I know I've been a bad girl and haven't written in a while... :P I apologize...
Well, I can only say "What a week!" again I guess.
On that Sunday that I wrote the last entry, Sheila, Courtney and I went up to Rite Ate later that night to get Halloween costumes for Courtney and me. I got this supercool vampire costum :P (a black dress with a shiny, red neck-thing and a red belt and a red necklace-thingy) and black net tights, vampire make-up, vampire teeth, a black wig (looong and curly...), and a halloween set including a tattoo, bright red nailpolish and amazing red fake eyelashes... they're shiny! :)
Courtney's going to be a vampire, too, but her costume is rather black and pink/purple.
I don't think anything special happened on Monday... and if it did, I don't remember.
On Tuesday, I had band practise like usually. Again, it was really freezing.
Wednesday, we had practice again - yea, last week was really a band week. Wednesday's practice started an hour later though so we had some time to get our homework done.
On Thursday, I hung out with Rob after school. We went to Mc Donald's and did some Precalc stuff together, and he bought me a coffee :) Sheila picked me up when she came back from getting the kids and back home, I already had to get ready for band practice again. This night, I actually wasn't freezing - Rob had given me his awesome, comfy and warm Tony Hawk hoodie so that I'm not that cold during practice :) and it worked! I really smelled like a guy though because of his cologne :P
On Friday, we had a Pep Assembly for the Performing Arts section of our school in 3rd hour. Because the marching band performed during this assembly, we had to be at the band room in the beginning of 2nd hour. We set up our stuff in the gym, the choir and show choir warmed up, we warmed up and then the whole school entered the gym and got seated in the beginning of 3rd hour. I saw Rob - he shouted my name, waved and blew me kisses to get my attention ^^
Our performance went good. We performed standing because the gym is just too small for marching. Well, I don't march anyways so it didn't change anything for me.
After the assembly, things were a little crazy. Since I have A lunch which is after 3rd hour, I and the other A lunch people were dismissed immediately and didn't have to put the stuff back but I still had to get my purse out of the band room and that took me a while. So for us band people, there wasn't much time left for eating... but oh well, it was fun though.
After school, I hung out with Rob again. We went to McDonald's, I got my coffee again :) and we just talked. I walked home later... bad idea, I didn't realize the walk would be that long and at some points I thought I was lost. I made it though, and it wasn't too bad. I need to walk more, anyways... you really don't do that here too often. People couldn't live without their cars here.
Friday night, I went to the movies with Rob. We wanted to watch Saw 4 but since Rob isn't 17 yet, we couldn't get in and so we randomly picked a movie because we didn't know the other movies on the list. So we ended up watching "Dan in Real Life" - that movie's hilarious! I laughed so hard at some points.
Saturday was a full band day again. In the morning, around 9.10, Gary gave me a ride up to L'Anse Creuse North. I have no idea why we practised there but oh well. Gary said he had to go there anyways. He's often giving me rides home from band now. Actually, after all band practices. I like the music he listens to in his car. And he still reminds me so much of A.J.... but I don't think he's as musical as A.J.. He said he can't play the guitar. Well, would've been scary if he was an amazing guitar and piano player, too - I would've felt tricked by someone :D (A.J., come out of your disguise...)
Well, so we practised pretty much all day... fortunately, the pit practised inside first - it was rainy and windy and cold outside. Then we had lunch, and after that we all rehearsed together on the field. It was ridiculous for us synth people - we set the sound stuff up, played 1 or 2 songs, then it started raining again so we had to unplug and cover everything really fast until it stopped and we had to set up again...
After loading, we had dinner, got dressed and departed around 6pm I believe. Well, it was probably later. We had to go back to L'Anse Creuse first because people had forgotten things the day before... that took us some time and so when we arrived at Lakeland Highschool in Huron Valley, we didn't have too much time to unload and warm-up.
I think our show went really good. Of course, there're still mistakes we have to fix but I enjoyed it so much and was so calm and not scared at all this time. I did good, I'm almost satisfied with myself. After our performance, we had to go back to the truck really fast, load really fast and immediately get back to the field for the awards (we had been... I think the second last band to play).
Again, we got second place, and again, we were beaten by Waldlake Central. They're really good, I didn't see their show this time but I saw it on other competitions. They only beat us by a few points, so we're still really really good. And we got an amazing compliment from one of the judges - he said that we're one of the elite bands in the state of Michigan. That really makes me proud... I mean, that I'm actually involved in something huge and amazing like this!
When I got home, it was past 1 and I was so tired.
I didn't really sleep in on Sunday though because I wanted to go to church. I went there with Sheila and Michaela and later we went shopping, kind of spontaneously. Sheila wanted to go to the Flower Factory (kind of like the German Hornbach, but even bigger and you can get even more there... pretty much everything, I'd say) and she said we could look for some warmer clothes for me, too.
I found a lot at DEB again - I just love this store! -:
-grey sweatpants with 2 little strawberries on them (in the US, you HAVE to have sweatpants!)
-a cream-white, warm long-sleeve shirt with such a really cool, wide turtleneck that kind of falls down casually
-a dark grey, short-sleeved kind of knitted shirt with that same kind of turtleneck... it's really warm
-a darkgreenish, warm long-sleeve shirt
-a beige long-sleeve shirt in a 2-layers-look
-a brown, kinda striped long-sleeve shirt with two cute white buttons in the front
-2 tops to wear under things, one black and one beige
I'm happy now :) I love these clothes... and almost all of them were on sale, and additionally the whole store was "buy 1 get 1 half off", AND I still had the giftcard I got from Grandma Tina for my birthday.
Last night, I talked to Christian on the phone for more than an hour... we had to figure out some things but it's alright now :) I'm so happy that we understand each other that well and that we really seem to always think the same.
Today, I was INCREDIBLY tired at school. I slept almost all my 1st hour, I just couldn't help it. It was just review anyways. In my other classes, I found ways to keep me awake... in Precalc, I started writing random things around my notes just to have something to do while Mr Curtis was explaining. It ended up becoming a really weird and crazy notes paper :D It got like lyrics and little drawings all over it, and it says STAY AWAKE all over the paper...
After school, I stayed to do some pumkin carving with the German Club. It was fun, I was in a group with Jeannine (she's in pit, she's such a nice person! I like talking to her) and Kiona (she's also in pit and I love her craziness :) ) and a friend of Kiona. My first carved pumkin ever actually turned out pretty cute :) I like it. Kiona took it home because I walked home and I didn't want to carry a heavy pumkin all the way...
At home, we also carved pumpkins tonight. Every child did a pumpkin and Sheila and Doug helped. I love all the pumpkins :) Grayson did a bat pumpkin, Michaela did a witch pumpkin, Courtney did a skull design that I invented for her :P, I don't know what Jake ended up doing with his pumpkin and I did a pumpkin with many little symbols on it... gravestones, a witch on a broom, a cat, a ghost, a moon, a winter tree, a bat and the words "Happy Halloween". It looks so cool with a candle in it! I'll take pictures of all the pumpkins somewhen this week and put them online... my camera unfortunately was empty when I wanted to photograph the pumpkins.
Chemistry quiz tomorrow and a special band rehearsal in Oakland Valley or something like that... I should go to bed!
Happy Halloween!
10/29/2007
10/21/2007
What a Weekend... How Often Do I Say That??
I was right, I AM tired today...
So, on Friday was the last varsity football game. I had to be at the school at 1 pm and then we practised until 4. It was reaaaally windy outside, it was even kind of scary sometimes. At 4, band kids from the middle school, L'Anse Creuse South which is directly next to L'Anse Creuse, came over because our marching band was supposed to teach them some pregame stuff. At 4.45, we were done with that, got dinner, and then we had to get ready for the game.
During the first half, when the pit warmed up in the parking lot but Tre, Hayden, Jared and I couldn't warm up because our instruments were already at the field, I watched the clock with the guys so we could tell the pit when they had to get to the field. That was kinda boring, and cold.
Our show went good and it was fun :) But it was also kind of sad because they introduced the Senior band members because it was their last football game in high school marching band and that made me think of the fact that it was actually MY last football game in band... that's frickin sad! It was only my 2nd one...
After we had put all our stuff back into the band room, we went to the concession stands and there I met Rob. He bought me a hot chocolate because I was so cold :) That was sooooo awesome, it probably saved my life ^^
When Sheila wanted to come pick me up when we were done, she hit Doug's truck in the driveway so she couldn't come. Fortunately, I found Gary and he gave me a ride home again.
Yesterday, we had two competitions. We had to be at the school for rehearsal at 8am and practised until 10. Then we loaded the trucks, ate, dressed and at 11, we left for the first competition in West Bloomfield. There, we only had a couple of minutes to warm-up, then we ran our show and had to load again immediately. After that, we left for Clarkston.
At Clarkston High School (a HUGE school!) we had a lot of time to practise. And we got some fruit from the band parents. Our perfomance was at 6pm, and after loading after that, we were finally allowed to go and get food at the concession stands and hang out with ppl. I hung out with Keith and Savanna again and again, it was just so much fun.
We had to be back in the stands for the last two bands because the second to last band was L'Anse Creuse North. At 10, the awards were announced. We got second place again, and we got second place in West Bloomfield as well.
I slept on the whole bus ride back to the school. Scott and his dad took me home and I was home past midnight. I was soooo tired.
Today we went to church, I did my chores and my homework.
Time to relax now :)
So, on Friday was the last varsity football game. I had to be at the school at 1 pm and then we practised until 4. It was reaaaally windy outside, it was even kind of scary sometimes. At 4, band kids from the middle school, L'Anse Creuse South which is directly next to L'Anse Creuse, came over because our marching band was supposed to teach them some pregame stuff. At 4.45, we were done with that, got dinner, and then we had to get ready for the game.
During the first half, when the pit warmed up in the parking lot but Tre, Hayden, Jared and I couldn't warm up because our instruments were already at the field, I watched the clock with the guys so we could tell the pit when they had to get to the field. That was kinda boring, and cold.
Our show went good and it was fun :) But it was also kind of sad because they introduced the Senior band members because it was their last football game in high school marching band and that made me think of the fact that it was actually MY last football game in band... that's frickin sad! It was only my 2nd one...
After we had put all our stuff back into the band room, we went to the concession stands and there I met Rob. He bought me a hot chocolate because I was so cold :) That was sooooo awesome, it probably saved my life ^^
When Sheila wanted to come pick me up when we were done, she hit Doug's truck in the driveway so she couldn't come. Fortunately, I found Gary and he gave me a ride home again.
Yesterday, we had two competitions. We had to be at the school for rehearsal at 8am and practised until 10. Then we loaded the trucks, ate, dressed and at 11, we left for the first competition in West Bloomfield. There, we only had a couple of minutes to warm-up, then we ran our show and had to load again immediately. After that, we left for Clarkston.
At Clarkston High School (a HUGE school!) we had a lot of time to practise. And we got some fruit from the band parents. Our perfomance was at 6pm, and after loading after that, we were finally allowed to go and get food at the concession stands and hang out with ppl. I hung out with Keith and Savanna again and again, it was just so much fun.
We had to be back in the stands for the last two bands because the second to last band was L'Anse Creuse North. At 10, the awards were announced. We got second place again, and we got second place in West Bloomfield as well.
I slept on the whole bus ride back to the school. Scott and his dad took me home and I was home past midnight. I was soooo tired.
Today we went to church, I did my chores and my homework.
Time to relax now :)
10/18/2007
Short Week, Ending With a Lot of Band
I like parent conferences.
We didn't have real sunday school on Sunday yet - the Teen Group is new and we still have to find more members because we were only 5 (Courtney and I and 3 boys - I think all Freshmen). It was cool though.
On Tuesday I had band practise like usually. Yesterday I went up to Rite Aid with Sheila after we had dropped Courtney off for her piano lesson because I wanted to print out some photos.
Today we only had a half day in school because of parent conferences, and tomorrow we have the whole day off, I don't really know why but I actually don't care :D it's nice...
In third, and today last, hour Scott gave me his cell number and asked me whether I'd like to hang out before band today. So when I got home, I had some time to eat, check my mail, tidy up my room and get my band stuff together and then Scott and his dad picked me up. We went to Scott's house. First, he tried to teach me how to play Xbox for a little while (I was soooo bad but it was fun) and then we started watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Later, a friend of Scott's (I knooooow her name... just can't remember it right now) who's also in band and lives in his neighborhood called and asked whether we wanted to go up to Subway. So we went there with her which was fun because the two of them are fighting all the time - in a fun way, I think they've known each other for a really long time.
Scott's dad gave him and me a ride to the school for band practise later. Practise was pretty cool today, I wasn't freezing, I did well on my parts... it was fun! After practise, Gary - he's in my Precalc and drafting classes, don't know whether I already wrote about him - who's not in band but always picks up his little sister gave me a ride home. He sooo reminds me of A.J.! He kind of looks like him (well, only a little), got the same kind of humor and as far as I can tell so far, similar attitudes towards things, and he talks EXACTLY the same way A.J. talks. It's scary!
When I came home, I ate something and checked my mail, and I finally met Rob online ^^ (we tried that for a couple of days but somehow, we're never on at the same time and I don't really spend much time on the computer anyways) so I could talk to him on AIM for a while. We're probably going to go to the movies or something on Friday next week. He wanted to hang out tomorrow but tomorrow I have band stuff to do...
