2 weeks all alone!

Well! Hello, hello, hello! Time for an update methinks!
Mostly cause it has been a while but also cause of the fact that I have time on my hands!
Ok so I last left you all in the amazement of the canoe race! What a fun day that was! That was ages ago, though i'm not entirely convinced that too much has gone on since then!
The following day my flatmate went home.. in fact, I think I told you all this already. But basically, she is still at home now and has been since that Sunday! Almost 2 weeks by my count! So what have I done since then.. hmm...
Oh I had to go into Potsdam to collect my bank card.. yes that's right.. they don't send them to you here.. you have to go get them once you have got the pin! Probably a better system in case someone gets your letters by mistake! But still.. It meant I had to do some German speaking... I got about as far as 'I got this letter..' and she just nodded, walked off, got my card and made me sign something! So it wasn't all that bad! :D
Then that week I didn't really do much. Just lots of worky worky goodness! Not much interesting to tell on that front really.. except the annoying song I have permanently etched into my brain... 'In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things, I've got a rubber and a pencil, a ruler and a pen, In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things!'
OMG... I'll sing it for you all when I'm back at xmas cause I just know how much you would love to hear that! Might even do a special request at warehouse.. 'Hi Mr DJ.. can I sing my own song please?' :P haha
But all in all that was a fairly uneventful week.
Then on umm.. Friday I think it was.. or maybe Thursday.. I began exercising! Which has now led me to hate James! Grrr! Only kidding, he's my new personal trainer cause I asked him nicely.. he makes me exercise really hard! Speaking of exercise.. for those of you who didn't read it on my facebook status.. since I last weighed myself (which I think was in easter) I have lost 9lb! To some of you that may not sound like a lot over such a long period of time, but to me that is an achievement and a half!! I am so proud of myself! I just need to keep going now!
On saturday I went and did some shopping. Food and whatnot -the healthiest you have ever seen! Ohh and a bottle of wine! But of course, in true Amy style, something had to go wrong! The wine was cheap.. €2.99 for a litre.. so you would assume screw top.. the cheap ones don't have corks of course not! Oh no.. this one did! And I didn't realise til I got home.. and then once I realised.. I then found out there was no corkscrew in my flat.. and it was too late to go back! So what do I do? I don't say ohh no worries, i'll drink the wine another day when i've bought a corkscrew.. no no no! I ask everyone and anyone if they know how to open it without! After several failed attempts with many different objects.. someone finally came up with the most genius idea in the world! Pan of boiling water + wine bottle in pan = Cork comes out!! Woop! So I got my wine.... even if it was a little warm and I had to leave it in the fridge! Bought a corkscrew now though! Lesson learnt!
So I stayed up until about 4am on msn talking to someone whilst we both drank wine :P haha and didn't wake up the next day until 2.40! I think that's the latest I've ever woken up... ever! Though no hangover at least!
Monday was my day off.. cause I get every other monday off at school so I went and did a bit more shopping - I even bought House Bunny on dvd.. though I haven't watched it in German yet, only english! Oh and I bought some weighing scales cause I'm on a bit of a weight loss mish at the moment so I figured I ought to know how i'm progressing! Though again in true Amy style... got them home.. no batteries! (bought electric cause they were cheaper) so couldn't even find out how much I weighed until the next day.
Though when I eventually did find out.. how happy I was!!! (as mentioned earlier..!)
So.. today is Wednesday.. I went to school.. from 8.00 - 9.30.. seems almost pointless but at least I'm up and doing stuff ! I just finished eating a nice juicy grapefruit! Now it's time to do some more exercise...
Wish me luck blog fans!!!!

Tooooodles!
xxxxx

A quick update cause I had a fun day yesterday! :)

