you for your corny jokes and responses to what I wrote. But about the window screen thing...they still most definitely have flies and mosquitos. Not as many mosquitos now as it is very cold, but about a month ago a few got into my room and I was attacked...I counted 16 bites on my face. And the flies are big. The swarm around the cows and the horses and the dog. But yes, the German's have their recylcling down...I noticed that right away, and it's excellent...something like it should really be incorporated in the states. The sepparate all their trash...paper, plastic, stuff to throw into the garden (compost), and other trash. such and such things like that. And this morning is clear as a bell. That was upsetting. Oh well, the snow will come again. Really wouldnt be surprised if it came back tonite or tomorrow...the weather here is weird like that. Better go. ciao

SNOW in the forecast

That's right...it's going to snow. It's actually been slushing since I got home an hour ago....but the slush is getting thicker every minute. I am so excited!!!! The forecast is for the next few days snow at 500 meters and up, and we are at 850!!! MUHUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! I cant wait...when it comes, I will take lots of pictures and post them asap!!!! Ok, and I am probably going to go see Harry Potter 4 tomorrow after school!!! In BASEL!!! There is a bigger kino there (theatre), and they are showing it in English with German and French subtitles (I know I know i should see it in German, but its HARRY POTTER!!!! And I want to understand all, and recognize the voices....muhuhauhau!!!)

And here's for my analysis of German things:

They eat a lot of bread. And most is really good. mmmmm. Lunch is the main meal, like dinner in the USA. When everyone is home, everyone eats together and the table is set and all food on the table. They dont really use napkins here. And milk is mostly drank only at breakfast...warm almost always. They think its weird that I drink milk cold. Well its actually hard for me to drink the milk...i hate to say it but i just think its sooooo grosse and it leaves THE worst taste in my mouth. Comes from the cows down the street (haha that sounds funny), but even the store stuff has the taste. The eat lost of cold meets with bread, at breakfast and for a ''sandwhich.'' Like meet for a sandwhich (which is always bought at the market by the kg...never prepackaged...and a lot of time just a big chunk of salmai or fleischkäse (some weird german meat...i think it might be processed and have cheese in it), and then cut it with the meet cutter my family has, as they also do with backery purchased loaves of bread. And they always sepparate the slices of meet with a knife...not your fingers. There is always chocolate around, and 5 days out of the week there is some sort of dessert,....whether is be some german cake or something (anyone ever had the Schwarzwald Kirshe Torte? Black Forest Cake? Ive had it twice so far and I like to call it slightly-sweetened-not-so-chocolatey-SCHNAPPS-cake. It's got A LOT of alcohol in it. wow), or pudding, or a French pastry...pain au chocolat or whatever...theres always something. And over half the milk chocolate and a good portion of the dark chocolate here has hazelnutts in it. Seiously---germany is chocolate, hazelnutts, and beer. there you go, thats Germany. hehehe Then there is Nutella...which is a chocolate hazelnutt cream like peanut butter thats sooooo good!! And they eat it with breakfast...its on the table every morning with the assortment of jams and jellies, honey, butter, etc. Always a lot to eat with your bread. In my case toast. I love toast. with nutella and honey. oh i love it. The toilets flush really loud. Theres a big button you push either on the toilet or on the wall, rather than a little lever to push down. And they use a lot of water. 95% of the windows dont have screens. And they open like doors...all of them. Thats how your circulate air. They have handles that you push down on. And the handles on doors are all the same...no door knobs (it seriously just took me about 30 seconds to think of the word knob...i guess i forgot it...i was wondering if their was a word for the handle that is round and you turn in a circle....) , just handles. And there is no carpet in most homes etc. Hard floors always. They dont put their sandwhiches in bags most of the time. 75% of the time its in a plastic box that clasps and is made for bread size things. Majority of the cars are hatchbacks...they are EVERYWHERE. and they drive really fast. TV is bigger here than internet. At least in this family. BEER. Rothaus. that is Schwarzwald beer. I see more rothaus advertisements and smei trucks than most things here. Kebab...Indian taco-style food with kebab meet and lettuce and sauce. Ive had one so far...VERY VERY VERY GOOD. They dont use the oven that much, most just the frying pan. they eat with the fork in the left hand and knife in the right and scoop food with the knife to the fork. elbows on the table isnt that big of a deal. The mother always cooks the meal...men are more superior. everyone has a cell phone...everyone. (but me). Discoes (as in a dance club, they say disco here) and parties are more popular than chillin out with friends at someones house or going to little shows at the local cafe. Allemanische....the dialect in this area. Completely different from high german...waaayyy different. very similar to the swiss german dialect, which is written as Schwyzer-Dütsch. Like the days of the week in dialekt are completely different from the high german version. Arbitur...big test german secondary students take in the spring of their 13th grade. really big deal...they have stickers on their cars that say ''ABI '06'' Like we have class of 2005 etc. Big deal. well i think thats all i can think of for now. its geting closer to snow too!! ok gotta go...tschüs

