Turkey Day Recap

Okay, so I know it is a little delayed, but I've been away from home and super busy, so please forgive the fact that I haven't been able to put up my wonderful turkey day account yet.

We had pulled out the Turkey on Monday night I believe in order to defrost it. It was a 5 Kilogram turkey (a female turkey to be exact). On Wednesday evening it was completely defrosted. Fabian and I made our homemade stuffing (stuffing doesn't exist here. thanks mom for sending us stuffing!), stuffed the turkey, made homemade Cranberry Sauce, and put the Turkey in the fridge.

Thursday morning was just like any other normal day. Got up, went to class... I came home at about 4:30 in the afternoon. Fabian had just put the turkey in the oven, and we started to get everything ready for our dinner. Then I took a pause and called my family to talk to them and wish them a happy thanksgiving. I told my mom I missed her, which I do, but it made me cry a bit. Afterwords I went into the kitchen to get a hug and make me feel better, but that just makes it worse. I'm happy and loving where I am.... but I have always been close to my family and I will always miss them when I am not with them. It isn't a homesickness that I feel all the time or something... just certain things make me realize it.

Anyways, after I calmed down a bit I talked to my Grandparents! That was fun, since I haven't talked to them since August. Then, it was time for me to go, since I had class I had to go to in the evening. So.. I left Fabian to cook and prepare everything for dinner alone.. aren't I nice? I felt so bad....

After class I met with Kelleen and her friend who had come to visit her from Spain. He is an American too and she knows him from her college in the U.S. We hung out a little while before coming home, since Fabian wouldn't let us come home right away. On our way back home, it was snowing! Here in Saarbruecken it hardly ever snows, because it stays at about freezing, so usually the precipitation comes in the form of rain or sleet. But, nope, this was full-fledged big snow flake snow!!!! I was so excited. The best part was that her friend from Spain (he's from LA originally) had never seen snow in a city, only in the mountains. So the entire time he was in total awe of the snow. It was great.

We made it back here, brought up some pop and beer from the basement, and walked into a wonderfully smelling apartment. A few minutes later dinner was served (this was about 9 pm).

I walked into the kitchen and it looked beautful. My boyfriend had cleaned the kitchen, then put a fun blue string of lights he had bought specifically for the occasion on the wall by the table. On the table was a candle holder full of about 10 tea lights, all lit up. Under that were decorative napkins, and on the counters surrounding the table were more tea lights and candles.

And the food. There was turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, carrots, snow peas, and yams. All was absolutey delicous. He had never made a turkey before, and it tasted wonderful... and the stuffing. it was homemade, and so delicous.

and he did it all alone . Not only did he do it alone, he did it for me , so that I would have a wonderful turkey day and not be so homesick.

I am the LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD! and very spoiled..... nobody has ever done so much for just little old me.... i am very thankful for him.

Gobble Gobble

We went to the grocery store yesterday. You'll never guess what we bought!


A TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, technically it isn't a real turkey. Technically it is a female turkey. But no matter, it's still a turkey that we are planning on putting stuffing into and cooking for several hours on Thanksgiving. We are also going to have yams, and mashed potatoes and pie.

Which means the following:

I GET TO HAVE THANKSGIVING IN GERMANY!!!!!!! :)

I'm super excited, because until last night I didn't know what we are doing. Hopefully my friend Kelleen and her friend who is also from the states (but is visiting her for a few days this week: he is studying for the year in Spain) are coming over too... and fabian's mom will be here: so it'll be a party! I'm so excited!!! So if anyone has any good recipes, feel free to share!

Health Report: Still feeling a bit under the weather. Felt sick this morning, and didn't go swimming. My general health was more important. I don't have a fever or anything, just beginning sick, so I'm trying to be careful so I don't get full blown sick. been praying about it too.. just waiting for God to answer. I have to leave very soon to go to Voelklingen to take care of the little girl and then to go finish christmas shopping so I can mail out presents soon!!!

And last but not least, this weekend we are going to Siegen to see Fabian's dad and his dad's girlfriend. I met them when I was here for Christmas in 2003, they are pretty cool people. I've been here for almost four months and we haven't seen them yet, so it's time for a visit. We'll be gone friday night through sunday night.. hopefully i'll have my camera battery (I have to go buy a new one) so I can take pics!

have a happy tuesday.

