Final week of language camp!

Language camp is almost over (one more day) and it is kind of bitter sweet. The two teachers turned out to be pretty cool and most of the other kids are really nice. This week has been pretty fun in camp, we went on a odd excursion on tuesday and then a fun canoe trip on wednesday.

On Tuesday we were told to go out into the streets in groups of three and ask people opinion questions in German. The idea was to work on conversing in German while learning about what Germans think about certain topics. The questions ranged from "Do you like Germany? Why?" all the way to "How do you feel about the current state of Germany's economy, do you think it is in a recession or is it booming?" The effect was lost on my all together because the answeres we got were brief and meaningless and many people were unwilling to talk.

Wednesday's canoe trip wasn't too smooth, but it ended up being fun. We split up into two groups of six and one group of five for the canoes, the groups with six had a teacher. I was stearing the boat with five, and we were the only group without a teacher. The canoe trip followed a visual scavenger hunt of the city's canal system that had been written by the teachers. Since it was a race not only for speed but for completion of the scavenger hunt, having a teacher in the boat was an obvious advantage.

Some of the items we had too look for were the names of the bridges, details in carvings or graffiti art on the walls of the canals, and names and daily specials of resteraunts positioned on the canal edge. Even without the help of a teacher, my group finished about two minutes in front of one group, and about ten minutes in front of the other and we completed 30 of the 35 questions on the scavenger hunt list. For winning we each got a chocolate bar, and everybody got gummy bears and candies just for finishing.

Last night (Wednesday) I met with my new teachers for this year at the parent-teacher night. No other kids from the class were there, but it was nice to meet the teachers, who seem really nice, and also see the school and the classroom.

Other than camp and the trip to school, I have not really done much this week. I am getting a little discourage because I have not been able to really get out of the house and go do anything much. I would like to go into downtown Hamburg, or even down to the shopping area and just hang around but it hasn't really happened. Today I managed to get away by myself for a few minutes and I went to the bank and then a chocolate store all by myself (I bought gifts for the camp teachers).

No pictures this time (sorry!!), I didn't want to take my camera on the canoes or take pictures of random people on the street.

Food, language camp week 2, downtown Hamburg, and the zoo!

What a week! The second week of language camp went by fast, partly because it rained the whole time probably. On monday we went on a scavenger hunt in downtown Hamburg. We had to go to the post office, bank, european "dollar store", Apotheke (drug store), and the main train station, in groups of 3. It was pretty fun, even though it as raining and my group spent most of the time in the train station. On Wednesday we went to the zoo!


It was also raining so all the animals were looking pretty sad, but I took some pictures anyway. This was a very odd zoo. There were roaming packs of chickens and various little creatures that had escaped from the pens. The fences were not very high so you could reach down and pet the penguins or whatever got close enough to reach. We found a pack of odd animals just grazing around on a patch of lawn, there is a picture of them. Also, they had a couple ant exibits, which consisted of ant hills with nets pulled over them. The nets had no chance of holding back the ants, so there were ants everywhere. There was a bee exibit that was just a few bee hives you could walk up to, so there were also bees all over the place, it was odd.






What other zoo has a real dinsaur huh?

Not pictured : The oddest exibit at a zoo I have ever seen. A section with fences only about a foot high full of rabits, guinea pigs, and some other little rodent like mini deer. The little fence couldn't keep them in, so every now and then one would jump out and walk a round a bit!

We found a baby bunny hiding in the bushes near the monkey cage, he was the same kind that was on display in the petting zoo, we named him Steve M.

The food so far has been excellent. In camp every day we get a prepared lunch from the youth hostel we use as a classroom. There is always some kind of meat and potatoes or pasta. Some highlights were last Tuesday's Frikaldelle (big sausage patty) with potatoes (mashed and sliced) and salad, Monday's baked pasta with cheese and onions, and yesterday's pasta with beef goulash.

At my host home, breakfast and dinner has usually consisted of various breads with different spreads, meats, and cheeses. The breads range from simple sliced white bread (not my favorite) to classic german Schwarzbrot (black bread) whitch is a dark bread with corn and other grains. Toppings include nutella (of course) butter, cheese spreads, real cheese, and delicious salami.

My host mother has also cooked some fabulous meals. Tonight we had fresh pastry cups filled with mushrooms and beef in gravy.

Thats enough for now I think, I hope people are reading it.

-Kevin

Weekend

The past few days have been pretty interesting. On Saturday I played mini-golf with Heiko and his friend. The mini golf course was one of the best I have played in, it was very simple, but creative, and every hole had a new challenge. Also, we had four different kinds of golf balls (bouncy, regular, rock-hard, and soft). Each hole required a specific ball, which added an additional layer of entertainment.








These pictures are from the last couple days. The first is of the two language teachers at "camp". They are very nice and pretty funny too.

The next picture is me and my host mother having coffee (I had appel juice) and cake on Sunday afternoon. We had spent about an hour riding around the city, which was very relaxing and fun, and then we had some cake and talked a little.

Next is Rocky, Heiko's turtle. He is pretty cool and friendly.

The last pictures are of my host brother Heiko in his room, and then my room.

Please feel free to post comments about whatever, if you ask a question, leave an e-mail address and I will answer!

-Kevin

Stadtfest!

This weekend is the Stadtfest (city party) in Lohbrügge! Today I saw a really cool local bank play and I really enjoyed it. It was raining really hard and all I had one was a t-shirt and jeans. Oops. It sucks being homesick but it comes and goes pretty fast, so it isn't holding me down too much.

Internet! Pictures!

I now have internet so I can make a new post with some pictures!

It has been a good week, language camp is odd, the work is really hard and pointless but the people are all really cool! The instructers are very nice (and funny too) and I like taking public transportation to get there.

These pictures are of my host brother Heiko and I. It was a special day celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Lohbrügge water tower and they were allowing people to climb to the top (for a fee of course, everything in Germany costs money! even some bathrooms!). The church with the green steeple you can see in the background is only a block or two from my house, it rings its bells all the time and it is pretty loud.

Germany is cool!

So far my time in Germany has gone really well. My host family is really nice and the city is great!

The language camp is not going that great. There are 2 groups, one that is learning the basics (My name is..., alphabet, numbers) and the other group is really advanced (dativ and nominativ case possessive pronouns!?!?). I don't really fit in either so I am struggling to stay in the upper group to avoid boredom.

Pictures coming soon (maybe, once my computer gets on the internet.)

Final full day in DC

Another day in DC and it was a full day of visiting congress members' offices and walking to places to do things like viewing memorials, etc.

We also went to the German embassy and the capitol building.

Party at the Mall

Today we hit the mall (smithsonian) and our group of six obviously had the best time.

The wierd one is the six of us in a heat camera.

D.C. Begins

I made it to Washington D.C. finally, and I waited for 5 hours in the airport but we made it to the hotel finally. There are 50 people, and it is 4 to a room in the hotel. Another couple days in D.C. and I will be off to germany.