Recap, Reflection and Comparison

I am ashamed.  When was my last post?  Like, a month ago?  Crap.  That was NOT supposed to happen!  I've been busy with, as I like to say in German, "Zeug, Kram und Sachen."  Those are pretty much three different words for "stuff."  I may have also gotten a tad bit lazy.  Just a bit.  It's summer, after all!  And I do have to admit, I was getting a little burned-out from writing almost every day.  But yes, a month is definitely long enough of a break to take!  Since this is my last post probably EVER (gasp!) I know I should have posted sooner and gotten it done with, but instead I've left you hanging for a loooong time.

Let me begin with a recap.  I'll try to sum everything up as best I can, but I'm not promising that I'll remember everything.

Before and After: The Flight Home

I haven't posted in a long time!  Sorry about that!  A lot has happened since I showed you the pictures from our Holland trip, and I'll probably leave some stuff out in this post because I've forgotten already. :)

New Shirts!

Okay.  I know what you're thinking.  Did Julia go shopping again?  As a matter of fact, I did!  Just kidding.  I'll explain the title.

**On a random note, I went to bed at 8 pm yesterday because I was so exhausted after the birthday party :)

Surprise!

I have the best friends in the entire world.  It's a fact.  Let me tell you why...

I'm not going to tell you about school today because it was boring.  Oh, except for one thing: yesterday two kids in my class were singing the "Ain't nobody got time for that" song.  It was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Abi 2013

I'm not really sure how to start this post in a clever way, so I'll just start telling you about my day. :)

Since Lisa's bike was at her cousins' or something like that (long story; I don't remember much of it myself), we walked to school, even though the weather was nice.

Le Day d'Awesomeness

Turning fourteen must be magical, because I had an awesome day today.  Really, I haven't had such a good day at school in a while.

Today was really warm.  We get about three warm days before it gets cooler, then a little warmer again.  The weather is seriously confused.

At Least Volleyball was Better

After a fairly horrible day at school, volleyball was a pleasant surprise, for the most part.

Only nine people were there today, instead of the usual fifteen, because a lot of the players had beach practice.  This was really good because a) less pressure b) the coach can pay more attention to each individual and c) easier to talk to others and participate.

The Truth About Old People

Today was my grandpa's birthday. :) His is exactly one week before mine.

The morning was just a calm morning including breakfast, replacing old flower bouquets with new ones, and reading.  The first rose bouquet of the year has been picked. :) The last phase of flowers are starting to die, being replaced with the new ones, which is always exciting.

In late morning/early afternoon, we opened presents.  My grandpa got a book from my family, a book from my cousins, and a book from my grandma.  Yep, he likes to read.  I, however, deviated from the book theme and gave him this:

Volleyball Surprise

I don't feel like giving you the details of every single class today, so I'll just give you a brief description of each and then move on to the real subject of this post. :)

First was English.  Instead of taking a vocab test like we were supposed to (and I actually studied for this one!) we did more work with our novels.  The teacher told me "good work" for participating. :) We are reading a book in which a class at school plays the Color Game, where everyone randomly pulls a color that represents a social status, and they have to act out their social status at school and at home for four weeks.  Also, women are treated as the superior gender.  The point of the game was to show the students the prejudices and discrimination going on in society.  After discussing it in class, we might possibly do something like that!!! :D It would be just for a week or something, and also just at school, and not as extreme.  I think it would be super cool!

A Day of Participation

Today was the first Monday of school I've had in three weeks!  We've had Monday and Tuesday off from school for the past two weeks, and I have to say, I've really gotten used to the four-day weekend thing. :)

The First Day of Volleyball All Over Again

It's my third blog post today!  Lucky you! ;)

Today I rode my bike to volleyball for the first time.  It was really fun, and for some inexplicable reason I felt really cool.  Everyone bikes everywhere here, and I wish we could do that at home.

I got to volleyball about ten minutes early and was getting ready next to another girl from my team.  Then the coach came in and changed everything with these words: "You're going to play with the women today."  The women, as in the adults, as in the best.  Gasp sputter gulp.

Weather, Grammar and Cup Songs

After yet another glorious four-day weekend, I had to wake up early again to go to school.  As if this wasn't bad enough, the weather was disgusting.  Wet.  Cold.  Horrible.  Miserable.  It was raining really lightly, kind of misting, and coming from all directions.  By the time I had gotten to school by bike, my hair was wet, my hands were cold, and Lisa's glasses were covered in water droplets.

A Long But Great Day

Since I didn't write a blog post yesterday, I would just like to mention the random fact that I saw a kid scootering to school yesterday. :)

Anyway.  Today we went to the market again, but never fear, I have new things to tell you.  Mostly. :)

First I was given the task of unlocking the door and locking it again after we were outside.  I know, this sounds pretty darn easy.  At the beginning, I thought so too.

First Volleyball Practice

Oh, volleyball...  Where to begin?  How about a one-word summary:

Disappointing.

In the car, I was so nervous.  From what my mom had told me, I was expecting a group of girls way better than me.  I was prepared to show them what I could do and probably be worse than all the other girls.  Instead:

The Journey Begins... Or Does It?

It's Thursday!  I woke up at 5:30, insanely nervous for the airport adventure ahead.  After twenty minutes of lying in bed and wondering why no one was coming to wake me up (yes, I was already awake, but I wasn't planning on getting up until someone came), I decided to get dressed anyway.  After emotionally bracing myself all of yesterday, I was ready to board a plane and embrace the adventures waiting for me!