So, back to BOP.
Tuesday... Oh wait. I already talked about Tuesday. Okay, so Wednesday. Wednesday..... Just kinda sucked. It was the worst and most boring day of BOP and literally felt like it would NEVER END! It was the day that I was Service. Ugh. First thing I had to do was put on a stiff white shirt, a black vest three sizes too big, and a long black apron. Now, that would not have been too bad. The clothes did not look bad, they were a little uncomfortable, and very unflattering, but they looked fine. The thing that made it suck was that it was probably 25° Celsius in the room we stayed in. That is 77° Fahrenheit. That really isn't so hot, but I'm the kind of person who is comfortable wearing a tank top in 50° weather. Let's just say.... I was not exactly rushing for my jacket like all the other girls who were freezing to death. It's weird how cold these Germans get so easily. Well, I guess somebody from Florida would be cold here too. So, after being in these clothes for a while, people started arriving. It was then that I realized I really have a lot to learn in German. We were supposed to be selling coffee and brotchen but I could not understand half of what people were asking for. After a while, the other Service people sent me in the back to make the coffee. I was pleased to stay there for a while. When things slowed down a bit, it was just us sitting there for two or so hours at a time. I was relieved when the day ended, or when somebody brought a dirty cup or plate to us just so I had something to do.
Thursday was infinitely better. I got to wear my normal clothes, which of course was none other than a blue shirt, black skirt, grey nylons, and my combat boots, and a white apron. That day, I made coffee in the morning as usual, did some dishes. Well a lot of dishes. And then, I made an apple pie. It was a really, really, really, REALLY weird apple pie. First off, we didn't make dough, we made like a weird batter type thing. It was like half dough and half batter because it was really thick, but I would not have been able to hold it in my hands, or knead it, but it probably would have broken a spoon if I tried to mix it too much. So we made that, and then spread it on a big cookie sheet, so it was like a sheet cake. Then we cut up like fifteen apples into little slices and laid them side by side on this battery stuff. On top of that, we put little pieces of Marzipan which tastes much better when you bake it on top of apples. Then, I took a teensy weensy teaspoon and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top of the whole thing. That day, I also learned an important German word for anybody who wants to be a baker or cook anything in Germany. The word is Zimt. Which means cinnamon. Yeah, I didn't realize the importance of cinnamon either until I did BOP in Germany. But believe me, since that day, I have needed the word Zimt more than once. We baked our 'pie' at 135° Celsius, and it turned out delicious. That same day after going home, I also went inline skating with Geraldine. Not for the first time, but for the longest time ever. We've been going regularly since then, and it is so much fun!
Friday was uneventful and boring. The last day of BOP lasted only two or so hours and we just got into groups and talked. I was just totally lost the entire time, and made quite the fool of myself when my ''group'' was like, Okay, just tell them you thought folding the napkins was good. And of course, I didn't know what they told me to do, and I had no clue how to say napkin, so it went a little like, they looked at me to say what I was supposed to say, and I just kind of stared back and read a random thing off the poster and said it was fun. Luckily, ''Serviette Falten'' does mean napkin folding, but everybody still stared at me like, okay... And? Then they were like, Oh wait, she's the exchange student who can barely speak German, duh! And then they moved on. It was quite awkward.... After that strange adventure was over, I walked home with my friend Sheryl, and another new friend I made from my class named Maxi. We dropped Sheryl off at her house first, then Maxi walked me most of the way back to my host house until we had to part ways because he was going in the opposite direction. I have to say, he speaks the best English of all the Germans I have met. Besides the English teachers. And I know, slap me on the wrist for speaking English and not German, but he wanted to practice his English with me. I have not ever met another person, and definitely not a guy, who knows so much about Twilight, Rap, and American films. I was happy that the conversation never stopped. That is usually a problem for me, I never can seem to think of anything to talk about, but this conversation just flowed. Now, I'm glad to say, I have a good new friend. Maxi. :)
Now I'm just trying to remember the other crazy things that have happened since I last wrote...... Oh, here are some, not neccesarily in order.
