What Have I Been Doing Lately?

I know, I know.  I haven't posted in what, three days?  Don't get me wrong, lots has happened, I just haven't had the time (or the mood) to write about it!  This seems to be happening a lot lately.  Sorry...  But part of it is your fault!  I hardly ever get comments anymore, and I feel like I'm writing to myself.  But maybe you don't comment because my posts are boring because I never feel like writing.  So maybe it's my fault after all. ;) Anyway...

Friday at school was a boring day, for the most part.  We got our tests back in English, and I got a 1 plus (35/35.)  Yay!  I know, it's English, but still.  Also, the teacher shared everyone's grade for the semester.  She said their name out loud, and they could say if they wanted to hear their grade or not.  If they didn't want everyone to hear, they could say no and went out in the hall later.  At the end of the list, the teacher told me that I don't technically get grades, but if I did get a grade she would give me a 1.  Yay! :) However, EGE and religion were really boring.  So boring, in fact, that I filled in an entire page with the lyrics of Counting Stars by One Republic.  It's my current favorite song. :)

When I got home from school, my cousins (did I tell you the twins came to visit?) were napping.  They did so until about four, so I had three hours to do pilates and unpleasant things like that.  When they woke up, I then played with my cousins.  I was super excited to hear that they remembered open and closed.  I taught them that the last time they were here!  It's life knowledge that they'll have forever, and I TAUGHT IT TO THEM!  I'm awesome. ;) They also got better at my name.  Finja pointed at me a couple times and said excitedly, "Jaja!"  That's my name from now on.  It's pronounced 'Yaya' because Julia is pronounced Yulia in German.

After the twins went to bed, I went up into the tree fort with Erin.  I now have a few more scratches.  We also had a water fight by chasing each other around the yard with my grandparents' watering cans.  It was awesome, and we were soaking wet by the time we were done.

Saturday was the first day of summer.  Not really, but it felt like it!  It's July, people!  Give us some SUN already!  The weather has been rainy and not warm lately, which we can all blame on my mom.  Every time she comes to Germany, the weather's rainy and cold.  We call it 'Riki Weather.'  We played with my cousins outside, and
Erin and I also biked into town to buy myself a pair of hipster sunglasses. :)

At two, Lisa came over and my mom drove us to the CaLevornia pool for Nadine's birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  I LOVE to swim.  Unfortunately, a lot of the conversation of my friends involved people I didn't know, or I just didn't plain understand what they were talking about.  So while they chatted, I was perfectly content to play fish for a while.

Nadine's mom had set up a table at the pool with tons of junk food.  It was AMAZING.  There was cake, Berliner (jelly donuts), Amerikaner (don't know how to explain those), mini chocolate muffins, a Haribo specialty box and Maoam.  I ate way too much and loved it. ;)

At one point, while Nadine, another girl and I stopped for a snack, the others ran ahead up the stairs for the slide.  Before we could catch up, a big group of about ten twelve-year-old boys ran up the stairs.  All of my friends were asking them to let us in front so we could all go together, but they refused.  And so we used the only advantage we had....

"Please, come on, she's an exchange student from America and hardly understands German!  Please?!"   I stood there acting like I understood nothing.  And yes, they let us go.

Ya-yuh! ;)

We continued to eat the Haribo gummy bears and other things on the bus ride to Nadine's house, where we would be camping in her backyard.

First we ate a dinner of hamburgers, and then we all went to the little kid playground in Nadine's neighborhood, which was fun.  We got back at around 9:30 and then played a board game.  We goofed off for a while, and then the rest of the group decided they wanted to walk to the nearby gas station.  It was 1 in the morning.  I was the only one who stayed and decided to try and sleep.  It didn't really work.  When they got back, they pulled all their sleeping bags outside, and I joined them.  It was really cool.  The air was fresh but not too cold, and we were all just lined up in our sleeping bags, chatting under the stars.  I think we all eventually fell asleep at around 3.  This is the latest I have ever stayed up at a sleepover.  A few of my friends (you know who you are) might remember a sleepover where I tried to sleep and ended up getting a mustache drawn on my face...

We woke up at about 9:45, ate breakfast, goofed off a little more, and then went home.  I was exhausted.  I still am exhausted.  I spent about two hours with Finja and Louisa, and then they drove home.

Here are some pictures from my weekend:

Camped out by the back door :)

When playing with the water, you could pour water and Louisa would put whatever she was holding at the time underneath it :)

 Nothing beats a baby's laugh! :D

I have more pictures of both the party and of Finja (you can only see Louisa here), but they're on my other memory card and I don't feel like finding it.  Yep, that's right.  I have taken so many pictures during my trip that I have to switch memory cards! :)

I hope you're all having a great summer! :)

P.S. Rose and Sarah, post something!!!  I check your blogs every day! :)

German word of the day: Müde.  Pronounced MEU-duh.  It means 'tired,' for tired I am!  It's like jet lag all over again!

The Sunflower Project: They're getting big!  Except for that one sick one, that almost nonexistent.

The remains of what once was a sunflower...