Listening to the Radio When the Signal Isn't Clear

Even the air is different in Germany....

Wilkommen bei Obererl!

That's the higher part of Erl, the village where I live. It just celebrated its 750th
birthday! That's not even when it was founded - that's just when the first record of it is from. It was probably around a lot longer than that.
"But of course none of the houses are that old. This is the first of the new ones," my hostmother explained on our Sunday afternoon stroll. "It's only about 200 years old."
Woah! There weren't even white people in Iowa 200 years ago! Well, maybe, but they weren't building houses. One thing's for sure - if that house is still standing,

{They don't make 'em like they used to!}

SCHULE

starts at 8:00. My bus leaves at 7:20. The classes run 45 minutes long, with a 5-minute break in-between which isn't necessary because the teachers(lehrers) move, not the students(schuler/in). After 3rd class there is a 15-minute break and everyone has to go to the Aula - sort of the schoolyard. There they can buy food, mostly breads with various types of toppings. Then we have 3 more classes and school gets out at 13. That may seem a little late for lunch, especially since I get home at 13:45, but everyone snacks on breads and fruit and drink mineral wasser (bubbly water) in class all day! I mentioned to Yan (a boy, pronounced yawn) that we're not allowed food in class in Iowa and he said, shocked, "But how do you concentrate?" I had to stifle a giggle.
The hardest part to adjust to is that we have different classes every day. Friday, my schedule went:
Italian (free period for me)
Englisch
Geography
Art
More Art (we only have it once a week)
Chemistry

And my schedule for tomorrow is:
Math
Ethics (I could have picked Ethics, Protestant Religion, or Catholic Religion)
Deutsch
Biology
German 101 for Stupid Americans (self-titled)
Italian (free period for me)

My English lehrer is amazing. The whole class is in Englisch, because they've been learning it since 5th year. It's most definitely my favorite class. Friday he had me read an interview of J.K. Rowling with him, and guess who had the long part? The native speaker, of course. Right before I started he said, "Remember to speak slower for them."


Okay, you can stop giggling at the mental image of me trying to read slowly. I don't know if y'all have noticed, but I talk rather fast. And if you were in my Speech class last year, you know when I'm in front of people I talk even faster. So I had to slow it down to normal, then slow it down it German... oh man, I was so tongue-tied. They must think I'm retarded. Also, they use terms like 'present progressive' and 'past participle'. What are those?

I haven't the slightest.

TOURISM IN LINZ

Linz is home to the Bridge at Regamen. Or the remains of it, anyway. After Normandy, Hitler ordered all of the bridges along the Rhein River (get out your maps, that's pretty much the western border of Germany) burned as a defense against the Allied forces.
Except for this one - it wasn't to be burned until after the German soldiers were across. Well, the commanding officer wasn't muchly fond of Hitler - a lot of Germans weren't, they'll be sure to tell you- so he didn't burn the bridge. He and 5 others were court-martialed and executed, but their action caused the war to end 3 months earlier. How cool is that?
Unfortunately, it collapsed on its own a few months later, killing American soldiers trying to stablize it. The blame lies with the constant vibrations from bombing the area, although it never was hit directly.

Have you ever heard of the name Lorelai? If you've seenyou have! Oh man.. I miss fast-talking crazy Americans....
Anyway.
The name Lorelai comes from a rockface called Lorelai - a 'lai' is a rock and 'lore' comes either from the word meaning to lurk or to murmur. The legend I was told goes that Lorelai jumped off the top because of an unfaithful lover (let that be a lesson to you) and then became a siren, luring sailors with her voice. The shape of the rock echos the movement of the water going around it, causing a loud murmuring sound. Also, a large number of shipwrecks are said to have been caused by Lorelai.
How cool is that?