realized yesterday just how much meat we eat in Germany...i don't know if this is the same for everyone, but it is definitely true with my family. For my birthday yesterday, i was given a choice. Bowling, or Go-karts (which spell check wanted to change to Hogwarts...). naturally, i chose go karts. we get in our cars, and the non English speaking attendant says something to me, really fat, through my helmet, translated by Björn to 'is this your first time?'. i said yes, and he CUT THE SPEED OF MY CART IN HALF! he turned a screw or something on my cart, and my speed was slashed to a minimum, because apparently a 17 year old boy can't figure our how to drive a tiny go kart at full speed...however, i didn't know he had cut the speed until after we were done with the karts, when Björn told me in the (real) car, on the way home. I wondered why i was fully pressing the gas pedal through the whole race yet i still came in last...verdammt...oh well. es hat viel spass gemacht. After this, i was given another choice: Greek or Chinese for supper. We'd had Chinese for supper on Saturday or Friday, so i chose Greek. I ordered what everyone else did, and it was great. outstanding restaurant. the waiter arrived when we sat down with a tray with menus, napkins, and shots (if anyone has a problem, i can tell you it was water to assuage your conscience...how would you know?). it was awesome. <hold>

*side note: German Coke is very different from Canadian Coke. It has much less sugar, as does German Pepsi, to the point that German Coke is closer to Canadian Pepsi than German Pepsi is, so i drink Coke in restaurants because nobody here carries Pepsi. Yet according to the nutriguide on the bottle, the Coke here is essentially Pepsi there.*

</hold> so after our (*cough* water *cough*) shots, we ordered, and the waiter arrived soon with our food. This is what appeared before me: lettuce leaf covered in sour cream (much better than it sounds...), a pile of rice, pork slices, pork steak, pork kebab, and another pork steak, but similar in texture to ground beef. So recap: lettuce w/ sour cream,  rice, pork, pork, pork, pork. That was my supper. It was awesome because nobody else could finish theirs and i ate all of mine. By the way, sour cream on pork is actually pretty good...Björn and his family bought me a rather thoughtful gift: a book, in German, with the language designed for someone several years my younger, yet at my reading level in German. It's called 'Von Idioten Unzingelt'. No idea what that means, but cool. looking forward to reading that :p

today, i took the German bus to school for my very first time. It was crowded and filled with children, because my school is also a middle school, but it was alright. same thing as in Canada: wait for the bus. wait for the door to open. get on the bus. flash the pass. find a seat. wait for your stop. press a button. wait for the bus to stop. get of the bus. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE MADE IT TO SCHOOL! cool, or as the Germans say: geil. <hold>

*geil is actually the MOST versatile word in German, (if not in any language) because it literally means everything. it means cool, lustful, epic, ace, awesome, toey, sweet, sexy, randy, purient, salacious, wicked, very rich (???), phat, wonton, lush, fertile, luxurious, rank, hot, and terrific. that is easily the most versatile word in any language, because it can be said anywhere, to anyone, to mean anything! I LOVE THIS WORD! not sure what some of these words mean, but this is what the dictionary gave me. also, after asking Björn to slowly pronounce the word, it appears to have about a syllable and a half, with a small hesitant hold on the 'ge' part before the 'il' is said, like saying 'guy-ell'. sounds similar to the first syllable of 'geyser' and 'hill' with no 'h'. es ist ein geiles Wort.*

</hold>Went to class again with Björn today, for perhaps the last time. I might get my schedule tomorrow, but i might be able to stay in his English and History classes (yes, i want to stay in my English classes, because the history is interesting and i would never understand this in German, and my English teacher appreciates me as a native speaker and values my contributions to her teaching environment!). other than that though, who knows where i'll be tomorrow?? hopefully with some really cool people, like today. Math was dull, i was unable to sit next to Björn ad was thusly unable to do anything. We spent the first hour going over a math question that me and Björn worked on for 45 minutes last class, and apparently we were the only ones who actually stuck with the question long enough to get an answer. Our answer was wrong because we finished maybe half of the question. but we did the most. geil. 

second block was chemistry, my first German Chem class. We were shown how to not put out a wax fire: with water. What the teacher taught: do not put out fires including fat, wax, or oil with water. what i learned: something really cool happens when you mix flaming wax with water. 

third block was English class. I read a story out loud, as i am a native speaker and asset to the class. geil.

last block was music class, where i met some very cool people. It was a ridiculous class, where people are given worksheets with sheet music on them and are told to name the notes. all class. natürlich, (as the Germans say!) nobody around me was working. They were more interested in hearing about Canada and swapping *cough* colorful *cough* useful language between German and English. What teenager doesn't want to learn all the slang and cool things to say? Needless to say, i learned some very interesting things, and for once in a class i took readable, organized notes.

bus ride home.

soup.

now.

bis später!

<PS>
comments please, tell me if you want to hear anything in particular...
Zack, they do not have Quarter Pounders in German Mcdonalds. They have a McRoyal, which is a Big Xtra, but that's the closest they have.
</PS>