Act Two: The Beginning of the End

Monday was our second day of learning Chinese. We were supposed to have the numbers down pat, and I did. We also learned how to look up symbols in the dictionary, through a method of first referencing the "radical" within the symbol. The tricky part is that there is no rule as to which part of the symbol (or where in the symbol) the radical can be found. It's a tricky trial-and-error process, but I got the hang of it.

So then Tuesday we went to a musuem in Stuttgart which had a display of ancient art of East and South Asia. It was okay, but those sorts of museums really aren't my style. On the other hand, I am definitely looking forward to the Deutsches Museum, an interactive science/techinical musuem in Munich and supposedly the best in the land. Later on, I also attended the Schulfest (school festival) in which many of the groups that did projects showcased their work to the public. We didn't, nor did a number of others that had nothing to show, like the group who learned Bridge. Geli and Valerie's group did their Dance/Artistik combination twice more, some bands played, there was a flea market at which I bought a copy of Robinson Crusoe auf Deutsch, and a good time was had by all who attended.

Wednesday we had our last day of school, a half day. The teacher asked me to get up and tell the class about my stay and about my expectations and what surprised me and so on. I got a commendation for my work with Herr Horlacher.

But I'm making this short because I've got to get going. We're going down to the Neckarwiese to celebrate the end of school right about now, so this will be my last post for quite a while. Adios, take care of yourselves, and I'll be back around August 7th or so to check up on the New World again. ;)

PS Morgan I'm doing great thanks.
Also Jeff yes class gets cancelled quite often.

Au reviour.

Where Has the Time Gone?

So I realize I've been a little lax with updating this place. Make sure you're comfortable/have some sustainance nearby, because this could get long.

Thursday was our last day of real school. I'm sure I've said this a million times, but Friday, Monday, and Tuesday are project days, and Wednesday is only a half day. It brought back kind of a nostalgic deja voux experience (I could've sworn I was falling into this sort of mellow apathy just two months back...) but it feels good to finally be at the end. It was a pretty low-key day, too. First hour Musik fällt aus (was cancelled), second hour was Gemeinschaftskunde, in which the teacher for some reason decided upon insisting to continue teaching, introducing basic economic principles like Nachfrage und Angebot (supply and demand). Suffice it to say I was utterly confused by these complicated terms. Okay, okay... sarcasm is a little hard to convey over the internet. Basic economic theory is essentially the easiest and most boring thing ever. I showed up for Mathe 12 third hour to learn that Herr Kunde didn't feel like teaching, so we were free to go. I went back to Geli's Englisch class (Geli actually wasn't there the whole day; she was working downstairs at the Bücherrückgabe) and we watched Bowling for Columbine for an hour and a half. (Each period is only 45 minutes, so that was two class hours.) Fifth hour, the Deutsch teacher invited us out to ice cream, which was really nice, and then sixth hour we watched a documentary film about the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Geschichte (History). It ended up being pretty boring and I think a number (including the teacher) dozed off at some point... I spent a large part of the rest of the day researching more colleges and scholarships. An utterly unproductive day overall, as most scholarships aren't open to application until September (at least), but I did get the scoop on a few colleges, so it wasn't totally useless.

Freitag. We didn't have to be in to school until 9:40, since I guess the teacher didn't feel like coming in until then. Fine by me, although 9:40 was ridiculously late in practice, as good as it sounds. I woke up before my alarm, ate breakfast, and still had like an hour to sit around. Once we got there, though, we were set to work. Myself and 8 others from Geli's class opted to leran Chinese from the Chemistry teacher. His English is quite good, even if he speaks kind of funnily, but I really don't know why he would have reason to learn Chinese. After 4 hours, though, I scolded myself for ever thinking German was hard. Essentially, Chinese writing is extremely complicated, in that when two things are added together, they don't necessarily equal their sum. The written word for "family" is the word for "pig" under the word for "roof." Don't ask me. Essentially, though, he told us that when a Chinese person runs across a word they don't know, there's really no figuring it out just by looking at it, and one must use context or go to an extensive dictionary, which is quite complicated due to the fact that there are no letters and hence no alphabetical method of arrangement. Not to mention that the fine Caligraphie isn't easily written with Bleistift oder Kuli (pencil or pen). We barely got through the numbers, as well as some methods for finding and writing the symbols using a computer, before it was 1:00. It was an interesting Friday night, because there were no birthdays or parties, at least none that Geli and I were invited to. Just a quiet night at home...

Saturday I got up reasonably early and went into the Marktplatz with Manfred, to shop for some fresh fruits and vegetables, largely for the party that I was having later on. If you read Chris Derby's blog (and I'm sure many of you don't), I announced there that Geli and her friends were throwing me a Euro-Houlapalooza. It was on Saturday. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We then went and picked up Geli from her dance practice and went to the supermarket Lebensmittelgeschäft. That word is the difference between the difficulties in Chinese and German. Well, also that Chinese doesn't use letters, but... Lebens (living) + mittel (means) + geschäft (store) = grocery store, the store selling the means of life i.e. food. Much more straightforward than pig under roof. But I've gotten off again on a tangent. We bought a large shopping cart full of food and stuff, then went home and started setting up for the party. I'd invited about 25-30 people on Wednesday and Thursday, so I was pleased with the about 20 or so that showed up. We grilled some hamburgers and brats, blew up some balloons, sat on the couch and talked, devoured a watermelon, etc. I got a lot of pictures, which could show up over on the right at any time, so be prepared. More detailed coverage of Euro-Houlapalooza will be forthcoming with the pictures I'm sure. Hopefully I get around to doing that. Eventually.

Sonntag. Church. After that the family took me out to Maulbronn, which is home of one of the oldest and best-perserved monastaries in Deutschland. We took a tour, did all the touristy stuff, you know, looked over the old buildings and whatnot. It was fairly interesting, and there was an elaborate water and heating system that was extraordinarily advanced for its time. Then we came home and ate some leftovers from the party. Manfred took his class out to a theater production in Stuttgart.

I've decided that this blog is going on hiatus. :P

Seriously, though, I'll probably have about one more update and then be off and on my way... Where? you ask. Well, I'll tell you, I say. Wednesday is only a half day of school; the evening and night are sure to be marked by much fun and drinking down at the Neckarwiese, the beautiful fields down by the river, a meeting place for kids to celebrate the end of school. We'll drag ourselves out of bed (if we get that far) around 7 Thursday morning to catch a train headed over to Munich. Going on this trip will be Geli, Chrissy, Tina, Nico, his cousin Timo, and I. We'll be staying there in a Jugendherberge (youth hostel of sorts), visiting the city and seeing the sights, for example the Deutsches Museum, probably the best musuem in Germany due to its technical and interactive content. We'll hang out there until Friday I think, at which point Manfred and Frank will pick up Geli and I and take us on vacation. We'll head south by Lake Constance and into the Swiss Alps, tenting our way through and then racing across the ugly part of northern Italy until hitting the Italian and French Riverias, including Monaco and Monte Carlo, around Wednesday and Thursday. We'll get about as far west as Nice, then head north again, back through Switzerland, hitting Geneva and maybe Bonn before getting back into Ludwigsburg Saturday or Sunday before my mother comes on Monday (August 8th, to reference). She'll stay with us briefly, then early Wednesday morning, Marina, Geli, my mum and I will take off for Berlin. We hope to see a bit of the city before leaving Friday afternoon for Munich. We'll get in that night, sleep over, and then meet the incoming World Youth Day pilgrims from the Diocese of Duluth (that includes Brainerd and Nisswa, by the way) on Saturday the 13th. That program takes us a week until Sunday the 21st, where we'll end up in Cologne, over on the other side of Germany. I'm basically lost as to our itinerary in between, but we'll hopefully make it back to Ludwigsburg that Sunday night. Monday I'm sure I'll be saying a final goodbye to many of my friends and acquaintances from Germany, at least the closer ones, and then Tuesday is our final departure from Ludwigsburg and the Reinhardts. We'll check out Stuttgart during the day and take an overnight train to Paris, hoping to arrive the morning of Wednesday the 24th. We'll do stuff in Paris, you know, the Louvre and Notre Dame and whatnot, spend a day in Versailles, then fly out around 1 o'clock Friday, August 26, 2005, and hopefully arrive around 3 or 4ish CST at HHH in Minneapolis.

