The 2nd week in Charles City - Chapter 2

The Wednesday started like every other school day, but after school we were invited to visit the fire department in Charles City. This is only one out of more departments in the whole Floyd County, which means that all the fire departments aren’t that big. It was very interesting and the thing everyone didn’t expected is that every department has ambulances and lifeboats which belongs to them. After that, our host moms picked us up. My host mom, my younger host sister and I went to Dairy Queen for ice cream and drove home. That was my first day off, with no other activities.
On Thursday was the last school day for the CC students. First we got our Comets sweatshirts with our name and number on it which was very important for us to get them. After that, we went to Expeditions for the last time. Mister Pittmann seemed quite sad, that’s why he decided that we should build a tent outside to do something special in his lesson, which we won’t ever forget. In our last German lessons everyone was very surprised that this is already our last day and it was hard for us and them to leave each other. We spent a lot of hours there with teaching, helping and of course having fun. I think I’ll speak for everyone of us that we will miss them a lot! After school some of us went to the Mexican restaurant or to the Y to workout. In the evening my host mom took Kristin, Laura, Joana and me to a trip to Target in Mason City were we surprisingly met Jella and Julia. It was a very crazy day.
On Friday the whole Charles City schools had a day off. Some of us did a trip to Minneapolis to do some shopping in the MOA. Julian and I stayed in Iowa and went on a trip to the John Deere Museum in Waterloo/ Cedar Falls. In the Evening, my host brother was supposed to play American football but the game was delayed because of a lot of rain. The game after them was stopped for a long time, that’s why we decided to stay home and watch some movies.
I’m very glad that our families give us so many opportunities here and it was the best week so far.☝

-Jette

The 2nd week in Charles City- Chapter 1

We have been in Charles City now for almost two weeks and I would say that we have settled in pretty well. The life in our host family's started to feel normal, we found friends in school, we got used to our schedule and eating in the big cafeteria doesn’t feel that strange anymore… The first school week flew by really fast and the weekend was just great.

Saturday some Germans and their hosts met at the bowling center. The teams were found pretty fast and we began to play. None of us are real bowlers but still we had a lot of strikes. Especially Kelly proved his bowling skills by showing us his famous backwards bowl. It didn't work out well but it at least inspired some of the Germans to try it by themselves for fun.

In the evening we met again but this time in Katlyns garage. Everyone brought something to eat, blankets and pillows and we watched movies late into the night.
On Sunday we met again and drove to Mason City, which is half an hour car ride from Charles City. First we went to a restaurant and had lunch. After that our little group went to the movies to watch “It”. To say the least, it was creepy.
To finish our little trip we went to Target, which was a lot of fun.

Our second week in high school started with an average school day.
Every morning we meet in the German room to talk about our program for the day and share our experiences/plans. After that we go to our classes that are all really interesting and definitely different from german classes. My school day always ends with two hours of German. Honestly, that's probably my favorite class because it's just so much fun to talk with the Americans in German and help them. Also, I found some really nice friends there.
After the school some of the us went to the YMCA which is kind of a local fitness center. It's always nice there because they have a lot of different activities and you can also play games.

On Tuesday we didn't go to school, at least not to the high school. Together with our teachers we visited a Mennonite School. The Mennonite are people that live without modern technology. It was a great experience and we were welcomed very warm. First we went to the school: two teachers, the classes 1 to 8 and all in one building. The girls were wearing dresses, the boys were dressed in overalls and their hats hung neatly on the wall. All in all it looked like a different time. We were allowed to walk around and talk to the kids. They were really curious and answered all our questions gladly. One of them showed us their german books and we were surprised that it was written in traditional german style. Even some of us had problems to decipher the words. They also sang a song for us and we returned the favor and sang “Auf der Lauer” for them, even though their choir was definitely better. After playing soccer with the kids we were invited by the local bishop to stay at his house. We stood in his kitchen together with some of his kids and he told us about the main ideas of the Mennonite and answered every question we had. He explained that they lived that way because they think that technology kind of destroys the family unit and because their religion is the center of their lives. They call themselves anabaptists and believe in Jesus and his teachings. He also explained that they accept neither homosexuals nor remarriage and wouldn't vote. But if someone wanted to leave their community they would always accept it.
After that we drove back to Charles City and got a tour through the local police department. It was really cool to see how American police officers work. To end our trip there, the captain showed us a police car. Some of us even took pictures sitting inside.
When we were taking pictures in front of the car, a school bus from St. Ansgar arrived and our friends announced their arrival by singing St. Ansgars Song. Since we hadn't seen each other for quite a long time everyone was really excited and happy. Together we made our way to the Floyd County Courthouse.
First we met the sheriff who explained his duties and work to us. Basically he is a police officer, who is in charge of the whole county. After that we got the chance to visit the jail. A women from the jail stuff gave us a tour and talked about her work. We even got to see real inmates and one of them scared the heck out of us by looking out of his cell. The women told us that she even had an inmate charged with first degree murder. Nonetheless she explained that she loved her job, but would take a hundred males over one woman, because they are ”nasty and mean”.
Then we visited the court. It was impressive to see the beautiful room. The sheriff explained how a court in america works and how a jury decides if the defendant is guilty or not.  Soon we started to talk about differences between the american and german court and justice, which was fairly fascinating. Among them the jury, driving permit and alcohol. To sum it all up, it was an awesome trip.
For some of us the day ended with a Comet Volleyball game. It was thrilling even though they won easily. We stood in the student section and cheered them on. It was really cool and is always great to experience their team spirit.
-Kristin

