Ich bin ein Hamburger

So today I am in Hamburg. The city of fish, strippers and Emma (hopefully not all at once though...) Tomorrow we are planning a trip to the harbour as well as a few other things to celebrate New Years, but more of that another time.

Em is currently sleeping next to me, seems she had a late night last night and bedtime is at 7pm in her household. I'm actually debating taking a page out of her book and having a nana nap too after the horror journey I endured to get here today, but it's really cold - and I don't think she wants to spoon...

Germans like to travel, no one would doubt that considering that even in Australia we have german speaking tour guides to cater to the truckloads of Germs that visit our shores each year, the only thing is that Germans don't seem to like travelling within their own country, as proven by the exorbitant amount I had to pay to catch a five hour train to Hamburg that went everywhere else first. Seriously, it went to Frankfurt, Munich, Kassel - you name it, I passed through it. However it's not just the ridiculous prices of the DB (German Metlink) you have to contend with but the german love of reserving seats too. It costs 4€ to reserve a seat here in GermLand and it's a price you have to pay if you don't want to hear " *clearing throat* Ummm that's MY seat" every time you move into what anyone else would call a spare seat (best not to ask if their name is on it...it kinda is) I however, being an Aussie and having grown up with reservations only being made by calling out 'DIBS ON THAT!' or 'SHOTGUN!!!' before your peers did, did not recognise the necessity to pre-book a seat and was left sitting in that little room where people get on the train before entering a carriage either side. And let me tell you - there were no seats and no heating for five and a half hours and I had to stand up and move awkwardly to the side every time the train stopped to let more people board, only to see them walk to off to find their reserved seats - hating.

...but at least I have my 4€ right???

Hope all is well.

2.5 hours of my life I'm never getting back.

So I'm exhausted and getting ready for tomorrow (by getting ready I mean excited, not packing - I like to leave that till the last possible second) I'm heading off to Hamburg for a few days to visit a friend but alas today was spent yet again in Stuttgart, not the place to be if you lack a decent sense of direction.

I do this often actually, grossly overestimate my directional sense and end up in central China rather than Richmond (slight over exaggeration perhaps...) but none the less I am really bad and my mum is always commenting on my ability to get lost in supermarkets - although in my defence it is not that I get lost, only that I forget which aisles I've already been in... So today I had smack down with mother dearest. Seems my high heels, the 5km walk and both our jetlagged statuses made for a tense morning and quite the adventure for me in the afternoon. Mum walked off home leaving me to fend for myself (ok I might have cracked it and wandered off of my own accord...) unfortunately no one really considered how I was going to get home, and I was left in a city I have lived in for all of two days without the faintest idea of how to get home - let alone what street I live on - woe is me.

Two and a half hours later, a lot of rude and unhelpful people who honestly thought I was joking when I said 'no I actually don't know where I live, pretty sure it's on top of a hill though, can you direct me there?' and I finally made it home after one crafty Germ asked if I knew the nearest station, thank you Herderplatz. If only I'd listened to Mum's full explanation of how to get home in the first place it probably would have taken all of 20 minutes - but that's not really the way I roll.

So Mum's threatening to put dog tags with my name and address on me in future, just in case I get lost again and a responsible adult has to come and collect me, but we'll see how I go in Hamburg - maybe I'll prove myself an orienteering master yet...but I doubt it.

Hope all is well.

Return to the Fatherland

So today I arrived back in Germany, figured it went so well last time I might as well come back for another year or two. Mum's work offered her a transfer to Stuttgart a couple of months back so she's been living here since June whilst I suffered through my final year of VCE, but now it is over (thank god) and I have returned to the Fatherland albeit in another city...

I was actually freaking out somewhat considering that I'm pretty much on my own German speaking wise this time, but  it's gone pretty well this past eight hours,  although that might have something to do with the fact that I haven't gone outside more than once... In fact the only direct contact I've had with Germans today was on the plane when I woke up to a creepy old flight attendant handing me a glass of water and exclaiming delightedly that I was "Finally awake!!!" - a clear sign that he had been watching me for hours... and a quick trip to the grocery store to buy necessities like chocolate and bread where I was so silent that it became uncomfortable between the checkout chick and I...