As you can see, this doesn't leave me much time to use the computer, which is why I'm trying to get all that out of the way beforehand. Also, expect large delays in updates after Wednesday ;)

I hope I don't have to change money (again) in Switzerland.

Nobody really commented for me to answer outside of Matt, so I'll wrap up with our Twain quote and then those of you that are Deutsch illiterate can go read Don Quixote... j/k Parker :P

"A dream...I was trying to explain to St. Peter, and was doing it in the German tongue, because I didn't want to be too explicit."
- Mark Twain's Speeches, 1923

Hallo Matt, es freut mich von dir zu hören! Ich mochte deinen Kommentar; du kannst uns mehr von diesen "Strand Haasen," so zu sagen, erzählen, wenn du willst. Hast du auch deine AP Noten? Ich will wissen, ob du eine 5 für Deutsch gekriegt hast. Ich schätze, daß du hast... und auch Englisch. Hoffentlich war mein Blog nicht zu schwer durch zu lesen, ich weiß daß ich echt lang schreiben kann. Wann gehst du denn heim? Und wann habt ihr's vor, Berlin zu besuchen? Als du gelesen hast, ich bin da von 10ten bis 12ten August... Hoffentlich können wir uns sehen, bevor du an die Uni gehst. Das wär' mir traurig, wenn ich dich nicht wieder sehen könnte... :( Tara und Mitch, ihr müsst auch hier auf Deutsch Kommentaren lassen, nicht weil ich will Deutsch hören -ich kann's wenn ich will, natürlich ;)- aber weil es ist grausam gegen unseren kleinen gelben Freund, und es macht mich froh, ihn ärgerlich zu sehen! Bis dann.

Summer: A Play in Three Acts

SYNOPSIS
Act One: Jason and his friends take a trip to New York City. However, this is a lot of work, so doesn't really count as summer. He does manage to experience about half a week once he arrives in Germany, though, before going back to school.

Act Two: Finally done with school in Germany, Jason and his German friends head over to Munich to have a good time. Coming home, he goes out for about a week with his family through Switzerland and the area. This is both fun and relaxing and counts for another week and a half of "summer."

Act Three: After World Youth Day in Cologne, Jason and his mother go back to Ludwigsburg for some R & R. Later that week, they also take it fairly easy in Paris, and have a fun time. They then go back to the good old United States, where Jason meets some of his friends and they have a good time, totally around another week and a half before Jason leaves again to tour some colleges in the area.

My calculations of actual summer time put me safely below one month for the year 2005. But, enough whining on my part.

Tuesday I met with Herr Horlacher, the Chemie 11 teacher, with whom I'd discussed this device that he would supposedly give to me to take back to the states. I spent a large part of the day translating the website for it, as well as starting to look at some colleges. I decided eventually against Macalester, or however its spelled... it's about 4 times as expensive as the U of M and, as far as I can tell, not much, if at all, better. I also decided to switch out of AP Comparative Government for AP Chemistry next year. I stayed up quite late finishing an essay that the German teacher asked me to write.

Mittwoch. No first or last hour, also no school in the afternoon. The beginning of the end is nigh. Some teachers gave their last instruction to the kids today, and the kids gave their teachers little gifts. During third hour the history teacher came to oversee the Buchrückgabe, or returning of rented books from the school. Once all the books were sorted into their appropriate piles, he turned to me and asked (he likes to speak English a lot, and I don't stop him),
"Jason! Have you ever been to Hell?"
"Uh..." Can't say that I have...
"I mean that's what they call the basement of this school."
"Ah. No."
So he made me carry one of the stacks. The place wasn't bad at all. This was basically just a story to show that Herr Folk is quite often really weird. More on a related subject later. After school, we went with the class to one of the larger churches in the area to watch an orchestra perform part of Haydn's Schöpfung, "Creation," which includes the orchestra, a choir, and three soloists who sing parts equated to Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel in Milton's Paradise Lost. That was about all that was interesting; it was like German opera, and though it was quite good, I started nodding off due to my late night the night before, which wasn't a good thing since I was sitting right next to the German teacher. I tried to be discrete about it, but I think I failed. Later on, I worked more on the translation, then went and played tennis with Manfred. We played with two other guys, one a native Croat (or Croatian?) who'd left Yugoslavia about 10 years ago due to troubles there. I first lost to the non-Croat 6-3 in singles, then Manfred and I beat them 6-2 in doubles, then the Croat and I lead 3-2 before we had to quit because of rain. I wouldn't call them Croat and non-Croat if I knew their names (I think non-Croat's is Gustav or Gregor or something starting with a G), but it's hard enough to remember the names of the kids I see every day without adding on Manfred's tennis buddies. It was quite fun playing with them, and we had also played with them Sunday, winning 6-4, 6-3 (I forgot to mention this, by the way).

About what I referenced by Herr Folk. Too often my answer is "yeah..."
"Habscha groan' dig nar gobbledegook, marg da natsho maifde?" (this isn't German by the way)
"Uhhh... yeah, yeah..." *smile* I could be selling my soul for all I know. More logically I would say "What was that?" or "One more time, slower please?" But it's not just I. It's basicaly human nature to go with the flow when one doesn't understand, I've decided, based on a conversation I had with Herr Folk. He asked about my future plans, and he was quite knowledgable about the colleges in the US, knowing about Notre Dame for one, and certainly identifying MIT as the top of its class.
"Well... are you familiar with the ACT test?"
"Oh yeah, sure... sure."
"Well. I scored a 36."
"Ah... but is that good enough for MIT, do you think?"
"Uh... ... ?"
"It's out of 40-some, isn't it?"
"No; 36."

INTERMISSION

Now that you're back:
Anonymous. Today I'll guess Nathan Kruise. That's got to be it. I'm almost 100% certain its one of my cousins, I'll just need to narrow those guys down.
David Hasselhoff was once HUGE in Germany. He's not really anymore. At least as far as I know.
I've given Mother the thumbs down on Kettering and MacAlester I believe, though I'd still like to check out U of W-Madison, MichTech, U of Chicago, and Marquette. Does anyone else know of decent colleges in that area that I should check out? By that area, I mean Wisconsin. Notre Dame is pretty much off my list too (sorry Tim; I know a few people that go there and I think it's a great school, just not the right one for me, you know?). Northwestern might be a possibility as well.
Hehe. Dad, I was the one that told Mom about John's ACT score. In case anyone's wondering, John Valesano scored a 35 on the ACT; must be something in the water. I guess we'll be expecting big things of Mattson and Holbrook now. Heck, for all we know, Holbrook could have a 36 as well... anyway, my formal congrats here.
By the way, if I plan on applying to MIT, I'm going to need to take three SAT II subject tests (just one more hassle for my mother to put up with surely). They need to be Math, Science, and one other. I think I could do Math II, Physics (probably over Chem), and either US History or German (with or without listening). The full list can be found here, if you're interested).

