Oh goody, snow AGAIN...

Well blog-fans, I know it's been a rather sparse winter for posting, but I must be honest and tell you it was for your own good. I avoided recording the ongoings here to spare you the ennui of reading my complaints about the frigid weather and about not handling animals enough the past month. Now that we're solidly into February and the animals are starting their training for this season's presentations, I feel I can safely relay the events more cheerily.

I have been busily toiling for all three of my "bosses," the Magdeburg Zoo, the zoo kindergarten, and the Magdeburg University conducting the research on our children's progress. This means that I haven't had the time to travel much, but in an attempt to experience everything we can while in Germany, Shannon and I have been creating our own mini-adventures every Saturday. These outings range from finding a new restaurant and trying things on the menu that we can't really read, to taking a tram all the way to the end of it's route, just to see where it goes. Through this we found a Spanish restaurant that serves an amazing spinach rice pilaf, and discovered that tram number 10 goes all the way to the south of the city where there is an abundance of 1 Euro shops, which are like the German version of dollar stores.

Though I haven't been taking any formal language lessons, I am finding it easier to communicate in German. Anyone who has tried speaking a foreign language knows the discomfort of seeing the "listening face." This is the expression worn by anyone who is intently focused on understanding someone speaking a foreign language poorly. The indicators are the furrowed brow, the concentration in the eyes--which must focus on the speaker's mouth--and pursed lips. It is sometimes accompanied by an attempt to finish the speaker's sentences, as the speaker herself seems unable to spit them out properly. So, needless to say, I am delighted not to see the "listening face" on the countenances of those around me as often.

An instructor from a language school administered tests to the natvie-English speakers at our kindergarten, to determine which course we should take starting in March. She told me, "I can't help you," which sounded really bad at first, but what she actually meant was that my German skills were above the level of courses offered at her school. On one hand, this was good news. On the other, I really should continue to improve my German somehow. I am supposed to give presentations in German this spring and summer and while I understand a great deal and can speak reasonably well in the present or past tense, I still have trouble speaking in hypotheticals or about the future. Even if I am capable of slogging through daily life in German, I still need a lot of practice. If a question catches me off guard, or I don't understand a key word in someone else's sentence, the results can still be embarrassing.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago Shannon and I were standing in front of the corn snakes' house waiting for the veterinarian because he was going to feed them and Shannon wanted to watch. While we were milling about, the head accountant passed us. The conversation, had it been in English, would have gone just like this:
Accountant: "What are the two of you doing?"

Suzanne: "We are waiting."

Accounant (trying to get me to practice my German): "I see that, but what are you waiting for?"

Suzanne: "We are waiting for Dr.Grotthman. He will be back soon"

Accountant: "Why are you waiting for Dr.Grotthman? Is he really that interesting?"

Suzanne: "Yes. He is going to eat the snakes."

Obviously I meant to say that the veterinarian was going to FEED the snakes, but the word for feeding an animal and the word for when an animal eats are very similar, and when forced to come up with the right one on short notice, my brain failed. Also, a somewhat longer time ago, I made the mistake of thanking the veterinarian, who speaks excellent English, for his "untersetzung" (not a real word) instead of his "ubersetzung." Instead of thanking him for translating for me, I thanked him essentially for sitting under me.

The highlights in my animal realm this winter have probably been the births around the Magdburg zoo. Hard as one might try to be a stoic detached biologist, baby animals are just dang cute. This year I had the opportunity to observe the progress of several tortoise hatchings, and once the babies made it out into the world, they were no bigger than a silver dollar. This winter also saw the birth of a rare Japanese serow (scientific name capricornis crispus, which sounds to me like a delicious breakfast cereal). These animals look a mostly like stalky deer, but with bushy beards reminiscent of Santa Claus. Several pelicans eggs have also successfully hatched in the past two weeks, yielding chicks that already have the giant flopping pouches under their beaks. Who would have guessed that a stretchy flap of skin and a scratchy little squak would be endearing?