I'msotiredIcan'teventhinkofatitle!

Okay, here is another blogpost - let's see how long I can keep this one-a-day up! :)

First of all: PIA, I answered your question below your comment! I had no other way of contacting you, and I really hope you read this!

Second: As always, thanks to everybody who commented - special kudos to you - and also a thanks to everybody who read it - no special kudos to you. Sorry.
And the most special kudos and cookies are going to ... LyWe! And of course, my Mom.

So, todaaaay.... started out with skyping. With my parents, and our neighbours. And I'm really, really sorry for Google's bad translator qualities! :)

And it started with these pictures:

So it was really really cold today. Totally. It still has minus 1 degree! :o

I went to school packed in layers: A sleeveless shirt, a long sleeved shirt, my bench jacket and my winter jacket, along with hat, gloves and winterboots - and I still was cold during the assembly!

We had every lesson only 60 minutes to account for the 45 minutes we had assembly, and that ... well, it wasn't that great.

We all went outside, then somebody played a tune on the bagpipes [Dudelsack] and then we sang Oh Canada - I almost know the lyrics by now! - and a war Veteran read something, In Flander's Fields was read, a few other things, too, and then we sang God Save the Queen, had a minute of silence and after that everybody went back inside.
It took me two hours to warm up again!

I got my Journalism grade - a B. A B+, but still a B. 84%, which is kind of pissing me off. But well, for the effort I put into it, it's alright.

I'll probably drop it for the second semester - I just don't have the time to write as many articles as there are required, and it's not quite my style of writing.

After school ... Oh, I met a new girl by chance: I was sitting down next to her on the bus, as it is pretty full, and we realized we had the same bus stop!

So yeah. I hope I can meet her again on Tuesday. She was nice.

Talking about Tuesday... No, wait, let me do this chronologically:

For dinner we went to Fatburgers, and I really like them!
And afterwards, we went to the mall. Now me legs are hurting, but overall it was very enjoyable - and Steph reminds me totally of myself at that age... :)

Anyway, tomorrow Bobbie (Steph) has a soccer game, and Jenna on Sunday, so we're gonna watch those. And I will ask at the H2O Centre whether they found my scarf - I really hope they did, and if I really lost it on Monday, they're gonna throw it out on the coming Monday, which would be bad.
I hope I can go to the H2O Centre while the girls are playing soccer in the coming weeks. It would be really great.
And also tomorrow Steph's auntie comes to babysit her, as everybody else will be gone. I'm looking forward to meeting her!

On Tuesday, we have a very stressy day.

We have a Japanese exam on the Kanji for the school types:
小学校 - primary school
中学校 - Middle school
高校 - High school

年生 - Grade

So, for example:
高校一年生 would be high school grade one, so tenth grade. It's spoken Koko Ichi Nen Sei

わたしは 高校二年生 です Watashiwa Koko Ni Nen Sei des. Verbatim [woertlich] As for me high school grade one, or I am grade ten.

I actually do like Japanese!
And we're gonna write a Spanish test on all our Veggies and Fruit!

And I got the mail for the Vancouver Trip!
I want to sign up, but it's first come, first served, and they only have 106 seats on the buses! I really hope I can go, although it's $400!

So, and since I'm drop dead tired now, I'll stop here.
Have a nice weekend!

Julia

Long Schoolday

As promised, one update a day!

Today was pretty uneventful - I woke up waaaay to soon (5.45 AM, because that's when the furnace [Heizung] starts and the air comes rushing out of the vents, but I managed to doze a bit more, and I finally stood up at 7 o'clock.

I had porridge for breakfast - my first porridge (or oatmeal - cooked oats [Haferflocken] with brown sugar and raisins [Rosinen]), and I can't really decide whether I liked it or not. It wasn't bad, but the taste was still in my mouth hours later!
My school bus stop is really not far away from the house, maybe five minutes? So I don't have to hurry!

And the bus driver is really nice - I started to explain to him that I was an exchange student and had just recently changed hostfamily and he was just like "Yeah, yeah, they told me about you, just get in."
And once we pulled up to the school he took me away from the other students, introduced himself and told me "I'm always waiting here, but my bus is the last one, so you don't have to hurry. Sometimes I'm here sooner, but I never leave before 3:35PM"
WHY can't our bus drivers be so cool?

English, my first lesson, was spent writing what I wrote on my blog yesterday into my journal - with a few extras, of course! We're currently reading "Of Mice And Men", which is really weird, and I know already that I won't like the ending!

