The One im Bett mit Clara

Cue the collaborative blog post with my favorite German blogger... Clara Lösel!!

Since we have two weeks off of school for Herbstferien (fall break) there was finally an opportunity for us to meet up again. Unfortunately Clara and I do not live very close to each other in Germany but because Hessen and Niedersachsen (the regions in which we live) have the same vacation dates, she could come up to Westerstede for a few days. She took the train like a proper German and when she first got off, it was slightly awkward and hilarious because we couldn't decide what language to greet each other in. It was just insane in general to see her in person since we hadn´t been together for around 10 months. We spent the car ride with my host mom speaking all in German which was normal and weird at the same time. We both remember another car ride we took to Madison in which my mom asked Clara to practice a bit of German with me. I could barely describe what I liked to do as a hobby or how the weather was! This time around, we could have a normal conversation in German without translating anything. It is so interesting to see how adding another language changed our relationship because I was so used to hearing her speak in English and helping her out a bit with that even though she doesn´t need much help at all. Now we can both help each other and confuse each other by speaking in a crazy mix of Deutsch and English that can only be described as Denglish. I frequently don´t realize what language we are speaking in unless I think it over once more.

Right after we got home from the train station we plopped down onto my bed and didn't get up for about 3 hours until dinnertime. Clara, knowing my weakness for Haribo gummies, brought with her a huge heavy box of different gummy treats which took up half of her suitcase and caused problems in the train. We mostly just chatted in German and read aloud from To Kill a Mockingbird, as Clara has to read it in English before the break is over. Clara says its "most awesome book on the whole world." Then we ate some bread and more bread with my host mom and snuggled back up into my bed. Talk about a stay-cation. 

Tuesday morning we woke up at around 10:30 since we had talked most of the night... Then we biked into the city center and I showed Clara a bit of Westerstede. She says that it is a cute village but looks nothing like where she lives in Germany. We drank a tea in the bakery and Clara was amused that she got to see an American eat an Americaner (a yummy pastry). Cue more talking in Denglish in a different setting. Then we went back to my house and did some school work in my bed like the try-hards we are. That night we went out to dinner with my boyfriend Fokko at a little Italian place in Westerstede. We all had a really lovely time even though I am sure it was a bit crazy for him to witness our half English half German relationship. The waitress did not bring the bill to us for almost 2 years so we had plenty of time to talk even more. Then we went back to my house and watched Die Höhle der Löwen, which is the German version of Shark Tank and uses the exact same music. Then my family FaceTimed with all three of us!! It was very insane to speak with my family and Clara because this time 2 of us are in Germany and 3 in the US. Poor Fokko was once again made to endure large quantities of Denglish. When Fokko went home, we naurally went back to my warm bed and did not sleep very much at all.

Hey! Okay since Hannah has to chat with her boyfriend now I'm continuing this blog post. Very kind of Hannah:) Wednesday was definitely the day we did most (as she already said the other days were mostly just lying in bed): We went to Bremen! Both of us had never been there. At this point I would like to thank Fokko or Hannah or whoever is responsible for the following. This person maintained it would take one about 25 minutes to bike to the train station in Ocholt. Yeah, well, what shall I say, unfortunately it wasn´t like this. After these promised 25 minutes we gone half of the way. Since our train was leaving about 5 minutes later, we had to do the second half of the way in about 3 minutes and run all the way to the train. Luckily there was a nice train attendant who waited for us. When we finally sat in the train soaked in sweat all he had to say was "Frühsport am Morgen vertretíbt Kummer und Sorgen" (German saying which basically means early exercise frees you from all worries). After taking the train and two "Straßenbahnen" we arrived at the Water Front with Primark. We spent the next hours shopping and left the store with some REALLY cheap goodies (That is what characterizes Primark: Bad quality clothes for prices that can be paid by poor students). After that we went back to the city center and headed to the "Weihnachtsmarkt" (IN OCTOBER- what the...?). But since we were both pretty hungry and it was mostly german Christmas food we spent the rest of our time in Bremen eating: Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus (fried potato pancakes with apple sauce) gebrannte Mandeln (warm sugary almonds), heiße Maronen (hot chestnuts) and Lachsbrötchen (smoked salmon sandwich). Actually we also wanted to drink typical German "Glühwein" available when one is 16 but they wouldn't let us. Hard to believe but also in Germany they don't sell every kind of alcohol for little girls like us. In the evening we went all the way back with the train. When we arrived at the train station in Westerstede-Ocholt, we had not only to notice that somebody stole Hannah´s cover of the saddle which she bought in the Netherlands and loved a lot, but also that it was pitch black outside and we had to make the way home on our bikes nearly blind. This was kind of dangerous but also really funny. It took us about 45 minutes (not 25). Sabine was really happy to see us home safe.

That's it from me. We have to leave in  few minutes and Hannah is already beginning to cry (although we promised each other not to do so). At least we know we´re going to meet again in about two and a half month when our famlies will get to know each other. Love you people. Hannah will go over this part of the post later and not only correct me so you think my English is quiet awesome but I guess she will also cut out the parts she doesn't like (which will mostly be when I'm saying mean things about her). That's why you will never know what a beast Hannah really is and I can´t even be sure that you will read this. Good bye!

I left Clara's part pretty much unedited and only added a few commas because her English is superb and she's adorable. So so happy I got to see my Cler again and cannot wait for the next time!!

Liebe Grüße von Hanni und Clari❤️