Closing Out the Semseter

So right now I’m sitting in JYM’s main room with a few JYMers, waiting to have our second group meeting of the school year. The first one we had was before school even started back in September, and I cannot believe it’s already been 4 months since then. Where is this time in Germany going?! On February 6, I will have already been away from home for 5 months. You know what this means? I have 6 months left. I am almost halfway done with Mein Jahr in München. That’s a crazy thing to think about, and I’m (still) grateful I don’t have to just yet.

The month of January after all of the excitement from the holidays has been very stressful, with lots of big decisions for me to make. It’s scary because my decisions aren’t just what classes I want to take anymore, or whether this major will be better suited for me than another. They are decisions that are affecting the immediate course of my life. And part of me doesn’t know how to handle that. I keep waiting for myself to have a meltdown, but it has yet to happen. At least some progress has been made in that area.

This month a lot of really, really exciting things have happened, and opportunities been made available. I applied to be an RA at Clemson for my senior year, and have no idea if that’s what’s best for me or not. I have a very mothering personality, so I think I would do a good job, but part of me is also dying to live with some friends from church, since I’ve never had that opportunity while at Clemson. So I’ve been praying about that situation and I have a lot of confidence that I’ll get put in the most beneficial place possible. The hardest part is waiting to find out what exactly that’s going to be. One of the problems is that I’m in Germany and can’t attend RA interviews und so weiter. I emailed one of the ladies who works in housing about my situation and she said she’d bring me up in a housing meeting, in which they would probably decide to have a Skype interview with me. Oh the joys of being abroad.

I’ve also had the opportunity this semester to do research. I’ve decided to study obesity, which every American knows is a painfully serious problem in our country, and a terribly strong stereotype of our population. This semester I’ve been collecting the facts about obesity, what it is, how it’s measured, what it can do, and how the statistics between America and Germany compare. I was only going to do research on it this semester, but I’ve decided that I’ll just stretch it out to next semester as well and get more involved with German society, conducting interviews with Germans, Americans who have lived in Germany for a long time, and whatever else Germany may have to offer in order to help me have a better understanding of how they approach one of the most serious problems in America. My research advisor said that if I work hard enough he can try to get me published since he worked at Cornell University for a number of years. No pressure…. But still an excellent opportunity that I’m really thankful for. He is also helping me look for a Praktikum (internship) next semester at a children’s clinic called Klinik Hochried. I would be able to study Germany’s approach to medicine (holistic methods, not so much medicine as America). I’m really hoping they can find me a spot. I would have to speak German with all of the medical terms, which would be atrociously hard, but I’m up for the task. You know never where I might end up in the future. Here is a link to the really cute clinic (unfortunately it’s only in German though):

http://www.klinikhochried.de/de/

Okay, now one of the opportunities that came up out of NO WHERE. I skyped with a really good friend of mine at the beginning of January while he was still on Winter Break, and he mentioned how he’d gotten a Staff position with Americorps, which is the program he and I did together a couple of summers ago. He said he ran into someone who works for one of the HOPE Worldwide (program my church started) and asked how he could prepare himself to possibly work with HOPE clinics in the future. The guy said to just get as involved with HOPE as he possibly could. So after talking to Jordan, I started thinking about that, and all of the time I have from February-April. Our break is different from American Universities, and while everyone is done with school from May-August in America, everyone here is still in school and I will be as well. So I started looking into all of the HOPE programs and opportunities and sent out maybe 15 emails or so, asking if it would be possible, even on such short notice, to come and volunteer with them during my break. I prayed so much about it, and had no idea if I would hear anything back, but then about 3 days later got an email from the Philippines. We talked for a while, trying to work things out, and it eventually fell through. I was about ready to give up, and then got an email from KENYA. The lady was really nice, and even skyped with me to work everything out quickly and efficiently, which is what I really needed as far as still needing to get stuff done like booking a plane flight, shots, visa, etc. After talking everything over with my parents for a while, they agreed that I could go. So, in summary, I AM GOING TO NAIROBI, KENYA FOR FIVE WEEKS!!!! My flight leaves Munich on February 27^th, and then I come back April 4, with a couple of weeks to get ready for the Uni to start again. I will be working with a program called Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Here is the link for that as well:

http://hopewwkenya.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219&Itemid=144

I can’t believe God has given me such a great opportunity to find out if this is really what I want to do with my life. Without Germany, I would have never received so many incredible opportunities. Germany in itself is an incredible opportunity, and sometimes I forgot that because I’ve already been here for so long (or it feels like I have). Despite the excitement of it all, I still miss home sometimes. I even find myself looks at the prices for plane tickets from Munich to Greenville just out of curiosity’s sake without even realizing what I’m doing. I do love being here in Munich, but coming home will be very, very exciting.

