Addicted.

Since I've missed four or five days of posting I'll write two today, does that make up for it? I hope so.

Just a few things I've noticed and done.

It seems to me that all German radio stations have a great love for Robbie Williams (and Take That), Bon Jovi and for whatever reason-Shakira. I find Shakira to be just the female version of Nickleback, all her songs are the same just with the words put in a different order and maybe if we're lucky a slightly different beat.

Today I had a snowball fight with Rene and Ralf. I asked quite a few people to come but they all said "Hmmm....No." this should have been a warning to me and yet.....Hmmmmm No. So I walked gravely to the battle ground, armed with a lot of layers of clothing that should have kept me warm and preparing to prove my mad snowball fighting skillz.....and was promptly tackled by Rene. So all my practice at making the perfect snowball and aiming was pointless. I then attempted to tackle him back. He is (very) roughly 7"3 so I epic failed and instead scored a handfull of snow to the face. Snow hurts. It looks all innocent and pretty, but the ice is hiding underneath and when I could no longer feel my face and my fingers were red, that's when I noticed Ralf hadn't joined, so he got tackled too and when everyone was freezing and yelling "PEACE!!!!" That was when we quit.

Tomorrow is Silvester (New Years) and Laura has got herself some flavoured beer. I haven't actually tried German Beer. I can't really get past the smell but flavoured beer....now that's just taking it too far. It sounds like passion pop gone...wronger. (Germans google passion pop) Anyway she has orange and lemon flavour. I have no intentions of going anywhere near the stuff....but Laura has chocolate fondue, that I will definitely go near....mmmm delicious.

Anyway wishing everyone a happy new year (or a nice slide into the new year as the Germans say....some joke about it being icy so you can slide, I didn't laugh...)

Hope all is well.

A funny thing happened at the snow.

So the whole family went skiing for three days. Annika didn't come and Sonja didn't really ski so I guess that first sentence is false but none the less! Here are my theories on skiing and I've cross-referenced them with Hans' thoughts (what I think he'd say) and reality...enjoy!

Skiing

In theory: Ski slowly so you can maintain control and don't injure yourself or anyone around you, and don't look down because the fear of heights will cause a panic attack.

Hans' Thoughts: Teach Giorgia how to ski safely without hurting herself or anyone, making sure to stop constantly mid-slope so Giorgia gets a good look down the side of the cliff she's about to ski down.

Reality: Was too proud to listen and instead skiied too fast to see the oncoming jump...not that I realised it was a jump until I was in mid-air! Also had a panic attack everytime I looked down and at one point a tantrum ON THE SLOPE because I couldn't bring myself to ski down.

Stopping

In theory: Snow plow or parallel ski to a stop, a safe distance from other people.

Hans' Thoughts: Just don't hit me.

Reality: Only stop if you've hit something....or someone. Might as well take a few people down with you, they make a comfortable landing!

Catching lifts

In theory: Watch you feet at all times when on T-bar lifts (schlepplifts for Germans) and make a quick and safe exit before you hit the wall at the end of the lift.

Hans' Thoughts: I should go with Giorgia to make sure she makes it out ok.

Reality: "I can do it!" Gets distracted and forgets to exit the lift and instead gets the t-bar caught on her leg and dragged up with it...finally becomes unhooked and slides backwards before falling over. The lift operator looked disgusted....he stopped the lift and watched for a few minutes whilst I tried in vain to get up until Laura with her mighty German strength yanked me up.

Hope all is well!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

So today it's Christmas. German Christmas, not the real Christmas....hehe.

Anyway so after I stared blankly at the roof for two hours during the Church service after realising that I was never going to understand, we went home. We ate melted cheese with potatoes and salami and other stuff in it and then listened to a Christmas Concert by Laura played on the flute.

At some point Laura started handing out presents. I'm not sure how she became the designated Christmas Elf, but none the less... Anyway I got lots of German novelties like flags and keyrings, money, a digital photo keyring that'll be great for forcing people to look atz my pictures of Germany and lots of other things. I'll soon be wearing my Ohm Gymnasium t-shirt daily, and one of my two new scarves and whilst I'm at it....the ring Andrew sent me.

