#67 Week 35 Soccer game and already 8 months

Hey guys,

another week is over and this week it was 8 months since I have been here! :O so long! :)

Tue, March 10^th

Today was a very special day :) I had to get up at around 6.15am and leave home at 7.10, Why?!

We had my first soccer game today – we that is the open soccer school team :) We met at the train station at 7.40 and caught the train at 8.05 to Turramarra, which is part of Sydney I think.. Well, we had to change trains and then get another bus, so in the end we travelled around 2 hours, hahah. We arrived at Turramurra High school pretty close to the games start and quickly got changed and into our soccer boots and shin pats and started the game. I was number 11 :)

thats us - the lisarow lizard team :)

I started on the left defence and also played in the front in the end. :) The other team was really good and unfortunately we lost 10:0. I know this sounds like we were really, really bad, but it was our first game and we had never played together or actually trained.. We all did our best and tried hard and had fun, so I think this is the most important thing! It was an amazing experience for me and I hope we have an other game :) I really like our team, and we had a great time! :)

My shirt :)

We played from 10.20 to 10.40 (approximately, I don’t know the exact times) and it was pretty hot and we started sweating really bad really soon. After a little while heaps if students from the other High school came down to watch the game and they were cheering really loud, which actually was quite annoying but yeah..

We caught the bus and the 2 trains back and arrived at Lisarow at 2.20pm.

Back at home I had a shower, played my clarinet and worked on Makayla's birthday present :) Her birthday is on Monday and I am doing something very special for her :) She is going to have her birthday dinner this saturday, before her birthday, and I am really excited!!! :)

Because today is tuesday, and tuesday is going to be my cooking night, I asked Robyn if she could teach me how to do Peanut butter chicken, which is my favourite dish I think :) It is sooo yummi! So I did it with her help and it is so good!! It is a microwave dish, but I am sure you can do it in the pan as well, I might change the recipe a bit, haha :)

We, March 11^th

Maths in the morning again of course and then we had a program called “Ryda”. It was the whole day and it is a program about Road safety and safety driving which is compulsory and you have to do it to get you HSI. We went to Wyong Racecourse and were divided into 4 groups. All together it was 6 sessions or 6 different topics we had and I thought it was quite interesting and good. We had heaps of fun and I learned some things that I am going to work on when I can do my driving licence.

After school I did some homework and worked on Makayla's present ;)

And at 6.30 I had band again of course :) I always have dinner before band, between 5.30 and 6pm and I love my wednesday dinner!! :) Toast with vegemite mostly or some avocado with tomato and spinach, yum! “Gotta love your dinner, haha” :) It is such a routine to have my dinner on a wednesday early and to have toast :)

Thursday, March 12^th

HAPPY 8 MONTHS! :)

Yes, I know, time goes so fast, but it is 8 months today since I came here to Lisarow and met my amazing second family :) <3 I cant believe it is already 8 months, and this is something very special for me – one side, a very, very long time of course, but the 8 also looks like sign for infinity doesn’t it? :)

Well, yeah 8 months very long time :) But it also means that I am going to have to go home in less than 2 months and this makes me very sad.. :'( Don't get me wrong, I cant wait to come home and see my mum and dad, Alex and Philipp my grandparents, my friends and the other family again but when I left home I knew I would come home.. but when I have to leave Australia I don’t know when I am coming back and this makes me really sad. More and more people are talking about me leaving now, asking me when, if I am happy to go home again and these questions.. “How long do you have now?” “Not long isn’t it?” I think I know what the hardest part of the exchange year is, it is having to leave, your new second live.

Today at recess Holly asked me how I feel about going home soon (it is more than 1.5 months still!!) and I told her how I felt about it and she said something beautiful! ”Just say and think you are going on an other exchange, you are going on exchange to Germany!” And this is exactly how I am going to think about it now! :)

But I DONT want to think about it now, so thats enough!!!

I did a little card for my host family because of 8 months and stuff and put it on the table just before I left in the morning to go to early morning classes :)

Em had the Gosford High tests today as well and I think and hope she did pretty well! They are tests to go to a special, selective high school :)

IN Food tech we had our cooking assignment today, where we had to cook our meal for a special persons where we did the case study for as well. I did it about EM and cooked Spaghetti Carbonara but I put some carrots, peas, corn and tomatoes in it as well and it turned out really good :) Here is the recipe

Yum, makes me hungry, haha :) My own creation of spaghetti carbonara :)

After school I had swimming again and Em didn’t go today because she was so tired from the tests and stuff. We did heaps of butterfly today and backstroke as well.

Fr, March 13^th

It has been raining the whole night and pretty heavy, so heavy tha ti woke up at lie 5am and was kind of scared, haha. Today was one of these days when you get up, it is a grey sky and dark day and you just know this is going to one of these days when you don’t really want to go to school and school will be boring and go really slowly..

Yeah, Robyn drove me and Em to school, because it was raining to heavy to walk and the first thing I hd to do was to hand in my food tech assignment before 8.30am. This is a rule for assignments for seniors and if you are only 2 min late, it is too late!

First period was Food tech, and because we had our cooking prac yesterday for our assignment we did a little bit of work and then watched a documentary about cocoa beans. Pretty interesting!

In English we did some work and re-watched part of the movie “Dead poets society”.

Chemistry was good, we started our new topic about metals and SLR was yoga time :) Last period business studies was a bit stresses, because we have our exam soon and Sir was away and yeah.. There was some catching up to do!

We spent lunch at the drama room with Emily, Holly, Felicity, Sarah and Sophi and Holly found these pink feathers which she put in our hair, haha :) Pretty funny!

