Yesterday was a wonderful day! I rolled out of bed late, having been awake but relishing my ability to lie there, listening to the birds and construction noise, until 10:45. I got Kay, and went to the kitchen and started cooking up a storm. We made a whoooooole lot of french toast, and some cinammon apples, and fresh fruit, and cappucino.... all the american girls ate together.... and we gave a piece of french toast to Delphine, who is from France, and she quite liked it despite never having seen it before. Heh. We lounged in the kitchen for a while, eventually did dishes, and went and sat outside. I played the guitar, did some math homework, played with Anna's watercolors.... she's got great toys, really. The guitar alone really does it for me, but the watercoloring was also fun. I made a card for Clara, who moved out of St. Michael and into an apartment with a friend. I painted a picture of Melinda, one of the Hungarians who came down and sat beside me. It's a little abstract, but you can definitely tell that it's her. I signed it and gave it to her.

After being outside in the sunshine and beautiful naturalness for several hours, we went out for dinner at this Greek place in town. It was great, and someone was buying us cocktails, i think. That, or they always serve meals with ouzo at the beginning and something fruity at the end. The baklava was particularly good.

Then we went to see 'Good Bye Lenin'.... I hadn't previously realized that they showed movies anywhere in this tiny town. It's about this woman who goes into a coma a couple days before the wall falls in Berlin (and she's a big socialist) and she wakes up 8 months later, and her adult children are trying to keep her from realizing that the reunification has occurred because any big shock could be fatal. It was both funny and touching, though poorly edited. We kept seeing a microphone sneak into the top of the shot...

I'm going to Straubing now to see old friends and my host family! Excitement! Won't be back until Monday.

 
I have skipped so many classes today!

This morning we went to a local high school to speak in the English class, because, y'know, we're from America, and it's good to hear a native speaker when you're learning a language. It was pretty fun, actually, talking about different ideas that the kids had about American as opposed to our personal experiences. For example, they thought everyone owned a gun and ate fast food and watched TV all the time. Oooh, I can no longer say I've never touched a gun, because that one guy took me up shooting this winter. However, I surely do not own one, and probably could not operate one. I eat fast food about as often as I watch TV, that is, once a month. Also, I speak a little German, and in fact know where Germany *is*, as I am both here and capable of using a map. Some Americans apparently don't know where Germany is, or Brazil, or other things. Some guy asked me yesterday if I knew where Azerbaijan was, and I said 'roughly'. But I explained to both him and the high school kids that one of us not knowing the exact location of Germany is equivalent to them not knowing where Ohio is, because it's roughly the same size. And none of them know where any of the states are. Of course, Ohio is not a major world political and economic power.

Y'know, I'm not sure that I could name all the Canadian provinces. I do, however, know all the states in Germany. Whoo!

Then, Lejla and I had some lunch, and I went to my grammar class, where I was very nearly falling asleep. I had to run home to get a folder I'd forgotten in between grammar and social studies, and I thought I'd lay down for a couple minutes whilst I was there, only to wake up 15 minutes after my class had started (and it's at least a 15 minute walk to school). Oh well. I went to choir, and now I'm here.

Tomorrow is that crazy European labor day. Socialists. I'm going to sleep in, make some French toast in the morning, and loaf. Or read a book. However, I'm sure there will be parties tonight...

 
Sleeeeeeepy sleepy sleepy. And tired of math. I think I might drop linear algebra because I don't think I'll be able to get credit for it anyway. And I just can't handle 6 hours a week of something that might not transfer. I need to sit and have a gander at my ARTS form, and see if I can graduate if I have to take one extra math class when I get home. Sigh.

Communication problem this morning! I swear I said the word 'Apfelküchle' to the girl at the bakery, and said it correctly, but apparently my Aussprach is not as good as one would hope. So it took a few attempts to get the appropriate pastry. I give up! I just give up.

Good thing number 79 about dropping LinAl: I would have no class on Monday.

Good thing number 80: I wouldn't have 6 hours straight of math on Tuesday. (4 of Number Theory, and 2 of LinAl)

Y'know what, though? I really enjoy the number theory homework. Really.

