Happy New Year's Eve!!

Happy New Year!

I just realized that the new year has already begun in Germany...It's a pitty that I've missed it but I was cooking Miraculi with Henry in the kitchen :-) It's really weird to go online on facebook and see all those comments and posts about the new year while we still have daylight and sunshine here in California. Oh and by the way; no there aren't any fireworks during New Years Eve in America :-/ It's against the law so it's a little bit lame because fireworks and New Year's Eve belong together like Easter and eggs to me..

At this point, I wanna take some time and look back what I've experienced this year and also wanna take a look forward to what's gonna happen next year,2011.
In january, I didnt go to university because I've just finished my "Schulpraktikum" (teaching assistant) at the Leibniz Gymnasium in Rottweil.So basicially I just chilled at home, helped my parents and played some basketball. Then in february, I finished my job as a teacher at the Freie Waldorfschue in Frommern and I had to grade students for the first time in my life. It took me longer than I thought because I wanted to make sure that everybody gets the grade he/she deserves..but it was a really interesting experience to be "on the other side" and see how it is to be a teacher. It's more work than some of you might think ;)
At the end of february, my chemistry lab (AC-F Prakitkum) started, and I worked two weeks nearly the whole day in the lab. Then in March, I started my other chem lab (OC-F) and I spent another two weeks in the lab in order to finish it. Especially during my organic chemistry lab time, I got to know new people which, as it turned out later, are really friendly and cool: It's my homeboy Fabi and that girl Juli..I had a lot of fun during my chem lab and with them, I really enjoyed the time! Thanks guys! I hope to see them when I'm back in Germany and maybe I can have a fun night with Fabi again ;)
In april,my summer semester started and I had to run many errands for my upcoming semester abroad in America...It was a lot of work but so far it definitely paid off and I'm glad that everything worked out the way I wanted it to happen :-) Oh and I also wanna mention that I've met a few new cool people at my swimming class for my sports studies, especially the guys Stefan and Andy!!Oh my god, it was so funny with them and I really had a good time with them :-) As a matter of fact, Stefan went abroad to Mexico,Guadalajara when I was about to go to America so we both spend some time abroad together, and sometimes he was the only guy who was online on facebook while all my other German friends were sleeping in bed :-) So I've told him about the differences between Germany and America, and he told me the same, just with Mexico instead of the US. I dont know if you'll ever read this Andy but I hope that you and your family are well and that we'll be able to play some tennis or basketball next year in Nusplingen ;) And maybe we can also talk about politics ;) "Lokalpolitik"

And then I went abroad. Bye bye Germany, Hello America!
Who would have thought that one day, I'll be able to lay in the sun on December 31st and take a sunbath?! Who whould have thought that I'll meet a crip gang member at a house party one day? Who whould have thought that I'll be the only white guy on the basketball court one day?Who would have thought that I'll buy "my" first own car in America?That I'll change my first tire in America?Who would have though that I'll bake my first German cookies in American? Who would have thought that I'll do this and that in America? ;) I really experienced so many new things here but I cannot write all of them down. Some of them are just for a small circle, or just for my family :-)
Oh and then I met this asian guy here who I went to San Diego and San Francisco with! And then I met this belizean gurl who I helped to overcome her fear of water..at least a lil bit ;)..then I met this jamaican chick who invited me to celebrate Christmas with her..thank you! and then I met this (spanish) gurl who isnt really Spanish but she knows what I mean..and she thinks more than she'll let me know..and I met so many other cool people at my school!
Especially "se oser Germans" at Dominguez Hills were friendly and cool! I remember that one roadtrip to Las Vegas with that boy from Hechingen ;) I think he had s0me fun on the way to Las Vegas.....oh and there was this kid who can shoot from the other side of the basketball court and still make the 3pointers...Ok I exaggerate a little bit but everybody who plays against him knows what I'm talking about :-) He also works at the weight room so I can always go there even though I'm not a student anymore at CSUDH :-) Thanks William!

All in all, It's crazy how much I saw,leanred and experienced during this year...But it was not only me who did a lot this year. My sister, for example, came back from Mexico this year, my brother went, among other things, to China, my other brother and my sister went backpacking together in Europe. And there was this australian/english girl who finally went back to Germany but then it was time for me to leave the country..Well, I'll see you next year I think ;)

I also have a New Year's resolution for America: Try to use less plastic bags in your supermarkets!! In know that you can recycle them but I doubt that anybody does it..

2011 will hopefully also be an interesting and informative year for me again,and I really hope that I'll see some of my American friends back here in Germany...But for now, I'm looking forward to the first highlight of this year; my trip to Hawaii with my parents!!! As a matter of fact, my parents will arrive in three days and then we'll probably drive to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona before we go to Hawaii...But before that, I'll spend some time with my daddy at the Staples Center and see Lebron James and company in action!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AGAIN FELLOWS :-)

Merry Christmas!

First of all, Merry Christmas 2 everybody! I know that it's already over but here in the US we celebrated Christmas yesterday so I'm not too late with writing my blog.

I celebrated Christmas with Alison's family and it was, just like Thanksgiving, a family feast and we also had great food for dinner :-) But before we started eating, we formed a circle and we took each other's hands and then, the oldest woman of the family started to give a speech; she said that there was one death and two murders recently in this big family so we shouldnt take things for granted...and we should be glad about every day which we could spend here on Mother Earth. It was somehow like a prayer because some of the people around me quietly said "amen" every now and then during her speech. It was an interesting experience, that's for sure.