ahhh die schweiz ist wunderschön

Mom, I will post another time about interesting comparisons of Germany to the USA. Right now I am just going to post some pictures of yesterday. Hiking in Switzerland with some friends from school. It was sooo cold, but sooo pretty. So the pics from top to bottom: from left to right, Matthias, Andi (they were both on exchange in USA two years ago), me, Julia, and Ben. I had my camera on timer so then i had to run back to make it in time and kinda tripped, so I am leaning back. it was funny heheh. next, pretty view of the apls, then LOOK AT THAT CAR POP!!! Remember me saying you should paint my car zebra stripe??!!! How cool is that??? It was hand done with cheap paint too!! And then there are some more good views....

Feels good to be making friends

Well I tell ya, I knew from the start that people would talk to me if I talked to them. But it was intimidating (even for me), so just talk to near complete stangers, even though i knew most would eagerly talk to me. The maing thing that held me back was that I didnt want to speak in English because I needed to learn German. Finally my German is coming along and I can nearly carry on an entire conversationg, in simple language, in German. Of course, it comes with many breaks where I look to the sky trying to remember a word or have to say it in English (in which case my peers at school always know, because most have had at least 5 or 6 years of English), but nevertheless, I can speak. So since I got back from the HerbstFerien (fall holiday, a week off from school), I started talking to people. They realized that I DO know some German. WOW the exchange student can speak! Many still just automatically say things to me in English, so I tell them, ''Du musst mir Deutsch spechen!! Ich muss lernen, und jeden Tag es ist besser!!'' You must speak german with me! I must learn and every day it is better! Funny thing too, here they often say sorry, not just with me. At first I thought they just said sorry to me because I speak english, but i have since discovered that they say it anyway. I am hopefully going hiking with some friends on Sunday (ironically all past exchange students in the states), in SWITZERLAND. It's about time I go...seeing as that I am right on the border and have only seen the airport, highway, and a grocery store. The sad thing is that many ask me what I do in the evenings. hah. I live too far away to do much. But whatever, right now Im just looking foward to Sunday.

Oh yeah...I have been meaning to mention this for a long time. When people find out I am not just from the states, but from Kalifornien, they are so intrigued. It's like it's a whole other country or something...I say, Ich bin eine Austauschülerin aus Kalifornien, USA, and they say, ahh schön, Kalifornien ist wunderschön!!! And then ask me if I live by the beach and go surfing a lot. Oh, and of course mention Schwarzenegar...or however you spell his name. Er ist dein governor!!! ja, ja, er ist mein governor. lol. Many are surprised to hear that Cali actually has mountains, let alone snow. They seriously think it is all LA orange county beach life. And I say I have snowboarded for 5 years and a very large mountain is only 1 hour 15 minutes away...and they are surpised at that too. Interesting eh. i thought so. Well I lucked out because my deutsch teacher didnt show up today and then it turns out my history teacher isnt here today either, which i didnt know until i sat in the classroom for a little while and no one showed up. There is a list every week showing the teachers that wont be here on which days for which classes, but I only know the names of 3 of my teachers...and I have 7 or 8 or somehting I dont even know. So that makes it a little difficult. oh well tho...I am going to go to the shopping square and scout out a pair of flat heeled black suede (or fake suede) calf-high boots for the winter. muhuhauhaua. i am excited.

la de dah

Nice weahter today....

So i am posting because I know if I don't my brother and father will begin to complain. But there is really nothing to say because I havent really done anything for the last week. (rather boring...this lack of a social life sucks). Saturday I went to a maketfest thing in Görwihl to sell drinks for the fussball club. That was kinda fun and then went to a big concert thing that night but it was just a huge building full of smoke, bad music, and extremely drunk young people. It was alright...but I definitely would rather be with a smaller crowd of people. Oh and we had another soccer game yesterday and lost again. And then the captain quit because she didnt like losing. lol pathetic I'd say.

On the bright side I saw one of the prettiest things I have seen since being here. This morning on the way to school, the sun was rising (since daylight savings its not dark the most of the bus ride now), and we were up on a high point looking south to a valley that was completely filled with white swirling fog nested down inside it and then sillouetted against the slightly pink organge yellow sky were the alps. IT WAS SO PRETTY. they are huge i love looking at them...had a pretty good view on the way home from schoo...but naturally when i go to take a picture the clouds moved in. gah mother nature.