It was pretty funny actually. It was on the arm of the teddy that he also sent me, and I almost missed it! Then just went bright red when the family started making engagement comments and when I found out it was too big to fit even on my thumb...going to have to fix that!

Anyway thought I'd mention just three others epic fails of mine:

1. When I couldn't remember the word for tears (trennen) and couldn't get my message accross to Laura and Annika....The best I could do was "Augensaft" (Eye Juice) they laughed so hard there was eye juice everywhere!

2. Today when translating Pick-up lines into German such as "Sooooo do you come here often?" (Kommst du oft hierher?) and "I've lost my virginity, can I have yours?" I epic failed. I forgot that JUNGFRAULICHKEIT is virginity, jungfrau is virgin. So I translated it as "I've lost my virgin, can I have yours?" to which Annika promptly replied....what does yours look like?

3. Today I also learnt the difference between "In dir" and "In dich" with reference to being in love. Whilst asking what "I'm in love with you" is in German. Annika stressed the difference between the two....Both translate as "In you" in english, but in German it seems that one sounds more like "I'm in love with being in you" than "I'm in love with you." Good thing she explained that one early!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Hope all is well.

That was an Epic Fail if I do say so Myself....

After Sonja's suggestion I figured I'd explain who Ralf is so peeps back home don't get the wrong idea. He is my BFFG...Best friend for Germany. So are many others because I am Lovable G, but he lives in Großgündlach and so between he and Eric they can just waddle their little german butts to our house whenever it suits.

Anyway I thought I'd mention some Epic Fails of mine during my time here in Germany:

1. Getting "Abtasten" and "Anfassen" confused. Both mean to touch...but in different ways. Considering I was saying "You just want to touch me" and used "Abtasten" which is the way a Gynocologist touches you....it made the conversation somewhat more awkward between Annika and I...My bad.

2. When Laura was making her nasty dumpling/noodle things she did it in boiling water...makes sense. I thought the container had a lid on it so I went to touch the lid....that wasn't there. Spent the next few minutes yelling random German words as if they were profanities....the Germans laughed.....bad Germans.

3. When I spoke to a girl in my class for ten minutes in English before realising they said "She went on an exchange TO New Zealand" not FROM New Zealand....she hadn't understood a word I said.

4. My first meeting with Laura's Grandmother: "Wie geh.... (realises she can't say "du" because she hasn't met her before) ...gehen es Sie...... (Ooops supposed to use Ihnen) .....Sienen" Fail.

5. Getting really upset when a girl I met couldn't understand me and instead said "Sorry I can't understand you" ... All I said was "Do you still have family in Dubai" auf Deutsch (she came from there), I was so embarrassed, until hours later Laura told me she doesn't speak German.....That makes sense!

That's just a few of the Fails I haven't mentioned. Obviously there's the tissue episode and I can never remember which word is cake and which is kitchen...

Hope all is well.

Small Steps.

So today I achieved as follows:

1. Found out my year seven German teacher doesn't speak English so I couldn't Ginglish my way through a conversation. He and I struggled to work out what the other one was saying (Coz of my rockin' Deutsch and his....English, we gave up and used Sign Language....kidding.)

2. I gave a speech about Australia to the year eights, making an effort to avoid using slang and to speak slowly whilst watching the confused faces of the kids turn into REALLY confused faces. I also spent the lesson staring at a kid who looks exactly like Ralf and trying to work out his name so I could tell Ralf to look out for his twin...I failed.

3. Nothing from 10am-6pm.

4. Decided to make muffins for my class to eat tomorrow but I couldn't translate the recipe to english so forced Laura to cook for me....then we found out we didn't have the ingredients to make Muffins so made cup cakes instead.....I didn't know what "Cream the butter" meant, so I made Ralf come over and help.

5. Watched Laura play the piano, then the flute and then eat some gross boiled dumpling thing she made whilst attempting (and failing) to make fresh pasta. Ralf and I watched in horror as the slippery, brine and pesto covered dough was eaten...Still surprised she kept it down!

