A day in Sinsheim, Germany

I was up kind of late last night watching an episode of 24, I'm kind of enjoying it, but it's kind of slow. I used to laugh at my dad for fast forwarding the shows and watching the subtitles really fast, but it actually works really well... especially when the girls are crying. I got up around 7:00 with the voice of my grandpa through my bedroom door. I very groggly got out of bed and ate some breakfast. Then we got ready for the day and went down to the bus station. We decided to go to Sinsheim for the day and visit the "Auto and Technik Museum". The bus came at 8:29 and was on time! We took the bus to another station and got on that bus and took it to the train station. It was two sort of long bus rides so I looked out the window and listened to my IPod. It was the first day I brought it along and I did it because I had three songs stuck in my head and just needed to keep listening to them so I didn't drive my self nuts humming. We then got off the bus at the train station my grandparents spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get tickets from the machine in german. It was interesting. I walked around and took some pictures and then was temporarly freeked out when it wasn't recording the pictures I took. They kept showing up as currupted files. I figured out that it was because I wasn't waiting long enough for it to aim or something. I was definitely releaved! We waited for the train and went through an underground tunnel to the other side of the tracks and it smelled like urine and smoke. Pretty gross! We waited for about 15 minutes and watched some crunstruction workers lay some footings for a foundation. They were building another station on the other side of the track as well as more tracks.


We then got on the train and I experienced my first train ride! It was pretty fun. It was a long ride to Sinsheim, but we got there in about 25-30 minutes. We walked to the museum and I was quite amazed at how big the planes were that were mounted on the buildings. We went inside and got our tickets. We had the option to watch an I-Max film, but we decided not to because we wouldn't really have enough time. So then we actually did end up going into the I-Max right away because we had to watch an introdutcion fild for the Museum. Something really funny happened. We were standing there waiting for the line to open up and we saw this mouse walking around. The area was pretty open and empty and he just ran around and looked in the corners and then walked over to a door and someone let him out. It was the strangest, most random thing ever, but funny. After we went to the I-Max thing, we started to look around.

There was a ton of cars! And all kinds of them. There were a lot of Marcedes Benz, but there were also Farraries and then a couple of the U.S. brands. There were a couple rooms of cars (Like really huge rooms!). And at least 1000 cars in all. There were countless displays of motercycles and old mopeds. There was even a large section just for military stuff like helicpters, guns, tanks and life size World War 2 models. It was a lot of fun. Oh and there were these large player organs all over the place and even machines that had a ton of instorments that would play mechanically. My grandpa stopped at almost every single one and would put the 1 Euro in to play it. The first time he did it made me jump because it was so loud! The organ could be heard through out the whole museum! My grandma and I were always able to find him though! haha

After walking around a little bit we got a little hungry and went over to the little snakc shop. I was then greatly disappointed with both things that I got to eat. One was hot chocolate which tasted like watered down dirt. Then I ate some pizza that didn't taste too well either. Oh well though, you got to have a bad food experience sometime. So then we finished looking around in the first building. There were some big trains and old tractors and bull dozers. IT was really cool! We then went over to the second building which had some airplanes in it and mor modern cars. I looked around for a little bit and took pictures. There was also a big train set that was really cool! I then climbed a huge set of stairs to the roof of the building where all the airplanes were. You were able to go into all of them. IT was a lot of fun, but they had a lot of the stuff fenced off on the inside, so you had to "look with your eyes not your hands". One of the airplanes had a big slide that went down from it and you slid down on a special pad. It was a lot of fun! I also went to the gift shop and got a cool german jacket shirt type thing. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's camouflage and has two German flag patches on the sides. I liked it and knew I wouldn't see it again so I got it.

We then left the museum and started walking back to the train station. On the train ride back I just looked out the window and thought as I wrapped my day up. I also had the song stuck in my head still. I sang it like the whole time I was at the museum, it was the worst case of "Stuck in my head" that I have ever had...

We then got home and I played some piano and hung around the house. Then we watched some family videos and I got to see myself 8 years younger :) I was so little... and now I'm so..BIG! I also got to see my little brother when he was the size of my little sister Abigail.. if not smaller. It was fun! I also wrote a story on a cool little keyboard with my cousin Ana. Then I went with my Uncle to pick up my cousin Emily at a small group she was at. We also brought to of her friends home. My uncle and I had a nice trip there listening to some of my music and I got to show him what I was interested in. I then came home and went to bed! It was definitely needed!

So that was the Friday I had in Sinsheim! It was a lot of fun, but really long!

My adventure continues with... My trip to France!

Change of plans

Well because of some bad weather issues instead of skiing this weekend we are going to ski next Wednesday. Instead we are then going to all got to France. It should be fun! I will update with info on the trip when I have more, but for now, that's the update!

Weekend plans

So really quickly...



The weekend plan is to go to Oberstdorf and Ski. We were going to be leaving Friday night, but now we have changed plans and are going to be leaving at 5:00am Saterday morning to go to the ski place. It's about a four hour drive to the place so we'll get there before ten when it opens. There is usually a lot of people so we are trying to avoid the long lines. We are going to be skiing for a fair portion of the day and then we will be staying at a place called Familie Mohr . The weather is supposed to be good so I'm pretty excited.

