Tales from Nordrhein-Westfalen

So, the merry time is not quite over (still Sylvester-New Years Eve to go) but much has happened.
Christmas Eve was spent first at Scotty-Opa's house (around the corner) with Aunty Andrea and cousins Freddy (13) and Laura (20 or so), where we had 'Kaffee und Kuchen' (coffee and cake) in the little cosy living room with a fireplace etc

Freddy, Laura, Merle, Malin and I at Scotty-Opa's on Christmas Eve

We then came home for dinner, which was Rouladen (like schnitzel made into individual roasts) with gravy and so, and Rotkohl (red cabbage, sort of pickled and saucy) and Knödeln, like a type of dumpling, and potatoes. I'd made my pavlova that morning, which turned out okay...so we had that for dessert with about 5 different types of berries.

My pavlova being served up

Between dinner and dessert we all relocated to the lounge to open presents and so, where the sweet (real) christmas tree is, covered in only red decorations (which reflects the taste of Kerstin) and with real candles you only light at special times so the tree doesn't burn, which is comfortingly logical.

Malin and Merle singing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve

Udo, Kerstin and Merle opening presents

Ersteweihnachtsfeiertag (first xmas celebration day)- 25.12, was pretty relaxed in the morning, sleeping in, then we walked along the Wupper river, which is just around the corner (not altogether much to see at all in winter) and surprised Tante Andrea with a coffee visit, then rushed back home to get changed and go to Speckmausoma's house for an afternoon meal (also with Andrea, Freddy, Laura and this time Uncle Michael), which was fun. Also noted: this was not Frieda-Oma, whom I had thought we were seeing, but Speckmausoma, so as a result this poor lady received no christmas present on the right day because i took the wrong one. oops.

Everyone in the living room at Speckmausoma's

Laura (with pashmina over head), Speckmausoma's (second)husband, Uncle Michael (freddy & laura's dad and Andrea's husband), Speckmausoma, Kerstin, and Malin (with other pashmina over head)

The equivalent of Boxing Day was similar to the day before - we went at 12.30 or so a little into the hills to a gorgeous hotel and restaurant with Udo (host father)'s family - FRIEDA-Oma, and his brother Harald, sister-in law Verena and nephew Sebastian.

Udo, Harald, Verena and Kerstin at the restaurant

Sebastian outside the restaurant

the (blurry) outside of the hotel/restaurant

Afterwards, coffee and cake(torte) at Frieda-Oma's...and watched good old LOTR I at night. Made me miss home lots :.(

Frieda-Oma and Harald at Frieda-Oma's

Today (Wednesday 27.12) Malin and I went by train to Oberhausen, about 40 min or so away, to meet Ava and her exchange partner Lena for shopping and such things. Humongous shopping mall there, and hoards of people too, but lots of fun.

Malin and Ava at lunchtime in the food court

Lena

Ava, Lena and Malin

the inside of Centro, the shopping centre

lots of love to everyone
ox kim

it's so cold!!!!!!!!! and foggy and generally just terribly freezing! But it's probably not even bad. yet.
On Saturday evening we visited the swedish market near central Leverkusen (small but sweet) where there were people making candles and carving wood etc..we also baked cookies for Christmas (Plätzchen)...

Malin while baking Plätzchen

Sunday we went to the middle age market in Siegborg, a little while away and that was exciting although a little overwhelming, with all the people. All the stallholders and entertainers were dressed in clothes from the middle ages, and selling middle-ages sorts of stuff like , and baking bread on-site in stone ovens. i forgot my camera so i have no photos. but don't worry, I won't do that again. I think it was in the town square, which was absolutely beautiful with tall old buildings with paned windows all around. The atmosphere was cool too - it was a big family outing for everyone I think. We took a little detour through Köln on the way back, and I had my first glimpse of the (as quoted) schwarzer, alter, doofer Kölner Dom. It's really big.
Monday consisted of school, and English and Sport (badminton) lessons for the first time, both of which were similar to in NZ, but in English they were studying grammar I've never heard of so that was great. After school was (as every Monday) lunch at Frieda-Oma's house, which is about 2 doors down from here. And did she feed us well. man. we went Christmas tree-hunting that evening, too
Tuesday evening we had a christmas party with Malin's old class at school in the cafeteria, lots of fun.


Caitlin(Canada), Cherie(US) and I

Everyone had to bring a 'bad taste' present for Secret Santa, which was Hilarious. And Malin made Kirsch-Pie (cherry pie), but here they actually have no word for pie, they just sometimes use the american one. they call it Kuchen(cake)or torte instead.
Wednesday we had the 'school's out' party at a youth club called E-Werk in Cologne, with the rest of Malin's year, which was also fun. Just dancing, dancing, dancing. and drinking water.
Thursday was shopping day with Malin and her friend Mara in Cologne (amazing). We went by train to the central station (Kölner Hauptbahnhof) and the central pedestrian zone is right there, and it's also HUGE!


Hehe i did take my camera this time, so photos will be coming soon...<actually they're here...>There were so many shops..even an 'English Shop' which is stocked full of food and souvenirs from the UK, in case some Britons get homesick I think! And we whipped by (not) the Weihnachtsmarkt beside the Dom, where there were so many stalls selling christmas presents for absolutely anyone, but very expensive.