I'm gonna have to talk to people tomorrow though, I don't actually know anyone in this city let alone how to get around so I figure it'd be best to kill two birds with one stone here and find a Germ to take as my own so they can chauffeur me around...now just to find one willing enough to be my BFFL. I'm not entirely sure how to tackle this whole no friends situation though. I'm not sporty so there's no point joining a team of any description, I don't wanna have to get a job and I really don't think it's appropriate to assault people on trains with a conversation that will ultimately come down to 'will you be my friend?' Guess I'm just gonna have to wait for my prey to come to me in order to pose the question, although maybe calling them prey isn't the best start...

But the jetlag is beginning to return now so I'm gonna go pass out for a few hours and allow my body clock to become even more out of sync but I have included a photo of myself in my brand new onesie - although I do look rather midget-like, I hope you will notice that not only does it have footsies, but it also pink leopard print and therefore awesome - that is all.

Hope all is well.

Yeah Nah.

So today is Australia day. I did a speech in the year 10 english class to inform them all about Australia, turns out I know nothing...

When was Australia inhabited? Ummm.....1771.... 77? 88? Oops....turns out I should've paid attention to my OWN history instead of just listening in when the European history started up!

I then blabbed on about ABSOLUTELY nothing for 20min. Sports, culture, Aboriginals, animals. All talked about and yet I'm pretty sure I made no sense! I tried to explain cricket...failed. How can you explain the most boring game on earth and try to make it sound ok? You can't. I drew pictures and after five minutes realised that even I didn't know the rules. Then AFL and Netball had to be explained.....

I handed around sheets of Aussie slang and pictures of animals, most of it wasn't real slang...I just really want to hear a German say "Fair suck at the Sav!"

Animals were easy enough. No one knew what an Echidna was. My description was "creature with spikey things that hurt you if you try to pick it up." Somehow I don't think I'll be a zoo keeper anytime soon.

Then I got to the national anthem. I'm so embarrassed! Not only was it off-key/pitchy as hell, but I didn't know the words! I improved between lines that I did know and then just kind of spoke bits and pieces between....awkward. Im pretty sure Laura'd have a better rendition than whatever I achieved, and she's not Aussie!

So it was pretty much an epic fail, in future I'll organise myself better but I did make everyone laugh at how unorganised I was, and how little I actually knew...better get to googling my own country huh?!?

Hope all is well.

The End is Nigh.

So now the mild depression kicks in. I don't want to go home. I want to stay here, where I can teach the Germans bad words and give them an incorrect definition so they use it more often than is really necessary....or appropriate. I want to stay here where it is so cold that by the end of the day I can't feel my hands and where my semi-water proof shoes are constantly overcome by puddles of half melted snow. I don't want to go back to Melbourne, where the weatherman is officially the most pointless job and it'll be so hot that the only options will be to wear short shorts or mini skirts specifically designed to show off my ultra-attractive stumpy legs...

No, I'm happy here. Not that I'm not happy in Aus....but I'm happier here. Without a doubt. No school...that I have to pay attention to. No work. No set plans. It's great.

On the bright side my german will officially cane (be much better than) my classmates (except Shannon) and I will see my family when I get back and I am looking forward to that.

Enough whining:

On the weekend we had my going away party. It consisted of Rene staring puppy-eyed at Annika, the boys wanting to go to the playground and trying to out-do eachother doing backflips, jumping off the roof of a shed and other dangerous-but thoroughly entertaining stunts and then later everyone sitting around and listened to the girls read, whilst Niko acted out his Mills+Boon story (by that I mean porn....a porn novel) that he had on his iPod, luckily after all the words Zak taught me on the Berlin trip I could follow it, maybe that's not lucky though....

Later the boys invited us out after my party, but considering Ralf etc. got me in trouble the night before, I politely declined.

The night before:

Boys: Come over, we'll be at home all night

Hans and Sonja: Ok, but don't stay out too late.

Later that night:

Boys: Oh we're going to Burger King, come with?

Giorgia: Hmmm.....maybe I should just go home?

Boys: Naahhhh come on, won't be too long.