"...mastery of the art and spirit of the Germanic language enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars."
- Christian Science

Was Für Ungluck!

Hello... yeah it's been a while. Not much... how 'bout you?

Friday. Hmm, I don't know if I can even remember back that far. School was pretty normal as far as I know... and that night? Ahh, yes. We had a going-away party for two girls from our class. I've told some people some things, but those were mostly false. One girl is going to Panama, one to Michigan, both for the whole year, unlike what I told some of you. Other students in the class are taking foregin exchange trips to Spain for 3 months, France for 2, Poland, etc. etc. all over the place. But this party was just for the two of them. It was held nestled on the side of a large hill covered with vineyards. I estimated its height to be about comparable to Ski Gull, though such hills are quite normal in the sub-Black Hills region, unlike in Minnesota's flatlands. Going out to the edge, one could get a beautiful panoramic view of the surrouning countryside. In fact, at one point, Lala, Geli and I wandered away from the rest of the party to go sit in a vineyard. We chatted for a while, then they saw an old shirtless grandpa with a hoe or some instrument walking through the rows of grapevines. They panicked and started to flee. As I joined them, Lala whispered their explanation: "illegal." Ah. So we headed up the hill, trying to go silently but quickly, and failing fairly well at that, until we saw someone else by one of the exits at the top. We ended up running in circles, avoiding the grandpa and this other person while seeking an exit. Eventually we found it, and ran back to the party. It was a fun time overall, though at the end it began to rain. They had a tent, but construction in the dark would be improbable and probably too slow, so they suggested packing everyone who wanted to stay into the four cars that were there. Mind you, there were like 40-50 people and 4 small European cars. Geli opted to call her mother. We also offered rides to Lala and two other girls who lived in the area, and the five of us headed off down the road. Then it started to rain. Then to pour. I loved it. Eventually we got down to a highway of sorts, and waited momentarily for Marina. It got interesting at this point, because instead of bringing the minivan like we'd thought, she brought the new 2-door Ford Fiesta, seen here. So, we had a little car-packing adventure of our own. Luckily the ride didn't take too long. Or should I say unluckily ;)

Saturday. Geli and Valerie's dance group gave a performance. They did some hip-hop dances and weren't bad, but they didn't hold a match to the Kixters. Afterwards the plans had been to head into Waldhaus, which everyone hates on Saturday, but for some reason they still go there. Not today; we met Lala and Julie (i think. she's the French foreign exchange student) and went to the Beach Bar. It was laid back and cool and we had fun. We also found out that Julie's trip is getting cut a few weeks short of her scheduled two months because her grandfather died and she's going home. I think. I'm not entirely sure, I believe most of the things in that situation are still up in the air...

Sunday was church as normal this time. In the afternoon, there was another performance, this one linking Geli's hip-hop dance group with the Artistik AG a sort of circus and juggling club at Mörike Gymnasium (that's the school I attend, in case you're wondering). It was much better than on Saturday, incorporting some "modern circus" flavors (eerie music, strange dress for a circus i.e. tuxedos or flowing white dresses) with more modern hip-hop dance moves. I brought my camera, but I didn't want to turn on my flash, and therefore none of the pictures turned out, unfortunately.

Monday is today. I overslept on accident, didn't have breakfast, and our class had to work two hours in the school garden on the first Monday of the year to earn a Hitzefrei, as well as the first on which our gym class was already cancelled. Turned out to be a fairly rotten day overall (hence the title, what bad luck!) but nothing is bringing me down from those AP grades. I also found out that there will sadly be little chance of me giving this presentation on Brainerd due to scheduling conflicts, so my great thanks to everyone laboring to get pictures for me, but they will unfortunately not be needed. Also, my great stash I pulled off the Dispatch is now practically useless, so I'm just as disappointed as you all are. Thanks anyway.

Mitch, ich hatte Bilder von dir schon genommen, ein mit Schnee und ein paar Landschaften. Ganz toll Fotographie! Danke schön für die anderen, aber ich brauchen sie jetzt leider nicht. Weiter, viel glück mit den Zähnen. Ich hab' diese Operation noch nie gehabt, und ich weiß nicht ob ich werd', aber hoffentlich wirst du rasch wieder heil.

I'm running out of witty introductions for the comments section, so we'll just skip to that:
I find that funny that WSN blocks blogs. It just shows how much they've caught on.
Okay anonymous. I'll have to assume you're one of the names I've already given, since I've basically narrowed down those with the shooting game in the basement. Today I'll say Taylor Streiff.
By the way, I didn't really go to that Harry Potter party. It was in Stuttgart, and I was just joking about attending. I'm fairly certain that the translators only get copies at the release of the English version, so it won't come out in German for another half year or so. The English version is being sold, since so many Germans speak English, but it's certainly not as big a deal over here. And no, I haven't heard a word from Matt. He supposedly comes back from Italy on like the 24th.
I know a few people haven't gotten scores back, there's a chance you guys messed something up with the system (i.e. didn't enter the same info on multiple tests or, more likely, between 10th and 11th grades). I DO know that Tay got his back, and that he fell just short of National AP Scholar, leaving the only valid possibility in my mind to Jennifer Dens.
Hey Tim, good to hear from you again; I know, my posts tend to get long sometimes. I'm sort of disappointed, I hope Mr. Hewitt's opinion of me doesn't drop drastically, but I'm definintely relieved that I got a 4 rather than a 3. Also, the gender ratio in our class is about 7:1 in the boys' favor, in case you were wondering...
By the way, I really loved Dad's sports coat. We were on the dinner cruise where I was wearing it. I went into the bathroom. Glancing to the right, I was stunned by an incredibly good-looking and sharp dressed fellow until I realized it was a mirror ;)

Some pictures of my teachers, for those of you who were wondering:
LINK
It'd be best if you opened two windows and referred back to this one for names.
Frau Amelung - Französich
Herr Bürkle - Mathe 10 and Physik
Frau Dockhorn - Englisch. She's not on the site, but you can find a pic of her here. Just kidding ;)
Herr Horlacher - Chemie 11
Herr Hornberger - Sport
Herr Jünemann - Biologie
Herr Kunde - Mathe 12
Herr Oßwald - Chemie 10 und 12
Frau Reck-Fechter - Religion
Herr Reinhardt - Not my teacher ;)
Frau Scheuer - Deutsch
Herr Schüller - Spanisch. He looks funny clean shaven; normally he has a salt and pepper beard.

"Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth."
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

No News is Good News

No German news, only good American news, that is. This will largely be a post about your comments and also some other things that concern me personally, so if you're not actually that interested in stuff that's not German, feel free to breeze right over this part.

