But yesterday the internet wasn't working in our house AT ALL. I think that Christian, my host dad, could have fixed but I also think that my host family were secretly trying to starve me of my internet drug because they felt it was unhealthy.... which, well... I understand. I do have a problem.
The last few days the weather here has been intoxicatingly summer-like. It makes me wantto break free of school... it makes me feel all hippie-like. I mean, WHY IS THE MAN HOLDING US BACK FROM OUR MOTHER EARTH, MAAAANNN? However today it is rainy and coldish which is bad for my mood but good for my productivity (I have a science test on friday (bleckkk)).
As far as new things go, there aren't many. I've been chilling with friends and going to school. I'm excited for Saturday this week because supposedly I will be starting!!! We're gonna kick butt.
I also volunteered in history class on monday. We're talking about Galileo and the progression of science in the MiddleAges/Renaissance periods and how the church wasn't too thrilled about it. At any rate, we read this text written by Galileo (well, written by him in his language which was then translated in german) about how Science was not the opponent to Religion but in fact the opposite.
Humans have always and will always be lookeding for answers and meaning in everything. In result of this human trait we first had Religions, stories and ideas of how the world worked and why things were the way that they were. Giving the powers of the universe to more human-like beings to relate ourselves to nature and the earth more effectively such as Zeus in greek Mythology (or Jupiter in Roman) who controlled weather with his thunder and lightning bolts. It gave a purpose to storms (Zeus is angry and wants to punish us). Religion and Mythology (the way I view it) were the foregrounds for science, they were imaginative theories about everything, the only problem was that there was no real "proof" for these claims and ideas except for maybe word of mouth that some distant relative had seen it happen or that the gods were so mighty or so humble that they would never show themselves to mortals for fear of this and that. When science arrived on the scene it was a new way to discover things so that there was also proof!
So we read this text right? And my history teacher looks up at us all and asks us if Galileo was a religious person. Noone was paying any perticular attention to anything except theirown doodles and books and eraser soccer, so I was like,"Hey, what the heck? why not?" I raised my hand......is that proper english? Somehow "raised" sounds weird... ok I put up my hand (how's that?). When he called on my I explained in the best way I could that I thought Galileo thought himself religious in a different way from the church but also kind of the same, because the church worshipped God and God made nature and science came from facts about nature, so in that sense God was the same as science. I think Galileo was right. He also seemed really cool. Too bad the church didn't think so.
So finally after I said all this and was finished my history teacher was kind of astounded and then complimented me on my answer saying that it must of been rather hard for me to come up with with my lingual disadvantages, which I know he meant nicely and encouragingly but I couldn't help feeling a tad bit annoyed at the way he said it, I mean, I'm not dumb, I just can't always express myself the way I would like to.
AGHH. I really should go study or else I won't get a good grade on this test! (GR)
My Mommy will be here in 8 days! GAH! I so excited (:
Dienstag, 12. April 2011
Freitag, 8. April 2011
The redhead has an earworm....
Ohrwurm. This was one of the first words I learned upon coming to Germany, mainly because I have songs stuck in my head SOOO OFTEN. It can be fun though. What I love is when they take you one strange trains of thought.
For example: tonight I had "Yellow Submarine" stuck in my head by the Beatles (uhmm.. DUH) andI'm perplexed as to how one can have neighbors in a land of submarines... and also how they knew the sky was blue from underwater... and how many people own yellow submarines just because of that song, I mean, if I owned a submarine, it would be yellow.....
What I really hate though is when you only know a small tiny little peice of a song but it is so addictive that you revisit it and revisit it anyway. Like in this song by Kina Granis, I have had nothing but the "I will love youuuu, I will love youuuu, I will love you" stuck in my head all day with nothing else to conjure from the depths of my memory. So then I just pick a different song to distract me that I at least know all the lyrics too. Maybe "somewhere over the rainbow" or "Ghost of a Corporate Future" by Regina Spektor.
The White Stripes or Kimya Dawson are also always nice to get stuck in your head. Or how about German rap? Peter Fox is good, Prinz Pi sometimes too. maybe Die Atzen.