So all in all the day was better than I thought!

On the way to Ems school I talked to Makayla whi was sick today which made the day even better!

After school I finished makayla's birthday present and at 5pm Becci brought Kate and Lexi over for a little while. :)

I cooked dinner tonight again – Salmon and Chips, or Quinoa and salad for me and robyn. :)

Yumm

We watched a movie called Sliding Doors which as really good!

Sa, March 14^th

We had a nice sleep in today, but I woke up at lie 7.40 but stayed in my bed until 9 or so haha :)) It was a beautiful day today and when I got up I felt so much like going outside and so I decided to go for a quick walk down the hill and up again for like 15 min or so. :) Was very good! I had breakfast then and started doing my “Abschiedsbuch” for my friends here. I am going to do it from the other side so I wil have my german and Aussie friends in the same bok, which I ithink is great! :)

My book cover :)

:)

At like 12 o'click Greg Robyn and Em left to go and do some things but I prefered to stay at home to do my abschiedsbuch and study some business studies. I first did some Handstands and stuff outside haha, then some of my Abschiedsbuch, the front cover, washed the dishes and some Business :)

Makayla had her birthday dinner today as well – her birthday is on monday – but she had it today and we all went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner! It was sooo yummi, I love Chinese food since now! :) It was the first time after I while I ve been to a Chines restaurant and I didn’t like it back at home in germany, but now I think it is delicious!

I made this special photo book for Makayla and she really liked it, which made me so happy! :) I really wanted to give her something special and I think or hope it was :)

We all had very much fun and took lots of photos, here are some :)

Me, Abbey and Sarah

Selfie time :)

:)

It was a very very good night! And I am so glad I have found such amazing friends!

After the restaurant some, I think we were 8, went back to her house and went for a swim in her spa, which was really nice :) Greg came and picked me up around 11pm and we talked a bit to Makayla's parents and yeah, very nice birthday! :)

Swag :)

In the spa :)

Su, March 15^th

Greg and Robyn had planned to go out for a drive today, but unfortunately it was raining really heavy the whole day and so we couldn’t go out....

We had a day at home and yeah.. I studied more of business which is sooo much and watched revenge – a really good series, which I had catch up – and had a relaxing day.

I also finished doing the brownies I 'll take to school for Makayla for her birthday tomorrow and went out for a walk in the afternoon. :)

Brownie :)

It was really nice after the rain, I love the air after the rain and I also talked to Juli, my friend who lives in Pottsville at the moment – it was so nice to talk to you – made my day! :) I also prepared our dinner - we had our traditional cheese and bikes.

Cheese and Bikkies :)

Mo, March 16^th

Today was a great day!! Why? There are sooo many reasons!

After being a bit sad yesterday, I wasn't really looking forward to going to school, but it proved I was wrong!

I walked to school in the morning as usual and it was very nice, which made me feel a bit better already. I baked some brownies for Makayla and was really looking forward to surprising her, haha :) Ar roll call, or just before Jade came to me and told me Mrs Bennett (deputy principal) wants to see me immediately..Omg, what did I do?!

She talked to me about reports and stuff, so things I might need for my school back at home in Germany (as I sad everybody is talking about when I leave now..:'( ). She said, she is going to get me my rosa results (like a year 10 report, but very important) and yeah, really nice! She also asked me if I want to go on the year 7 camp this thursday, haha :) I am going to go and Makayla can come with me, so cool! MRs Bennett is the best!!! It is going to be a great day, haha :) It is like and outdoor camp and it is going to be different games and stuff, haha :)

But yeah, back to school. We had food tec first (finished watching a movie) and english second. Ebony and I really wanted to have a sleepover, but unfortunately there won't be enough time so, we were planning o do it on a weekday, like go to her house after school so excited Ebdogs!! :) <3

Yep, and then at Recess I had the brownies for Mikki for her as a birthday cake :) She really liked it, haha - I hope :)

Birthday girl :) She cut the brownies of course and we sang a little happy birthday to her. :)

I also gave her my “Abschiedsbuch” or “Memory book”, a little book where all my friends can write in and I ll read it on the plane back home and she is taking care of it – thanks a lot! <3 And happy birthday again, Mikki!

Next two periods were Maths (new teacher, because our teacher is in America on holidays now) and Chemistry where we did some Metal equations :)

At lunch we ate some more of the brownies and last was SLR. We went in the gym and did this new method thing. We went on the bikes and did some power riding for 7 sec and then 53 sec rest and this 8 times. Yeah, apparently really good. Haha, and the left over time was fun time. :)

After school I did some homework and had clarinet lessons at 5pm. :) On the way home we also took the car through the car wash, and it is this funny bubble gum smell and colour, haha :)

Car wash :)

Dinner :)

So, thats the post about this week – week 35 :)

I know, it sounds like everything is perfect and wonderful here – and it is most of the times – but there are of course some times when I am sad, miss home or am just a bit upset. I usually don’t write about it on my blog, because you always remember the nice things better than the others of course :) But a couple of people asked me about his, so I thought I better write it down for everybody :) I don’t want to make it sound bad now, but I think you understand if I say, everybody has some good days and some days that aren't as good, when you are a bit sad and you start thinking about everything and why and stuff. Well I have those days as well of course.. Yep, enough now, haha :) So my point is, there are of course some moments when you are upset, it is just important to know it I think!

Love, Sophi xxx

#66 Week 34 School photos, less than two months and Autumn...