That said:

AP Grades
My mother made me guess over MSN, and I got two grades wrong, so I guess I owe her two Rittersport chocolate bars when she comes over here. On four of the tests, I guessed "5" and was correct:
Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, American Government, and Calculus.
Considering my very poor second essay on Psychology, I guessed a 4, but was pleasantly surprised to receive a 5.
I once watched a show which interviewed Stephen Hawking on his research on black holes. He commented that he'd made a bet with another scientist, but for some reason had bet against the theories he had developed. He explained it thus: "If I were proved right, the joy would exceed the small loss of this bet. If my life's work were proven wrong, however, I would still have the small consolation of winning the wager." I knew that I passed the AP Literature and Composition test, but I needed a 4 to be named National AP Scholar as a Junior. Therefore, I guessed a 3, and will gladly buy my mother her second candy bar.
If you're confused:
Microeconomics: 5
Macroeconomics: 5
American Government: 5
Calculus: 5
Psychology: 5
Lit & Comp: 4
With 8 APs recieveing grades of 4 or 5 and a total average above 4 (Statistics 5 and American History 4 were my other two), I will be awarded the title of National AP Scholar after my junior year, a feat accomplished only by Parker Kienholz and (potentially) Taylor Stevenson.

I was also "tagged," so I shall fill this out and post it here.
1) Total Number of Books I own: 2 over here... probably around 40 or so back home too.

2) Last Book I Bought: "Deutsche Geschichte von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart; Eine marxistische Einführung," and "Herz, mein Herz, was soll das geben? Goethes schönste Gedichte." (German history from the beginning to th present; a Marxistic introduction and Goethe's most beautiful poems")

3) Last Book I Read: Working on "Der kleine Hobbit" right now... last book I read fully though would be "Mourning Become Electra," if that counts as a book...

4) Books That Mean A Lot to me: Stranger in a Strange Land, one of the first "classic" books I've picked up and read on my own. The Great Gatsby, an excellent book overall. Also, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, not because it's that good, but because I had to have saved myself with that on that AP Lit test ;)

5) "TAG" 5 ppl. who basically MUST post this on their blog: Josh Mattson, Derby, Jen Dens, Tara, Josiah

Thanks for the references, I took a few pics from Holbrook and Derby. I also plan on scrounging through Mitch's here; speaking of which, I'm linking his blog onto here. Don't know why that slipped my mind before...

Pressing Matters:
Anonymous. I know you're not who I think, because I don't think you're anyone. Argh! But do answer me, have I said your name already when I was just listing them off? I need to know if those people are still fair game...
Hey Morgan! Liz already commented here too... If you do want to send me a pic, I'll post it up in my gallery, sure. Sorry I didn't mention you guys by name... Things are going great, keep checking in for more updates!
Yes, Josh, you're right. In fact, I probably should've taken Geli out with my friends a whole lot more when I was over there, which is something I sort of regret at this point... she always had her own group though, and our group didn't even do too much, sadly.
We'll be in Munich (München as it's called in German, though even I have difficulties pronouncing that one) over the summer vacation for a short period, staying in a youth hostel. Also, I don't need a haircut; I'll be just fine.
I'm still editing and cutting for my project, but I'll let everyone know which pictuers I take from which Flickrs, just so that you all know.
SCHOOL'S ALMOST OUT: 4 days of instruction, Mon - Thurs, then Friday we begin working on projects. I'm in a group learning Chinese from the Chemistry teacher. This goes on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. Wednesday is the last day of school, a half day consisting basically of sitting and doing not much. Then, finally, freedom.
When you say you're going to "pay for that," Dad, do you mean get guff from me for sending mother over here? Or suffer without her for two weeks over there (again)? Or are you just talking about the cost of the plane tickets? ;)

Since this wasn't a real post, it warrants no Twain quote or German portion.

European Solidarity

The first notice anything's happened comes a week later:
We participated in this.
The announcement came over the loudspeakers a few hours beforehand, commenting that as many people were injured as there were students in the school. We, along with surely much of Europe, stood our silent two minutes.

Wednesday kind of dragged on by. I don't have too much to say about it, really. It was just another old school day. There was one interesting part, in French class, where they were watching a movie about some kid reading a book. Excerpts from the story he was reading were continuously being interwoven into his own plot-line. At one point, the main character meets and talks to a giant turtle; this being dubbed into French, I for some reason could hardly contain my laughter. It was utterly ridiculous. We also went shopping. I bought some presents. I couldn't find any Refused or Hives, guys, but I WAS able to find CDs from the greatest band to ever grace Europe - Pilos Puntos - so you'll forgive me if you get those instead ;)

Today = Thursday. Today I received two projects. In German, the class is working on some poetry; the teacher asked me and the French foreign exchange student to translate one into our own languages, not literally but so that they also made a poem of sorts. Furthermore, she asked for a one-page essay about my trip, including my expectations and experiences. Later on, the History teacher asked me to prepare a 15-minute presentation on "where I come from," most likely including school, the area, and all whatnot. If anyone has a really good gallery of Brainerd, you can post it here. I'll be bringing in pics on a CD.

Graded on in-class participation:
I'm not sure what's up with the camera, I didn't even notice anything about the dates. Maybe it got confused and thought it had time travelled when that awesome pic of Geli and I was taken. lolz. Also, I didn't say I don't eat meat, just not in giant slabs (the one on top isn't the one we eat :P )
Again. I'm sure I wasn't drunk. Though I probably wouldn't tell you if I was, knowing how some people that happen to be female and live in the same house as I do tend to overreact about things. But I wasn't intoxicated.
Anonymous. I'm sure lots of people know who you are. But I'm not like other people. My bank of possible people has been essentially empty for about a month now... but keep 'em coming.
I don't believe I ever said I wasn't homesick in the least. There are occasionally things that I miss, especially when I read through e-mails or blogs from back home. However, all in all I'm glad I'm here.

Ich hab' meinen Kommentar gelesen, und vielleicht glaubt ihr, weil ich "man kann besser 'ne Fremdsprache sprechen wenn er getrunken ist" gesagt hab, daß ich besoffen war. Vielleicht stimmt das Sprichwort, aber daß ich besoffen war ist überhaupt falsch, und eine dreckige Lüge obendrein.

"My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it."
- "That Awful German Language," Appendix D of A Tramp Abroad

How true that is. A number of people told me that they took French before English because it's so much harder; they're probably as fluent in either, even though they've had French for two more years. Really, all that's tricky is pronunciation and spelling; those are essentially the only two easy things in German. Also verbs aren't *usually* too bad, with (naturally) a few exceptions.

I'm closer to Lance Armstrong than you are

It's staying fairly low-key around this place.

