Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Today, it was like people at school were determined to squeeze a week's worth of fun anecdotes into one day.

So let's start.

German:
Student: Herr Friedl, can we not have German Wednesday? A bunch of other classes are already falling out.
Friedl: If we don't have class, I'll have to go to that faculty meeting [reason other classes aren't happening]. And if that meeting goes badly, which it almost certainly will, I'll be stuck there for three hours.

English:
Zimmy taught me a fun archaic German word! "Flugs" is a really old word for fast! Yay for knowledge!
It was also Megan the Australian's last day, so she told us about her homeland, which meant fun stories about giant poisonous snakes and spiders and people who live underground because it is too hot to live above ground and street signs that melt in the summer because it is so hot. Vegetarians came into the discussion, and Herr Kütz informed us that he is a "hobby vegetarian. I mean, I'm not a vegetarian, but my wife is, so I don't really get meat unless I like go to the butcher and buy it myself." We also discussed Aboriginals, and Megan insisted that "it's not like everywhere you go you'll see drunk Aboriginals with maggots eating their arms," which is important to remember.

Of course Reli had no hope of following that, but managed pretty well. The sun was super-super shiny today, and English and Reli are in the same room, the room that collects all sorts of sun and thus gets really hot (although the high today was only -6 (thank you, Russia), meaning we were all bundled up, too). Robert came in and made the following observation: "Ugh, my chair is all hot. Let me hold it out the window for a minute to cool it off." And then he did.
In general, I am loving that we are actually studying the Bible in Reli, because we have some really critical people in there, and hearing their interpretations of familiar stories like the Prodigal Son is (a) eye-opening and (b) actually strengthening my belief in them and the God behind them, which is a good thing. Also, today was apparently Herr Rothmann Bashes Catholics Day, meaning Hilarity (just so you know, I do love the Catholics, but the are often exceedingly silly, so we have to make fun of them). My favorite quote (background: someone was complaining that Reli is much harder to follow than, say, Physics, because there is no clear formula or answer or anything): "See that? That's an equals sign. You can forget it in Reli. There is no equals and an answer. You want an equals sign, go to the Catholics." And then Herr Rothmann wrote "=Dogma" on the board and we all laughed heartily.

Free period, which is populated only by fellow History-LKlers, was boring because there is an exam tomorrow. Luckily, I will be on my way to Köln, so no need to come up with an excuse to not try to write about Weimar Republic politics. Eva drove me and Steffi to the bakery for lunch, came back and we looked over Bio, with Steffi certain she'd be asked because she missed the quiz (Germans don't to make-ups, they just get given some other chance to get a grade). Sure enough, she was, and unfortunately did not understand Amino Acids and Peptide Bonds as well as me (I got that stuff down) and then Herr Wittmeier did ask me about things later and I did, in fact, know where DNA is in the cell, although it took me a minute to remember that nucleus is one of the few things Germans have their own word for (Kern).

And Babsi had somewhere to go today, so we didn't get our weekly train ride together, but it was made up for by Bettina's bike being broken and her having to walk home, so we walked most of the way together! Bettina is in both of my LKs, too (like Babsi), and she is a great person.

I am getting on the train at 13:04 tomorrow. . . I do not know what the internet situation at the hostel will be, so the blog may not happen next week. Please try to survive. There are many archives that you may read if you get too desperate. I also have a nice, long links list, and maybe you will find something there that will tide you over?

I have heard about this new browser Flock. It sounds pretty sleek, but I like Firefox. I am torn.

BEGIN LIFE PHASE COLOGNE