This post is of the more recent events of this weekend. It will have no pictures, though, because I just celebrated a completely picture free weekend. They will commence again this week, hopefully, when anything interesting occurs.
Alicia and I finally found the Theatre Groupe we've been trying to find for the past 5 weeks or more last Friday. Apparently they now meet in a different building because they're too small and not imortant enough to make use of the auditorium. But we may as well have not found it, because they told us that it was only for 10th grade and under (a lot of groups divide ages like that), and we could stay for that day only. I never thought it particularly mattered what age we were, because even a 1st grader can speak better German than the both of us put together. But okay, how they want.
After that, we sat in the Innen Stadt and played Set on a bench. And who should come along but our good friend Katri from Finland! It's a small world after all.
Okay, so I said no pictures, but this one is from the AFS camp in Duisburg in September with Alicia and Katri.
After a few rounds of Set, we got some bread from a bakery because we were hungary, walked around the shops, and then it started pouring. It rains a lot here. As compelling as it is to run out into the street, dance around, and break out in a chorus of "I'm singing in the Rain," we didn't. Instead, we went to Martin's ice cafe and ate some ice cream, because we weren't cold enough already. The ice cafes are about ready to shut down for the winter. A lot of them already have. We have to stock up.
The reason I didn't go home was because I was going to be trying out a Schachverein that evening. That is, a chess club. Unfortunately, the building Jutta and I originally thought it was in is in reality a police station.
I did manage to get to the Schachverein yesterday (Wednesday), though, with Jutta's help. It was fun, but my head hurt so much afterwards. I really don't know how to play chess. Sure, how to move the pieces around is easy enough, but stategy is beyond me. My first two games were with one of the best members of the club. Guess who won. He did give me a lot of advice and sent my brain on overload, which is normal these days. The next three games were with a girl far younger than me. I won the last one, but maybe that was because she was winning so easily the first two times she started playing recklessly.
The club meets twice a week, which is good for me because it gives me a lot to do. They are a competitive group, with timers and everything! They compete on practically every weekend.
I was alone for most of the weekend. On Saturday I did math, biology, and read my lovely German copy of Harry Potter 6. I understand a fair amount of it, I'm very proud. In the afternoon Hannah and Christina came over and we listened to music and danced. They teach me theirs and I teach them mine, a great bonding experience.
Sarah, a friend from school, slept over Saturday to Sunday and we had an original Star Wars Trilogy marathon. I couldn't find Episode VI, however, so we only got to watch two. Afterwards we played Mau, dominoes, and a Snakes and Ladders type game until 1 in the morning. That's the latest I have ever stayed up here in Germany. The mental exhaustion here is a real knock-out.
Sunday Hannah, Christina and I went ice skating. Barbara, another of my friends, was going to come, but she was having some back pains and her doctor told her no sports. Sarah was also going to come, but her parents already had something planned. We had fun with just us three, though.
But now I can't feel my toe. I went to the doctor the other day and he said my skates must have been too tight and now I pinched a nerve. Hopefully it will wake up in a week. If not, he's going to start giving me shots.
That's all the exciting news for now, besides all the class tests we've been having. Those aren't too exciting, though. Yesterday was English, and we had to read and answer questions about the short story "A Man who had no Eyes," about the Westbury chemical explosion. We read that story in Mrs. Byrd's class in 7th grade, I remember, and I loved it. It's so brilliant.
I'm always so amazed at the level of English the students here can do. In 11th grade they're reading material we studied in 7th, and in a foreign language, too. They don't analyze it in the same, in depth ways we do, naturally. But it's still quite impressive.
Fabiola, our chapter's AFSer from Mexico, is changing families and now goes to Konrad Duden. Today was her first full day here, and she got to have a test! Of course, it was a Spanish test.
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