Kiel is better than ever, and so is my German!: Deutsch macht Sinn

(Transferred from my old blog on 18 August 2008.)

So I've learned more German in the last few days than I did the whole time I was in Germany last year. The credit goes to a few people: my roommates and their patience while I try to tell my so-called exciting stories, Matt and Erin and a few others for filling in my sentences and answering my questions, and to me for actually being more daring to sound stupid and to study really hard this year! Yay! The coolest thing about German is that it totally makes sense. The words are just combinations of simple words to make others. For example, "vorstellen," literally, is "before to place," but it means to introduce. I love that! After almost every word that my roommates teach me, I say, "Ja, dass macht Sinn" ("Yeah, that makes sense"). If you want something to become a noun, you take the adjective and add "keit" to it. How cool.

Anyway, I went to Familie Heim Abend last night (Family Home Evening) with the single adults. Which, by the way, the word for single adults is so lonely-sounding that I don't like it. Literally it is "alone-standing people." We played ping pong and fußball and we ate pizza. I talked to an older missionary who was really interested. The funniest thing is, they hold it in the old church, and I was with Erin following Matt around the city as he kept saying, "I'm not lost. I know it's around here somewhere." Eventually I said, "Give me the map." (It sounds better in German and with the tone I used.) I said that we needed to go more north because I thought it was on Knooper Weg and the Exezier Plaza. We walked in the that direction, but he acted like he still knew where it was, and finally he said, "Okay, I give up." (45 minutes later.) I turned and said, "Let's go down that way. What street are we on right now?" We turned to look at the building (the streetnames are on the corners of buildings), and he said, "Look what building we're in front of." It was the church! Haha.

I don't know what to do about school. I talked to Professor Von Schmidt, and it seems pretty hopeless. He said I could graduate without a German minor, or I could graduate in December (however, it's too late to apply for then). I tried to work with him, and he said that he'd love to, but it's not on the computer, so it won't work. I don't know what to do. I have to call a bunch of people at the U when it gets late enough here. Well, we'll see. Wish me luck!