6. That's it. It seems a little sad that I achieved five things today. I did do my first German dictation, which I failed so badly that the German teacher tried to console me (whilst laughing) by saying "Ok, next....mal?" (Good thing I learn German.)

Hope all is well.

Sumo Giorgia.

It's taken four weeks and a lot of trials but I have finally found the foods that will make me fat. Apple Strudel and Ofen Käse. Magical, delicious, high in fat....who cares (I do) but I am on holidays and it will ll look pretty bad for Andrew if he only loves me when I'm skinnny!

Anyway so ofen käse is literally translated as oven cheese. So it's melted Camembert and it's great, you basically use it as a dip. Apple Strudel....well I'm sure you guys can work that out. However because I don't entirely trust your brain power apple strudel is diced apple with sultanas and spices in puff pastry. That was a pretty good description if I do say so myself.

We went and saw Cirque De Soleil and it was amazing as it always is. My family bought me the book and I've spent the last two days with Annika staring at the pretty pictures..We're easily amused! It was Solembanco and I hadn't seen that before. I stared at the costumes, they were so bright and they were definitely going for the Tranny look this season....A LOT of makeup!

I found out my extended German family reads my blog as well. Aunties, Uncles, grandparents....those cousins you didn't even know you had. None of them have been able to comment and I'm not entirely certain why that is, but the settings don't let people....it's probably a good thing, they can't protest my gross generalisations! Also some of my classmates. Mostly Ralf because I told him I'd mention him and he wants to be famous, I'm sure the others will want a mention now too.

Nothing much else is happening, I'm going shopping with a few people tomorrow, and by a few I mean lots and lots. It was Ralf, Laura and I, but I figured that'd be weird so I invited our entire class along...Made my own little excursion.

Hope all is well.

How do you Zoo?

So today I went to the zoo. I saw lots of snow animals. Snow ducks, snow turtles, snow cheetahs. All specifically bred to live in the snow....or not. Most were indoors, and Laura and I were forced to endure the stench of the ugly Tapirs (some weird pig/elephant like animal), big cats and all the other indoor animals. It was a pretty great day though. No one in their right mind goes to the zoo in winter. All the animals are hibernating and the ones that aren't sleeping are playing dead so we had the entire zoo to ourselves, my only real problem with the day was that my legs hurt now. Considering I've done next to no exercise in a month and the zoo was MASSIVE I guess it makes sense...Maybe I should start snow jogging?!? Anyway I took lots of photos, I really loved the snow camels. They made my day!

Later I sat down to my favourite TV shows. Familie in Brennpunkt (Roughly- Family in strife), Verdachts Fälle (Betrayals...again...rough tranlation) and random MTV shows that I are in English so I can just zone out. Particularly entertaining was the family where the father not only kept an eye on his daughter, but set up strict curfews, put a video camera in her room so when boys were there he could watch and put a tracking device in her handbag....wrong on so many levels. Annika and I laughed the entire show. Then she went to go babysit and I went and...stared into space for a few hours. Not entirely certain what I have achieved since 3pm..not a lot!

So I baked my (now famous) cookies. Annika did most of the work but I told her what to do, and took the credit. We put way too much sugar in it, Germans don't have chocolate chips so we smashed a couple of chocolate bars and put that in instead and then for good measure, more sugar and chocolate. I think the people Laura and I had over for a few movies last night nearly choked on sugar. I forced at least three down each of their throats....now to bake another batch....

Hope all is well.

Giorgia's One and Only Vent.

Ok I'm getting to that stand-still that I'd like to think everyone comes to when learning a language and let me know if I'm right.

The point where you are tired of asking "What's this word in your language?" and saying "Oh, oops you've told me that heaps of times." The time when you don't seem to be learning anymore, when you forget all the new words and are just stuck at a base of awkward grammar and limited vocabulary.