My first weekend with my host family

The first week in high school went by really fast and each day I was getting even more excited to spend the weekend with my host and her family! My Saturday started with waffles and bacon for breakfast😋.I mean how can a day start any better?! After getting ready, we started our 1 1/2 hour trip to the aunt of my exchange student. We picked her up to drive to the Center Grove Orchard. That's a working farm and apple orchard. There are animals and some activities on this farm as well, for example the Jumping Pillow and the Super Slides. We drove with a tractor to the corn maze where we got lost🌽. After finding our way out of the corn maze we were ready to pick some apples🍎. We were getting hungry so we decided to drive to Zombie Burger. Zombie Burger was absolutely amazing! I ate a Mac n' Cheese Burger and I drank a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shake. This was by far the most delicious Burger I've ever eaten in my life🍔! What's the best thing to do to end a day? Right, go shopping! And that's exactly what we've done🛍! After this amazing day we went straight to bed💤.
With the apples we've picked on Saturday my host and I made apple crisp! We decided to make ice cream on our own as well but it turned out to be harder than we thought. Whatever, we were proud of of our end product and it was really delicious!
All in one: it was a wonderful weekend with my host and her family and we had a lot of fun!😊
Greetings from America🇺🇸
Amelie

A weekend with caves and cows

I am staying with Josina at the Wold's and our weekend started quite early on saturday morning. At 7am we left the house and headed for the Quad Cities which is a region of four counties in Northwest Illinois and Southeastern Iowa. There we met Abby's grandparents on her mother's side who turned out to be lovely and open-minded people. After making some typical american light conversation all of us went to the Cinnamon Ridge Dairy Farm where the cows are milked by robots. And we could cuddle with some new hatched out chicks who were simply adorable.
Next we boarded the Mississippi water taxi to Moline, Illinois to eat lunch and enjoy the shining sun on the cloudless sky. For supper we went to Whitey's which is a well-known store for ice cream in this region. Surprisingly the milk shake I ordered had a really solid consistency so that I had to spoon it up. Afterwards I learned that this is just the way they do their shakes in the US.
On sunday we we're hiking through the woods to visit the Maquoketa Caves. First we had some problems to find them which definitely could be explained by the bad map we were given and not by our missing sense of direction. The caves were just beautiful and it felt good to have some outdoor exercises. I enjoyed our whole trip and I am already looking forward to all the other activities we will do within the next days.

The first week of school in Saint Ansgar

Every morning we drive to school. After arriving at school we always meet in Mrs. Larsons German room. The first week of school I mainly followed my host to her classes. Each day we had at least one German lesson where we helped the students with their exercises. On Tuesday we went on a scavenger hunt around the school, where we were in 4 different teams. Each team had at least one american student in it so we got to know them a little better. That was really fun! On Thursday we went to the local hardware store to design and order our hoodies, which we wanted to get for us in Saint Ansgar.
Overall the week was really fun and interesting and we got to learn a lot about the american school system and its differences to the german one. 

The first day of school in Saint Ansgar

I had to wake up as early as I usually do. My host mother drove us to school.
We had to follow our hosts during the blocks til lunch.
After lunch the GAPP-students met in Mrs Larson's German/Spanish room, where she introduced herself and told us about school.
On one side of the room were a bunch of folders, which contained our schedule, the meal plan, a list of all classes available and the Pledge of Allegiance. Each of us received one.
Afterwards Mrs Larson was so nice and offered to give us a tour of the entire facility. First she showed us the Highschool, then the middle school and the elementary school, which also contained kindergarten.
They had a gymnasium for each school, a kitchen and a large crafting room in the Highschool. The teacher, who teaches in the crafting room,  explained what exactly the students could do there and showed us a few of the machines.
We returned to Mrs Larson's room to collect our things and rejoin our hosts to go to their last block.
When school was over we took a yellow schoolbus to get home.

Our American host family 🇺🇸

After we had an exiting day in Minneapollis, our bus driver Joe drove us to our host families in Saint Ansgar and Charles City.
Then we met our host family for the first time and our family is very nice .
Jella and I staying with the same family in Saint Ansgar.
So when we were at our new home, we met their little crazy dog Max 🐕. Besides that we got a house tour and Jella and I hoped not to get lost in this big house.
At the next morning we could sleep long and our host father made typical american Pancakes🥞.
Our host mum said that we are like children and not like guest for the two weeks we stay in this family.
So we are very happy to be staying with this family and we will have a great time with this them.