And we watched Edward Scissor Hands with Johnny Depp, after we had done a bit of school.
In Biology we looked at blood through a microscope, and Lunch I spent (as always) at Mr D's room. I had penne and Bologna sauce with me! Good thing we have Microwaves in most classrooms in school.

In Japanese we had a substitute, as C. Sensei managed to tear his miniscus, and we ... talked. Ashley and me. And in Spanish we solidified our knowledge of -IR and -ER verbs.

After school I had Journalism, and I finally finished my second article! Only one more to go!

And I took the bus back, all on my own!

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, which means all lessons are 18 minutes shorter!

So yeah, and now I have to go and make my Lunch, and afterwards we will probably read again, so have a good day!

Love you all,
Julia

New hostfamily!

So, I've been here for a little more than 5 hours - and it's been five brilliant hours!

My new hostparents are both very nice, and the girls, Jenna and Stephanie, are really, really awesome!
My room is similar in size and located in the basement, just off the living room with the Wii and the TV, but the space is used in a better way. Maybe it's even bigger.

But I guess I won't be here so much alone with the two girls!
They are girl scouts (Pfadfinder) and play soccer and are in French Immersion, and well, it's so much fun with them!

So, I trudged home from school - I didn't hurry, because I was afraid my hostmother would be home alone - and I was lucky, it was only Steven at home.

My coordinator Ms White came pretty quickly, and we packed all my stuff into her car. It's pretty small, but hey, everything fit!

I hugged Steven goodbye and thanked him for taking me home, and then I petted Coco one last time, before climbing into Ms White's car.
We talked on the way to the new house, and I have to say: she's so wonderfully nice.

We arrived at the new house and I realized that I had passed it every day - on my way to school.
The door was opened by a small girl (Jenna), and we were introduced.
Jenna is 10 and Stephanie is 8, and after I've checked back with them (and their parents, of course) you might even get pictures!

They helped me put everything inside, showed me the house and the rooms (my room is as big as the girls' rooms combined! :o) and then we talked to get to know each other better.

We'll go to the gym tomorrow, probably!

At the door to my room there was a nice surprise for me, made by Stephanie (I guess):

And another one on my desk!

I started unpacking, the girls helped me (a bit) and then there was dinner, but not without a dress-up by Stephanie first (I guess I can upload that picture, since she's not really visible there) in my Canada pullover and my high-heels (and yes, 2 1/2 inch count as high heels!)! :)

Then there was dinner, which was a huge thing - there are five people who want to be fed, and I'm not really used to that, but it was very nice.
After dinner, there was another surprise:
dessert!

It was such a nice gesture, I can hardly describe it!

So yeah, afterwards I finished unpacking, I couldn't find my nice shawl anywhere (the rhubarb one Mama knitted me, I don't know where I put it!) and I read with Stephanie - she has to read 20 minutes in French, so I said, I'm gonna read, too.
And she read 40 minutes - 20 quietly and 20 aloud to me.
It was all very enjoyable.

Today Term 2 started - all the grades are set back to 0 (or rather: nothing) and people like my neighbour in Spanish don't have foods, but drama technique now.
Our report cards will come sometime next week, and there is no school on Monday - Rememberance day, where we all remember the fallen soldiers from the World Wars.
Actually, it is on Sunday, so we have the ceremony at school on Friday, but since it is in the weekend, we have the Monday after free!
This is what everybody has on their clothing:

The Poppy comes from this poem by an army surgeon of WW I

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

Auf Flanderns Feldern blüht der Mohn
Zwischen den Kreuzen, Reihe um Reihe,
Die unseren Platz markieren; und am Himmel
Fliegen die Lerchen noch immer tapfer singend
Unten zwischen den Kanonen kaum gehört.

Wir sind die Toten. Vor wenigen Tagen noch
Lebten wir, fühlten den Morgen und sahen den leuchtenden Sonnenuntergang,
Liebten und wurden geliebt, und nun liegen wir
Auf Flanderns Feldern.

Nehmt auf unseren Streit mit dem Feind:
aus sinkender Hand werfen wir Euch
Die Fackel zu, die Eure sei, sie hoch zu halten.
Brecht Ihr den Bund mit uns, die wir sterben
So werden wir nicht schlafen, obgleich Mohn wächst
Auf Flanderns Feldern.

And now I'm really, really tired. So that's it from me, good night!

For a detailed, day-on-day view, I can again only recommend Doro's blog - now also in English!

All my love from Canada,

Julia