To all the faithful blog followers and all those who have prayed for Erica through the past year, thank you. I am  not sure if she will have time to send another blog entry before she comes home or not. She is currently in Dresden, Germany which is on the border to the Czech Republic. She will be there with a school group until the end of the week. She is excited because her great grandparents Mary & John Hornacek) immigrated from Czechoslovakia right after world war I. She probably not get to Pobaden where they lived but she will get to go to the country at least.

She is hoping to return early enough on 7/3/09 to participate in a 2 kilometer swim from Ruegen island to Stralsund. Her host brother does not want her to do it as he  worked it as a life guard for 7 years. He keeps telling her, "You know how many people we have to pull out every year." She says the registration is 40 Euro and she gets a bright yellow cap, goggles and shirt for it. I asked her how well she floats. She assured me she floats very well. I told her to go for it. She has been on swim team for 4 years and has continues while she has been in Germany. I think it would be a great accomplishment to do it. I have seen pictures of the event and it is well life guarded. They have boats line up in 2 rows to make a channel from Ruegen Island to Stralsund. The boats have life guards and it is hard to miss the swimmers with the bright yellow cap and goggles. I hope she can do it.

After that, she has a few days left to pack. Eva has said she will help her and I think she will need it. She can bring home 2 50 pound suitcases and a carry on not to exceed 40 pounds. She only had about 4 pounds to spare when she left.. Of course,  she took about 1/2 a suitcase of just gifts for the 2 host families,  cross stitch kits for more gifts and most of her clothes were her older ones that she could give away or just leave to make room. We have worked with enough exchange students to know how much they accumulate in a year. The one thing we did not want to do was pay to ship stuff home. It is cheaper to buy new.

On July 10 she leaves the Villwocks and takes a train to Frankfurt. She will be staying the night at a youth hostel. She is going to meet Miriam there. Miriam will be our exchange student here for the next school year., she is coming in August. We got the information on her a couple months ago and she and Erica have been trying to make arrangements to meet before Erica leaves Germany.

We pick Erica up in Detroit on July 11. YFU had her slated to fly to Muskegon but not until the afternoon of the 12th. I could not stand the idea of waiting another day to see her when she was  only 3 hours away. To change the flight to Grand Rapids would have been almost $200 for the change of booking penalties. It was cheaper to drive and get her.

For those who are interested and we have not seen to get an invitation to, we are having a welcome home party for Erica the week after she gets home. She will have pictures from her trip and many stories to tell. She is also bringing recipes to cook for everyone. Please call me for the details. (231-755-5787)

Again thank you for taking the time to keep up on what Erica has been doing. The blog site tracks the number of hits it receives every day and it has made her feel good to know people are still checking.

Eve Douglas

         
 

So I am told that I need to write another blog entry. About what I am feeling and what is going on. I am really very busy ow it is the last couple of weeks before I leave. I hear that it is actually 2weeks and 2 days. I hear the countdown every day from my mother.lol. But it is flattering!!!!!!!!lol.
 
I have had exams for the last few days. I had German on Wednesday, Englisch on Thursday, and Math tomorrow. I wrote the German one already and feel really good about it. I wrote two and a half pages. But it was weird because we were supposed to be concentrating and writing a good exam and our math\principal teacher went around taking pictures.
 
Then this weekend on Friday and Saturday I have a swim meet. And then I leave on Monday for Czech Republic and stay until the 3rd of July. Then I am hoping that there is a thing on that same day where everyone from all around swims from Rügen the island to Stralsund. about 2,00 km. I think.lol. I then have a lot of packing to do when I get back. And on the 6th of July I get my zeugnisse (grade report). And then I leave from here on the 10th of July and go down to Frankfurt and stay over night with YFU. I am then hoping to meet Marium there!!!!!!!! (our exchange student who is coming to stay with us starting in August).

I am so excited to come home but also then I want to stay. But it will all work out and this year was AMAZING!!!!! From first Host family, operation, school, the language, second host family, real school, Paris, Poland, Czech, Switzerland, all over in Germany, new language, new friends, everything!!!!  It was one of the best years of my life I would not trade it for anything, and I would have not asked for anything different then how it was!!!!!!!!!