The other day, my host mom, Anja, asked me and Geraldine if we wanted to go on her run with her. Both of us were just like, running, um, hell no, but we went, and used our inline skates instead. So we started by going down the driveway, around the corner and such until we got to the florist. From there, we continued to go straight, and I noticed some things about Kamp-Lintfort that I had not noticed beforehand. Next to the local florist which I had already been to twice, and passed by everyday on the way to school, there is a shop which sells tombstones. Very beautiful marble tombstones. This was the first time I ever saw a tombstone store before. I wanted to take a picture, but I did not have my camera with me. Oh well, next time. Next time. We continued down the road, and about two hundred yards later, there was another store that sold tombstones! Along with the option of a nice little rock filled fence around the coffin location. Now, I've already been to the local cemetery and the war veteran cemetery in town because I'm one of those weirdoes who finds cemeteries the perfect place for photos and quiet thinking, and this shop probably has more tombstones than the whole cemetery of Kloster Kamp, which is the big ancient cathedral of the town that all the young people like to hang out at because the gardens are beautiful, and it's got many good places to talk. Yeah, that many tombstones... At least they arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing way, placing the one of a bony, skeletal Grim Reaper holding his scythe under some guys chin next to a big cross. We continued down the road, passing cows, and grass, and trees and other naturey things, and we came to a fork in the road. Usually, this is where Geraldine and I go left and head back towards home, but Anja kept running straight, so I followed. About fifty feet later we came to a highway crossing, and we turned left there. That's when I thought to myself, ''Oh, dear....'' At the end of this long stretch of sidewalk was the bottom of a hill that kills me everytime I walk or ride a bicycle up it. Anja started running up it like the champ she is, and I just kinda stood there for a second and dreaded the hill. Then I started skating. For those of you who have ever inline skated, you know it is not in any way easy to skate up a hill. Five minutes, and many cuss words later I reached the top where Anja was waiting and Geraldine had just finished also. Then, we had to go down. I would have gone up that hill twelve more times before going down the other side alone once. I thought about taking the skates off and just going down in my socks, but Anja had a better idea. She took my hand, and Geraldine's and we started down. Ten feet later I fell so hard on my butt that I had a bruise the next day. After getting back up and picking up the pieces of my shattered pride off the concrete, we came up with a better method. Geraldine held onto Anja's waist, and I held onto Geraldine's waist, and we went down that way. It worked pretty well and then we were home, and I promised myself that I would conquer that hill alone before I left. Little did I know I would so soon, because I just did last night. Hooray!
Before we get into that, I have another story. So, you remember at the end of my last post, I had to go because we were picking up walnuts in the backyard? Yeah, we did that, and then we needed to give the chickens water, and.... Well, a fox got in the hen house. We opened up the door and there were seven dead chickens in various forms of bodily mutilation. Bodo, my host dad, had to come with his pitchfork and take them all out. I think one of the chickens that was still alive ran away, but I'm not sure, they might've gotten it back in. I can now say I know what a chicken with it's head cut off looks like. It isn't pretty. You definitely do not want to see what it looks like if you haven't already.
Did I already say before that I've ridden a horse with Geraldine? If not, I am now. I rode horses with Geraldine. Twice. Barebacked. Heck yes. I was so psyched. Although, both times, I tried riding Cindy, the black pony, first and she would not move an inch in the right direction for me. She just wanted to eat, or turn around and walk the opposite direction from where we were going, and it was just awkward. But then, I rode Schneewittchen, and she was not mean to me. Well, okay maybe a little. The second time we went riding, Schneewittchen just did not want me to get on her back. She kept running away every time I tried, and she ended up stepping on my foot. Talk about pain. This was worse than when I broke my arm in third grade. Just, don't get stepped on by a horse.... It hurts. And Schneewittchen is not even a full sized horse, she's just a pony. I can get on her back without a stepping stool, or anything, just straight from the ground. Avoid hoof to foot contact at all costs. Other than that, once I got on, she worked with me. She ran when I made a weird clicking noise that Geraldine taught me, and everything was fine, dandy, and very stellar.
Finally, we come to me conquering the dang hill. So, yesterday, we went out on the town with Geraldine's friends, and we went with the inline skates. On the way home, it was time to go down that monster hill again. First, I tried inching down hugging the side of a building. That stopped working when I arrived at a half wall type structure where the shingles started falling off the little roof when I tried to hold onto it. Underneath were tons of spider webs with huge spiders, so I didn't want to touch down there. (I'm not afraid of spiders, I just didn't want to break all those webs and have their rath directed at me) That's when I got an idea. I took off my right skate and started going down the hill balancing on just my left foot. When I started going too fast, I put my foot down, slowed myself down a bit, and then just went back to balancing on my left foot and coasting down the hill. At the bottom, all I could think was, ''Yes. I did it.''
Until my next post, Tchüß.
Mit Freundlichen Grüßen,
Anna <3
