Update from Deutschland
Posted by Richard (Rich) Lalley
on Feb 16, 2011
Zoe Nunez, the Rotary Youth Exchange student we're sponsoring this year, recently sent this update on her experiences in Germany:
I don't think I have ever appreciated my family so much before. Needless to say, the holiday season was rough for me. Actually, the whole month of December was hard. Everything was new again with my new host family and I couldn't help but miss my old one. When I arrived to my new house, everything was already decorated for Christmas with lights and candles. The first thing my new host family gave me was an Advents Calendar, which is really typical German. What it is, is a calendar of December. On the calendar everyday has a little box you can open. In every box, is a chocolate. So everyday in December, I opened a little box and ate a small, but very delicious piece of chocolate. My family also had a set of four candles, which was for Advent. They lit a candle each of the four Sundays before Christmas and each sunday was a family day. One night, my dad asked me for my shoe. As confused as I was, I gave him my shoe, then he proceeded to explain why he needed it. German tradition says that on December 6, St. Nikolaus comes to your house. What most kids do is make a wish list of what they want for Christmas. St. Nikolaus then comes, takes the list, and leaves a lot of candy in your shoe. So of course, the next morning I woke up to a shoe full of candy. I thought it was really nice for my host parents to do that for me, and it made me feel like I was actually their child. The rest of the month I just kepy receiving a lot of chocolate. Everyday my parents would give me chocolate as a present. I learned that Germans LOVE chocolate in December. But I don't blame them, it's the best chocolate I have ever tasted...and sadly, I gained a couple pounds from it. Germans don't put the Christmas tree up as early as Americans. I was shocked at how late they put the tree up, usually 2 or 3 days before Christmas. Christmas finally came and I had a weird feeling about that day. It was so different being without my family and not doing the things I usually do on Christmas. In Germany, Christmas is celebrated for 3 days: December 24, 25, 26. And on those days everyone is with their family. On december 24th, I went to church with my family for 2.5 hours. My first host mom is that the pastor to that church, so I got to see my first host family. A band played, people sang Christmas carols, and the little kids performed a skit, including my little host brother. After that, we went back home and ate a very delicious dinner. It took my parents the whole morning to prepare the dinner, and it turned out great. After dinner, we opened presents and played card games. My family gave me clothes, a perfume, scarfs, and other little things. I was very grateful. I couldn't help but feel sad though. It wasn't my usual Christmas with my big family and the big feast we always have. Nevertheless, my host family tried to make me feel as comfortable and happy as possible. The next day (2nd day of Christmas) we went out to eat with my dad's family and after that they all came over and we relaxed at my house. On the thrid day of Christmas, my mom's side of the family came over. Everyone ate at my house and gave each other presents. Those 3 days were probably the hardest days I've had in Germany. Knowing that I wasn't actually part of the family and that halfway around the world my real family was celebrating Christmas without me. It was definitely a great experience though, seeing what Germans do during the holiday and experiencing all the differences between home and this new culture i'm living in. After Christmas, things went back to normal. I went skiiing on day and I hung out with friends a lot. My family kept asking me what i was going to do on New Years. I didn't have a plan yet, and that annoys them. I have to come to the realization that Germans can't live life without a schedule. They must have everything planned or they get stressed really fast. So, I didn't have a plan until a couple hours before New Years, which typical me. I went with my german friend to a New Years party. We went to my other friend's house and there I saw a lot of my friends from school. We ate, talked, danced, etc. The New Year was finally coming, we all went outside and lit up firworks. We went back inside, relazed there a couple more hours, and then I went back to my friend's house. Being with my german friends, in this beautiful country was the perfect ending to an amazing year that I have had thanks to Rotary.
And here's an update of what i've been up to this year
After the winter break, everything went back to normality. I went back to school saw all my friends. I started trying harder in school and trying harder to learn german. Thus far, I can have a conversation in German. I understand most of what people say. The only thing though, is that i need to learn more vocabulary. I got the hang of the structure of the language, not i just need more words to talk it better. But i'm working on it. (: I was only in school for one week with everyone. The rest of the month of January, everyone had to do an internship. At the beginning of the year, everyone chose where they wanted to work for 3 weeks. I got placed at Dentist. So, for three weeks I saw a a dentist pull out teeth, make fillings, and yell at little kids for their cavaties. I've also never seen so many fake teeth in my life. Nevertheless, it was quite an experience to work with a dentist for three weeks. I got to see what a real job is like and how tiring it is to work. I would go to work everyday from 8am-6pm, with a three hour break from 12-3. By the end of the day, I was so tired, all i wanted to do was sleep. I finally understand what my parents go through everyday when they work. I learned a lot in my internship about teeth, and the different type of diseases people can get for not taking care of their teeth. So working took over my life for most of January. Last weekend though, I had a Rotex weekend with all the other inbounds in my district. Well, not all of them because there are around 100 inbounds in my district, but only 60 could go for the weekend. Luckily, I was one of the ones chosen to go. I can never have a bad time when i'm with my exchange student friends. We're not only friends, we're family. I have become such good friends with people from all over the world. Needless to say, it was a great weekend. This week, I went back to reality again. I started school and once again saw all my friends. Now, I'm just lookig forward to my birthday next week and then a ski tour to Austria the last week of February. I will be sure to keep you all updated on how all that goes. And once again, thank you so much for sponsering me! You all really have no idea how much this experience is making me learn and grow as a person.
und jetzt ein bisschen deutsch, oder? Ich hoffe ihr hattet ein wundershoenes weinachten und ein frohes neus jahr! (translation: I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)
And here's an update of what i've been up to this year
After the winter break, everything went back to normality. I went back to school saw all my friends. I started trying harder in school and trying harder to learn german. Thus far, I can have a conversation in German. I understand most of what people say. The only thing though, is that i need to learn more vocabulary. I got the hang of the structure of the language, not i just need more words to talk it better. But i'm working on it. (: I was only in school for one week with everyone. The rest of the month of January, everyone had to do an internship. At the beginning of the year, everyone chose where they wanted to work for 3 weeks. I got placed at Dentist. So, for three weeks I saw a a dentist pull out teeth, make fillings, and yell at little kids for their cavaties. I've also never seen so many fake teeth in my life. Nevertheless, it was quite an experience to work with a dentist for three weeks. I got to see what a real job is like and how tiring it is to work. I would go to work everyday from 8am-6pm, with a three hour break from 12-3. By the end of the day, I was so tired, all i wanted to do was sleep. I finally understand what my parents go through everyday when they work. I learned a lot in my internship about teeth, and the different type of diseases people can get for not taking care of their teeth. So working took over my life for most of January. Last weekend though, I had a Rotex weekend with all the other inbounds in my district. Well, not all of them because there are around 100 inbounds in my district, but only 60 could go for the weekend. Luckily, I was one of the ones chosen to go. I can never have a bad time when i'm with my exchange student friends. We're not only friends, we're family. I have become such good friends with people from all over the world. Needless to say, it was a great weekend. This week, I went back to reality again. I started school and once again saw all my friends. Now, I'm just lookig forward to my birthday next week and then a ski tour to Austria the last week of February. I will be sure to keep you all updated on how all that goes. And once again, thank you so much for sponsering me! You all really have no idea how much this experience is making me learn and grow as a person.
und jetzt ein bisschen deutsch, oder? Ich hoffe ihr hattet ein wundershoenes weinachten und ein frohes neus jahr! (translation: I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)