This is just going to be a quick one.. whilst I'm waiting for two films i'm trying to watch online to load!
So yesterday.. I went into Potsdam with Anne and we went to watch a Canoeing/Kayaking Race thingy in the canal! It was the Germans against the Hungarians! (that's what they are called right?)
Well anyway, that's irrelevant! We found ourselves a good position right next to the start line and waited! I think we got there a bit too early, but it meant we got a good view :D Finally.. the announcer said something incredibly fuzzy in German that I didn't understand.. then it all began! Well.. when I say began.. I mean there was about 20 minutes of 4 old men stood on a stage saying things auf Deutsch! I think they were saying some stuff about the canoe race thingy cause it was the 5th year they had done it! Then finally, one of the men said thankyou for coming and welcome to the 5th annual Potsdam canoe race.. in German though of course! hehe. Everyone cheered then these two girls were pulled along by a jet ski carrying a german flag and a hungarian flag!
Finally people got into their kayaks and raced! There was lots of races.. cause it was 1 v 1 each time. So they had to make sure everyone in every category got to race against each other! Thankfully though, the sun was shining and it was fun, so I didn't mind that it took so long to do all this! (Though I did regret the sun shining part later.. cause I am now a suitably unpleasant shade of pink! and my nose is sore!)
The Germans won pretty much all of the races.. I'm not sure what points people got for what.. but in the end I think it was something like 40 - 13 to the Germans!! So I cheered... didn't want anyone around me to think I didn't like them! Eep! Scary! :P hehe
Ohh and whilst I was stood watching all this... there was the scariest thing in the world ever!! I think it was a grasshopper! But it was like... 2 inches long and 0.5 inches wide and it was just sat on the wall right in front of me! Now.. I wouldn't exactly say i'm a fan of bugs! Quite the opposite.. so I almost screamed! Anne laughed at me and just said it's not dangerous! But I didn't take my eyes off that craftly little bugger for quite some time!! Eventually.. we had moved down a bit to let someone else squeeze in next to us.. and that person knocked it off the wall by accident and stood on it! I don't even think they realise now that they did it.. They are probably still walking round with grasshopper intestines on their shoe! So they will never know, even now.. how much they saved my life!! :| haha! Dramatic much?
Anywhoo after all this racing finished, they did a water ski show! There were jumps and everything and people were doing backflips and all sorts on their water skis! It was amazing! I wanted a go! Though knowing me Id be sat ready to be pulled along and i'd either let go of the rope or i'd just fall face first into the water and get dragged around in an oh so dignified manner! So lucky I didn't have a go! :P
After all that was done, Anne and I went to get some food! I had some form of steak sandwich.. It was called Nackensteak.. which I later found out was pork neck meat.. mmm tasty! ha. It wasn't half bad actually, bit fatty for my liking though! Then we went home.
At home, I read a bit more Lord of the Rings whilst I let Anne borrow my internet! Then I went on msn and was kept up til 3am! Was nice conversation though! So all is well! :D And now its umm about 1.50pm and I haven't done much today! So you are all officially up to date with my life!

Oohhhhh!! One more thing! I believe I may actually have moved to the sex capital of Germany!! Whilst being here, in Potsdam I have seen a total of 2 'erotic shops', an 'erotic cinema', an 'erotic dvd shop' and signs all over for an 'erotic fashion show'.. if this isn't the sex capital then it is most certainly the capital for all things erotic!! And no.. before you ask.. I haven't visited any of them!! You cheeky people!! hehe

That's all for now in my world!
Toodles!!
xxxxxxx

And so the plot thickens...