*No buses running to get me back home, none of the boys have a mobile with them, have to message Laura over facebook "I'll be late...boys = retarded" *

12:15am:

Giorgia: Sorry I'm late, the buses were not running so.....

*Cops death stare from Hans (he was not impressed)*

*Runs away*´

Yeah so it was a pretty great final weekend, I'm sad to go but...well my family (blood relatives that live in Munich) came and saw me, we had a great day in Nürnberg and they gave me A THOMAS SABO BRACELET.....oh yes, favourite cousins? I think so....I guess it's a good end to my trip and I still have three days left.

Hope all is well.

Something I Forgot.

Oh I also forgot to mention:

1. German students don't have a lot of real homework, instead their teachers keep them on their toes and don't tell them when a test will be. They also always pick on one person to repeat all the previous class' work in it's entirety.

2. In Germany there is no uniform. This means their is an infestation of goths and some weird group I don't quite get...they look like the elves out of Lord of the Rings...they need help. Anyways, it means that I have to make an effort to look nice. Shame I didn't bring more than a weeks clothes with me....oh well, I'll look nice in the same clothes.

3. In Germany you have no options. Sorry, you have extraordinarily limited options. You must learn: Maths, religion, social studies, german, history, geography, english, biology, phyics, chemistry, music, sport and art. Oh but you can choose whether you learn french or latin and you can learn spanish whilst you're at it.

4. Don't be fooled. When germans say Music lessons, it doesn't mean you'll actually come into contact with a musical instrument. Oh no, it's ALL theory. Half the class doesn't even play an instrument and yet they can tell you all about cadences and where/when the Jazz age began.

5. Australians would die in German schools. No iPods allowed guys! Oh and maths? Want to do that without our little mini computers? Germans use normal-scientifc calculators even with really complex (and pointless...like all maths) stuff, and they do it all whilst listening to the teacher with both ears. Instead of making the teacher share the limelight with Lady GaGa or whoever happens to be on shuffle.

I think that pretty much covers how German schools are different and just before I go....German dinner tables remind me of being in a caravan. You know those cool seats that are more like boothes in a 50's style cafe? the ones that wrap around the corner with the table in the centre? It's also like in a caravan....it's cool...

Hope all is well.

School's out.

Sorry I haven't written for a bit, figured my last entry was long enough that it'd take a few attempts to get the entire way through it!

Anyways thought I'd quickly mention a few differences between Aussie school's and German ones whilst I make my goodbye-party invitations....

1. German's use blackboards, those old projectors that you use plastic sheets of paper with and I haven't seen a single computer in the school! I kind of like that though, it's much more personal and I find that the teachers here are more like specialists in their chosen field...the Science teachers could easily be award-winning scientists in Australia.

2. Germans don't seem to care whether you are late or whether you don't turn up at all. Maybe it's all the security cameras and guards around our school that make that impossible, but truancy is much harder in Australian schools than in Germany where you can just go out for a quick smoke....

3. There is no lunchtime in German schools. They have 45min lessons and between every two lessons there is a 15min break. At some point in the day you have a free period and you eat lunch then, instead of a set time for everyone to eat lunch like in Australia.

4. All German students seem shocked that we go to school from 8:40am-3:40pm. "Oh that's so LONG!!" which is usually followed by "But your school is easier than ours." Whilst that is true, it really doesn't need to be said :)

5. In German schools it is ok to kick the little kids (not really). They push you down stairs in their eagerness to escape, they shove you into walls in the corridors, it's enough to make you want to go postal....I refrain...Barely. In Australian schools there will be NO violence...it's all recorded on cameras for later use by the teachers, best to keep your feet to yourself!

6. German schools don't have a school nurse. Instead they have trained students to tackle any problem head on! Laura is one of these people and as far as I can tell, their job mainly consists of putting bandaids on the little kids who have come into contact with too many angry-kicking teenagers.

7. It is ok to leave the school at any point during the day if you have a spare in Germany.

8. Language teachers can often be mistaken for native speakers in Germany. I had to ask Annika's teacher if she was German or British....She's more fluent than I am!

9. My school doesn't have enough toilets for the 1400 odd students. So instead there is always a queue....that makes me angry.

