I'm Sleeping With Winnie the Pooh

Apparently summer is over here in Aachen. Not only has school started, but it's also pretty brisk-- in the teens in Celsius (aka 60s in Fahrenheit). Anyway, the cooler weather has driven me to sleep once more with stuffed animals, Winnie the Pooh to be exact.

One hot bear!

The other night I was all snuggled under a blanket in the living room and my younger host brother asked if I wanted a Warmflasche. I said sure, but honestly had no idea what he was talking about. A few minutes later he came back with a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, but it wasn't any little plush toy. It was a hot water bottle for children! I never thought I'd be so happy to see Pooh.

The end of summer also means the local Big Band is back in session. Today was our first rehearsal and it's exciting to be in a jazz band again. One big surprise about this youth band, which consists of middle and high school players, was the fact there's a bar in our practice space. It's in some sort of community building on the same property as a Grundschule, aka an elementary school. The first thing one of the percussionists did during practice was grab a Bitburger. We'll be swinging I guess!

Shoutout to the 2013-14 South trumpet section for making my trumpet the best-dressed in Germany!

Yesterday during support group we went out around the town interviewing real live German people. Wie spannend! One of my group's questions was, "Where do you think we're from?" I was quite flattered when three out the three interviewees didn't guess the US (at first). One thought France, another said either Ireland or New Zealand, and the last said Australia. 

I'm going all out-- writing in German with German pens.

On a final note, we also learned some flirting in class. Another group tested out German pick-up lines during their interviews, which went... interestingly. Here are some of the gems I recommend learning before coming to Germany:

Glaubst du an Liebe auf den ersten Blick oder soll ich nochmals vorbeilaufen? (Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?) 

Hast du eine Karte? Weil ich in deine Augen verloren sind. (Do you have a map? Because I'm lost in your eyes.)

Ich habe meine Telefonnummer vergessen, kann ich deine haben? (I forgot my phone number, can I have yours?)

A great way to practice conversational German is with a YouTube series called Easy Languages. Check out the Easy German Flirten episode for some more gems.