I'll have to be at school at 1 pm, then we'll rehearse until 4, from 4 to 4.45 we, the pit, will be with people from the middle school to show them what pit's like, we'll have dinner from 4.45 to 5.30, after that we'll warm-up and then we'll play during the half-time show of the last home football game of our varsity team. So, I'll be home late.
On Saturday, I have to be at the school early again, we won't have much time to practise and load until we leave for the first competition, where we'll warm-up, play our show and reload the trucks immediately after that to go to the second competition that day. The itineray says I'll be home by about 11.30pm. I doubt it, I bet it's going to be way past 12.
I'll be tired on Sunday! That's why I should go get some sleep now...
We didn't have real sunday school on Sunday yet - the Teen Group is new and we still have to find more members because we were only 5 (Courtney and I and 3 boys - I think all Freshmen). It was cool though.
On Tuesday I had band practise like usually. Yesterday I went up to Rite Aid with Sheila after we had dropped Courtney off for her piano lesson because I wanted to print out some photos.
Today we only had a half day in school because of parent conferences, and tomorrow we have the whole day off, I don't really know why but I actually don't care :D it's nice...
In third, and today last, hour Scott gave me his cell number and asked me whether I'd like to hang out before band today. So when I got home, I had some time to eat, check my mail, tidy up my room and get my band stuff together and then Scott and his dad picked me up. We went to Scott's house. First, he tried to teach me how to play Xbox for a little while (I was soooo bad but it was fun) and then we started watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Later, a friend of Scott's (I knooooow her name... just can't remember it right now) who's also in band and lives in his neighborhood called and asked whether we wanted to go up to Subway. So we went there with her which was fun because the two of them are fighting all the time - in a fun way, I think they've known each other for a really long time.
Scott's dad gave him and me a ride to the school for band practise later. Practise was pretty cool today, I wasn't freezing, I did well on my parts... it was fun! After practise, Gary - he's in my Precalc and drafting classes, don't know whether I already wrote about him - who's not in band but always picks up his little sister gave me a ride home. He sooo reminds me of A.J.! He kind of looks like him (well, only a little), got the same kind of humor and as far as I can tell so far, similar attitudes towards things, and he talks EXACTLY the same way A.J. talks. It's scary!
When I came home, I ate something and checked my mail, and I finally met Rob online ^^ (we tried that for a couple of days but somehow, we're never on at the same time and I don't really spend much time on the computer anyways) so I could talk to him on AIM for a while. We're probably going to go to the movies or something on Friday next week. He wanted to hang out tomorrow but tomorrow I have band stuff to do...
I'll have to be at school at 1 pm, then we'll rehearse until 4, from 4 to 4.45 we, the pit, will be with people from the middle school to show them what pit's like, we'll have dinner from 4.45 to 5.30, after that we'll warm-up and then we'll play during the half-time show of the last home football game of our varsity team. So, I'll be home late.
On Saturday, I have to be at the school early again, we won't have much time to practise and load until we leave for the first competition, where we'll warm-up, play our show and reload the trucks immediately after that to go to the second competition that day. The itineray says I'll be home by about 11.30pm. I doubt it, I bet it's going to be way past 12.
I'll be tired on Sunday! That's why I should go get some sleep now...
10/14/2007
Sunday
Today's relaxing :) that's nice...
During 10-o'clock mass, Courtney and I helped out in the nursery school today. It was fun, we had a lot of volunteer helpers and all these cute little kids, and we were playing with them and helping them do different projects. Since today's mass was about people who help you, like family, we did projects connected to that topic. The kids could do a worksheet, make a little angel, make "God's helping hands" (they copied their hands onto a paper, cut them out and glued them onto a long piece of paper so you can hug people with it) or make a little collage of their own family.
When we got home, I did my chores and tidied up my room. It's nice that I did my homework on Friday already so I don't have to deal with that today. It feels so good to actually relax after this busy week :)
I'm still a little tired but, oh well, that's okay. Tonight, Courtney and I will go to mass and afterwards we have Sunday school (meeting of the church's teen group).
*yawn*
During 10-o'clock mass, Courtney and I helped out in the nursery school today. It was fun, we had a lot of volunteer helpers and all these cute little kids, and we were playing with them and helping them do different projects. Since today's mass was about people who help you, like family, we did projects connected to that topic. The kids could do a worksheet, make a little angel, make "God's helping hands" (they copied their hands onto a paper, cut them out and glued them onto a long piece of paper so you can hug people with it) or make a little collage of their own family.
When we got home, I did my chores and tidied up my room. It's nice that I did my homework on Friday already so I don't have to deal with that today. It feels so good to actually relax after this busy week :)
I'm still a little tired but, oh well, that's okay. Tonight, Courtney and I will go to mass and afterwards we have Sunday school (meeting of the church's teen group).
*yawn*
10/13/2007
Band, Band, Band
Okay, so here's the next try...
This week was crazy. I'm really tired and exhausted now, but still happy. I had a lot of fun.
Monday was a rather calm day. Homework, chores... the usual stuff.
On Tuesday, I had band practise again. It was okay and since I got all my homework done before practise, I didn't go to bed too late. I also got a package on Tuesday, from my mom! She had sent me my birthday present :) (a reaaaaaally really cute watch by Fossil - it's like a metal chain with tiny little flip flops on it and the watch of course), some German chocolate and gummy bears for everyone and some little things for the kids and Sheila and Doug. My brother and Jochen had sent me guitar chords and tabs - I really want to try them and start playing guitar a little more again but I guess I'll have to wait until the marching season is over for that.
Still, I overslept a little on Wednesday and so I had to hurry in the morning. That made me actually forget that it was my 17th birthday at first - it came back to my mind when Sheila congratulated me. School was okay but I was tired and it was hard to stay awake in some classes. After school, I had to stay because we went to the MSBOA (Michigan School Band & Orchestra Association) festival in at Sterling Heights High School. I had about 25 minutes to get my school stuff in my locker, go party and co., get my band stuff and go back down to the band room. Then, our 3 hour rehearsal started. After that, we loaded our equipment on the band truck. Since the pit equipment is hardest to fit into the truck, this is the most work for the pit people. When we were finally done, we only had about 15 minutes left to eat and get dressed. After that, we got on the buses (I'm on bus 4, the bus for the pit people and the battery) and left for Sterling Heights. The ride took about half an hour. When we got there, it was dark already. We unloaded the truck and seperated into the different sections to warm-up. After about half an hour or so, we had to take our stuff to the field and then we played our whole show ("Circles in Time" - I actually found a video of our show on youtube.com which was made in September, so I'm not in the band on it yet and actually, there have been a few changes in the show since then - they added something in the end which you can't see on that video yet - but oh well, just so you get an idea of what we're doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmjW1xcpWys). I was nervous since it was my first show except those two short songs at the homecoming game. But I did good.
After the show, we brought our stuff back to the truck, loaded it again and then it was already time to leave again. We got a first place but it wasn't a real competition.
I arrived home past 11pm. Katie and her sister gave me a ride. I was so glad I didn't have any homework to do anymore and didn't do much else than just falling into my bed and SLEEP.
Still, I was reaaaally tired the next morning. I didn't oversleep again, but this time I actually did fall asleep in some classes. Well, it didn't matter, other band members did, too and I only fell asleep when there was nothing to do for the moment and woke up just in time. So that didn't get me into trouble.
When I got home, I started my homework but then my dad called to congratulate me for my birthday and after that, Chrissi called (that made me soooo incredibly happy! I so didn't expect her to call and so I was totally surprised and excited when it was her on the phone). It felt soooo good to talk to her :) I really miss her a lot. Oh my god, I think although I'm having such a great time here, I'm missing a lot back in Germany... she kind of had to update me on several things ^^ And I had some real "WHAT??????" moments on the phone :D
I had to finish our phone call when I had to leave for band practise. This practise was not very much fun because it was incredibly cold outside and although I was wearing 4 thick layers of clothes I was freezing after the 1st hour and we still had 3 hours to go. When the pit went out to the parking lot for a little more than the last hour to play with the band (we couldn't play on the field, there was a Freshmen football game going on that Courtney actually cheered for), it was even worse, because there was wind on the parking lot. I kept jumping and moving to get myself warm again but it didn't really help. At least I wasn't alone, the other pit people were freezing as much as me so it was some kind of shared pain.
This was the first time that I was really really seriously GLAD that practise was over and I could go to my nice and warm home. The disadvantage of going home was that I still had to do a lot of homework since I had spend the 2 hours before practise on the phone. So I put on my pyjamas, sat on my bed, put all my blankets around me and did my homework, eating gooood German chocolate :)
Being in school on Friday was crazy again. I didn't feel as tired as on Thursday but I still fell asleep a couple of times. In the afternoon, I actually had TIME. Time for my homework, time for doing my chores, time for finally (!) tidying up my room after this busy week and time for answering all my birthday mails. Sheila and Doug left in the morning, they are gone this weekend and Courtney, Grandma Tina and I are watching the little ones.
I didn't go to bed as early as I had planned to... well, and today I had to get up early again because there was a marching band competition in Plymouth. Katie and her dad picked me up at about 7.40 am (I got up at 6.15 ... on a Saturday! Oh boy...) and rehearsal began at 8. Like always, we first rehearsed in the sections and then we went onto the field to practise together. It was really cold this morning again but this time I had put on as many layers of clothes as possible: nylons, a panty hose, jeans and two pairs of socks to warm my legs and feet and 3 tops, a long-sleeve shirt, a tight sweater, my band shirt, a sweat-jacket AND Courtney's thick, huge Michigan State sweatshirt to warm the rest of my body. I also took gloves and a scarf. I didn't use the scarf but the gloves were really nice. I didn't get too cold this time and actually, the sun was shining the whole day which made the temperatures higher later.
At 12, we started loading the trucks. When we were done, we unfortunately only had 6 minutes left to get on the buses, so we pit people just ran back to the band room, changed, and then we had to eat most of our lunch on the buses. Well, but that was okay, the busride was almost an hour I think.
At the high school in Plymouth were the competition took place, we had to unload the truck first like usually, then, like usually, we separated into the sections to practise and a little less than an hour later we had to get out on the field. The show went better then Wednesday I believe - on Wednesday we had some technical issues and we played on real grass so many people tripped and stuff. So that was a lot better today.
After our show, we loaded our stuff back on the truck, then I headed for a bathroom with Savanna (I really have no idea if that's how you spell her name?? It's a really beautiful name though.) and Sarah, two other pit girls. After that, we got in line at the concession stands to get some food. I got a pizza slice. Then I hung out with Savanna (?), Sarah and Keith, who we had met at the stand, most of the time. It was so much fun. Later, we had to go to the stands. We watched the last performances and then the judges announced the scores.
We got 2nd place in our category and the award for best marching. The first thing is okay but still you could notice that the band was a little disappointed. Yesterday, they got 1st place at all competitions and 3rd place at the Michigan State Finals. The second thing, the award for best marching, surprised everyone of us - Mr Hilton is always complaining about the marching so much! That's his main point of criticism.
It was a really nice and fun day. We went back to L'Ance Creuse, changed, unloaded the truck and then waited for our dismissal. Mr Hilton didn't seem mad or anything (he was mad on Wednesday because of the things that went wrong), he just told us that this 2nd place should make us think about it and work harder and he said that he was also really surprised about the award for best marching but that we could be proud of that. Then he dismissed us and I went home - with Katie again, her mom and her dropped me off.
I took some of my clothes-layers off, ate a double cheeseburger and some fries that Grandma Tina and the kids had brought for me when they went to McDonald's tonight, and now I'm typing this here.
Tomorrow during 10-o'clock mass, Courtney and I will do the nursery school at church. We go to the church again at 6.30 for the night mass and I think we have a meeting of the church's teen group after that. Well, I won't have to get up too early tomorrow which is goooood.
I really want to sleep!
This week was crazy. I'm really tired and exhausted now, but still happy. I had a lot of fun.
Monday was a rather calm day. Homework, chores... the usual stuff.
On Tuesday, I had band practise again. It was okay and since I got all my homework done before practise, I didn't go to bed too late. I also got a package on Tuesday, from my mom! She had sent me my birthday present :) (a reaaaaaally really cute watch by Fossil - it's like a metal chain with tiny little flip flops on it and the watch of course), some German chocolate and gummy bears for everyone and some little things for the kids and Sheila and Doug. My brother and Jochen had sent me guitar chords and tabs - I really want to try them and start playing guitar a little more again but I guess I'll have to wait until the marching season is over for that.
Still, I overslept a little on Wednesday and so I had to hurry in the morning. That made me actually forget that it was my 17th birthday at first - it came back to my mind when Sheila congratulated me. School was okay but I was tired and it was hard to stay awake in some classes. After school, I had to stay because we went to the MSBOA (Michigan School Band & Orchestra Association) festival in at Sterling Heights High School. I had about 25 minutes to get my school stuff in my locker, go party and co., get my band stuff and go back down to the band room. Then, our 3 hour rehearsal started. After that, we loaded our equipment on the band truck. Since the pit equipment is hardest to fit into the truck, this is the most work for the pit people. When we were finally done, we only had about 15 minutes left to eat and get dressed. After that, we got on the buses (I'm on bus 4, the bus for the pit people and the battery) and left for Sterling Heights. The ride took about half an hour. When we got there, it was dark already. We unloaded the truck and seperated into the different sections to warm-up. After about half an hour or so, we had to take our stuff to the field and then we played our whole show ("Circles in Time" - I actually found a video of our show on youtube.com which was made in September, so I'm not in the band on it yet and actually, there have been a few changes in the show since then - they added something in the end which you can't see on that video yet - but oh well, just so you get an idea of what we're doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmjW1xcpWys). I was nervous since it was my first show except those two short songs at the homecoming game. But I did good.
