#germandoors

This will be a short blog post.
So I have this reoccurring problem here in Germany when I'm alone at home.
The thing about the doors here, is that you have to have a key to get into the front door, its constantly locked. There is no other way to open the door from the outside without a key.
I'm still not used to this.
Today I had the day off and was spending the morning in my yoga pants and belly shirt, cleaning, listening to music, doing bits of yoga, and singing to myself. I was taking the garbage and empty bottles outside, having a good old time, when I came back up to the door to find myself locked out.
This isn't the first time its happened.
Now, I could have gone to my neighbors house, but its his birthday today and I knew he was at breakfast. There I was, no shoes on, no jacket, and looking like I had just gotten out of bed (because I literally had).
I checked the back door just in case I had left it open, but alas, I had not. My dog confusingly stared at me as I went from one end of the house to the other, trying to decide what to do.
From inside the shed, I uncovered an old running jacket of my host dad's, which served the purpose of being warm, put on some of my host mom's shoes which are a little too big, and rode my bike to my mom's work (which is like a five minute bike ride).
I walked into the office, too big of coat and shoes on, no makeup and my hair unbrushed, asking for Katja Kless.
The secretary already knows me because this has happened two times already. I think she could tell I was super embarrassed.
I got the key, a hug, and a laugh from my mom, and biked home.
I left the back door open for the rest of the day just in case.
Thank goodness my mom works so close to the house and that there were jackets outside, because I really didn't want to have to walk into the office in my belly shirt.

Silly German doors! :)

Little bits of updates!

Hi! Its March 1st and the year is trucking along at a strange pace. With four months to go, I'm in an awkward place where I know I'm going to miss Germany and my family like the dickens when I leave...but I'm strangely excited to see Idaho again...
Its really odd to watch all my senior friends get towards the ends of their high school days, I'm slightly jealous, but definitely not too jealous. I was able to skype my good friends Jesse and Dean during lunch break the other day, and I can promise you that I do not miss the sound of girls gossiping and laughing in English.

I also don't miss Boise High. I'm contemplating going back there to finish my four credits that I need to graduate. Maybe I'll end up just finishing it all online. All that is still being decided.

Another thing that I forgot to mention a loooong time ago is that the Bundestag member and SPD Representative for Kreis Pinneberg, Dr. Ernst Dieter Rossman came to my house a few months ago to talk with me about the PPP program that I'm in. It was super awesome that he was here and while I was scared off my pants to talk to him in German, I still had a really good time. The Bundestag guys usually try to make it to one of the exchange kid's house to reinforce why the program is so important. The connections I've made through this year seem to have a bigger meaning than I think, and it was really awesome to meet such an important guy.

He is on the far left, followed by me, my dad, my mom, and Julie Harder. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I was super nervous the whole time. All in all, it was a nice little meeting and I was fortunate to get his permission to refer to him as "du" instead of "Sie" ;)

I can't wait for spring to show up again, I hope it makes it before June! My days are numbered! I'm excited for the two week Easter break coming up at the end of March. I'll be in Berlin around June 5-8th I believe and then I'm returning on June 20th.
I don't think I'll ever be able to give enough thanks to my German family and all they've done for me. I'm so thankful every single day that I ended up here :)
Have an awesome March everyone! Hope it warms up a bit in Boise as well :)