Scho-ka-kola

I'd like to begin this blog entry by introducing you to Scho-ka-kola, aka my new best friend.

You can pick him up at *almost* any gas station's convenient store, and he doesn't expire until 2011.

But what, you may ask, makes this product so amazing? It looks like just your ordinary red and white tin can. Just your ordinary loudly labeled circular box. Just your ordinary...NOTHING. Stop your "Just your ordinary"s right now! Nothing about this box of Scho-ka-kola is ordinary!

That's because...it's 100g of the world's best dark-chocolate and coffee mix. Only 4 small slices of this masterpiece, and you'll have consumed as much caffeine as a strong espresso!

You will be bouncing off the walls!

After a week and a half of being on this stuff, I can say from experience: "It's the best source of energy in the world! Better than sleeping!" (Caution: I am not a certified nutritionist)

If my words of truth and wisdom haven't convinced you that this is the product of gods, the back of the container will!

Rückseite der Dose: "EINE WOHLSCHMECKENDE SPEZIALITAET FUER ALLE, DIE VIEL LEISTEN MUESSEN."
Back of the can: "A DELICIOUS SPECIALTY FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO ACCOMPLISH MORE."

YES. I do want to accomplish more. This can can read my mind.

---

Now for a less caffeinated post...

Last weekend me and the host family (and friends) ate onion cake in the basement. It was a rad looking basement. The onion cake tasted pretty good. The basement, however, was very cold. I was wearing two sweatshirts. As a result of wearing two sweatshirts, I look big in the picture that was taken. Please ignore the girl in the orange hat--I don't know how she got in that picture...

The First Week Down

"This is your second Sunday morning breakfast in Germany," my host mother, Karola, announced this morning. Although I didn't need the reminder, it's astonishing that I've been here an entire week. So much has happened, and yet so much has yet to come.

This first photo (on the left) is of the window shelf in my room. The plant I have is very typical for a Germany. Most Germans have a plant in every room of the house; I have two in my room. The beverage beside the plant is Apfelsaft, which is carbonated apple juice. Outside the window you can see the neighbors' houses and a German flag.

This second photo (on the right) is of my school books. I take at least 14 classes at school in the course of one week. The schedule is different each day, and most kids don't know where their classes are. Sometimes we find our teacher wandering in the halls a few minutes before class is supposed to begin and we have to ask him/her where class will be for the day. Usually, he/she picks a random unoccupied room.
I think the best classes are Gym and English because I can actually understand what to do. Latin is the worst class because all of the students have been taking Latin for years, and can speak both Latin and German in the class. I can speak neither Latin nor German, so it's a bit impossible to learn anything.

Today I went on a bike ride with my host father (Ralph). I knew before I came to Germany that I am an athletically challenged person, but riding a mountain bike up a steep rocky hill made me come to terms with the fact that I have the athletic ability of a four-year old. When we finally began cycling on some flat road, we passed a field of cows. I like watching cows; they are peaceful and just munching on grass like nobody's business. Ralph saw me looking at the cows and said "Lots of steak!".
I thought I'd share that moment with you so maybe some of you reading this will share my sympathy for the cows...who are cows, and not steak yet.