Again a thank you so much to everybody at home who was at home praying or me reading my blog and supporting me. Thank you again so much for all that all of you guys have done!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! k well I guess bye for now until the 11th and my Welcome home party which I hpe that you can all make it to!  (call my mom for details).

k well ttyl. Bye. Miss and Love you all more than you know!!!!!!!!
Love,
Erica Douglas

So as most óf you might have read in my last blog entry I had my re-entry trip with YFU and that was supposed to be my last trip with YFU but I got lucky and had another one last weekend from Thursday to Sunday. You see this weekend was for students that are going to be exchange students or that are exchange students with some kind of scholarships. This was the YFU-Stipendiatenkongress. So as I said it started on Thursday I left at like 7 in the morning and then had about 3-4 hours in the train until Berlin. And then from the train station I had about a 10 minute walk until I was to the downtown Baxpax Hostel Hotel. It was not he best walk though because it was pouring the whole time.lol.

On the last street I met up with someone else who was also going with YFU and we were both soaking our shoes and everything.lol. After everyone got there and had there rooms and everything( which by the way where all really nice. For each room was a toilet and sink and mirror and shower. And we got a card for one free drink at the bar. And yeah) I was in a room with 7 other girls. Funny, right?! 8 girls and one shower.lol. But it was really cool all of the girls in my room wee really cool. There was one that I knew from middle seminar, the one that I had met in the rain.lol.)

But anyways we left to go to an old firehause building. It was about 20 minutes or so from the hotel. And we just talked in a big group and then split up into groups from our sponsors ( Starbucks, Deutsche Post, YFU Stiftung........), went over the rules just stuff like that.lol. Then we headed to where we were eating which trust me it was way too late it was like 7-7:30 and the weter was terrible it was really rainy and windy and everyone used their umbrellas which didn't really help because then they just broke from the wind.lol. Like one of the Betruéuerues said they are against rain not wind.lol.

Anyways then we headed up to eat at this place called Las Curcarachas . It was really nice and big and I ate a hamburger, tasted really good.lol. Then after that we had the whole back room fo just YFU and we all worked on making a scrapbook for our Förerem. We all brought three photos from our exchange year and made a page for a scrap book . Then after that we went back and some hung out downstairs then others went up and took showers and then went to bed.  I was one of the sleepers.lol. I was exausted.

Then the next day we had to be down stairs at about 8 for Breakfast it was really amazing they had so much food. Then from there we walked over to the Bundestag building. Was also not so good of a walk though it poured again. Can you believe it, man. But the building was so pretty. But anyways the wether was so weird because it kept on raining and then it was really sunny and then it would start pouring cats and dogs!!!!!!!! We had to wait there for about an hour because every sponsor group had to wait for their Förderem (sorry don't know the Englisch name.  Then we went up and had a   conversation with one of the workers from the Bundestag. We could look down into the room where they had all of the important conversaations. We could also look out and see the line of all the people trying to get in. It went across the park. Because you have to go into a room and put everything in a metal detector and everything.  We then went up to the roof and took pictures.

After we were done with that it was about 1:30 and it was time for lunchtime. Said my stomach.lol. So we walked with our Förderem to the lunch place and poured the whole time. Our US group there were about 6 of us. We kept walking until we got to the trains tation because then it was not raining in there.lol. And our whole way we saw groups of YFU students and leaders ducked in under roofs and everything it was so cute.lol. A

nyways we went to lunch at a restruarant called the "12 Apostel" cool right Uncle Paul and they served lots of pizza's in this restuarant and all the pizza's were named after Apostels ( Paul, Peter,.........) was so cool. And tasted so AMAZING!!!!!!!! The food just kept coming pasta, salad, pizza. It was all just so good.

