CCC (Crazy Catholic Christmas)

turned out not so bad. All day they (on the 24th) cooked, and i took lots of walks outside. and then they said that i could "go get ready" which means to go put on the best stuff you got, and then the little bell rung and we were supposed to get downstairs, but i didnt know we were supposed to wear shoes too as we usually are not allowed to wear shoes in the house, so there was some laughter and "AGHHH"`s (christmas is ruined!!!) as i struggled to put on my shoes.

here we go.

first we sang some. i liked singing because once my voice got warmed up, i was pretty good, and i would hold the book up to my chest and sing and my host brother said it was funny. good.

then we heard a christmas story each adult and a christmas poem from Julian, my host brother. in the middle of it, he stopped, and said, "this is shit, im not doing it, its too embarassing"

i really tried to keep from laughing, but it was so wonderful. he was my hero that night, with the protest against all the christmas crap. my protest included opening my advents calendar randomly. but his was so great. soooooo great.

then we opened presents, which means everyone sort of stands around, and the presents you got for people, you have to give out yourself. which meant that for a while, no one got any from me, since i didnt catch on.

socks, hand made by my Host Grandmother. i am not looking at them with dissappointment, but with awe, because they are, awesome.



cute? in this picture, yes. i will admit


chocolate! my favorite! and huge!


a euro coin collector book. very cool. i think i am holding my gift certificate to a health club.


i just like this one.


the table also looks pretty nice, like me.


this was when they were showing me what the appropriate and unappropriate things to do at the dinner table after you are finished. i am exaggerating an appropriate thing. an unappropriate thing, for example, would be to put your head in both hands, or to not put your utensils at the 5 oclock position, dude.


one of Noras wonderful presents to me. beats robots, id say.


a picture done by me. the first, i think. the christmas tree was conservatively ornamented, but was pretty. it went up first on the 24th as well, so no christmas tree for a month or anything. i think its there until the 6th. or sommat.


and, one of the greatest things about this year, of which i am VERY proud of, my new, shiney, wonderful, always wanted, never had before, amazing, beautiful,

Kostyas new Real Horrorshow Saboks.



so pimp so pimp.

after presents we went to church, where i sang more and louder, but will not be doing so in the near or distant future again. i was just trying to get into it, and "show interest in the family". but it made it better.

and then we all walked home and i went out.

next morning, on the 25th, we got up, and to "make me feel more at home" we opened some presents like we do at home, in pajamas, before breakfast. then we ate breakfast in our pajamas listening to the muppets and raffi. was very wonderful, but...

i will tell you i cant wait for good old calm, not too important christmas with my real parents next year. and my real friends.

until the next post, which will be next year, about new years, i suppose.

if anything worth mentioning goes down.

kostya.

Some More Ski Stuff

I had christmas, but it wasnt really that bad. sorry for the build up.
I still have to get pictures from my host brother so i can put some up of me. but here is some stuff i had sent to me:

the "ski team"


two mexicans, two brazillians.
which ones are which?


i really like this picture. it is me doing what i do pretty well. reading.


and this is why i think i got sick. but it was worth it. yup, the mexicans and us 3 skiing in our underwear. very very good.



pictures provided by Jay Jamison and hosted by Imageshack.us

kostya.

Well, I Feel Silly

Ah, the ski tour to the italian alps.
So me and some thai kids,
,
decided to go skiing.

we took a bus.


we stayed in a hotel. it was very basic, but comfortable, with 6 people to my room. i didnt mind, this time.

every morning we would eat the same thing for breakfast and then get to the mountain with a "ski bus". a major theme of rotary tour is waiting.

this is our group, chaotically waiting. thats mark. hes from new zealand.

cant get tired of this:


i skied with two other guys. we did it all laid back, with plenty of breaks and plenty of goofing off.
this is pat, from australia.


and this is Jay, from Oklahoma.


One of these types:

because everything was so beautiful.

the whole week i didnt shower ::bows:: because it was just too much of a hastle. i think going to the sauna counted, though.


the coolest thing about my outfit was that i had a huge jacket which made me look kinda round, a backpack, a sweet hat, and bell bottom ski pants provided by my host family. they also gave me skis and boots and poles, which was really awesome.


so awesome.

this is us at lunch. always potatoes prepared in the french maner and nudles. on the left is alison from australia. she reminded me alot of bernie. hey bernie.


have you ever had vegimite? its an australian thing made by kraft to smear on bread. tasted like eggplant, i thought.


this is me and David, pronounced Dahveed, from mexico. we won a race thing the whole group did. a prize of a bottle of wine was awarded. ill get pictures of the race later from someone else.

in the evenings we would sometimes go out.

the very left is Hellen from australia. i like them australians.

the view from lunch one day.


lunch time always lasted hours because of ensuing hillarity:



pat pointing to where we ate every day.



basically, this was the greatest week i have had in Europe so far. it was just so much fun to talk in english and to make jokes and laugh until i was crying and i just dont have that anymore here. it was certainly sad to leave it, but i made some great friends that i will go visit soon.

snow on our trip home :o)


note: i did NOT get drunk, mom.

[URL=http://www.imageshack.us]Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting[/URL]

until next week, which will include my first hardcore catholic christmas experience. wish me luck.

kostya.

helloooo everybody

we're coming live from somewhere!