10. You don't buy your schoolbooks here. You get them at the start of the year and give them back at the end. Only extra books like novels and things are bought individually.

As you can see...my differences are getting less and less.....

Hope all is well.

A Long Post about Berlin.

Here is my brief (well I attempted to make it brief!) summary of my trip to Berlin.

At 10:30am I got on the train at Nürnberg. At the start of the train trip people known - 1, at the end of the six hour train trip people known - 32.

On arrival in Berlin we went straight to sorting out rooms, Shannon and my group failed to notice this happening around us and so the four of us were immediately separated. No problem, I just met more people and we all talked non-stop till at least 1am each night, getting up at 7am ALWAYS hurt! We then waddled our way across town, checking out the Reichstag which you can't enter because of those selfish terrorists and taking stupid amounts of pictures in front of the Brandenburg Gate. That was also the night I found the Berlin Bears....statues of bears painted differently hiding in every corner of Berlin....I took a photo of every bear I saw.

The next day we checked out an exhibition on Berlin's history...from the start till now. After this the boys (Alex and Zak) decided they wanted Döners, they continued this ritual every day of spending up to two hours in search of Döners which are basically an extra dirty souvlaki. It seemed I was the only one to appreciate the exhibition and so after that the girls (Shannon, Kimberly, Amy and I) went to visit the Berlin Dom, the TV tower and the Ampelmännchen shop. This trot around town also gave us many opportunities to shut Gypsies down "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?" *Look confused* I later heard many a story about people saying they spoke swedish or russian and watching the gypsies seamlessly change languages....never doubt a gypsie's mad skillz.

We had a tour with a bristish tour guide around Berlin. He was great-he studied history, spoke fluent german, I think I was in love...Then he told me it took him four years to get fluent....Shot down! I guess I saw it coming but then I also asked a russian girl I met and she said three years and the american we saw was 11 months in and could only grocery shop with good grammar....that's depressing. On the tour we saw the Jewish memorial, lots of Berlin Bears and the Berlin wall. The girls wanted maccas for Lunch which gave Shannon a great opportunity to tip her drink (water) over me after I made a mean joke about...something, there's been so many it's hard to keep up! Anyways, that night we saw an Improv group, wasn't feeling it so much but it was good to go out and laugh at an english speaking joke!

Wednesday was concentration camp day. It was odd, felt more like a museum than a place where thousands of people died. I guess there wasn't a lot left, most was destroyed after the war so it made it hard to form an atmosphere. At least our tour guide was great. Can't say much for the other group's though (we were split in two.) He seemed to deem it appropriate to smile to the point of giggling whilst discussing the murders, medical experiments and forced labour that went on within Sachsenhausen....The group complained afterwards. Later we went to KaDeWe and I bought Reese's peanut butter cups....Life is good. Never seen such a big shop and of course, we took lots of photos of ourselves! The boys were yet again depserate for Döners so I walked with them and we lost the girls....the boys also failed to get Döners after deciding the guy selling them looked too shifty-They all look shifty, Döners are dirty things!

Wednesday nigth needs it's own place. I had already seen the blue man group and it was really expensive and I don't like iceskating much. We only had three options for the night's entertainment so that left the Modern Dance show....Bad decision. We went in and it was like an old warehouse you'd expect to see in "Fight club." We watched a "Special performance" which was flat out mental, modern dancing is actually moving like a spastic in jolty disjointed movements and occasionally jumping up and down for good measure. Then the real performance came on-it went for 35 minutes and I felt every second. He came out in a turban, red underwear and high heels. He proceeded to move back and forth in front of us (it was all silent....awkward) and then get on a matress and re-enact some erotic scene with himself, which ended in him smacking his head over and over again on the floor. I was not-so-secretly hoping he'd miss the mattress and knock himslef out on the concrete floor...he didn't. The he put on random outfits, moved a bit like a fish out of water and then got semi-naked again. Then he pretended to drown himself in a bucket, then he took his underwear off and danced around in a jock strap for ten minutes whilst I helplessly stared at his ass, and to finish off he put on a wedding dress, white powder, red lipstick and stood in front of a fan for a few minutes. If you're confused so was I. So many questions...Why did I come here? Why can I see his ass? Can I get my money back? The entire group was damaged...hope our travel insurance covers the burning my retinas suffered after seeing that!