Either way it's all good when one is in a certain mood and needs a song, and it can always annoy when it's all you can think.
For example: tonight I had "Yellow Submarine" stuck in my head by the Beatles (uhmm.. DUH) andI'm perplexed as to how one can have neighbors in a land of submarines... and also how they knew the sky was blue from underwater... and how many people own yellow submarines just because of that song, I mean, if I owned a submarine, it would be yellow.....
What I really hate though is when you only know a small tiny little peice of a song but it is so addictive that you revisit it and revisit it anyway. Like in this song by Kina Granis, I have had nothing but the "I will love youuuu, I will love youuuu, I will love you" stuck in my head all day with nothing else to conjure from the depths of my memory. So then I just pick a different song to distract me that I at least know all the lyrics too. Maybe "somewhere over the rainbow" or "Ghost of a Corporate Future" by Regina Spektor.
The White Stripes or Kimya Dawson are also always nice to get stuck in your head. Or how about German rap? Peter Fox is good, Prinz Pi sometimes too. maybe Die Atzen.
Either way it's all good when one is in a certain mood and needs a song, and it can always annoy when it's all you can think.
Donnerstag, 7. April 2011
The redhead wore a sundress to school today.
Because here it is about 24 degrees celsius, which is rather warm, almost like, summer warm!
I know America, you are severely jealous, but I mean, you guys get out of school for summer vacation two months earlier, so don't be whinin'. (at this moment I am sticking my tongue out at you)....
I'm usually not a big proponent of dresses of any sort, or at least I wasn't until I learned the secret of wearing dresses comfortably from my best friend: wear a pair of shorts underneath! Wear very short shorts and you can do whatever you want without worrying about your knickers (heehee, british word) showing! Plus you can come up and flash people you know who are very proper so that they think you are actually going to flash them with yo underwear, however in actuallity it's not a big deal. It's funny.
But even with this rule I have strict reservations to dresses:
1. I must be able to move freely in it.
2. It must be at least down to the tops of my knees.
3. I do not wear high heels, so it needs to be a dress that goes with comfotable footwear.
I don't really wear dresses. I refused to when I was little, but then again I also screamed my lungs out when someone tried to give me pony tails, and I always pretended I was a boy named Denis.... I hated barbies to the point of intense violence towards them (such as decapitation) and I hung with boys, I played hot wheels and lego. I wanted to be big and strong and fearless, and, not that I couldn't have done that as a girl but it always seemed to me that at least in books and TV shows and Movies the boys were strong and the hero and saves the girl and falls in love with her. I just didn't want to be girly, and dresses were girly and girly seemed to mean weak in those days.
The main reason I really hated dresses for a while though, was because of the first time I ever wore a dress of my own free will.
I think I was probably around the age of six. The dress in question was a tank-top purple dress that was covered in various smiley faces. It was really hot outside, mid-summer. My mom was coming home soon and I decided I would dawn a dress for her afternoon home coming. It wasn't a particularly special day, I just felt like it. I went out with my sisters in our backyard, waiting, and as I waltzed out to the edge of our steep orchard hill a bee landed on my hand and stung me. It took effect immediately I began crying and yelling because, well, it hurt. We got into the house and put some ice on it but my hand was swelling to a Hagrid-worthy size (Harry Potter reference Hagrid is a half giant), an unsafe size. All I remember is that everyone was freaking out and someone called emergency people and they came and treated my and I was better. But I learned that day that I was allergic to bees, something that I grew out of, but was very scary in my early days at recess.
I guess my brain just connected dresses and deadly bee stings, but I grew out of that too now. in a dress I can be just as strong as I want to be and happy and jumpy and independent. YAY!
Have a smiley weekend!
Deni
I know America, you are severely jealous, but I mean, you guys get out of school for summer vacation two months earlier, so don't be whinin'. (at this moment I am sticking my tongue out at you)....
I'm usually not a big proponent of dresses of any sort, or at least I wasn't until I learned the secret of wearing dresses comfortably from my best friend: wear a pair of shorts underneath! Wear very short shorts and you can do whatever you want without worrying about your knickers (heehee, british word) showing! Plus you can come up and flash people you know who are very proper so that they think you are actually going to flash them with yo underwear, however in actuallity it's not a big deal. It's funny.
