Happy...not really Halloween!

Since I'm posting pictures on this post I'm not going to make a gigantic effort to write a lot in here. Instead I'm ganna pull an AP Euro and just write little cultural differences I've seen in bullet notes:

- Theres a million different types of bread and every morning we buy fresh bread for breakfast

- Meals are at really different times. Lunch is around 3 pm and dinner is around 9 pm

- You always have to wait for everyone to eat

- When meeting new people you always shake hands, even when its a little kid or someone your age

- No elbows on the table and you bring food to your mouth instead of mouth to your food

- Lots of people sing to both the radio and their Ipod

- Acne is completely acceptable and theres no acne commercials here. This really ticks me cause I had really bad acne last year and got hell for it and I wish it had waited a year.

- One always has to look put together before they walk out the door, this includes going out for the mail.

PICTURE TIME!!!

Think I was kidding about the gigantic sheets here?

From left to right: Jack, Phillip, George, Me. We went to a power plant where we had to wear these really heavy shoes and helmets. Do I know why I was there? Absolutely not. All I know is that George has his doctorates in engineering and he had to do something here and brought us along.

This is in Berlin where we went to the classical concert.

This is on one of those trails I was telling you about.

So this week I spent in Northwestern Germany in a couple different dorfs=villages and stadts=cities. We were there to celebrate the 81st birthday of their Grandpa. The car trip reminded me a lot of the US. The three kids were crunched in the back (Who got stuck with the middle seat??) and we all drifted in and out of sleep and tried out million of different seating positions in attempt to be somewhat comfortable...which didn't work. Claudia brought lots of sweets and chocolates to eat and for lunch we went to Burger King.

Grandpa and Grandma were such typical grandparents I just had to giggle. Grandma was constantly saying "Oh I need to do this. Can I get you something to eat? Oh, let me do that! etc. etc. " with everyone else just telling her to calm down and sit and that everythings perfect. Grandpa was calm and friendly and was always asking the kids to see their cameras so he could try them out and adjust the settings. We all stayed in the same house and I finally got to see what takes place at family gatherings after the kids go to bed! Hoorah for growing up. Also, I learned that theirs a very vile German version of the tellitubbies song (nicely delivered to me by a 3 year old) that goes " stinkywinky tipsy schlampa po" (Shlampa=whore, po=butt).

We stayed from Tuesday until Saturday. There were lots of fun times and also incredibly boring ones. I swear, family reunions always leave Claire alone in a corner at some point and I have neither my Ipod or a book to read. On Saturday was the big party, we all dressed up really nice and it was a brunch, lunch, and cake party. Thats a lot of time in one room. So occasionally we would take a break and hang out outside, and I conveniently forgot my coat. We also took a trip to a Germanic war museum. But unfortunately for me, neither Jack nor I understood where we were being taken to, so I didn't think to change my shoes (which were pumps) for this museum. Also, the museum had 10 flights of stairs. Welcome to hell ladies and gentlemen.

I've also made a major accomplishment in my German. I can now understand German in group conversations-something I've been majorly struggling with since I've gotten here. This has led to a lot more fun, such as going to dinner with two teenage German relatives of George and teaching each other "native" dances of our country. Jack and I taught the Grind and the Stanky Leg...

I also wanted to share that George called Jacks giant shoes size "Children Coffins"