Thursday was Potsdam. A place where there is a giant Castle with an even bigger garden. We had to wear slippers (house shoes for germans) over our own shoes and proceeded to slide like cross country skiiers across the Palace, much to the disgust of our tour guide. Unfortunately I didn't listen to a thing our tour guide said. I may have heard something about a king or two but mostly I just stared at the shiny things and tried to push Alex over so he'd get in trouble for touching the ground uncovered by the slippers. The gardens were massive and unfortunately not so beautiful in winter, but we did see one of the boys test whether the ice was frozen or not in the river....it wasn't, he lost his foot to the ice cold water! That night I saw the Buddy Holly show with everyone, it was in German-well not the songs but the play so I translated for those who have spent the last eight weeks speaking only english. It was pretty awesome and totally made up for the modern dancing....

On friday we all felt a bit depressed. We were going home the next day and everyone just wanted to get on a plane back to Australia. I didn't. I wanted to see as many museums as possible-I managed two. The New museum with the Bust of Neferititi and AMAZING historical artifacts. I wanted to move in there and just stare at the history all day long, but instead I waited for my group in the foyer of the New art gallery for half an hour. We'd split up because they didn't want to see the new museum, they were supposed to meet me at 12 but didn't show up, I didn't have a phone so went and found a security guard to help out. I didn't have a ticket to get back into the new museum so was stuck outside but the security guard helped me-"What's your group leader's phone number?" (I didn't know) "ok, what's her name?" (I didn't know.) Luckily she came along at some point and called the group leader in the gallery-they didn't pick up. So after a long talk my new security guard friends took me into the new gallery, talked to some of their friends and I got in free! I saw the thinker, Manet and heaps of other famous paintings and at some point I found my group, gave them death stare and then decided they got me in for free so they did well.

Later we saw the east side gallery, after leaving Zak and Alex far behind when their need for Döners was far greater than their touristy needs, then went shopping and had our goodbye dinner where Zak and I tried to be as inappropriate in German as possible. I maintain that I won...he quit whilst he was ahead...cheater!

Anyways then we stayed up most of the night, caught the train home in the morning and I crashed when I got home....It was a great week in Berlin!

Hope all is well.

Just get to the point already!

Going to Berlin tomorrow....very excited. I'm doing what most of the Bayerish population have not-Going to the Capital City of Germany.

That's right, it's five hours away and the lazy peeps down in Nürnberg refuse to catch a train up to see the hub of their country...odd.

Then again, most Aussie's don't bother seeing Canberra, but why would you? It's a city built on a sheep paddock and remains about as interesting as the ground it stands on! Just joshing! I love its museums.

Speaking of Museums, today Sonja made the mistake at the Germanisches Museum in Nürnberg by saying "Take as much time as you need in the museum" she was stuck there for four hours, more if I had it my way! I carefully read every bit of information I could find and considering that German Museums dwarf Aussie ones like 1000000:1, I think it was a poor choice of words!

Not much else to say. I ate strudel again today, it made me happy. No day gets better than eating strudel! Won't write till I'm back from Berlin, that's what I'm really writing this for, to tell you-my avid fans...joking, that I will be away.

Hope all is well.

Giorgia's Short Guide to Ginglish.

Ok so here are just a few of my tips to getting through German:

1. If it's an adjective and it ends with a "y" in English. Than just switch the y with "ig" and say it like a German. For example: Sunny -Sonnig, Icy - Eisig. I'll tell you the truth, doesn't really work all that well. Billig (cheap) is not Billy in Enlgish...Billy is a name.....or a goat.

2. If it's a noun in English add "-ieren" to the end of the word and it's now a German verb. For example: Telefonieren and fotographieren...Cupcakieren.....

3. Say everything like a german...it's not spanish...it'as Schpaaarrrrnish and if you're really not sure, drop the "e" and fake it....extreme = extrem.... Try not to do this when meeting new people though, they'll think that you're a rascist or special. 