Today we are pretty much pulling another Tuesday. It is really cold and rainy out and we don't feel like doing much today. I'm kind of tired and could use another day to rest. I'm excited about this weekend. We aren't really sure what the whole plan is yet, but it's going to be another fun road trip. I'm also looking forward to Crete in less then two weeks! Though the flight there is going to be kind of rough. Our plane leaves at 3:00 in the morning on Saterday which means we need to be there at 1:30 and that means we have to leave the house at like 12:00 which then means we will be up to get ready...or just still up from being up... anyway it;s going to be a long day, but we'll get an extra day in Crete which will be fun! So anyway, I'm not up to much today, just hanging out. I'll probably try and get some pictures up later as well.

Till later :)

11th Grade Middle Schooler!

I woke up at 5:00am Wednesday and got ready for my day. I took a shower and ate a small breakfast. My stomach and what not were kind of feeling weird. I wasn't nervous or sick feeling, they were just kind of making lots of grumbling noises. So my cousins and my uncle all hopped into there little Mercedes and headed off to school. We dropped my cousin Emily off at the high school (Where I will be going on Friday) and then drove to the base where the middle school was located. We first stopped and I sent some post cards. WE got to the middle school and we all got out and went to my uncle’s class room. He teaches 7th grade English. I met one of Ana's friends and we talked for a couple of minutes. After that we got a pass from her dad and walked around the school. She introduced me to her different teachers and when I met the math teacher I knew she was going to have the best class ever (Which I was right about). It was nice to meet the teachers before hand.

The buses started pulling in so Ana and I walked over to stand in front of the school. IT was kind of cold and rainy out, but everyone was still standing outside. Ana saw a group of her friends so we walked over. The first thing that was said was... "Wow you're tall!" That was not to be the last time I heard that and many other comments. I was known as Ana's cousin or "Tall Guy". I talked with them for a while and then went inside and to her first class which was

actually a study hall type thing called seminar. We then got a pass from her teacher to go to the library instead. We walked over there and talked to a couple of her friends again. Then it was time for her first "real" class which was World History. The teacher, Mr. Cook, was very interesting. He was energetic and taught good, but he was also sarcastic. It seems the kids have a lot of fun with him. There is a lot of teasing that goes back and forth. Not really the kind of teaching I admire, but he had a good classroom and taught well. As a teacher I don't think you should tell kids to "shut up" or be sarcastic and say things like "Your face", but that's just me. In world history they were learning about the "Good Feelings Era" and then went over some test questions that they had missed. I had helped Ana study for the test and she got a 98% so I was excited for her. Oh and this is a conversation between on of the students (Andrew) and the teacher.

Andrew: *raises hand*

Mr. Cook: Yes, Andrew?

Andrew: Would you be mad if I threw this pencil at you?

Mr. Cook: No, I would not be mad, because you couldn't throw it all the way to the front of the room."

Andrew: Yeah I could, can I do it?

Mr. Cook: Sure, go ahead.

Andrew: Will you get mad or put me in detention?

Mr. Cook: No...

Andew: Will you send a letter home to my parents?

Mr. Cook: No...

Andrew: Will you do anything?

Mr. Cook: Yes...

Andrew: What?

Mr. Cook: *picks up heavy stapler*

Andrew: *eyes widen*

Mr. Cook: I'll just say it has something to do with this.

So after History class we went to science class which was my least favorite. The teacher knew her stuff, but was kind of boring and was really grumpy. No one got a 100% on this quiz they had taken and so they went over it and she kept going on about how many times they had gone over it. They were learning about the DNA and how all that worked. IT was interesting, but I didn't like her teaching at all. You need to bring a little more encouragement and happiness to learning otherwise this kids will ignore you and do their homework like the two kids across me did. I was watching the girl across from me do her math homework and was watching her do it from an upside down view. I saw her doing it wrong so I helped. It was really fun to know everything AND THEN to be able to help with out not knowing myself. It was just the start of the encouraging day I had in teaching. The boy across the table from me was interesting and asked how old I was. When I said I was 16 and in 11th grade, he gasped and I got this as a response... "Wow, good thing because if you were an 11th grader I would have been like, man you're F****** tall 8th grader." I kind of coughed and raised my eyebrows and kind of said... "Yeah I guess soo." It is sad how much kids swear and how many don't even know what they're doing. I told him he should be more creative/imaginative with his vocabulary because swearing sure isn't imaginative at all! If people really need to use a "profanity adjective" they should come up with something more interesting to say then "wow that's so D**** sweet...." Anyway... I heard a lot of swearing. After science class we went to lunch. I stood in line to get lunch and had a couple come up to me and tell me I was tall and then ask who I was. Several people like seriously had a conversation about me right in front of me like they thought I couldn't hear them o something. I heard a lot of people talking about me... especially in class. It was interesting. So I got my lunch and went and sat by Ana where I proceeded to get in trouble by the lunch lady for being an extra person on the bench at the table. I wasn't the only extra person though so two other people left and then there was room for me. IT was kind of funny. After lunch was recess. Since it was cold and wet outside they had it inside. Most of the kids just sat in the hallway, but there were two gyms with different activities going on in them. One was soccer where a bunch of kids just ran around chasing the ball and the other was basketball. I was kind of hoping for a game, but it was just a bunch of kids chasing around a basketball. I worked my way over to one of the hoops where the kids were shooting and stealing the ball from each other. Being as tall as I am I was able to jump and get the rebounds pretty well. It was kind of weird how the whole gym thing worked. There was a certain limit to the number of kids in the gym so they would blow the whistle every 5 minutes and everyone would file out and get into the line waiting to go in. One time there was like 3 people in line waiting to go in the gym and they blew the whistle and everyone got out went back in line and almost everyone went back in again. :P