What to do

Last night my throat started to hurt. Just a little. And I also felt a bit sick. I went to sleep and woke up this morning with my throat still sore and still feeling a bit sick. I got dressed, ate breakfast and went to my morning class. By the time I got back here, I felt a bit better and have just been relaxing/resting and playing my computer game.

Now, the next thing on my agenda starts in a bit over an hour and it is Karate. I know I've been quite the excercise slacker lately, but I'm not 100% sure I should go today. Right now I'm feeling a bit better, but can still feel the underlying sickness that is threating to start taking over my body. Going to Karate means an hour and a half of jogging/strenous excercise. While I think I could do it okay, I am a little cautious about excercising my normal amount when I am already feeling a bit under the weather. My number one priorty right now is to make sure that I bite this sickness in the butt before it comes on completely, because I can't afford to be sick this week. I have way too much to do.

So... I'm sitting here, trying to answer the age old question: to work out or not to work out.

I'm leaning towards not. I'll feel like a massive slacker... but at the same time I think it might be a better idea to rest and let my body use today as a day to fight the stupid little bugs inside of me.

and.. i am hopefully still going to go swim on Tuesday and Thursday, and do Yoga on Friday (provided I don't get really sick)... and I could maybe do some home excercising a little later this afternoon... so I'm not quite being a total slacker.

Week 6

Okay. Week Six of Excercising is done. Here's how it looked:

Sunday - nothing
Monday - Karate
Tuesday - swimming
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - Yoga
Saturday - nothing

Yeah, yeah,I know, lots of nothing. Thursday i was going to go swimming but couldn't make myself get up so early, bah. this week my goal is to go swimming up on tuesday and thursday, plus yoga and karate. today i'm supposed to do yoga at home, but quite honestly, i just don't feel like it.

yeah. in other updating news I am totally addicted to Zoo Tycoon, which is why i haven't posted in a while. I'll try to be better this week. Yesterday we went Christmas shopping... so the christmas presents will be going out sometime this week to my family at home. It'll take like four to six weeks to get there, so don't anyone get too excited yet.

i cleaned our room friday in the hopes of finding my missing camera battery... and had no luck. it literally doesn't exist anymore, and a new one costs fifty bucks. yuck. so, that is my next big purchase. hopefully i can buy it soon so I have my camera for christmas and what not.

and that's it for now, i'm going to go check up on some other people's blogs then play my game and eventually do homework. later.

Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch

Yep.... so it's official! Last night, at 23:59 I was sitting in a movie theater in Landstuhl (it's not far and is near the Rammstein airbase) watching Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch (that would be harry potter movie #4).

So.. yes, you read it right! Harry Potter #4 was released here last night... so.. I just wanted to post to say it is wonderful... and to say that it's cool I got to see it before all of you guys in the states. :)

of course, I watched it in German... so I didn't understand every detail.. but it's still cool.

Got home at 4 in the morning. Fabian slept 2 hours until he had to work, and I slept until 9:45 and now have to go to class.

Go see the movie. IT IS WONDERFULLY GOOD!

a half hour

well, i did it. today was the very first day that I got up early and went to the University and went swimming in order to work out.

oh.

my.

goodness.

it is so hard. i mean, for real.... bah.. I was all happy and excited about gaining a minute in jogging, and now I'm starting this and it's tough. We have an olympic size swimming pool that I go in, and I could only make it one lap (down to the other side and back) before i got out and went to a normal size pool for a bit. and now, my legs are super sore. and my arms too. ah well, i need to learn to swim better anyways :)

so, I got back at about 8:30 and I have to leave again to go do my babysitting job at 9:15.

oh, and you know what? I bought myself a red jacket for winter over here. It's super cute and I love it. There's only one problem. I wore a white shirt yesterday, and my red jacket. I now own a pink shirt. he he he. it sucks, actually because now I don't dare where any of my light colored shirts with it without wearing something over it so that my shirts don't all turn pink.

well, i think that's it. i'm going to do a few more things before i gotta go make money!

Bah... humbug.

Hey everyone! no I PROMISE I'm not in a bad mood. But I got to watch the old cartoon version of "A Christmas Carol" the other day, and it made me happy.... so hence my "creative" title.

