The first week has come to an end

My first week in Deutschland has been very exciting but extremely hard! The language barrier is frustrating, making me less confident in situations which normally I'd be fine with.
The German lessons are sort of helping.. but the language is soooooooooo difficult! In English there is only one meaning for a word.. whereas in German there are like 5 meanings for a word or more words with one meaning - confusing.


FINALLY THERE IS SNOW!!! with temperatures reaching -10 snow fell :) very cool - literally.

Saturday (Samstag) - I was able to wake up relatively late and just laze around in the morning with my host parents, as no one hardly works on weekends here. Around lunch time I went hunting with Peter. On the way to the forest we stopped at Peter's friends house, who has many pregnant cows - weird, and we ate deer, which just takes like beef. The forest is pretty close to our house, about 15 minutes drive, so we took Emma, our dog, with us - very cute as she sat at my feet when in the car.

When in the forest Peter showed me the dam some beavers made (amazing) and his "hunting caves". He also taught me how to lay the food/bait for the animals - sprinkle corn on the ground near some wooden stumps and paint tar stuff on trees. The actual hunting would be on the next day, to allow time for the animals take some bait.

At night all of my host family were over for Lisa's birthday, where we had cake and wine, then went to an American Restaurant - "the old western". After a massive serving of schnitzel we headed home to watch the Bundesliga and to play cards.


Sunday (Sonntag) - During the day I practiced my German, talked with my host parents and just relaxed. In the afternoon I met with Roy, the exchange student from Argentina, and we had coffee. It was really nice just to talk to someone and have a proper conversation without feeling restricted with what to say or how to say it. He was also just as excited or even more excited about the snow, and we found a frozen lake which we attempted to walk on - very dodge - and also had a snowball fight. Since we are both 18, most of the people at our school are 17, we planned a list of things to do together before we both leave, so now I have a partner in crime which is really refreshing.

 At night we went to dinner for Karin's best friends Birthday, Rosie, at a cute riverside restaurant. At the dinner it was just adults most of the Rotarians and their wives. They included me in conversation which was nice and I met one of the most lovely ladies, Anne, who pretty much told me I was her host daughter too - she invited me to go shopping with her and her children, and over for their special once a year family dinner in Feb - so nice!

Monday (Montag) - I had German lessons once again at 9am, i'm getting used to hearing German now.. it doesn't sounds like an alien language anymore which is good. After another tea with lunch, I think I finally hit a wall of tiredness which caffeine would not help causing nap time. In the afternoon I went shopping with Anne and her children, Thea and Carl, they are all very nice and helpful, and they also speak English really well. Lucky for me I came to Germany at a good time - WINTER SALES!! I bought two coats, a scarf and a beanie for under 40 euros :) - loving H&M.

Our shopping went later than expected and into dinner time, I thought that I was going home for dinner but Anne swept me into the car and told me that I was her daughter tonight and that I was having dinner with the family at a restaurant which they will celebrate their 25th year anniversary. It was a very pleasant evening. 


Tuesday (Dienstag) - Today was quite slow.. I just had a German lesson and went home as my tiredness has got the better off me. I'm going to have a big sleep and report back when something else interesting happens :)