Then it was time for math class!! I was pumped! Right away the teacher calmed everyone down and then introduced me. She then asked if I would like to help, which I did, so I collected homework on the right side of the class and looked through it. I was kind of confused to what she was looking for so the kids kind of helped me. Then she started the lesson which was about Transversal Angles... One of my favorite middle school math topics! After the lesson she went over the homework of the previous days work. Those who had trouble went to the back of the room where I proceeded to be a math teacher to them for 15 minutes. I drew some problems on the white board and worked through them making sure they got all the steps correct. The homework they were doing was find indirect measurements. It's the whole "if there is a 50ft tall building that casts a 20 ft shadow and there is a man standing next to the building that is 5 ft tall how long is his shadow" kind of a problem. They did well and got it. IT was a lot of fun to help out. Over the past 6 months or so I have really been thinking about being a math teacher and being in the classroom and actually doing it was encouraging and kind of made me want to do it more. I may not just teach math, I might end up teaching something else, but it was a lot of fun. And BY FAR my favorite class.

After math we went to her last class, which was English. Evidently something happened in the class earlier that morning and she had lost her temper. It was a kids birthday and two kids had given her "birthday punches". It got a little out of hand and the teacher got really upset. It was just one of those things that she would not allow EVER! When it happened in her own classroom she got very mad. She then spent about 15 minutes talking about how stupid hitting/abuse/hazing was and gave some very good reasons. I hope the kids were paying attention because it was a good life lesson. We then went over vocab words and the definitions. After that one of the girls had done a book report project and made a cake so we all had some. After science school was out and I went down stairs to find my uncle in the computer lab. I had a nice talk with the librarian there and that was fun. He was originally from Georgia. We then waited for my cousin Emily. Once she arrived, Emily and I walked over to the Java Coffee they have across base. We got there and I was in the mood for something Ice cream-ish so I ordered an ice blended Carmel Macchiato. It was pretty good! We then sat at a table and hung out and then some of her friends came and I just kind of sat there and listened to them talk. It was quite interesting. :P

Then my uncle came and all three of us went to go pick up Ana and dropped Emily off at ballet. Then we drove to a new music store that had a ton of drum stuff! They had 6 rooms full of drums, cymbals, sticks, hand drums, trinkets... it was like drum heaven.... but it only lasted about 10 minutes. I could have spent all day there!!! It was a lot of fun! We then drove to a bible study that they have on Wednesday nights and ate at the potluck they had. The teen bible class was a lot of fun and it was a cool group of kids. At one point this kid was telling this story about how he was lost in a shoe store and I could not stop laughing. He started out talking about he had been looking at these shoes and he was very precise... like down to the minute. Being 10 years old it was interesting to hear his tale. However his brother and sister were kind of making the exaggerated faces and made a couple people start laughing. For some reason it hit me funny because I was overcome with some pretty hefty laughter and proceeded to try and hold it in which was not good because I hurt my side and my abs doing so. It felt like trying to keep a grenade from exploding by holding it really tight.... almost :P Anyway it was really funny and I wish I could have just burst out laugh so I could have gotten it over with. After bible class we went home and got ready for bed. I then stayed up and did some writing and watched a couple of shows of "number" and then went to bed.

It was a good day and very fun. I'm looking forward to Friday and going to high school with my cousin Emily!

My adventure continues with... A Rainy Thursday! :)

German: Day 8 - Tuesday

We really didn't do much on Tuesday. We took the day off and just hung around the house resting. I was up early and whatched a movie on the lap-top Tuesday morning around 8:00. My grandparents didn't get up till 10:00 and then I came down and ate breakfast. I spent a lot of time on the computer that day figuring out all my pictures and writing my blog. It was a nice day of rest and it gave me a lot of time to catch up on what was going on and think a littl bit. For dinner I made lasagna and we had some garlic bread. While all that was cooking I went outside and helped my aunt pick up some branches that had fallen from their apple tree. We then talked about what all we were going to do this next weekend. The plan so far is that my grandparents and aunt are going to a small town in France and I'm going with my uncle to maybe go skiing in the Alps. Depending on the weather though we might do something else. They have been getting a lot snow, but it might turn into freezing rain and then it would be a big mess. So Tuesday was a much needed rest day before Wednesday when I went to middle school!

My adventure continues with... 11th grade middle schooler!

German: Day 8