So it's about time I filled you all in a little more on what i've been up to I guess!
Hmm.. where did I get to last time? Only my second day here... so there is much to be said to get you all up to date!
I spent the rest of that week not doing much really. I had no internet.. (though must have spent at least £20 on my phone on internet, and another £20 or so on texts!) and no friends in this place! So I just made the most of my time by going out and exploring! And rather luckily I brough my Lord of the Rings Trilogy book, so that passed some time! (Still haven't finished it yet, though this time I may actually make it all the way to the end!!)
That was pretty much my week until saturday. I ventured into Potsdam a couple of times and things got less and less scary as the week went on, but I did nothing out of the ordinary!
Then.. on Saturday, my flatmate arrived! The morning went quite quickly! She came, dropped her stuff off, said hi.. or Hallo! rather, then she left again to get food.. whilst I was sat on my bed, still reading Lord of the Rings!! ha! I then sat for ages wondering what she was going to be like; would I get along with her? would she be weird? would she be nice? would I understand her?!
Finally she came back later that day and unpacked all her stuff, then came into my room.. and she had bought me a doughnut!! Great ice breaker! Saved me from having to try starting a conversation! Found out her name is Anne (pronounced Anna) We sat in the kitchen and chatted for a while and I lost all my worries! She was (and still is..) lovely!! That evening we had tea together.. it was what I would call typically German! Bread, sausages.. you know the kind I mean! Was tasty anyway!
Then on Sunday.. I went with Doreen (english teacher) to some random park nearby and we walked round that. It was all picturesque.. as is the whole area around me here! Then we went to some castle place, Cecilienhof Castle I think it was called. We went around that and it had all historic stuff about erm.. Friedrich umm the second.. maybe! I don't remember. But it was all cultural and whatnot, so I felt a bit smart! We also went on a guided tour of the bedrooms where they used to sleep (duh!) which was all in very fast spoken german! eep! But my god do I wish I was a princess back in umm.. whenever they lived there! haha. They had their own huge bathrooms each, a whole room to use as a dressing room.. and a humungous bedroom! The bath was a massive walk in one that was in the ground! It was amazing! That is now my aim in life!! Have a bath in my bathroom floor :D haha
Then I went to a brewery on the edge of a huge lake but I don't even like beer... so I couldn't have any of their beer! Instead I had an apple juice!! Boring I know! But oh well..
Then on Monday work began!! I had to be awake at 6.15am! :| Went into the school and was with the 3rd class (equivalent to year 4 i think) and I just sat in on a german and maths lesson with them to get a feel for the school. Then they did half an english lesson too! But I didn't really have to do much with that. Then after that, I went into Potsdam with Anne and I bought the internet!! Waheyy! That was a good day for me! Haha!
Tuesday: again up at 6.15am and was in the 4th and 5th classes! Nothing of much interest happened in those, I got asked a few questions about england and that was about it. Then when I got home, I went to look around the university with Anne so she knew where she had to go when her lectures began. Then I had to go into Potsdam to get some money cause theres no Geldautomat (cash machine!) in Golm (village i live in..). Got approached by three girls asking if I could buy their cinema tickets cause they werent 18 yet! They looked older than me!! I just said NEIN!! and ran away rather swiftly!! :D then got my train back home and didn't do much else that evening.
Wednesday was probably the funniest day for me! I was in a class with another english teacher today and it was the other 5th class. They were far braver with the questions they asked my about myself and England!! One little boy in particular, called Noah, had the following conversation with me:
Noah: "Do you have a boyfriend"
Me: "No"
N: "Oh my god!! Can I have your number?"

Teacher: "I think that's a secret Noah!"

N: "Where do you live?"
M: "I live in Golm"
N: "I live in Golm!! What is your address"
T: "I think knowing she lives in Golm is enough Noah"

Made me chuckle so much! Bear in mind that i'm working in a primary school! So this boy can't have been any older than 10/11!!
Anywhooo, Wednesday afternoon, once I got back, I went to Park Sanssouci with Anne. Its this mega huge park near me which is amazingly beautiful with lots of fountains and pretty trees and statues and buildings and stuff!! Walked around there all afternoon! Then came home!
Thursday (today!): Went to school this morning, didn't do much, just helped out in the class and then finished at 9.30am! Haven't done much this evening! Ohhh I watched Twilight in German though! And now I want a vampire boyfriend please!!!! :D haha
Tomorrow, school again.. though I get a lie in! Up at 8.30am instead of 6.15!! can't be bad! :D Don't think I'm doing much tomorrow evening. Think Anne may have a friend coming over but I'm not so sure!

Then saturday, if weather is good, we are going to watch a canoe race in Potsdam! Woop! Funtimes.
Sunday Anne is going home for the week, so back to being bored for a week, but at least this time I will have the internet!! So shouldn't be too bad!!
This post on my blog hasn't been nearly as funny/interesting as the last now I think about it.. but i'm sure soon I'll have more good things to tell you all!!
Toodles for now!!
xxxx

Arrival in Germany...

Well, as promised, I am going to keep you all updated on my progress through my blog :)

Though whilst I am writing this, I don't even have connection to the internet but I figured I would end up forgetting what I did or not be able to give a very detailed account of what I did.

So today (as i'm writing this, probably not as you are reading this..) is day number 2 technically. But I'll start at the very beginning!

Monday 31st July - I went to the airport with my parents and that was, somewhat surprisingly, problem free. Straight in, queued up for a bit, checked my bag in and then I had several hours to spare!

So what does any sane person do whilst waiting around with their parents and sister... go get a burger king of course! Big mistake. It tasted delicious at the time.. but afterwards, my stomach was certainly feeling it! I never did trust Burger King mayonaise!