But even with this rule I have strict reservations to dresses:
1. I must be able to move freely in it.
2. It must be at least down to the tops of my knees.
3. I do not wear high heels, so it needs to be a dress that goes with comfotable footwear.
I don't really wear dresses. I refused to when I was little, but then again I also screamed my lungs out when someone tried to give me pony tails, and I always pretended I was a boy named Denis.... I hated barbies to the point of intense violence towards them (such as decapitation) and I hung with boys, I played hot wheels and lego. I wanted to be big and strong and fearless, and, not that I couldn't have done that as a girl but it always seemed to me that at least in books and TV shows and Movies the boys were strong and the hero and saves the girl and falls in love with her. I just didn't want to be girly, and dresses were girly and girly seemed to mean weak in those days.
The main reason I really hated dresses for a while though, was because of the first time I ever wore a dress of my own free will.
I think I was probably around the age of six. The dress in question was a tank-top purple dress that was covered in various smiley faces. It was really hot outside, mid-summer. My mom was coming home soon and I decided I would dawn a dress for her afternoon home coming. It wasn't a particularly special day, I just felt like it. I went out with my sisters in our backyard, waiting, and as I waltzed out to the edge of our steep orchard hill a bee landed on my hand and stung me. It took effect immediately I began crying and yelling because, well, it hurt. We got into the house and put some ice on it but my hand was swelling to a Hagrid-worthy size (Harry Potter reference Hagrid is a half giant), an unsafe size. All I remember is that everyone was freaking out and someone called emergency people and they came and treated my and I was better. But I learned that day that I was allergic to bees, something that I grew out of, but was very scary in my early days at recess.
I guess my brain just connected dresses and deadly bee stings, but I grew out of that too now. in a dress I can be just as strong as I want to be and happy and jumpy and independent. YAY!
Have a smiley weekend!
Deni
Mittwoch, 6. April 2011
The redhead wonders what feminism is.
I know the original meaning and definition that feminism has. A feminist supposedly believes in gender equality, they believe that regardless gender or sex (there is a difference between the two) all people should be treated equally!
Under this definition I am a feminist.
My classmates probably saw this title and rolled their eyes, "Great, she's talking about feminism again."
Just wait, be patient, it gets interesting I promise.
I should start by mentioning that not all people who refer to themselves as feminists do not act as feminists. These people do not actually act for the equality of sex or gender, but want and work for matriarchy (the opposite of patriarchy or a society where women "rule" over men). They treat feminism as a revenge mechanism on the male population to equal out all those years of patriarchy that women had live through.
This is not feminism nor was ever feminism, it is an extremism that cannot be tolerated. Two wrongs does not make a right, that is, revenge is ugly and perhaps worse than doing what was bad in the first place that suppposedly "deserves" this revenge, because those who put it into effect have seen and felt the original pain of the original state.
When I was growing up, I was obnoxious. I was loud, and thought what I had to say was the most important. I was a kid, an only child taught that everyone loved and thought I was cute and funny and wanted to hear what I had to say, so I said it. I was selfish and proud and prejudice. Some might say today I am the same, obnoxious, annoyingly know-it-all. I will not say that I am not loud, or eager to share my opinion because as I am myself, I can be biased, however I would like to think in the last few years, if not the last few months in Germany I have learned better to listen. I used to be intolerant to undecideness towards feminism, I knew many a girl that did not want to say she was a feminist, I would bombard until they gave in, I would angrily glare at those who uttered sexist jokes against women, but laughed whole heartedly at those against men.... I was unrelenting, and incredibly hypocritical. Veerrry stubborn- I'm still very stubborn, but I understand the undecideness towards feminism. There are many women who are "feminists" and display it in an aggressive attack on men (perhaps I was one of them, in which case I apologize), who wants to be part of that?
