My Introduction to Crazy Pants

Currently Michele, Jana and I are enrolled in German lessons in the sister town of Villingen, Schwenningen. I had to miss the first three days of class as I returned to Edmonton for the funeral of my Grandfather who passed on October 2nd after a brief battle with cancer. I was very lucky to be able to join my whole family in Edmonton for the weekend, but most important be there with my mom and her mother in their time of mourning. My Grandfather was a pretty special man and I was privileged to have him in my life for 23 years. It would have been his 86th birthday this week and I just want to wish him a Happy Birthday as I know that he is watching over his 3 children and his 7 grandchildren right now! Miss you and love you forever Gramps.

So upon my arrival back to Germany the next week I found out that the club had finally enrolled the three of us in language lessons. I mentioned that they are kinda pointless but they do serve as a sense of entertainment for us each and every day. A typical day starts with the three of us getting up about 20 minutes after our alarms go off and then we rush around the house to get ready in time so we don't miss the "schnell" bus (fast). We rarely allow enough time to walk to the bus stop and twice we've gotten there only to have the bus pull away from us. Luckily there is always another bus there but it takes twice as long to get there and we stroll into class a few minutes late, whoops!! I find that I spend most of my time in class day dreaming or staring at our teacher's crazy outfits. I have never seen a women who loves corduroy as much as Frau Bihush does.....there has only been one day with out corduroy, she went for the comfortable sweat pants and apologized because she felt she was under dressed.This is a sample of her finest corduroy, paisley. She wore these the first day that I was there but apparently it was the 2nd time that week they had made an appearance. Since then we have seen black, brown, reddy/maroon, and black suedey corduroy. On the bus we are always trying to figure out which ones she will have on. It is truly our entertainment. Class isn't as bad as I say it is.....it is just frustrating because it isn't a beginners German class and I am one of only a couple of people who know absolutely no German. I love it when the teacher asks me a question and I stare blankly because my German vocabulary consists of volleyball words, saying my name, counting and asking someone where they are from. Hopefully this class will help a bit but I think the girls from the team are going to be my best tutors in German as I am their English tutor. This week we moved onto food in class so I now know what I am ordering at a restaurant, something that is pretty essential!!! So that is how each and every day starts for me.....I don't know what I will do when class finishes in 2 weeks :(