We all left at the same time but split up all of the different groups with their Förderem. And then went and had a couple of hours to talk to them. So we went back to the YFU's top office in Germany. So we sat there and talked to ours for a couple of hours. He then had to work so we went walking around town. And I have a story to tell you. We were all waiting by a stop walk way light and someone started yelling to everyne out of the way out of the wy. And before I even had time to move he ran over my heal with a cart thing. And din't even apologize. T

hen we all met up for dinner at a Chinese Thai restaurant. The food was pretty goód I do have to say and there was again so much of it they just kept on bringing it to us. And then after some of us had eaten as much as we could we went outside on the street and started to do Energizer's.lol. Then after that we had a tour through Berlin. Then headed back to the hotel and sat around in the bar for a while. I had a hot chocolate and a sprite.lol. The next morning we had to be under at 9 o clock in the morning for breakfast. Again was so good.lol. Then we had the chance to do one of three things : 
1. Berlin Hohenschönhausen
2. Deutsche Historisches Museum
3. Gedankstätte Berliner Mauer
we could each chose two one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I chose to go first to the Berlin Hohenschönhausen.
 
 
 
Then we had a lunch paket meal that the hotel had made for us. Was also really good.lol. Then we hadd a boat tour through Berlin. Was very very nice I had an ice cream and it was so BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! Then after that well I had chose the Berlin wall for my afternoon thing. We went to a building where you went up to the roof and looked down nd you could still see some of the Berlin wall. And there was the lkdjfffffffffff church. It was very cool and intresting and then when we came back there was also a museum. It was very intresting.

Then we all walked back to Las Cucarachas and had a really really really big buffet. I tell you I was so ready to explode after it.lol. Then the coolest part was that we had a guy come in to teach us how to Salsa dance!!!!!!!! It was so much fun!!!!!!!! And once when we had a pause I went up and talked to the wife from one of our Betruerins. Their story was so cute. When he introdued himself he said that he had married his high school sweetheart and she had to learn Englisch. How sweet, right?! He was an exchange student and that is where they had met. And then they turned into really great friends dated or a while I think it was in Wisconsin then about 10 years later she went back to Germany and they met each other again and then got married and she has been learning German for two years. Cute, right?!.ll. Well anyways we had talked for quite a bit it was great.

Then after the lesson all of the excange students went sperate ways to find interesting clubs. But we were lte and could not find the rest or anything interesting so we headed back to the hotel. Where there was some of our people and Kareoke so we went down to the bar again and sang kareoke and then after a bit all the rest where there to it as a lot of fun but soon enough e had to go upstairs for bed check. The next morningws just breakfast, packing and yeah.Then we walked up to a park for talking about our trip and filling in quetionaire's and everything. And energizers ad photos, and email addresses. And then we all headed seperatly home.

And almost everybody went together on a train. And I was the only one that went up. But it's ok I had bought a new book and everything was ok.lol. And that was my weekend. Now I am sitting in the beautiful sun that finally decided to show and writing this blog while watching Friends I am suppossed to be learning for exams for the next three days. But I guess that that is all for now I will be back home in 2 weks and 4 days says my mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol. k well ttyl. Bye. Miss and Love you more than you all know!!!!!!!!
Love,
Erica Douglas   

We just got back like a couple of hours ago from Binz. Here is a map.

It was so nice. It was all right on the beach. On the Ost See. Right from our Hotel we had a look right on the Ost See. It was so pretty. The first night we went shopping for our dinner and had a quick dinner just so that we could go down and go swiimming in the hotel pool. It was really cool they had a pool, a hot tub, and waterslides in the pool!!!!!!!! It was so cool and I found out that if I went down on my heels and shoulders then I went faster. Lol. It was so much fun.

The next day we stood up at about 9 had dinner and then headed off to the Jagdschloss Granitz it is from one of the Princes in Germany it was one of his summer houses.








This is the train that we took to get to this Palace. It was one of the old fashion types. And I'll tell you when I went to take another photo in front of this thing adn the guy blew the horn at me.lol. Because he had to drive away and I was standing out in front of the train taking a picture. When he pblew the wistle I swear I jumped so high.lol. And everyone was laughing at me but hey I got the picture that I wanted. 