Yeah, this has to be done. I'll figure out where I need to make my excuses.

 
Y'know what's the absolute best thing about food in Germany? The little Turkish eateries. I mean, we all knew that Döner ruled, but there's a whole palate of Turkish delights from which to sample! (Turkish Delight being, specifically, one of them. I don't actually like that.) I had a Turkish pizza today, and it was goooood. It will be nice to eat that occasionally as an alternate to the Döner. I think the Turks may have also invented Currywurst. If not, it must have been some Indians in Berlin. In any case, it is good in the way that you die a little with happiness when you eat it.

Stupid tap class was stupid cancelled again. I think it will finally happen for real next week. Tomorrow I do have the other dance class, though I don't have fencing on Thursday because it's May 1st and some kind of socialist worker's holiday. Go figure. I will never learn Polish if class keeps getting cancelled on Thursdays!

I can't even believe how much math homework I have to do for tomorrow. Note to self: stop procrastinating. I did one major lookin' proof this afternoon until I saw John and Lejla at the cafeteria. Then I got distracted. Sigh!

I bought eggs and milk at the grocery store, and a Ritter Sport bar that's rum and walnut or something. In any case, it is quite tasty, and it is a struggle for me to not devour it all this very moment.

 
Oh, also, I had my first Polish class on Thursday. I can't ask where the bathroom is just yet, but I can tell you a couple things about your chair. It is big and comfortable!

 
Y'know, I can't even remember what it was that I tried to post about on Friday when it got eaten. Probably had something to do with fencing on Thursday, which was good. Helene and I poked each other with swords a bit. She's French. ::grin::

The picnic was awesome... of course, I didn't realize ahead of time that it was going to require a bit of hiking, and I would have chosen more appropriate shoes, had I been aware. It was about a 45 minute walk, with a good bit of rock climbing at the end, to get up to this place called the Figurenfeld. It's a sort of WWII memorial, I think, with a bunch of statues in this little fieldy thing, and a really stunning view of the valley. The food was so good... The corn muffins were a big hit, as was the Czech garlic butter stuff that they make, and the Hungarian fried whatevers, and the sugar cookies that Pamela and Anna made.... Buddy, it was carb city, but we were sure did enough walking. I got sunburned. I learned a new song on the guitar. Then it started raining, which made for a super-fun walk home.

Saturday night we went to Irish Pub to see this band that was playing, but they were kinda bad, so we left and went to Gutmann so we could hear ourselves talking. However, while we were at the Irish Pub, Jakob came in. Jakob is this boy that Kay met on a train from Munich one day, and went out with once last week. He ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night, and the three of us had some conversations that were really too serious for a Saturday night out on the town. I'm going out with Kay and Jakob and Jakob's friend Mark on Wednesday, so that should be fun. Then Kay is going home to Munich with him for the weekend, which should be interesting. I would have gone, except I'm going to Straubing instead. Oh, yeah! I called Stefan on Saturday, and he's going to pick me up on his way by next Friday afternoon, and I'm spending the weekend in Straubing. I wish I'd been there this weekend, as it was Peter's birthday. It'll be great to see everyone from my high school exchange, even if it's not anyone's birthday. I need to call my old host family, though I know Stefan already told Berti...

Sunday was laid back, mostly... I got up, ate some breakfast, played a little guitar, read some Tucholvsky and fell asleep doing so... napped for a bit, hung out with Vincenzo, went to dinner with Pamela, Anna, and Kay, then Anna and I went to see a concert at Gutmann--Celtic harp and fiddle. They were most excellent! I then fell into bed and slept the deep sleep of the very sleepy.

Breakthrough this morning: people talked to me in Linear Algebra. I wonder if someone said something to someone else about me being upset that no one is friendly. But a very nice girl named Nadja not only talked to me for a couple minutes before class, but also invited me to come eat lunch with her and some other girls from the class. So, hooray! It's taking us long enough to make friends with actual Germans around here...

I'm off to do some proofs, then I've got tap dance this evening, probably followed by more math homework. Just thinking about it makes me very sleepy.