Claire Can't Walk

After a couple weeks in Germany Ive come to the sad conclusion that Im not physically capable of walking. Ive given in my best shot here but apparently my best efforts are not cuttin it here. Id estimate that I trip about two times on every street. When I turn onto a new street, two more trips. And God forbid I be on public transportation which seems to make me fall over at every stop. BUT in my defense, all the streets here are cobblestone and if youve ever visited Philadelphia you cant lie and say you never tripped. Also, I have new German shoes that have a heel on them. Cobblestones + Heels= Claire in a ditch somewhere.

Anywho, I thought Id go over some observations Ive made on Germany. Please remember that this isnt for all of Germany, its just for where I live. Ive heard a bunch of things from other CBYXers and a lot of them dont apply to me and Im pretty sure some of mine dont apply to them. So here we go.

Eating Habits. I cant begin to describe the differences in eating habits here. First off, Im almost certain that theres a quick eating competition going on with prizes and Im not aware of it because people eat lighting quick. I have tried to match their incredible speed but have eaten dust. Secondly, its totally acceptable to talk with food in your mouth and I mean like full on "A glub blug aggh Rah fah" type of food-talking.

Blowing Your Nose. This one I find absolutely amusing. Let me start off by saying that the people here seem to be perpetually sick and everyone always has tissues on them. Whats the best part is that here its absolutely okay to FULL OUT blow your nose. You know in America youll like go into the bathroom to blow your nose and when you do it in class its really awkward and loud and everyone looks at you? No such thing here. You can blow your nose talking to someone, eating, in class, riding a bike, you name it. And as loud as you want. You would even do it here talking face to face with a guy you like. Its so weird for me.

Sleepovers. Lets just say that sleepovers have a bit of a different meaning here. A sleepover is between opposite sexes and its perfectly normal. I was absolutely mortified to hear that my host brothers girlfriend was sleeping over (especially after having to spend a whole day watching their out right disgusting PDA). But its perfectly normal here. The thing thats unheard of is having a sleepover with the same sex. I did with my friend Mili (Australia) on a school night and when we go on the bus we were promptly informed wed just declared ourselves lesbians. Not exactly what I was going for with my sleepover but it shows you the cultural differences.

ALSO I went to an AFS meeting for the weekend in Berlin and it was absolutely amazing. I had the best time which rocks and sucks at the same time. Its awesome cause i met great people and had an amazing time but its made this week that much harder cause ive missed them so much.

At the moment Im trying to figure out my weekend because I have to take the SATs on Saturday morning so I need to find a host fam. Im pretty sure my brain will be blasted by the end cause people always ask me the english words for stuff here and I forget 99% of them cause I dont use them now.

Whoa...I just had the greatest idea...