Singing & Miscellaneous

Well - COVID found its way to me a couple weeks ago- I've managed to avoid getting it through the entire pandemic until now.  Alas, thankful to get it when it's not killing in droves and fairly mild.  Though I got bronchitis on the tail end of it, so that is what is still dragging me down currently - the head congestion/stuffiness and a lingering cough.

Of course, exchange programs were mostly on hold in the pandemic and I'm quite certain Marisa and her family were more than ready to accept any COVID-related items in sending her to the USA in the midst of this and knew this could be a reality.  Naturally, we've already had some discussions on COVID.  Her family had it previously, Scott already had it, so it was no big deal to them to be around me in the house when I came down with it - thankfully isolation rules are more relaxed now.

Before Marisa arrived, we knew she loved to sing and were told she sings all day and night at home.  I have to complete a monthly questionnaire with the exchange program and one of the questions was ranking how much she felt like a family member to us and living as normally as a family as we could.  I rated us an 8 or 9 stating I would give us a 10 once she was singing around our house like she did at her home in Germany.  She hums and sings a bit, but I know not to the level it would be at home.

She is in the high school musical currently and she and I have had a couple opportunities to sing together at our church which has been fun - she is REALLY good at harmonizing.  She was asked to sing for the youth services that are starting up at our church.

Our church also did a really fun article on her which can be found here: HTLConnections 10.14.22 (mailchi.mp)

If anybody is interested in catching her and I singing together, you can see us at the following:

1: Goodness of God (around the 40-minute mark): Sunday Worship - 10/2/22 - YouTube

2. King of My Heart (around 45:30): Sunday Worship - 9/25/22 - YouTube

Other Random Thought/Observances I've noted:

1. Free Refills at Restaurants - Marisa is still flabbergasted by free refills at restaurants.  In Germany, refills cost extra money, so she is used to making her one drink last the entire meal.

2. Sunsets are Pretty - She has noted how beautiful our sunrises and sunsets are.  Also noted how beautiful our fall colors are.  We are not sure if these are things she just didn't notice before in Germany, or if they are truly different or more noticeable here.

3. Thankful for friends at home - With how busy the school days are, and having to rely on those who reach out and talk to her to be her friends here (not really getting to choose friends, and the exchange program stressing to be open to new people/experiences), it makes her really thankful for the friends she has at home.  I still do not think she has had true homesickness yet, but the closest she has come to that is missing her friends.  

4. Honesty in the Blog - I had told her of this blog and that I was writing about our experience hosting because I had gotten so many questions on it, but I was dragging my feet sharing the link with her, thinking maybe I would be better off sharing this with her after she left the USA.  I wanted to write honestly and from the heart, and I did not want my writing to be stifled or influenced/biased because I thought she or her family may read it or alter any interpretations of experiences.  But once I cleared the air on that and just made it open, it was fine.  She has the link and is free to read it as she wants, but also agrees I should write about the good and the bad and be open & honest, as if she weren't reading it :)

5. German book covers are prettier - The saying goes "Don't judge a book by its cover".  But Germans do.  Or at least Marisa and her friends do.  According to her, German book covers are so much prettier than American book covers (even the same books).  Artful covers are important when choosing a book.  I don't disagree with this - maybe our country has that saying because they know our book covers are ugly!?!?

6. Jam vs. Jelly vs. Marmalade - WHAT is the difference?  We have many names for this and it is very confusing!  I know I had heard at one point the difference, but honestly forgot so it all was the same to me.  In recent Google searches, Jelly is made from fruit juice whereas Jam is made with the fruit. Marmalade is made from the juice and the peel of the fruit.  How many people actually care or pay attention to this?  BUT - she found some JAM that she loves at our local farmers' market.  If anybody is interested, it is Kaz Krafts out of Prior Lake, MN.  You can find them on Facebook. With farmer's markets winding down for the year, I made sure to find out from them how I can continue to get their jam for Marisa over the winter.  And - I think I have become a jam fan too!

7. Farmer's Markets are AWESOME - funny how you take something for granted.  Marisa says they do not have farmer's markets in Germany and appreciates how communities come together to have these.  In general, she feels we have way more community gatherings and coming together than she is used to.  Although our community has a very small farmer's market, it made me realize how special it is that we have these and how we take them for granted.  My friend, Kourtney lives in FL and they have an AMAZING farmer's market - more like a cultural fusion/expo than anything.  I hope to take Marisa there if they are open in March.  If she likes the New Prague farmer's market, she will be absolutely blown away by the Latino infusion, whole foods, ethnically diverse market that they offer.

