Shopping
Shopping is cool when you shop at the correct time. Shop at the wrong time, and you'll have nothing to buy. Shop at the correct time and you'll have plenty to see.
Supermarkets: They are more or less the same as Singapore. Only they have a wider cheese, joghurt, sausage and dairy products selection. Also, they don't give you plastic bags. If you want to do your grocery shopping, you'll have to bring an empty basket or a bag along to carry all your purchases in. If not, you either pay for bags, or good luck to your hands.
Malls: Inexistant in the towns we were staying in. Available in Berlin and Marburg, the bigger towns. Zero in Frankenberg or Rosenthal. About the same as those in Singapore too.
Shophouses: Plentiful. Of course, european styled shophouses. Rather like Clark Quay. Exchange the bars for shops and you have the shops in Frankenberg and Rosenthal. Also, you can have things like a bookshop opposite a butchers. Its pretty cool to walk up and down the streets.
Markets: Available in Berlin every weekend. Different kinds all around. Most like Xiang Yang shi chang in Shanghai. Some like pasar malaams. In Frankenberg, there is a Pentacost Market every year. It's exactly like a fun fair joined to a pasar malaam. All very interesting. Rides very fun.
Life
The town we were all staying in were not exactly bustling with life, but you can feel the friendliness. Every where you go, people say hi to you. If they see you eating, they wish you good appetite. Yes, strangers do that. These are things one does not see in Singapore. It would be so wonderful if Singaporeans adopted that. But then, its just too big a city. Most people there take their time with things. They are peaceful alive towns. Not lively, but alive.
School
Ederthalschule. Means river valley school. Situated in the valley of the river Eder.
1)About 5 classes per grade. 30 people per class.
2)School ends at 1pm no matter what.
3)Early dissmisal in the prescence of good weather is common.
4)Every period lasts for 45 minutes. Breaks of different durations in between.
5)No school uniform, no assembly.
6)Smoking allowed in a smoking corner.
7)Toilets smokey.
8)Retaking the year is rather common.
9)Most people bring own food to school.
Town
Heres a little about the town we've visited.
1)All towns are very quaint, very picturesque.
2)Frankenberg : Town the Ederthalschule is in.
3)Rosenthal : Town I was staying in.
4)Giessen : Town the Maths museum is in.
5)Marburg : University town. Good shopping and cinemas.
6)In Frankenberg, the only shopping one can do is in this street about 500m long. But theres everything there. Ice-cream cafes are the best.
7)Really small town as compared to Frankenberg. 12km away from Frankenberg.
8)Giessen and Marburg are both bigger cities than the other two. A bit like chinatown with a german theme.
People
Heres a little side track to the people.
1) People I went with: Tiffany, Melisa, Hui Ying, Crystal, Jayanti, Kumutha, Hui Qi, Fitra , Solomon, Jonathan, Jaffnie, Narothman. Teacher: Frau Östlund.
2) Spend more time with Tiffany, Melisa and HuiYing.
3) Clown: Solomon (solo man)
4) Sissy: Jaffie (yaffa) so called because that was the first name his host family called him. His family name is Jaffa and its pronounced yaffa in german.
5) Quietest: Fitra
6) Genius: Jonathan
7) Teachers from the Ederthalschule: Frau Kinsel, Frau Kirsten Englert.
8) Freak: Frau Kinsel (JFK) we do need a name to refer to her as.
9) Really nice and sweet: Frau Englert.
10) Host: Lena Waßmuth. Really sweet and guai girl.
Everything else
Ok, I haven't posted anything since the start. So to save saliva when I get back, I'll try my best to get everything here. So it'll be in point form.
1) I'm staying with the Waßmuths. Lena is my host. She is a brother and 2 sisters. Her father, Hans Waßmuth is the mayor of Rosenthal, the town I'm staying in.
2) Its a big family. The second day, I was taken to a christianing of a cousin and a grandfather's birhtday. Large, really large turn out. Her mom has 8 other siblings. The children were very sweet.
3) The towns in the country are very pretty. They all look the same though. Just like cities all over the world look the same. One can recognise a church immediately. They're all the same style, colour, size, and everything else. The framehouses are all the same too. So unless you live in a certain town, you wounld't be able to differentiate them.
4) The air is very fresh, though it is sometimes flavoured with whiffs of horse manure.
5) Mornings are always cold. So far, there's only been 3 really nice and warm days where one can survive with one layer the whole day. All other days require 2 layers at one time or another. Rains rather frequently. Learnt that this isn't always the case. Last year's summer was ncie and really warm.
