Day 9: A typical school day

Today was Friday, a typical school day. We rose around 6:30 and left for school around 7:30.  Breakfast is served there so we ate, chatted with a few friends, and separated into our classes. Amelia trudged up ALL  THE STAIRS to her class and Andy went the other direction to his. This are the top flight of stairs and they are very uneven, and slanted.

Amelia's teacher is Karin (CAR-in). She is very lively and interesting and patient. Our classroom is a big one, even though we have only 9 students. Karin uses the white board that folds open and slides easily up and down.

We need these whiteboards at UAFS.

Karin can be very emphatic and descriptive, especially when we as a class are giving her blank looks when she speaks something in German we do not understand. 

All the class is carried out in German, of course, so it gets comical at times.

Karin also draws lots of little pictures on the board to help us remember things and to explain grammar or sentence structure. German has a complex grammar and a funky sentence structure at times (relative to English).

Sometimes she has us writing on the board as well.

After class, we stand around talking or asking questions. This class includes a Japanese opera singer, a Seattle computer scientist, (the teacher is next in the photo), and a Turkish imam.

Also two Indian mathematicians and a Hawaiian carpenter!

After class we go to the Mensa (cafeteria) for lunch. Today's was some sort of chicken and something like mashed potatoes, with a salad, and yogurt for dessert. We ate and sat talking with some young people (most students here are college age).  We signed up for the weekday breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria just to make our lives easier. It is also, as it turns out, a good opportunity to practice German with other students.

In the afternoon we did a load of laundry in the dorm laundry area and worked on some homework.  We also ran a few errands, including visiting the post office, the ATM, and the stationary store (more colors of erasable pens!).

Then, we walked about 12 steps to the Alt Hall, which is a Greek restaurant, and had dinner just outside our apartment.

During dinner we saw a hot air balloon float over our street. We have no idea what is up with that.

We don't know anything about Greek food, but it was good!

Especially the dessert!

In the middle of the meal, a police car drove through the narrow street. We wonder if it was in an effort to make sure the road is not too much blocked by the restaurant tables?

Then, later, two fire trucks came through!  It was a close fit.

To give you some idea how close our door is to this restaurant, here is a panoramic photo. Our door is on the far left and the restaurant is on the right. This restaurant serves outside on the street (both sides) as you see here, inside, and also has a biergarten outside behind the building.

We were pretty whipped at this point from the long and strange week including much thinking and studying and speaking auf Deutsch, so we collapsed in bed shortly after doing a bit of post-supper homework.