Fajita Funday!

Guten Tag!

I've been having a great week!! After my superfun weekend, we planned "Fajita Funday"...I made the guacamole! Everything tasted delicious! So we really wanted to play a board game, specifically "Cluedo", the German version of Clue. The Goethe Instutit didn't have Cluedo, though. So we considered buying it to donate, but it was 25 Euro. So we asked Michael (pronounced MICK-eye-el), one re the Ziwis (TSEE-vees, one of the three college aged guys who work at the institute for about 9 months at a time) if they had special Goethe Money that we could use to buy Cluedo. He said no, but we could ask the slightly intimidating lady who is in charge of running breakfast/cafe. So we asked her, in german of course because she "doesn't understand English", nor does she allow it in her cafe, if we could have money to buy Cluedo for Goethe. She started speaking really quickly and loudly auf Deutsch, ranting that no one ever puts back pieces for board games, etc. Then she stormed off. We were bummed, but had kind of expected that so we weren't really that upset. Then all of a sudden she pranced back and handed us 25 Euros in cash, and told us to bring her a receipt!! It was so hilarious - we were so excited! So Monday night we played Cluedo! It has slightly different rules than American Clue, and also it has 9 weapons instead of 6. Most importantly though, the mansion has a Heimkino (home theatre) instead of a billiards room.

The next morning we told the Früstuck Frau (breakfast lady) thanks and brought her the game. She overheard us talking about where we were going to watch Goodbye Lenin later that night, because Madeline and Kristen live a few blocks away in other Goethe housing. She heard us say that the other house has an extremely small TV without a DVD player. She flipped out!! and then later that day went out to look for a new TV for the other house!! In her silver beamer convertible. She's hilarious!

Yesterday we went with the Instutit to Beethoven's Geburtstaghaus (birthhouse) in Bonn. After that we went shopping in Bonn, and then headed back to have dinner and watch our movie in Bad Godesberg. Kristen and I had found this fairly cheap local restaurant, so Kristen, Madeline and I decided to try it. Madeline ordered "Schnittchen mit Käse", which we assumed was a small cut of meat with some cheese. It was actually a small cut of...bread! with a piece of cheese. Haha, yet again, we didn't read our menu carefully enough.

We went back to watch Goodbye, Lenin, a movie in Germany taking place right after the reunification. I'd seen it with English subtitles before, so it was fairly easy to follow. There were quite a few of us watching the movie, and I was talking with some of the guys who have been studying here for a long time. They like to make fun of my American accent : ( ! Haha but it's ok...I'm used to being teased (cough Mitch cough), and they're not mean spirited. Plus, I really am getting much better at my pronunciation. I always make them practice with me how I SHOULD be saying it, so my pronunciation is getting significantly better!

Also, I'm reading Der Vorleser (The Reader) again. We read it in class, and then saw the Kate Winslet movie, so I know exactly what happens in the book. It's really helpful because it's a good way for me to improve my vocab and become accustomed to German grammar, just like kids learning English are encouraged to read lots of books! Also, I'm going to try to find the novels we're reading in my German class this upcoming semester so I can maybe get a jump start.

Well, we're going bowling tonight so I better head out to do homework!

Liebe von Deutschland!!

Emma