Fan Mail

Thank you everyone for filling up the comments! Please continue! It's good to know exactly what everyone wants to hear. Firstly:

Monday: After posting, Manfred - that is, (I guess I never clarified) my exchange father, Geli's dad - took me to the Tennisverein. He had a little chat with the club leader of sorts, but it didn't go over so hotly. Turns out I won't be in the club, and that, like other guests, I'll have to pay for use of the sand courts, although Manfred was able to get a well-discounted rate from him. We played for a bit, then went home.

Tuesday: The Amis came. "Ami" is German slang for American; Ludwigsburg has a "sister-city" in Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis called St. Charles. A group of kids in 11th and 12th grade came over, though we didn't see them at the school. A number of kids in Geli's class are hosting partners for their two-week stay. Math and Physics were cancelled today, leaving us open for 1st and 6th hour. Coming home, I read a little bit. Geli invited me to her tennis practice, but it was quite chilly, so I stayed home.

Wednesday, June 8th: I saw my breath walking out to the bus this morning. Reminds me of home, lol. So yes, it has cooled down quite a bit. I'm wearing my long pants and a sweatshirt everyday... We met some of the American students. Turns out they know little to no German whatsoever. I sat next to one during Religion today and he basically just sat and stared the whole hour. Speaking of which, Religion went much better today. There was actually some participation as the teacher asked the class to list (on the board) various purposes and requirements of belief in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. With the Amis also in Chemistry, the teacher felt quite inclined to translate everything again into English, which was fine by me because I can rarely read his handwriting, and when speaking, he uses Chemistry vocabularies that I haven't yet learned.

Manfred talked with some folks and has worked to move me out of French and Spanish. So, I now post the hourly schedule, then my entire schedule as it stands beginning next week:

1st hr - 7:45-8:30
2nd - 8:35-9:20
3 - 9:40 - 10:25
4 - 10:30 - 11:15
5 - 11:25 - 12:10
6 - 12:15 - 13:00
7 - 13:05 - 13:50
8 - 13:55 - 14:40
9 - 14:45 - 15:30
10 - 15:40 - 16:25
11 - 16:30 - 17:15

I'm functioning on military time over here, so you'll have to, too, I guess. On the schedule, the ones with numbers behind them are changes, the numbers signifying the grade of the students in the class; otherwise everything is with Geli's tenth-grade class.

MONTAG
1- Gemeinschaftskunde
2- Deutsch
3- Physik(11) oder Chemie(11) *I switch every week, between11th grade physics and 11th grade chemistry
4- Mathematik
5- Englisch

10-Sport
11-Sport

DIENSTAG
1- Physik
2- Chemie(11)
3- Mathematik(12)
4- Mathematik(12)
5- Chemie(12)
6- Chemie(12)

MITTWOCH
1- Kunst(Art) oder Deutsch
2- Kunst oder Deutsch
3- Mathematik
4- Eigenstudium *This study hall was French, and there were no other classes available.
5- Religion
6- Chemie

11- Biologie

DONNERSTAG
1- Musik
2- Gemeinschaftskunde
3- Mathematik(12)
4- Mathematik(12)
5- Deutsch
6- Geschichte(History)

FREITAG
2- Mathematik
3- Physik(11)
4- Physik(11)
5- Geschichte
6- Englisch

Most of the German here is common sense, but if you're still really lost, don't be afraid to ask.
I had a chat today with Herr Bürkle, the Math and Physics teacher. He said that 12th grade Physics was working on electricity and inductivity, while 11th was working on mechanics. I'd probably fall somewhere close in between, but the schedule works best with 11th grade. The thing that really worries me is Tuesday; I'm hoping I don't get wiped out by all the solid subject class, esp. two two-hour blocks in a row. I'm not sure I'll make the cut for 12th grade Chem either...

On to the comments:
Hmm converting my shot put to American. I'd estimate 23-24 feet on my very second throw ever. I'm not ashamed at all. And, I certainly can throw a baseball. And hit a baseball. During one legit game a few summers back, I went 5 for 5 with a home run and a double.
I haven't gotten to know too many others besides Geli and her friends... I'm fairly limited in the number of Germans I contact every day. I also see her other classmates as well, and I'm sure I'll get to see the Americans plenty. Also, gym classes are divided by sex, and since Geli's class only had three boys before I came (Geli's class opted for a third foreign language over a focus on Math and hard sciences, so it's easy to see why there's such an overwheming female majority) the three and I are grouped with another class. So I've met a few boys there as well. Frank's only 11 and likes to play Yu-Gi-Oh cards and video games with his friends, and Jörg is often away or busy with something, so I'm not around them a lot.
Mass isn't a high point of my week. It's (naturally) all in German, but such that I can hardly understand if at all. The music is also really bad... it's not written for singing, per se, and the organ that accompanies is usually half a measure ahead of the congregation. It's like pulling teeth.
Manfred and Geli are both in the same Tennisverein, which has about eight sand courts, I believe I posted about them earlier. That's the only place in the area to go for tennis, and one has to pay or have a membership to use them. There's no free place to play like in Brainerd. Who knows, maybe Germany isn't really more socialized than America; they just focus on things like health care and secondary education while we socialize tennis courts.
They have a lot of the same TV shows as America, i.e. Desperate Housewives, Spongebob Squarepants, just dubbed. The programming runs the gammot, and I've seen reruns of Full House and other shows like it. Mostly I've been watching the French Open recently. I noticed that the commentator isn't some John McEnroe yammering away a mile-a-minute. I'll attribute that to the difficulty of German grammar.
Anonymous. Lives nearby. Has been to my house. Wow.
Solstad.
Tay.
Josh Woodard?
I dunno, define nearby.
I chose the title because of the obvious similarites between Germany and Wisconsin, namely beer, cheese, and liberals.
Maybe my heart is growing fonder for home, or your hearts are growing fonder for me? I don't know. Really, I'd have to say the only two things I hate about Germany are the cigarettes and the milk. The cigarettes, I'm sure I've elaborated upon, are everywhere, and smoking is legal at 16. The milk... well, it's not what I'm used to. It's not really refrigerated either, so it's not exactly cold, per se. Ah well.
I'll try to pop in more details as I go, especially at the social events rather than necessarily school. Also, we're pending some internet adjustments, which could drastically change the photo situation for the better.