The mayor is yelling Scheiße...

Just wrapped up another week here in Deutschland and starting a new one.  Last week was all about routine so there wasn't too much to report.  I think the most exciting part of the week was making a "special room" for Piet in my closet.  The closet is like a big cabinet that sits in my room and I only need half of it for my clothes and things, so I cleared the other side and Piet put pillows and stuffed animals in it.  We also decorated with his scribbly art work and some pumpkin lights they had out for Halloween.  I must say, it's a sweet pad for a four year old.  Plus I find it kind of humorous to stick him in the closet to watch you tube videos of Thomas the Tank Engine when I'm out of playing ideas. Past that we just played a lot inside last week because the weather was and is dreary.  I think it's going to be a long winter here, but hopefully we'll get some snow and it won't be so bad.  Piet's getting really excited for Christmas, and that's getting me excited.  He spends a lot of time tweaking his Christmas list.  He's pumped about Santa, but also a Christmas man that comes on December 6th and brings a small gift.  However, he hasn't quite accepted the 'small' part yet.  The other day I tried to explain who the tooth fairy is and he also had high hopes for her, asking if she'd bring him a remote control car.  I laughed and said she's too small to carry such a big gift, and he was unimpressed.  : )

This weekend I spent a good bit of time with my friend Elisa from class.  On Friday we went out with the friends we had met at the Irish Pub on Halloween.  It was pretty fun, but I was tired and cold pretty early in the night and wanted to get back to my nice warm bed.  We stopped by a restaurant that hosted a Salsa dancing class, but didn't stay long because Elisa could find no one in the room that could hold a candle to her stunning Latin dancing skills.  I obviously brought nothing to the table, so we decided to look for other places.  We found another Latin venue, but it was dull too, so we were happy to come back to Edewecht. 

Saturday she called and invited me to come with her and her host parents to a handball game.  I wasn't at all sure what she was talking about, but I figured it would be a new experience.  Man oh man, handball is an awesome game.  It takes place inside on what looks like a basketball court, and has the pace of basketball, but the ferocity of a good soccer game.  The men that play are huge with giant, muscular legs.  There's a lot of jumping and pushing and quick throwing of a little ball.  The crowd was really into it and the band plays the whole game, so it feels like basketball in that way too.  This game was really really close the whole time, so we were all on the edge of our seats. Elisa's parents pointed out that the mayor of Edewecht was there and it was just about as entertaining to watch her as it was to watch the game.  She was soo into it.  At one point Elisa shook me and said, "Oh my gosh, the mayor is yelling Scheiße" (a common German profanity).  The team ended up tying the game, which was okay since the other team was ranked much better. I got a huge kick out of the whole experience.  Afterwards we went back to Elisa's house and had really nice hot chocolate and sandwiches and watched "Germany's Got Talent."  Based on that episode, I'm really not so sure they have talent, but it was funny all the same.  It was a pleasant and relaxed evening and I was happy to have someone to just hang out with in Edewecht.

Yesterday was also cool.  I went for a really nice run and then Elisa joined me and my host family to Catrin's dance show.  It was in a gymansium like the one where we watched the handball match and it was a pretty silly experience.  We learned that Germans don't put much passion or energy into their dancing, aside from my host mom.  She was honestly the best dancer at the event.  They also do really strange performances.  We saw several where everyone was on unicyles.  Some people could even jump rope while on their unicyle.  We saw old ladies on little excerise steps, waving flags in the air and a few little kids who did simple gymanstics.  I wasn't too impressed with the event until the last performance, when they brought out the trampolines. Germans may not have rythm, but man can they flip in sync.  They'd go crazy high and make ten perfect flips in the air.  After that, I was very glad we had spent our Sunday afternoon there.  Piet loved the whole thing and did his own dance to each of the songs.  Any time they'd play a song in English, he'd scream, "Katie, it's English!"  So cute.  

Last night I wrapped up the evening in Oldenburg, drinking a funky malt and honey drink with a fellow I've met from Edewecht.  We had nice conversation, I helped his English and he futily attempted to help my German. He guaranteed that I'd be fluent by the time I leave.  I have my doubts, but his confidence was encouraging.

This week I plan to run more than last week, but other than that it should be a normal week.  No big plans for the coming weekend, but perhaps something nice will pop up.  I'm getting very excited about my Christmas travels and the upcoming markets and decorations that are soon to come.  I think the next couple months will go quickly because so much will be going on. Still happy to be here, still trying to find my people and ways to be productive, but it's all coming along.  Hope all is well back home, drop me a line anytime you wish! Tschüss!