maybe its not my weekend, but its gonna be my year

yesterday was monday. or should i say gestern var montag. i must say it is easier to go back and forth between english and german when typing on a computer than it is going between english and hebrew. but i do miss learning hebrew.

so back to gestern (yesterday). i decided it would be best if i found out where my school is so im not wandering around like an idiot and being late for my first day. i wanted to get an early start, but it was raining and cold so i decided to watch history boys first. then i headed out to conquer the u-bahn und s-bahn system. i was a little affraid, but it turned out to be not so difficult. the most confusing part is there is not blockade where you have to swipe or show your ticket. you just get on (i hope). i asked the woman who i bought my monthly pass from (72 euros!) and she said just get on. but her english was not very good, so i hope im not wrong. on the u-bahn (i'm live by the U7 train) two guys came around and asked to see our cards. one woman couldnt find hers, and they wrote stuff down. i dont know what. but that was the only time i've had to show my card. i just get on and off the trains. (WEIRD THING #1)

i found Die Neue Schule; its really easy to get there from my appartment. after that, i decided to go find the Holocaust Memorial. woot for me i took the u-bahn and the s-bahn and figured out how to get to Potzdamer Platz. then i made my way and stumbled upon the holocaust memorial. it really is just in the middle of it all. there is a dunkin donuts right across the street and a bunch of stores. it was weird it being just a normal part of the street. i must say, it was kinda underwhelming. then i went under into their museum of sorts. i didnt rent a headset that explained a bunch of stuff, but i read all of it. some stuff was written in hebrew and i was very proud of myself for figuring out what it said. other than that, it wasnt very...idk. it didnt hold my interest the way museums or holocaust memorials usually do. it was just sorta like 'this is what happened. next.' very straight forward and without a lot of feeling. there were large rooms with very little in them and small rooms that were overcrowded.

after emerging from the underground holocaust museum, i made my way past the US embassy (with rainbow stars on the wall :)) and wound up at the Brandenburger Tor (gate) and Pariser Platz. it was BIG and that is an understatement. there were tons of people and most of them tourists. I decided it was time to leave as it was starting to rain a little, and made my way back past the bicycles with horse heads (WEIRD THING #2) and back home where i finally met Babsy (the woman I'm staying with). i dont think she speaks english very well. she didnt say much and i was very friendly. i havent seen her since then, but lars (her husband) is very nice. he always says hi to me, and asks what i did, and how my day was.

today i got up at 730 (ugh) and made my way to school. i got to the office and tried to pay my fee on my debit card which, of course, didnt work. but dont worry, daddy fixed everything. so i will pay tomorrow. anyways. my first class was...interesting. i got there mad early, so i just sorta sat there. the teacher is really nice. 1/2 the class is korean and in some orchestra here. idk exactly, they dont really speak english. its hard to understand their german cause they have a korean accent. there are 3 other americans, one is older and very good her name is kat and i havent really talked to her yet so i dont really know her story. another one, maddy graduated college and came here 6 months ago. the third went to college in framingham, Ma. she didnt like it so she came here and lives with her parents who moved here 3 years ago. only me and some other guy are new in the class. its weird. at least at yagur we all started at the same time and in the same place. we had a quiz about germany, and no one did very well but i didnt really matter cause its not a graded class or anything so its pretty lax. we did work out of our books which was fun cause i didnt have a book. we were in groups so i shared with my group partners who were both, of course, korean. we had to make sentences which were half made in the book, and make it work so the answer was in a little box on top of the book. this meant we had to know who/what those things were. for instance,
was ist ein fuhgliner Osterreich? (what is an Austrian airline?) and the answer would be Austian Airlines. which was in a box. but there were things and people i'd never heard of, and i could read the korean's handwriting, so i was pretty lost. but i wrote a few down, and i tried to talk to the koreans. i really did.
we learned other stuff i already knew, so i felt pretty good about that. my teacher told me not to buy a book cause we are starting a new one next week, it would be a waste of time. she photocopied some sheets out of the book for me.

after school i went and found an atm, then went to get some food. last time i went i was soo tired that i could barely function. i was still tired today, but it was much better. i actually got food. of course, i discovered a very important thing after i paid for all my food: they dont give you bags (WEIRD THING #3). i had my school bag, which had a bunch of stuff in it. i had to empty out my notebooks and stuff and fill it with cheese and tomatoes and eggs and milk, and carry my books and all this other stuff. I went back to the apartment to unload and talk to dad so he could fix my tuition problem (which of course he did) and passed out for several hours. then i went back out into the streets of Neukolln and wandered around for a bit, had coffee and read at an outside cafe until i got too cold, and headed home.

now i'd best do my hausafgaben.