4. For all those words you don't know the die/der/das of, simply say "d" so quickly they can't work out if you're grammatically incorrect or not and try not to smile sheepishly...

5. For that tricky "ch" sound just hiss like a cat. It's wrong, but it is amusing to see the Germans confused faces! Don't really do that....it's not a good party trick.

6. If the conversation is about technology of any kind just speak english. All the words are pretty much the same and as if the subject isn't complex enough! I personally avoid talking about technology related things in both languages.

7. Try not to make Australian slang into German words. For example: Suck is not a german word and just because you try to make it one (ich sucke, du suckst, er/sie/es suckt usw.) does not make it any more effective!

8. Once you've learnt a phrase and know it's grammatically correct, just use it non-stop. My personal favourites are: Ein bisschen, noch nicht and wie geht's dir?

Oh and just whilst I remember, to make my teacher happy, here is more german music:

Peter Fox, Unheilig, Ich + Ich, Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen and Xavier Naidoo...all bands and singers.

Hope all is well

Munching Munich.

Today I went to Munich. Laura and Denise also came. That is all.

Nah, I'm messing with you! We saw the Deutsche Museum and ate Bratwurst, checked out the Marienplatz and took countless photos in front of the Hofbrahaus, it was a good day.

I wasn't feeling the Deutsche Museum so much, don't get me wrong I LOOOVVVEE museums (Shameless Nerd #1) but it was pretty much just engineering and science...neither of which are my strong point. I really loved the aeronautics exhibit and the medicine part was interesting too, and in english thank god! Shame the music rooms were closed for renovations and the only historical subject was on the Muesum's history, but at least I got to see Laura have a full blown panic attack when we checked out the mining zone....she's such a giant she couldn't stand up straight so the claustrophobia set in quickly, unfortunately she was also so tall she blocked out the light, so there wasn't a lot us migdets (Denise and I) could do but try not to get trampled! (She was fine though) Oh and I also learnt that Blimp is Zeppalin auf Deutsch....haha "Blimp," so it was a day well spent.

Later I forced Laura to take dozens of pictures of me with the Munich Lions, when I was finally done with self-portraits I included the girls for a moment or two...then back to me.

Then we checked out the city. Denise bought herself a handbag, which was packed in a handbag holder (also know as a bag) which was placed in yet another bag. We looked at the Hardrock cafe, many other Germanic places and then we ate Macca's, because everyone goes to Munich for its McDonalds! No, it was just easier after I've already taken bites of most German foods and not gone for a second bite...I'm picky.

Then we wandered around, I stared wide eyed at all the pretty things. The buildings, the trees, the people....Then we caught a train home and what do you know? We're home. Oh and I also managed to laugh till I snorted today. Sonja put lemon juice in the salad dressing and whilst Denise was saying something very serious at the dinner table and it was all quiet I said outloud (accidentally) "Mmmmm....Lemon," don't think anyone but Annika heard but we all cracked up!

Hope all is well.

Giorgia's Frate.

Today I had a Frate: Friend date. Many a person was invited. Most didn't show, and by most I mean all except Ralf failed to turn up...I feel a set up....

Anyway after watching Ralf call Rene frantically to try to force him up and out of bed to join us, and watching him fail we went to catch the bus and that started our day of running into EVERYONE possible!

Ralf's friends, our classmates, Ralf's ex-girlfriend's Dad....Particularly proud of the last one! Moderately awkward for him, amusing for me. I spent most of the day biting my tongue from embarrassing him further, tempted to tell whoever we ran into that we were on a date and letting him explain "She's kidding, Australian humor is...different" I did however, refrain from doing that-mostly. Instead I just didn't fix people's incorrect assumptions, I found watching their confused faces better, Niko's was the best....the WTH-is-going-on-here face. (Germans: www.acronymfinder.com/what-the-hell%3f-(WTH).html)

Meh, it was fine though, he's my BFFL so it wasn't awkward. I ate a McFlurry despite losing feeling in my fingers from the cold, then I dragged Ralf around to a bunch of supermarkets and bought my Aussies every chocolate they could want from Germany, then we sat down to a movie. He wanted to see the tourist. Luckily the German in the film was easy to follow, it's not so difficult to understand blowing stuff up and shooting people. It is however, extremely difficult to understand why I watched it, it was random....not going to make it onto my list of recommendations! and just so you know, there was no yawn-move pick up attempts, nothing going on there, except me giving some kids the death stare for kicking my seat and talking during the movie!