Admittedly my understanding is better now, but a lot of good that does me! A boy in the year seven was talking to me today and when he heard me reply in my awkward, (still) broken German, he started speaking English and I had to yet again go through that frustrating process of saying "Nein, Du musst Deutsch sprechen weil ich Deutsch lernen muss."

So I'm frustrated and you can stop reading here if you like, I'm really only venting.

I'm tired of never being 100% sure what the person said or what is going on, tired of spending five minutes trying to work out how to reply properly or replying immediately to faces that read "What did she try to say?" and I think I'm most tired of not knowing enough words to get me through even the most basic conversation.

My family are really good about that to give them full credit. I whip out my awkward pigeon Deutsch,

they fill in the blanks or re-word my sentence, I repeat. Move on to more pigeon Deutsch.

I've tried to hurry the learning process, so I wouldn't feel my cheeks going red so often. I translate every word I don't understand on school handouts until I can read them. I keep a diary so Laura can correct my grammar and then I re-write it. I watch German films and TV. Yet I STILL seem stuck with about twelve verbs that are used to no end such as: Haben, sein, möchten, gehen, fahren, kommen, bekommen, nehmen, denken, glauben, wollen, benutzen and lernen.

I'm not complaining, just venting. I know it'll click eventually. I know I'm just grumpy that my plan for german language domination didn't happen in my set time frame and I'm sure everyone goes through this stage where they don't feel they're taking any information in anymore. I think I just had some unrealistic expectation that I'd get here and it'd be good after a month and we're nearly at a month now and at this point, I think I'd need a year for it to be "good."

We'll see I guess...

Hope all is well.

I am just as confused as you are!

So today I learnt that:

1. Germans call Smurfs "Schlümpfe." I'm grossly offended...How do they use the word Smurf as a noun, verb and adjective in German? "Dass ist sehr schlümpfig Papa Schlümpfe!" No.....It just doesn't work.

2. German fanta is a wrongness colour. It's yellow with the tiniest bit of orange food dye mixed in....I want my orange flavoured soft drink ORANGE.

3. Germans seem to think a cat has SEVEN lives. Obviously Australian cats are built to last better. Our cats have NINE. I think Laura was a little jealous that our kitties have another two lives up their pussy paws. It makes sense though, sieben rhymes better with leben than neun does. Still....

4. Germans have a better appreciation for Converse than Aussies do. Everyone wears them and they have SOOOOOO many more styles, not just Chucks but every form of converse. They have every colour, shade and style and for winter they have fluffy innards and tend to be made of leather or thicker material that stands a chance against the water.

Anyway I'll quickly explain what I understand of the German Abitur system (it's limited).

So in Germany in year 10 (Laura's year level) you must do around thirteen (or more) subjects. The only choice you have is what languages you do. Yes, that was plural. So Laura studies as follows: Maths (hardcore, even the specialist people would be lucky to understand), German, Sport, Religion, Physics, Chemistry, Biology (where I learnt that circulatory system in german translates literally as "Blood vein system"...gross), History, Geography, Art, Music, Latin, Spanish and of course English.

When you start to do head towards your Abitur in year 11 (like VCE), you cut down the classes, (Annika has 8), you only sit your abitur on four of those subjects but the marks from all your classes matter. When you sit your exams they must satisfy a category. For instance for Annika it's something like one language (English), a science (History) a maths (Bio) and a social (Religion) study. Don't ask me what the categories are or how they work. Then you pick your two best subjects and they are extension subjects (Annika does English and Bio) you learn them at a more difficult level I guess and then I think those classes marks are doubled or something. Just to make it more confusing all your marks from year ten appear on your Abitur...pointless but none the less, after all of your tests in school (like SACS) and the main exam you get your Abitur which is a mark for uni or a job or whatever....Simple?

I made a mess of that!

Hope all is well.

A Quirk of Fate.

So today I feel monstrously screwed over by VCAA and nothing interesting happened so instead I'll write about things in Germany that I find different. It's not so much gross generalisations but then again....it kinda is.

1. Germans buy their tissues in those little "Handy-to-go" packs, you know the ones with like 10 tissues in them that you put in your pocket? Haven't seen a tissue box the entire time I've been here.

