Here I am...YET AGAIN! I bet everyone is getting tired of these blogs.*haha* You still have 6 months left of them.

Alright so yesterday was a fun day! I slept until late for some weird reason and when I woke up it was lunchtime. They were setting up the table for lunch...how embarrassing. But noone cared that I had slept in. =) We ate noodles and the sauce that they put over it is not your regular RAGU tomato sauce. It had sausages and meats and who knows what else...It was AMAZING. So far, the food has been great. Probably not any healthier than McDonald's would be. But still...great! Besides, I always burn it off while I'm walking the dog over the hills and far away.

I also learned something REALLY cool. The doorbell rang before lunch and they told me to hurry and go to the door. I wasn't sure why...My guess was that THEY were too lazy to open the door so they sent me. When I opened there were 3 younger girls dressed up as The Three Kings and they began singing songs in German. Then Andy came downstairs and joined me. He brought along some euros to put in the girls' tin can. Their mother spoke in German and thanked us for the euros and explained where the money would go. Andy later explained that it is January the 6th, Day of the Three Kings. Cubans, as well as other hispanics, celebrate this holiday as well...but not as in depth as they do. When you close the door, the girls write with chalk on your door: 20CMB08...It stands for the year (20---08) and the names of the Three Kings. On this day people also grab a whip and make noise in their yards or patios for a while...This marks the end of Christmas and the beginning of Fasnet (carnivals). From now until the middle of February (apparently Fasnet is short this year) there will be carnivals and celebrations every weekend in every city and in different homes as well. People dress up in Costumes (kinda like Halloween) and drink or eat. I am going to Elchball with my friends Alex, Brita, Stefan, and Fabi on Friday. I wasn't aware that Elchball was actually a Fasnet carnival. I thought it was just a concert (alot of music and bands and liquor). So...That was my German lesson for yesterday. I also walked Aisha and found that ALOT of people were taking walks around the woods...Sunday is Family Day and everything is closed. Families spend time together. You are not allowed to mow the grass or make noise outside with drills or hammers. Isn't that nice? I wish the USA had a Family Day. I spoke to people that were walking around. So..I'm trying to improve my German.

Later last night, Nathalie and Alex came to pick me up. Nathalie lives in Tettnang and Alex lives in Friedrichschafen (different towns near Markdorf). They met my host-family and we left the house and met up with Fabi. Alex and Fabi don't speak English so we have Nathalie there to help us haha =) We were going to drink coffee but I ended up having ice cream with them because I wasn't sure what type of coffee to order. Stefan and Brita joined us at the "Eis Cafe San Remo" in Tettnang. After our ice cream ("eis") Brita suggested that we go play Billiards...so we did. Brita is pretty cool. She speaks English too so me, Nathalie and Brita can communicate. I can't speak to Stefan and Alex too well because they speak a weird German dialect. But I still hung out with the boys and we discussed Jack Daniel's whiskey and liquor in the USA. Haha don't ask how we managed to have conversations...There were alot of waving of the arms going around...and we brought a dictionary with us. HAHA We played billiards for about an hour and hung out. It was fun. I suck though. I make my own rules: make sure the WHITE ball goes in the hole". =D But somehow I kept winning. I think they let me cuz they felt bad for me. hehe.

Then they brought me home and that was the end of my night! =) Oh yeah...and Alex failed to mention that I need to wear a costume to Elchball...So now I have to find a costume.

Today was a slow day. I walked Aisha and met this old lady that lives a few houses down. She lives with her mother there and she was walking a 3-month old puppy named Meddox. Her name is Renate. =) She was very nice and spoke slowly so I can understand her. She spoke a bit of English and showed me the mountains and the Alps. We walked for a long time and then when we reached the next town by the woods, we turned around and went home. I also forgot to put on sneakers so I wore my house sandals/slippers with socks...Aisha dragged me into the mud (it had been raining earlier) so I walked home with a muddy, wet sock. *haha* Renate laughed at me. Then we arrived and decided to walk together tomorrow morning again.

After that I vacuumed the house a bit because that's my Monday and Wednesday job. It was quick because their vacuum is high-tech. =D Suzanne got home and made lunch. Andy and Tizian showed up and we all ate lunch (as usual). Then I played legos with Tizian for about 2 hours. I gave him Nuggets before bedtime (not chicken nuggets...they're german cereal nuggets). And after I put him to sleep, here I am! Writing in my journal and chatting with Nathalie online.

THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR TODAY! =) NEW PICTURES FROM YESTERDAY. ONLY A FEW ACTUALLY...