Monday was fairly interesting. After Chemie 11, Herr Horlacher (the teacher) brought me up to the computer lab to show me something. "It's not in America yet!" he told me. What it was was some sort of contraption involving a pulley attached to a computer mouse. The computer could chart the rate at which the pulley turned through the mouse, thus allowing speed to be charted and making way for various physics and calculus experiments and demonstrations. More interesting was the software, which allowed one to examine and play around with the data, opening up a broad avenue of mathematical exploration, surely a great educational tool. He then told me that the program and device had been created by himself and another teacher at a school in Ludwigsburg. After this, he also told me I could bring one back to the States, and that he would give me the software and show me how to make more devices. "I mean, we sell them here, not large-scale or anything, but, yeah, the mouse is what, $2, the frame and pulley and whatnot, like $20, you could turn around and sell it for $30, you know? It would be fine by us too; I mean, we could sell to the US if we wanted to, but that's just too much hassle. So you know, you could take this back, make more, and sell them, or whatever!" All of a sudden the topic turned from physics to entrepreneuring. I left fairly confused and lost as to what he exactly wanted, but we have agreed to meet again later in the week after school.
Sport that day was quite fun. We split into 3 teams of 6 and played four different games, rotating so that one was always sitting out. First was something like Ultimate Football, but one could take three steps, and there was a mat one had to land on. I'm no football player, but at least I could handle the oblong ball. Once, I bulleted a pass the length of the gym into the chest of one of my teammates. My European counterparts were in awe. At the same time it was unfortunate, because they dropped many of the passes, though they were hit directly in the hands... The second competition involved two teammates running and diving onto a mat, which we attempted to slide across the gym and back. Two people could easily go sliding 30 feet on the mats with the slippery side down. We also played basketball and soccer. I benched myself for a fair share of the last one, which in turn helped the team out considerably.

Tuesday we didn't have class until 2nd hour. Also, in Mathe 12, we got back our tests from about a month ago. Well, maybe not that long, but close. I got a 12. In 12th grade, they stop receiving grades on the 1-6 scale and start receiving "points" on a scale of 15, which then factor in (with the Abitur, that monster five-subject test at the end of 13th grade) to a final grading for college. If one passes, one may go to college. However, better grades are needed if one wishes to practice medicine or law, for example. 12 out of 15 was certainly not bad, especially since the average in the class was 6.7 (more points are better, i.e. 15 is high, 0 is low).

Audience Participation:
There's not a whole lot of response to the bombing, to tell the truth. I haven't heard anyone talk about it at all. I don't know who or what "shroesalafhder" is, but if you mean Gerhard Schroeder, chances of his re-election are certainly looking slim. Also, it's "kaputt" with two Ts.
About the math problem: 9999999961-10000000038 is an interval of 78 numbers, none of which have a sum of inclusive digits evenly divisible by 13. If you want a more explicit answer, I'll be glad to give it ;)
I didn't know any Joseph Jordan, at least I don't think I did. I'm starting to think in German, yes, but more interestingly is when I think in English and use German phrases, i.e. thinking "It gives..." when I want to think "There is..." because "There is..." in German would be said "Es gibt," which translates literally to "It gives..."

Ich hab' nichts zu sagen. Ehrlich. Ihr sollt mehr sagen, so dass ich auch mehr sagen kann. Wenn ihr wollt, könntet ihr mir mit den folgenden Wörter helfen:

"Some German words are so long that they have a perspective. Observe
these examples:
Freundschaftsbezeigungen.
Dilettantenaufdringlichkeiten.
Stadtverordnetenversammlungen.

These things are not words, they are alphabetical processions.

Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen.
Alterthumswissenschaften.
Kinderbewahrungsanstalten.
Unabhaengigkeitserklaerungen.
Wiedererstellungbestrebungen.
Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen.

Of course when one of these grand mountain ranges goes stretching across
the printed page, it adorns and ennobles that literary landscape but at
the same time it is a great distress to the new student, for it blocks up
his way; ... "
- "That Awful German Language," Appendix D of A Tramp Abroad

Let's see if I can translate these puppies. No dictionaries here... *roll up my sleeves*

Symbols of Friendship
ugh, not sure on that second one...
Books (Collections) of City Ordinances

*note that these are all plurals. Twain surely did this to add a couple extra letters onto each word ;)

Books (Collections) of (Area/State/Region etc. you get the picture) Ordinances
Ancient Knowledge of something, I think it has to do with either tombs or books
Childrens' "Awareness/Safety Programs" for lack of a better translation.
Explanations of Independence
I feel like I should be able to figure that one out, but I can't
Finally, Peace Undertakings/Negotiations

I'd have to say the longer words tend to be the easiest because, as noted before, Germans tend to name things quite simply. Take that last word for example:
Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen. Waffen (weapon) stillstands (standing still) unter (under) handlungen (handlings, sort of... with under means negotiations/undertakings)

Keep 'em on Home Row - asdf jklö

Friday night we (Geli, I, Lala, Jörg's friend Alex, and some others) headed over to a town a few kilometers away from Ludwigsburg called Markkröningen. The school there was having a party, or something to that effect. Since we bought some beer and stuff and they, much like a ballpark or something, wouldn't allow alcohol to be brought in, though it was sold there, we stayed outside the fence for quite a while with others who were in the same boat. I got fairly... loose. The others wanted to call me drunk, but I was in full control the whole time, and actually, the songs I sang for them are the same ones I'd sang in front of 600 people in the cafeteria. They just didn't know that side of me, I guess... All in all, the party was pretty much a drag but we had our own good time anyway. There was a band, they played some decent songs, and they weren't bad, but it wasn't enough to make us stay past midnight. Going home on the bus, I was practically nodding off. "At least I won't have any trouble getting to sleep tonight," I told Geli. "Nah, when you're drunk-" "I'm not drunk. Honestly." "Okay. Well, you'll be sleepy now, but you won't get to sleep easy at all once you get in bed." And she was right on that part. I spent maybe an hour tossing and turning.

The next morning I woke up nice and refreshed. However, I did have a slightly sore throat from my crooning the night before. During the day, I chatted with my mother on MSN to make sure everything was sorted out for her visit, and for World Youth Day and our tour of Europe (well, okay, trip to Paris) after that. We should get home the evening of Friday the 26th, if anyone was wondering. Later that night, we headed over to a church to watch Alex's band play. He's a drummer, as I'd found out the night before.
"Do you write all your own songs?"
"Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't write them."
"Yeah, you play the drums."
"Exactly. I don't know anything about chords and stuff."
"But do you sing at all then?"
"Nah, I can't really sing, either. Just play the drums."
"Kinda like Ringo Starr, then."
"Yep. I'm Ringo Starr."
So they played, and we listened. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't necessarily good; nothing really compelled me to keep listening to them. It was much like Battle of the Bands back in Brainerd, at least the parts where they don't sing songs that have already been proven winners. After this we went to Waldhaus, where another friend was celebrating his birthday. Waldhaus is conventionally very bad on Saturday in that most of the music is crappy hip-hop and German rock. However, they ended up playing some decent songs. Furthermore, while Geli and Lala were dancing, Arne, another guy named Moritz, and I had a long chat about politics, smoking, and the school systems. It was probably the best Saturday I've had there, even though it eventually became extremely boring.

Sunday/Today. I went into church in the morning to find out that service had been moved elsewhere. I walked home, then Manfred looked up another service not too far away and drove me out there. Later in the afternoon, Manfred, Geli's grandmother, and I went into Stuttgart for a walk, some sightseeing, and some ice cream. Trying to keep slow for grandma, it was a nice slow stroll, but she kept on falling behind whenever she saw something attractive in the window. Women. Later on she came home with us and they talked about the economy and then they asked me about school and whatnot and we had a pleasant discussion. I took some pictures while we were there, but I didn't post them because I'm too llaaaaaaaaaaazzzzyyyyy slash tired. Maybe they'll get up tomorrow if I have time after Sport in the afternoon. Maybe they won't. You'll just have to check and see.

I also figured out about Religion tests and stuff. Geli told me that earlier during the year they studied some things, Islam for example , and needed to know facts and whatnot.
"So what do you do now in that class?" asked another student who'd overheard our conversation.
"Basically nothing," I said, and Geli agreed.

