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...

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...

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...

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...

Lena expressed her concerns to me at Cousin’s Day about Amy deciding to change her dress. I told Mom and she talked to Lena about it, and so now she needs to resew the parts she unpicked (luckily she hadn’t cut yet), AND . . . find a dress for Amy before pictures on Monday! However, Amy is in CANADA until Saturday night. Hmmmm . . . So, Mom took me wedding dress shopping with her for AMY, since I am about the same size. I tried on so many. Sadly, the first three or more stores we went to...

So much has happened lately that I absolutely have to write about it. I guess I will just put them in little stories. I helped Matt choose a paint color to go with the circus red carpet he chose for the home theater he was building where the climbing room used to be. When I first saw the carpet, I seriously doubted that anything would go well with it. We grabbed paint samples that looked like the color of the couch and the carpet he chose, and held them up to all sorts of colors. His m...

So I leave for study abroad in Germany in 13 days! YIIIIKES! It kind of gives me butterflies in my stomach when I think about it. I sent my host family a letter this week, so I hope they will get it soon and email me, because I do not have their email address and I would like to be more sure about how to get to their home once I arrive in Kiel (if I can find the bus at the airport in Hamburg). I think the main thing that scares me is awkwardness which goes hand in hand with making a fool ...

Matt is in Vegas. I need to talk to him. I saw a cartoon today of a cat with his tail in one of those walls they have in Holland to keep back the water, and a kid is walking by, turned toward the cat, who is saying, "Hey kid, got a minute?" I had to explain it to my coworker. I finally got a hold of Mike Bourne's family to ask for his address, and his mom said, "Aren't you off and married?" When I said no, she was so excited. She kept saying, "That's so great! Well, for Mike! Yay!...

It's been a lot longer than I thought since I last wrote! Time flies when you have none. Ha. I've been working and working at my other job and working at my OTHER job, and then hanging out with Matt for a couple of hours, then sleeping, then working again, etc. This week I was lucky because I got a few hours off in between jobs and I cleaned my room a little, brought some stuff to the dry cleaners, and did some laundry. I'm more used to the idea of Amy getting married while I'm gone now....

Matt made noodles and put them in his own version of Beef Stroganoff, then brought it to my work for me to eat! Wow, it was so good! MMMM! The noodles were chewy and thick and so good! He's really into spoiling me. We went on a nice hike this week and I can see a change in him that I really love. It's making me want to look at him and just smile. The other night, I flipped because of a spider, and my mom flipped at me. First off: it was late at