Happy German Reunification Day!

So life has been a little busy lately, but today is a national holiday, which means no work or school! Here’s a little info to catch you up on what’s been going on:

• Last Saturday was my host grandfather’s (on my host dad’s side) birthday party. A common theme I’ve seen at German birthday parties- amazing food!!

Me with a piece of the wall at Point Alpha. 

• Then on Sunday my host family and I drove up to Point Alpha, which was a US post on the border between East and West Germany. A lot of the stuff was in English, so it was easy to understand and it was pretty interesting.
• Monday-Wednesday I was on a Team Building field trip with my class. We were on the Edersee (which is some lake, but where we were it didn't have much water anymore and you could actually walk around in it). It was absolutely freezing and the activities we did weren't very fun. But I still had a wonderful time. I feel a lot closer to a lot of my classmates. One of the girls in our class smoked in an area of the camp you're not supposed to smoke in (well there’s really only one area you can smoke in and it’s down a mountain) and so she was told she either had to pay 140 euros (somewhere around $200) or get picked up. She couldn’t get picked up though and she didn't have the money, so she was freaking out. As soon as everyone in the class found out, we did the math and all donated 5 euros to her cause, plus 30 euros we won from our Gesundheitstag. It was really cool because everyone in the class was so willing to help her out and no one hesitated for even a moment to agree to it. I think that was probably one of the biggest team building moments for us.

A really cool monument from Point Alpha,
representing the two regions of
Germany being reunited.

And now we’re back to today, October 3^rd, the German holiday for their reunification. After World War II Germany as a whole and then the capital, Berlin, were split into four zones (US, France, Great Britain, and Russia). Later on the US, France, and Great Britain decided to rejoin their zones together (West Germany), but Russia did not want to give up their piece (East Germany), leaving Germany and Berlin split down the middle. Today marks the date that East and West Germany were finally brought back together and Germany was once again whole. I was a little disappointed by the lack of festivities today. My host mom said most people spend their free day hiking or biking, but I was really hoping for some cool traditions, like our fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Nevertheless it was a good day! I was able to sleep in, and my host family ate lunch at my host dad’s boss’s wife’s restaurant, which was having a little Oktoberfest thing. The food was really good and I finished my meal off with a nutella crepe. After multiple tries I have determined that it is impossible to eat a nutella crepe without making a mess. But they’re  certainly worth it!

PS: I typed this on Thursday, but unfortunately my internet was not working on my laptop, so I had to post it today. :/ 

PPS: An update on the situation with the smoking, someone else during our stay smoked inside one of the cabins, and the camp determined that since smoking in a cabin is worse that just smoking outside, the girl in our class would only have to pay 40 euros and whoever smoked inside the cabin would have to pay the 140. Which means we all get our money back!