Being thankful....

Even though we don´t celebrate Thanksgiving here in Germany, I want to write down what I´m thankful for....
~Andy, who shows an amazing patience with me and who loves me for who I am. He makes me the luckiest person in the world.
~my friends here in Berlin and at home, who make me laugh so much and accept my flaws and mistakes
~my family, in Waldshut, Bühl and in America - I love you all so very much
~Petra, who helps me stick with Jesus
~the fact I can study here in Berlin
~going to America next year
~Christmas!:)
~sunny days
~good movies
~people who show compassion and go out of their way for others

K.

Tired....

I already got my new tickets, yeah! I´m doing good, all my school stuff is sorted out but I´m just so tired. Every night there´s something else to do and I don´t get to bed early enough. I have to sleep in on Saturday, I can´t wait! I met Ines yesterday, she was in Spain and we hadn´t seen each other in over 2 weeks, so we ended up at the Italian restaurant and had lunch together. After that I went to a special library to borrow all different kinds od school books (History) so I can start preparing my lectures on the weekend.
I had a premiere yesterday: I drove the car to my cell group meeting for the first time in Berlin! Streets are crazy here, but I made it. I thought to myself "If you can drive through Philly, you can drive through Berlin, too." So I did it! Petra, Lisett and I made plans how we want to spend Christmas time this year...we will do arts and crafts, meditation, read to each other and work on a statement for people who don´t know why Christmas is celebrated aside from presents. It´s amazing how many people don´t know anything about Christ. I don´t mean those who have decided not the be Christians but those who just have no clue....
Have a nice day everyone!
Love, Kathrin

Doing the happy "flight dance"...:)

I just booked a new flight! It´s so great! I´m now flying out of Frankfurt on Saturday, February 19th and I´ll be back on March 19th 2005! One whole month in America! I´m so happy! Andy helped me dealing with the stupid internet and hundreds of flights that didn´t work out. I didn´t want to change planes in NYC as 80% of Philly-NYC flights get cancelled anyway...and so it took a while to find a suitable flight! I´m SSSSSSSOOOO happy! I realized a couple of days ago that part of my heart just has been left in America! I get to help Annelie with the kids! Yes.
Okay, I´ll stop now, I guess you get my point.
Talked to one of the teachers at my highschool today, she´ll also let me teach her 8th graders, so I have all the hours together that I´ll be needing. Great! The only thing is, that a lady from university has to come and check on my during one of the classes I´m teaching and I´m dreading the fact she might not be able to come the day I arranged with the teachers now. Somehow I always find something to worry about....:) Drama queen....
I´m at Andy´s right now, him and Basti are making dinner....I have to prepare my presentation for tomorrow and then I´ll just go to bed, I guess!
I love you guys!

Aargh!

I´m so disappointed right now! I called opodo.de this morning to reschedule my flight for March and there are no spots available anymore! It´s more than 3 months earlier! Oh man! I really wanted to help out. Then I thought I could cancel the old flight, book a new one and have my Hostmom pay the difference of the costs. Well, obviously there are not flights at all, i can´t even book an entirely new one! WHY? I wanted this so bad!
Have to wait and find out what Pat thinks about all this.

AuPair-Meeting was nice yesterday. There were only 4 girls, Heike and me. We went to Andy´s diner and had some drinks.

Snow!

First of all: HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY, KATHRIN! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

I haven´t been writing a couple of weeks now and I think it´s about time I get you updated! Yesterday we had the first snow of the year. It was not much here in Berlin but you could see it on the parked cars outside and in other parts of Germany people were surprised by all the snow and got into bad car accidents.

There´s not so much new going on here. I still go to my school twice a week and finally asked teachers about teaching myself in their classes. Fortunately, one of them already said yes and I´ll be teaching 9th graders in December! I went on a class trip with the 8th gradae last week. We took them to Castle "Sans Soucis" in Potsdam, where they learned about Frederic the Great. It was soooo cold outside and we were walking through the park all day. When I got home I took my Mom´s advice and went out to buy winter shoes for me. I got nice and warm brown ones, so I´ll even be ready for a harsh New Jersey February next year. Even though the situation at the school is not ideal, I´m starting to be more relaxed about it all. You have to make the best out of situations!

My parents were here in Berlin last weekend. It was very nice finally seeing them again. They stayed at my place and I moved into Andy´s, as he wasn´t in Berlin that weekend anyway. My parents and I went to to exhibitions, one was at the Museum for German History (pictures of Berlin from 1870-1945) and the other one was at Martin Gropius Museum and it was about the court trial on Auschwitz, where Nazi criminals have been convicted in 1963. Both were very interesting. Also, my parents and I went out for breakfast and dinner in Kreuzberg, went to the movies twice and I had a chance to talk to my Mom.

I´ve been very busy meeting my friends every week. Regine came to see me on Wednesday. We had dinner together and talked when suddenly the phone rang and Kayla answered on the other end. My hostfamily called me! It was so great to talk to Kayla, Ryan, Annelie (the AuPair) and my hostmom Pat again. We must have spoken almost 3 hours. I´ll try to change my flight in March so I can stay one week longer and help out with the kids while my hostparents are on a trip during spring break. I love this idea! Annelie and me managing everything and helping out so Dan and Pat can spend time together! I have to call opodo to arrange it and truely hope it´ll work out! The phone call cheered me up, it really made my week!

Yesterday I finally handed in the application for a spot for the other school internship I have to do - this time in German studies. I hope I´ll get in! Andy took me to work after. I really enjoy working for the dbb akademy here in Berlin. They have me copy stuff, write down information on the computer and stuff like that. It´s a very nice working atmosphere and good money!

Today Heike and I will host an Ex-AuPair Meeting at a restaurant downtown with girls who returned from their year as an AuPair just recently. I´m looking forward to that! Andy and I will go to Anja and Gero tonight to celebrate Anja´s birthday.

So much for now!

Having a sit-in....

Hi everyone. Gave my presentation in class today. It went okay, I´m glad it´s done. I skipped one class to go to the service office in the town hall to apply for my passport as I´ll be needing it to go to America in February. I had to wait for 2 1/2 hours....oh gosh. NOw I have to finish up with my last paper from last semester TODAY.

America elects a new president. I bet it´s gonna be Bush again. I wish not, though.

Tomorrow it´ll be Girl´s night out at Ines´ house. Hope you´re doing fine.