Eventually it was time for me to say my goodbyes and go through to the departure bit.. but not before trying not to laugh at some people all in tears cause one of them was going away. Am I too harsh? Or perhaps just emotionless? Either way, it was hilarious!

Gave my parents and sister hugs.. pretended to cry (not for their benefit, more as a piss take..) then off I went.

Now the scary part began. I was all alone, in a strange place.. and I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily this was still on the english side, so anything I wanted to know was generally signposted.. in english! :)

Time to go through the security thingys! I had to take off my bracelet, empty my pockets and even take off my belt! Cheeky man! :P But luckily I didn't make the machine beep! :D Then through to the waiting area bit.. which was boiling! Had they not heard of air conditioning in that place!! Jeez!

Had to wait 15 mins for the gate for my flight to open.. and finally it did! Waheyy.. or perhaps not. Once I got down to my gate.. I was surrounded by mostly english and germans, which was fine. And then a rather loud family from I assume czech republic or Russia or that general area. If there was a prize for not shutting up, they would have won it within the first 5 mins!

Finally the woman started to say we could go through... I got all excited.. until she said 'if you have a speedy boarding ticket' which i'm not going to waste my money on! So I had to wait some more.. then she announced again.. and again I got excited.. but nooo... now It was those in wheelchairs or with young children! Yet another announcement.. those with pre-booked assistance..

One final announcement and hooray! It meant I could go through the gate! At last! Through I went.. only to find more queuing! Oh how we Brits love our queues right? I didn't think it was possible, but it was even hotter queuing in this tunnel.. waiting to be let on the plane! I would choose the one sunny day we have had all summer to fly wouldn't I! grr.

At last we started moving down the corridor, down some steps and out next to the plane! I thought my hair was going to blow off because of all the wind the plane was causing! Made my way onto the plane and headed to the nearest free seat! A window seat! Waheyy! Though it was a bit of a squeeze to get in there!

I was hoping the plane wouldnt be fully booked so I could have all three seats to myself, but no chance! Two men came and sat by me. And to make matters worse.. once we had got going, they both ordered cheesy bacon sandwiches! The smell was heaven... why had I ruined my stomach with Burger King!! Grr. I bought a water... for a wonderfully cheap £2.50! It was only a 330ml bottle too! Bloody airlines!

Finally I landed, and didn't have much queuing. Got my passport checked and through I went to wait for my luggage. I stood there, hoping with everything that I have, that my luggage would come out first. Not quite... but it was certainly in the first 20! Waheyy! In and out like a flash! Then I went outside and saw the english teacher (Doreen) from the school i'm going to be working at waiting for me!

Now the real adventure begins! She was lovely, as I had assumed from her e-mails! We had to make a bit of a mad dash to get the train but we made it with seconds to spare! I went back to her flat with her, as I couldn't actually get into my flat til today cause the previous tenant had only just moved out! Met her husband, who was lovely and her daughter who was also lovely!

We had, in my opinion, a traditional german supper, with the wurst and salami and that really nice bread they have. You know the sort I mean! It was delicious! Then we took her dog for a walk so that I could see where my flat was (because I live about 5 mins away from her) and also to show me where the train station and bus stops were.

Finally went to sleep after what seemed like a very very long day! I slept like a log.. until I was woken up at 4.40am! But it was a text that made me smile lots, so I can't complain too much! :D

Woke up this morning, quickly sorted out my stuff, then off I went to the flat with Doreen's husband, because she was at work. The flat is just as beautiful inside as outside and it's a perfectly cosy little place to live in for a year!

Today I did probably the bravest thing I have ever done in my whole life... I went down to the train station, got my ticket and got on a train to what I hoped was Potsdam, a city I have never visited before and went to have a look around there today.. all on my own! I was terrified at first, but once I got there it didn't seem as bad, Still pretty scary though!

Tomorrow I am going to be even braver I think.. and make it all the way to Berlin. We shall see in the morning though!

Now I am sat at my brand new home!! hehe on my bed, just trying to hide from the weather. It is glorious.. but it is at least 30 degrees! Which is far too hot for my liking. Also because of that, I still feel like I am on holiday, rather than I am living here!

I think this evening I may go for a walk as there are plenty places to explore nearby!

Until next time people who care about what I am doing...!

Bye!!

xxxxxxxxxxx