I like making sandwiches for my friends, for my family. Sometimes the people you love deserve a well-made, loved, and cared PB&J after the hard day of work. I would not blink before doing such a thing for someone I love. I have made sandwiches for men, and in the future I intend to as well. But then again the people I do make sandwiches for don't yell at me to "make them a sandwich, WOMAN, why aren't you in the kitchen?" or if they do it is always playfully intended and not maliciously. sometimes we just have to be a little less sensitive about things, breath in, breath out, live on.
I don't mean shove things down peoples throats anymore, I shall never do it again. I do not want to fight a grown-up debate by whining and screaming and pushing and acting like a child that doesn't have their own way. It is crude and dumb and political, and I am not a politician, I am a person.
Hope you guys had a great weekend! Here is it 24 degrees Celsius, which is actually rather hot. (Where did the new warm spring days go, it seems like we sprung from super cold to super hot!? Ick : P)
Under this definition I am a feminist.
My classmates probably saw this title and rolled their eyes, "Great, she's talking about feminism again."
Just wait, be patient, it gets interesting I promise.
I should start by mentioning that not all people who refer to themselves as feminists do not act as feminists. These people do not actually act for the equality of sex or gender, but want and work for matriarchy (the opposite of patriarchy or a society where women "rule" over men). They treat feminism as a revenge mechanism on the male population to equal out all those years of patriarchy that women had live through.
This is not feminism nor was ever feminism, it is an extremism that cannot be tolerated. Two wrongs does not make a right, that is, revenge is ugly and perhaps worse than doing what was bad in the first place that suppposedly "deserves" this revenge, because those who put it into effect have seen and felt the original pain of the original state.
When I was growing up, I was obnoxious. I was loud, and thought what I had to say was the most important. I was a kid, an only child taught that everyone loved and thought I was cute and funny and wanted to hear what I had to say, so I said it. I was selfish and proud and prejudice. Some might say today I am the same, obnoxious, annoyingly know-it-all. I will not say that I am not loud, or eager to share my opinion because as I am myself, I can be biased, however I would like to think in the last few years, if not the last few months in Germany I have learned better to listen. I used to be intolerant to undecideness towards feminism, I knew many a girl that did not want to say she was a feminist, I would bombard until they gave in, I would angrily glare at those who uttered sexist jokes against women, but laughed whole heartedly at those against men.... I was unrelenting, and incredibly hypocritical. Veerrry stubborn- I'm still very stubborn, but I understand the undecideness towards feminism. There are many women who are "feminists" and display it in an aggressive attack on men (perhaps I was one of them, in which case I apologize), who wants to be part of that?
I like making sandwiches for my friends, for my family. Sometimes the people you love deserve a well-made, loved, and cared PB&J after the hard day of work. I would not blink before doing such a thing for someone I love. I have made sandwiches for men, and in the future I intend to as well. But then again the people I do make sandwiches for don't yell at me to "make them a sandwich, WOMAN, why aren't you in the kitchen?" or if they do it is always playfully intended and not maliciously. sometimes we just have to be a little less sensitive about things, breath in, breath out, live on.
I don't mean shove things down peoples throats anymore, I shall never do it again. I do not want to fight a grown-up debate by whining and screaming and pushing and acting like a child that doesn't have their own way. It is crude and dumb and political, and I am not a politician, I am a person.
Hope you guys had a great weekend! Here is it 24 degrees Celsius, which is actually rather hot. (Where did the new warm spring days go, it seems like we sprung from super cold to super hot!? Ick : P)
Samstag, 2. April 2011
The redhead has some questions.
Recently I heard a few questions posed.
Interesting questions.
The first was: "What motivates you more, love or fear?"
Now at first look, I would say love. Love for my family, for myself, for my world, and so I want to make a better life for all of them. Love is my motivation for my life in general. To meet people I can love and people who can love me. But isn't it the same?
I love my family and because of that I fear that something might go wrong. I fear a bad life for them, for my friends, for me, because I love them. If someone put a gun to my friend's head, what motivates me to hurt that someone, to want him far away? It is love for my friend, it is fear that he would be gone.