Hey guys

this time the post will hopefully be on time and not the week later :P

Su, March 1^st

Nooo!!! Summer is over! Today is the first day of autumn... :( I cant believe SUMMER IS OVER!!! But it is supposed to a very warm autumn, yeah! Summer apparently was really warm this year – the average temperature and lots of days were over 20 degrees even at night! But we didn't have really hot days here this year, which everybody says is good, I would have liked then though, haha ;)

But yeah. We all slept until about 9am today and went to Newcastle at around lunchtime. I thought we would go earlier but yeah.. We left at quarter to twelve and it was so HOT when we left. Around 30 degrees and the top was 34 or so. We drove through Swansea and saw really nice – beautiful – beaches on the way!!! :) We had lunch at a restaurant right at the beach at Merewether. So beautiful! I think the beach was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen! I had a delicious salad with prawns for lunch *-*

My salad!! :)

What an amazing beach *-*

:)

Selfiee!!

Surfing Competition

We stayed there until around 3pm and drove then to Newcastle. After a while Em and I realised that there was a surf competition on and it was so much like the competition in the movie “Soul surfer”, well to me, haha :) I felt like I was in the movie. All the young kids surfing and hearing the beep sound and yeah :) But it was getting darker and darker and we could see the storm clouds coming so we didn't go out and just drove around a little bit and then came back home at round 5pm. It had been raining here at Lisarow, but fortunately the towels I had hung out before we left were dry! ;)

Newcastle :)

It was a very nice day and I loved it, especially the beach!!!

Mo, March 2^nd

When I got up today in the morning it was really nice and sunny morning but it got pretty cold school today, haha. In SLR our teacher was't here so we got a casual teacher and played Basketball and soccer instead of running – pretty good I reckon :) Mrs Heaps asked me today if I want to be a score keeper for the game on Wednesday, really cool! I hope I can do this! It would be really cool, but I would miss

After school back at home I did some homework and then I got a message from Makayla asking me if I want to come to pizza in tonight for dinner. What a question – of course! And thankfully Greg and Robyn said yes – they are the best parents!!!:)

Greg drove me to Clarinet Lessons as usual and on the way home he dropped me at Makayla's house where we – Makayla, Hannah and I, waited until her parents came home to go to the restaurant :) It was really, really good! Ot was “all you can eat pizza” and they were coming around offering us different pizzas – from Cheese pizza with and without garlic, chicken, Australia pizza (bacon and egg), meat-lovers.. everything! And even dessert pizza!! This is a nougat base with custard and icing sugar, haha, taste like a thick crepe, really good, but I was so full, so I just tried a little bit :) 

Dessert piza :)

Some other pizza ;)

we drove back home to Makayla's house and then a little bit later when Makayla's mum came back they took me home and Makayla was driving, hahah, so cool! :) She told me about “revenge” a tv series, which is supposed to be really good! Thats wheat robyn says as well :) So cool, it is on Monday, but we are taping it and i'll watch it tomorrow or so :)

Tue, March 3^rd

Tuesday means “three periods tuesday” yeah! :) So I had English, Business and SLR (sport) today. We did some writing work in english, which is now getting pretty similar to what we were doing back at home in Germany last year – analysing and interpreting texts. Our teacher wasn't there again in SLR and we had another teacher instead and played basketball and some different games with the basketball :)

After school me and my friends went down to Maccas but I didn't stay very long, because I had some stuff to do for this afternoon and I don't get anything to eat and yeah..

Back at home I facetimed with my best friend Sophia Marie in Canada ( heyy :) ) whci was awesome!!! <3 <3 :* I miss you so much! But facetime is great!! And then did some homework and especially packed my parcel I am going to send home soon with some stuff like books and the junior uniform and stuff.. I have to hurry up because it takes like 4 months or so..

I also cooked dinner – spagehtti carbonara – because that's wahat Robyn said yesterday if I go out I have to cook dinner hahha ;)

Wed, March 4^th

I could sleep “longer” today, because I didn't go to Extension in the morning. Why? Mrs Heaps asked me on Monday if I would like to be the scorer for a netball game today and I said yes of course. I was going to try out for the team, but Mrs Heaps said, they only take people who have played for ages but she remembered that me and this is very nice! So yeah, first 2 periods I was the scorer. Sarah made it into the team and so she picked me up halfway in the morning, which was very nice! Our School played against Gosford high and unfortunately we lost by 3 points.. Really sad, but they played really well!!! It was so nice from Mrs Heaps to ask me if I want to score and it was so good to see a whole netball game and how it works – competition and stuff :)

We came back to school at 10.40, for recess. Next was SLR where we did some power Yoga again – I really like yoga actually, it is really fun!!! :)

Next Chemistry where we did a prac which was good, haha, but I was getting so tired.. We compared the properties of a compound to the ones of its elements to see if they are similar or different – we found out: totally different! We used Magnesium oxide, Magnesium and Oxygen and it was a good experiment!

Last period was food tech, were we did some work and watched a short video.

It was a bit rainy and overcast in the morning but after school it was realy hot and humid and kind of weather where you don't want to walk a lot, haha. Well luckily I only had to walk to Ems school and then Greg came to pick us up :)

I almost finished packing my parcel to send home, I did the vacuum bag thing, I put my old uniform and 2 beanie bears in it and now I just need to push it down and tape the box. I really oped to send it away today, but Greg couldn't drive me to the post office, so I hope we can do it on Friday at the latest! Because it still takes like 3 or 4 months, which would be June or July.. I should have done it earlier, but well, can't change it anymore..