After the show, we brought our stuff back to the truck, loaded it again and then it was already time to leave again. We got a first place but it wasn't a real competition.
I arrived home past 11pm. Katie and her sister gave me a ride. I was so glad I didn't have any homework to do anymore and didn't do much else than just falling into my bed and SLEEP.
Still, I was reaaaally tired the next morning. I didn't oversleep again, but this time I actually did fall asleep in some classes. Well, it didn't matter, other band members did, too and I only fell asleep when there was nothing to do for the moment and woke up just in time. So that didn't get me into trouble.
When I got home, I started my homework but then my dad called to congratulate me for my birthday and after that, Chrissi called (that made me soooo incredibly happy! I so didn't expect her to call and so I was totally surprised and excited when it was her on the phone). It felt soooo good to talk to her :) I really miss her a lot. Oh my god, I think although I'm having such a great time here, I'm missing a lot back in Germany... she kind of had to update me on several things ^^ And I had some real "WHAT??????" moments on the phone :D
I had to finish our phone call when I had to leave for band practise. This practise was not very much fun because it was incredibly cold outside and although I was wearing 4 thick layers of clothes I was freezing after the 1st hour and we still had 3 hours to go. When the pit went out to the parking lot for a little more than the last hour to play with the band (we couldn't play on the field, there was a Freshmen football game going on that Courtney actually cheered for), it was even worse, because there was wind on the parking lot. I kept jumping and moving to get myself warm again but it didn't really help. At least I wasn't alone, the other pit people were freezing as much as me so it was some kind of shared pain.
This was the first time that I was really really seriously GLAD that practise was over and I could go to my nice and warm home. The disadvantage of going home was that I still had to do a lot of homework since I had spend the 2 hours before practise on the phone. So I put on my pyjamas, sat on my bed, put all my blankets around me and did my homework, eating gooood German chocolate :)
Being in school on Friday was crazy again. I didn't feel as tired as on Thursday but I still fell asleep a couple of times. In the afternoon, I actually had TIME. Time for my homework, time for doing my chores, time for finally (!) tidying up my room after this busy week and time for answering all my birthday mails. Sheila and Doug left in the morning, they are gone this weekend and Courtney, Grandma Tina and I are watching the little ones.
I didn't go to bed as early as I had planned to... well, and today I had to get up early again because there was a marching band competition in Plymouth. Katie and her dad picked me up at about 7.40 am (I got up at 6.15 ... on a Saturday! Oh boy...) and rehearsal began at 8. Like always, we first rehearsed in the sections and then we went onto the field to practise together. It was really cold this morning again but this time I had put on as many layers of clothes as possible: nylons, a panty hose, jeans and two pairs of socks to warm my legs and feet and 3 tops, a long-sleeve shirt, a tight sweater, my band shirt, a sweat-jacket AND Courtney's thick, huge Michigan State sweatshirt to warm the rest of my body. I also took gloves and a scarf. I didn't use the scarf but the gloves were really nice. I didn't get too cold this time and actually, the sun was shining the whole day which made the temperatures higher later.
At 12, we started loading the trucks. When we were done, we unfortunately only had 6 minutes left to get on the buses, so we pit people just ran back to the band room, changed, and then we had to eat most of our lunch on the buses. Well, but that was okay, the busride was almost an hour I think.
At the high school in Plymouth were the competition took place, we had to unload the truck first like usually, then, like usually, we separated into the sections to practise and a little less than an hour later we had to get out on the field. The show went better then Wednesday I believe - on Wednesday we had some technical issues and we played on real grass so many people tripped and stuff. So that was a lot better today.
After our show, we loaded our stuff back on the truck, then I headed for a bathroom with Savanna (I really have no idea if that's how you spell her name?? It's a really beautiful name though.) and Sarah, two other pit girls. After that, we got in line at the concession stands to get some food. I got a pizza slice. Then I hung out with Savanna (?), Sarah and Keith, who we had met at the stand, most of the time. It was so much fun. Later, we had to go to the stands. We watched the last performances and then the judges announced the scores.
We got 2nd place in our category and the award for best marching. The first thing is okay but still you could notice that the band was a little disappointed. Yesterday, they got 1st place at all competitions and 3rd place at the Michigan State Finals. The second thing, the award for best marching, surprised everyone of us - Mr Hilton is always complaining about the marching so much! That's his main point of criticism.
It was a really nice and fun day. We went back to L'Ance Creuse, changed, unloaded the truck and then waited for our dismissal. Mr Hilton didn't seem mad or anything (he was mad on Wednesday because of the things that went wrong), he just told us that this 2nd place should make us think about it and work harder and he said that he was also really surprised about the award for best marching but that we could be proud of that. Then he dismissed us and I went home - with Katie again, her mom and her dropped me off.
I took some of my clothes-layers off, ate a double cheeseburger and some fries that Grandma Tina and the kids had brought for me when they went to McDonald's tonight, and now I'm typing this here.
Tomorrow during 10-o'clock mass, Courtney and I will do the nursery school at church. We go to the church again at 6.30 for the night mass and I think we have a meeting of the church's teen group after that. Well, I won't have to get up too early tomorrow which is goooood.
I really want to sleep!
10/12/2007
...
I seriously just wrote a post about the whole last week and suddenly it was gone.
Sorry, I'm too tired.
I'm gonna rewrite it tomorrow night or on Sunday or so.
Sorry, I'm too tired.
I'm gonna rewrite it tomorrow night or on Sunday or so.
10/07/2007
HOMECOMING!
This was one of the BEST weekends ever!!
So Thursday was my second band practise. It was better than the first; this time I did bring a sweatshirt and well, everything just went a little smoother already. I got 2 more new parts (aaaah I can't even do the other 2 perfect yet!) and my uniform (I LOVE it... it's just so... I don't know, it just makes me proud to wear it :) ). The next day, I wasn't as tired as after my first band practise which was GOOD because Friday was just... crazy.
At the end of 5th hour, the Pep Assembly started. So I went out to the field with my Precalc class. There, the stands were divided by classes so I sat with the Juniors. To my right, there were Amy and her friend, another band girl who's name I can't remember, and to my left (although she's a Sophomore, but who cares ;) ) sat Katie. The assembly was fun but it was incredibly hot outside, exspecially when you're sitting in the stands with a dark blue marching band show shirt.
After the assembly, I went off campus with Amy, her friend and another guy (is he in band?? I don't know...) named Kyle. I think they said he's a senior. Amy's friend drove. She's so funny, she was on the phone the whole time (she had just gotten it back because somebody stole it from her), calling people and talking to them or leaving random voicemails. Oh, and she tells everybody she loves them. She seems to be a really cool person. First we went to a gas station, then to Amy's friend's house to get her contacts, then through the Mc Donald's drive-in (I got pop and a double cheeseburger), then we dropped Kyle off at his house and then we got back to the school. Before the band met at the band room, I still got some time to refresh myself... you know, re-do my make-up and all that stuff ;) (yeaaa I get the whole American thing).
When the band met, all the other band members got ready for the Homecoming parade. We synth people didn't march in the parade because we had an extra practise with the pit instructor, Laura, during that time. So when everyone was gone, we practised our parts and I talked to Laura about what I should play during the game since not all my parts aren't safe yet. It was no problem, I ended up only having to play the easy accompaniment stuff. I'll practise, and soon I'll be able to play the hard stuff as well.
When the band came back from the parade, we stopped our practise, changed and went into the small gym were dinner was served for the whole marching band. They had so much food there but I didn't eat too much because I was kind of nervous. After dinner, we all had to put our jackets on (I love how they look but it gets DAMN hot in them!) and get some of the instruments to the field already. Then, shortly before the game started (I think at 7... don't ask me who we played against but we ended up losing... not a too big deal, L'Anse Creuse hasn't won a homecoming game in years) the marching part of the band went on the field for the pre-game show and we, the pit, went out on the parking lot to rehearsal. I couldn't practise though because the synth were already out on the field but it was still good to just stay there with the pit, listen to them, thinking over my parts and calm down a little during the first two quarters of the game. Shortly before half-time, we took the remaining instruments over to the field and when half-time began, everything had to go really fast - setting up our instruments in the front of the stands, taking out the notes and - play!
I have to say that I messed up quite a bit but it was okay. They didn't put the synth too loud yet. Oh my god, I'm in the band for only a week and already playing at the homecoming game... no wonder I was so nervous.
The show itself went past so quickly. A few minutes later we already had to put our stuff back by the fence and meet with the rest of the band and Mr Hilton in a corner. He briefly commented the show, then we had to remain quiet and listen to the homecoming announcements. After that, we as the pit had to get all our stuff back to the band room and then we all had 3rd quarter to ourselves and could go get some WATER (oh my god it was lovely! We weren't allowed to take off our jackets the whole time...)... during 4th quarter, we had to sit in the stands, the people with portable instruments played every now and then to support the team and in the end, we had to stand up and remain standing until some pictures were taken and everything... after that, the whole band marched out of the field together (marching is fun!).
Tidying up the band room and the uniforms and everything was kind of a chaos and Mr Hilton got a little mad about some uniforms hung up incorrectly and some band members leaving before we were dismissed. We were finally dismissed around 10.20 and I still had to go up to my locker and get my stuff so Sheila, her mom Tina (yaay got her name again ^^ well I'm learning...) and Courtney had to wait for a pretty long time... I felt so sorry for them but if I leave before the band's dismissed, I lose credit for my band class.
Finally getting home was releaving although I had had so much fun the whole day. But it's still kind of weird to not get home from 6.30 am to around 11 pm.
Yesterday was the day of the homecoming dance! I got up at around 9 o'clock or so. After a shower and breakfast, Sheila drove Courtney and me to a place where we got our hair done. Pretty many people were there already but we only had to wait for about 20 minutes or so until they started doing our hair. The girl who did my hair was really nice, her name's Nicki and she did such a good job. When my hair was almost done (I got it curled and up with some curles out and a little pushed up on top... well, look at the pictures!) Sheila surprised me by coming by and telling me I could also get my make-up done, she'd pay for both Courtney's and my make-up. I just LOVE her :) she's so awesome... So I got my make-up done as well ;) Nicki found the perfect eyeshadow color without even knowing what my dress looks like and I loved what she did with my eyes. It looked incredible.
When I was done, they were still doing Courtney's hair... She didn't have that much luck with the girl who made hers, she messed it up first and didn't understand want Courtney wanted... So Sheila and I went over to Taco Bell down the street to get some tacos and burritos and ate in the car. After that we went back in and waited until Courtney was done. She had her hair curled and mostly open, it looked really pretty. Her make-up was really cute, too and went perfectly with her dress.
When we got home, we got less than 2 hours left so we hurried a little painting our toenails and putting our fake fingernails on. Then we got dressed and Sheila took pictures of us outside. After that, we had to leave.
I was the first one to be dropped off at Chelsea's house. She's in band as well. I met the two Katies and Britney at her house and another girl who's name is Mary and who's really nice as well. Our parents took so many pictures! It was fun, they were all soooo pretty! A little later, Chelsea's mom took us to Red Robin at Macomb Mall. While we went there, she spent the time at the mall. Red Robin was packed and we had to wait for about half an hour to get a table but that was okay. The dinner was really good, I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries and some pop. When we were done, Chelsea's mom took us from Red Robin to L'Anse Creuse.
The dance was so much fun! In the beginning, hardly anyone danced. Well, the music wasn't perfect but they did have a couple of really good songs every now and then and the other songs were okay as well. It didn't take too long until almost everybody was dancing. I met Rob, too and we danced together a lot. It got really hot in the gym soon with all these people in there so I kept going to the air conditioned pool area (just a hallway) or to the common area where you could get something to drink with the girls and other band people or with Rob. Since the other girls all had their cameras with them, we also took a lot of photos. I'll hopefully get some of them soon, Katie said she'd send me some if I give her my email adress. I didn't really want to go home when the dance was over, it was such a fun night.
Today was a really relaxed Sunday. Except for Doug, we didn't go to church this time. After having taken a shower and eaten breakfast, I did my homework. In the afternoon, Grandma Tina and Sheila's friend and her 2 daugthers who have lived in Stuttgart for 3 years and just got back came over and we celebrated my birthday in advance a little because on Wednesday, I won't be home all day (band festival in... I forgot where but I won't come home until 10 or 10.30 pm). We had snacks, burgers and later we had chocolate cake with ice-cream :) I also got some presents, a DEB gift card from Tina, an American Eagle gift card from Sheila's friend, a blanket and letter paper from the Priemers (and the dress, of course!!) and some candy from Jacob. I am soooo happy now :) This was such an amazing weekend...