Actually, I wanted to clarify something for you guys... no yoga is not like rest! Hmmpphh.. how dare you think that!?!? lol... just watch out, when I come home from Germany I am sooo going to make you do yoga and teach you how rest-like it is! :)

seriously though, I have nothing to say at all today, just felt like posting. I watched Coach Carter the movie this morning, it was very good, I recomend it to everyone. And finally my boyfriend has put Zoo Tycoon the game on his computer for me, so I can play it again! YAY!!! (it doesn't work on my comptuer). Now, all I have to do is get HIM to stop playing it...

well that's it for now... today was another lazy day spent being lazy, and now i have to start working on my gobs of stuff I have to do for the Unversity... ahh... the joys of homework.

Two Post Day

Hi everyone. Well, it's true. Today I am writing two blogs. Why? Because I had lots to tell, and it seemed to me that everyone might appreciate it in two (somewhat) smaller sections as compared to one huge one.

So, the subject of this blog is to let you all know that I HAVE A JOB! I know I said I wasn't going to work, but something came my way that I decided to take.

At the university we have many self-made ads that go up all over the place. They advertise lots of things. Many of them have to do with apartments being rented out, or items being sold, or "Nachhilfe" (Night Help/tutoring) for students for different subjects. Occasionally somone also puts a job listing up. Some time last week I happened to see one that advertised for a female student, with English as their native language, to take care of/teach a 2.5 year old girl a bit of English for 3 to 4 hours, once a week. I got the number, and decided to give them a call.

Upon calling them, I found out that the mother is Bulgarian and the father is German. They live in a house in Voelklingin (a subpurb of Saarbruecken you could say) with their 2.5 year old daughter, and the daughter's grandmother. The Grandmother speaks only Bulgarian, the father only German, and the mother and daughter speak both German and Bulgarian. On top of that, they want their little girl to speak English too. That's where I come in.

On Tuesdays I will arrive at their place around 10 am, and stay for 2 to 4 hours. My job is to play with the little girl, and while doing so speak to her in English. So this past Tuesday I had a "Job Interview" where I went and played with the little girl. The mom works in the home, so I will never be completely alone with the girl in my care (not that that would be a problem). So, I got there (half an hour later, I had bus troubles) and played with the girl. It went okay. It was tough because the little girl doesn't know me or understand any english (yet). So, while playing I spent the time translating myself from English to German or German to English. She's the cutest little kid though (at least one of the cutest) and can say my full name (melinda) quite perfectly, which shocked me.

At the end of two hours the mom gave me my money and said that they'd love to have me back next week! That means... I HAVE A JOB! I don't make a lot, only 7 Euro per hour, but it's okay with me because it doesn't feel much like a job to me. It's fun to play with the little kid, and will be cool if I can actually get her to learn English, even just a little. It does give me just enough extra spending money each week though... which really helps.

Well.. that is the end of Post one for the day... Post two is below! Enjoy!

Week Five - A New Beginning

Today is Friday of Week five, and it is safe to say that the week is over. I have to be honest though: I slacked this week majorly. Here's the week's break down:

Sunday - 15 minutes jogging
Monday - Karate for 1.5 hours
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - rest
Friday - Yoga, 2 hours
Saturday - rest

I know, I know.. I slacked. However there is a reason for my slacking. You see, even though it doesn't get too much below freezing here in Germany (thankfully) it does get to about freezing, and it has done that this week. Whether it is actually that chilly or just feels that chilly I'm not sure, but regardless it has taken away my desire to go outside to jog. With the proper clothing, I know that it is quite possible to go jogging outside straight through the winter... however, the right clothing is expensive, and I have other things I'd rather spend my money on. So.. I took a few days off this week, and came up with a new excercise plan, which will be starting on Sunday. Here's how it looks:

Sunday - Yoga, at home
Monday - Karate 1.5 hours
Tuesday - Swimming 1 hour
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - Swimming 1 hour
Friday - Yoga 2 hours
Saturday - rest

What do you all think? When reevaulating my excercise schedule, I decided that although it is possible for me to pay to join a gym, I'd rather stick with the free route. That means swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the free swim in our olympic size swimming pool from 7 to 8 am. This is really early, and I therefore deem myself crazy for thinking about doing this. However, swimming has lots of benefits, and therefore I think I might be able to pull it off. However, there is always the option of joining an on campus gym, if I decide getting up so early is indeed impossible.