In the evening there was a meeting at Lisarow High School for the year 6 parents and so greg and Robyn went there. I thought I wouldn’t be able to go to band, but luckily I did! Greg came home at around 6.40pm and drove me there and so I still had about an hour of band – yeah!! :)

Thur, March 5^th

Today in the morning I had Maths extension again and it was really dark when I got up and really foggy – but nice foggy – when I walked to school. I have to say I love maths extension, it gives the day something very interesting and special and it makes the week go faster, haha :)

Selfie at school :)

In Chemistry we got our results of our test back – It was just a small in class test and we actually had seen the whole test (it was a worksheet) before and we knew it would be exactly this sheet – and I got 41/41!!!! :D Soo cool! I think I was the only one who got it all right, really proud! :)) Chemistry is soo good! :)

I also got a note for a basketball game where I could go and be manager but unfortunately it is the same day as the “Crossroad excursion” which is a bout road safety and compulsory, so I am going there. I could choose, but I think Cross road is probably more important. Bad luck. :/

After school I had to stay because we had our first soccer training, really cool! Makayla is also in the soccer team which is AWESOME!!! :) We trained after school from 2.40pm till 3.25 or so and we had a like short game the open soccer team (me) against the under 15 years team. I played on the right midfield. But unfortunately it wasn't as good as I thought and to be honest my soccer skills are pretty bad :// But Sir said it was allright and he put me on the right defence in the team formation.

We are probably going to have our first game the following tuesday Oo... But I should be fine! Makayla and I said we are going to meet to train to improv our soccer skills. :)

Greg picked me up straight from school, because we had swimming on 3.30pm and we were a little bit late (my fault), but just a tiny little bit. Swimming was very good I am noticing how I am getting better and slowly picking up how to do the butterfly.

Back at home I did some homework – Maths and Business which I missed on Tuesday to catch up again.

Fr, March 6^th

Today was photo day! :) We all got a photo taken for the student ID card and also for us, if you buy them. We had to go to the hall in period two and then sit in our classes we had for this period (Business in my case) and then we got our photo taken in front of a blue background. They don’t take a year photo, just a photo of yourself. We were not allowed to wear earrings, necklaces and had to roll our sleeves down, haha. It was pretty interesting though. It is very very expensive to buy the photos, but I really want some, especially because you also get a book with a photo of everybody in your year which is great. They start from 30 Dollars and I got the second package for 37 which had also one big photo of me and some small ones for the purse or so. I really hope they arrive before I leave, but it takes about 8 weeks, it will be ver close. But my teacher said he will send them to me anyway ;)

Last period we had Food technology and we did this really good pasta bake with bacon, carrots and zucchini. We didn’t have enough time to bake in the oven and Miss said we could do it at home, but Makayla and I just ate it without baking and it was really good. We had cooked the bacon and stuff before, so all good! :)

Our Pasta bake :)

We are going to have our first soccer competition next tuesday and so Makayla and I decided we need to train! After school at like 4pm we met at the oval at school and stayed there until like 6pm or os and trained. Ben came a bit later as well and it was pretty good! We did some passing and stuff :)

Having fun :)

Greg picked me up at 6pm because he went to Bilo to get some Salmon for dinner and yeah :)

Back at home I played my clarinet a little bit and then cooked dinner :) Salmon and Chips/salad :) really yum, I love it!

Sat, March 7^th

We all had a sleep in today and we didn’t really do much in the morning, haha. I started coping stuff from my laptop onto DVDs because iy laptop is so full and I need more space! This took me very long and I still hadn't finish at the end of the day. Em had a birthday party at 1pm and Robyn took her there and then went to see Nan with her sister Debbie. Because nan is moving into a retirement I

village soon – at the beginning of April – they are starting to pack everything up and today they worked in the store room. She came home at 7pm and was very tired!! Understandable! Em came home after the birthday with her friend Emily who stayed until 7.30 or so.

I didn't have anything planned and was actually kind of upset and bored t have a fully free weekend but I did lots of stuff like homework and then around 2pm Makayla texted me if I want to go down to the soccer field to watch a game. I asked Greg and he said it is okay, and I went of course!! We met there art around 3.45 and the game started at 4pm. Some boys from school were playing and we watched almost the whole game. We left a little bit earlier and came home to my house. Makayla stayed until around 9 or 10pm because her parents had a BBQ party and picked her up on the way home. We had a great time watching the soccer game and then talking, talking, talking at home. :) Makayla you are the best!!! I showed her my Scap book I have done about my time here in Australia with all the photos and memories and I also told her bout my “Abschiedsbuch” which is a book where all my friends wrote in before I left I read in in the plane on my way here and loved the idea of it. I actually was thinking about it here as well a couple of nights before and she convinced me to do it and she said she is going to take care of it! This is so nice and beautiful and if you read this, you don’t know how happy this made me and how much this means to me!! You are such an amazing friend Makayla, thank you so much! <3 It is so great to have a such good and fantastic friend and we can just talk about EVERYTHING and I trust her, it is so nice!! :) I am actually getting very emotional now, that's how happy I am! And when we were looking at all my memories we both became very sad and had even tears in our eyes..

Okay thats enough now, haha :) I just want to say thank you for being such an amazing friend Makayla!!!

We – everybody Em, Greg, Robyn, Makayla and me - watched Mrs Doughtfire and we had our little party Cheese and bikkis for dinner. Well Makayla and I made us some toasties :) They were actually really good! :)

After Makaylas mum came to pick her up, Robyn and me had a very deep mother daugher talk, haha, until midnight or so :) But very good!