OK. tomorrow i am going skiing. omg. pictures pictures is all you get. but shit. skiing in the alps. holy shit.

yes.

i have really tight pants. 70s style with bell bottoms.

and im so happy.

ahhh!

the best day was yesterday.

and i mean that literally and metaphorically.

hair cut
before:
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after:
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theres nothing to tell. except that my family was pressuring me to do it. they even paid for it. i didnt like that very much. now everything is colder.

but ok here is the best part of my week: saturday we went to strausburg.

who lives in strausburg?
this person:
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yes how awesome. we both basically just kept exclaiming how cool it was that we were in europe and met up. she is speaking very good french. i was impressed.

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cathedral

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agata with cathedral.

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something very few pictures are taken of.

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cool trains. they are getting rid of them, agata says, because the french are snotty.

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at night, walking fast to meet my host parents.

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some more of the christmas market. world famous, you know.

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ahh i was so happy. that was so fun. the quickest 6 hours i have had in a LONG time.

kostya.
i want to go home.

just my week

So we begin with this nice face:
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and this is by far, the greatest food i have ever had. it is what i look forward to every time i go to a bakery. called Laugenbrot. i cant explain the taste.
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and, christmas here is so serious.
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today, is the first advents day or something. 4 weeks before christmas. i never knew about that. and my family sang and lit a candle. christmas here is hardcore.

when i wear a shirt and tie and sing and have all this stuff to do on christmas, i will take pictures, and you will see.

decisions decisions...
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a hillarious thing for packing your tree. i laughed for a while.
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yeap yeap yeap. someone asked me if i went hunting for this jacket.
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I dont think the germans know what they are writing here exactly.
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and last night, we broke out the Party Wok. and woked it up.
sorry, the Party Wok 8740
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hehe.

kostya

alright! Berlin!

We took the bullet train to Berlin from Mannheim. For those 5 hours, i knew that this was going to SUCK.

We got off the train, and i took an opportunity to make an exclusive photo for Ben and Rahul. There were also 2 thai boys with us. thai people are probably the most friendliest in the world.


i laugh every time i see this.

so we got to our Youth Hostel, and i had to sleep in the same room with 7 other guys. 2 mexicans... omg. they gave me a bad impression about mexicans, let me tell you.

early the next morning we started our tour. It began in Alexander Square. it used to be the parade area for Prussian Armies, but then it was rebuilt by the Russians because it was in east germany. now its just dirty and scary. but this still turned out cool.



This is my friend Winzenty from Poland.


he was about the only person with us i could tolerate.

so we get on a bus. and the bus drives around, and we stop sometimes and all the kids run out and take pictures in front of things they have no idea about because the tour was awful.

like this:


it is the Berlin Dome. it was built for a king. Fredrick the 1st, maybe. and i went inside too.

then we went to my favorite part of berlin. Potsdam Square.

this is one piece of the Berlin wall that stands there. i dont know why it was covered up with tarp.

it was really cool because when the wall was up, this area was barren. no buildings stood there and it was just swampy and grass and some trees. but when the wall was taken down, there was all this land and new buildings went up everywhere. i think it is kind of romantic and symbolic.


this is hte sony center. it is this big open area with fountains and sony stuff. and a cool canopy over head. i dont know if it rains in there or not. probably but it was really nice and clean and lots of people.

all through the city run these bricks. the line shows where the wall was. i liked that too.



this is a church that was destroyed in the war and has not been rebuilt yet. i dont know if there isnt enough money or its standing like this on purpose. it was the best church ive seen so far.


and the famous check point charlie. when germans say check point charlie, its hillarious. it began the american sector. there was also a museum, but of course i wanted to read everything and ran out of our aloted time in the museum. stupid tour. stupid exchange students.


and this other american kid asked the guy who is holding the flag if he was a real american, but he told him that it was just his job, and he was german. and the american just went crazy and was very insulted that someone would say something about HIS flag. i was embarassed to be from america. later, when be proudly bought 3 old german communist flags, and made sure to point out his hypocritical behavoir, and was then asked tactfully whether or not i wanted to fight. hah. shit.


the wall. i took this picture through the fence that surrounds the wall now. tourists almost destroyed this piece, so now the mighty wall, has a wall around it. this is basically all thats left.

on july 17, 1953 there was a big riot in berlin, and the people from the east and west almost reunited the city again. the easterners pushed russian officers into the western side, and the city was just in chaos. russian tanks stopped everything, and 10 years later, a wall was built to separate the two sides.

this is a memorial i found for july 17. it was a big photo of people interlacing arms to make a barrier against the tanks or police or army. very touching


supposedly the last soviet flag ever. taken down from the kremlin in 92. something like that.


a picture for dr. seitz. this is where Fredrick the Great is buried. modest. he also had a modest castle. you can see people left him potatoes because he introduced potatoes to prussia. and in the back ground, are his dogs. he hated his wife.


it was such a nice fall.




here is the german parliment. the building was destroyed in the war, but they kept the facade, and inside everything is modern and new.

we watched a parlimentary meeting for a while, and then went to the dome.

it was all new and awesome. i give it 4 out of 5 dome points. it losing one dome point for being too new. domes have to have an old classical touch, i would argue.

ok my favorite picture from berlin. also my last one i took. the famous brandenburger gate. napolion marched through it and so did hitler. napolion also had the godess of victory statue as a spoil of war for a long time, but relinquished it when he was beaten. I did my own victory celebration. because it was the last night and i just wanted to go home. a handstand, if you cant tell.

this was the most beautiful part of the city. of course, we couldnt explore. bahhh.
thank you for looking.