Was hast du gerade gesagt?!

Germany is a good time. The ice cream is second only to Italy's (of course). All of the places downtown offer one medium-sized scoop on a cone for .70€. It is a nice treat after a meal. I am hooked on the mocha (mokka) flavor at this one place right next to the main train and bus station called Da Vinci.

Today (Tuesday) we went to the firetruck and ambulance dispatch center. It is pretty much like an American one I guess. There are only three for the whole city of Bonn though... not sure how that works... Titusville has at least three and is smaller... but whatever. In Germany, many are just volunteer firefighters. Few are full-time and paid, but it is enough, of course, to man the force. Since Bonn was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990, the station and emergency equipment is still extensive. Many diplomats still live here, and the city is still important enough to have more emergency equipment than normal, including a bunker dispatch center, small hospital and more trucks/equipment underground. I went up on one of the truck's ladder in a cherry picking basket looking thing. It rises 23 meters into the air, I think... maybe a little higher. That converts to about 75 feet (again, or more). Either way, it was high. It was scary going up, but once you're up there and it stops moving it is fine, and you can see all of Bonn.

My host mother thinks it's hilarious that I never dislike the food. Truth be told, it is always very good. Tonight was the first night she cooked; the other nights it's been my host father. So, she told me today, "Ah, ok, so today will be the first time you say no, because I cooked." Of course, it was very good, but when asked if I liked it, my host brother Dennis yelled, "Nein!" before I could answer.

I hope I gain some weight. I hate being so obviously skinny. Not too much... I know, be careful what you wish for.

Today in German class we talked about how Germany is almost like the United States of Europe. It is "Multikulti," or multicultural. Most of the immigrants are from other European nations, and came sometime in the past fifty years, or sometime before the World Wars. They include Greeks, Italians, Poles, and other Slaves. Theoretically, I should look like a large portion of the population. However, here in Bonn, most of the immigrants are either Poles, such as my host mom and her good friend, a elementary school teacher now here in Bonn, or they are Turkish. The Turkish are often in some places treated like second class citizens. They were invited to work after the War and many, many have stayed, and still come today. It is why the döner I wrote about earlier is so popular here. It really has been adopted by the Germans, unlike most of the Turkish people themselves.

I bought a facewash yesterday, and a stick deodorant. However, the deodorant is just like using a roll-on anyway... it feels like one after I put it on... I dunno what the point is of having it be in stick form... I probably will experiment with another when I run out of this one.

Tomorrow, our lesson will include all of the classes coming together! Easy day for our class I hope. And, our homework is due a day later as a result, so I am hopefully going to force myself into bed early as a result.

I am really happy to be here, but at the same time I wish I were going to college. It will be a little bit of a drag to have to go back to a high-school type situation, even for those four short months... College will come soon enough though, and I truly love it here so far.

I think as soon as I get my Bonn citizenship papers and can go to the library... and actually use it I am going to read HP books. Duh.

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