Su, March 8^th

We had another sleep in today and watched some of Ems baby videos from when she was born, her first birthday and yeah, really cute! :) I continued copying stuff onto the DVDs, did some more of my food tech assignment and yeah. I also helped Robyn with some washing and folding up, while watching a movie, haha :))

In the afternoon at around 4pm I facetimed my best friend Sophia Marie and we talked for ages, it was soo nice! Cant wait to see you when you come back in August!! <3 Best are the best and one of the most important things in your life! I am actually really really glad and thankful for my amazing friends, especially you! :*

Hahaha, your face!! :) <3

Around 8pm I got a call from Germany and it was from my mum's very good friend Anita. I couldn’t believe it was her at the beginning and it was so nice to talk to her! She is going to be my “Firmpatin” for my confirmation which i'll do when I come home. :)

Mo, March 9^th

School again after a very nice weekend. I don’t know why but I didn’t hear my alarm again and got up about 15 min late, but thats no too bad :)

Monday Week A is always a goo day, probably my favourite and sit was a good day today again. :) We got the date for our Chemistry test, okay thats not that good, but the rest of chemistry was great :) and in english, which was last, we got our Assigment Essay back and I actually didn’t expect a good mark, because I ran out of time and yeah.. it wasn't very good. But I was very surprised I got 12/15 and only 3 people were better in my class. Pretty proud haha :)

After school, we did some homework at home and around 4pm Greg took me and Em down to the post office and I could finally post my parcel to send home to Germany with some memories and my old uniform and of course a couple of packets of tim tams as well :) It was 11.2 kg , thats a lot, but it is going to be the only parcel I sent home and I am very glad I sent it because I will never be able to take everything home, but at least some memories will be at home for sure! It is going to take about 3 or 4 months, but it doesn’t matter!

We are having a soccer game tomorrow, which I am really excited about, but the problem was I didn’t have proper soccer boots but luckily Greg and Robyn called some friends and when we came home they were on the door, thank you!!

Love you lots,

Sophi xxx

# 65 Week 32 and 33 Swimming Carnival, Cyclone, Skype and my first surfing experience in Australia!

Hey guys,

here is the next post :) Time goes so fast, I know! This week we had our swimming carnival, which was a great day! I won't tell you yet, what it is, so read until you find it out :) Well, actually if you want to know if before, scroll down and look on the left side, because I made a little dictionary with explanations to some words, which I had been asked for a while and yeah :)

:)

I was a bit lazy at the weekend so I'll post the post today, one week later, haha :)

Mo, February 16^th

Today was a great normal school day, haha :) But here still some interesting and great things that happened. The first was in the morning when I saw Makayla and she told all about her trip to Mount Kosciusko – Australia's highest mountain and it was very nice to have her back – I missed her even though she only wasn't at school for one day :D

At Recess Makayla accompanied me to the basketball court where there were some Footsel try outs – this is indoor soccer. I am so glad Makayla came with me and I played a little bit and Mr Lewry said that I have a chance :) But unfortunately they don't start until the end of april, so it is probably not going to work.. But I also put my name down for Open Soccer and i'll try everything, haha :)

Last period was SLR again and we did a some kind of Circuit, which was pretty hard! We had 30 min to do it as many times as possible. There were 5 stations: 20 Squads, 10 Push ups, 40 Russian twists, 10 times throwing a very heavy ball and running outside down and up the driveway. IT was pretty hot outside, over 30 degrees so as you can imagine it was very hot! I did it 7 times and I was pretty pround of me and even Mr Rumples said it was very good ! :)

SLR :)

After school I jumped into the pool and then did some homework. I had clarinet lesson and five which was great, because I learnt heaps of new practising tricks and tips :)

Tu, February 17^th

Today was a very good day again :) We had only three periods and then the free afternoon.

In SLR, which we had third, we did yoga again, haha :) Pretty funny!

Makayla, Ebony, me and Ben went down to Maccas after it where we stayed until 2. I had my own lunch haha and watched them eating.. :P We talked a lot, I don't remember about what, haha but it was pretty good! 

Selfie at Maccas

It took more than 30 min to walk home, because it was soo hot!

In the afternoon I played my clarinet, did some homework.. :)

We, February 18^th

I had Maths in the morning today again and so I got up at 6am. It was really dark and you notice that the days are getting shorter.

Sunrise :)

At school we were so exited for the swimming carnival tomorrow, haha. And it was pretty hot today again. In SLR our teacher was not there and so we played basketball, packman and some kind of running game.

Wednesday is band day and so I had band of course. We were only 2 clarinets today, but it was still very good! We planned my farewell band party as well, which made me a bit sad, but also happy that I have found such a good “bunch of people!. :) we are going to to have a BBQ, play Cricket and soccer, go ice skating, to the Schnitzelhaus for dinner and movie. Sounds like a lot I know!

Thur, February 19^th

Today was the day of the Swimming Carnival! I have been waiting very long for this because I had heard all these amazing stories about dressing up and stuff and yeah, I could experience my first (and probably only) swimming carnival in Australia! And to be honest I wasn't disappointed! It was great!

We had to be at Gosford Pool at 8.30am and I met Ebdogs at the gate and we went in together. We got dressed into our skirts, tops and Hawaiian necklaces,.. and all our stuff and started wondering around. Shortly after we met Makayla and Sarah and we pretty much stayed together the whole time. Lots of people were dressed up in their house coloures and especially the year 12s were really good!

The first races were the competitive ones like 50m Butterfly, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, 200m everything (50 Butterfly, Breaststroke, Freestyle and Backstroke). After these races the next one was the Mintie races where everybody could participate in. You could win some Minties (lollies) – that's were the name comes from :) We were also allowed to take our cameras underwater – here some photos :)

Before we jumped it..

After roll call – we were only 24 year 11 students out of 159, hahah :) - there were the 50m competitive and social races.