Anonymous: you're shorter than I. That wipes out a whole .1% of the population ;) So have I already said your name? Is this what you're implying when you said I need to specifically name you?
Jobble is Josiah Collins.

Other than that, nobody really wanted anything...

If you keep up the questions, I'll keep on posting long answers, which will spawn more questions and more answers. It pleases me to see 13 comments hit my posts overnight. (Note: that's not an invitation to start acting like Hukriede and posting chains of 2356334 comments at a time.)

Als ich schon gesagt hab', war ich sicher nicht besoffen. Geli hat mir so gesagt, aber ich hatte ihr erklart, auf deutsch natürlich, "Es ist klar, daß ich nicht besoffen bin, weil ich noch Deutsch kann. Die verdammte deutsche Sprache ist schwer genug wenn man nicht besoffen ist." Sie hat mir dann gesagt, daß man kann eine Fremdsprache besser wenn man blau ist. "Ich spreche nur Englisch wenn ich getrunken bin, und die Valerie immer Französich." Deswegen schlage ich vor, daß wir ein Faß für die Klasse vor der AP Prüfung kaufen. Was meinst du, Tara? Tja. Obwohl ich nicht so gut einschlafen könnte, ich hatte gar keinen Kater Samstag morgen, und das Halsschmerzen bleibt noch, weil ich glaube, daß ich 'ne Kältung hab'. Leider.

"It's awful undermining to the intellect, German is; you want to take it in small doses, or first you know your brains all run together, and you feel them flapping around in your head same as so much drawn butter."
- Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad

A story to tide you over:
A little while back, I was sitting in the schoolyard because I'd finished my math test early and was excused to go out. There were various others out and about, including an English class. Two twelfth grade girls came over to me and told me they were studying religion in America, and wanted to ask me some questions. I did so, they were mostly easy, although some were kind of strange and challenging, like "What is a... how do you pronounce that word..." "Fundamentalist." "Yeah, what's that?" Anyway, they made their way through a document they'd read, asking me the things they'd not known, until one had another question.
"Are there much sects in America?"
"What? Is there much sex in America?"
"Agh, no..." At this they got quite flustered and embarassed. The story goes on, including me telling them that there probably were more since Schröder's cracking down on some of the loose end weird ones, but that's the main part of the story.

You checked your keyboard after reading the title of this post, didn't you? Don't lie.

Continuing News Feed, Live From Europe

Thursday was another normal day. Herr Kunde, 12th grade Mathe teacher, wasn't here, nor were a large number of the 12th graders, so the few of us from all the 12th grade math classes convened to do some really easy volume stuff, like from Pre-Calc (here's the length of a rod. determine the maximum volume of a tent built by four of them) and we took two hours to do it. Ah well. Coming home after school, we turned on the TV and saw live news coverage about terrorist attacks in London, but there wasn't very much info on them. Also, I got a big package in the mail filled full of candy and cereal and a calculator and batteries. The Reinhardts figured that my mom thought I wasn't fed over here, but I reassured them that my family is just naturally crazy. Thank you very much for the package, mother. If anyone was wondering, it was one week in travel, or at least, I got it on the seventh with a note inside dated the 30th. Later that night Geli and I tried to scrounge up people to go with us to War of the Worlds, but couldn't, so we went alone. It was quite a good horror/action/thriller movie, and the ending wasn't really as bad as most people say, just kind of cheesy. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so I'll leave it fairly vague.

Friday. No first hour, sixth hour was cancelled, and Physik as well, leaving me with Mathe 10, Religion, Chemie, und Geschichte. I really don't get the Religion classes here. They divide the kids up by religion, then don't actually teach them anything. It's more like: our theme today is belief. Write down what belief means to you. Now make a poster. Now go sit in the corner and sing kum-ba-ya. It's like a CORE math class gone horribly wrong. I don't know how one could possibly be tested or graded on anything done in there...

Let's hear what our listeners have to say:
John, I hardly even noticed that you translated my critique of the dubbed version of Rain Man.
Yes, Tara is correct. Tests are graded descending 1 to 6, exactly like our A to F scale. However, better grades are traditionally harder to recieve.
Jeff, it most certainly is. I'm considering wearing that on the first day of school next year. Freak some sophomores out, at least.
Do you need pronunciation on any of that Josiah? You're right, German is fairly hideous (reference my Twain quote for today), but also quite intellectual.
Hi Liz, good to hear from you. Be sure to check back here if you're wondering how things are going in Ludwigsburg! I won't be coming back until the middle to end of August, though...
As I said earlier, good grades are harder to recieve, so that 4 could be somewhere around a C to a D. In fact, though, the scientific terms are the easiest ones to pick up on, usually because they're Latin or have roots that are very similar (Kation for Cation, or Ammoniak for Ammonia, for example). However, there are a few tricky ones in Chemie...

Wasserstoff - Hydrogen
Sauerstoff - Oxygen
Säure - Acid
Stichstoff - Nitrogen
Kohlenstoff - Carbon

However, the symbols are universal, so the names don't too often come into play. The simple problem I had with that test (as well as basically all the other tests I've taken) is that tested material was being tought for a while before I arrived, so I never got notes on it. And I may be smart, but I don't keep six properties of salts stuck in my back pocket in case I happen to run across them on a German Chemistry test. Still his advice to me was quite sound, and I'm taking it to heart.
It's cooling back down in Germany, which is good. Highs are sitting around 70, whereas before they had been in the 90s, which made rotating between the four or five shirts I have in a week a sticky situation (pun intended).
The Tour de France is certainly covered, the Germans are all about Jan Ullrich, one of their national champions... we were considering actually heading over to France when they came by the German border to watch them, but I don't think that's going to quite pan out, sadly. I haven't been watching too many sporting events on TV, though. I followed the French Open quite closely, and there was also the Confederations Cup (Fußball), but I didn't watch any Wimbledon, and haven't seen any Tour de France yet.
Tennis is fairly haphazard, and we get in only about an hour a week. Manfred and I usually just hit, and if he notices something I'm doing really badly, or something that he's easily able to take advantage of, he'll tell me. It's definately not like instruction. He's not exactly the "tennis pro" Mom made him out to be. He's a gym teacher, sure, and quite good at tennis, but he doesn't give instruction regularly.
Umm... about classes. I'm sure most of them are already set, but if you'd like, you could call and inquire as to whether AP Chemistry would fit into my schedule. Also noting the 4.33 average of the Calc BC kids, you could try nagging about that class, but I'm fairly sure there's nothing to be done about that at this point.
The food here is really good. I've never heard of leberkas, and weißwurst is essentially, yes, white sausage. They don't sit down and eat big hunks of meat like Americans are known to do, which is something I could get used to. More likely than not, Swabian foods have a sour taste and make a glopping noise, but certainly not in a bad way. My favorite food so far has been Maultaschen. Literally "mouth pockets," they're like large ravioli. Legend has it that back in the middle ages, monks cut meat up very finely and hid it inside of spinach and other greens which are packed into the middle as a way of sneaking by the meat-eating ban during Lent. Also good are Döner, a type of food brought in by the Turkish immigrants. There's a large slab of meat rotating on a spit; when someone orders, small slices are shaved off of it and put, with some greens, onions, tomatoes, and a tangy sauce into a pita pocket. They're remotely similar to a gyro, and quite delicious.
I've emailed you about the Berlin travel info... whatever you'd like to do is great by me, I'll do whatever; just find out how much time we need to do what and then try to e-mail me back about how much time we'll need. If things get into too much of a crunch, I can always call or we can talk on MSN.
I don't expect AP scores for another week: the 15th, right guys?
During the live feed, they said that a group called "Al-Qaeda in Europe" was claiming responsibility for the attacks. Because of the organization of the attacks, I can't believe they were planned on the short notice of the games coming to London; besides, that's still 7 years off. I find it more likely that they had to do with the G8 summit taking place in Gleneagles, Scotland. I personally haven't noted too much a change in German attitudes since yesterday... of course, Ludwigsburg is also like the Brainerd of Germany; there's extremely little chance that any sort of terrorist action would occur here. However, Stuttgart could be a different story...

