Oh man...

...what kinds of things am I getting myself into in Germany?!

Sven stopped by the office yesterday to say goodbye. He's on his way to Liverpool today to start his traineeship with Enterprise. One of my two friends in this town, and he had to up and leave. It's a bit sad, but he's going to have a great time, and I'm sure that by the time he gets back, his English will be better than mine, ha ha. He also gave me my Christmas present, which was (so thoughtfully) a bottle of suntan lotion that I can use my upcoming trip to Mystery Location. What a nut!

Went to the movies with Jessica and her Token German Friend Stefanie. We saw '7 Zwerge - Männer Allein im Wald' (7 Dwarves - Men alone in the forest). I thought it was quite funny. Ridiculous humor, but I laughed. I was actually quite impressed that I understood the dialogue, and not just the plot, considering that the situation was much reversed in the last German movie I saw. (Granted, that was a movie about Hitler, and not so much dwarves, but still!) On the backs of our tickets were free day passes to one of the local gyms, and I think we all decided that we are going to actually go to the gym. Amazing, since I've never been to a gym in my whole life, but I've been tired lately and need something to make myself more pepped up.

Today at work we went over the plan for the ELCA seminary program, which begins the first week in January. None of the participants speak German, so, being the Token English Speaker, I get to accompany them on quite a few excursions. In fact, I get to go pick them up from the airport in Berlin. Woo! Nothing like getting out of a day of work to sit on a bus with the (very nice) bus driver, lol. Thankfully it is Herr Siedler, and I've met him before.

I ALSO found out that they are planning on going to an art exhibition here in town, but there is no English language tour guide who can lead them. So, this week, I'm getting a copy of the text for each of the works so I can learn it and be the tour guide myself. Nothing like new experiences, right?

Pamela and I have yet to decide on our trip. We're leaning between Lisbon, Portugal, and Mallorca, in Spain. Personally, my vote is probably for Mallorca, because it's in the Mediterranean, and it just seems more exotic to say that I was on a Spanish Island in the Mediterranean right after Christmas ;) Any opinions?