Love motivating the betterment you want for that love, the safety, the strength of the connection. Fear motivating the destruction of that which causes the fear or destroy the trgger inside yourself that makes you fear it. They are two entirely seperate entities that follow one another like dominos, if you have love, you have fear, if you have fear, you have love, and so I am motivated by both, as they come, often, together.
second: "What is the meaning of life?"
To me, the meaning of life is to leave things behind that matter. To change things somehow, maybe just in a small way that changes life for someone else. But I feel that there is no general meaning of life, because meaning of life is relative to the life it is talking about, in other words, everyone has there own meaning of life that depends on what they believe it is. I might have a different one than you, you from him, him from her, and so on. We are every changing beings living in an ever changing environment and so through these conclusions the meaning of life is different like the people and places and takes on transformation like they do over years or seconds. What is yours?
Interesting questions.
The first was: "What motivates you more, love or fear?"
Now at first look, I would say love. Love for my family, for myself, for my world, and so I want to make a better life for all of them. Love is my motivation for my life in general. To meet people I can love and people who can love me. But isn't it the same?
I love my family and because of that I fear that something might go wrong. I fear a bad life for them, for my friends, for me, because I love them. If someone put a gun to my friend's head, what motivates me to hurt that someone, to want him far away? It is love for my friend, it is fear that he would be gone.
Love motivating the betterment you want for that love, the safety, the strength of the connection. Fear motivating the destruction of that which causes the fear or destroy the trgger inside yourself that makes you fear it. They are two entirely seperate entities that follow one another like dominos, if you have love, you have fear, if you have fear, you have love, and so I am motivated by both, as they come, often, together.
second: "What is the meaning of life?"
To me, the meaning of life is to leave things behind that matter. To change things somehow, maybe just in a small way that changes life for someone else. But I feel that there is no general meaning of life, because meaning of life is relative to the life it is talking about, in other words, everyone has there own meaning of life that depends on what they believe it is. I might have a different one than you, you from him, him from her, and so on. We are every changing beings living in an ever changing environment and so through these conclusions the meaning of life is different like the people and places and takes on transformation like they do over years or seconds. What is yours?
The redhead enjoys strawberries!!!!!
So... first off, if you haven't noticed, my page has a new look! (If you haven't please get your eyes checked.)
The Spring is here, and if you live in Germany, and you were unsure about the whole "spring" thing yesterday, you know quite assuredly today. Today was NOT a spring day, no, no, today, was SUMMER DAY.
So like any good little German-American I broke out the Birkenstocks and H&M jean shorts (:
I bought strawberries and raisins and walked a little. I have a game today at 2. It will be a perfect day for something of that sort, my only problem being that I might actually need to use sunscreen today! (*Gasp*)
In other important news, I am not sure if I have mentioned, but I AM SOOOO TOTALLY STOKED FOR THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP!!!!!!! Today the USA Team is in Britain for a warm up match against the UK and this June/July the women's world cup will be hosted in good old, fantastically beautiful Germany! This is one of those things I can really bond and fight about with my soccer team, because of course, they can't accept the truth that the USA is gonna smoke every single one of those teams, I mean really, let's be honest.
For my birthday I asked for nothing but a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and a USA Women's Soccer Jersey for the Frauen WM (Weltmeisterschaft=World Cup)! And I am still waiting anxiously to recieve this beautiful jersey my parents have sent me. It is not their fault, it just seems that piority mail goes really quickly from continent to continent but takes three weeks to get from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. This is 1) very annoying and 2) very expensive! If you ever send me things first of all, say it is a gift!! (or we have to pay extra to recieve it (if it's something expensive anyway)) Secondly never send priority mail, it takes so long anyway that it's not worth it.
Hope you guys have a great weekend! And watch the soccer game today! SMILES (:
Deni
The Spring is here, and if you live in Germany, and you were unsure about the whole "spring" thing yesterday, you know quite assuredly today. Today was NOT a spring day, no, no, today, was SUMMER DAY.