2. Germans have the longest legs of any race I've ever seen. Darwin's theory suggests it's necessary for their survival...I'm not understanding that. It must make it mighty difficult for them to decide who to choose for Germany's next top model. Even the short people have legs up to my shoulders.

3. Germans don't wear makeup. Well sometimes, but only for going out and for day time only mascara and MAYBE eyeliner. I like that actually, haven't seen a 12-year old with her stripper face on in weeks.

4. Germans don't do tap water. They buy their water, mostly because they tend to only drink carbonated mineral water (soda water). I can't stand soda water and am not such a big fan of their apple juice/soda water mixer either, but each to their own I guess.

5. Germans make a big effort not to laugh at my poor grammar. Admittedly they immediately then switch to English which is always horrifying, especially when the year fives do it seamlessly. Then I have to mutter something awkwardly about "I muss Deutsch lernen" and they go back, mid sentence: No problem. Hating.

6. Germans do actually use the term "Wünderbar" not sure if it's a u or a ü....

7. Germans say ok just as much as any other country does. Which made me laugh the first time I heard it used because Frau Tymms tells us that it's not a German term and we shouldn't use it, that being said, neither is Ciao but that is said to no end here too!

8. Germans backyards are not THAT small, despite popular belief. I swear when Laura was in Australia she was so surprised at all the space, I don't find Germany all that crowded at all, apart from the narrow roads that is but the whole town is surrounded by fields so I would never say it was claustrophobic or anything.

9. German houses seem to be bigger than Australian houses. I've been to a few houses and they're all built the same inside and look different outside but they seem to have a whole lot of bedrooms for some full on family expansion, lots of bathrooms for....what bathrooms are for, plus the living room and kitchen and cellar and attic. They all (well the ones I've been in) have the booth couch surrounding the table. Like at restaurant or in caravans? So much more comfortable! Only thing is I find the idea of an attic creepy, all the horror movies and such make me stay right away!

10. German TV is quite funny. Like I've said it's all is either dubbed American shows, Casting shows or trash. Fantastic. However channels like MTV are lazy and instead of dubbing them they just subtitle all the shows. So Annika and Laura will be reading the subtitles and I'll just listen to it normally....weird.

On a side note the Girl on Farmer wants a wife, the pregnant one? Well her man gave her a necklace before she left, (I guess they go home for a few weeks to make their choice about moving in etc.) and when she met him again, he said "Ummm so whilst you were gone I had a short relationship with another girl and well, seems I'm going to be a parent too!"

I think I was still laughing when I went to bed...Is that bad?

Hope all is well.

Man Cold.

I have a Man Cold today. I tried to be brave, but failed. Instead I took lots of panadol and had sleepytime. I would say it was just a normal cold, but then there's the symptoms- Whineyness, complaining and neediness, they all point to Man Cold. I'd like to think I've been pretty good though, I've stayed home to catch up on sleep, watch bad German TV and drink lots of water and admittedly it's not as if I achieve a hell of a lot in school. I probably learn more watching German Sesame street and Shaun the Schaff.

So the only real improvement in my German that I can notice is that I can watch the TV without any real problems and I understand people when they speak to me at a normal speed now (VS. Wiiiiiieeeeee geeehhhhhtttttssssss?????), I'd like to think I speak a bit better too, but I even confuse myself when I make my sentences too long because I forget what I was saying. I still speak Pigeon Deutsch (slotting in english when I don't know the german, also called Ginglish), but I think I'll be doing that for a long time and I can't read German to save myself, it gives me a headache, which seems odd because I can hear it and understand but reading it gets messy...Better work on that.

Not much else to say, figure I should go and have nap time now, maybe on the couch so I can watch Cartoons...I know, I'm reverting back to childhood!

Hope all is well.

The LOOONNNNGGG Weekend.

So I went to the football and by football I mean soccer. Unfortunately there was no goal scored, it was freezing cold and there was a dirty man who continued to breathe his smoke into my face the entire game until I yelled at him. That being said....