Anyways, there's my new plan: i hope it is good... I think it will be. I've also found a nice website where I can journal all my excercising (and eating) habits if I want to, and its free so I joined it. They can track my progress, which is very good for me and will keep me motivated I hope. For those interested, here is the website: Fit Day. It says that it is a weight loss tool, but that isn't so much what I'm using it for. Mainly just to make sure I'm eating healthy and that I'm sticking with my excercise plans. It seems pretty helpful.

A Wonderful Surprise

So.. today was a very good day. Well, I woke up super tired this morning, but other than that it was good. Fabian left today for 2 and a half weeks so I said goodbye to him, and then left for the University.

I got to the Uni, and went to my class. I had problems staying awake at first, but then got to "play" Elizabeth momentarily from Pride and Prejudice... that was so exciting (make sure to note my sarcasm there).

After class I met a friend of mine.. a new friend you could say. She is more of an aquaintance. She is in my Philosophy class, and agreed to meet me to give me her notes from the last class, so that I can compare them to my own. This is a very wonderful thing. I can understand a lot of what my instructors say in German, but when I go to write it down, I have a problem remembering exactly what was said. Therefore, if I have someone elses notes, i can check to see if I comprehended it right.

Then came the interesting part of the day: finding the "Landeszentrale fuer Politische Bildung." It is the "National Center for Political Education." National doesn't work very well. From what I understand is that they have a center in each State here...but anyways, they give out free books to do with politics, and I went there to get some free books for my history of East and west Germany class. So, fabian told me where to go, but I misunderstood and took the bus in the wrong direction. Not knowing this, I got off where I thought could possibly be right. Not finding it, I went and asked some nice ladies at the Apotheke (drug store). they told me where to go, and so.. back on the bus I went going in the right direction. Then, I got off at what I thought was the right stop. I followed the street, except that there was a 25 and a 27 house number on the street but not a building number 26 (which is what i needed). so I called fabian back, and walked a bunch, and finally found it.. after about two hours of trying. bah. but i got two free books, so that was nice.

then, i went back to the university, ate and went to Karate. At Karate I hurt my foot (I think I pulled a muscle in my foot. is that possible?)

After Karate, I went to see where my class was, and learned that instead of from 4 to 5:30 my class is from 6 to 7:30. Which sucks, because now on Monday through Thursday I have a class from 6 - 7:30, but since they are german, and I need more german (and because I paid) I can't do too much about it.. so I will have to survive. Since Fabian wasn't here I didn't want to go home to an empty house, so I did homework at the university. While doing homework, I met a new friend. Her name is Nina, she is German, and she is in my 19th Century Novels class. She is super nice, and we exchanged numbers for after awhile. She said she would call me this weekend (or some weekend) and invite me to hang out with her and her friends. She also said that she doesn't like to party much but playing games and going to cafe's and such is her thing. this is good because, i am the same way... so hopefully i will get to know her more.

Eventually I had my class in the evening, which went well. I got to talk to a girl named Yuka (who is from Japan) and some other girls as well. I learned that one girl, named Sophia, is also in my East and West Germany class, so maybe I can find her and sit by her.. or at least we can compare notes.

And eventually at 8 this evening (i left home at 7:30 this morning) i got home. I unlocked the door, thinking about how sad it is to be home alone now, and noticed immediately that the TV in the living room was left on from the reflection on the wall. My first thought was, "what? Did he leave the TV on all day because he forgot to shut it off? I am so going to teaze him about it when I call him in a few minutes." So I proceed to walk forward into our apartment more (because I had paused to ponder over the TV being on) and then a man's voice says, "Hi!" My heart stopped insantly, my stomach did a little flip flop, and after another short pause I came into the living room... and who would you guess is here!?!? FABIAN!!! YAY!!! I was excited, and gave him a huge hug after I realized that he was home. So, that was my wonderful surprise today. I'm so happy. There were three people too many at the Civil Service School he was supposed to go to for the next two and a half weeks, and he was one who was sent home. He might have to go again some other time, but the chance is slim. he still has to work now that he is here, but that's okay. and this coming weekend i think we're going to go to Trier anyways, since he has a free pass to go there thanks to the school he didn't have to go to. Should be fun!

So, yeah.. I had a very good day. :) and just so you all know: my good mood has just rubbed off on you!!!! So if you don't at least smile.. I will have to hunt you down and tickle you with a feather. Just a forewarning: saying that you didn't smile just to make me come home sooner won't work for those of you considering it. i will write down who needs to be tickled, I will remember and keep it for next August! HA HA HA (evil laughter!)... okay.. i'm going... going... going.... i'm gone. bye bye.