So today, December 26th, I woke up, watched the Clippers vs Phoenix game and then I ran a few errands. One of them was to finally call Leonhard Hieber's relative in Long Beach, and as I am used to by the Hieber family, his relative turned out also to be friendly and welcoming :-) I think I'll visit her family next week and perhaps have lunch with them- I'm already excited!!

Another exciting thing is that my friend Taurius (nickname Terry) came back earlier today which means that I'll finally be able again to work out at my school because he has the keys for the gym and the weight room. Believe me guys, I'm really happy about that because I couldnt really work out the last couple of days....and besides, it also rained a lot the last week so I'm glad about the opportunity to use the gym at the school :-)

Basicially, the last couple of days were a little but boring because school is already over ( I got 6 As and one C !) and most of my friends went back home 2 their families during Christmas time.
But fortunaltely, New Years Eve isnt far away and then my parents will come soon in january! :-) I'm especially looking forward to out trip to Hawaii...I cant wait to see the sun again and lay at the beach :-)

Oh and yes, it is weird to celebrate Christmas without going 2 the church at 6/7pm on December 24th and without having snow!! Actually, we had 19-20 degrees and sunshine on Christmas Eve which doesnt feel like winter at all! Crazy!

Here are a few new words which I learned during the last couple of days:
1.) to mitigate sth =etw. abschwächen, lindern,mäßigen
2.) detrimental= nachteillig,schäflich für
3.) meekly=kleinlaut
4.) glum=mürrisch, verdireßlich
5.) curb= Bordstein
6.) dork= Depp,Idiot
7.) to pummel=auf jd. einprügeln, einschlagen
8.) to bedevil= jdn, be/verhexen, plagen,quälen
9.) to become infatuated with so/sth= sich in jmdn. vernarren

And two more words which you hear/need in everyday's conversations: dandruff=schuppen, band aid=plaster

And here is an interesting article about the differences between Germany and the US:
http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/us-d.html

Alright, I added a few random pictures from the last days and I hope that you guys enjoyed your holidays and that you have a good time!

Peace,

Flo (with the Marines)

Thanksgiving/Trip to San Francisco

Hi folks,

I finally found the time and the motivation to write about my last trip to San Francisco with Henry :-). We went during the Thanksgiving break and we were away for 6 days, visiting 4-5 cities altogether. We also drove around 960 miles during that trip; in average, every American drive around 800 something miles during the Thanksgiving break! Crazy, what?! 800 miles= nearly 1300 kilometers, and that every year. But it was worth driving that far, I can tell you!
We spent Thanksgiving with a Japanese family which Henry knows really well. In the beginning I was a little bit afraid of going to an unknown family to join them in celebrating a family fest but my fears weren't justified; The family was so welcoming, hospitable, and warm-hearted so that it only took me a couple of minutes to get really comfortable around them. And then came the food.Hmmmm yummy in my tummy haha it was really delicious; the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the salads, the stuffing for the turkey...everything tasted really really well!
After Thanksgiving, we continued driving up north in order to reach San Francisco. It is true that it is significantly colder in SF than in LA but still we were lucky so it rained only during one day (saturday) and the rest of the days were just sunny :-)
San Francisco itself is very different from LA; the houses look differently, there are more trees and everything appears to be greener and more lush (that's probably due to the different weather conditions).
In SF, we vistited the Fisherman's Wharf, went to see the Golden Gate Bridge (yay, I finally felt like a real tourist),lombard street, and finally we saw the island Alcatraz but unfortunately we couldn't book a tour for it because it was already sold out in advance :-(
Tip: If you ever go to San Francisco, book the tour in advance! We didnt expect it to be sold out because right now is off-season but still it was very busy.
On the way to San Francisco, we took the famous scenic route 1 which was really beautiful but it takes you a long time because most of the time you cannot drive faster than 50 miles per hour. On the way back, we took the 5 which is a little bit more inland (east) and sometimes you can drive up to 70 mph (normal speed limit: 65 mph) so on the way back we were a lot faster than on the way to it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the mountatin/hill we drove up (Henry do you?) but it was the first time when I experienced hail in California! I can only remember that we were about 4000+ feet high at around 11 o'clock pm and it suddenly started to hail...Believe me guys, during this moment, I was really glad that I've bought new tires :-)

So all in all, the trip was really good and I'm glad that we took enough time to go up north because there are so many things to see on the way to it (example: Hearst castle; the only castle I've seen so far here in America and i'm sure it's unique). We also took many cool pictures which yall can see when I'm back in Germany =)

Back to college life: This week and next week we have finals which means that you write your last exam in your subjects. Today I had my yoga exam (yes,hahaha...) and tomorrow I'll have my natural disasters exam, and next week I'll have my Spanish and History exams. In other words, I'm pretty busy with studying for my exams and playing basketball (like always =) ). Today we had again a little bit over 72 degrees, which equals 21-22 degrees celsius, and it is so weird to celebrate Christmas, listen to Christmas songs in the malls, and talk about Christmas presents when it is sunny and warm outside...It just does not seem to be right. My biological clock tells me that something is wrong =)

I just hope that you guys back in Germany, and other cold parts of the world, don't freeze to death and please drive safely on those snowy roads...I know what it feels like to slide and slip on a snow-covered road and to have an accident. Just slow down a little bit and calculate more time for if you wanna go somewhere.

That being said, I look forward to my American Christmas experience and a warm and sunny December and I hope that I'll continue getting A's in my exams...;)

Flo (picture to the right: Nusplingen, the center of the world, haha! Next to Moscow, Madrid, Detroit...)