I got a package in the mail yesterday (last Tuesday from David. I was really, really excited because normally packages take about a month or so to get here, and he’d sent his on the 19^th of January. Somehow his managed to get here in only 5 DAYS. That’s faster than some standard international letters go! We decided to slowly open up everything together on Skype when we had time. He sent me beautiful American things like Double Stuffed oreos, gummis, candy bars, a Clemson long sleeve shirt, etc. And yes of course Germany has a lot of these things (not double stuff oreos), but it’s just not the same. Little things like that make my time in Munich so much easier. It always feels so great to have a little piece of home with me.

I am actually now finishing up a weekend in  Amsterdam and will be posting another blog and pictures soon!

Bis dann, Jess

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Wow, I can’t believe Christmas is over and that now a new year has begun. I officially have been in Germany now for four months and have about seven left. It’s gone by so fast already, I can’t even imagine how much faster it’s going to go by after first semester ends and then we have the break from school from mid-February to mid-April. And then once April gets here, and all of new JYMers come, new classes, weather changing, etc….it will almost be time to go home. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this. But since that’s not something to focus on yet, I will just have to write about Christmas and our two week break!

Christmas was so much fun! Germany celebrates Christmas very differently, and I hope I can think of/remember all of the ways they celebrate. On the 6^th of December, St. Nikolaus comes and gives children a boot full of goodies. Germany also doesn’t really have Santa Claus, they have the Christkind instead. The Christkind comes the night of the 24^th and brings all of the presents. It’s actually not while the kids are sleeping though, it’s usually when the kids are lured into a different room and the parents frantically rush to set everything up under the tree, or when someone dresses up at the “Christkind” and personally delivers the toys.

The history behind the Christkind goes like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkind (English version)

According to Wikipedia in German, this is what the Christkind is seen as today:

Das Christkind ist heute, wie der Weihnachtsmann oder der Nikolaus, eine Symbolfigur des weihnachtlichen Schenkens. Erwachsene erzählen ihren Kindern, dass es im Allgemeinen ungesehen an Heiligabend oder in manchen Regionen auch in der Nacht zum 25. Dezember in die Häuser kommt und die Weihnachtsgeschenke bringt. Früher kam oft eine engelsgleiche Christkind-Darstellerin zur Bescherung in die Familien und mancherorts besteht dieser Brauch auch heute noch. In den letzten Jahren wurde das Christkind immer mehr zu Werbezwecken verwendet, besonders oft als Mädchen mit blondem Haar und blauen Augen.

Another fun thing that German families do that I had never heard of before is the Adventskalendar. Apparently there are families in America that participate in this tradition as well, however, my family was not one of them, which I find funny because my step dad was actually born in Würzburg, Germany. The Adventskalendar begins on the 1^st of December and goes all the way to the 24^th, or Heiliges Abend. Each day, and not ever Adventskalendar is the same, a door on the Adventskalendar is opened, which usually has sweets, a small gift, a picture, etc. It makes it especially fun for the children who get to wake up every morning and eat pieces of chocolate for breakfast. A lot of times Adventskalendars are personalized, but you can also have family ones that the entire family can participate together with. I got one from the Krater’s on Thanksgiving, and every day (when I remembered), I’d open a door and eat the chocolate inside. It really is a cool tradition that I want to keep up when I go home—even if I have to make my own Adventskalendar.

Here is an example of one:

For the 24^th, my friend Becca and I were invited by a couple in the church, Roman and Sybille, to spend the evening with them and spend the night. It was such a unique opportunity because they both are German and do everything in the German tradition. I was very excited to spend more time with them also because Sybille is someone we had great conversation with at the Frauenfrüstück and her husband has always seemed so nice. His English is actually very good, much of which he said he has learned from movies and Youtube. J We met their house and they decided that they wanted to go for a walk as a family. That’s one thing about Germans that I love—they are always outside doing something together, despite the weather. Sybille and Roman are still working on finding their regular family traditions and so everything that night was kind of a test run for them. As we were walking together to the park it started raining/snowing. You could see them get a little frustrated, and they were trying to improvise through the weather.

I actually thought it was kind of nice to see that side of them. They were really open about still working on finding a family tradition, and the fact that they let us be a part of their family for a very special holiday was extremely encouraging. It was also nice because they kept asking us what we thought might be a good idea. I’ve always been so used to the parents making all of the decisions and then doing what I’m told, that it felt really nice to be treated like their friend instead of one of the children.