The Pool :)

Me, Sarah, Makalya and Eb <3

<3 <3

Social means that everybody can do it and it is just for fun to go into the pool, because there is no free swimming time. I did the social freestyle and backstroke together with Eb and Makayla. For the last one which was breaststroke I decided to participate in the competitive one. I actually dont know how I was so brave to do it, haha , but I did it, surprising all the teachers and some others haha :) I am not a very fast swimmer and had never had swimming lessons before I came here ( I could win of course) but I was thinking it is once in my lifetime and “YOLO” (You only life one, haha). And I am really glad I did it! It was such a great experience! We got to wear caps in our house colour (yellow) and it was like in a real race, the beep sound when you have to jump :) I cam fourth, haha, last but I was just so happy that I did it and got the experience. I even got a thing saying 4^th :) So proud, haha :)

A bit later, our house captains were looking for people to to do the senior Raleigh and they asked ME :) In the end it was Makayla, Sarah, me and an other girl. We came 3^rd out of 4 but I was pretty happy, haha :)

In the end there was also a teacher Raleigh race, which was pretty funny – 6 teachers against 6 students of each house. They won, but still so good! :)

All the races and the amount of people that participated sum up to a score and our house, Dunk, won it in the end! Yeah! Dunk, Dunk, Dunk!!! :) It was very, very good and I loved it how so may people dressed up and the house spirit is just amazing!

Yes, so this is a short summary of the swimming carnival! I love it and I think at home in Germany we have missed out of the best days, haha :)

Yellow and green :)

In the afternoon Em and I had swimming, haha. So much swimming today! I am really tired! Unfortunately I had to do some homework and research for our English Assesment which is due next monday.

I am sure I'll sleep good tonight!

Fr, February 20^th

We were all pretty tired today at school, because of the swimming carnival yesterday.

But it was still a pretty good day. We cooked this Pasta Salad with chicken and zucchini and it was actually pretty good, haha. I even ate the zucchini ;)

In Maths we did some of the harder maths stuff, our first real extension things and it was pretty good, I like it!

After school we went to a place to get x rays of Ems teeth because she is going to get braces :P
Back at home I did some school work and started watching a movie but I didn't finish it..

I cooked dinner – salmon, yum! And we watched a movie called “return to me” on a video, haha :)

I don't know if you have hard about “Marcia” the zyklone, but it is a pretty hard one, it was rated the hardest level it could be – grade 5 and it is one of the worst that has ever been here in Australia. The main zone where it hit ground was in Yapoon in Queensland but even the north part of NSW got heavy rain. And it was double hard, because at the time it hit ground, it was kind tide, so the water was even higher! Heaps of schools were close yesterday and one my friends who lives near the boarder to QLD at the moment didn't have to go to school either – I hope you are fine Juli!

Sa, February 21^st

Today I could finally sleep in, haha, I slept until 9 or so and stayed in bed until 10am :P When I got up Greg told me that some branches of one of the trees of the neighbours came down. And indeed it looked pretty bad :/

We stayed outside and talked to the neighbours for a while and came back in at about 12pm.

... the tree half broken..

After playing my clarinet I started looking through all my stuff I had, all my paper stuff to see what I can scan in to take home, because I am not going to be able to take it all home on paper and so I am starting to scan it in because it is heaps! Clarinet notes, school notes I want to take home,...

After lunch em and I went for a little walk just to go outside and yeah :) it was pretty good and it was nice to spend some with Em, because in the last few weeks she was a bit busy doing her homework and on her computer...

We had our typical Cheese and bickies for dinner and watched Cars 2. I wasn't that happy when I heard we were watching it, but it wasn't too bad..

Su, February 22^nd

Today in the morning EM and I did breakfast for Greg and Robyn. We did Bacon and Egg and it was pretty good, haha :)

At 11am Em went to her friends house to play and I stayed at home to look through all my stuff and prepare for my English Assignment tomorrow..

It was raining the whole day, so I couldn't go outside and do much and so it was a day at home.. A bit boring sometimes but yeah.

:)

Some photos i took :)

In the early afternoon I went outside to take some photos and yeah and I was taking some jumping photos, when I saw something moving close to my hand – about 10 cm. I looked again, but couldn't really see anything. But curiously as I am I looked again and jumped away!

I got my phone out and took a video before going into the house and telling greg. He came outside but the snake was gone. I showed him the video and he said it was a Swamp snake, a tiny little snake. But I was still scared haha :)

Skype with my family :))) I love youuu!

Mo, February 23th

School again... I actually did not feel like going to school today, but yeah, we kind of have, don't we? Em and Robyn are both really sick unfortunately so they both stayed at home today and went to the doctor. I hope they get better soon! Their cough is really bad.. :/

At school, we had roll call in the hall today which is getting annoying... don't ask me why but now I can slowly understand why most of the people don't like it..

I had Food tech first and we got our assignment for week 7 which is really weird, but i'll write about it another day. Next period was business which was pretty much just writing and writing, but good! Then Chemistry and then Maths which was really good! I just love maths so much, haha. We did our first real extension bit today, in equations with variables in the lower part of the fraction (forgot what this part is called, it is Nenner in German) Oo

At recess and lunch everybody was pretty much freaking out about the english essay we were going to write next (5^th period). It went all right in the end but unfortunately I didn't have enoguh time to write and was a bit disappointed by myself because I had so many great idea.. But you cant change it anymore.. Let's hope it wasn't to bad.

