Wir sind Helden

well i remembered that there is this band a girl in my class loved called Wir sind Helden (We are Heros). and i got their cd, and they are quite good. so now i can listen to german music and further improve my understanding of the language.

This weekend was erste mai- the first of may, which i think is the european version of labor day? anyways its a big holiday where everyone takes off work. i met up with my french friend from my class in front of the Brandenburg Tor, and there was a HUGE festival. the whole street was shut down. there were food stalls, and booths for this organization or that one. there was a stage with very loud bands playing, but i did hear 'blowin in the wind' so it was okay. we walked around the Tiergarten for a while and just hung out, discussing the dificulties of learning languages and how much grammar sucks- especially in french. she told me about these websites where you can meet up with 'tandem partners'. tandem partners are people who speak the language you want to learn, and they want to learn the language you speak. i went on some of the websites and met a lot of people who want to meet up and have coffee and practice their english and help me with my german. :) im really excited. not only will i have a chance to practice my german, i will also get to know more people who live here.

after i met up with my friend (oh her name is Sondie btw), i went to Aunt Deborah and Uncle Harrold's appartment in Kreuzberg. it was great to see them, and i got a real home cooked meal, which was great cause im kinda eating all my food groups seperately these days- cereal, fruit, and tomatoes plain, strangely enough. its actually quite good. anyways, after dinner, we went to a play at the berlin english theater. it was Sam Shepard's Burried Child. It was kinda a freaky play about this really disfunctional family. it reminded us a little bit of August: Osage County, but i think everything got resolved at the end of that play. here it was sorta just- everyone is crazy and the cycle doesnt end. it was very stange- gave me a lot to think about.

other than that, i have almost grasped the concept of the konjunktiv II case in class, but can not for the life of me figure out when an adjective needs to be in nominativ or akkusativ or whatever we are trying to do. when it is den or der, when it is eines blaues Tshirt or when it is das blaue Tshirt. i just dont get it. someone should tell LES to focus more on grammar in school. we might know how to speak well (actually most people use good instead of well, so i guess not soo great) but we dont understand the rules behind it, and it makes it hard to learn other languages if we dont even know our own. well thats my little rant on languages in the education system.

next weekend is my birthday, yay 19. i am contemplating going to Leipzig with the school, there is a trip on saturday. its a few hours away and a full day excursion, and i have to pay 15 euros, and it is all in german which i am not sure if my understanding level is quite that good, but at the same time, it would be good to do group activities, and my friend Sondie is going, and i could meet other kids at the school, and its good to go exploring...so i dont know.

i miss everyone!