Settling Down

This last week has been kind of a downer for me. Things (like school, and Germany, and my whole life) are getting quite a bit less exciting, and I have been feeling rather homesick, in fact. Maybe not really homesick, but missing home. Or at least, missing what home was last year for me. There is a difference, in my mind at least. It didn't help (in fact it was definitely a contributing factor to my bad feelings) that the weather was completely and utterly depressing. The sky was always grey and wet. The air was cold and windy. Everything just felt clammy and sad, and it made me miss my beautiful Maine weather, full of blue skies and breezy beautiful trees, with the sunlight sifting through them and dappling the lovely, green grass. Waiting for the bus in the cold windy wetness made me miss driving: dashing from your cozy warm house to your cozy warm car, in which you listen to lovely music and drive along lovely roads, until you get to your lovely destination, where you park and dash from your cozy warm car into your cozy warm friend's house, where you get onto the cozy warm couch together and watch a movie on instant Netflix, which doesn't exist here.

To counterract all these blues, I am trying to keep busy... I have been reading a book that my guest father lent me, called A Journal of a Plague Year, written by Daniel Defoe (who also wrote Robinson Crusoe and many other things). I have been watching the German TV series called Berlin, Berlin, of which my sister owns all four seasons. I am trying to pace myself, but I must say: the story is so ridiculous and it is so exciting to be able to understand everything that happens, I just want to watch more and more and more. I have also been listening to Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen on tape. This is nice because since I know the English version practically by heart, any German word I don't know I can immediately translate because of its context.

Thursday and Friday were special days at my school, since Friday was the 'Tag der Offnen Tur' - Open House Day. That means that every class prepares some sort of project which people can view or participate in or learn from.. Thursday my class spent several hours getting everything ready, but since our project was about the class trip to Berlin and I wasn't there, I felt rather useless. Afterwards I went to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt with some friends from school. We walked around and looked at everything, and smelled all the yummy smells. It was very cold though. When I got home I called my parents, which was nice. It was the first time I had talked to them since I got here. Then I called my grandma, which was also nice. Then I called my brother, which was also nice. After that I was completely burned out from talking so much on the phone.

Friday I was able to sleep in, since I didn't have to be at school until 2:30. I cooked a bit beforehand with my host dad, which was nice, and then went out into the cold again, which was not nice. The Open House was alright, but as I was still feeling homesick and was still bumming over the weather, it could have been much better. Friday night it snowed, big fluffly white flakes, and Saturday morning, during breakfast, I got a package from my parents! It contained a few small clothing articles from home, my winter jacket (!!!) and, as a Hannukah present, one of my all time very favorite books, I, Claudius, by Robert Graves, which I have of course begun to read. Saturday evening I went with my host sister to see some friends of hers from her old school, who had a stand at the Weihnachstmarkt for our part of the city. We walked around a bit and drank some hot wine, which was alright. It was very cold though, and I was glad to get home, eat dinner, and watch some more Berlin, Berlin.

Today, Sunday, the snow is still here and we went in the morning to a birthday brunch of a family friend, which was both awkward and fun. I hope this week will be better than last but I'm still fighting some bad feelings. I am hoping to put up some pictures soon. Bye.