Have I told you yet that Pforzheim's insane-person-ratio appears to be very similar to that of Portland? There are days where I walk down the street and every single person I pass appears to have something serverely wrong with them. Yesterday, for example, I skipped my 7th-grade English class (because I don't do anything there except read Sansibar and I could do that outside) and bought a Schwarzwälder Muffin at the bakery. I sat by the Enz to eat it, and I thought I heard somebody speak, but I wasn't sure, so I just continued to eat. Then I thought I heard somebody speak again, so I turned around, and there was a extremely creepy-looking man there, dressed all in black, with large dark sunglasses (even though it was a dark, rainy day) and a HUGE grin on his face.
Me: Uh, excuse me?
Man: Guten Appetit!!
Me: Thanks!
Although not in the crazy person category, I had another funny encounter with a strager on Wednesday, at the cafe where I go sometimes after school to get a cheese/butter/tartar sauce sandwich and a coffee. I was reading, and since I still kind of need a dictionary to get through my book, I had one in front of me as well. A pretty normal-looking, middle-aged man came up to me.
Man (in English): Are you trying to improve your English?
Me: Nein, nein, eigentlich nicht. Ich komme aus Amerika.
Man: Are you trying to improve your English so you can go to America?
Me: No, I'm from America!
Man: So am I. Where are you from?
Me: Maine.
Man: I'm from the other end: Florida. So, how long are you here for?
Me: A year. I've been here since September. I'm an exchange student.
Man: So your German must be getting pretty good. What are you studying?
Me: I'm in high school.
Man: Great! Well, good luck to you. Oh, if you want to pay, do you just say "bezahlen"?
Me: Yeah, "bezahlen, bitte." (As opposed to "die Rechnung," Adam!!)
Man: Goodbye.
Me: Goodbye.
It was nice. Meeting other Americans pleases me, strangely. This encounter also made me feel so, so German. "I gave advice!!!" I thought excitedly afterwards. "I am not the idiot!! I am a person capable of giving helpful advice!!"
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Oh, margot, you are so lucky to be in Germany for this year; I really envy you! I'm a friend of your grandmother in Cambridge, and I, too, love the German language, although I know far, far less of it than you do. I could understand Tannen pretty well, and kind of got the other Brecht in a general way, but really wish I knew more. And I appreciate the advice about bezahlen! On my one trip to Europe, when I spent time in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, I was continually asking for die Rechnung and getting an excessively polite response, except for the time I was almost late for a concert and very exasperated and said it rather sharply, and got a horrified, scurrying response that made me feel really bad afterward.
This will make re-entering Portland in the middle of the summer less shocking. I wonder what makes some cities have more crazy people than others. You capitalized muffin and it was so cute! I'm so happy for you about Sansibar! I bought Persepolis in French, but I have it so well memorized in English that it's hard to learn anything new.
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