A Typical Day

I'm so lazy. Seriously. The days I don't have to spend at the University are spent the same way:

9 - 10:00 am - Wake up, spend some time laying in bed contemplating life (read: staring into space not thinking or moving. I swear I am not dead, I'm just in a state of deep self-realization, I promise!) (by the way: what's with my morbidity lately? I also made a comment about dying the other day in another blog... perhaps I should be less death like... wait. i'm not death like... I am very alive looking. I have rosy cheeks and everything. don't you hate paranthesis comments that go on forever and forever..?)

10 am - wrangle me up some breakfast. i've been reading a very sarcastic and funny online comic strip the last few days... i think all their sarcasm and randomness is seeping into my brain. after all, it isn't like I go shoot myself a deer and then butcher it before i eat each morning. and i don't even eat meat for breakfast. its way too early for that at 10 am. unless maybe i'm in a restaurant. anyways.. my typical breakfast? cornflakes and milk. By cornflakes, I mean any cereal at all... over here they say cornflakes to mean cereal. just like we say Kleenex (which is a BRAND of kleenexes) to refer to any nose blowing tissue like stuff.

10 am - 3 pm-ish - doing random things. Reading a book, randomly doing things online (like reading other blogs, or comic strips, or researching yoga or karate or whatever)... usually, I eventually go jogging during this time, and then come back to sit for a little while, and then shower.. and then I think about being productive with my life. Usually I then blog.... it's a good procrasinator (says the girl who is currently procrastinating after finally taking a shower at three in the afternoon...but at least I went jogging today and started laundry already).

3 pm - evening - more random things. supposedely do school stuff... watch TV or a movie... go online again.. play a game on the computer...really deep stuff.. you know?

evening - sleep time - watch TV with boyfriend usually, eat dinner.. do dishes maybe... clean maybe... real productive time.

So, you see? I'm such a slacker. I think it's the country.. it's jinxed me. And I've learned that it is really hard to get back into the swing of doing homework and studying when you haven't had to do it from the middle of May until the middle of October (what I had to do before was so little it doesn't even count).

And, of course you can't forget my number one favorite thing to do during my hard day of things to do: listening to one of the same four cd's which all have pretty much the same music on them (mostly country), but trying to do it while Fabian isn't home so I don't annoy him too much with it. Yep. My days off are hard.

But in my defense: on days I have class and other things, I tend to actually be productive, and clean and do homework and naturally go to class and stuff. So, all is not lost. And I kind of like all my lazy days...

but speaking of lazy days, I am actually going to go spend the next couple hours of my lazy days getting caught up on some homework! (gasp! Oh no! I might pass out from all the thinking I'm thinking about doing! getting... hard.. to.. breath...must...stop...thinking.... gasp! okay.. seriously. i'm done now. That comic has gotten into my brain.. all their sarcasm rubbed off. either that or my natural sarcasmness is kicking in again.)

FOUR WEEKS - ONE MONTH!!!

Well, here it is: I've reached four weeks (1 Month!) of excercising. Here is how the last week went:

Sunday - 15 minutes jogging
Monday - Karate (1.5 hours)
Tuesday - 15 minutes jogging
Wednesday - rest day
Thursday - 15 minutes jogging
Friday - Yoga (2 hours)
Saturday - rest day

There you have it! I'm quite excited about making a month. Originally I thought that I would reward myself when I hit one month, but I don't think I will. I think reaching one month is reward in itself (how corny does that sound?)

In other interesting news... I got stuck on the Saarbahn today. The saarbahn is the street train that runs through the city here. Actually, Saarbahn is more of a "dialect" word. Strassenbahn is the right word for the street train (means literaly "street train). But we live in Saarbruecken, which is in Saarland. The company that runs the trains and the buses in our city is called Saarbahn, so we cal the street train the Saarbahn as well. If I go to Berlin or any other part of Germany outside Saarbruecken and ask where the "saarbahn" is, they won't know what I'm talking about.

Anyways.. we were driving on it, and all the sudden it stopped. There was a Strom ausfall - that means that there was an Electricity outage. we couldn't go anywhere, and the doors wouldn't open to let us out at first. 15 minutes later we were able to open the door in the back, so we all got out and walked. it was kind of funny actually... but it made me too late to get something done that I needed done today, and the building closed before my class was done... so that sucks.