And right NOW I'm finally getting tired which I haven't been all weekend! ;)
So Thursday was my second band practise. It was better than the first; this time I did bring a sweatshirt and well, everything just went a little smoother already. I got 2 more new parts (aaaah I can't even do the other 2 perfect yet!) and my uniform (I LOVE it... it's just so... I don't know, it just makes me proud to wear it :) ). The next day, I wasn't as tired as after my first band practise which was GOOD because Friday was just... crazy.
At the end of 5th hour, the Pep Assembly started. So I went out to the field with my Precalc class. There, the stands were divided by classes so I sat with the Juniors. To my right, there were Amy and her friend, another band girl who's name I can't remember, and to my left (although she's a Sophomore, but who cares ;) ) sat Katie. The assembly was fun but it was incredibly hot outside, exspecially when you're sitting in the stands with a dark blue marching band show shirt.
After the assembly, I went off campus with Amy, her friend and another guy (is he in band?? I don't know...) named Kyle. I think they said he's a senior. Amy's friend drove. She's so funny, she was on the phone the whole time (she had just gotten it back because somebody stole it from her), calling people and talking to them or leaving random voicemails. Oh, and she tells everybody she loves them. She seems to be a really cool person. First we went to a gas station, then to Amy's friend's house to get her contacts, then through the Mc Donald's drive-in (I got pop and a double cheeseburger), then we dropped Kyle off at his house and then we got back to the school. Before the band met at the band room, I still got some time to refresh myself... you know, re-do my make-up and all that stuff ;) (yeaaa I get the whole American thing).
When the band met, all the other band members got ready for the Homecoming parade. We synth people didn't march in the parade because we had an extra practise with the pit instructor, Laura, during that time. So when everyone was gone, we practised our parts and I talked to Laura about what I should play during the game since not all my parts aren't safe yet. It was no problem, I ended up only having to play the easy accompaniment stuff. I'll practise, and soon I'll be able to play the hard stuff as well.
When the band came back from the parade, we stopped our practise, changed and went into the small gym were dinner was served for the whole marching band. They had so much food there but I didn't eat too much because I was kind of nervous. After dinner, we all had to put our jackets on (I love how they look but it gets DAMN hot in them!) and get some of the instruments to the field already. Then, shortly before the game started (I think at 7... don't ask me who we played against but we ended up losing... not a too big deal, L'Anse Creuse hasn't won a homecoming game in years) the marching part of the band went on the field for the pre-game show and we, the pit, went out on the parking lot to rehearsal. I couldn't practise though because the synth were already out on the field but it was still good to just stay there with the pit, listen to them, thinking over my parts and calm down a little during the first two quarters of the game. Shortly before half-time, we took the remaining instruments over to the field and when half-time began, everything had to go really fast - setting up our instruments in the front of the stands, taking out the notes and - play!
I have to say that I messed up quite a bit but it was okay. They didn't put the synth too loud yet. Oh my god, I'm in the band for only a week and already playing at the homecoming game... no wonder I was so nervous.
The show itself went past so quickly. A few minutes later we already had to put our stuff back by the fence and meet with the rest of the band and Mr Hilton in a corner. He briefly commented the show, then we had to remain quiet and listen to the homecoming announcements. After that, we as the pit had to get all our stuff back to the band room and then we all had 3rd quarter to ourselves and could go get some WATER (oh my god it was lovely! We weren't allowed to take off our jackets the whole time...)... during 4th quarter, we had to sit in the stands, the people with portable instruments played every now and then to support the team and in the end, we had to stand up and remain standing until some pictures were taken and everything... after that, the whole band marched out of the field together (marching is fun!).
Tidying up the band room and the uniforms and everything was kind of a chaos and Mr Hilton got a little mad about some uniforms hung up incorrectly and some band members leaving before we were dismissed. We were finally dismissed around 10.20 and I still had to go up to my locker and get my stuff so Sheila, her mom Tina (yaay got her name again ^^ well I'm learning...) and Courtney had to wait for a pretty long time... I felt so sorry for them but if I leave before the band's dismissed, I lose credit for my band class.
Finally getting home was releaving although I had had so much fun the whole day. But it's still kind of weird to not get home from 6.30 am to around 11 pm.
Yesterday was the day of the homecoming dance! I got up at around 9 o'clock or so. After a shower and breakfast, Sheila drove Courtney and me to a place where we got our hair done. Pretty many people were there already but we only had to wait for about 20 minutes or so until they started doing our hair. The girl who did my hair was really nice, her name's Nicki and she did such a good job. When my hair was almost done (I got it curled and up with some curles out and a little pushed up on top... well, look at the pictures!) Sheila surprised me by coming by and telling me I could also get my make-up done, she'd pay for both Courtney's and my make-up. I just LOVE her :) she's so awesome... So I got my make-up done as well ;) Nicki found the perfect eyeshadow color without even knowing what my dress looks like and I loved what she did with my eyes. It looked incredible.
When I was done, they were still doing Courtney's hair... She didn't have that much luck with the girl who made hers, she messed it up first and didn't understand want Courtney wanted... So Sheila and I went over to Taco Bell down the street to get some tacos and burritos and ate in the car. After that we went back in and waited until Courtney was done. She had her hair curled and mostly open, it looked really pretty. Her make-up was really cute, too and went perfectly with her dress.
When we got home, we got less than 2 hours left so we hurried a little painting our toenails and putting our fake fingernails on. Then we got dressed and Sheila took pictures of us outside. After that, we had to leave.
I was the first one to be dropped off at Chelsea's house. She's in band as well. I met the two Katies and Britney at her house and another girl who's name is Mary and who's really nice as well. Our parents took so many pictures! It was fun, they were all soooo pretty! A little later, Chelsea's mom took us to Red Robin at Macomb Mall. While we went there, she spent the time at the mall. Red Robin was packed and we had to wait for about half an hour to get a table but that was okay. The dinner was really good, I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries and some pop. When we were done, Chelsea's mom took us from Red Robin to L'Anse Creuse.
The dance was so much fun! In the beginning, hardly anyone danced. Well, the music wasn't perfect but they did have a couple of really good songs every now and then and the other songs were okay as well. It didn't take too long until almost everybody was dancing. I met Rob, too and we danced together a lot. It got really hot in the gym soon with all these people in there so I kept going to the air conditioned pool area (just a hallway) or to the common area where you could get something to drink with the girls and other band people or with Rob. Since the other girls all had their cameras with them, we also took a lot of photos. I'll hopefully get some of them soon, Katie said she'd send me some if I give her my email adress. I didn't really want to go home when the dance was over, it was such a fun night.
Today was a really relaxed Sunday. Except for Doug, we didn't go to church this time. After having taken a shower and eaten breakfast, I did my homework. In the afternoon, Grandma Tina and Sheila's friend and her 2 daugthers who have lived in Stuttgart for 3 years and just got back came over and we celebrated my birthday in advance a little because on Wednesday, I won't be home all day (band festival in... I forgot where but I won't come home until 10 or 10.30 pm). We had snacks, burgers and later we had chocolate cake with ice-cream :) I also got some presents, a DEB gift card from Tina, an American Eagle gift card from Sheila's friend, a blanket and letter paper from the Priemers (and the dress, of course!!) and some candy from Jacob. I am soooo happy now :) This was such an amazing weekend...
 |
| Homecoming 07 |
And right NOW I'm finally getting tired which I haven't been all weekend! ;)
10/03/2007
Band Practise
Never been so tired...
So, yesterday was my first band practise. After I had come home from school, I had some snack and tried to get as much homework done as possible but I still had pretty much left. Around 4.45, Sheila gave me a ride to the school.
Finding the Pit people wasn't hard, they were already getting their stuff outside (we played outside the band room at the parking lot while the marchers were somewhere else and later on the field). I got to know the section leader Sarah and the teacher who leads the Pit (oh oh... forgot a name again). They're both very nice. The other synthesizer people are kind of weird but okay. The band people are all a little crazy ;) seems like that belongs to being in the band ^^... I got a part to play but since I had never seen it before, I couldn't do much of it yet. While we were practising with the Pit, Mr Hilton came around and gave me my part in another song (that thingy he was writing for me... it's really good, I practised it today but I'm not perfect at it yet).
While we were practising, it became colder and colder... I had forgotten to bring a sweater. Around 7.30 or 8 (kinda lost my feeling of time out there...) we joined the rest of the band on the field and played all together. We had to do all the parts over and over again because Mr Hilton was never satisfied. Well, he's ambitious, that's okay. I was freezing by then... it's so hard to play a fast song with ice-cold fingers!
After practise, Courtney and Doug picked me up. Back home, I had some ice-cream and chocolate cake (yummy... hehe) and finished my homework... which meant that I didn't get to go to bed before 12. I had a hard time getting up this morning, and in school I almost fell asleep many times... but the other band members did, too so it wasn't bad.
I had to study and do a lot of homework today because since tomorrow is band practise again, I won't really get anything done tomorrow. I'm soooo tired though. It was hard to concentrate.
Oh oh.... my throat feels kind of scratchy. I better take a THICK sweatshirt tomorrow!
Please, God, don't let me get sick before Homecoming!!!
So, yesterday was my first band practise. After I had come home from school, I had some snack and tried to get as much homework done as possible but I still had pretty much left. Around 4.45, Sheila gave me a ride to the school.
Finding the Pit people wasn't hard, they were already getting their stuff outside (we played outside the band room at the parking lot while the marchers were somewhere else and later on the field). I got to know the section leader Sarah and the teacher who leads the Pit (oh oh... forgot a name again). They're both very nice. The other synthesizer people are kind of weird but okay. The band people are all a little crazy ;) seems like that belongs to being in the band ^^... I got a part to play but since I had never seen it before, I couldn't do much of it yet. While we were practising with the Pit, Mr Hilton came around and gave me my part in another song (that thingy he was writing for me... it's really good, I practised it today but I'm not perfect at it yet).
While we were practising, it became colder and colder... I had forgotten to bring a sweater. Around 7.30 or 8 (kinda lost my feeling of time out there...) we joined the rest of the band on the field and played all together. We had to do all the parts over and over again because Mr Hilton was never satisfied. Well, he's ambitious, that's okay. I was freezing by then... it's so hard to play a fast song with ice-cold fingers!
After practise, Courtney and Doug picked me up. Back home, I had some ice-cream and chocolate cake (yummy... hehe) and finished my homework... which meant that I didn't get to go to bed before 12. I had a hard time getting up this morning, and in school I almost fell asleep many times... but the other band members did, too so it wasn't bad.
I had to study and do a lot of homework today because since tomorrow is band practise again, I won't really get anything done tomorrow. I'm soooo tired though. It was hard to concentrate.
Oh oh.... my throat feels kind of scratchy. I better take a THICK sweatshirt tomorrow!
Please, God, don't let me get sick before Homecoming!!!
10/01/2007
Monday... and not even as tired as usual!
Still happy :)
The day started good already. Katie came over and talked to me before Chemistry. I know, I say that a lot, but I can only repeat it again and again: she's just such a nice person :)
During Chemistry, everyone who got the spirit (1st day of Spirit Week: College Shirt Day) got candy. I was wearing the Michigan State shirt I bought yesterday. It's a little big on me because they didn't have smaller ones but I kind of like it. It's comfy. Tomorrow is Plaids and Stripes Day. I don't really have anything with plaids on it, but I'll probably wear my black and white striped shirt with some kind of top over it so you can still see the striped sleaves.
During lunch, I talked to Katie about Homecoming. She's going to give me Chelsea's adress tomorrow (Chelsea is the girl we're all going to first, and then we go to Red Robin for dinner and from there we're going to the dance... Katie doesn't know the details yet either, she's going to tell me as soon as she finds out).
In Precalc, we got our test back. Again, Mr Curtis gave the first 10 seats to the 10 best students and sorted the remaining seats by alphabeth. I could stay in my first seat, but the boy behind me got as many points as I got. Mr Curtis said he couldn't have the first seat because he didn't do as good on the quiz before... Well, I don't really mind where I'm sitting actually but of course I was proud of my grade again ;) I made 2 pretty stupid mistakes though.
We basically got sparetime for the rest of the hour and I finally got to talk to Rob again. He had waved at me before Precalc and later he came over to look at my test and talk. He's never met someone doing an exchange year before and he was impressed when I told him that in Germany we can drink and go out at the age of 16 ;) but I also told him that we can't drive on our own until we're 18. He knows Rammstein (of course, who in the U.S. doesn't?) and wanted me to write down some other German bands for him so I told him to look for "Die Aerzte", "Die Toten Hosen" and "Beatsteaks". He gave me some names of US-Bands but I didn't get to check them out yet. I also found out that I actually wasn't too wrong when I thought he was an exchange student as well - he said something like his native language was Arabian, so I guess he or at least his parents aren't born in the USA. I'm not sure, but I think he's new at L'Anse Creuse as well... he said something like he liked this school so much more already than his old school and he had taken Spanish at his old school but now started German at L'Anse Creuse... Well, I'm not sure though. But it sounded like it. He wanted my email adress and he wanted me to send him some pictures of Germany when I get back there. Well, it'll be a while until I go back there ;) We also talked about Homecoming a little, and differences between US schools and German schools... well, it was a long hour ^^ (Oh, by the way... Mr Curtis passed out grade sheets in the meantime. Straigt A! YAY! :) )
In the morning during Chemistry I had found out that Amy, a girl who sits almost next to me and is also in my Precalc class, is in my Symphony Band class. So after Precalc, we went to her locker together and then to the band room. She's nice :) on our way I told her I was a little worried the stuff they play could be too hard for me and she said she doesn't think so and even if, I'd always find someone in Marching Band to help me and I'd never be alone there. I think she plays the clarinet... I'm not sure though.