And here are some photos from the Palace. Pretty, right?



       

And when we were there there was a wedding that was going on.



At this wedding they had a log and a two person saw and they worked together at cutting this log. I asked Eva why and she said that because in a marriage you have to work together and that is that they had to do to cut this log. Cute, right?

So the main reason that we went to this Palace was so that we could go up this stairway and get a great view of Binz and Rugen and you could even see Stralsund from where we were. But there was somehting about these stairs they were crazy. It was just attached to the wall and they were made out of metal and you could look right under neath you so you got like this really wierd feeling that you were going to fall from them. But we didn't.lol. This is looking up at the stairs.

And this is looking down from up above.


The view from up above was just AMAZING!!!!!!!! And I got some great shots as you can see form down below. But there was only the problem that we were standing against the wind. And our hair shows that.lol.







This is a house that we saw next to the castle from up above and we thought that really cool because I found a new thing that maybe it was the guest house. What a have never heard of anyone doing in the USA.great guest house, right?

And then afterwards we went down to a Biergarten that is another German thing. And we had a bratwurst. It was great and then we cought our next train back down. After that we walked around for a bit in Binz and we walked throught this gorgeous park. And made some really cute photos.












Then we went in to a glass blowing palce and it was so gorgeuos and while we were in there the guy made a horse!!!!!!!!




On our way back we stopped by this concert on the beach for a bit it was pretty good. But there was these older ladies that were sitting in front of us and sitting was not so much. Two other ladies came up and asked if she would mind moving a little bit. And she said no because she had jsut gotten her spot warm and she really did not move. Can you believe that?




Then we went shopping for dinner came back made and ate dinner. Then headed down to the pool again.lol. The next morning we woke up at about 9 again. Had breakfast and then headed right out to the beach because it wa such a BEAUTIFUL day!!!!!!!! We rented out a beach chair and spent until about 2 on the beach. Then we headed to this camp ground. Eva and Uwe had bought a camper a couple of weeks before and Jana and I were going to see it for the first time. It was really great. Then after that we headed back and they had like this water slide so we stopped and watched a couple of people go down it was pretty cool they tried surfing and doing flips and stuff. It was a little bit gross though because there was people all over the beach that had no clothes on. That is one thing that I am so glad that we do not have in the USA: Ugh. But yeah then we headed back and went back on the beach. By the time that we went up for dinner we were all fried. And I mean really I was so red except for where my bathing suit was. You could see the lines PERFECTLY! . We then went downstairs and played a couple of games in the game room. And then headed into one of the bars. Don't worry though Jana and I had an alkohol free drink. Eva had a pinacolada, Jana red sun, and I had a macarana. And then I started singing the songs you know when I heard the name of Eva's and mine drinks. Lol. And then when we were finished and it was time for us to go, I got to wave down the waiter and I did like a queens wave.lol.

The next morning was the day that we had to leave so we woke up at 8:30. And had breakfast packed and got ready to go. We took a car from the hotel to the train statioon and then headed home.

Now I am sitting here watching t.v. And writting another blog because I have been getting a lot of emails about how I am not writing and keeping contact to home. I am fried and tired but I am going to finsih this blog and send it off.lol. I AM DETERMEND!!!!!!!!lol.

I just wanted to put in this section for me Dad to let him know that I am still keeping up on my running. I have been running for the last three days with Karanda my friend from California, USA. The first day we went for 3 hours and then after that every day for about 1 and a hlaf. And then when we are done we will go and do push ups and sit ups and everything. Now I feel determined because I have someone to go with. So now I am tan and skinny. Lol. Just what I wanted. Those where my two goals to accomplish before I came home. And now they are. I COME HOME IN ABOUT 5 WEEKS!!!!!!!!

Well I just wanted to end this now it is now Tuesday morning about 7 in the morning. I have a week off of school for break but I could not sleep anymore so I got up to finish the blog. I know I am crazy, right?lol. Well this was everything that I have to say for now I will try to put more photos up on the blog. K well talk to you all later. Bye. Miss and Love you more than you know!!!!!!!!

