"The Chicken Whisperer"

Ok Ok, so I know I've been slacking a little bit about writing a blog so this one may be a tad long but I'll break it up for you. Quick Side Note: I used this extra time not writing to get used to the keyboard...it's a little different so if I do make a grammatical error please forgive.

1st and foremost: IFYE Orientation in Detroit, Michigan (June 20-22)
Absolutely loved all the incoming and outgoing IFYE's!! I don't think I have ever laughed so hard when meeting new people for the first time. The orientation left something to be desired but I am thankful that I had a GREAT orientation in Fort Collins a few months before. All together there were about 21 IFYEs from all over the world which includes: USA, Germany, Taiwan, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Greece & England.

We all came to realiye the UNO was an international language so a large group of us stayed up each night and played.

Leaving for Germany (June 22)
IFYEs from Colorado, Kansas, Montana and Michigan left Michigan Airport on Sunday, June 22. The plane was great because you could watch any movie you wanted to and so instead of sleeping, which I should have done, I watched two in a half movies!! I do not recommend this!! When we arrived in Amsterdam for a quick layover I was draggin'!! Luckily the plane ride to Hamburg, was a quick jump about 1.5 hours. By the way, I slept the entire time on this flight and then begrudgingly got off.

Arriving in Hamburg, Germany....Orientation Begins (June 23rd)
Wonderful Edith Schröder, one of our IFYE coordinators, was at the airport to pick up the 4 incoming IFYEs (W.Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Michigan). She drove us to her home in Delmson, Germany about 90 minutes from the airport where we arrived at a large, red brick house. After finding our rooms we ate dinner with the Schroder family getting our first taste of German cuisine. Dinner is usually a smaller meal, for most Germans Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, where we had bröchen(rolls), käse(cheese), fleisch(meat) and of course butter! We all went to bed quite early becasue we were ALL exhausted and jet-lagged.

The 4 of us stayed at Edith's one more night before driving to Bettina's Haus(House) further North to stay with her for the remaining of our orientation. Bettina is the other IFYE coordinator and was also a previous IFYE to Kansas and Michigan. Bettina is so wonderful to let us stay with her and the people she works with. On one evening she even took us on a train ride to Kiel, germany a city up north to a huge musik festival. A lot of American musik was played and we even got to mix with some of the locals.

My First Host Family
When I finally arrived at my 1st host family I was so lucky just to be there!! I accidentally missed my train so I arrived about an hour and half later than scheduled. After quick introductions and a quick splash of water on my face I was suffled into the family car and brought to a large pub for my first "public viewing". The Germs call watching a Fußbol in a bar a public viewing...I thought I was going to a funeral or something;). It was incredible to watch Germany Vs. Spain on a huge big screen with 200+ people shouting chants and prosting(cheers!) eaching other for good plays. Germany ended up losing by one goal but I had a great time.

Gescher's Very Own Chicken Whisperer
So as I have gotton to know my wonderful family, I find if fully necessary to learn the family business. The business is selling organic eggs. So I think to myself..."how wonderful!! I like organic things and they are organic farmers so we will have scrambled eggs and I will see the store where their eggs are sold". Of course I didn't think that I would be the oil that kept the machine moving;). So one day I went inside the chicken coop to get eggs....Easy squeezy, right? Well those of you who know me know that I freak out when I see, let alone have a bug or any type of foreign specie, on my body. Well those chickens... they are vicious!! Maybe not to the normal person but to me its like therapy going to ge the eggs everyday because its just so yuuucky. I go into the stable and collect all the eggs and shoo the chickens if they get in my may and breath through my mouth so I dont smell the stank of the chicken poopie. I know what a baby!! But I have been getting better and now I only scream twice instead of a dozen...Progress. And now the chickens and I have come to terms that i MUST get the eggs and they MUST get outta my way. I think we are becoming quite good friends. Oh also I've been thinking about never eating an egg again...EVER!!