Ich find's schwer, etwas auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Ich hab' nicht so viel zu sagen, daß ich nicht schon gesagt hab'... Krieg der Welten war nicht schlecht auf Deutsch, und es war ein gutes Film. Es war lustig wenn es lustig sein wollte und traurig wenn es traurig sein wollte. Der Spezialeffekt war doch toll. Die Außerirdischen war ziemlich echt, aber es gab auch 'ne rühigere Szene im Auto daß doch toll dadurch gemacht wurde.

"In early times some sufferer had to sit up with a toothache, and he put in the time inventing the German language."
- Notebook #14, 11/1877 - 7/1878

The math problem again: (open to anyone)
Fact: out of any 79 consecutive positive numbers, there is at least one whose sum of its inclusive digits is divisible by 13. ("sum of its inclusive digits" means add up all the numbers that make that number. the sum of 803's inclusive digits would be 11, i.e. 8+0+3=11. the sum of 49's inclusive digits is divisible by 13 (4+9=13))
Explain why this is so, and show also that this does not hold for 78 consecutive natural numbers.

If you read this in one sitting, give yourself a round of applause.

One of Those People Who Speak Two Languages

Tuesday I decided not to post since I figured I wouldn't have much traffic around this place due to the Fourth of July celebrations. I guess I was wrong. I also went and played some tennis with Manfred. It was a good day for it, not too hot, but we both played pretty poorly, and agreed to blame it on the splotchy light flitering through the trees.

Wednesday I didn't have to go to Biology in the afternoon for the second week in a row. It was cancelled and replaced by Spanish for the others. We also got our Chemistry tests back today. The teacher asked to speak with me, since I got a 4 on the test. He assumed it was because I couldn't speak German (although I'd probably chalk it up to my ineptitude at the science of Chemistry), and told me that if I wanted to be "one of those people who speak two languages" that I'd have to work hard on my German skills. It was some very good advice, so I went searching for some helpful study guides. It helps when people organize things for me. I can be motivated when I want to be, but if nothing's in order, I get very little accomplished. So I found a few websites, including one that everyone here can use to increase your global and cultural awareness. Okay, probably not any of you who've had a German class in school, but for the rest of you: Essential German. I especially like the section titled "Food & Drink," because those things are about all we eat here. ;)

Also for those of you who cannot speak the German language, I've dug up a resource of Mark Twain quotes on the language, to keep you satisfied and relieved that you never did decide to venture into the grammatical mess the people I'm living with call a language. And so the first one:

"It is easier for a cannibal to enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the eye of a rich man's needle that it is for any other foreigner to read the terrible German script."
- photo autographed to Ed. Potzl, 2/1898; Notebook, 1898

"Ich bin ein ausgezeichneter Fahrer." Ich hab's von "Rain Man" auf Deutsch gelernt. Es ist mir immer interressant, amerikanischen Filme hier zu gucken, besonders die, die ich schon gesehen habe. Meiner Meinung nach, Dustin Hoffman hat das Oscar so viel für seine Stimme als sein schauspielen gewonnen, weil das Film war sicher nicht so gut wie auf Englisch. Auch wurde das Zitat "K-mart sucks" als "Einkaufszentrum ist scheiße" übersetzt. Obwohl es noch lustig war, es war nicht wahr, nicht echt so zu sagen, und es lässt mich traurig. Außer Filmen guck' ich nicht so oft Fernseher, aber manchmal schaue ich Fußball oder Tennis an. Tara, nächste Sommer hast du sicher Spaß. Entweder gehst du wieder nach Europa oder gibt es "Tara allein zu Hause," d.h. "Party bei Tara," oder? ;)

If anybody would like to try and beat Parker to the draw on that math problem, they're welcome to it. Furthermore, and wishes, wants, desires, whatever I can do for anyone, just let me know.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Fourth

I hope all you back in America have or have had a wonderful, festive, and patriotic Fourth of July, depening on when you read this.

Basically, last night I called my parents, got a headache, and went to sleep. Today I went to school. On the Fourth of July. I ought to have protested or something. Same old same old. Had to go back in for Sport. They said, "It might rain, bring an umbrella or rainjacket." So I bring an umbrella. Just as I get off at the bus stop, it begins to rain. So, I walk in the rain to the Sporthalle. I go inside, change, go into the gymnasium itself, and, looking at the windows, notice the rain has stopped. I play Team Handball for an hour and a half, then change, go back outside. It's started raining again, lightly. Suddenly, cloudburst, its completely pouring. I make my way back to my stop, but slowly, so that I miss the bus I normally catch and have to wait another 7 minutes or so. On the bus I'm hit up for money from some panhandler whom I couldn't really understand, but his breath smelled like cigarettes, and also, he lives in Germany, so I figured he survive well enough.

The more pressing concern presently is your comments:
Parker, the difference is that nobody can really understand you ;) Unless you want to talk (in simple sentences, mind you) to Johnny and my mudda.
Zoe, I'd hold your tongue. Honestly... you might be good, but don't write a check your bum can't cash.
So, anonymous, are you telling me that I've already written your name? I haven't been singling anyone out specifically when I guess, just stabbing in the dark cuz i'm really bad at this game... wait... Nick Houle. That's my final answer.
Sorry I missed you when I called, Mom. I would've called earlier Saturday morning like I usually do, but I was out at Kunz's party. Usually Saturday afternoons around here are free and the heavier partying is done later ;) I'll hopefully be able to try again next week though, unless you'd like me to call you some other time.

About the languages:
"und parker, bitte, lass uns intlligenter männer, und weiben (schuldigung tara) zu unsere intelligente sprache." -Matt
"and parker, please, let us intelligent men, and women (sorry tara) to our intelligent language."
Basically, all we're talking about is the possibility of meeting up somewhere over here in Germany. Mitch threw in that he enjoyed reading and writing German, so I agreed to add some in every post. Tara also agreed, and told me I was the smartest, best-looking, funniest, most charming person in the world. And also that I was good at German, but that kind of takes a back seat.

