This morning Lisa and I walked to school instead of biking like usual because it looked kind or rainy. It didn't rain AT ALL. I'm starting to think that it only rains when I'm on my bike.
Then Lisa invited me to go shopping with her, Sara and Celina in Cologne tomorrow! Yay! When I asked if we were going to go right after school, Lisa was like, "We don't have school tomorrow."
Whaaa?
Apparently we have school off tomorrow! Someone on Facebook said it's because it's a Pädagogischer Tag (this is copied and pasted from Facebook.) I have no freaking idea what this means, but I'll take the day off!
Today in PE, we played soccer again. I was on the team of the best soccer playing guy in the class again. Score. Lisa and Nadine were also on my team, as well as a girl named Antonia. For some reason, we had to play inside today. It was HOT. Or maybe just for me, because I was actually trying. Anyway, the area to play in was much smaller than a normal field, and there weren't enough (mini) goals, so in one divided section of the gym the goals were squares marked on the walls. My team won all three games. I scored three goals in the first game, four goals in the second, and three goals in the third. That's right, people. TEN GOALS!!! Okay, yes, the goals were smaller and in two games just a square, but I think it's still an accomplishment of some sort.
As we were getting changed after PE, one of my friends told me that I had a crazy six-pack. I personally don't think it's much of one, but I guess it's noticable. The comment (compliment? I'm not sure if that counts as a compliment) was weird yet awesome.
In math we started learning systems of equations with three equations and three variables. Friends, did you guys learn this at home after I left, or am I ahead? Because it would be cool to be ahead! ;) Solving them was a little confusing at first, but I soon got the feel for it. The only sucky thing was that we had to work with decimals like 5.765485 and round. If it's our first day learning a new concept, why can't we just get nice, happy integers as answers for the first assignment?
In French we got our tests back. Remember when I told you about taking it? I didn't think I would have to take it (not that it matters), so I didn't study. At all. Out of the 1 to 6 scale, I was totally expecting a 6. But guess what? I got a 3! The class's scores were two 1s, twelve 2s, eight 3s, six 4s and one 5. For not studying or knowing any of the concepts AT ALL, I did pretty darn well! Three guys around me couldn't understand how I'd gotten a 3 because they had all studied and gotten 4s. I guess I'm just cool like that. ;) I think I also got lucky that this test was less centered on grammar and more on reading comprehension and answering questions. I pretty much failed the grammar part of it, though. However, there was one part of the test where we had to write a paragraph using lesson 4 vocabulary, teenage lingo, correctly use 'c'est qui' or 'c'est que', and use the conjugated forms of suivre, mort, and s'assoir. I didn't know any of the vocab, only knew about two words of teenage lingo, barely understand c'est qui versus c'est que, and didn't even know what suive and s'assoir meant, let alone conjugate them. I also hardly understood the paragraph prompt. But I got 11 out of 16 points on the paragraph!
Okay, enough of the French test analysis.
In the second half of French, we talked about our field trip to Liege, Belgium on Wednesday. I'm so excited! We're going to do a big scavenger hunt of sorts in the city, and afterwards we get to go shopping. YAYAYAYAY
After school, I walked home with Lisa. One of the few pros to walking instead of biking is that you can chat. We talked about our friends, and a lot about school. Lisa found the idea of lockers extremely cool. :)
Since Lisa couldn't make it to my birthday party (she had a tennis meeting that ran late and there wasn't any money left on her phone to call), she came over after school to make a t-shirt. I also added a little bit to mine. We talked and laughed a lot while we worked.
When coloring t-shirts, it works best if you pull the t-shirt and stretch out the part you're working on so the fabric pen doesn't get stuck on folds. Before I tell you this story, you need to know that the word 'rausziehen' means pull out, but if you remove the r to make 'ausziehen' it means take off. I offered to pull out the fabric of Lisa's shirt so she could color it better, but instead of 'rausziehen' it came out as 'ausziehen.' So instead of saying, "Do you want me to pull this out for you?" I said, "Do you want me to take this off for you?" Biggest. Fail. Ever. Lisa and I laughed hysterically about it.
When I checked Facebook today, I saw I had a friend request from a guy in my class. I take this as a good sign. ;)
But despite this awesome day, I am sad. Why am I sad? Well, I'm sad because I'm happy.
Right now I'm the happiest I've been during this whole German journey. I have really good friends that I feel close to, I can participate in school, oh, and did I mention I have good friends? But now that everything's fallen into place, it's almost over. Where the heck did the past two months go?!?!
I realized this when Nadine called to make plans to hang out before I go. Looking at the calendar, we could hardly find a day that would work. This week is packed (Tuesday, shopping, print pictures at Rossman, and call parents; Wednesday, class field trip; Thursday, mom and sister come; Friday, going shopping with Erin; Saturday, maybe do something with another girl I don't know that well), and next week is my last full week of school! Then we're going to Amsterdam for a few days, and two days later we're leaving! I still have so much left to do! I really want to stay close to my friends here, so I'm trying to do as much as possible with them before I leave. But when my mom and sister come on Thursday, I'm also going to be doing things with them because I haven't seen them in two months. Between those two I still have things I have to do (homework, pilates).
I don't want to get too overwhelmed and sad, so for now I'm just trying to take things one day at a time.
German word of the day: Vermissen. Pronounced fai(r)-MISS-en. Can you guess what it means? It's the word that written in all caps to show that's the syllable you emphasize. That's write, 'miss.' Because I'm really going to miss my friends here!!!
The Sunflower Project: Most of the sunflowers are doing really well. Some are getting really wide leaves, whilst others are getting really tall. (I used the word 'whilst!' I feel so fancy!) Only one is struggling a little bit.
Book update: While Anna and Max's parents are in Paris, one of Anna's friends tells her that the Nazis have put a price of 1,000 dollars on her father's head. Anna, being a ten-year-old, doesn't understand what putting a price on someone's head means, and she has nightmares for a couple of days of coins falling on her father's head and burying him. Her brother then explains what it actually means.
Anna's parents decide that they want to live in Paris, and the dad comes to pick them up. When they have to transfer trains at the border of Switzerland, France and Germany, their luggage carrier brings them to a train taking them to Stuttgart, Germany instead of Paris. Anna notices at the last minute and they barely have time to push their luggage off the train before it leaves.
When they arrive in Paris, Anna is thankful for the family to be together again. They have a small apartment not far from the Arc de Triomphe. Anna's mom decides it's time for the kids to get a French tutor. First, the kids have to go buy themselves a pencil. They have a little bit of trouble communicating with the store clerk. They are given pencils, but Anna wants a cheaper one, and she has to look up how to say 'cheaper' in the dictionary they lugged with them to the store. Eventually, though, they figure it out. Their French teacher is good, but Anna has a little bit of trouble writing stories. Max uses the same template every time: "Once there was a (event). They ate (long list of foods.) Then they all exploded." Typical boy. ;)
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