K so I know that I have not written a blog in a very long time. And I am very sorry I have been really busy trying to do all that I can because I only have a month left in Germany. But I did get the time to get on and read all the posts and comments that you guys have been leaving me and you all said that you enjoyed reading my blogs so much and that they were so well written so I figured that I would keep them coming.lol.

My year in Germany is coming to an end as most of you might have heard. So with that comes the Re-entry weekend with YFU. I had that from the 15-17^th of May. I had to take the train down to Hamburg and then from there to a little town called Barmstedt. It was just this cute little town that we had to take a little train out to and I tell you that I think that whole little train was all exchange students.lol.

We were staying in this really big old building. It was really nice. The weekend was pretty great we would get up every morning around 8 or so and then have breakfast and then the whole day was pretty much small groups than a couple of big groups with all the exchange students and then we would have lunch and then again in small groups. The whole weekend was pretty much the time just preparing us all for when we would go home. But of course there was also time for some energizers, and free time. And in that time we would play table tennis, football, or volleyball. Which I learned a new word in.lol. We had two exchange students in our group that spoke Spanish so I learned how to say unpuktito probably not spelled right but I can say it right.lol. It means one point in Spanish and I get to say it a lot.lol.
 
And we could also go into town which was small but very cute.lol. The whole thing was self made so we would have groups of exchange students that would help setting up and cleaning up after each meal. And then at night you could do what you wanted but most of us went out. The first night we went to a bar and just hung out but we had to be back at like 11 or something so it was not very long. And then the second night we had a camp fire with meat and beer and stuff. That was a great night we made photos. And I did something crazy. I had seen this guy who had opened a beer with hand and I thought that that was so cool so one of the girls gave her beer to this guy that had an opener and I was all like oh no that's ok I can get that. And he's all like what you can do that??. Yeah of course I said. And then I set it on the bench and opened it. Not as easy as it looks.lol. I heard the first time that I did it that it had half opened so I did it again and it opened!!!!!!!! But it came at a price.lol. I cut my hand in three places they were small but man it hurt.lol.But was still funny. And I tried beer I had a Bechers Ice. And I tried a sex on the beach. It was a great night though.

The next morning was our last morning. So we all had a job to clean someplace. And there was this board where you had to sign up and as soon as the counselors said go, everyone went running because the there was also a spot for the bathrooms and nobody wanted that.lol. But there was this one guy who walked right up and signed nice and big under cleaning the girls bathroom. And of course he was from the USA we are all so crazy.lol. Then after that we all separated into groups of things to do for the host families that were coming that day. I was in a group that was making a poster. We had these two big papers and we wrote Danke schön. ( Thank you) on them in big letters and then all around we wrote thanky ou in different languages. We had someone go around and ask people to write thank you in their language I think all together we had 28 different ways, languages. It was so cool when we were finished. But it was really hard to write some of the languages.lol. I got to always write the chinese and Japenise and stuff and then later one of the exchange students came in and I think that he was from Japan and we asked him if his language was there and he said no I do not think so. And so we showed him the other paper where allt he people had written their own languages themselves. And he said oh yeah that one is mine. And I looked on our poster and that one was the one that I had drawn. And he said oh not that is not even right. So he rewrote it in another spot. And then thing that took me about 5 minutes to draw took him like 2 seconds!!!!!!!!lol. And then we went and presented all of our things there was posters, plays everything. It was great. This thing went too long though and I missed my train. So when I got to Hamburg I had to look for another train that I could take and my next one was not going to go for antoher two hours. I had been traveling with a couple of other people but their train left like right after we got into Hamburg. So I had to wait two hours alone, and then my train did not get into Stralsund until about 11 at night. But luckily this time I had my cell phone with so I could call and say that I would be later then usual. Lol. But all in all the trip was really great I met some really cool people and made a lot fo new Friends!!!!!!!!