At lunchtime Ella and Makayla asked me if I want to come to Tuggerah with them to hand out some of Ella's resumes (she is looking for a job) and so I texted Greg and he said yes, which was great! Thank youu! We caught the bus to Tuggerah, handed her resumes out and then caught the bus back just before 5pm. It was a pretty good arvo and I am glad I went. :)

We had a really yummy dinner today, haha, pork medallions with baked sweet potato , corn and quinoa – delicious!

Tue, February 24^th

Happy happy birthday mamita! Te deseo un feliz cumpleanos y que pases un dia hermoso con mucho amor, felicidad, sol que sea un lindo dia! Yo no puedo estar con tigo en alemania, pero siempre tu siempre estas en mi corazon y tu saben que yo siempre estoy con tigo! Te quiero mucho, mamita! Feliz cumpleanos! :*

Well, as you can probably read – even I f you can't read spanish – it is my mums birthday today :)

And it was also a very good day for me :)

Tuesday is the short tuesday which is really good, haha. Three periods only is pretty good and they go over so quick :) 

After the 3 periods whci were English, SLR and Business Makayla and I went down to Maccas where we met about 5 other girls and sat down for a while. But because I never ear anything and I was hungry it was pretty hard to watch them eat their food and so I decided to go home after a while. I had to do some homework and stuff and also wanted to continue doing my scrab book and some other things :) it was a very nice half an hour and I still had lots of time at home, perfect!

I finished doing the scrab book about the swimming carnival, Sydney, Australia day... I had to glue the photos in I printed out on the the week end. I also did lots of homework so I wont have to do as much tomorrow and read some more of my book, actually pretty much, about 100 pages :)

We, February 25^th

Omg, you don't know what today to me! I put my alarm on 6am yesterday and checked it and stuff and it worked all the time before! And today I woke up and was keen for maths and stuff until I looked on my phone! IT WAS 7.07AM!!! OMG! I was supposed to leave at about 7am!I got changed and ready to go in 10 min and had a banana for breakfast in the car, haha. As soon as I got up I had called bec to tell her I overslept and wouldn't make it to school in time and ask her if she could tell the teacher, but she said her mum could come and pick me up and so we made it to school just in time! Lucky me!

I have never overslept so it was the first time, but as Greg said, it can happen to everyone! I don't know why put my alarm didn't go off or I might not have heard it put it wasn't amy good! I hope it doesn't happen tomorrow again!

We had double math today so extension and first period and it was really good :)

Ebony and I yesterday found out that we are both reading the same book and are pretty much at about the same part of the book, which is really funny,haha :) It is the fault in our stars, I am sure you have heard about it – movie or book- it is an amazing book!!

We did some workout today again in SLR and in Chemistry some prac which was really funny because Bec, Sophie and me almost burned the plastic tube Oo. We did some experiment about the decomposition of Magnesium carbonate and yeah :)

SLR again.. :/

After school I stayed back because we were going to to the Soccer try outs but unfortunately it was raining really hard and so changed it to friday at recess. I really hope I am good enough to make it into the team, but we'll see. Almost every other girl plays soccer in the club and for a long time..

After our short meeting instead of playing I walked home but because it was raining Greg picked me up halfway- thank youuuu!!!

I did some homework in the afternoon and talked to Dine, a local coordinator from Sydney and she is really nice and had band again at 6.30pm.

Thurs, February 26^th

Today, I luckily got up in time, haha :) But I had to – I set me three alarms!! :)

It was really dark at 6am, and thats probably why I didn't wake up yesterday – the days are getting shorter.. :/

So yeah, it all went well, Bec picked me up half way and we arrived exactly at time for maths :) on the way until I met Bec, I rang my mum and dad at home to talk to them – because of your Birthday mami – and it was very nice to talk to them. You feel so close when you are talking trough the phone, it could just be like I am at my friends house or so :) Love it to talk to you :) :* It made my day!!

School was pretty good today, especially because I found out that I made it into the school futsal team, wohooo!!! :) And maybe the basketball team, i'll find out tomorrow :)

After school, we had swimming straight away again, which was really good :) Like always :) I decided to cook dinner tonight and I cooked Spaghetti Bolognese after Robyns recipe and I love it, haha :) I wrote the recipe down while I was cooking and I might put it on my blog as well, it is very easy!! :)

After dinner while we were all watching my Kitchen Rule (cooking show) I was texting my dad, because I was buying a new phone cover – a dust proof one and water resistant :) Why? Well one reason was I got a 20$ voucher from ebay which expired today and I was thinking about getting a more robust cover, but It was always to expensive.. well, no I only payed 13 dollars :)

Fr, February 27^th

Last day of this school week, yeah! Hahah, I am actually really excited for the weekend, because I am going to try surfing tomorrow and we are going to Newcastle on Sunday :)

I walked with Lucy today in the morning and met Ebony just before the school, because we had to go and see a teacher. He told me I can be the manager with him for the basketball team, and maybe also play in some games :) Yeah! This is really cool!

I had Food tec, English, Chemistry, SLR and Business studies today. We had a small test in Chemistry, but we knew we would have it and we even knew all the questions haha :) Pretty easy, but I am still unsure about a couple of questions.. In SLR we did Yoga again, Yoga-Friday, haha :)

At Recess we finally had the soccer try-outs. We were about 12 or 13 girls, mainly year 11 and 12 and we had match against some year 7. It was pretty funny, haha :)

After school, I was really puffed out and decided to read a little bit :) I finished reading “the fault in our stars”, which is an amazing book!!!! LOVE IT!!