I LOVED IT!

The people singing the ENTIRE game, slurring their words so even Laura couldn't understand them. Sloshing beer everywhere and screaming profanities at the umpire like "That wasn't a foul, I know where you live!" and my favourite "You call that a handball? I'll ask your wife what she thinks tonight!" It was just like being at home in the AFL, except that there was crowd control everywhere because riots and fights are always a risk and the fans were mixed in together at this particular game because half the stadium was snowed under. My favourtie thing about the crowd was how dedicated they were, the only times they stopped singing was to scream "SCHAUSPIELER" (actor) at the other team whenever one of their players was injured and to be total hypocrites by nearly crying when one of their team members was hurt.

Then I spent the weekend at the Third Reich Exhibition thing, it was awesome, it fulfilled my nerdy needs in ways the football couldn't.

Then we went to the pool. It was 1.5 degrees outside, there was snow melting everywhere and we went to the Atlantis Pool. There were waterslides, a wave pool, sauna(s), those pool float things and an outdoor pool which was 40 degrees. It was the best and even though my hair feels like straw now and I've scratched the skin off my shoulder by stacking it off the waterslide floaty...it was worth it.

So I thought I'd mention a bit of German music whilst I'm here. Admittedly I've only heard two songs in German the enitre trip so far but it seems to me that German's hve a lot of Norwegian and British music, all in English of course.

1. Lena - Satellite, this girl won Eurovision for Germany, just found out that the only real rule in Eurovision is that they must be a citizen of the country...easy problem to overcome, just make them a citizen and you can get Justin Timberlake to sing for you (won for England a few years ago)

2. Milo- Aiyo technology. (Sorry not sure how to spell it) Just a slightly suggestive song.

3. One Republic - Marching on. (Not sure if it's in Australia or not.)

4. Silbermond. Any song, the Germans seem to love this band.

5. Pflaster - Ich und ich. (Laura knew all the words....I don't)

I'll write of more when I think of some. There's a big love for Katy Perry's Firework going on here....I don't share this love.

Hope all is well.

Found my Purpose in Life.....Bad German TV

So due to the the snow being up to my knees today (probably not that impressive considering my small stature) but none the less, school was cancelled and buses are out. So we have the

first snow day in years as Sonja said and what do you think my sisters are doing?

Sleeping.

That's right, they plan to avoid making snowmen, going sledding down hills, faceplanting into the snow when they accidentally step into an unidentifiable ditch....Who'd want to miss out on that?

Certainly not me, but I don't have a key (ha it rhymed!) so I'll have to wake up Snorlax, sorry Annika, before I go out! Not too fussed though, it's warm inside and surprisingly enough, sunny. So I might just lay in the backyard and work on my tan.

Last night I made Laura watch Popstars, it was dreadful. They sang badly, and that made me happy. All was well until they sang one of Laura's favourite songs, New York sung by Alicia Keys? They turned it into a very poorly sung ballad and I thought Loz would cry. She didn't, instead she threw a plush ball at the tv until it stopped. I think she's still asleep to repair the damage the singing did her. I also love Farmer wants a wife here in Germany. They're SOOOOOOOOOO ugly. The women look like they've eaten three of four farmers and the men could do with a good dentist. None the less, I love it. It's like real life neighbours with one of the women confessing to being pregnant (obviously to someone else.) That made me laugh hysterically when the man said "I kind of knew, you have quite a tummy!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! God it's quality tv.

There's another show I love called "Betrayal," it has new characters every episode and basically centralises around the same plot. The man is cheating on the woman, usually with a friend or her sister or mother. Then she finds out she's pregnant and that the other girl is too. Then it all comes good in the end after a lot of fighting and screaming. It's great because it makes no sense, how can it all turn out ok in the end? Usually it turns out that the other girl was lying about the affair and it's someone else's baby or that she isn't actually pregnant...it's thoroughly entertaining!

Hope all is well.

Not Racist, just overly descriptive...