Symphony Band wasn't very exciting yet. Mr Hilton is going to write me a part but he didn't have time to do that yet, so I just went to a piano room with one of the music teachers and she told me to just show her something on the piano, so I played a little piece (basically the only thing I totally know by heart) and she told me I'd definitely be able to play what Mr Hilton was writing for me and then she gave me the tuba part because that'll be similar to what I'm gonna play... it was reaaaaally easy. But it was just left hand, I'll get something for both hands of course. I'm excited.
I want to play it!
Chemistry AND History test on Thursday... maaan...
The day started good already. Katie came over and talked to me before Chemistry. I know, I say that a lot, but I can only repeat it again and again: she's just such a nice person :)
During Chemistry, everyone who got the spirit (1st day of Spirit Week: College Shirt Day) got candy. I was wearing the Michigan State shirt I bought yesterday. It's a little big on me because they didn't have smaller ones but I kind of like it. It's comfy. Tomorrow is Plaids and Stripes Day. I don't really have anything with plaids on it, but I'll probably wear my black and white striped shirt with some kind of top over it so you can still see the striped sleaves.
During lunch, I talked to Katie about Homecoming. She's going to give me Chelsea's adress tomorrow (Chelsea is the girl we're all going to first, and then we go to Red Robin for dinner and from there we're going to the dance... Katie doesn't know the details yet either, she's going to tell me as soon as she finds out).
In Precalc, we got our test back. Again, Mr Curtis gave the first 10 seats to the 10 best students and sorted the remaining seats by alphabeth. I could stay in my first seat, but the boy behind me got as many points as I got. Mr Curtis said he couldn't have the first seat because he didn't do as good on the quiz before... Well, I don't really mind where I'm sitting actually but of course I was proud of my grade again ;) I made 2 pretty stupid mistakes though.
We basically got sparetime for the rest of the hour and I finally got to talk to Rob again. He had waved at me before Precalc and later he came over to look at my test and talk. He's never met someone doing an exchange year before and he was impressed when I told him that in Germany we can drink and go out at the age of 16 ;) but I also told him that we can't drive on our own until we're 18. He knows Rammstein (of course, who in the U.S. doesn't?) and wanted me to write down some other German bands for him so I told him to look for "Die Aerzte", "Die Toten Hosen" and "Beatsteaks". He gave me some names of US-Bands but I didn't get to check them out yet. I also found out that I actually wasn't too wrong when I thought he was an exchange student as well - he said something like his native language was Arabian, so I guess he or at least his parents aren't born in the USA. I'm not sure, but I think he's new at L'Anse Creuse as well... he said something like he liked this school so much more already than his old school and he had taken Spanish at his old school but now started German at L'Anse Creuse... Well, I'm not sure though. But it sounded like it. He wanted my email adress and he wanted me to send him some pictures of Germany when I get back there. Well, it'll be a while until I go back there ;) We also talked about Homecoming a little, and differences between US schools and German schools... well, it was a long hour ^^ (Oh, by the way... Mr Curtis passed out grade sheets in the meantime. Straigt A! YAY! :) )
In the morning during Chemistry I had found out that Amy, a girl who sits almost next to me and is also in my Precalc class, is in my Symphony Band class. So after Precalc, we went to her locker together and then to the band room. She's nice :) on our way I told her I was a little worried the stuff they play could be too hard for me and she said she doesn't think so and even if, I'd always find someone in Marching Band to help me and I'd never be alone there. I think she plays the clarinet... I'm not sure though.
Symphony Band wasn't very exciting yet. Mr Hilton is going to write me a part but he didn't have time to do that yet, so I just went to a piano room with one of the music teachers and she told me to just show her something on the piano, so I played a little piece (basically the only thing I totally know by heart) and she told me I'd definitely be able to play what Mr Hilton was writing for me and then she gave me the tuba part because that'll be similar to what I'm gonna play... it was reaaaaally easy. But it was just left hand, I'll get something for both hands of course. I'm excited.
I want to play it!
Chemistry AND History test on Thursday... maaan...
9/30/2007
Homecoming Shopping :)
I got my dress!!
When I had gotten up, taken a shower and eaten breakfast this morning, my dad called me and we talked on the phone for a while. Then Sheila and Courtney came back from church. After Courtney had cleaned her room (I was practising the piano in the meantime) the two and I left for our shopping tour.
First, we went to Plado's Closet which is a resell store. I got a really cute pair of sunglasses there (I must have lost my other ones somewhere...). After that, we went to a Dots store next door where I bought a pair of jeans (I love them... they are so nice and skinny :) ) and a very comfortable and pretty long, greenish/blueish knitted jacket. Then, we went over to a DEB store.
We found so many cute dresses there, and I tried all of them. Some were too short, some too low cut, some just didn't look as good any more, I didn't like the design of some and the color of others - in the end, I had 3 really cute dresses to choose from. I ended up taking a georgeous purple-ish/ blackish dress... it's rather short and well, a little low cut but not too much and just soooooooo pretty! While I looked for shoes at DEB, I handed Courtney the dress. I didn't find shoes though and so I asked her to hand it back to me, and suddenly Sheila said "No!", grabbed the dress and said "Happy Birthday!"
Although it isn't my birthday yet, that'll probably be my best birthday present! :) I'm so happy!! I looooove that dress!
After DEB, we went to a huuuuge mall (even bigger than Macomb Mall). We went to so many stores there... I found jewelery that goes with my dress (a cute black/silver necklace, black/silver earrings and black wristbands), cute shoes (black and damn high... but well, I only have to wear them until we actually get to the homecoming dance, every girl takes her shoes off there anywhere - remember, Lisa and Lea? ;) ), a Michigan State shirt (tomorrow is College Sports day which starts our Spirit Week) and fake nails (they're soooo cheap over here! I'm gonna put them on for homecoming :) ). We also had yummy pretzels with cheese sauce there.
The shopping tour was a little exhausting but fun. And I'm soooo happy about my homecoming outfit! You won't see me wearing it until next weekend :P but I will show you the pieces at least (click on that image):
When I had gotten up, taken a shower and eaten breakfast this morning, my dad called me and we talked on the phone for a while. Then Sheila and Courtney came back from church. After Courtney had cleaned her room (I was practising the piano in the meantime) the two and I left for our shopping tour.
First, we went to Plado's Closet which is a resell store. I got a really cute pair of sunglasses there (I must have lost my other ones somewhere...). After that, we went to a Dots store next door where I bought a pair of jeans (I love them... they are so nice and skinny :) ) and a very comfortable and pretty long, greenish/blueish knitted jacket. Then, we went over to a DEB store.
We found so many cute dresses there, and I tried all of them. Some were too short, some too low cut, some just didn't look as good any more, I didn't like the design of some and the color of others - in the end, I had 3 really cute dresses to choose from. I ended up taking a georgeous purple-ish/ blackish dress... it's rather short and well, a little low cut but not too much and just soooooooo pretty! While I looked for shoes at DEB, I handed Courtney the dress. I didn't find shoes though and so I asked her to hand it back to me, and suddenly Sheila said "No!", grabbed the dress and said "Happy Birthday!"
Although it isn't my birthday yet, that'll probably be my best birthday present! :) I'm so happy!! I looooove that dress!
After DEB, we went to a huuuuge mall (even bigger than Macomb Mall). We went to so many stores there... I found jewelery that goes with my dress (a cute black/silver necklace, black/silver earrings and black wristbands), cute shoes (black and damn high... but well, I only have to wear them until we actually get to the homecoming dance, every girl takes her shoes off there anywhere - remember, Lisa and Lea? ;) ), a Michigan State shirt (tomorrow is College Sports day which starts our Spirit Week) and fake nails (they're soooo cheap over here! I'm gonna put them on for homecoming :) ). We also had yummy pretzels with cheese sauce there.
The shopping tour was a little exhausting but fun. And I'm soooo happy about my homecoming outfit! You won't see me wearing it until next weekend :P but I will show you the pieces at least (click on that image):
 |
| My Homecoming Outfit |
Isn't it pretty? :)
9/29/2007
Powderpuff Game
I still see pink sparkles on the inside of my eyelids o.O
After I had slept until 10 today, then taken a looong shower, eaten breakfast, tidied up my room, vacuumed my room and started writing in my diary, Doug, Jacob, Courtney and I went to the Powderpuff Football Game about a 20-30 minutes drive away. It is the annual girl's football game of Regina High School against Marian High School. The rules are softened... the girls who are playing have little flags attached to their pants. So when one team tries to get the ball from the other, they don't tackle each other but try to get the carrier's flag.
Watching was fun and the crowd watching the game was amazing - there were so many people there and they REALLY supported their team. Since the colors of the Regina Wildcats are pink and silver, almost everyone wore pink and silver stuff and people had painted their hair and faces pink. Some guys had even taken their shirts off and painted there whole body pink and silver. Many girls wore hair bands with cat ears on them. It was crazy, but fun.
Doug, Jake and I left early because we wanted to go to church. Later Courtney told us that Regina won. Yay! We left early during the mass as well, Jake wanted to sell popcorn after mass with the other Boy Scouts, Doug went to get Courtney and I was told to watch the boys selling their popcorn.
Back home, I sat outside with Doug and Sheila for a while. I like the conversations I have with them, exspecially the long conversations I often have with Sheila :) Today I found out that she liked the Dan Brown books "Angels and Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" as much as I did!
And what's for tomorrow?
HOMECOMING-DRESS-SHOPPING >:)))
After I had slept until 10 today, then taken a looong shower, eaten breakfast, tidied up my room, vacuumed my room and started writing in my diary, Doug, Jacob, Courtney and I went to the Powderpuff Football Game about a 20-30 minutes drive away. It is the annual girl's football game of Regina High School against Marian High School. The rules are softened... the girls who are playing have little flags attached to their pants. So when one team tries to get the ball from the other, they don't tackle each other but try to get the carrier's flag.
Watching was fun and the crowd watching the game was amazing - there were so many people there and they REALLY supported their team. Since the colors of the Regina Wildcats are pink and silver, almost everyone wore pink and silver stuff and people had painted their hair and faces pink. Some guys had even taken their shirts off and painted there whole body pink and silver. Many girls wore hair bands with cat ears on them. It was crazy, but fun.
Doug, Jake and I left early because we wanted to go to church. Later Courtney told us that Regina won. Yay! We left early during the mass as well, Jake wanted to sell popcorn after mass with the other Boy Scouts, Doug went to get Courtney and I was told to watch the boys selling their popcorn.
Back home, I sat outside with Doug and Sheila for a while. I like the conversations I have with them, exspecially the long conversations I often have with Sheila :) Today I found out that she liked the Dan Brown books "Angels and Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" as much as I did!
And what's for tomorrow?
HOMECOMING-DRESS-SHOPPING >:)))
9/28/2007
Marching Band!
Oh happy daaaaaaaaaaaay... :)))
Man, today was definitely one of the MOST AWESOME days so far. If not the best!
Last night, I sent an email to the marching band teacher, Mr Hilton. I told him that I'm a German exchange student and interested in joining the marching band. I also told him that I unfortunately don't really play a typical marching band instrument but that I've played the piano for a couple of years. I sent that email pretty late so I didn't expect any reaction to it until Monday.
Therefore, I was pretty surprised and confused this morning when before and during my 1st hour, Chemistry, several marching band members asked me about my plans on joining the marching band - how did they know before first hour???? I still have no clue ^^... Well, however, they all seemed happy about it :) and it was so cool that they all came up to me... the first one was Keith, a guy who rides my bus and seems to be really nice. He said Mr Hilton told him I wanted to join the marching band and that Mr Hilton was going to sent tutorial passes (we have to tutorial time at the end of 1st hour, meaning you can go and talk to a teacher if you have a tutorial pass) to me and someone else from the marching band so that I could talk to him about it. Keith plays a special kind of saxophone (I didn't find the English word on LEO...) and so does Katie. Some other band members talked to me (oh, and one girl from my Precalc class who's also in my Chemistry class... I helped her with a problem she couldn't solve last night) and during the hour, two tutorial passes for Katie and me arrived.
When I walked to the band room later with Katie, we talked about Homecoming - and she invited me to go with her and the other girls from lunch :) (and I think some more people from the marching band)! That made me so happy. We'll be going to a girl named Chelsea's house first, then we'll go out for dinner and then we'll go to the dance. I'm so excited and soooooooo glad I can go with them :) They are all so nice...
Talking to Mr Hilton was easy. He seems to be a very cool teacher, straight, funny and ambitious. He told me we could get me involved into the marching band, and they can even use my piano skills - I'll be playing the synthesizer! So I won't actually march but be part of the Pit (the group of students that play instruments you can't march with, they just stand in front of the field and play). Mr Hilton gave me the current Marching Lancers calendar with important dates and rehearsals (rehearsals are usually on Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 9 pm) and a parent handbook and told me that I had to change my schedule so that I had at least one band class (that's required for the marching band) and that I had to talk to a "band mom" (???) about getting a uniform.
On our way back to the Chemistry room, Katie told me some more things about the marching band... it's such a cool thing - and I'm involved!!
