Just Another School Day

Sorry, I seem to be getting in the habit of being a day behind.  But from now on I probably won't be writing daily because I'm settling into school and not as many new, exciting things are happening.

This morning Lisa and I biked to school for the first time (for me anyway) instead of walking.  Twas fun. :)

German was our first class.  First we discussed the movie we watched last time, and then we analyzed some song and speculated the different meanings of it.  I was pretty much no help with that.  I did, however, manage to do the homework about it.  I wonder how many spelling and grammar mistakes are in it...  We also did a crossword with poem and figurative language.  Of the twenty or so questions, I answered.....(Drumroll please)......


ONE!

I know, it's quite astonishing.  And the only reason I got it is because it looks like the English word.  The question asked what type of figurative language compared things without using "wie," which is like in German.  So I tapped my neighbor on the shoulder and was like, "Uh, how do you say 'metaphor' in German?"  She told me it was 'metapher.'  So there you have it.  The exciting story of how I answered one question on a crossword puzzle.

Next was physics, the only class I hadn't yet because there wasn't school last Thursday.  After about two minutes I just totally gave up and read my book.  Apparently I'm not supposed to do that, which I was told by my grandparents afterward, because there's a chance I could learn something if I payed attention.  Fat chance.  I'm not going to learn anything because I don't understand what they're talking about in the first place.  You know, I am getting really sick and tired of being dumb.  I really, really, really miss being smart!  I hate sitting there while everyone knows what's going on except for me!

The people I was sitting next to were very impressed with my Kindle.  They do have ereaders there, but they're not as common.  Also, about three people freaked out when I told them about riding a yellow school bus to school.  Apparently that's the most interesting thing about school in America.  But there aren't school buses in Germany, so I guess they're seen as cool.  If only they knew the pain of sitting amongst loud, annoying kids for half an hour.  Or is that just me?

The physics teacher had a lisp, which was pretty entertaining, especially when he got mad at the class at the end of the period.  Here is an English equivilent of what it sounded like: "I didn't give you permithon to put your thtuff away yet!  You will thtay here until we're done!"  I don't know how anyone can take him seriously.

I don't know if I have mentioned this yet or not, but it doesn't hurt to say it twice.  Instead of white boards, all the classrooms in my school in Germany have black boards that can fold out to get bigger or slide up and down on a track.  I hate blackboards.  Luckily, I am not a teacher and don't have to write on one daily.  First of all, you have to write with chalk.  Second of all, there is always the threat the nails-on-a-chalkboard sound.  Just seeing the blackboard makes me conjure the screeching shriek of....  Okay, I won't put you into further misery. :) But third and worst of all, they're messy!  When people wipe down the chalkboard with a sponge and squeegee, it at first looks really nice because it's still wet.  But then, when it starts to dry....  UGH!  It looks really streaky and messy.  And when people do a really bad job of cleaning the blackboard, there are white smudges everywhere, especially around the edges.  It's painful to look at.

During the big break, I went down to the archives (I know, it sounds so fancy!" with Celina to get all my books.  There are TEN FREAKING TEXTBOOKS!  TEN!  My bag was bulging so much I couldn't close it, and my back hurt from carrying those books around for only less than half a day.  When I got home, I weighed my bag, and it weighed in between nine and ten kilograms, which is equal to about twenty-one pounds!  I was carrying twenty-one freaking pounds around with me!

The lovely stack of textbooks and workbooks

In math we corrected our last assignment.  Although I've already learned the content, I still did horribly on the assignment because of stupid mistakes.  Argh.  Then the teacher started teaching the elimination method of solving systems of equations, which I also already knew and also did better at during the assignment.  At one point the teacher looked over my shoulder and said, "I can't believe that you're being so hardworking and doing the assignment with the rest of the class!"  What I thought but didn't say was, "Well, duh, it's only one of two classes where I understand anything!"  I never, ever thought that I would look forward to doing math.

After school I got to bike home and up a huge hill with an extra twenty pounds on my bike.  That was fun.  Not.  Actually, to be honest it didn't really feel any worse than usual, but whenever I slowed down, like at stoplights, my bike got all wobbly because of the extra weight.

The Sunflower Project: Well, there's no drastic change like there was yesterday, but the sunflowers, or those that have sprouted already, are growing steadily.

This one hasn't gotten any more attractive.  It'll have to grow out of its baby fat. :)

 Could this be something?  I'm not sure.

German word of the day: Keine Ahnung.  Pronounced KY-nuh AAH-noong.  It means "no idea."  If you are asking yourself why in the heck I am teaching you this word, it is because I had no idea what word to teach you today.  Hence, no idea!