Dance Attack

Erich came to visit me in Erfurt, the day before Max had to leave. Since there are only two tourist attractions in Erfurt (the Dom and the Krämerbrücke) Erich and I didn't have to stress out trying to stuff the weekend full of sightseeing. We toured the Dom, went to a Modern art exhibit, walked around Erfurt's medieval city center, violated snuggled the Sandmann, and then gave ourselves the night off...

Friday night was Max's last in Erfurt so we went out and grooved to electro with him and his younger brothers. Then we went back to my house at around 3 or 4 and I fed everyone...salad (but a good salad!). Erich thought the rug in the kitchen looked nice, so he curled up and went to sleep on it, right next to my feet. Max's brothers just stared at him, alarmed. I assured them multiple times that he was fine.

In the morning, Erich started an Africa puzzle and wouldn't go back to Potsdam until it was complete.

Naja.

The Handyman

I got creeped on by the same Deutsche Telekom dude who always creeps when I need to reload my Handy (cell phones are called Handys!!) with more cash. The first time I encountered him he went, "Are you over 18?" I went, "Why is that important?" And he gave me this icky look for a second and went, "I'm just asking..." Then there was a pause as I entered my number in the PIN-pad and then he finally continued, "...because we have an Angebot for young people between the ages of blah and blah..."

A special offer? I'll bet you do. Ick.

Anyway, then he tried to sell me a 2-year contract and I had to explain that I would only be living in the country for 6 months, which proved an unfortunate conversation-starter, and we had to go through the old "But you speak such good German!/Oh, stop!/No, I mean it/Well...thanks!" song-and-dance before getting back to the point.

Then I pointed out that when one doesn't have a contract, one can choose how much or how little to talk and if you run out of money you don't have a bill to pay. He was convinced a contract would still be cheaper than loading my phone with cash all the time, and attempted to prove this by drawing some scribbles on a piece of paper, which I did not stress myself trying to interpret. I said if I could find someone else to take over the contract when I leave, I would look into it.

This was not a good thing to say because now whenever I go in there he says, "Aha. Still hasn't found someone."

Then today I peeked in and he didn't appear to be there, so I got in line. Then as I was waiting he slurked in from nowhere and said he could take the next customer.

"Hi-I'd-like-to-load-my-"

"So. Our biggest source of income. Still haven't found someone?"

"Nope!"

"How much?"

"15 Euros, please."

"You know, it's best if you just find a German boyfriend."

I toyed with the idea of making up a lie about my imaginary boyfriend already using Blau, but I think lies about boyfriends are for the desperate, so in reality I just gave him a filthy look and sniffed, "Yes. That does seem like a possibility," with the air of a second-grade science teacher dismissively acknowledging a student's pathetically improbable hypothesis. Then there was nothing to do but walk away, letting him marinate in his inappropriateness.

Funnily enough, after this weekend, this idea does seem like more of a possibility. But it has little, very little, to do with Deutsche Telekom.

New bedroom!

This is the cute bed where I do my work, bzw. the cute desk where I dream.

(There's a miniature desk left behind which belongs to my boss' son Paul, but I kept it there in case I have very small friends over.)

Refried Brains

The teacher drew a Fragezeichen (this: ?) next to some of my sentences, which kind of hurt my feelings. But for not having studied, I did well on my German exam: 1,3, or a 92%. Just one thing I need to know: is "nachtsüber" really not a word? Have I made this up? It was underlined in red pen and cost me half a point.

So, this week my classes finish, my internship starts, I take on a new private student at the language school where I work and I am moving. Panik ensues.

I am interning for the company Spirit of Football e.V. and am actually moving into my boss' house. But more on that later.

But most amazing of all: I dreamt in German last night. My first interactive German dream. In the other ones I heard German spoken and answered in English, but in this one I was really speaking German. I dreamt I went to jail for impersonating a policewoman.