Oh, and Blaine, thanks for the details about the leaves, but again, why do they fall? ANd Pop, what are you talking about with the McRib thing'? Was it cause you always thought it was a cheesy commercial or something?

zwei monaten

Ive been here two months. How cool is that?!! Here's some pictures.... theres a shot taken looking straight up to the top of the Münster before the fog cleared out. ANd another leaf picture. ANd Pop, it is suppose to be unfocussed in the background...so that the focus is on the leaf in the foreground. And yes, thats my car...MY FERRARI: thats the only one ive ever seen in my life and there was a bunch of crazy controls on the inside it was crazy! I think the owner saw me taking pictures of it. But I wasnt the only one...one my my friends and then some other random person also. It was funny. hehehehe

Blaine you really must miss me!!!

Photos from top to bottom: Inside the Cathedral in St. Blasien, the Münster in Ulm, the inside of the Münster, some pretty architecture along the Danube, some leaves on a stone wall with the Danube in the background, and a park area with pretty trees. I hope the order is correct.

And now Blaine, you must feel very proud because you made it into my title, my poor (literally), lonesome, University brother. I take it you are having much fun reading my blog and miss my conversationg...ah my oldest brother misses me...how sweet!!! And I hadn't posted because I wasn't at home. I was in Ulm for the weekend staying with some other exchange students. Ulm is quite a big city (comparison to Bad Säckingen: In Säckingen at the train station there are two lanes...one going east and the other west. In Ulm there are 8 or 10...I hope that makes sense. hehhe). Anyway Friday morning I met with the director of the private school. All went very well and Carola said I spoke very good German, almost no grammatical errors. He said he had a good impression of me, and I am pretty sure I would be going except I probably won't be because it costs €95 a month...which after the year is finished it will be over $1000. Und das ist ein bisschen zu viel für mich zahlen. (too much) On the other hand the school was absolutely gorgeous...the entire inside is all white and marble floors and there are big pillars everywhere and spiral staircases and the church dome was really something to stare at. Wow. And St. Blasien, the town it's in...is down right really really really beautiful. Especially in the fall because the fall here is like nothing I've ever seen before...All the trees are turning colors...Except the pines of course...but the others are all mingled in between and their leaves are orange and yellow and red and pink...its SO PRETTY. I seriously just can't get enough of it. In Redding all you see is a bunch of dead looking oak leaves all over the ground. Here the edges of the roads and trails along the forest are leaves inches deep, and full of color. So anyway...picturesque town right in the Schwarzwald. Well Niedergebisbach is too, but this is even more in it.

Ulm was fun...I visited and climbed the Münster church in Ulm...The began building it in 1377 and finished in 1890 and it has the WORLDS tallest spire at 525 feet. And I went to the top, nearly...well as high as humans can go. Had to take a few breaks because the stairs are narrow and sprial up the entire way and a kinda steep. It was pretty awesome though. It was very foggy when we began...couldnt even see a third of the way up and then by the time we got to the top the fog was cleared enough so that we could see the ground, but all was white around us. By the time we got the bottom it was all blue skies...very cool. The church is so amazing on the inside too...an extremely old gothic cathedral, and we (me, Odin (Canada), Morgan (France), Jordan (Michegan), and Brent (Oklahoma)), stayed for an organ concert played on the montrous pipe organ. It was awesome, whoever was playing played one other most famous organ pieces ever...I dont know what it is called, but if you heard it, you would know. Brent knew because he plays the organ (and was at the moment of the concert pretending he was playing..since he knew all the notes and whatnot. very very amusing). The inside is huge though. The ceilings are super tall and all the architecture is amazing. Look it up on google...it will make more sense.

Then we walked through the city center and down the cobblestone streets (which are everywhere here) and into an older part of the city right on the Danube. Most of the buildings have been built since WWII since something like 80% of the city was destoyed (but not the Münster....talk about strategic bombing...everything around it was hit). It was so pretty and the weather was perfect. Perfecto day. That evening we went to a get together party for a kid who just got back from exchange. Saw two of the other exchange students in Ulm so that was fun. And then Sunday the weather was a little dreary so we went to this huge swimming complex thing where they have indoor slides and pools and saunas and whatnot. Afterward we had to get to the theatre and ended up running half the way there through Neu Ulm (Ulm's sister city on the other side of the Danube in Bavaria) because we missed our bus. Oh that was fun lol. Saw an opera at the theatre and Rotary bought our tickets! Didnt understand a darn thing as the opera was in Italian and the subtitles in German and it was very very strange. Came home the next day but I gotta say that the bus and train systems in Europe are the coolest thing ever. Especially in a bigger city because they come so often and they are so easy to use. Really am lovin it.

Finished making a pair of pants today and had a soccer game and got my foot and ankle stepped on. And we lost. And that's all for now.