I found Siri

This week, Yeli's Iphone arrived. She bought an 4s without knowing that it had Siri or what Siri even is. I have spent the week showing her how to use it, and yesterday I found Siri. There's no app for Siri, and when you search the phone for it; the phone has no idea what it is. Yeli set her phone to German, so Siri will only recognize German when you speak to Siri. I thought my German was pretty good; everyone says it is. Siri can't understand me or Yeli. It is kind of depressing.

I was parented for the first time this week. I am not sure if Petra knows what she is doing because she is not my mom. She made me skype for the first time in three weeks because when I said it was three weeks since I last skyped, she crapped her pants. She also tried making me go to bed early on Sunday.

Tuesday night Petra made Matzo Ball soup. I don't remember the German name for it because I was shocked that she didn't know it was a typically Jewish soup. There were a few other Jewish specialties that she didn't know of. She is not Jewish, so that isn't a surprise she wouldn't be familiar with them, but German has a dark history with the Jewish people so I guess that I assumed German people know something about them.

Wednesday while Petra and I were driving to Coesfeld to pick up a package, Petra asked me if I could fly home by myself or If I had to fly with a group because that is how I arrived. I am not sure of that answer, I believe yes because I considered an adult in the airline rule book, and I bought the ticket; I should have control over when I fly. Then I asked why because that was random. She said I could stay longer if I wanted to go to Spain with my friends. That was probably the coolest thing Petra could of ever done because I didn't even have to ask, and she knows I love it here. I am not sure yet if I will stay, if the rooster promises to stop crowing ever Saturday, than yes I will. The most depressing sound you can here on a Saturday morning is a rooster crowing because it reminds me that I am up early enough to hear it, and that the night before, I only got somewhere between 3-6 hours of sleep.

Thursday was Studien Tag; that is where all the kids the 11th-12th grade (we are a combined class) go to the college in Muenster for an exciting day of learning. Fun fact, Fresno University (College?) is in a partnership with the University here. They bused us all there and then the teachers disappeared and we were left to our own devises. We sat in a Biology class for an hour than wandered the city for four hours. I am not sure what they expected us to do. The highlight of that day had to be riding all the escalators in the Galleria. Bet you can't guess how much fun the overall day was. We ended up taking an earlier bus back.

The one class I actually sat threw was over the Evolution of Animals or something like that. It was kind of interesting, but I also spent a good 40 minutes of that class staring out the window so I am not sure. Evolution is the way of creation taught in Germany. It is nice to know that a country can get past the insufficient things that stop a country from actually getting something productive accomplished. This is a picture from my English book. I love it because it is true. (read America's bubble last.)

Petra asked me later how was Studien Tag and what I did. I said it was boring and that I learned Law, Architecture, and Bio because that is what I was signed up to do. She then said, you didn't just do one hour of classes and then 5 hours in the city. She knows us too well, and that kind of sucks. I guess it's what I can expect because she has known my friends longer than I have. A person who doesn't know me that well, would be Daniel. Daniel works 12 hour days, 5 days a week. He is always tired and stressed out. If only he had a temper, he would be the perfect host dad.

Speaking of Steve, there is a man named Steve in my German class on Saturday. He is from Nigeria, and you know how they say Nigeria, in Nigeria? Well they say "Niegearia." So all those years of people telling you to say it the other way so that you didn't sound racist were kind of wrong. I am not saying to go around saying it the other way, but that is how people from Nigeria say Nigeria. Bet you can't guess how people from the country, Niger, (or people from Germany) say Niger?

spain is in my future

I can neither confirm nor deny that statement. My friends this week were talking about a trip to Spain during the Summer break. I don't think I will be able to go tho, because I have to come home sometime. I want to be able to stay till July 31 so I can have 11 months like everyone else. I think if I talked to Daniel and Petra, if the time comes, they would let me stay in the guest bedroom. There are seven bedrooms in this house so there is plenty of space.

The bag of Reeses is gone and I am sad, but German chocolate is better. Petra told me that they are new her new favorite chocolate. I am pretty sure she helped my finished the bag. While I am on the topic of food, seems to be in every blog, I tried German pizza. Tammy's is better of course. Yesterday I brought up Kraft Mac & Cheese; everyone was confused. Petra didn't know Kraft made cheese. I pulled to the Philadelphia Cream Cheese out the fridge to show her. I have not seen it in the grocery store so I think that it is not distributed in Germany.

I am still waiting to gain the foreign exchange 15, like everyone said they did. So far I have lost weight. I am not sure how much because I haven't found a scale, and I don't know the conversion from kilos to pounds. It has been a month and a week since my last haircut and that has to be some kind of record for me. It looks like a mess because I don't know how to style it. I should probably find a fine girl named brandy because i feel by Thanksgiving I will have a Joe Dirt sized mullet.

This week I spent a couple hours in the Borken immigration office to obtain a residents permit. The lady asked me if I wanted to stay for more than a year. I couldn't answer that because I don't know what I want to do. My German is getting better tho, Petra said after Berlin she was surprised how at how well I was speaking. She expects me to be close to fluent by the end of the month.

Everyone thinks that Germans are proud of Hasselhof and that they love him, but you have it all wrong. It is actually Dirk Nowitzki. I get asked at least once a week if I know who Dirk Nowitzki is. I am really glad I got the Sirius XM for my computer before I left because the only thing they listen to here is a mix station, (ranges from Katy Perry to The Cure), I hear the same song, Stay the Night by James Blunt, at least five times a day an it is driving me crazy. I also heard Billy Idol and C+C Music Factory yesterday which kind of made me laugh.

German is also the coldest country on the planet. Last night I spent the night laying of the Hearth of the fireplace watching Golden Eye. It is currently 54℉. I had to learn to use a radiator this week. When I said we that is isn't common to have on in the U.S. I got funny looks, both at school and at home. I tried to describe the furnace and vents but they didn't understand. Its like the idea of a thermostat for an entire house was crazy to them; it's either that or they thought we were extremely wasteful. My host dad couldn't believe that places in Texas didn't recycle. I told them they are the Bavaria of America and they don't represent all of America, it is just where our negative stereotypes come from and he got a kick out of that.