Then the next weekend we had a bit of a break from school we had from the 21 to the 24 free. And on the 21 is a vacation Day for everyone known as Herren tag. That is translated as a man's day. So for this we had a little party with about 6 Friends of Uwe and Eva's. I know them because I was at one of theirs 50^th birthday party. It was a great time we had a lot of good food and beer and stuff. I got to try the German beer, did not taste good.lol. But I did get to pour the beer for the guys the whole time. And then we watched Ratitoui that was a cute movie and then everyone started to go home. And then it started to rain.

That night we had the coolest thunderstorm ever. I had never heard and seen so much rain and thunder and lightning. It was so cool and then afterwards I went outside with Uwe and there was a full rainbow. Really a full one I always see just the half ones and this one was a full rainbow and there was two. The first one was really good you could really see it and then the second one was a little bit fainter but they were both so pretty.

Erica touring in Paris



the top of the Eiffel tower


Uwe, Eva and Jana at the Tower



Jana cooking in the kitchen at home




My school in Stalsund



Jan clowning. The hat and sunglasses look better on Erica.

Back last summer when I was getting ready to go to Germany, I went over so many little details with YFU and my parents to make sure I knew what to do in different situations. One of the things we discussed was what would happen if a family member died while I was gone. I knew the plane fare was very expensive and would not be able to come home unless it was one of my parents. I really hoped I would never have to see how it would work out. I really hoped everyone, including my dog Cleo would stay healthy and safe.
 
I got an email from my mom about a month ago that the doctor had found a tumor on my Great Grandma Jo and they thought it was ovarian cancer. She did not want to treat at her age and my mom and grandma Gretchen made arrangements with Hospice.
 
Mom sent me an email at the beginning of the week that grandma was failing fast and not expected to last the week. Friday morning I was sleeping when the phone rang. My host dad brought the phone to me. I knew it was not good news. When I heard my mom's voice I started to cry. I knew it was not good. She told me about being with grandma Jo when her hear beat for the last time. I had never wanted be home more than I did at that moment. Grandma was 94 but still it was sad to lose her.
 
I will miss her so much because I will miss her always forgetting who people are.
 
The thing I will always remember about Grandma Jo is when we would go up into her cottage at Torch.

Erica and Eva (mom)






Taking a rest.



Big brother Jan



Uwe, Jan, Eva, Jana

I decided to write you about my kindergarten time because I have my last day tomorrow so it is all fresh still in my mind. So here it comes.
 
I had a great time. It was so much fun!!!!!!!! I thought that about two weeks would just be too long but now that it is going to be over tomorrow I notice now that it was actually all really too short for me. I loved working with the kids this week for so many reasons. First of all no homework, teachers or school.lol. But it was also good for my German I loved how they did not correct me all the time. And they just were so energetic and I had so much fun!!!!!!!!

There is also a really cute story. One day I was sitting at a table playing a game with some of the kids and a woman came in with one of her kids that was crying and said, "oh look she has long brown hair." And he came up and gave me a hug and held onto me. It turns out he missed his mom and she also had long brown hair and everybody else that worked there had short hair or a different color. It was so cute!!!!!!!!

On my first day there was this little boy really liked me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said that he liked me. What can I say I am just great with kids. Our group was about 15-16 kids from the ages of 3-6.It was so cool working with these kids though they were so smart and do everything on there own. They worked with Englisch. It was so cute they would always come to me and say, "oh I know what so and so is in Englisch and oh I can count from something to something." And they thought that it was really cool that I was an exchange student and from how far that I had come.

My first day there we got out a globe and I showed them where we are now and were I had come from. And then a bit later in the week I met a little girl in our group that was not there when I had showed them where I had come form and that I was an exchange student. And she asked me if I had something wrong with my teeth or something. She said that I talked funny., And I said well yeah that is probably because I am an exchange student from the USA and then she just looked at me like, what? It was really cute though. It was so cute and we worked on methods from Maria Montessori. They are a bunch of really smart kids. And one of my favorite parts was right after everyone got up from their naps. I got to go into the bathroom and do all of the girls hair. It was just a great time all the way around. I just LOVED it!!!!!!!! k well that is it for this blog entry. k well ttyl. Bye. Miss and Love you all more than you know.
Love,
Erica