Fall Fun

I am officially done with the two week fall holiday...oh but wait a minute. No school for 2 more weeks? That's right. I HAVE A INTERNSHIP. 

So my mom could tell you, I definitely am too obsessed with college. Im going to be honest its one of my favorite topics. When im bored, I actually Google acceptance rate statistics and compare them to sat scores etc. Im pretty sure this is actually a nutty thing to do. But I don't care. I have always wanted to do something elaborate. Like International Law, or Business Management. But deep down, the serious black and white business world just seemed a little "unfun" for the wholeness of life. I most likely will walk down one of those fields some day...but I will always say "Hey! I can always be a kindergarten teacher" and fellows and lads...thats Just what I am doing these next two weeks.

I will be working at a bilingual kindergarten. Today was my first day! In the school, kindergarten is from age 3-6. When the child is over 6, they move on to another school for 1st grade. So technically these kids are in Kindergarten for 3 years. Teachers are only allowed to speak English to the kids. I think it is quite  impressive, these kids are learning German, as well as English at such a young age.

The strange thing is, in this school there is no direct teaching. Students learn while they do activities. So in the morning learning a new song, (packed with English words) they get new vocabulary..But they don't really know that they are.

Today I colored, sang songs, and played outside. It was actually quite fun! Most of the staff at the kindergarten come from English speaking countries. So the teacher I worked with grew up in South Africa. It is very interesting to hear of all of the teachers lives, and what initially led them to living in Germany. The typical reason turned out it be there husband or wife was German. 

Talking with many of the children, I was learning quite a bit of German from them. Them being so young, they couldn't really form direct sentences. They knew basics like numbers and colors but not really much else. We communicated in "germlish" and it was surprisingly educational for both of us. 

Today while I was outside with the children, I saw a boy sitting alone digging a hole in the sand pit. I went over to him saying "hello, what is your name" and he was really shy. I figured he would give me the confused look I had been getting all day, but he answered in great English. I was so surprised. This kid was only 3 and knew more than the older children. It turned out, his mother was from California, and his English was better than his German! From then on we became very good friends!  I am excited for what I am going to learn at the Kindergarten. It has been quite fun so far. 

With Halloween coming up, I carved a pumpkin, and roasted the seeds. Although it is not so common to do anything for Halloween in Germany, I had to have my own fun! 

My hosties wanted scary, but we settled for cute and scary 😁.

Norway!!

Last week I went to Norway!! We went to the city of Oslo, by Cruise Ship. We passed Sweden, and Denmark on our way there. We left tuesday afternoon, and we arrived Wednesday morning. 

The boat was very nice, it had tasty restaurants, shops, and entertainment in the evenings. Going to the entertainment was very fun, they always sang American songs. One night, they had a Cowboy themed show. So it was Norweigen people, using a southern american accent. Imagine that! I found it quite funny.

In Oslo, we took a bus tour so we could see all of the sights in the time we were there. We saw a boat that went to the north pole, a beautiful garden, the parliament building, and an Olympic Ski Jump. It was all very unique and interesting. 

I really enjoyed hearing the Norweigen language being spoken. It is really a beautiful, quirky language. I challenge you to listen to it on google translate.

Norways thing is Trolls. They have them at all of the tourist attractions. Before I left, my grandma showed me a troll she had from Norway, so grandma if your reading this I got yours a friend! I don't know what the story is behind them, but I think they are great!

The ship we took was ran by a Norweigen Company. So many of the meals accomidated germans, but also Norweigans. We had som great Scandanavian "danishes" and breads as well as cheeses. The food was delicious!

I had a wonderful time in Norway!

The garden was by far my favorite. It was created by a poor artist, and in exchange for creating the garden the city of Oslo fed him and payed his rent. The theme of his artwork is the many different generations of life.

Here is the boat that went to the North Pole! It is called Fram.

Here is th famous bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark. 

Here are my Trolls

Call me Queen

This past friday was a Holiday in Germany. Everyone got off of work and school! It was the Reunification day of Germany.  Although it is a big holiday here, there were no celebrations. It is celebrated as much as we would presidents day. The people here feel as though if they get too prideful of there country, they will be looked down upon by the other European countries. In time the mood will change. It really suprised me because they said it is comparable to our thanksgiving. 

On friday my hosties took me to a Castle in Schwerin! It took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get there. Considerably a long time for Germans by car. The castle was sold to the government, because the royal families no longer were living there. In 1918 after the forst world war, the "royal power" ended. ISINT IT CRAZY not even 100 years ago there were princesses and princes?! I was sort of a little too excited about this.  As little kids we read stories of royalty, and we are set to think that all of it is fantasy, or has been taken place centuries ago. But to think not so long ago it was really real. 

Walking through this beautiful castle, you could feel the magic. The design was just georgous. Spirling marble stair cases, oak floors, and satin walls. It was just ridiculous. They had a winter room, library, dining room, smoking room and much much more.  My favorite room was the library. Instead of what you would imagine, the room had what was a sort of cabinet for books. So walking in you would not see any books. It kept the room looking "more classy". The most interesting thing, was that the well known private collection to the castle had been missing since WW2. The library had NO books in it! It is a bit of a mystery.

Walking through this castle, my mind was set loose. I could imagine the life of a royal, what had happened in the castle. The beautiful balls, dinners, walks in the great garden. I knew royalty was real, but I didnt really realize it until I was there. 

It made me a bit sad no one was actually living there. I was so glad I was able to see it. 

Mom, Dad, forget college I am going to be a Queen. Much love, your soon to be royal daughter. ( I will just take over the vacant castle no worries) ;)

Unfortunately I could not take any photos inside, so I pulled some off of the web. However all of the outdoor photos I took. 

The garden!

Staircase

A walkway

They built caves out of rocks!

Im having a great time here, much love.

Kenzie