(Oh happy day... ;) )
I met the other Katie in the hallway later and told her I'd be joining the marching band, and she also seemed to be happy about it :)
During lunch, we talked a little more about that and about Homecoming again.
The Precalc test today was okay, I think I pretty much got most of it right. In my Drawing class, we're drawing people right now - 2 students model for 15 minutes and the rest of the class has to draw them. I so suck at this - I just can't draw heads!
After school, I went to see my counsellor because of the schedule change. Courtney went with me. Changing was no problem although actually schedule changes aren't possible anymore - well, my counsellor's awesome ;) I'm in Symphony Band now. Unfortunately, I had to drop my Drawing class for it... I would've preferred to drop my Drafting class instead because I don't really learn much in that class anyways (I'm way ahead of everyone else and Mr Caldwell is soooo impressed of my work although I just draw simple draftings from directions in the book all the time... I don't understand what could be hard about that) but well, that wasn't possible. So I agreed to drop my Drawing class. I mean, I still have it second semester... It still makes me a little sad because although that was a hard class, I really liked it. And the stupid thing is that I'll have to start all over again in second semester. But at the moment, the whole band thing is just way more important for me.
So on Monday, I'll have my first Symphony Band hour with Mr Hilton! And my first Marching Band rehearsal is on Tuesday. I'm so excited :)
Other than these awesome changes, I didn't do anything special today... homework, chores, cleaning my room, reading the Marching Band information, going to Kroger's with Sheila and Grayson to get something for dinner... (we got some salmon, fish sticks and 2 little packets of sushi and had that later with rice, vegetables, bread and maccaroni and cheese for dinner - yummy!) At the store next to Kroger's I got some colored paper for letters. Maybe I'll actually have time and enough motivation to write some :P
Tomorrow I might go to a big Girl's Football Game with Courtney... I don't really know yet. I want to practise the piano a lot :) (getting prepared, you know ;) ) and well, yeah, maybe write some letters. I don't know whether we're going to church tomorrow or on Sunday... I think tomorrow I'll get to try on a homecoming dress Sheila's cousin would borrow me but it probably won't fit because it's a size 4. If it doesn't fit, we'll go to the mall on Sunday so I can get my homecoming dress :) uuuh another thing to be excited about ^^
EXCITEMENNNNNNNNNNNNNT YAY!
Man, today was definitely one of the MOST AWESOME days so far. If not the best!
Last night, I sent an email to the marching band teacher, Mr Hilton. I told him that I'm a German exchange student and interested in joining the marching band. I also told him that I unfortunately don't really play a typical marching band instrument but that I've played the piano for a couple of years. I sent that email pretty late so I didn't expect any reaction to it until Monday.
Therefore, I was pretty surprised and confused this morning when before and during my 1st hour, Chemistry, several marching band members asked me about my plans on joining the marching band - how did they know before first hour???? I still have no clue ^^... Well, however, they all seemed happy about it :) and it was so cool that they all came up to me... the first one was Keith, a guy who rides my bus and seems to be really nice. He said Mr Hilton told him I wanted to join the marching band and that Mr Hilton was going to sent tutorial passes (we have to tutorial time at the end of 1st hour, meaning you can go and talk to a teacher if you have a tutorial pass) to me and someone else from the marching band so that I could talk to him about it. Keith plays a special kind of saxophone (I didn't find the English word on LEO...) and so does Katie. Some other band members talked to me (oh, and one girl from my Precalc class who's also in my Chemistry class... I helped her with a problem she couldn't solve last night) and during the hour, two tutorial passes for Katie and me arrived.
When I walked to the band room later with Katie, we talked about Homecoming - and she invited me to go with her and the other girls from lunch :) (and I think some more people from the marching band)! That made me so happy. We'll be going to a girl named Chelsea's house first, then we'll go out for dinner and then we'll go to the dance. I'm so excited and soooooooo glad I can go with them :) They are all so nice...
Talking to Mr Hilton was easy. He seems to be a very cool teacher, straight, funny and ambitious. He told me we could get me involved into the marching band, and they can even use my piano skills - I'll be playing the synthesizer! So I won't actually march but be part of the Pit (the group of students that play instruments you can't march with, they just stand in front of the field and play). Mr Hilton gave me the current Marching Lancers calendar with important dates and rehearsals (rehearsals are usually on Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 9 pm) and a parent handbook and told me that I had to change my schedule so that I had at least one band class (that's required for the marching band) and that I had to talk to a "band mom" (???) about getting a uniform.
On our way back to the Chemistry room, Katie told me some more things about the marching band... it's such a cool thing - and I'm involved!!
(Oh happy day... ;) )
I met the other Katie in the hallway later and told her I'd be joining the marching band, and she also seemed to be happy about it :)
During lunch, we talked a little more about that and about Homecoming again.
The Precalc test today was okay, I think I pretty much got most of it right. In my Drawing class, we're drawing people right now - 2 students model for 15 minutes and the rest of the class has to draw them. I so suck at this - I just can't draw heads!
After school, I went to see my counsellor because of the schedule change. Courtney went with me. Changing was no problem although actually schedule changes aren't possible anymore - well, my counsellor's awesome ;) I'm in Symphony Band now. Unfortunately, I had to drop my Drawing class for it... I would've preferred to drop my Drafting class instead because I don't really learn much in that class anyways (I'm way ahead of everyone else and Mr Caldwell is soooo impressed of my work although I just draw simple draftings from directions in the book all the time... I don't understand what could be hard about that) but well, that wasn't possible. So I agreed to drop my Drawing class. I mean, I still have it second semester... It still makes me a little sad because although that was a hard class, I really liked it. And the stupid thing is that I'll have to start all over again in second semester. But at the moment, the whole band thing is just way more important for me.
So on Monday, I'll have my first Symphony Band hour with Mr Hilton! And my first Marching Band rehearsal is on Tuesday. I'm so excited :)
Other than these awesome changes, I didn't do anything special today... homework, chores, cleaning my room, reading the Marching Band information, going to Kroger's with Sheila and Grayson to get something for dinner... (we got some salmon, fish sticks and 2 little packets of sushi and had that later with rice, vegetables, bread and maccaroni and cheese for dinner - yummy!) At the store next to Kroger's I got some colored paper for letters. Maybe I'll actually have time and enough motivation to write some :P
Tomorrow I might go to a big Girl's Football Game with Courtney... I don't really know yet. I want to practise the piano a lot :) (getting prepared, you know ;) ) and well, yeah, maybe write some letters. I don't know whether we're going to church tomorrow or on Sunday... I think tomorrow I'll get to try on a homecoming dress Sheila's cousin would borrow me but it probably won't fit because it's a size 4. If it doesn't fit, we'll go to the mall on Sunday so I can get my homecoming dress :) uuuh another thing to be excited about ^^
EXCITEMENNNNNNNNNNNNNT YAY!
9/25/2007
One Month, one Day.
That's how long I've been here now...
I noticed that last night when I went to bed. I was like: September 24th... hang on...
On one hand, the time raced. I did so many things already but I feel like they all rushed past me so fast. On the other hand, I feel like I've been here for a lot longer than a month already. Because I feel so welcomed with my host family and I already got used to school so much.
It's just weird... I mean, my whole last school year went over like nothing although so many important things happened during that year. It's strange feeling so in between time now. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only exchange student who feels like this... I mean, you do so many new things, have to get used to so many new details and a whole new everyday life, you have to speak another language the whole time and you basically don't really have a backup of your "old life" that you can use here - you don't bring your friends or your natural family. That's a lot of work for your brain, everyday, so you are often tired, go to bed early, and - rush! - another day's over.
These are just some thoughts I had. Pretty neutral thoughts, don't think I'm sad about that, I was just wondering about it.
School was good today. We got our Chemistry score for the test (99% - and the highest score in class!!! Oh my god I'm so proud...) and we got our History test back (100%). I talked to the girls during lunch, I didn't get to talk to the marching band teacher (tried to do it in the morning but I didn't have enough time), didn't get to talk to Rob but he waved at me when I breathlessly rushed into the class shortly before the bell rang (kind of stressed by the packed hallways - I had to force my way from Writing Workshop to my locker and then with my Precalc stuff all the way down to that class), talked to Sam in Drawing class (she's the girl sitting to my left) - we complained about those stupid drawing desks that never move if you want them to but always move if you DON'T want them to... Ah, we're still doing shoes, by the way.
Not much homework, well, I should have read my History chapter but since we don't have to (just wanted to do it for some more background information) I had kind of a lack of motivation... cleaned my room, played the piano (I'm actually getting kind of good again!), had dinner, did my chores... oh, and I re-painted my toe nails somewhen during the day.
Really need to get those club-joining things done... how often did I say that already??
I noticed that last night when I went to bed. I was like: September 24th... hang on...
On one hand, the time raced. I did so many things already but I feel like they all rushed past me so fast. On the other hand, I feel like I've been here for a lot longer than a month already. Because I feel so welcomed with my host family and I already got used to school so much.
It's just weird... I mean, my whole last school year went over like nothing although so many important things happened during that year. It's strange feeling so in between time now. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only exchange student who feels like this... I mean, you do so many new things, have to get used to so many new details and a whole new everyday life, you have to speak another language the whole time and you basically don't really have a backup of your "old life" that you can use here - you don't bring your friends or your natural family. That's a lot of work for your brain, everyday, so you are often tired, go to bed early, and - rush! - another day's over.
These are just some thoughts I had. Pretty neutral thoughts, don't think I'm sad about that, I was just wondering about it.
School was good today. We got our Chemistry score for the test (99% - and the highest score in class!!! Oh my god I'm so proud...) and we got our History test back (100%). I talked to the girls during lunch, I didn't get to talk to the marching band teacher (tried to do it in the morning but I didn't have enough time), didn't get to talk to Rob but he waved at me when I breathlessly rushed into the class shortly before the bell rang (kind of stressed by the packed hallways - I had to force my way from Writing Workshop to my locker and then with my Precalc stuff all the way down to that class), talked to Sam in Drawing class (she's the girl sitting to my left) - we complained about those stupid drawing desks that never move if you want them to but always move if you DON'T want them to... Ah, we're still doing shoes, by the way.
Not much homework, well, I should have read my History chapter but since we don't have to (just wanted to do it for some more background information) I had kind of a lack of motivation... cleaned my room, played the piano (I'm actually getting kind of good again!), had dinner, did my chores... oh, and I re-painted my toe nails somewhen during the day.
Really need to get those club-joining things done... how often did I say that already??
9/24/2007
Mondays are... tired.
And it's not only me, on Mondays you see many more people sleeping in class than usual.
Calling Christian again last night was nice :) it made me so happy.
Today, it was hard to get up - Monday! Well, it was okay though.
The Chemistry test wasn't hard, I think I did pretty good on it. Ms Potter keeps giving us candy... on holidays (every kind of holiday, even the rather unpopular ones), for answering questions right, and today because of the test. She's so funny.
My Drafting teacher, Mr Caldwell, finally noticed my accent and asked me whether I'd been born in the US or not. So I told him that I'm an exchange student.
In Precalc we start doing stuff that's new for me. It's still rather easy, our book is pretty good and Mr Curtis really knows how to explain the things you actually need to know.
I didn't talk to Rob today (he was sleeping at the end of Precalc when we all had some spare time until the bell rang) but I talked to Britney and Katie (the Sophmore Katie, I'm pretty sure the one I met at the game is a Junior) about the marching band and they told me the name of the teacher who leads it. I want to talk to him, let's see if I can get that done tomorrow morning before 1st hour. I also talked to a girl that's in my Chemistry and Precalc classes. I don't remember her name... argh.
Elvi und Albert - danke fuer die Postkarte! Ich hab mich echt gefreut :) und Sheila war total begeistert von den Bildern darauf... "That looks so nice!" ;)
Nothing special happened today... I spent the afternoon and evening doing homework, walking up to Rite Aid to get some bathroom stuff and milk, doing my chores and cleaning Courtney's and my bathroom.
And now I want some ice-cream!
Calling Christian again last night was nice :) it made me so happy.
Today, it was hard to get up - Monday! Well, it was okay though.
The Chemistry test wasn't hard, I think I did pretty good on it. Ms Potter keeps giving us candy... on holidays (every kind of holiday, even the rather unpopular ones), for answering questions right, and today because of the test. She's so funny.
My Drafting teacher, Mr Caldwell, finally noticed my accent and asked me whether I'd been born in the US or not. So I told him that I'm an exchange student.
In Precalc we start doing stuff that's new for me. It's still rather easy, our book is pretty good and Mr Curtis really knows how to explain the things you actually need to know.
I didn't talk to Rob today (he was sleeping at the end of Precalc when we all had some spare time until the bell rang) but I talked to Britney and Katie (the Sophmore Katie, I'm pretty sure the one I met at the game is a Junior) about the marching band and they told me the name of the teacher who leads it. I want to talk to him, let's see if I can get that done tomorrow morning before 1st hour. I also talked to a girl that's in my Chemistry and Precalc classes. I don't remember her name... argh.
Elvi und Albert - danke fuer die Postkarte! Ich hab mich echt gefreut :) und Sheila war total begeistert von den Bildern darauf... "That looks so nice!" ;)
Nothing special happened today... I spent the afternoon and evening doing homework, walking up to Rite Aid to get some bathroom stuff and milk, doing my chores and cleaning Courtney's and my bathroom.