So like any good little German-American I broke out the Birkenstocks and H&M jean shorts (:
I bought strawberries and raisins and walked a little. I have a game today at 2. It will be a perfect day for something of that sort, my only problem being that I might actually need to use sunscreen today! (*Gasp*)
In other important news, I am not sure if I have mentioned, but I AM SOOOO TOTALLY STOKED FOR THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP!!!!!!! Today the USA Team is in Britain for a warm up match against the UK and this June/July the women's world cup will be hosted in good old, fantastically beautiful Germany! This is one of those things I can really bond and fight about with my soccer team, because of course, they can't accept the truth that the USA is gonna smoke every single one of those teams, I mean really, let's be honest.
For my birthday I asked for nothing but a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and a USA Women's Soccer Jersey for the Frauen WM (Weltmeisterschaft=World Cup)! And I am still waiting anxiously to recieve this beautiful jersey my parents have sent me. It is not their fault, it just seems that piority mail goes really quickly from continent to continent but takes three weeks to get from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. This is 1) very annoying and 2) very expensive! If you ever send me things first of all, say it is a gift!! (or we have to pay extra to recieve it (if it's something expensive anyway)) Secondly never send priority mail, it takes so long anyway that it's not worth it.
Hope you guys have a great weekend! And watch the soccer game today! SMILES (:
Deni
Freitag, 1. April 2011
The redhead is a fan of babies.
....or Toddlers...or just kids...
Why?
Kids are very easy to connect with, especially here. Sometimes I can't express myself properly in a conversation with an adult. I just... don't always have the vocabulary to vocalize my opions of my ideas, and I always try, but that never guarantees a connection. Kids are miles apart from adults. They are not especially interested in poltics or morals or huge important conversations. In fact, I at least as a child moaned at the thought of the news or a conversation where I had nothing to say. It was boring. It was like being forced to listen to the conversational equivalent of spinach... blechhh.
To connect with a child, you have to smile at them, show them that you see them, maybe play a quiet peeking game, where you hide your face as if you are shy and look up every so often to see if they are looking at you and if they are to hide quickly. Children just want to play, they see everything as a giant sugar-coated possibility, they see the potential of things that adults would never think to contemplate. Like how a blanket is a cape that makes you suddenly a super hero, because really all you have to do to be a superhero is to believe that you are.
Everytime I have met a child here I have always gotten on with them incredibly. All they want is attention, all I want a simple human connection. So I play, playing is simple. Playing does not really need words, it does not have defining rights and wrongs. When you are playing you cannot look stupid.
And maybe that is why I love the sandbox, maybe that is why I build castles out of legos, and be a superhero. Because no matter what I do, no one will tell me "no", no one will laugh at me for doing something unusual, no one will realize that I "don't belong". We will play, and we will sing and stomp and smile and build and destroy and talk about colors we like and adventures we hope to go on.
Quote of the Day: "
Why?
Kids are very easy to connect with, especially here. Sometimes I can't express myself properly in a conversation with an adult. I just... don't always have the vocabulary to vocalize my opions of my ideas, and I always try, but that never guarantees a connection. Kids are miles apart from adults. They are not especially interested in poltics or morals or huge important conversations. In fact, I at least as a child moaned at the thought of the news or a conversation where I had nothing to say. It was boring. It was like being forced to listen to the conversational equivalent of spinach... blechhh.
To connect with a child, you have to smile at them, show them that you see them, maybe play a quiet peeking game, where you hide your face as if you are shy and look up every so often to see if they are looking at you and if they are to hide quickly. Children just want to play, they see everything as a giant sugar-coated possibility, they see the potential of things that adults would never think to contemplate. Like how a blanket is a cape that makes you suddenly a super hero, because really all you have to do to be a superhero is to believe that you are.
Everytime I have met a child here I have always gotten on with them incredibly. All they want is attention, all I want a simple human connection. So I play, playing is simple. Playing does not really need words, it does not have defining rights and wrongs. When you are playing you cannot look stupid.
And maybe that is why I love the sandbox, maybe that is why I build castles out of legos, and be a superhero. Because no matter what I do, no one will tell me "no", no one will laugh at me for doing something unusual, no one will realize that I "don't belong". We will play, and we will sing and stomp and smile and build and destroy and talk about colors we like and adventures we hope to go on.
Quote of the Day: "
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