Lost and Found in Translation

Saturday evening was Waldhaus again, the standard fare. Unfortunately, the only time they play good music there is Wednesday, oldies night; otherwise, it's loud hip-hop and rap and such that the Amis like.

Sunday I went to Mass alone, since Geli was really tired. I'm not even sure it was technically a Mass, because there was no priest and no consecration, but Communion was issued from the Tabernacle. Everything's really weird over here. Later on we went out to a lake. A real lake, nice and refreshing in the app. 85 degree (F) weather. Needless to say, there were a ton of Germans there, maybe 1000 cars for a lake the size of, say... Whipple.

Monday: back to school, but first hour was cancelled, so we were able to sleep in. We played Team Handball (I guess it's called Team Handball in Englsish, as officially Handball is a game similar to squash...) in Sport. Not much else to comment on.

Tuesday: No first or second hour, my third and fourth were cancelled, so I went to History and Biologie with Geli, then Geli's fifth and sixth hours were cancelled, though I still had 12th grade Chemie. We covered Amine, not sure how that translates into English, and got into a little biochem looking at structures of adrenalin, cocain, and amphetamin. I was quite content in that I wasn't utterly and totally lost. It would be difficult for me to completely replicate what the teacher did, but while he was teaching it I could definately follow, even in German. That afternoon Lala and her Amis came over, and we cooled off in Geli's small backyard area, as the temp was in the 90s F. That night we went to the park with all the other exchange partners and hosts and other friends since it was the Amis' last night here. One of the Germans had a football, so we decided to play. Americans vs. Germans. American football... Yes, we won quite easily, though there were a few mix-ups, like their forward passes on kickoff returns, and the fact that the grass was extremely slippery though it wasn't wet. I probably fell over at least 5 times. I finished with two interceptions and a long touchdown catch, quite pleased with my performance. Later that night there were many tearful goodbyes as each Ami left for the night.

Wednesday: Classes as normal. :( The exchange hosts didn't come in until 4th hour as they'd been accompanying their partners to the Stuttgart Flugzeug (airport). They came back quiet and somber. On the plus side, we had a Hitzefrei today, literally "heat free," excusing classes due to temperatures upwards of 30C, which meant that all classes for 5-10th grade were cancelled after 12:15. Luckily, we got to skip out of Chemie 6th hour and Biologie in the afternoon.

Questions, Comments & Concerns:
Anonymous:
Taylor, Katie, or Brady Streiff
???????
Also, I do have a dictionary, but I just didn't feel like whipping it out in the middle of the test, although I'm sure it wouldn't've been too big a deal if I had.

Please comment!

Besides their 16% sales tax, Germans also pay a small additional deposit for plastic goods in contrast to glass. This extra is given back when one returns the plastic good to a recycling facility, but just the same, there are more glass goods than plastic over here, and certainly more glass than one would find in America. I've only seen two beer cans in my whole trip; everything else has been bottles.