Wow, I am tired!

Oh boy, I feel like so much has happened since I last posted...Good thing I have plenty of pictures and videos to share!

This past week was my first week as a student at GLS Sprachschule (German language school) in Berlin. I had class everyday for 3 hours - 1 1/2 hours with one teacher and 1 1/2 hours with a different teacher, but I stayed in the same classroom and had the same students in my class. My class had 12 students coming from all over the world: Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Israel, Russia, Japan, and Croatia. The language school is an interesting environment because there is really no easy way to guess where someone is from, how old they are, or what language they speak. My classes are instructed entirely in German, and they are not easy! In fact, I really had a hard time understanding my second teacher, but I think I like the challenge. I ended up signing up for 8 more weeks of classes (expensive!), which will take me through the end of November. In addition to obviously offering classes, the school also coordinates after-class activities every day. On Tuesday I went to a seminar/lecture about German rap culture. Now THAT was difficult to understand. I guess I didn't really anticipate being in a discussion group with other students who were basically fluent in German. Needless to say, I contributed nothing and had a headache afterwards. Maybe I will wait a month or 2 before I attend any more seminars...

This week, however, I am taking a break from school (I know, I know, I just started!) because I am going on a trip with my host family. Wednesday, October 3rd is a special day in Germany. It is a public holiday that celebrates the unity of Germany as one nation. Lutz, Barbara, and Jakob have the entire week off from work/school, so we are "going on holiday" from Thursday-Sunday to the Saxony Schweiz.  I honestly don't know much about it. It's a mountain area in East Germany...I don't know what we will be doing, but I'm looking forward to an adventure!

I stayed quite busy after school each day doing my homework. (Google translate is my new best friend.)  

Friday was my 25th birthday! Lutz and Barbara had breakfast prepared for me before I left for school :) In the morning, they greeted me with hugs and well-wishes, and I even had gifts to open! They gave me a scarf (my addiction) and a stack of discount cards/vouchers for attractions around Berlin! I also got a box of chocolates from Barbara's parents :) Too cute. 

On Friday I had 2 tests! My test from my first class went very well; however I can't say the same for my second class. The test included topics we had never even talked about! Ugh. Oh well, it's not like I am graded. I am just frustrated because I really want to learn the language and keep up with the rest of my class and the teacher's expectations. I am lucky I can come home to native German speakers and ask for their help :)

After school on Friday I met with a man who coordinates my host family placement program. I thought we were just going to meet briefly and he would ask me if I had any questions. Instead, he talked to me for an hour about the history of Germany! He talked about migration patterns of society, regional dialects, the "pecking order" of who makes fun of whom, and also encouraged me to do some research to track down my family's German roots. I know there is a town in Germany called Dornbusch, and I know my name is very German (I've only heard that 100 times since I got here), but I don't know when my ancestors came to the US. I need help! Maybe my Grampa will know where to start - he loves researching those kinds of things. Apparently one of the previous English tutors was able to visit the cemetery where his ancestors are buried. Now that would be cool.

Ok, so then Friday night my host family took me out for dinner to a nearby Greek restaurant (we walked from home). Anne and her boyfriend, Sandro, also joined us! The most intriguing thing about this place was the amount of alcohol served. As soon as you sit down, the waiter brings everybody a shot of cold, clear liquid that smells a bit like black liquorice. Alright, fine. Then I had wine. And more wine. And those clear shots kept coming. In a matter of maybe a half hour, I seemed to think I was fluent in German ;) The food was delicious - I had like 20 pounds of meat on my plate! By the way, I can't really read the menus here, so I always just trust someone to pick something for me. Good thing I'm not a picky eater!

Once our plates were cleared and we were all blabbering away auf Deutsch (or maybe that was just me), the lights in the entire restaurant dimmed and a familiar tune started blaring over the speakers. Before I knew it, I was presented with a dish of ice cream complete with flaming sparklers and a flouncy Happy Birthday hat :) Jakob was kind enough to capture this wonderful video of the momentous occasion. 

Pictures from the evening!

All in all, it was a very nice and memorable birthday. I am so lucky to have such a kind and generous host family.

That brings us up to Saturday (oh yes, there is more). After our night of celebration, we all needed to be out the door by 8am Saturday morning for our next adventure: Draisine fahren (riding bike-type things on railroad tracks) with a group of Barbara and Lutz's friends. I will let the pictures and video do most of the explaining...

It was a fun and long day! We started biking around 9:30am and ended around 5:00pm. We stopped often for food. There was SO MUCH food! It was delicious. There was also a lot of alcohol. Champagne for breakfast. Shots of home-made cherry liquor for dessert after breakfast. Wine along the way (yes, while riding the bikes). Then we stopped and walked through the woods a bit to try and find a little church. We couldn't find it, and then someone whipped out a bunch of little bottles of vodka and we took more shots! You get the idea.

 

I had a good time. But boy, was I exhausted afterwards...In fact, I was supposed to go out to a bar for Anne's birthday (she turned 22 on Saturday), but I couldn't manage to get out of bed. Some things never change. I need my sleep and have no control over my chronic fatigue :(

So, I slept for 12 hours straight Saturday night. Sunday I woke up just in time to join my family for breakfast. Lutz and Barbara mentioned that there was a large marathon happening in Berlin that day. It sounded like a pretty big deal. Lutz told me that the event attracts 1 million spectators. So, I hopped on the train to see what all the fuss was about!

HOLY COW - turns out the Berlin marathon is a massive deal! Berlin is one of the 5 World Marathon Majors (along with London, New York, Chicago, and Boston). From what I could understand, there were participants from over 120 nations and many world records have been set (and broken) in Berlin. I arrived just in time to snag a spot right next to the street barricade near the finish line (I was at the Brandenburg Gate) and saw the first place runner arrive with an incredible time of 2:04! Dang they were running fast. 

 

The first place man was from Kenya and the first place woman was from Ethiopia. The biggest cheers from the crowd, however, came with the first German man and woman German finishers :) The girl was only 22 years old. I have never been to a marathon before - it was so exciting! The loud music, the cheers, the flags, the smells of concession stand food all around :) It was truly inspiring to watch so many people approach the finish. I was standing near the photographers who were sitting in the middle of the road and capturing victory shots from the runners, so it was amusing to see what they chose to do for the camera as they made their final sprint towards the end. Here's another glimpse of the action ;)

 

As if that wasn't enough excitement for the weekend, there is more! Sunday night Barbara and Lutz had their neighbors over for a BBQ. There were people my age, but the majority of the evening was spoken in German so I was very quiet. Our guests even gave me chocolate and wine as a belated birthday present! Side note: I have been living off of chocolate and gummy bears since Friday. I got the box of chocolates from Oma and Opa, Anne gave me a chocolate bar and bag of gummy bears, and then the chocolate from the neighbors. AND all of the nonstop eating on the draisine and last night's feast. I think I should visit the gym this week...

So, back to the title of this post. It has been a tiring (but wonderful) past few days. This post took me nearly 3 hours to put together. I hope you enjoy it! Now I'm going to go try and make myself useful as the rest of my family has been slaving away with household chores, insulation installation, and yard work. Until next time...

Oh, and my latest thing is trying to plan my travels. Let me know if you have any great tips! Or people I could stay with ;) Danke!