Wake up. Watch a few episodes of It Started with a Kiss.
Open up gifts from Mom:
- Pajama shorts
$25 Borders giftcard
Ritter Sport Chocolate
Ghostbusters 1&2 DVD box set
Animal House DVD
Beetlejuice DVD
Drop Dead Fred DVD
Betsy Johnson Perfume & Lotion
$200 Adrienne Vittadini clutch
Visit grandmother who though my mother was her sister and I was her niece. Leave grandmother's nursing home when the conversation repeats for the 3rd time.
Visit crazy great-aunt. Arrive at her house right after she gets out of the shower. Get flashed by an 86 year old woman. Leave.
Get home. Pack suitcase. Eat vegetarian lasagna.
Father arrives. Gives me a Craftsman tool kit. Tells me to put it in my car in case of emergencies. Leave.
Get to airport. Eat lunch. Board flight to Brussels. Eat yummy vegan food. Apparently, even though my father told them I eat eggs and drink milk(they asked), I'm vegan. The food wasn't bad, so I'm not really complaining.
Get to Brussels. Buy a magnet because my teacher told me to. Board flight to Frankfurt.
Arrive at Frankfurt. Leave hat and magnet on the plane.
Board ICE train to Stuttgart. Eat food. Realize that I left my hat and magnet on the plane.
Start crying because I realized that I hate coming to this ******** place with my father. Germans are driving me crazy. I get one of two reactions from people when I'm with him:
- Coldness. It's that whole "How the hell can you come to MY country and expect me to speak YOUR language" thing. See, whenever someone says something, my father is like "English?" He doesn't understand that asking someone to repeat themselves or speak more slowly is much more sensible. That way, I can attempt to speak the language. People are always nicer when you try. Brussels airport. Souvenir buying attempt. Woman asks IN FRENCH to see our boarding passes. My father instantly asks "English?" before the words "Repetez, si vous plait" can even leave my mouth. I can hold a conversation in French, I quickly brushed up on airport vocab before hoping onto the plane, I totally could've handled it. But no, Dad opened his mouth. The women went from slightly-pleasant to out-right cold. Moving along...
- I get treated like I'm a ******** idiot, thanks again Dad. Some people are eager to assist stupid Americans. Like the girl at the airport who sold beverages. I wanted a cola light. So, I grab the bottle, note the price is 1,95 Euros and get a 2 Euro piece from my father. Perhaps the girl said I get 5 cents change. It sounded like she was asking a question concerning 5 cents, so I was like "Nien", knowing my father only had 1 and 2 euro pieces. My dad, of course, decides that she must be asking for another 1 Euro coin and tried to hand her that. She then switches to "Let's try to communicate to the stupid Americans" mode and is like "Do you have 5 cents? 5 cents? 5 cents? No? Oh... well, here's 5 cents."
Seriously, ******** you lady. I can't hold a conversation in German, but I know enough to get by. As soon as I learned my English ABCs, I learned my German ones. I can say the alphabet forward and backwards without any problems. I know my numbers in German just as well as I do in English. I learned those around the time I learned the German ABCs(read: 2-3 years old). I can say hello, goodbye, please, thanks, sorry, excuse me and all the other pleasantries. If I want something, I know a few different ways to ask for it. Next time some German treats me like I'm a two year old because my father is clueless, I think I'm going to go nuts.
The guy in the Bistro of the ICE train got it though. No need to use English with me. Keep the sentences simple, speak slowly and clearly, use hand singles when necessary. All is good. You're happy because I made an attempt to speak your language. I'm happy because I feel like I accomplished something and because I got treated the way I wanted to be treated.
The good news is that my father's girlfriend understands a fair amount of German, so people won't treat me like I'm stupid when I'm with her. Moving along:
Arrive at father's girlfriend's(Lisa's) house. Get attacked by the dog I haven't seen in a year. Holy crap the dog has gotten fat. But she's still a cute puggle. <3
Open Christmas gifts.
$250 cash from my great-aunt, aunt and father's girlfriend
$25 Old Navy giftcard
$50 Borders giftcard
Nice Calvin Klein watch(not a wrist watch, kinda like a pocket watch that clips onto any ring/beltloop/whatever) with compass
Dirty Minds ******** game
More Ritter Sport chocolate
Black DS Lite
Accessory set for DS Lite
Super Mario game
Harvest Moon game
Play with gifts
Shower to get icky plane feeling off
Eat food
Steal dad's laptop to get on Gaia.
So, for the next week, my modding activity will be a bit random. No clue how much work I will and will not do. So... yeah.
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Moskau - Dshingis Khan