The last bit of news is that Fabian is leaving on Monday for two and a half (basically three) weeks. He has to go to training for his Civil Service, and it takes place in Trier, which is a little ways away. We're not sure yet, but I might go visit him a weekend, and/or he might come home a weekend. It depends on if he gets his weekends free, and whatnot. If I go there, I'll stay in a youth hostel over the weekend, because I can't stay where he does.... it'll be weird not having him around everyday for a while.... i got so used to having him with me, that i'm sad about only a few weeks! The me of the past would say, "Mindy! What's wrong with you?!?! Three weeks is NOTHING.. remember 6 months?!?!!!!" Yep... its true. I talk to myself. Yeah, its sad that he has to go... and, as if that wasn't enough, his mom is also gone. that means that i have the entire apartment to myself for about ten days before she comes back. Now, I think that time alone is good sometimes. In a way I'm looking forward to having the apartment to myself. However, I think about two or three days of having the apartment to myself and being alone is more than enough. I don't need 10.. But, i have lots of stuff to do and Kelleen promised to do lots of stuff with me, so I think I won't die.

If i do die though.. i expect you all to come to my funeral!!!!

oh, and before I forget: I had a MUCH better day than I did yesterday. :) You were right KC!

I'm Procrastinating!

So, I actually have lots of stuff to do (what a switch!), but I don't feel like it.. therefore I am procrastinating. Why? Because I can. No other reason. Actually, there is another reason. I sort of had a bad day. Nothing major, I just didn't sleep so well last night. Plus, I have my period, and so I have bad cramps, which always tends to give me a bad day or two each month. Sorry, for those of you who didn't want to know about that: but it is a fact of life.... sadly. Like I said: nothing major, just one of those days.... you know what I mean, I'm sure. It wasn't a horrible day, but it wasn't a good day. Just a day. Tomorrow will be better.

So, in order to make my day go better (it isn't quite over yet) I am blogging, and watching, "MTV's Europe Music Awards" which take place in Lisbon, Portugal. That's the cool thing about being here. If I were in the states, I'd have no iea that this even existed. Ahhh, the perks of being in Germany. And the good thing about the Music awards? It's in English. I know I should watch German TV, but I don't want to... not today anyways.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I had my Grammar class for the first time today (German Grammar that is). It went very well. Last week or the week before we took a Placement test for it. It was the second one I had done in a week, and I was just tired of them in general, so I didn't try very hard at all to do well on it. When I looked today before class to see which section I got into, I made it into the Oberstufe!!!!! That is good, because it is the highest of the levels. YAY! And, so far the class seems to be okay, challenge-wise.

Okay, I'm done.... until whenever I blog again.

Halloween Recuperation

Recuperation. The thing you do after you have done something exhausting or unhealthy to your body. Yesterday, I spent the entire day recuperating from my big Halloween Bash. Okay, so you can't really call it a bash, I mean all I did was sit at home watching movies with my friend Kelleen, but I thought that bash sounded a little more exciting.

Our original plan was to go to a party, but since she had a headache and going out partying isn't really our thing so much (her thing more than mine) we went the easy route: rented Hitch, XMEN 1 and XMEN 2 and planned to watch movies all night. All night ended up being only until 1:30 in the morning. My boyfriend joined us at about the same time and the three of us sat talking until three in the morning. It was wonderful.

We all slept until about eleven Tuesday morning, which was a holiday for us, and ate a delicious breakfast, before Kelleen went home. After she left I went jogging. I learned that going jogging when your legs are already sore is not a good idea. Not only did I spend all day recuperating from staying up so late Monday night, I also spent it recuperating from my incredibly sore legs. This working out thing is hard.

By the way, I started a new class on Monday: Conversation. It is a German class, and went well. I am in the "Mittelstufe" group. What that means is that I am in the group who is a bit better in German. I know more vocabulary and can speak better than those in the "Grundstufe" group. People in the Grundstufe group are beginners in German. One woman in there is quite amazing. Her husband's job has something to do with France and Germany (He's an ambassador or something) and so she needs to learn German very fast. She's been learning it for six months, and already speaks very well. We were all blown away.

Today I start my normal language course in the evening. We'll see how it goes.