der, die, das...er, sie, es...ein, eine, ein...

My room in Bremen.

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot of new and exciting action going on since last week.  Studying and wandering the streets of Bremen mostly.  Sleep has been somewhat lacking, not because I've been out, but because there are so many things going on in my mind that I struggle to turn it off at night.  Quite frequently the last few nights I am waking up and can't figure out where I am.  The first thing I do is look for Madelaine...she's not there.  I have avoided looking at pictures of her (except the one at the top of this page!) because I can't stand it.  However, I noticed I wore some of her fur to class today.

A few of us at Becks Brewery...which I still don't like to drink.

Sunday afternoon I played Fußball with the guys in a grassy park.  Of course my team of three (Team USA!) got our hineys kicked in two of the three games by Team Tanzania, of two.  Oh well.  All was fun anyway.  (Catch that? I just said I had fun losing...that doesn't happen often!)

Yesterday and today we had a "substitute" teacher for our German class and the poor woman had zero patience for us.  It's not that we goof around or are not serious, it was more the university professor trying to teach kindergarten.  She hovered over us watching every letter each of us wrote and when we made a mistake, she'd snatch our pens and pencils out of our hands, hastily scratch out what we'd written and make German grunts at us.  I think we all survived and desperately hope our normal teacher is back tomorrow!  Our first exam was yesterday and our second is tomorrow.  And, I'm here writing this as an excuse not to study.

How frustrating shopping is everywhere one goes. Teagan was on a hat-finding mission this afternoon so I went along.  Hats are amazing!!!  Anyway, I found a pair of knit wool mittens on sale.  Nowhere did they say "Made in..." and giving "Icelandic Design" the benefit of the doubt, I bought them, only to find in my Google research that they came from China or Nepal.  I turned down the winter hat I was nearly attached to because it was made in China.  At least North Face admitted where the hat was made!  Oh well.  Live and learn and now I have mittens in Germany that were made in Nepal or China for a company based in Colorado.  I might wear them to bed tonight.

Pax.