Giorgia's Gross Generalisations, Mother would be proud:

1. All German's wear Ug-Boots as if they're appropriate for the snow.

2. All German's feel it necessary to get the word "Gleich" into every sentence, and if they can, they'll get it in there twice for good measure. Technically it means "Soon" or "Same" but that technicality doesn't seem to stop them and I've heard it used in some seriously random ways.

3. All Germans are shocked to hear English, yet use it, and every other language they can steal (borrow) in daily life. E.G. German's say "Ciao" instead of "Tschüss" and "Wir gehen mit dem Nightliner bus," they might ask you if you want some coke light or coffee-to-go and if not then surely you would enjoy being told you look "sexy," "fashionable," "stylish" or other...

4. All Germans swear in English.

5. All Germans play the six degrees from Kevin Bacon game using Engineers. Every German is only two degrees from an engineer, so if they're not an engineer themselves, then they are married to one, related to one or friends with one...it's weird.

6. All Germans find it necessary to stop and talk in doorways or narrow corridors. It's like a psychological illness, the will stop and have a little chat, meanwhile blocking the path for the other 1400 in the school or shopping centre trying to get through.

7/8. All Germans drink a ridiculous amount. Not just of beer and wine, but of soda water and apple juice, they all bring 1.25 litre bottles to school that only lasts the first three periods or so....two generalisations in one that time!

9. All Germans love small animals. Not killing them like serial killers but just a big love for toy animals. They have shops like NICI and little gift stores that specifically sell stuffed toy animals, bears, pigs, penguins and the all time German favourite....Sheep.

10. All Germans watch and love casting shows. Even Hans sneaks a peek whilst pretending to be reading the newspapers, they just can't help themselves. They have popstars, german idol, Germanys got talent, Germany's next top model, Celebrity dive off (a show where they teach the celebrities to dive), Farmer wants a wife (and GOD those men and women are UGLY!!!!!!!!! See for yourself: http://www.rtl.de/cms/unterhaltung/bauer-sucht-frau/news.html ), and so so so many others I feel like German's watch nothing else (except for a certain love for CSI, Desperate housewives and Grey's Anatomy!)

That's just a few but I'm sure I'll add to the list...just wait and see.

Hope all is well.

Out of the fire of Anger comes a Phoenix, hopefully, that'd be pretty cool!

Sonja made me buy snow boots. Telling me none of my shoes were good enough and after all that shopping and €57 the jokes on me. After four wears they've started to fall apart and the "Water-proof guarantee" was a lie. To make matters worse they never gave me a shoebox let alone a receipt so now I'm $85 Australian down with no "appropriate" shoes and two lumps of junk.

On the bright side that $85 got me through Regensburg and Nürnberg.

We had the Australian Exchange student meeting on Saturday where I found out the others are going to year 5, 6 and 7 german. They're also in sporting teams, choirs, dance classes and other things. I've sure achieved a lot. This meeting was also the place where a young Aussie boy stood on a table during lunch and whipped his penis out for all to see. Now by see I mean search for, and if you had x-ray vision you might have caught a glimpse...I wasn't so hungry after that.

Later we went to the Albrecht Dürer house for a tour. Dürer is one of Germany's biggest heroes...He was an artist. I'd never heard of him, much to the disgust of the Germans on the tour with me, luckily it was in english which meant that lots of half-witted American's were there to chime in their dumb questions such as "Why didn't he have any kids? Was he impotent or something?" and my personal favourite during a speech about his most important works "What was his middle name?" I quite liked the tour, I got a photo with the guide.

Later we went to the old fortress and checked out the 47m deep well and the 113 stepped tower that men traditionally had to carry the women up....Hans had 4....He didn't even try.

The Christkind Markt came next but it was so crowded we pretty much just stalked around for half an hour and then left, hopefully they'll take me during the day so I don't miss out but then again, I've come to the conclusion that every market is the same market....candles, Glühwein, christmas decorations, bratwurst, caramelised almonds and chestnuts...not that I'm complaining, those markets are damn tasty.