We then went back to their flat and had dinner together. We ate potatoes, meat, and a vegetable..unfortunately I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I do remember that it was so good. Sybille was cute because she was afraid her cooking wouldn’t be that good, but I thought it was incredible. We had coffees and teas to drink, water, and chocolates for desserts. After we ate enough I played with Felix (the younger one) while Sybille led Justus into the other room so that Roman and Becca could set up the big toy train and track from the ‘Christlkind’, among other gifts. Justus was a little upset that he had “just missed the Christlkind” but the toys made him completely forget about his sorrows.

The kids went to bed not too long after and the four of us just sat and talked for a while. Becks and Roman were having crazy-philosophical-God discussions, while Sybille and I went to the other side of the room (because I can’t speak German or hear it well when English is being spoken so closely), sat on the couch and just got to know each other. I love how she even said that she was glad I wanted to speak German because she doesn’t like English that much haha. I don’t blame her. I generally prefer my mother language as well.

We did a gift exchange and sang Christmas songs together, while still drinking a lot of tea and coffee. Becks sang (very beautifully) ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ and I printed out ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ for all of us to sing. I had never thought about it much before, but the vocabulary in that song is just really awkward…but fun J. Before we went to bed, we sat by the couch and prayed together. It was wonderful and I loved it. I love hearing people pray in their native tongue. Sometimes it’s hard because my heart doesn’t connect with German like it does English (obviously), but I hope one day it will have a deeper meaning. I think that’s why I have a hard time pushing myself to speak German. It feels weird and uncomfortable and I feel less like myself. But with time, I’m sure a German personality would come.

The 25^th Becca and I made THE BEST CHRISTMAS DINNER. We went to the store the day before and bought everything needed to make a lasagna, salat, garlic bread, and American cheesecake. So we dressed up for fun, used her GAP room (because all of the people on her hall were gone), listened to Christmas Music while cooking, and just had fun together. I tried going to bed at 11:30 because I was soo tired, but she convinced me to stay (partially because some guy from Turkey came in and she didn’t want to be left alone) and we ended up staying up until 4 in the morning talking about God and philosophy. I never thought I would be someone to be able to talk about philosophy very well. It’s a very complex subject, but it would make sense that I end up liking it since I overanalyze every part of my life. Plus I really love hearing her thoughts and learning her perspective on things. I also got to skype my family back home for three hours earlier that afternoon and open presents with them (that I had gotten from my grandparents.

The 26^th the Krater’s (my second host family) invited Becca and I over along with others to their house for dinner. Claudia made a ham, vegetables, and other things and it tasted very good. After dinner we played The Game of Life in German, and then just hung out and talked for a while. After Becca and I walked back to the S-Bahn station, we still had 30 minutes to wait, so we sat down, ate all of the chocolate and candy we’d just gotten for Christmas, laughed, and talked to some old German who kept asking why we knew German. Good times.

For Slyvester (or New Year’s Eve) I hung out with people who are in my program. Sami and Julia made dinner for all of us, and we met in Sami’s room and ate salmon, noodles, with a mushroom sauce, and had lots of champagne. It was such a random group of people, but I loved it, it was really fun. We went to Olympiazentrum after eating to watch the fireworks. At Olympiazentrum (where BMW Welt ist) there are really big mountain tops that you can walk to the top of and see over Munich. It’s beautiful, and especially also at night with all the lights on in the city. There were so many people on the bergs, drinking, shooting off fireworks, and some even shooting off fireworks from beer bottles. It got a little terrifying. Once it got close to midnight, people started shooting fireworks off all over the city. It looked INCREDIBLE because fireworks were seriously everyyywhere. I’d never seen so many fireworks in my life. They were literally coming from every direction. We had brought a bottle of champagne with us, and after it hit 12, drank it while saying Happy New Year to each other. Then Sami, Julia, and I went back to Sami’s room when we got back and watched episodes from Boy Meets World J Because it doesn’t matter how old you get, that TV show is the best. 

Here are some pictures from New Year's Eve:

 View walking up to Olympiazentrum mountain.

 Amy, Steven, Julia, and Sami

 FEUERWERKE

 Sami und ich

 Steven, Amy, and Julia.

If you want to see a video of the fireworks, I posted one on my Facebook!

I know I’m a little behind on my blogging but I sincerely hope to get caught up soon! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and are enjoying 2012 so far!

Love, Jessica