And now I want some ice-cream!
9/23/2007
Lancer Game, French Dinner and Homecoming Picnic
God job, Maria... you got hot fudge stains on your jeans.
I went to the Lancer game with Courtney and her two cheerleading friends Alexis and Amanda on Friday. Well, we lost... but the game was still okay. During halftime, the marching band played. It was AMAZING. I was so impressed by the show. Katie told me they'll have competitions soon - I'm sure they'll win a lot of prizes. Wow, they are good!
Doug and the boys came over for the second half so I sat with them because Courtney and her friends had some boys stuff going on... I didn't really get all of it. I met Katie and this other guy from my Chemistry class (... I KNEW his name... at... some point... argh) when they came back from their show and sat down at the benches. I said hi and told them how good they'd been. Oh my gosh, now I'm even more scared of trying to get into the marching band ^^... well, you can always try. I'll ask Katie about it tomorrow.
Yesterday Sheila cleaned the whole house for the quests who came last night. I helped her cleaning and did my homework and in the afternoon, we went to church. I still like that a lot. I mean, going to church... it's so different from the few services I attended back in Varel at the Schlosskirche. I definitely didn't like those, it was just boring.
After church, the guests arrived. We kids went down into the basement, had pizza and Cheetos, watched TV or - in my case - read. Upstairs, the adults had their French dinner - six courses! After every course, Courtney and I came up to clear the table for them and do the dishes (we got paid for that ;) ) and we got the chance to try some of the yummy leftover stuff. The desert was delicious! It was a nice night, everyone had fun in their own ways, I finished my book... (a really good book, "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen... I borrowed it from Courtney) The guests left around 1 am and we all went to bed.
Today, I called Christian around noon. It was our first phone conversation in English... first, that felt kind of awkward but as soon as I found my way back into fluent English, is was just as easy as talking in German :) (maybe even easier because I didn't have to change from English to German and back again). We didn't get to talk a lot though because he had to do his chores at 12, so I'm going to call him again tonight after dinner.
In the afternoon, we went to St. Thecla's homecoming picnic. It was at the little kids' school. From 3 to 4.30 pm, Courtney volunteered at the ice-cream stall. It was stressy first, then we didn't have anything to do for a couple of minutes but as soon as Sheila brought us burgers, we of course had a lot to do again so we couldn't eat them until we were done. Well, the ice-cream job is also where I got these stains on my jeans... Sheila soaked them already, it'll probably go out.
Outside there was a book flea market. Adult hard cover books were 2$, adult paperback covers 1$ - so of course I went for it! I got 6 books for 6$ which look as if they're new. It's all crime and thriller stuff... 2 John Grisham books, 2 books of a guy called Jonathan Kellerman which seem to be really good...I also found a Ken Follet book there but I already knew that one so I didn't buy it.
Well, I got to go and study for Chemistry a little (we have a test tomorrow) and finish my drawing for Drawing class (we're drawing shoes right now, it's fun... we did hand drawings before, I didn't know I could do such good hands! You can really learn a lot from Mrs Ritchie...)...
Oh, by the way... I added a new list down on the right.
Have a good Sunday night (well, most of you will be in bed already)!
I went to the Lancer game with Courtney and her two cheerleading friends Alexis and Amanda on Friday. Well, we lost... but the game was still okay. During halftime, the marching band played. It was AMAZING. I was so impressed by the show. Katie told me they'll have competitions soon - I'm sure they'll win a lot of prizes. Wow, they are good!
Doug and the boys came over for the second half so I sat with them because Courtney and her friends had some boys stuff going on... I didn't really get all of it. I met Katie and this other guy from my Chemistry class (... I KNEW his name... at... some point... argh) when they came back from their show and sat down at the benches. I said hi and told them how good they'd been. Oh my gosh, now I'm even more scared of trying to get into the marching band ^^... well, you can always try. I'll ask Katie about it tomorrow.
Yesterday Sheila cleaned the whole house for the quests who came last night. I helped her cleaning and did my homework and in the afternoon, we went to church. I still like that a lot. I mean, going to church... it's so different from the few services I attended back in Varel at the Schlosskirche. I definitely didn't like those, it was just boring.
After church, the guests arrived. We kids went down into the basement, had pizza and Cheetos, watched TV or - in my case - read. Upstairs, the adults had their French dinner - six courses! After every course, Courtney and I came up to clear the table for them and do the dishes (we got paid for that ;) ) and we got the chance to try some of the yummy leftover stuff. The desert was delicious! It was a nice night, everyone had fun in their own ways, I finished my book... (a really good book, "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen... I borrowed it from Courtney) The guests left around 1 am and we all went to bed.
Today, I called Christian around noon. It was our first phone conversation in English... first, that felt kind of awkward but as soon as I found my way back into fluent English, is was just as easy as talking in German :) (maybe even easier because I didn't have to change from English to German and back again). We didn't get to talk a lot though because he had to do his chores at 12, so I'm going to call him again tonight after dinner.
In the afternoon, we went to St. Thecla's homecoming picnic. It was at the little kids' school. From 3 to 4.30 pm, Courtney volunteered at the ice-cream stall. It was stressy first, then we didn't have anything to do for a couple of minutes but as soon as Sheila brought us burgers, we of course had a lot to do again so we couldn't eat them until we were done. Well, the ice-cream job is also where I got these stains on my jeans... Sheila soaked them already, it'll probably go out.
Outside there was a book flea market. Adult hard cover books were 2$, adult paperback covers 1$ - so of course I went for it! I got 6 books for 6$ which look as if they're new. It's all crime and thriller stuff... 2 John Grisham books, 2 books of a guy called Jonathan Kellerman which seem to be really good...I also found a Ken Follet book there but I already knew that one so I didn't buy it.
Well, I got to go and study for Chemistry a little (we have a test tomorrow) and finish my drawing for Drawing class (we're drawing shoes right now, it's fun... we did hand drawings before, I didn't know I could do such good hands! You can really learn a lot from Mrs Ritchie...)...
Oh, by the way... I added a new list down on the right.
Have a good Sunday night (well, most of you will be in bed already)!
9/21/2007
Spirit Day
Go Lancers!
Yeah, today was Spirit Day. That means that if you're proud of your High School (and most kids are) you wear the school colors (L'Anse Creuse: blue and white) or school shirts (e.g. fan shirts from the basketball team, the football team and so on...). So I wore my bluest blue-jeans ;) and a white shirt, and last night I painted my nails blue and white. Today in Chemistry, all the kids who wore Spirit stuff got candy... yummy!
Okay, the last time I wrote was Monday... wow, it didn't seem that long to me! So what has happened so far this week...
Well, as I told you I got a 100% in the Precalc class. Something really funny happened because of that... umm... remember the guy who sat next to me during the Junior assemblies on the first day of school? If not, you can go to the entry of September 4th and reread that story... What I didn't notice was that he's in my Precalc class! So when we had gotten our quiz back on Monday, people started correcting it or going up to Mr Curtis to ask him questions and the people who were done correcting did problems from the book. Suddenly, the guy from the Junior assemblies came over (that's when I noticed he's in one of my classes... oops!). He asked me whether I could help him with some of the mistakes he had made on the quiz and so I explained the problems to him. The next day, before the class started, he came over again to talk to me. His English is perfect, he's not foreign or an exchange student at all ^^ and he got the typical US-name Rob. Well, that's how you can make wrong conclusions ;)
We talked again yesterday, he kind of can't believe why I'm doing an exchange year, he seemed very impressed and said "That's crazy!" over and over again :D and he asked me where my family was, I'm life "Well... in Germany?!" "What?? You're here alone, with no family?" "Umm, I have a family here, my host family..." ... ... ... "That's CRAZY!"
It was funny... and he's nice. We didn't get to talk today though.
I've also been talking to Katie more recently. She's one of the girls I sit with at lunch and she's in my Chemistry class. We did an activity in class together and talked after that... She's taking German, did I write that already? (By the way, Rob has just started German this year) I've also been talking to Heather, another girl from my Chem class, a little. She's a junior and on the swimming team.
Oh, and I finally got a list of all the clubs and activities at L'Anse Creuse. It kind of disappointed me though. The only things that might be interesting are the drama club (well, I'm already in it but it'll still take a while until they start with building the scenery and stuff like that, the stuff I'd like to participate in...), the German club (haha that would be fun... but Katie told me that that's not really a very active club, they meet every now and then but you don't have to come to the meetings and so on... well, I might try it though), the Voices staff (I'm not exactly sure what that is but Sheila and I both believe it's some kind of student newspaper) and the Broadcast and Media Club. I have to take a look at the sports list again and I want to ask Katie whether there's any instrument on the marching band that I might be able to play without having played it before (maybe some kind of drums, stuff like that...) because I think that joining the marching band would be a lot of fun. It is huge, I'd probably get to know many people in there. So, after doing these two things I'll finally make a decision on what to join. I want to DO something!! (besides school, although school's taking pretty much all my time already but I mean - all the kids here handle school AND activities ;) so why shouldn't I?)
Yesterday I went to a football game with Sheila - L'Anse Creuse against L'Anse Creuse North, Courtney cheered. The Freshmen Lancers lost badly and it was very hot outside (it's getting a lot warmer again... not sure if I like it...). Tonight's gonna be the Varsity Lancers/North game. Courtney has to sell Lancer tattoos with some other cheerleaders there, I don't know if I'll go yet.
Today we got our first grade sheet in Chemistry. I'm doing reeeeally good :)))
Tomorrow, Sheila and Doug are hosting a dinner with friends of them. They have these dinners with those people 4 times a year and everytime another couple hosts it. I think tomorrow they're doing a French dinner. We kids will go down into the basement and have a fun TV night.
And we'll be eating yummy PIZZA!!!!! :)
Yeah, today was Spirit Day. That means that if you're proud of your High School (and most kids are) you wear the school colors (L'Anse Creuse: blue and white) or school shirts (e.g. fan shirts from the basketball team, the football team and so on...). So I wore my bluest blue-jeans ;) and a white shirt, and last night I painted my nails blue and white. Today in Chemistry, all the kids who wore Spirit stuff got candy... yummy!
Okay, the last time I wrote was Monday... wow, it didn't seem that long to me! So what has happened so far this week...
Well, as I told you I got a 100% in the Precalc class. Something really funny happened because of that... umm... remember the guy who sat next to me during the Junior assemblies on the first day of school? If not, you can go to the entry of September 4th and reread that story... What I didn't notice was that he's in my Precalc class! So when we had gotten our quiz back on Monday, people started correcting it or going up to Mr Curtis to ask him questions and the people who were done correcting did problems from the book. Suddenly, the guy from the Junior assemblies came over (that's when I noticed he's in one of my classes... oops!). He asked me whether I could help him with some of the mistakes he had made on the quiz and so I explained the problems to him. The next day, before the class started, he came over again to talk to me. His English is perfect, he's not foreign or an exchange student at all ^^ and he got the typical US-name Rob. Well, that's how you can make wrong conclusions ;)
We talked again yesterday, he kind of can't believe why I'm doing an exchange year, he seemed very impressed and said "That's crazy!" over and over again :D and he asked me where my family was, I'm life "Well... in Germany?!" "What?? You're here alone, with no family?" "Umm, I have a family here, my host family..." ... ... ... "That's CRAZY!"
It was funny... and he's nice. We didn't get to talk today though.
I've also been talking to Katie more recently. She's one of the girls I sit with at lunch and she's in my Chemistry class. We did an activity in class together and talked after that... She's taking German, did I write that already? (By the way, Rob has just started German this year) I've also been talking to Heather, another girl from my Chem class, a little. She's a junior and on the swimming team.
Oh, and I finally got a list of all the clubs and activities at L'Anse Creuse. It kind of disappointed me though. The only things that might be interesting are the drama club (well, I'm already in it but it'll still take a while until they start with building the scenery and stuff like that, the stuff I'd like to participate in...), the German club (haha that would be fun... but Katie told me that that's not really a very active club, they meet every now and then but you don't have to come to the meetings and so on... well, I might try it though), the Voices staff (I'm not exactly sure what that is but Sheila and I both believe it's some kind of student newspaper) and the Broadcast and Media Club. I have to take a look at the sports list again and I want to ask Katie whether there's any instrument on the marching band that I might be able to play without having played it before (maybe some kind of drums, stuff like that...) because I think that joining the marching band would be a lot of fun. It is huge, I'd probably get to know many people in there. So, after doing these two things I'll finally make a decision on what to join. I want to DO something!! (besides school, although school's taking pretty much all my time already but I mean - all the kids here handle school AND activities ;) so why shouldn't I?)
Yesterday I went to a football game with Sheila - L'Anse Creuse against L'Anse Creuse North, Courtney cheered. The Freshmen Lancers lost badly and it was very hot outside (it's getting a lot warmer again... not sure if I like it...). Tonight's gonna be the Varsity Lancers/North game. Courtney has to sell Lancer tattoos with some other cheerleaders there, I don't know if I'll go yet.
Today we got our first grade sheet in Chemistry. I'm doing reeeeally good :)))
Tomorrow, Sheila and Doug are hosting a dinner with friends of them. They have these dinners with those people 4 times a year and everytime another couple hosts it. I think tomorrow they're doing a French dinner. We kids will go down into the basement and have a fun TV night.