Then we failed to realise no buses were running and instead waited 40min in the snow until a taxi picked us up, feeling sorry for us and drove us home for free. A good Frate if I do say so myself.

Hope all is well.

Can't think of a good Title.

Ok just a quick whine for this paragraph: So Germans allow dogs inside....disgusting. Don't get me wrong if it's your house all fair game. However I'm talking those nasty little rat dogs (Chihuahuas) to even Clydesdales (St Bernards) in hotels, shopping centres and restaurants. Gross. It's not that I don't like dogs, I'm happy if it's my dog, but other people's dogs are slobbery and bark and just generally agitate me...Not Happy Jan. (Sorry Germans watch this for the Jan reference...www.youtube.com/watch?v=2akt3P8ltLM)

I am also insanely jealous of German doorbells. They all have doorbells, most even have those awesome buzzer doorbells where you don't have to answer the door, they can just let themselves in. Whilst it's not so uncommon to have a doorbell in Australia it seems to me it's rare that they actually work. We seem too lazy to fix them, and instead...Use. Our. Hands. We knock, an action perhaps the Germans didn't master before the doorbell was invented!

It seems German Recycling is too complicated for even the most hardcore of Germans to understand. In school there's a green, blue and yellow bucket. Probably another colour too but I usually just shut my eyes and sing "Eenie Meenie Minney Mo" before throwing my rubbish into a random bin so I'm not sure. At the beginning I would ask my classmates, but they just give me the blank stare that says "Good question, I've been wondering that myself," then go back to work. So I now understand that you take a random guess with anything that is not a drink bottle, Germans get money back like in S.A. for returning plastic bottles and unlike us, they actually want the money back...guess it's more than $0.05 per bottle here! Oh and then there's wood recycling, paper, metal, plant waste recycling etc. You'd think it'd be easier just to have one recycling box like Australia.

The only other thing to mention is that Germans have a love of seriously random drinks. Ralf was loving himself some toffee flavoured liquor on Silvester and Hans is obsessed with some nasty fanta/coke mixer...too sweet for me. Not to mention Laura and the Flavoured beer episode....best forget that! Then there's Karamelz, I can't describe it, it tastes sweet and that's it. I can't place the flavour, maybe caramel? That'd make sense.

Hope all is well.

Silvester and Tweety.

So last night was New Years, or Silvester. Take your pick, and I'm glad to say that I didn't blow my fingers off when playing with fireworks although did a lot of jumping up and down when the boys threw firecrackers at the crowds and I did freak out when one of them passed me a lit firecracker to "hold for him." Idiots!

I learnt many a drinking game including "Giorgia drinks if she speaks English." I think Frau Tymms would be glad to know that "ok" did not count as a german word and that I learnt to speak German quicker than in any grammar lesson, heads up for future German classes?!?

Before going to Ralf's I managed to down one litre of water whilst trying to wash down the taste of the foul "Orange flavoured beer" that Laura wanted me to try. I also ate a lot of pizza that was a little bit too hard, pretty sure I chipped a tooth but I'm getting used to german bread....it hurts to eat. Then Ralf, Rene and Jan turned up an hour and a half early to pick me up...Ralf lives less than five minutes away but I'm so special I need a Chaperone...jealous?

Anyway then Laura, Sophie and Agnes (Aggy) had fondue without me and turned up to Ralf's later. I epic failed at lighting fireworks because they have little plastic protectors so you can't accidentally light them. I didn't know this and kept wondering why they wouldn't light, the Germans let me do this for a while before explaining...Laughing or explaining, not sure-Germans can be so cruel!

So it was a good night, we had to leave at 12:30ish so I got everyone from the party to walk us home, not entirely sure why they all agreed to it! Stumbled home and into bed and I think it was a Silvester well spent!

Hope all is well.