My life started in 1986 in Leipzig, so this is one of the first pictures from me. I think this is the first time I met my great-grandma. Her name is Maria and that's the reason why I am called Maria. My great-grandma is 89 years old and lives at our house. She still is very active and everybody enjoys her company.

I spent my first birthday with my grandparents Hildegard and Hans-Dieter, the parents of my mom. I guess we went for a walk. I cannot remember it. My mom told me we had a lot of balloons this day. When I was younger I spent a lot of time at my Grandpa's. Now my grandparents are 62 and 66 years old.

Some years later, in 1990, I got a little sister. Her name is Lisa. She is sitting in the arms of my proud dad. She was a cute baby and I think now she has a pretty face.

This is Eastern 1992 at my Grandma's. We are still looking for Easter eggs in the backyard year for year. When I was little I liked to put on dresses or skirts. That's why I look so funny on the picture. It was too cold to put on a skirt, so I had to put on pants underneath the skirt.

This is one of our vacations at the Baltic Sea. We used to go there a few times. We stayed in a bungalow and went biking or swimming. But sometimes it was too cold for swimming so we went for walks on the beach. One time my aunt came with us. Now she is 22, only six years older than me. It was always and still is nice for us to have a young aunt because she's also a friend. We had a lot of fun together.

This is my other grandma. She is sitting in the living room on Christmas Eve. We either celebrate Christmas at my Grandma's house or at home. When we were little Santa Claus came to bring the gifts but now they are lying under the Christmas tree. But my sister and me are still singing a song or reciting a poem on Christmas Eve. Christmas and on Boxing Day we are visiting relatives. My grandma (62) and my grandpa are traveling a lot. They go to the Baltic Sea almost every year and they never forget to write a postcard. That's nice from them.

This is Lisa, me and my mom when we went hiking where my aunt lives. The landscape is really beautiful there. It's on the border to France. There are vineyards all over and the forest is nice to. We used to go on a walk with my Aunt Sandra's dogs. Unfortunately one dog got ill and died.

This is my aunt Sandra, 22 years old, and her dad. She is my favorite aunt because she is so young and we always have a lot of fun. When I was eight they moved to the border to France. Since then I see them only once a year but then it's a nice time.

If my mom recognizes that somebody takes a picture of her she always looks weird because in the moment when the shutter release is pushed she says "NO". But this is a nice picture.

This is my family, my little sister Lisa (born in 1990), my mom Kerstin (38 years old), me and my dad (40 years old). The picture was taken two years ago, when I had my Jugendweihe. My best friend and I hold the speech in front of 300 people. I was so excited and I was glad and proud when it was over because I couldn't think of the word. It didn't come in my mind but I'm glad I did this because it was a great feeling standing in front of 300 people.

Lisa, Kerstin, Maria, Ralf

This is my dad's dad Udo and his wife Angela, my grandparents. The picture was taken after my Jugendweihe when we had a small family party because afterwards I went to my best friend and we had a little Jugendweihe- Easter- Party because it was Easter Sunday. This year we were looking for Easter eggs a day earlier. We don't have a special day for celebrating Easter because my mom has to work sometimes and so it's different every year. I like Easter because my mom always forgets where she hid the small gifts and we find them two days later.

My grandma Angela, my grandpa Udo, my grandma Hildegard and my mom's grandma Maria having a conversation.

This is my when I was in America the first time. I visited the family of a colleague by my dad and wanted to learn English. The first night I spend there I was scared because I couldn't talk with anybody. I was to shy to speak English and I thought I wouldn't enjoy six weeks but already the next day was nicer. Everyday I spoke a little bit more. I learned a lot. Probably it was the best time I've ever had. Everybody was so friendly and I enjoyed everything and so I didn't want to go home but I had to. When I came back home I started to work a little bit to get money because I wanted to go back so bad and I did it. This is the time when I decided to go to America a whole year.

This is me with the whole family, Renee, Steve, me, Margot, Elliot, Erica, Jeni, Anson, Chris and Steven. Renee is holding Cassy, a Schnauzer, and I have a Buckeye, a little hamster, in my hands. Actually Steve, Steven, Renee, Erica and the two pets live in Cincinnati, Ohio but before they went on vacation to Kentucky they came to visit their family in South Carolina. When they left for Kentucky they invited me to go with them and so went Camping a week. It was a great time. I remember every minute.

My mom and my dad sitting in a restaurant
by candlelight.

Another hiking trip. We are an active family.
We go hiking, biking and canoeing.

This is a picture from my other great-grandma Emma. She is 90 and my dad's grandma. The picture was taken at her last birthday. Next to her is my dad's aunt Mila. This day we had a big family party. Both of my grandmas are still very active and fit. None of them is in an old people's home.

This is me and my best friend Felicitas. I know her for seven years. When we became best friends we were both equal but when we became older we developed in different directions. Now were are totally different but that makes our friendship interesting and special. We like us the way we are and we don't try to change each other. That's what I like and I think this is how a friendship works.

Those pictures are from a little exhibition from pictures we took. We are taking black and white pictures and develop them on our own. We always have a lot of fun in the darkroom.

Lisa and my mom looking at pictures

My best friend and her mom

Sabrina, me, Feli, Christiane and Melanie

The front of our house...

...and the back

This is my home, sweet home. It's a terraced house it's small but nice. We have four floors, the cellar, the first and second floor and the roof. In the cellar there are four rooms, my dad's office, a pantry, the laundry room and a room where my dad build some of our furniture, like the little table in the living room, or speakers. In the first floor there is just the kitchen, a big living room and a restroom. We have my mom's office, my great- grandma's room, the bath and the bedroom in the second floor and on top there is my room and my sister's room.

our living room

This is my room under the roof. I took the pictures from my bed. My room consists of two parts because actually there was a big room and a small room but my dad broke out the wall. The smaller part is my favorite part because there is my computer. Actually the chair belongs to my desk, but the chair is always on the computer. There it is more useful because if I study or do my homework I'm always sitting on the ground…or at the computer.

The front of our house

The small backyard with many plants