Finally, SCHOOL!!!!

        The past three weeks have been spent entirely in the company of my family. While we generally get along very well, a certain family member and I have a tendency to get on each others nerves when we're bored, tired, or both. Since there has been more than one occasion in which Tobias and I were forced to endure each others company when we were not feeling very personable, quite a few arguments have ensued that go something like this: "[Hannah says something generic]---" "[Tobias interrupts with a captious statement countering what has just come out of Hannah's mouth]" "No, Tobias, that's not right, and don't interrupt" "Stop telling me what to do" "Don't be so rude, and maybe I won't" "I'm not being rude, you are" "Don't be nasty" "Shut up!" This is when Mom interjects: "I don't want to hear that language" The next twenty minutes are generally spent in a huffy silence from all parties involved, while Dad snaps away with his camera, much to the chagrin of his  unwilling subjects.
  

So, when school finally started (on September 13!), it came as a welcome distraction from the monotony of idle hours and the increasingly annoying presence of my brother (who, for the record, felt the same way about my company).
          School was an entirely unexpected experience. My class consists of people from Bosnia, Spain, Romania, the Middle East, Hungary, Poland, Iraq, Bulgaria, Italy, Nepal, and the U.S. Most people speak no German, but the teacher speaks only German. This made for an interesting first couple of days. We started out the first day, by going around in a circle, introducing ourselves in German. I didn't really understand what was going on, but the teacher realized that and said: "Ich heisse Frau Mindl". I said: "Ich heisse Frau Mindl". "Nein, nein, nein" (everyone chuckles). She says: "Ich heisse Hannah". Oh, when I repeated after her, I said 'My name is Frau Mindl'. I repeated a second time ("ja!"), then she says: "Woher kommst du?" What?!?!?! It took me five minutes to figure out that she was asking where I came from. Then the process started all over...
        Besides trying to introduce ourselves in a language most of us didn't understand, Frau Mindl gave us supply lists with about 50 things we needed to buy. The list was, of course, written entirely in German, so while Frau Mindl read through the list and jabbered away in rapid German, I stared blankly back. When I got home, though, I made excellent use of Google Translate. When I was finished, I had compiled a list of about 50 items that included: 12 different notebooks (32 pages with lines, but no margins; 16 pages with grids and margins; 16 pages with lines and 3 columns, and on and on), 10 folders, a watercolor set, a fountain pen and ink (What, fountain pens?! What's wrong with regular pens? "Nein, nein, nein, fountain pens only!"), etc. Oy vey!