Currently, I am so wrapped up in my little world of language learning in the little town of Bonn that I probably could not hold a decent conversation about any of the latest current events (even in English).  Presidential election, what?  War in Georgia, huh?  Olympic scandals, who?

This could also have something to do with the fact that politics can be a touchy discussion topic when you throw 10 Americans, 10 Russians, and 10 Chinese together in a small hotel outside of town and then have them take German classes all day together.  Let’s just say that we have totally different world views (as you might expect).  And that no matter what language we discuss these views in — be it English, Russian, or German (so far only the Chinese can speak Chinese, but that will change next week with the arrival of a new American) — someone is always going to be speaking in a language that is not their own.  Which can make things tricky, either in the speaking or in the understanding.

Anyway.  Soon my world will get bigger again, as we spend September traveling from lecture to tour to lecture in governmental, industrial, and cultural offices throughout Bonn and then throughout Berlin.  Lots of adventures to come!

Bis bald…

P.S. Oh yeah, we had an awesome weekend celebrating mein Schatz‘s birthday at the Ost See!  Otherwise known as an Ostseegeburtstagswochenende (thanks, Ute!).  Check out the birthday gang above, and all the pics here.