Hallo alles!
Well my wanderlust has again overtaken me. Which must mean it's time for an email!
I spent last week in London with my good friend Laetia. We went on a Dickensian London walking tour, saw Coriolanus at the Globe and, never to be taken for granted in London, had a weekend of beautiful, warm weather. London was expensive but lovely as always, though this time it was also completely covered with England flags (World Cup starts tomorrow!). People even put flags on their cars. I'd only ever before seen that in Nebraska.
One usual activity this trip was exploring the banks of the Thames at low tide. I spent a few hours with Laetia and her new friend (both archaeologists in training/archeology buffs) sifting though pipe stems, broken pottery and lots and lots of bones. Sound strange? Actually it was very interesting. We came away not with shells but with skulls. I guess thats what happens when you go beachcombing with archaeologists!
Laetia and I also attended an event called "Late at the Tate Britain." There we attended and *interesting* fashion show and also a talk about fashion that was given in British Sign Language, or BSL, (guess which of use chose that event!). I'd always been told that BSL was extremely different from American Sign Language, but I'd never seen it before. After seeing it I can affirm that yes, it's completely different! I understood approximately 3 words. Thankfully it was also interpreted into English.
Since soon enough I will be in the UK for a year, I decided it was time to get a UK cellphone. You might think that would not be such a difficult task for a native English speaker in an English speaking country. And you would be wrong. While at the Carphone Warehouse (I bet someone is kicking her/himself for naming it that...) I asked the saleswoman there about where I could use the phone. She helpfully explained to me that in order to not always pay roaming charges, I'd have to buy another SIM card (the card inside the phone that stores my number and all of my personal information) in Germany or whichever European country I was in. Fine. However, then I asked about using the phone in Latin America. In Nicaragua the phones also have SIM cards (we don't use them in the USA) so naturally I wanted to know if I could buy a Nicaraguan SIM card and then use my phone there. The salesperson's answer to my question of could I use the phone in Latin America?:
"No. Canada, America and Japan have another system"
Me: "Right, but can I use it in Central America and South America?"
Salesperson (sounding frustrated): "No. Canada, America and Japan have another system"
Me: "No, not in the US, in Latin America, for example in Nicaragua"
SP: "No. Canada, America and Japan have another system"
No matter what I asked she gave no indication that she knew I was talking about other continents and not the Southern or Central USA. I guess Americans don't have a monopoly on world knowledge cluelessness. Maybe she thought Nicaragua was somewhere near Texas...
Anyway. Now I am in Berlin. As you all likely know, the World Cup begins tomorrow in Germany. And here you certainly can tell. The TV tower in Alexanderplatz is painted (decorated?) to look like a giant pink soccer ball.
And there are signs and flags everywhere. Much as I like soccer though, that is not the reason I am here. I'm here for four weeks taking an intensive German course at the Goethe Institut. I am living with a woman with whom the institut matched me and I have class for five hours each day. And perhaps I'm a little bit crazy, but I can't imagine what I'd rather be doing. I never test well on German placement tests for some reason, so yesterday, my first day of class, I was in a class that was not so difficult. I was going back and forth with myself about whether to say something. I know that my grammar is not good and they had placed me there, but it really did not seem like the right level. And I spent the whole morning today talking with people from higher levels without any problem. So, in the end, I had decided to say something to my teacher today. And then, before I had said a word, she came over to me and told me that she thought I should move to a higher class. I guess I was right! So I moved up two levels (:-/) and now my class is MUCH more difficult. It feels too fast, but I think that means it's just right. I will certainly learn much more this way.
Now I should be off. Lots of verb forms to memorize! I hope you all are well!
Tschüss!
Molly
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