7-16-04 The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was long - even longer than the wait at Minneapolis. I was tired but I couldn't sleep. In my journal, I guess I was falling asleep and I put, "I was tired but I couldn't sleep or else she knock my teeth out or something." Things I found curious/amaying/interesting/or I had never thought about it: Dutch stewardesses Dutch airport orange waver dudes, security guards Dutch is so much like German, it sounds like a German trying to speak Eng...

First of all, Keyboards here are very different. Ys and Zs are switched. Dashes, slashes, question marks, apostrophes, and Quotation marks, etc. are moved, so please forgive my mistakes. Also, remember that these are in backwards order, so read ones below as well. Saturday, 7-17-04 Today I: -lucked out and found more kids getting a ride so I could too since the phone doesn't work. -sat around, played the piano, talked to Manuel, Felix, Melissa, and Professor Von Schmidt, and p...

So I need to catch up. What is the plural of Adidas? Wednesday, 7-21-04 I woke early because of that fly, and finally fell back asleep. I rode the bike this morning, leaving only ten minutes before the bus comes. Big mistake - I am OUT OF THE GALAXY OF SHAPE! I had to keep going, so I got there and went to put the bike in when I realiyed I hadn't brought the bike lock key! Ah! Dude, I already broke their door handle, now lose their bike? So I, with no time to spare, wrapped the sti...

Tuesday, 7-20-04 Today I tried the granola that my hostsister usually has for breakfast with yogurt. I thought it was just like cereal, so I poured a whole bowl. Whoops. Mrs. Hostmom turned and saw how much and said, "Oh! I don't sink you vill need zat much!" So I put most back in, and it turned out to be good. The whole milk wasn't though. I got a ride to school again, and I just HAD to call Matt from the phone before school started. He was watching a movie with Kevin and Emily. ...

So I think I have forgotten to tell about some of the weird things. Here are some curious things: Doors are not normal. Some open in, some open out, you can never tell. Also, they have little raised parts where the door is, and I trip on it every time. Pillows are these fabulous-looking things resembling large clouds, that decide to lower your head to the height of the bed, so it is really not a pillow at all and I have been using my sweatshirt. Bikers - everyone here is a biker...

Well, I'm not sure what to do with my pictures. I can only send one at a time to Matt. Anyway, here is the next blog entry:Today I:-woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep, and finally got up to go to the bathroom. I saw something strange on the floor, and when I leaned over to look at it, it hopped away! A darling little frog hopped around and around the room. I took pictures of it. I wish I could figure out how to paste them onto this blog. -got ready, wearing a dress although we w...

When I was leaving Jan's office, there were two guys by the door. I waved to the one I knew (he gave us the tour of Kiel) and pulled on the door. Whoops. So I pushed on the door. Whoops. Then they said in German that it was locked. I stared at it. Finally the one I didn't know came over and unlocked it. Then I pulled on it. Whoops. Then I pushed on it. Success, finally, but I felt so flustered that I said, "Thank you, see ya" instead of, "Danke, tschüs". I had been studying na...

Tuesday, July 27th:Pretty sure I realized today that I only put postage for a post card IN Europe, not out to the USA. I was so disappointed, I kept thinking about it. Dang it! IT made me want to cry, because both cards were so perfect and they cost a euro each! One of them was my marriage congrats/wishes to Amy. Too late now. She goes through the temple today and gets married Friday. Well, we went to Lübeck. The old churches and buildings were cool. One - St. Mariens, was where ...

Monday, July 26th I rode the bike too fast again. Ryan and I talked again on the way and decided to go to the Freilich Museum today. In class, I was excited to turn in my Märchen. We got the exam back and I had Ulli minus another point that really shouldn't have been given to me. During lunch, I went to Jan's office and asked him about accomodations for matt. We figured out a cheap dorm! Yay! Then I wanted to get a döner, but there wasn't time, so I went back and met Ryan so I coul...

Sunday, July 25thMy host sister and I found the church, yes, it is a full-on church, and she said her mom would pick me up, and if not, I should take the bus back to the Hauptbahnhof and back out to the countryside. I walked in and saw many from the program. I sat in the back by the couple with the little boy named Ethan. I understood very little, but got the main points. There were two sister missionaries from Utah. In Sunday school I followed none of the discussion, but kept up with th...

Saturday, July 24th We had breakfast around 10 and Mom - I saw that raw meat spread about which you told me - as soon as I saw it, I hurried and put marmelade on both of my pieces of bread so that they wouldn't ask and if they did, I had an excuse. We went to the Bauhaus - a smaller version of Home Depot. I swear they're owned by the same people. There were big oranges signs, and in the same font as Home Depot it said, "The Home Store". Then we went to the Markt - kind of like Salt Lak...

So I finally found a bus stop and I hopped on the 502, hoping I would get to the Sophienhof on time. I was in luck - 4:02. I found the sisters but couldn't understand either of their names, so we went to the pool (getting onto the bus), going exactly where I had just been. I had them do the transaction to pay to get into the pool since I didn't know what to say. We talked about differences between countries, and I discovered the reason I couldn't understand them was because they were from...

Friday, July 23rd. Today, I slept in late. The girl who helps clean the house knocked on my door at 11 and asked if she could come in to clean. I got up and let her in. I talked to her for a bit, but she was hard to understand. She really rolled her rs. Then while I was studying after eating in the kitchen, I asked her what she did for fun here. Somehow we communicated and decided to meet at the Sophienhof at 4 and then go swimming with her sister. I was just leaving when my hostm...

So, for Thursday, the 22nd?My hostmom gave me a ride to school and in class, more guys had decided to argue against having a one hour lunch instead of two, so Liz said, "Do you like chocolate?" I don't think that will work. Then, in the middle of class, she said, "Can we please ban the sex and drugs and stuff like that?" I felt dumb that I hadn't said anything earlier, so I agreed, and all the guys totally protested, but Ulli said, "How about we at least talk about it less, not every other...

Today is Mike's Birthday. (August 12th). I wrote him a letter and called him. The speaking exam and last written exam went fine. I caught up a bit on my blog. Then I bought a pizza and tried to get 4 milchbrötchen, but the lady didn't understand. Me: I need 4 milchbrötchen. Her: Ja (puts one in a bag) Me: I need 3 more. Her: 3? Me: 3 more. Her: 1,20 (only 3 in the bag). Me: (whatever, I give up). After school Brad and I looked at flights for Municha and Bern. No go. The...