decemberunderground

we have been getting really good at numbers in class. what's funny about german is that they combine everything, e.g. we say apple sauce and they say apfelsauce - one word. so, the same is true for numbers. i was born in nineteen eighty-one. in german that is: neunzehnhunderteinundachtzig. yes, that is one word. so if you wrote some a check for $1,981 - you would have to write neunzehnhunderteinundachtzig. (this is getting somewhere)

so in class, the professor asked us for important dates in our country's history, but i didnt get the question at first. she puts up 1776 and looks for another number. i THOUGHT she was asking when our civil war was. how horrible is it that i don't know when our civil war was?? 1820? i'm going to look it up. i know abe lincoln had something to do with it. :) d'oh! so close! 1860-1865. who says you don't learn anything by reading this? anyway, so she was kind of looking around and NO OTHER AMERICAN KNEW EITHER. sad state of our country (there are 4 of us, btw: charleston, new york, phili, north dakota). so then she moves on, asks someone else and thats when i realize she just wanted ANY important year in our country's history, so i raise my hand and say "zweitausandneun." which is 2009. and she smiles and says something to the effect of "why is that important?" and i say "neue-President!" and everyone in the class cheers. LITERALLY. they CHEERED. then frau hadidi (our professor - german woman married to an egyptian) said in english (i wrote it down so i would get it correct) "it was a sad time for all of us." meaning the past 8 years have been sad for the rest of the world. !!

so then we have a discussion in english - which, to me, means that she is really interested in the subject because she HATES when we speak english - about who will win in november. in europe, everything thinks obama is going to win, of course. i hate to point out to people that what is portrayed in european news is not always the case (just like 4 years ago when my european friends were 100% convinced that bush was going to lose). and apparently this is completely acceptable and normal in germany, she then goes around and asks who each of us americans are going to vote for in the coming election. i was shocked for a second, then i realized - hey! i fit in politically around here! so it didnt bother me, as it would in other parts.

but get this - the kid from charleston, he's like 19 or something - maybe older, but he acts younger than my youngest brother, says "well, i was raised republican but i don't want a democrat or a republican in the white house. but that won't happen for another 10 years or so." ????? what delusional ralph nader world is he living in? the system is set up for 2 parties to dominate. i'm not saying i agree with it, but history and logic tells us that its going to take moving of mountains to change the way things are now.

anyway, enough of my political commentary, but if you're bored and interested, check out moue magazine in my links of other blogs i adore and you'll get some fun commentary.

i'll probably complain about charleston again - he's really immature and dumb. he's starting to get on my nerves. but there are other people i can complain about first....