Hello readers! It has come to my attention that while you have heard lots about my weekend adventures, I have left you woefully misinformed about my everyday after school adventures and activities. Here is a list of my extracurriculars:
Monday: 1.5 hrs. German lessons 2 hrs. Rotary/Roteract meeting Tuesday: 1.5 hrs. School Band practice 1 hour Latin/Standard dance lessons (new as of last week) Wednesday: 1.5 hrs. German lessons 1.5 hrs. Bellydance Thursday: 0.5 hrs. English tutoring 1 hour Step-Aerobic Class Friday: Sleep! As you can see, I really don't have much time for homework (especially on Fridays). How tragic ;)
1 Comment
This has been another week of festivities, this time with a Canadian twist. Halloween was mostly uneventful (except for the very fun Sunday afternoon that I spent with the local Roteract club helping kids carve pumpkins) because the main celebration of the season was yet to come. St. Martins, a Christian holiday, is celebrated in Germany by an evening re-enactment of the story of St. Martin and the Beggar, followed by a parade where children sing St. Martins day songs and carry lanterns. After the parade, they receive Backmänner (sweet loaves of bread in the shape of people) and go door-to-door singing St. Martin's day songs (rewarded, of course, by candy - much like Halloween). This Friday was the St. Martins parade in Heiligenhaus. I was not able to watch and therefore have no pictures of the parade because.... I participated! On Tuesday, we had had a day-long band practice because All Souls Day was a holiday, and during the break, one of my friends told me about St. Martins day. Seeing that I was interested in the tradition, she asked me if I would like to join her playing with the local music school in the parade! Of course, I said yes. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting. What a neat opportunity!
Yesterday, in the aftermath of the parade and a very full week, I had a little time to relax and prepare for today - when I brought a little North American flavour to our household. Of all the traditions to share with my host family, I thought it was only fitting to choose Thanksgiving. I had invited another family of five to come at 13:00 today, and (having already made the crust for the pumpkin pie on Saturday and with a little help from the others) managed to assemble the feast in time. It smelled just like Canada - which I caught myself thinking fondly of as "the old country" ;). The turkey was upside-down and I forgot to make gravy, but other then that things went smoothly. (Ironically, cranberry sauce had been easy to locate when shopping, whereas celery (for the stuffing) was a real challenge to find!) After stuffing ourselves in proper Thanksgiving style, we played a card game together. It was a lovely celebration, and I'm so grateful to my host family for allowing me to share a real Canadian tradition (and Mom's fabulous recipes) with them. Next adventure, coming soon... Mit besten Grüßen, Sylvia |