Then Giorgia had sleepy time in the car as we drove home. I had a killer headache that I assume came from the fact that I seem to always be dehydrated, despite the fact that there's water ever-present.

Yesterday we went to Rothenburg, an old and tourist flooded city. It was great. There was the original Käthe Wolfahrt shop which is more like a mini Christmas city that you have to pay to get entry into so you can pay more money to buy things. I didn't buy anything, €6 for a plain Bauble was a little steep and I have to save my money until I get my credit card.....

I got lots of pictures with random toys, a knight, a giant teddy bear, a giant nutcracker, in fact Rothenburg seemed to be a giant Christmas town, with all the Asian and American tourists to prove it, I loved it though and wore the same outfit I had all weekend, except that I put my hat to the opposite side so I could tell that it was in fact a different day when looking back on the photos. Considering buying a new scarf and beanie set...but not until I get my credit card, Christmas is going to rock this year!

Hope all is well.

Random Points of Interest,

What has happened lately? Not a lot. Annika dragged me around several supermarkets searching for a Khaki. I had no idea what a Khaki was and kept suggesting we look in army shops instead. Turns out a Kaki, as it is really spelt is a persimmon, which are disgusting. Annika was horrifed so the 40min we wasted looking for the fruit was well....fruitless!

I then dragged Sonja on a wild goose hunt for boots. Five stores, two and a half hours and a million pairs of shoes but I finally ended up settling for Snow Boots. I Love them. They rock. After shopping we went to leave the carpark but the car ticket didn't work. There was no one in the Car Park administration room and the emergency button was broken. She tried calling the emergency number but no one picked up, we asked shops around the place but no one knew. We then went to ANOTHER car park to see if we could get a new ticket from there, no one there either and their button and number didn't work either. Eventually we got through to a help-line who sorted the problem out and after 45 minutes, and €3,90 later we escaped...can't believe they made us pay!

I go to year 7 German which makes me either a massive loser or a god in the eyes of the kinder. I'm going to bank on both. I have also gained a following of stare-bears. Seems they've never seen an Australian before...I'm an interesting specimen.

We're going to another Weihnachtsmarkt tonight, it's the village's own. I have images of hobbits dancing and singing merrily on tables, Santa turning up roaring drunk on Glühwein and the elves stumbling in and fighting with the villagers late into the night....coz that's the kinda stuff that goes down in villages.

So I'll take lots of photos when the hobbits come out to play and if we're lucky we'll see "two drunk girls kissing líke last year." Laura informed me of that this morning...I don't know if luck is the word I'd use for seeing that.

Hope all is well.

There's Going to be Blood in the Snow.

So today I was near postal. When I get in these moods, I feel it's best to keep away from those most at risk of a violent and bloody death. I succeeded, I chose to read instead of stab, but that ended with me being tearfully told "If you're in a bad mood don't spread it," answering "I didn't, I kept away so I wouldn't." "Yes but you should tell me you're going to walk off before you get angry so I know." No comment....I think the fog of confusion surrounding me at that point was more than just the language barrier....tell someone I am GOING to be angry? I'll keep it in mind for next time.

So I think the anger has worn off...it's hard to tell so I think I'll leave people on standby. My normal bright and bubbly persona (just let me lie to myself ok?) has seemingly come back.

Anyway so yesterday I ran into some trouble with the language. I spend most of my time switching between English and German because my German is somewhat...limited. As proven:

Giorgia: Hast du ein......(racking brain for the word for tissue) tissue?

German: *Blank face*

Giorgia: *Searches dictionary and asks others for 'tissue' auf Deutsch*

German(s): *Blank face(s)*

Giorgia: *Sigh-feeling oncoming humiliation* "Hast du...nase papier?"

Germans: *Laugh Hysterically*

Note - Did not get a tissue.

Later that day the Postal feeling came back when I was told that sometimes I don't come across correctly....You think? I had to ask for goddamn nose paper because I didn't know the word for tissue. Let alone use correct grammar or express feelings 'correctly.'

Think I need a nap, maybe I'll wash the blood off my hands first...

Hope all is well.