Deutschland! Hier bin ich!

So, now I have been in Germany since last Wednesday (almost a whole week now!!). So what exactly have I been doing this whole time? Well, a lot actually, I have had so much to do, it's been great!

On Wednesday I got in a bit after 10 and took the S and U-Bahn to the apartment where I am staying with my friend, Isabel. It is Kordula's apartment (and yes, she is here too) and she is soo nice! I really like her and her apartment is also very nice. That afternoon I took a little walk in the nearby streets. It started to rain fairly hard on my way back to the apartment, so I stopped in a café and had something to drink there. It was really nice.

That evening Isabel went into Augsburg to a party with her brother Alex. It was really cool, though I was very tired. We celebrated into Isabel's birthday. Most of the time it was alright for me, with being so tired, but as the night went on, I ended up just finding somewhere to sit and waited until the others were ready to go. By this point it was really late and so Isabel and I didn't want to drive back to Munich. We got lost on our way out of Munich, we didn't want to do that again! So we stayed in a dorm room. Someone Alex knows gave us his keys, and he was staying somewhere else that night. So we had his room to ourselves. Isabel slept on the bed and I slept on an airmattress. Now that airmattress was something else! We pumped it from a bit after 4 until 5am and it still wasn't pumped up very well. I pretty much slept on the floor, but I was soo tired that it really didn't matter to me.

Thursday we slept in and had breakfast in Alex's apartment before going back to Munich. In Munich Isabel's father came over and we sat around and talked for a while before we went to dinner. We had Mexican food for dinner and it tasted really good! I really didn't talk much during this whole time, because I was just getting used to German again. That evening Isabel and I didn't go out again and instead had a relaxed evening, she opened her presents and we all sat around and chatted. It was really nice.



Friday I slept in late. I went to go find Mirja, she was an exchange student in my house when I was in ninth grade. It turns out that she lives right around the corner from where I am staying! I would have stayed with her, but she has a lot of stress at school right now as her time at college is slowly coming to an end (a lot of tests and papers and such). It was really good to see her and I gave her the presents from my Mom and myself. We chatted about Iowa and unfortunately I couldn't really tell her much new things as I myself do not really know what is going on in Iowa anymore.

That evening Isabel and I went out again. She was trying to get together with her friend that Kordula put her in contact with, but it did not work right away. Until this weekend they had never actually seen each other, but only called and emailed each other. Since making plans with her friend, Josué, was not working out so well, we simply went out and asked where we could find good a good disco or good dancing. So we went to 4004 here in Munich, there was an Abi-Party or something like that there. After asking everyone we met how to get there, we finally got there and were not sure if we really wanted to go. Then we heard this group speaking Spanish and we thought it might be Josué, but in the end it wasn't. Isabel even called his cell phone to see if it wasn't him.

In the disco we met up with some Austrian exchange students (college level) and talked to them for a while. They seemed a little bit drunk, but they were funny. Then Isabel had found some Mexicans and Italians. So we talked to them. They were doing a language course here in Munish. This group was very cool to hang out with, as we were quite the international group and none of us are very familiar with Munich. So we hung out with them the rest of our time at 4004 and in the end exchanged numbers to see if we can't grab a drink in a bar sometime this week. Who knows, maybe that will happen, maybe not.

Isabel then tried to get a hold of Josué again and we agreed to meet him somewhere. So we got to meet him for a half an hour and he seemed prety cool. His girlfriend also came by. They were really nice. Isabel and Josué spoke Spanish, so I spoke to the girlfriend who can't understand Spanish. I was really happy with my Spanish though, because I could understand most of what they were saying!


Just before the shopping area, Odeonsplatz.

On Saturday Isabel and I went shopping. That was really cool. My clothes all seem to be falling apart, so it was very good to buy some new ones. I even found a pair of jeans! I rarely find jeans that I like, I am way to picky... Kordula met us and we had some lunch then we looked at the dresses that Isabel was looking at for Abiball. We decided that they all were not something special, though some were nicer than others. She decided that she will bring back the one dress she already has, because it is not as good as it could be for that sort of thing. We also by chance ran into Josué in an H&M. That was really funny, he and Isabel saw each other and did not think much of it, then they both though hmmm, maybe I do know him/her. Then they finally spoke and realized who the other was.

That evening was "die Lange Nacht der Musik" or the long night of music. You only have to pay 15 euros and you can go to all these concerts all over Munich. Also these trams are included in the price, and they take you all over the city to all the concerts. It was really cool. We discovered the Gasteig (a big culture/music center) and Isabel gave up one of her three jackets there to be picked up on another day. We met up again with Josué and his girlfriend and this time his friend Alex was also there. We first met up with them in this neat little bar where they played jazz/latino music. I really liked listening to the flute and the saxaphone there. We wandered around some more and found some other latino music and a latino music dance club/bar thing. It was fun. I know that my family would absolutely love this sort of concert night and a lot of my friends would too.


Alex, Josué and his girlfriend Diana, Isabel and myself are in these two photos.



Isabel and myself on our way home after Die Lange Nacht der Musik.

Sunday we slept in and then we visited Isabel's half sister Ulrike. She has two little girls named Anna and Elisa. They were really cute. We spent the afternoon and evening there. On the way we picked up some cake for us all to eat and it tasted great! We went for a walk that took us by Ammersee very briefly and then back to the house. We found some snails that interested the little girls a lot. I must admit the snails were very cute and it kind of brought me back to when I was that little (they are 2 and 4 years old) and such things always interested me a lot. We ate dinner there and left late. We got lost in Munich again and had to call Kordula to get help with directions again. Finally we made it back and things were good again.

The next morning I woke up when Isabel had to to get ready for work and I spent the morning in the city. I bought myself a pair of shoes and I like them a lot! I then came back for lunch and the three of us ate a nice lunch together. Afterwards Kordula and I went into the city. I went to Gasteig and she had some errands to do. The Gasteig is really big and had a lot more entrances than I remembered. I finally entered one and the jacket was actually at that entrance!

Kordula and I met up again at Mariensplatz. By then it was raining fairly hard, so we left by way of taxi.

That evening we went into the little "latino" bar that is right by Kordula's apartment and had some dinner and a drink. Then we had a nice quiet evening and watched Dirty Dancing 2, Havana Nights. It was a great evening. Unfortunately we ran out of Keebler Fudge Shopp Cookies, Isabel really likes them. I will have to send her some sometime. :-)

Today I haven't done much. Isabel likes the room so dark that I have no idea what time it is and I simply sleep on. I look up and it still looks really dark, so I just roll over and sleep some more, even if I don't need anymore sleep. So I didn't wake up this morning until 11:30! I was not nearly that tired. So I woke up and showered, soon Kordula was back for a lunch break from work and she prepare lunch. Then Isabel was here and we ate. When they went back to work I finished writing some more postcards and then did this.

This evening Alex, Isabel's brother, will come into Munich and we will go into town and return the dress that Isabel doesn't want for Abiball. Who knows what else we will do, probably find us some food in town where Kordula will meet up with us.

It's really been great to be back in Germany and speak German again. Finally it is going well once more with this language. Also the rest of my plans for my time here and simply falling into place. Here I have very good internet access, but I don't know if it will always be so. So in the next several days I can check and answer emails pretty well, but after that I do not know.

I really can't wait to see my host family and my old school again! Soon I will be there. :-)

Anyways, I am going to grab a snack and go down to meet up with Isabel so we can meet up with her brother. Please excuse any writing mistakes, as I am sure I made many.

God's Blessings and bis bald!