8. Kind of a "bad", but putting it out there, nonetheless.  Marisa is part of our high school's German Club - they had a float in the Homecoming parade.  As their float went past some elementary kids, one of the kids shouted, "We beat you in World War 2!".  I'm sure this was innocent ignorance, but I'm so sad that this even happened.  Some would laugh, and I have a good sense of humor, but it's ignorance at the end of the day.  Where did they learn this?  Why do some Americans feel they are better than others?  Why are wars about winning?

9. Teachers - When people ask her what one of her favorite things about America is- she says, "the teachers".  She feels teachers in Germany do not care about students, do not get to know students, would never interact with students outside of school and are only there to get a paycheck and make sure students memorize what they are supposed to.  In America, teachers are warm-hearted, caring, friendly, more like friends, care about students as people and care about their success.  That warms my heart.  Tonight, I read one of Cora's books from school called "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon".  I have not heard Marisa laugh so hard as I heard tonight when I read this.  We joked that this was about German vs. American teachers - lol (if you are familiar with these books).

10.  Wedding - Marisa was able to join us in a very American wedding experience last night.  Scott's cousin, Evangeline got married yesterday.  We are grateful to Evangeline and her family for allowing Marisa to attend so she could be a part of that experience.  And congratulations to Evangeline and Austin - so happy for you!

11. Lost a tooth - Tonight, Marisa was chewing on some candy and lost a tooth!  I was not prepared for that!  I thought kids were done losing teeth by now!  But, she was expecting it, I guess.  I asked about the tooth fairy in Germany - Quinn, Cora and I read that there are tooth fairies around the world, just slightly different.  Marisa says her parents told her the tooth fairy isn't real and gave her a gift.  Perhaps the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight ;)

12. 4 Loaves of Bread - We are finding we love Marisa's recipes from her recipe book - as previously mentioned, particularly the bread recipe.  But I found out the hard way that her flour conversion was not correct.  I find that we go through a lot of bread, particularly her homemade bread.  I thought "I'll make 2 loaves instead of 1" and surprise her.  Well - I realized instantly that doubling the recipe was WAY TOO MUCH flour!  Even though I had a hunch it was off, I still proceeded to put the amount of flour she converted.  I knew immediately it was off and that I would have to double the rest of the other ingredients to have a chance at this coming out right.  Marisa came into the kitchen in the midst of this and we laughed really hard at my blunder.  She helped me finish making what ended up being 4 loaves of bread.  The bread does not stay fresh that long, so I have officially decided we will never make more than 1 or 2 loaves at a time.  The recipe has been re-converted to adjust for the proper flour amount.

13. Homecoming & Hocus Pocus: Marisa experienced her first American Homecoming and dance.  Homecoming is a foreign concept to her - and honestly, it's a foreign concept to me too.  I don't understand it, but it's an American tradition, so we do it ;)  I see the Texas exchange families with their mums in our online groups and Texas does Homecoming on a whole different level than we do.  Thankful to be in MN and not having to do the "mum" thing!  She had a friend invite her over to watch Hocus Pocus 1 & 2 - I was so thankful for this friend because she is truly reaching out and making an effort to get to know Marisa.  I got to talk to her dad a bit, and it was heartwarming to hear that this friend wasn't planning to go to the Homecoming dance, but did because she knew Marisa would get to experience it.  Funny little things we don't do until we know someone SHOULD experience it because they haven't.

14. Who Killed the Conductor???  - I love finding new and interesting things for my kids to do, especially FREE things!  I follow and know the conductor for the Dakota Valley Symphony.  I found out about a free performance they were doing for families with kids.  Can I say - WHAT a delightful performance for all ages?  They started with a introducing a composer and a story about a song called "Piggyback"?  How often do you get to see a composer in real life talk about the song they made WITH the inspiration of the song?  He talked about giving his daughter piggyback rides in her childhood and explained how light and airy the music was because it was so fun, but the dark, "drummier" parts represented him as an adult being tired or getting exhausted at the end of the piggybacks.  And his daughter, Elizabeth (with her daughter), was in the audience.  It just brought the music to life and made it so much more delightful and enjoyable.  They also had a really great actor, Jake Andres interpreting text from Lemony Snicket about "Who Killed the Composer", which introduces children to all the instruments in the orchestra.  As an adult, I learned a lot and I was kept interested the entire time.  I'm so glad our state and local communities provide opportunities like this.  Who did kill the composer?!?!

15. MN Largest Candy Store - We live not too far from here and just took Marisa here for the first time.  "Oh my goodness", she repeated over and over.  America - where we have WAY too many choices for everything!  If you have not been to the candy store in Jordan, MN, it's worth a trip!

16. Kniffel!  Or - Yahtzee!  Either way, it's a lot of fun to play!