Alrighty, I've finally laid my foot in Germany.
But before I get on with that, I'd like to say that the German computer keyboard is mind blowingly confusing. Some of the letters are not in the right place and there are numerous weird alphabets. But since I'm a German now, I guess I'm the weird one. Can you believe that I'd been searching long and hard for the @ symbol? And then I figured at this rate, I would only start on my entry tomorrow. So I googled, "how to write the at symbol on a german keyboard". And it worked!! Hehe.. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@!!
Back to my journey. The German gang left KLIA at 7.30 pm local time. There were 8 of us. Kak Azreen said the other girl would join us in March. So we sat through a 7 hour flight. It was pretty long but the entertainment made time just whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz by. We arrived at Dubai late night. We were lucky to meet a fellow ex- AFSer from Indonesia who helped us find our gate. She even told us about the free meal voucher. (It's only free if your transit is more than 4 hours. Ours was 5) Then we left Dubai around 3.30 in the morning. Oh, and during the wait, I Skyped my sister and my parents! But the line was awful, so we didn't chat for long. We arrived at Frankfurt at 8 in the morning.
The volunteers were waiting at the exit and one of them helped me lug my heavy suitcase. He still doesn't know how very grateful I am. We pretty much hung around the airport throughout the day. And as time passed, more and more AFSers joined us. Around 11 am, the first batch left to catch their train. And the scenario repeated for the rest of the day.
Although, I had to spend the night in Frankfurt cos I was placed way up north. You see, my train ride is actually for 9 hours. And I'm assuming that the earliest train is at 7am. But we arrived at the airport at 8 am. So, you could say that I missed my train.
Whilst the others left one by one, I took out my storýbook, Emma, and read. By the time I finished Volume I, it was time to leave the airport and we, the new batch of AFSers (they arrived very late) and myself, adjourned to the Youth Hostel, which was just a little way off the airport. And I met two Thai guys who insisted on accompanying me cause we were the only Asians in the whole group. So grateful, again!!
The next morning, the whole lot of us got up at around 5.30 in the morning to catch our 7 o'clock train. And so I sat in the train. For a very long time. You can imagine what 9 hours of waiting did to me. 'Twas like waiting for roti canai to be served with mushroom soup. Impossible!
But survivable. The scenery made the journey worthwhile and a lot more enjoyable. In other words, it was awesome.
I arrived at Stralsund in the evening. And my family was waiting for me at the station, which was freezing by the way. They gave me big big hugs. And I tried to return them. We hopped into the car and drove to Sassnitz which is about 50 kilometres from Stralsund. At around 20 kilometers to go, we took a detour to Burgen which is where my school is. It's mega huge. We also stopped by the place where Lisa, my host sister, works.
And at last, we came to a stop at my new home. I must say that I absolutely love it. Insanely love it. The house was so well designed and built. The second floor belongs to the kids and currently, that speaks for my room and Lisa's room. Papa (Dad) and Mutti (Mom) have their bedroom downstairs. There's also a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a store room. They also have two guest houses that are next to the living quarters. And they have rabbits!! Big fluffy ones. And a cat. Mousie. I'm not sure how it's spelt though I'm sure that's how it sounds.
I retired very early to bed on the first day. I was super duper tired and I was soooooooooo jetlagged. I think my family was a little sad that I didn't seem too enthusiastic. But they understood immediately when I conveyed my feelings about being exhausted and downright lethargic. Ah, AFS would be so proud to know I communicated! Hehe..
On the second day, I got up at 6.45 in the morning. (The after effects of sleeping early) I decided to take my first proper German bath. And I got the biggest surprise to find the water burning hot. It was crazy! I don't know how I did it, but I did it. I took my bath.
After breakfast, Mutti, Lisa and I went to Burgen. We had shopping to do! Papa didn't join us cos he was in the midst of a painting project. He's doing up the guest houses.
So, we went to the mart, got my boots, shopped for some groceries, bought my SIM card and had lunch! All in the same building too! Then we went to another place, also in Burgen. I won't disclose any details here cos it's supposed to be a secret!! After that, Mutti took us to the beach. And it was FREEZING!! So fricking cold!! Lisa and I searched for some sea shells. Lisa got wet. :)
After the beach, we visited Oma (Grandma) and Opa (Grandpa). They are Mutti's parents. They were so lovely!! Oma was so kind to me. She was smiling at me the whole time. She even gave me a hug! Lisa told me Opa is 77 years old. He sure doesn't look his age. He's as fit as a fiddle!
After exchanging some news with Oma and Opa, we went upstairs to visit Andy and Tina. Andy is Mutti's brother and Tina is his wife. They have two sons. The younger one, Hannes goes to school with me. Oh, I forgot to mention, Oma and Opa live in this really huge house. They too have two guest houses. Oma and Opa live downstairs, whereas Andy and Tina's family lives upstairs. Now that's all cleared up, I'll move on.
As we were going upstairs, I met another cat, Bonnie! (I'm sure that's NOT the spelling) Tina served us tea with pastries. And OHMYGOD, these people have the BEST teas ever. The first day I arrived, Lisa gave me apple tea and Tina served us the ultra delicious red tea. I have no idea what it is, but I'm sure gonna find out!
I showed them where I lived, right down to Batu 12. We used Google Earth. Explains a lot, doesn't it? I showed them Pangkor Island too, where Ma works. And a little while later, Andy pointed at the window and said schnee. So I looked out at the window and it was snowing!! Like little white flakes falling from the sky!! So cool!! Literally and metaphorically. But it was very warm and cozy inside so we didn't feel anything.
Andy, Tina, Hannes, Mutti and Lisa were having a conversation whilst I tried to figure out what they were saying. I'm sure they shared a joke cos they were howling with laughter at some point. That's all that I made out though. XD
After a while, we returned home. We unpacked the things we bought from the mart. It was fun, something a family would do together. Then we went into the living room, where Papa was watching the television. I can't remember how, but Papa ended up showing me his collection of DVD's, which lemme tell you, is a lot. It's funny cos, my dad at home is a movie buff as well! Just then, Nico, Lisa's other cousin came to see us, and he brought along his girlfriend, Nicole.
Nico said that we were going to go sightseeing around Sassnitz and it would just be us young ones. So we picked up Hannes in Nico's car and drove to where Nicole works. She's a receptionist at this really big hotel. She took us to the 9th floor which has probably the most amazing view of Sassnitz. And then we stole into the kitchen and grabbed some meat and coconut-chocolate cake. Ah, the joy of being a teenager.
After that, we went to drink coffee at an Italian restaurant. And we talked. It was beyond fun. I'm extremely delighted to have met this bunch of people here in Germany. They were cracking jokes and acting all funny. There was such a light feeling in the air. Hannes said they (himself included) were crazy. He called them freaks. I mean in the good way. After coffee, we walked up the bridge that takes us to the sea. But we went only halfway and walked back to the car.
When we reached home, I showed them some stuff about Malaysia on the internet, and they showed me stuff about Germany. Then Papa and Mutti called us to dinner. Some time after dinner, Hannes, Nico and Nicole left. Mutti showed me some pictures of my host brother, Jonas over Facebook. Then, Lisa and I went upstairs to her room to watch Harry Potter 7 Part I. I watched my first German movie!
So here I am now, finishing this up. I meant to post this entry about ten hours ago but I didn't finish it in time. And when I came in tonight to post the ongoings of my second day, I figured, I might as well continue writing from the first one.
Till the next time, Gute nacht!
