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10:31 p.m. - June 03, 2002
Because today is Monday
I made a decision last night. No more Hungarian. I can't take it anymore. I'm no longer having fun, so why bother? I'm not going to learn much; I learned more German in what, a week? two weeks? than I've learned Hungarian in over a month. I will, however, work on Hungarian on my own time instead of the professor's pace. Maybe I'll learn more that way. Besides, I've been dragging my heels when I have to go to class. So now I've got a lassaiz-faire attitude toward school now; I guess when no one really takes attendance and grades are not required, then well, why bother except to be around German-speaking people?

I did try to go to class today. Honest. I went to Seifert (at the beginning of the semester, Herr Ried said we were having class at Seifert today, so I went.) Well, the class wasn't there, but I did ask about getting an earmold, so I guess that's okay. I also think that my audiology classes in the US are much better, much more focused, very intense on the clinical work. I feel like pulling at my hair sometimes when I am at Johanneskirchen, because the students are doing the testing, but I don't think they really understand why they are doing or what they are doing. It looks and feels more like parlor games or something when they do it. I suppose, though, that is what happens when there is no Audiology major in Germany (can you believe that?)

Well, anyway, after I left Seifert, I decided to see if I could find any eyeglasses -- they are so much more stylish here than they are in the US...so on the way to Optiker Fielemanns, I encountered crowds of people sitting at sidewalk cafes, all facing the cafes. Sort of like Edward Hopper's painting of the people looking out at the ocean. For a while I couldn't figure out what had all these people entranced (I mean, when I go to cafes, it's because I want to talk to someone. No one was talking.) Then I realized there were TVs strategically placed on counters, tables, or other stable pieces of furniture in the entrances to the cafes. The World Cup was on TV. I ran really fast in front of the crowd. Heaven forbid if I should block a winning goal or something.

I feel sort of, you know, like a leper, because I really don't care about the soccer championships. I shouldn't say that here in Europe, though, since soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and from what I see ... people get absolutely maniac about it (sort of like the World Series. I know I and my Cleveland Indians friends were doing the happy dance when the Diamondbacks whomped the Yankees at the last World Series.)

Anyway. I did find three or four pairs of eyeglasses I like, but I need to drag a friend over to check them out. I mean, I don't want to pick a pair of frames blindly...red frames. Awesome, all of them are slightly different from each other. And they are all expensive. Oh well. Perhaps I can get my German insurance to pay me back? We'll see...

Another thing to feel good about (besides finding cute glasses) is that an old friend of mine, with whom I fell out of touch in the last year, emailed me back (thanks, www.classmates.com). I'm happy now. At least I know that now he's not ignoring me: he said he couldn't remember what my email address was--which does make sense, because I was using the ever-so-lovely college email address last year. Which meant that it had a bunch of letters and punctuation marks.

Just now: I am not sure whether to laugh or be horrified. I am watching skits from around the world, SNL type skits, and I just saw one about hijackers. It was funny, but at the same time, I was wondering WHEN it was filmed. Basically, there were several men who took over the plane, wearing black, ski masks, etc. Ah, and some big guns. One of them was holding a gun to the flight attendant's head, who was forced to read the note they wrote. Basically, she said, "This plane has been hijacked. Hi. We are from _(I forget)_. We have a bomb in the cargo hold. The wire from the bomb is along the aisles of the seats. If you resist, we will chloroform you. First you, then your child. Further resistance will be punished by throwing you out the window. Our destination is Cairo. We will refuel in (I think it was Ibiza? Iran? India? I forget). In order to prepare for these destinations, we will show the films The Mummy and Tomb Raider 2 etc." Now, all of this doesn't sound funny, but here is what was going on: Two of the hijackers were standing in the aisles, and going through smooth, practiced motions, sorta like the pre-flight procedures that the attendants go through (think: the whole exit procedure "follow the lights to the exit" or the oxygen mask thing, where they pretend to put the mask over their head.) I am still torn between laughing and being horrified.

 

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