Where to start...

Where do I start? I have so much catching up to do! There are so many different things I have to say, so many events, days, activities, experiences to talk about. AH! It's been a great couple of months. I have done a lot of thinking. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I'll pick up where I left off.

06.11-11.11

This week was... well... just another week for the most part. Class in the afternoon/evening on Tuesday. Class at night on Wednesday. Class all day Thursday. The big event of the week was the start of a short lived tradition, but nonetheless tradition.  I don't know if I had mentioned it before, but I have become a part of a small, fairly close knit group of friends. Bert (aka Bertrand, he's from Belgium), Dayna (from the USofA, and GVSU), Sabrina (y'all know her by now), and myself got fairly close fairly quickly. We had lunch together in the Mensa one day and ended up sitting at a very wobbly table, which was soon deemed as an unstable table. Then at the bar crawl, we were all together and decided to make an official name for our little group. Only thing that seemed to suit us and our crazy personalities was "The Unstable Table". With a facebook group made that night, it became official. We were the unstable table. It's catchy. Say it a couple of times and try NOT to smile. I dare you.

The Unstable Table

Anyway... So the unstable table decided to start a little tradition. We went out Thursday after our classes. There is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Gmünd that we had heard many good things about. So we decided to try it out. We got lucky. Thursday nights you get to roll a die for the price of your cocktail (and no matter what you roll it is cheaper than a regular priced cocktail).  The four of us sat down, and each got a drink. Sabrina and I had checked the menu online earlier that day. My mouth was watering before we even sat down I was so excited for this food! We both ordered strawberry margaritas, but I was the lucky one to roll a 1 :)

We ordered appetizers and enough food for a small army. And it was all superb, delicious, wonderful. Can I say much more? We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Please excuse the god-awful lighting in those pictures. Even trying to edit them didn't make it any better....

We headed back to the Wohnheim for more drinks and a game night. We played some of my favorite games. We laughed and laughed. We have a pretty awesome time together. It was a great end to a great night.
The next day was Friday. Friday is when I do my praktikum. This week I went to my new school, where Bert (and two of the Turkish girls) were doing their praktikum. I was excited to be with friends and to be into a classroom where I would have an opportunity to teach English! Upon arrival I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was hoping it would be a little better than my last school. And boy was it! This new school is a dream! I LOVE the teacher, Frau Jung. She's young, enthusiastic, and so much fun! She was so excited to have me there! It was adorable, I gotta admit :)
The kids started to filter in soon after we got there. They were excited to see someone new in the classroom! We didn't get to help out much that day because the kids had to take a test. I walked around the room and tried to help them a little (not too much obviously, it was a test!). As I did that, I started to learn names, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The kids were great.
In the middle of class, Frau Jung came up to Bert and me asking us if we wanted to do an English lesson the next week. We exchanged glances and immediately said YES! She handed us a book, explaining they were talking about fall, squirrels, etc. She said we could read the story, or do vocabulary, plan a game, whatever we wanted. She left us to discuss and Bert and I threw together a quick, very vague plan. When she came back to talk to us about it again, we told her we would love to introduce the vocab, play some vocab games with the kids, and read the story. She got a wide-eyed look and big smile on her face! She was so excited that we were willing to do so much! 
At the end of the lesson, Frau Jung had the kids all bring their chairs and sit in a circle, including all of us "students". She wanted us to introduce ourselves to the kids. So around the circle we went, each of us older students introducing ourselves and answering the kids questions. They asked where we lived, when our birthday was, and so many other questions. It was really quite adorable. They are so much fun :) One of the boys even asked me a question in English. I was impressed.
After class, Bert and I chatted with Frau Jung as she made a copy of the book we would use for our English lesson next week. She is such a sweet person! I love her already! :) It's going to be a great semester with her and these kiddos each Friday!

Well that's about it for that week. On to the next!

Lots of love from Germany!