The Dom was even more breathtaking from the inside...just totally humongous..and the stained glass windows...and lots of candles...but all the tourists were kind of a bad point...it just felt like a place where the flash of a camera would disturb something (it was too dark and you couldn't take decent photos anyway)...
so yea
photos coming soon (maybe later today)
love kim

#
here's my room

and another street in Köln..

hey!
Well...now it's 1.21pm on Saturday and I have loads to tell!
Wednesday was my first school day with um FRENCH! first, cos that first day i went with Malin to all her classes. so that was hard cos the teacher was speaking half in french and half in German! It was a double period, which i didn't know until afterwards I did wonder what everyone was doing when the funny bell went (it's not a bell, but four ummm notes? a bit like on Grease when the lady hits the xylophone, but more synthesised) and some people got up and left the room but their bags were still there and some others came in from other classes to visit and some started eating. Haha. But then we had a break (there's one after every two periods) and a free period because Malin's psychology teacher wasn't there. I think that must be what always happens when a teacher is away! They just have a free period! Then were Chemistry and Maths: i could kinda understand the concepts which was awesome Malin's maths teacher, Herr Gerber went to NZ 12 years ago and did a trip from Auckland down the North Island and the South Island. He didn't come to Tauranga though. He said he loved the hiking as well hehe. When Malin first introduced me to her classes, someone always said 'Wilkommen' or 'Herzlich Wilkommen' which means welcome, and banged their knuckles on the desks. On Wednesday night I went with Malin to her art group, where they do oil painting, and started a canvas. We caught the bus home (a big bendy bus) which was different.
I have my own timetable now, and I have Chemistry, Maths, English and German with Malin's class (like her form class) and then I have Art, bilingual History (it's in english), and Physics, and also volleyball and badminton with Malin and some of her friends.
On Thursday night Malin had badminton in the school hall, so i went along too, and that was fun (and funny, cos i can't really play it). We also biked there and back, and they don't wear any helmets, and the bikes are quite old-fashioned looking but really modern otherwise, and the lights on the front and back are dynamos. hehe.
Yesterday morning (friday) i didn't actually have to go to school until 9.30. But I didn't know that. So I was ready at 7.15. haha . I had German for the first time, and they started studying the movie Run Lola Run in that period! (we watched it in German in fourth form i think). Then was my art class, and i think it was a theory lesson, so they had a sheet on Leonardo da Vinci to study...so i whipped out my german dictionary and made a brilliant Leonardo Da Vinci vocab list! for example : phrases like 'the mysteries of the human corpse'.
Malin and I went shopping last night in Wiesdorf, which is another part of Leverkusen and oh the smells were so yum. there are food stalls in the pedestrian zone, selling crepes and waffles and licorice....mmm. And lots of pretty christmas lights everywhere! We went to H&M, a clothes store where it's very cool to shop, and there were quite a few department stores like this one, where the area of one floor is about as big as a regular shop in NZ, like ummmm Glassons maybe, but there's an escalator in the middle, and another 3 floors as well! Malin's friends Mara and Kati came over afterwards for dinner and we all played singstar. haha it's cool, they have singstar rocks (some german songs, some english) and Singstar Deutsch Rock-Pop (all german songs). I'm getting to know some cool german songs!!
So, a busy time so far yea?
I'll write more soon

Love to everyone

Kimberley

hey i've been here in Germany for over 12 hours now! Singapore was pretty cool to see on the way, but not overly exciting, except for seeing streets and things from the plane as we came in.

Christmas display at singapore airport

Both flights were looooong, but the second one (Singapore-Frankfurt) was the worst, I guess cos we were all over the whole screen on the back of the seat thing by then and just wanted to sleep lying down. We had to wait for an hour on the bus at Frankfurt while the driver fixed something with the engine. Haha we had to speak our first german in a shop: we stopped at a rest place on the Autobahn (with McDonalds, etc) and had to order in German "~ but it was okay, everyone helped each other out. Anyway, it was nowhere near as nerve-racking as coming out of the bus and meeting our families! It was just a crowd of a whole lot of random people to us, and i think it was hard for most people to search through them for faces from photos. But it was alright, Malin and her mum waved at me so I found them without too much trouble.
Came home here and Malin and her mum and dad all had the day off today, but Malin's sister Merle was still at school. It wasn't light until about 8 or 9 this morning, and by 5pm it was pretty much dark. They took me for a little walking tour around their small town, Opladen, and showed me the school and the Weihnachtsmarkt and where their relatives live.
Oh well I'm tired as and I'll go to bed now.
School tomorrow aah "~

Excited, but nervous at the same time "~
Well all packed (thanks to mum ) so I'll be off to the airport tomorrow morning, at bout 6.30 to fly out at 7.05 to Wellington, then flying at 11am to Christchurch, then finally out from Christchurch at 2pm...leaving the country!!! Supposed to get to Singapore at 11.30pm our time, then a four hour stopover. We get into Frankfurt at about 5pm Tuesday NZ time (6am German time) all ready for a 3 1/2 hour bus trip to Dusseldorf, yay! THEN we're picked up from there by our families, and to get to Leverkusen should take about half an hour I reckon...but that's probably wrong. I'll tell you all if I'm right
But that's all I can think of, boring aye!
I might post something in Singapore (free internet kiosks!) if I can
Thinking of you guys

Kimberley