Checkpoint 1 - First Monat

Howdy folks! Today marks a milestone in my life's calender.

Mostly because the SPM results have been released. As it turned out, I did pretty alright. My grades weren't outstanding. All A's, rest assured, but not as many A+'s as I'd hoped for. Alas, considering the amount of effort I put in, there's nothing to complain about. What you reap is what you sow.

And that's good news. The better news is that Convent Sitiawan (MY school) did very well. 8 of us scored straight A's from a total of 88 students. On top of that, we obtained 100% pass. That translates into girl power. Yeah baby!

Now that the waiting is over, the action begins. I've got to attend to a mountain of scholarship applications. It's going to be a long and tough ride, so I must brace myself and forge a steady path ahead. Ah, so poetic.

The other big news refers to my title for this entry. In two days, I will officially be a month old German. In conjuction with this special day, I'm going to give us all a picture-treat!

This was way back then when I was packing for Germany

This is Nico shootin LIKE A BOSS

This is me shooting LIKE AN EMPLOYEE

Bonbons are sweets. Bwahahahahaha!

An art project from school. Shoe of death. Literally.

This is a straw.

The straw is extendable. Best. German. Invention. EVER.

Today I returned from school very much earlier than usual. When I arrived home, I saw Papa and he told me to come in through the backyard. Then he took out this teensy weensy swing for me!

See, I'm swinging!

After 10 minutes I ran back inside. XD

P/S : One of the many reasons that I love taking the train, is that come a point, they run out of tickets and you're in for a free ride. Like today.

Mini Golfing mit Harry Potter

Last week, I went to school for two days. Out of five. I liebe Germany.

Mutti and Papa had a blast too. They went to see a certain Udo Lindenberg live in Hamburg.

Meet Herr Lindenberg

Live it, love it!

Whilst they were away, Lisa and I survived on bread. Morn, noon and night. 'Cept one night. That night we had kartoffel and cheese.

My bread ritual

On Thursday, the whole family went to Stralsund and we visited an aquatic museum. There were facts about oceans, marine life and even penguins!!

This is Patrick, Spongebob's BFF

Flappin Penguins

Did you know? DID you??

Anyone up for some fishing?

Seehorsies!

After the museum, we went shopping! We walked a lot and I got a couple of much needed clothes. A very fruitful outing, I believe.

First, there were toe socks. Now, there are toe shoes

Fast forwarding to Saturday! I was invited to play mini golf with Nico, Nikki and Eric. We left in the afternoon to make way for our trip. Note, you shouldn't let afternoons fool you in Germany or any other four-season country. If I hadn't checked the time, I'd think it was still morning. 

We drove, well Nikki drove us, to a place called Sellin which is half an hour away from Sassnitz. We arrived at the mini course and went into a building to collect our clubs, balls and score cards. The lady at the reception mistook me for a child, so we ended up paying for two adults and two children. No harm, more fun!

Then, we played golf. XD

It was girls against guys and the dudes won. Yay for them! But it was hilarious, cos there was a stiff competition between the guys as to who would get the better score. And then there was Nico, who was desperately trying to teach Eric how to whack the ball Propper. Pun intended.

I played alright....at first. However the weather took a gruesome turn for the worse and everything just went downhill from there. At one point, I was convinced my little toe was frozen. Not to forget, my pants kept slipping and I had to constantly wriggle my way into them. The brutal blow came when we met Harry Propper (Potter's long lost twin brother, with an unexplainable different last name). I just kept bawling everytime I thought about it and that just messed up my game.

Mini golf course, Side A

Mini golf course, Side B

A lil to the left, and SCORE!

Harry Propper workin his magic

The said winner, Mr. Propper

4 minutes and a recalculation later, Nico turned out to be the champion by one point. Eric scored 79. 

What say you? Up for a game of mini golf? 

Just be sure to count me!

Spaß in Gym

 I wish someone had told me how P.E would be like in Germany. Never once, had I even begun to imagine something like this.

Apparently, Gym also stands for Gymnastics. Who knew!?

Balance beam 

High bars

Parallel bars

Uneven bars

Overthrow back thingy 

Head stand

Looks ferocious, doesn't it? And the best part is, I'm supposed to take part in this class!

But the gym is pretty cool. It's extremely huge and it makes that squeaky sound when you walk on the floor. During our last P.E lesson, we had to share the gym with another class. So I assumed that we would have an imaginary line to separate the classes. I didn't know we would have a wall. Gah!

Before the wall

After the wall

 This is my P.E teacher.

Herr Racky

 He also happens to be the Principal. And no, he's not scary.

Building a pyramid

In agonizing pain for a picture of the pyramid

 In Germany, students can also carry out other forms of sport without the teacher's permission.

For example, armwrestling. Three cheers for the winner!

And that my friends, is the Sport block of Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Gymnasium.

Out of the Gewöhnlich

Check it out peeps,

It snowed!

This is a digital monitor from the car. It was 0°C outside.

A footpath which I take daily from the bus stand to my home and vice versa.

Yesterday, my first period was free. That meant I only needed to be in school by 9.30 in the morning. So Papa very kindly drove me to school. Unfortunately, the school entrance was locked shut. And I tried banging on it, but to no avail. Then I ran back to Papa and flagged him over. I told him the door was jammed and he got out to help me. We went upstairs via a hidden (or so I thought) route and wound up at the unbinda. I was saved!! Danke schön Papa! Although, I had to run for class, cos the bell had rung.

Class was carried out in the library, which is not really well stocked. And after that, Kim told me that we could go home. You see, I'm not taking French/Spanish and the art class was going to Sralsund. We also met another teacher who gave us the a-okay to go home.

Then I searched for Hannes to tell him I would be going back early but he said that the bus I should be taking would go all the way to Binz and I might have to change buses too. It was all very confusing and tricky for a newcomer. And so, I ended up taking the train with Kim. What a turn of events, eh?

My first zug ride in Sassnitz!

Catching Kim unawares!

Oh, I almost forgot! Yesterday was also Women's Day!! And Papa prepared a lil special something for us.

A gift from Papa to me...

And a matching one for Lisa

This is actually toilet paper, one of the many gifts on Papa's birthday. Cool, isn't it?

In the evening, Papa took me around Jasmund, which holds the national forest. It was beyond beautiful. We drove mostly through the woods and by the countryside. There was lots of greenery (not like it's barren land in town) and I felt very close to nature, as if the trees were telling me a story of their own.

The woods

The trees

The scenery

The sun. Bloody blinding!

A funny lookin sign. Makes you smile :)

Papa's favourite place to find peace for his soul

Frozen water. Yeah, it was THAT cold.

German graffiti. And I liked it!

In case you're curious, I dropped onto my bed and slept like a log last night. It was 7.55 pm.