Also, Tara, meinst du, daß mein deutsch war vorher nicht so ausgezeichnet? lol. wenn du wirklich umlauts schreiben will, kannst du ä,ö,ü,ß in Microsoft Word unter Insert>Symbol... finden, dann kannst du in Word schreiben und kopieren, und in Blogger einfügen. Aber glaub' ich, daß wir dich verstehen kann, auch wenn du keine schreibst. Du hast auch ein paar Dinge über mich in deinem Kommentar vergessen, aber hab' ich die in die Übersetzung gesteckt. ;) Hattest du mir auch gesagt, daß du nach der Schweiz kommen wirst? Alle gute Dinge sind drei, also du, ich, und Matt in Europa kann nicht schlecht sein. Falls ja, wann und wo? Matt, leider glaub' ich daß eine Treffung würde wohl unmöglich, solange dein Flugzeug nicht direkt in Ludwigsburg abstürtzt. Wenn du von irgendeinem Plan denken kannst, schlag's mir vor. In Deutsch haben wir heute über Dialekten gelernt. Ich fand das vom Westen am leichtsten und ein vom Norden am schwersten. Wie viel kannst du dann verstehen? Na Jungs... mein "mädchenabenteuer" kommt noch nicht weil ich habe kein geschicht zu erzählen, mein' ich. Sobald das ändert werdet ihr wissen, kann ich daß euch versprechen.

If you're still aching over the language thing, I'll open one up to the wider English-speaking public: I've been hear near on five weeks now. What would you personally like? Absolutely anything I can do for you, pictures, information, you name it, I'll work on fetching it and reporting back to you. I'm sure I've missed some of your comments or questions, so if you have any I haven't answered, or even if you haven't asked them yet, feel free to do so.

Also, Parker, just for you, since you seem to be most sorely hurt by our Fremdsprache (foreign language). Get your math hat on:
Among 79 consecutive natural (positive whole) numbers, there is at least one whose sum of its inclusive digits (803=8+0+3=11) is divisible by 13. Explain, and show also that this does not hold for 78 consecutive natural numbers.
I got the answer in about 45 minutes and am working on translating my explanation to German.

Also, They Don't Celebrate Anything Like Patriotism

The Musikfeuerwerk was quite spectacular. The show was set to Vivaldi, and quite well done, although a bit shorter than standard American 4th of July fireworks displays.

Today (Sunday) I went to church as usual, then with Geli, Frank, and Marina went to a museum in Sinsheim, about 45 minutes away. It was quite interesting and showcased all sorts of vehicles and airplanes and whatnot; I've opened a gallery with a number of pictures thereof. (Sinsheim Museum)

I don't have too much to report, really.
Also, probably against Parker's wishes, I've decided to include a bit of German in every post. Why? It makes it a little more authentic. I'm also doing it by popular demand, though if you don't know German, you wouldn't realize it. Besides, it will be fun, and people can test their German skills, whether they're aficionados like Matt, Mitch, or John, amateurs like Josh Mattson, or complete beginners, like Tay. ;)

Leider hab' ich nicht viel von Mädels zu erzählen, Jungs. Auch wenn ich etwas getan hätte, mein' ich, ich würde nicht so viel zu schreiben habe, weil man kann nur so viel über solche Dinge sagen. Hoffentlich wird das bald ändern... Ne, Matt, sauf ich nitt, im Grunde weil ich würde krank bevor besoffen werden, aber auch weil ich kein Problem für Geli und die anderen sein will. Wie lange bleibst du dann, und wann gehst du zum Cristoff? Geli will wissen... wir wissen nicht, ob wir stimmt was mit Cristoff machen kann, weil es gibt drei Wochenende vor Ferien, und dann gehen wir nach München usw. Mitch, viel Spaß beim vierten Julis! Tchüß

It's Like The Fourth of July, But Three Days Long

Fridays are good days because I don't have school until 8:30. Kind of weird to think of it that way, since back home 8:20 always seemed waaaaay to early. It was also fairly odd, because in Math we did trigonometry, whereas we normally have been doing Physics (the same guy teaches Physics and Math, and since he had been taking Physics hours to teach math and prepare the class for their big standardized tests a month ago, he's recently been taking back Math hours to catch up in Physics). In Physics 11, we were doing some things about Gas Laws, which I guess could be Physics, but since we'd just been doing levers and rotation or something, it seemed a lot more like Chemistry. Physics and Chem tend to overlap quite a bit I find. I'm also seriously considering taking AP Chem (if I can manage it into my schedule) next year. I know John and Logan plan to... who else? Anyway. Physics 11 is a two hour block, but the second hour they took a test in Chemistry 11, a class I'm actually also a part of, but didn't take the test in largely because I didn't know the material, but also because Geli's Chem class ALSO had a Chem test that hour. So I took that one. It went okay, but he asked for 6 properties and chemical reasoning therefore of salts, and I was able to bust out two. Egal.
Friday night we were invited to a birthday party. I didn't really know the girl, and neither did Geli, but we went anyway and had a good time. We played a game like volleyball, but instead of a ball used a flat nerf disc with a tail like a Vortex football. The game was fun, the food was good, and the beer was from the tap, so it was an excellent time overall.

Saturday I had the option of going to Biedigheim to watch Geli play tennis, but opted to sleep in instead. At about 2:00, when she got back, we headed over to Andreas's house. He's in my photo gallery, and originally I had named him Julian, largely because I'd thought that was his real name. Nope. It's Andreas. My reasoning is fairly solid in that everyone calls him Kunz, so that's how I knew him. Enough said. Anyway, his party was quite unusual, but not in a bad way. He had it at his house with a little beer but not much, in the afternoon. He told me he wasn't a fan of the huge wild bashes where everyone gets plastered and so on, and I agreed. It was a fairly quiet affair, and we also got to see his expertise on the guitar. He's turning 16, and he's quite good at playing. And about the post title: tonight, at the Blühendes Barock (Residenzschloss) is a Musikfeuerwerk display, with the fireworks set to classical music. It kicks off a city festival that goes until Monday night, and is quite a celebration. I'll be heading there later on.

On the good side of things, it's cooling down. It had been sitting around 90 F, but now I'm wearing long pants. It's been raining a bit too, which is nice.

Here's what our readers had to say:
It's real cool that you guys were able to make that tape for Ms. Uppgaard. I'd really like to see a copy, if that would be possible.
I thought you were the German linguist here, John. Don't make me dig up the quote... But i think that one's better left auf Deutsch, do you agree Matt?
DEUTSCH MODE: ON
Ich weiß nicht genau wann wir Cristoff besuchen werden, aber ich glaub' dass es wird nach Schule sein, vielleicht am Ende Juli oder so. Wie lange bleibst du dann? Und warum hast du nicht angemeldet? Hast du deine Kennwort vergessen oder was - dein Blog hat auch nichts neues. Aber egal. Tja, ich freue mich auf heim natürlich, wegen der Leute, aber hier find' ich's besser; zwischen Bier und deutschen Mädels geht's mir gut. Ich will sicher nach Deutschland zurückkommen (wann weiß ich nitt), aber es gibt auch so viel gutes zu Hause... Zu mindestens ist's 'n gutes Problem zu haben. Wie ist die Sprache dir gegangen? Ich schätze dass ihr Deutsch reden, ja? War's mir zuerst leicht, aber nachher hatten sie so leicht zu sprechen gestoppt. Also, hab' ich viel zu viel schon geschrieben, und die, die Deutsch nicht reden können, sind total verloren. Viel Spaß.
DEUTSCH MODE: OFF
That was just intended to be a short aside to Anderson, if you were wondering, and it kind of turned into a lengthy discussion. Don't worry, it doesn't concern you. If you're really paranoid, I guess you could use one of those online translators and try to pick through the pile of grammar it dumps on you, but I've used enough slang to make your going tough (not that I've anything to hide, mind you).

I'm spent.