6) Have bread for most breakfasts. Occassionally we have cornflakes. And it's milk every morning. (which i like) All they seem to drink here is apple juice and really gassy water. 50% allpe juice and 50% gassy water taste a tiny little bit like champagne, though its still rather far from it. Lunch is usually pasta or something to do with potatoes. Once we had rice that tasted like pasta. I called it cheese rice. Dinner is the same as breakfast. Bread or cornflakes. But it doesn't really get boring. The variety of spreads is wonderful.
7) We go to school in Frankenberg by bus. First, we meet with two neighbours; left and right. Then, its a 5 minutes walk to the bus-stop in freezing morning air. After a 15 minutes bus ride, its another 10 minutes walk to school.
8) School is rather small, comparatively. 2 buildings for 8 grades. Its rather old too. But its nice.
9) No one wears school uniform to school. Its cool. And though they aren't really fashion geeks; they wear the same clothes for consecetive days, they're tastes are still good. More opt for jeans and a chic top.
10) We don't bathe everyday here. About 3 times a week. But 'the air here is very clean, so you won't get as smelly as you would in Singapore.' said my teacher.
11) We have 2 teachers for 4 periods. Our teacher who came with us from Sg, Frau Östlund, takes us for the first two periods then Frau Englert, a very nice women, takes us for the next two.
12) Theres this other teacher from the Ederhtalschule, Frau Kinsel. At first she SEEMED nice. But as she came to visit you everyday, you'll find that she's an over-bearing, domineering and paranoid women.
13) Guess what? Theres a smoking corner in the school. There are cigarette dispensers all over the streets. Thank goodness the air here is really really fresh.
14) Frist day at school we went for a tour of Frankenberg. Very beautiful. The town-house, the church, the cobble streets, the scenary...
15) Went to Pfingsmarkt. Celebrating pentacost. Its like a pasar malam. But its a rather big thing here as its only held during pentacost for 5 days.
First day
Monday was Pfingsten (Pentacost). After a breakfast of bread and milk and meeting Lena's 2 sisters and brother, we went to a christianing of her cousin's child. After that was the party. Food food food. We played this game called phase 10. I really should find one in Sg. Its cool. After lunch, there was tea, and then we went for a walk around Rosenthal. Thats where I'm staying, a town 12 km from Frankenberg. In the evening, it was to a nearby town to their grandfather's birthday party. Food food food and more food. Went home at 9pm. Watched some TV, gave a concert on the piano and slept.
Touchdown
Now, I'll go on to after we land. In the airport, we spent like 1 hour inside before getting on the bus for frankenberg. Reason being us being a large group and that there was lost and damaged baggage. In the bus, sleep was hard to come by, even if it was like 3am Sg time. This guy brought light sticks, and the 2 hour journey was spent by waving them at passers by.
At about 5am Sg time, we reaced the Ederthalschool. There, our hosts picked us up and off we went off to each of our accomodations. After a tour round the house, Mr and Mrs Wasmuth left Lena and I to talk. We both went to bed at 2am (8am Sg time). Wow, so I've been awake for 24 hours!
you know you love me
First few days...
Hallo readers. Some of you must be excited to hear from me after hearing from Me for so long. Well here goes.
Sunday: on the plane: I had a double lunch. One on land and the other in air. Didn't do me too much harm. On the plane, I saw 50 First Dates. It was so funny! I saw The Girl Next Door too, and part of friends. They have such a wied selection of multimedia to choose from. My friend and I are hopeing that they'll have Troy on the return trip. Guess what? I've been to India, Pakistan, Austria, the Black Sea and other places in the middle east and europe too. Fine, I flew over them, but I've been there, cause I was in their airspace. The view was fantastic too. When there wasn't clouds, you could see for miles. And even the clouds were interesting too. When it was clear, there was mountains, sand dunes, rural and urban settlements, rivers. All in all, it would be heaven for any geog. student or teacher. The rivers and plains were especially beautiful. You could see th meanders, tributeries, distributeries and the plains were marvelous. Snow-capped mountains were called for too. I think they were the himalayas. Isn't that so cool? They were amazing. Hmmm, at least to someone who hasn't seen any snow, mountains, let alone snow-capped mountains. An unbirthday was celebrated in the plane too. All anyone has to do to get an orchid, card and cake on board is to make it heard somewhere that its your birthday. Simple as that. The crew hears it, the assume it is your birthday, and out comes the party. After that, while almost everyone else was sleeping, we asked for postcards an started writing. I managed to catch an hour of sleep. The others times were spent walking around and looking out of the window at the wonders of the earth.
you know you love me