And we'll be eating yummy PIZZA!!!!! :)
9/17/2007
First YFU Orientation Meeting
Baaah I got a cold -.-
That really sucks, I'm sniffing and sneezing all the time...
Yesterday was the YFU Orientation Meeting. Before that, I went picking up Courtney with Sheila (Courtney had been babysitting the whole night) and we went to Sheila's brother who lives about a half an hour drive away. While Sheila helped him picking tomatoes out of his tomatoe garden, Courtney and I went to Kroeger across the street (I needed a huge bottle of pop and some snack to share for the YFU Meeting, so we bought some Rock and Ryde... don't know what that is but it tastes good ;) and some chocolate chip cookies). After that, we went to Subway - right next to Kroeger - for lunch. Then we returned to Sheila's brother's house where they were almost done picking tomatoes. There were hundreds of them! We put them on our truck and started our way back. When we got back home, we had to hurry and then Sheila took me to the meeting.
It was fun there, about half of the exchange students were German, almost the other half were Asians (students from Japan and Thailand) and the last few were Skandinavian. We did the typical YFU stuff: introduce ourselves, divide up into groups, do the How-Can-I-Be-A-Good-Exchange-Student, What-To-Do-When-I-Get-A-Culture-Shock and Where-To-Go-If-I-Have-Problems stuff. That was kind of difficult because we were all way too tired to do that stuff over and over again. But it was okay, we had a lot of snack breaks.
At 6pm, the host families arrived and we had a potluck dinner. The amount of food was HUGE. And the food was soooo good!! Yummy!
Doug and my siblings went back home after that, Sheila stayed for a parent meeting and I stayed for a last group meeting (How-Did-You-Like-This-Meeting-And-What-Can-We-Do-Different).
On the way back home, I had a nice conversation with Sheila. I told her that some of the kids - I didn't tell her the names, I forgot most of them anyways - actually have concerns about talking to their host parents about problems. I really can't imagine that right now because I feel that I can talk to Sheila about everything, and that's what I told her. I think she was happy about that and she also told me about some of the concerns she had before I arrived.
I really feel like I'm growing closer and closer to my "American Family" every day :) I couldn't be luckier!
Today was a hard day. School was exhausting because of the cold I have and because although I sleep much, I'm still very tired most of the time. Well, the good thing about school was that we got the Precalculus quiz back, and I got 100%! It was kind of embarassing because Mr Curtis announced in front of the whole class that I was the only one with a "perfect paper". Well, but I'm proud of myself as well ;) Right now, my nose is pretty much closed and I can't breathe properly through it and that again gives me a headache. I should go to bed early today.
Well, that's what I say every night...
9/15/2007
Quiz/Test Season starts... Bah
That means studying a lot...
I had my first Chemistry quiz on Wednesday, on Friday I had a vocabulary quiz in my Writing Workshop class (it was pretty much a joke, we got a list of the words and had to fill them into blanks...) and a Precalculus quiz. That was also rather easy, it was exactly like the two worksheets we had done before, only with different numbers.
My plant in Drawing class is almost done but I'm glad she gave us the Monday hour additionally so I can still work on the last few details. I think it looks good and Ms Ritchie also said something positive when she walked by.
Last night, I went to the De La Salle Dance at De La Salle High School with Courtney. I met Meaghan and her friends there and Courtney met her friends (so we ended up not really seeing each other during the whole evening but that was okay). It was cool, just a casual school dance, I met many of Meaghan's friends and friends of Meaghan's friends and so on... I had a fun time. Unfortunately, I kind of lost Meaghan at some point but I hung out with a group of her friends for the rest of the time and they were all very nice and we had fun. I met this one girl, Kaitlynn (I hope I'm spelling her name right, she complained about the fact that people usually spell it wrong ^^) who reminded me incredibly strongly of Hoppi! She was so much like her...
Today I slept in. It felt SO good. Courtney and I went up to Rite Aid with Michaela and later we'll all go to the 4pm mass at St. Thecla. Tomorrow is my YFU Orientation Meeting, I'm excited about that! I think it's from 1pm to 8pm for the exchange students, and the host families will join us around 6 or 7 I believe. It's going to be fun.
I think I will try to get a list or something that tells me all the names of the clubs at L'Anse Creuse High School. I think there are a lot I don't know about and I might want to join another one besides the drama club (Mrs Ethridge still hasn't contacted me about that, they need to set up the whole play first before they can start with the scenery and publicity and stuff).
I gotta work on that... besides studying.
I had my first Chemistry quiz on Wednesday, on Friday I had a vocabulary quiz in my Writing Workshop class (it was pretty much a joke, we got a list of the words and had to fill them into blanks...) and a Precalculus quiz. That was also rather easy, it was exactly like the two worksheets we had done before, only with different numbers.
My plant in Drawing class is almost done but I'm glad she gave us the Monday hour additionally so I can still work on the last few details. I think it looks good and Ms Ritchie also said something positive when she walked by.
Last night, I went to the De La Salle Dance at De La Salle High School with Courtney. I met Meaghan and her friends there and Courtney met her friends (so we ended up not really seeing each other during the whole evening but that was okay). It was cool, just a casual school dance, I met many of Meaghan's friends and friends of Meaghan's friends and so on... I had a fun time. Unfortunately, I kind of lost Meaghan at some point but I hung out with a group of her friends for the rest of the time and they were all very nice and we had fun. I met this one girl, Kaitlynn (I hope I'm spelling her name right, she complained about the fact that people usually spell it wrong ^^) who reminded me incredibly strongly of Hoppi! She was so much like her...
Today I slept in. It felt SO good. Courtney and I went up to Rite Aid with Michaela and later we'll all go to the 4pm mass at St. Thecla. Tomorrow is my YFU Orientation Meeting, I'm excited about that! I think it's from 1pm to 8pm for the exchange students, and the host families will join us around 6 or 7 I believe. It's going to be fun.
I think I will try to get a list or something that tells me all the names of the clubs at L'Anse Creuse High School. I think there are a lot I don't know about and I might want to join another one besides the drama club (Mrs Ethridge still hasn't contacted me about that, they need to set up the whole play first before they can start with the scenery and publicity and stuff).
I gotta work on that... besides studying.
9/12/2007
School, Cellphone and Area Rep
Ewww it's getting actually COLD :/
School goes on - in CP Chemistry, we had a quiz about the scientific method today. It wasn't too hard, I think I did most things right. In US History, we're talking about the West, the fight against the Native Americans and the building of the railroads and we have a test next week. In Drafting, we started drawing letters (hooow exciting...), complete easy little drawings and measuring lines (this feet and inch thing totally confuses me!). I still don't really like Writing Workshop, we're talking about nouns at the moment (didn't I do that back in elementary school?) and we have a vocabulary quiz on Friday. I like Precalculus. We're still doing things I've already done but the teacher explains fast and only the important things. He expects us to be self-dependent in our learning which is pretty cool. In Drawing, we finished our drawings, had our critique about it and today we started a new drawing (we can choose one of two plants to draw, still line drawing, still about expressing moods with lines).
During lunch, I still sit with the same girls. They are nice and really funny.
On Monday, I spent most of the day doing my Precalc homework, it was so much! Yesterday, my cellphone arrived. It is SWWWWEET (it's black ;) )! In the afternoon, my area representative came over for the first time. She is very nice and funny. First, she talked to Doug and Sheila for a while and then she talked to me in my room. She asked me how I felt, some of the typical YFU questions (what to you hope to get from this, ...) and kind of repeated the whole YFU handbook with me... briefly ;) It was nice talking to her, she is going to talk to me once a month and visit me every other month.
Ooooh and another cool thing happened - Courtney and I finally figured out which bus is ours! We went home from school by bus on Monday and have gone to school and back home by bus since then. The bus lady is very nice, she picks us up and drops us off directly in front of the house!
What a luxury ;) (come on, be jealous you poor busriders in Germany!)
School goes on - in CP Chemistry, we had a quiz about the scientific method today. It wasn't too hard, I think I did most things right. In US History, we're talking about the West, the fight against the Native Americans and the building of the railroads and we have a test next week. In Drafting, we started drawing letters (hooow exciting...), complete easy little drawings and measuring lines (this feet and inch thing totally confuses me!). I still don't really like Writing Workshop, we're talking about nouns at the moment (didn't I do that back in elementary school?) and we have a vocabulary quiz on Friday. I like Precalculus. We're still doing things I've already done but the teacher explains fast and only the important things. He expects us to be self-dependent in our learning which is pretty cool. In Drawing, we finished our drawings, had our critique about it and today we started a new drawing (we can choose one of two plants to draw, still line drawing, still about expressing moods with lines).
During lunch, I still sit with the same girls. They are nice and really funny.
On Monday, I spent most of the day doing my Precalc homework, it was so much! Yesterday, my cellphone arrived. It is SWWWWEET (it's black ;) )! In the afternoon, my area representative came over for the first time. She is very nice and funny. First, she talked to Doug and Sheila for a while and then she talked to me in my room. She asked me how I felt, some of the typical YFU questions (what to you hope to get from this, ...) and kind of repeated the whole YFU handbook with me... briefly ;) It was nice talking to her, she is going to talk to me once a month and visit me every other month.
Ooooh and another cool thing happened - Courtney and I finally figured out which bus is ours! We went home from school by bus on Monday and have gone to school and back home by bus since then. The bus lady is very nice, she picks us up and drops us off directly in front of the house!
What a luxury ;) (come on, be jealous you poor busriders in Germany!)
9/09/2007
Career Day, followed by the Weekend
The weekends really run as soon as school has started.
Career Day on Friday was okay. In some classes, we did some kind of tests that should tell us what kind of jobs are best for us. It didn't really tell me something new, all my results told me that I should be an engineer. Well, that's what I'm most probably gonna do anyway. In other classes, we watched little interviews with people who have a class-related job. Not that informative because those jobs were mostly those weird, special jobs you wouldn't really consider right for you.
I sat with the same girls at lunch again and talked with them a little. Friday night, Sheila, Courtney and I went to the varsity football game at L'Anse Creuse after dinner. We had missed the first half but got there right in time to see the marching band play. However, I wasn't able to recognize Britney or Katie because the band is so big!
Yesterday, we went to church for the 4 pm mass (Sheila's mom joined us) and afterwards we all went to Courtney's friend Ashley's house. Their house is so amazing, it is huge, the rooms are so neat, their kitchen is beautiful and they have a big pool and a hot tub outside.
Besides us, Ashley's friend Lauren and later Meaghan, who is a Junior like me, and her parents were there.
Ashley's mom ordered pizza and while waiting for it we had other delicious snacks (chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, cream cheese with fruit, candy, brownies, cup cakes, ...). Ashley was so funny, she wanted me to say things in German and became so excited about it. I was with the other girls all the time, we talked, listened to music and joined the women in the hot tub when it got dark outside. Meaghan is so nice! She goes to Regina High School and went to Europe this summer. She also went to Germany. She told me about these casual dances she often goes to with her friends and that they are once a month. The next is next Friday and she said I could go there with her and meet her friends. I'm so looking forward to it! She gave me her number, her cell phone number and her email adress so we can figure that out. Yay! It really was a fun evening.
Today was a pretty lazy day. Since we went to church yesterday, I could sleep in. I did my homework after I had showered, eaten breakfast, done my chores and tidied up my room and after homework, I spent most of the day reading.
Tomorrow I have to get up early again... so I got to go now.
Pack my lunch!
Career Day on Friday was okay. In some classes, we did some kind of tests that should tell us what kind of jobs are best for us. It didn't really tell me something new, all my results told me that I should be an engineer. Well, that's what I'm most probably gonna do anyway. In other classes, we watched little interviews with people who have a class-related job. Not that informative because those jobs were mostly those weird, special jobs you wouldn't really consider right for you.
I sat with the same girls at lunch again and talked with them a little. Friday night, Sheila, Courtney and I went to the varsity football game at L'Anse Creuse after dinner. We had missed the first half but got there right in time to see the marching band play. However, I wasn't able to recognize Britney or Katie because the band is so big!
Yesterday, we went to church for the 4 pm mass (Sheila's mom joined us) and afterwards we all went to Courtney's friend Ashley's house. Their house is so amazing, it is huge, the rooms are so neat, their kitchen is beautiful and they have a big pool and a hot tub outside.
Besides us, Ashley's friend Lauren and later Meaghan, who is a Junior like me, and her parents were there.
Ashley's mom ordered pizza and while waiting for it we had other delicious snacks (chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, cream cheese with fruit, candy, brownies, cup cakes, ...). Ashley was so funny, she wanted me to say things in German and became so excited about it. I was with the other girls all the time, we talked, listened to music and joined the women in the hot tub when it got dark outside. Meaghan is so nice! She goes to Regina High School and went to Europe this summer. She also went to Germany. She told me about these casual dances she often goes to with her friends and that they are once a month. The next is next Friday and she said I could go there with her and meet her friends. I'm so looking forward to it! She gave me her number, her cell phone number and her email adress so we can figure that out. Yay! It really was a fun evening.
Today was a pretty lazy day. Since we went to church yesterday, I could sleep in. I did my homework after I had showered, eaten breakfast, done my chores and tidied up my room and after homework, I spent most of the day reading.
Tomorrow I have to get up early again... so I got to go now.
Pack my lunch!
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