Almost 2 months in Germany! It's so hard for me to think about that, it still feels as if it has just been a few weeks. I'm doing great here, my family is awesome, my school is awesome, and my friends are awesome. My language skills right now are... well ... not awesome. I'm able to speak a lot more than I was when I first got here, and my confidence in speaking has grown so much. In school, I can understand about 25% of what the teacher is saying when they are talking to the class. Class is very difficult because when you don't understand the vocab, and the teacher talks really fast, it's just tough to keep paying attention, but hey I'm working though it.
This week I'm mostly going to talk about activities. For the past 2ish weeks, I've been playing soccer for a local club. I've got practice 2 times a week, and 1 to 2 games a week. I don't have a players card right now, so I'm not allowed to play, but once I get that I'll be allowed to play in some games! Here the average person is way better than an American in soccer, but it's not like everyone plays. The kids on my team here are very intense and are very good. During games there is a very fast pace, and there are not many substitutes. My favorite thing about club soccer here is how much of a family you are. When you come to practice, the first thing you do is say hi to everyone and go around and give handshakes, everytime. Then you go into the locker room, change, get warmed up, and go back to the locker room. This is where the coolest thing in my opinion happens. We have pump up music playing, and the coach comes in and gives us a pep talk. After the peptalk, they all form a circle, do some angry sounding chant thing, and run outside onto the field. To me, it feels like a proffesional soccergame, but it's really just for regular people!
Another activity that I am taking on this year is swimming! In my family every saturday the kids have swimming training. In Germany they have a swim ranking system, and for every level you have, you have a little thing sewn onto your swimming trunks. Right now, I'm in the class with the little 5 year olds! I don't know how to properly swim, so I have to start with the basics. The swimming method that they teach is way harder than just doing whatever makes you move. After the first day, my arms were quite sore, but my legs were ok (thanks soccer). Almost the entire time, you are just swimming back and forth, back and forth, then you get out and do some diving training! It's pretty intense, but it's kind of fun! I'll be able to get my begginer's badge pretty soon (a seahorse), and I'm hoping to get up to bronze or silver. Silver would be a huge feat, but I think bronze is quite reasonable. I can't remember exactly what the requirements are for the levels, but it's not easy. Hopefully I'll come back as the next Micheal Phelps! That's all for now! I miss you guys!
This week I'm mostly going to talk about activities. For the past 2ish weeks, I've been playing soccer for a local club. I've got practice 2 times a week, and 1 to 2 games a week. I don't have a players card right now, so I'm not allowed to play, but once I get that I'll be allowed to play in some games! Here the average person is way better than an American in soccer, but it's not like everyone plays. The kids on my team here are very intense and are very good. During games there is a very fast pace, and there are not many substitutes. My favorite thing about club soccer here is how much of a family you are. When you come to practice, the first thing you do is say hi to everyone and go around and give handshakes, everytime. Then you go into the locker room, change, get warmed up, and go back to the locker room. This is where the coolest thing in my opinion happens. We have pump up music playing, and the coach comes in and gives us a pep talk. After the peptalk, they all form a circle, do some angry sounding chant thing, and run outside onto the field. To me, it feels like a proffesional soccergame, but it's really just for regular people!
Another activity that I am taking on this year is swimming! In my family every saturday the kids have swimming training. In Germany they have a swim ranking system, and for every level you have, you have a little thing sewn onto your swimming trunks. Right now, I'm in the class with the little 5 year olds! I don't know how to properly swim, so I have to start with the basics. The swimming method that they teach is way harder than just doing whatever makes you move. After the first day, my arms were quite sore, but my legs were ok (thanks soccer). Almost the entire time, you are just swimming back and forth, back and forth, then you get out and do some diving training! It's pretty intense, but it's kind of fun! I'll be able to get my begginer's badge pretty soon (a seahorse), and I'm hoping to get up to bronze or silver. Silver would be a huge feat, but I think bronze is quite reasonable. I can't remember exactly what the requirements are for the levels, but it's not easy. Hopefully I'll come back as the next Micheal Phelps! That's all for now! I miss you guys!