This blogpost is PIC heavy, mostly because it can be! I hope you enjoy some of my macro work. It's been a real wonder to have this camera here with me. It is probably one of the subtly best item-gifts that has ever been bestowed on me. Along that thread, I am feeling very grateful for all of the people in my life who have influenced me throughout my childhood. Slowly but surely every lesson that I have ever been taught, every spontaneous hobby that my parents have put up with, and even every lonely factoid that I know has been building something that I never could have predicted... who I am today! Three years ago when I started started high school I had no inkling of who I wanted to be, and where I wanted to take my opportunities. I expect to experience that many more times in the future, but for now it is quite a self realization. Because of the slipperiness of this, it is known to me as the great salmon domestication. All I can do now is dance to a smoky beat and hope the cream cheese is a' chillin on that long domestic leash of life. Ok! Onto more tangible matters.
With school starting all around the globe this week, it's hard not to compare everything that happens in school here with what I am accustomed to in the US. (e.g. class materials, teaching styles, learning styles, homework, you name it). For the most part, school is school. I am going to a Gymnasium (German high school) here and although it's challenging, it's been really enjoyable so far. I have a full 11th grader's schedule full of classes.
Everything is in (ding ding ding you guessed it!) German! (Except for foreign languages, naturally) Sometimes I don't understand half of what is said during the lesson, and somedays (read: today) I understand more of what the Spanish teacher talked about than the Art teacher. Every day I learn a little more and speak English a little bit less. Some days I even understand a whole lesson without help from friends! My pocket dictionary has been my best friend lately. I'm having a really good time getting to be at school and my school year is quite a bit more rigorous than it would have been in the US... One day I had a free period and was spontaneously invited to the Russian class where we ate cake and talked in an odd mix of German, Russian and English. My normal schedule consists of Ethics (Philosophy), Geography, Biology, Art, History, Music, Math, Deutsch (literature), English, Spanish, and Gymnastics (oh yes... I'm learning Gymnastics..)
Besides school lately with my host sister I have been cooking pancakes, translating annoyingly complex history texts, going to youth group at a nearby castle/church, and lip-syncing to Queen. With some classmates I went to the local artsy cinema last weekend to watch the movie Boychoir (featuring the work of our latest picfest guest conductor, Fernando!!!!) And with my whole host family over the weekend: cheering for people running the local marathon on the street, eating the pancakes and other breakfast foods with neighbors (think bread, lots of butter and other delicacies), watching a documentary about how Oktoberfest is run (in Southern Germany, mind you. Oktoberfest is a festival, and not a national holiday like you might have wanted to believe...), and learning the history of Kohlrabi. All in a day's work, you could say.
Next week with my school I have a three day holiday for team building. I have no idea what this means precisely but it sounds fun. In the meantime, I intend to photograph some things including the city and remarkably beautiful old buildings I get to see everyday on my way to school, as well as the apple trees by my house.
Thank you for reading!
Mila
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| european hornets. ughgh google it |
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