Stammtische, Geburtstage, und andere Feiertage

AFS commitee Rechter-Niederrhein (REN) holds a meeting on the first Tuesday of every month, called a Stammtisch. Judith and I always have Pech when it comes to Stammtische. Last month the car broke down, so we wouldn't have had a way back home. This month, the trains weren't running properly. It took us an hour and a half to get to Dinslaken, when it should be at most 40.

Stammtische are fun anyway, even if you're late. This month every exchange student who arrived in September did a short presentation about an aspect of their home land. For example, Fabiola dressed up in her Mexican gear and explained the Day of the Dead, a festive holiday in Mexico. Federico from Italy did a comic demonstration of the true and false German views of Italians. I did a small bit on school spirit in America, complete with Alma Mater, painted face, and Anchors Away dance. They found it amusing, which is the point.

Last weekend was a three-day weekend. The first night I had my birthday party with my friends from school. There were 9 of us altogether in the cellar, sitting around the table and digging out way through pizza brötchen, chips, and Haribo. Four besides my host sister and I spent the night, so we could stay up late and chat and play cards.

Unfortunately, I developed a bad cough throughout the night, and by Saturday it was clear I had a cold. So after the last person, Babsi, left, there was a quick clean-up and then straight back to bed. I missed Schutzenfest Saturday, where the Blasorchester was playing (it was bad weather anyway, with hail), and Pedro's birthday on Sunday. By Monday staying inside all day had lost all appeal, so I met with Sarah, Christian, Marvin and Alicia in Wesel to visit Kermis.

Kermis is like the rides portion of a county fair, except in Wesel it was a lot smaller. We'd walk to one end, stand around, talk, realize we were just standing there and needed to do something, so'd walk to the other end, stand around, talk. Finally we decided to go to an ice cream parlor and sit down. Besides, the weather didn't look that much better than Saturday's. It was a fun afternoon, with lots of ice cream and conversation. Afterwards I visited Alicia for a couple hours. We usually just listen to music and play cards when we visit. We used to play Set all the time, but now she's a Profi because she practices with them every day.

Since Sarah has come back from the US, our whole group has received those notorious IheartNY T-Shirts. We were going to wear them all today and say it was coincidence, but of course the guys forgot them. "It was too cold this morning, that's why I didn't think of it." It's beautiful 23° C weather outside.