Later I skyped with my best friend Sophia Marie in Canada and we decided to talk in English, because it is easier, haha. Pretty funny, haah :) It was great to talk to you and I can't wait to play Volleyball and Basketball with you :*

Later I interviewed Em, asked her some questions, because I am doing my food tec assignment about her :)

Just before 7pm, I realised I promised to cook dinner and totally forgot about it.. Oo haha, so I had to hurry up cooking it, but it was ready about 40 min later, Salmon of course :)

We started watching a move – Sweet home Alabama – but stopped it after 50 min because we were really tired.. Em slept in my bed this night, which was really nice :)

Sa, February 28^th

I got up around 7am today, because I was going to have my surfing experience here in Australia! So exited! Taylah, she is a family friend promised me a while a go to teach me surfing and we finally did it today! We got to her house around 9.15am and drove around 10 min to Shelly Beach. Shelly beach is a beautiful beach :) *-* We first waxed de surfboard a little bit and then went down to the beach.

Surfing, yeah!!! *-*

The waves were perfect, not to big but still big enough, haha :) IT was so much fun I stood up at almost every wave! Taylah is a great teacher! We had so much fun, but it was really exhausting so after a while we went out and went for a swim :) I took my underwater camera of course, but I forgot to put a SD card in.. so angry!!! :( But we had so much fun and sometimes it is nice not to take photos of everything. :)

Really cool, I hope I can try surfing soon again! :) Thank you so much Taylah, it was great!

Taylah had to go home at around 11.30 but went to cafe before and had a Mango Banana Smoothie, yum! When we were taking the surfboards back to the car, we met Emily, Greg and Robyn who went to the markets before and then to the beach :) So after Taylah left I went back to them and we stayed at the beach for another 40 min or so, where Em and I went for a swim. :)

When we came home, I did some homework and EM and I continued our movie, we are doing a movie, haha :)

We watched “Finding Nemo” at night and had our traditional Cheese and Bickies. :)

Su, March 1^st

Nooo!!! Summer is over! Today is the first day of autumn... :( I cant believe SUMMER IS OVER!!! But it is supposed to a very warm autumn, yeah! Summer apparently was really warm this year – the avergae temperature and lots of days were over 20 degrees even at night! But we didn't have really hot days here this year, which everybody says is good, I would have liked then though, haha ;)

But yeah. We all slept until about 9am today and went to Newcastle at around lunchtime. I thought we would go earlier but yeah.. We left at quarter to twelve and it was so HOT when we left. Around 30 degrees and the top was 34 or so. We drove through Swansea and saw really nice – beautiful – beaches on the way!!! :) We had lunch at a restaurant right at the beach at Merewether. So beautiful! I think the beach was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen! I had a delicious salad with prawns for lunch *-*

:)

Selfie :)

me and em :)

I had the most delicious salad!!!

We stayed there until around 3pm and drove then to Newcastle. After a while Em and I realised that there was a surf competition on and it was so much like the competition in the movie “Soul surfer”, well to me, haha :) I felt like I was in the movie. All the young kids surfing and hearing the beep sound and yeah :) But it was getting darker and darker and we could see the storm clouds coming so we didn't go out and just drove around a little bit and then came back home at round 5pm. It had been raining here at Lisarow, but fortunately the towels I had hung out before we left were dry! ;)

It was a very nice day and I loved it, especially the beach!!!

Mo, March 2^nd

When I got up today in the morning it was really nice and sunny morning but it got pretty cold school today, haha. In SLR our teacher was't here so we got a casual teacher and played Basketball and soccer instead of running – pretty good I reckon :) Mrs Heaps asked me today if I want to be a score keeper for the game on Wednesday, really cool! I hope I can do this! It would be really cool, but I would miss

After school back at home I did some homework and then I got a message from Makayla asking me if I want to come to pizza in tonight for dinner. What a question – of course! And thankfully Greg and Robyn said yes – they are the best parents!!!:)

Greg drove me to Clarinet Lessons as usual and on the way home he dropped me at Makayla's house where we – Makayla, Hannah and I, waited until her parents came home to go to the restaurant :) It was really, really good! Ot was “all you can eat pizza” and they were coming around offering us different pizzas – from Cheese pizza with and without garlic, chicken, Australia pizza (bacon and egg), meat-lovers.. everything! And even dessert pizza!! This is a nougat base with custard and icing sugar, haha, taste like a thick crepe, really good, but I was so full, so I just tried a little bit :) 

dessert pizza :)

we drove back home to Makayla's house and then a little bit later when Makayla's mum came back they took me home and Makayla was driving, hahah, so cool! :) She told me about “revenge” a tv series, which is supposed to be really good! Thats wheat robyn says as well :) So cool, it is on Monday, but we are taping it and i'll watch it tomorrow or so :)

Tue, March 3^rd

Tuesday means “three periods tuesday” yeah! :) So I had English, Business and SLR (sport) today. We did some writing work in english, which is now getting pretty similar to what we were doing back at home in Germany last year – analysing and interpreting texts. Our teacher wasn't there again in SLR and we had another teacher instead and played basketball and some different games with the basketball :)

After school me and my friends went down to Maccas but I didn't stay very long, because I had some stuff to do for this afternoon and I don't get anything to eat and yeah..

Back at home I facetimed with my best friend Sophia Marie in Canada ( heyy :) ) which was awesome!!! <3 <3 :* I miss you so much! But facetime is great!!

<3 <3

And then did some homework and especially packed my parcel I am going to send home soon with some stuff like books and the junior uniform and stuff.. I have to hurry up because it takes like 4 months or so..

I also cooked dinner – spagehtti carbonara – because that's what Robyn said yesterday if I go out I have to cook dinner hahha ;)

So, this was the post about week 32 and 33. :)

Love you,
Sophi