1) Nearly the first thing I observed this morning was a man showering. This happened on accident for my part, but I am not sure about anyone else's invovement. I walked into my kitchen absently pondering whether to eat bread or yogurt, which were the only two things in my apartment to eat. I happened to look out my window and straight into the window of the apartment across the coutyard from me. Apparently, my kitchen window looks directly into HIS bathroom window. Why he does not pull the blinds, I cannot fathom. Fortunately, there is a big fake plant that blocks the view at least partially...
2) In the past three days I have seen three men wearing a bag that is a combination man-purses/fanny pack. They wear it slung over the shoulder opposite of the side where the bag hangs, which makes it less like a purse, but at least two of them were shaped in a way that reminded me of a fanny pack. Additionally, I have seen at least two young men (different from the ones wearing man-bags) who were wearing a masculine version of capris. There were many pockets and manly indicators that they were not wearing women's pants, but I have never seen this style before. I do not know if it will catch on in America...
3) There are florists and garden centers on nearly every block here. This struck me as odd because most Germans live in condos or apartments and have no yard. However, just behind my apartment building is a big stretch of green, well-looked-after gardens, separated by tiny fences, and speckled with little green houses. I think people may rent or own these small lots to grow their gardens. Either that, or people actually live in the tiny buildings and take much pride in their yards.
4) I went to the kindergarten for most of the day today to observe and get to know the children. Since I am not allowed to speak German to the students, they tended to look at me uncertainly when I tried to talk to them, but sometimes seemed to understand what I was saying because of my gestures or words that are similar between the two languages. Once I caught a three-year-old girl throwing rocks off of a giant mound of dirt. I called up to her that she should not throw rocks, and she responded by announcing (in German of course), "I am on the horse!" I have no idea what that was about. Probably she said something sensible and I just misheard or misinterpreted because my German is poor. Another instance of this occurred after a clerk rang me up at the store: I was pretty sure he asked me, "would you like the reciept in your stomach?" Since he did not shove the piece of paper down my throat, I must have misunderstood him. To be clear I said I wanted the reciept in my bag. ("Ich will es in meine Tasche, bitte." Well, I hope that is what I said anyway.)
5) My apartment here in Magdeburg has convinced me that there is not an apartment in the world where you do not have to listen to a train zipping through the backyard and a baby crying on another floor. Both my Puyallup and then my Kent apartment had both of these things, and now I still have to listen to them in Germany. I will admit though, the train was much louder in Puyallup and the baby much louder in Kent, so I have nothing to complain about here. I particularly find it hard to complain because I really only hear the baby when I am in the bathroom (I think because noise carries so well in the big, open, tiled room--not because my bathroom is haunted by a baby ghost or anything) and really, since I do not sleep in the bathroom, the baby does not keep me awake. Last night, when I could not sleep at about 3am because of the jet-lag, it did occur to me that maybe I should take a bath because my bathtub is so awesome, but really, who takes a bath at 3am? Trains are also much quieter here; they run without all the pompous whistling and chugging.
As always, more later.
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