obviously the root of all evil is ... THE MULLET

Ok, first things first. I need to get this off my chest. WHAT IS WITH THE MODERN MULLET THAT SEEMS TO BE SPRINGING UP ALL OVER THE PLACE OUT HERE? I mean, I was fairly certain the entire human race had unanimously agreed that it was the worst hairstyle ever inflicted upon mankind...yet it seems that everywhere I look acute cases of amnesia have set in as the youth (here in Germany, anyways) seems to be intent on making the same mistakes their parents made. (YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LEARN FROM HISTORY!!!!) Perhaps they're too young to remember the havoc wreaked upon our species due to this god-forsaken hair-deformity, but PLEASE...that is no excuse. YOU HAVE EYES PEOPLE...and hopefully a mirror!!!
I see them everywhere I go out here...

I'll admit, these examples are not NEARLY as bad as their 80s predecessors, and if you have one of these haircuts I hope you're not too offended. If you're really funky you can probably even pull it off. I just think we are TREADING DANGEROUS TERRITORY and I cannot condone this reckless foray into style-suicide. No one should every attempt to flirt with the dangerous line between mullet and non-mullet.

Everyone say it together now:

I will NOT ...I repeat NOT... fall prey to the mullet-lie that they keep whispering in my ear: "Business in the front. Party in the back." LIES! ALL LIES!

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Now, onto a completely different subject.

Thursday I was back at school with the older kids. I just wanted to quickly tell you what an awesome end to the day I had. It'll probably seem super insignificant to you, but it made my day! :) So my last class was with the grade 12s. It's a little strange walking into a grade 12 class. I mean, they're all either 18 or 19 years old....which is only 2 or 3 years younger than me. And they are all sitting there, staring at me with completely blank expressions on their faces. And then you see one of them turn to her/his friend and whisper something. All I can think is: are they talking about me? did my eyeliner smear across my face? is there toilet paper stuck to my shoe? did i forget an imperative article of clothing when i got dressed this morning?

So anyways, I sat down during the class to observe and then at the end the teacher gave them about 10 minutes to "talk to the foreigner". Which I was already kind of dreading because in all the grade 10 and 11 classes the students would just sit there and shyly smile at me. As I have mentioned earlier, they tend to be too intimidated and self-conscious about their English and are only now starting to open up a bit. But I was really quite pleasantly surprised with these grade 12s. They actually used up the rest of the class time to ask me questions and as soon as I told them where I was from and really started speaking to them (in English of course) all their faces opened up and I became "the cool Canadian". They were actually smiling and laughing by the end!

I got the inevitable "how old are you question"....unfortunately the older the class, the less impressive my answer...but I decided to just make them guess my age ...they figured 24! lol. (But that's cuz I said I had already studied for 4 years. I started college at 17 but most kids here only graduate at 18 or 19.)

Then one of the girls asked me why I have always wanted to be a teacher. I had to seriously think for a minute...I'm not sure if I've ever even asked MYSELF that question...the desire has just always been there. And then I turned to her and said: "I love school; I'm a nerd (**with a following definition of "nerd"**) ... and I can't imagine my life without it."

In the past months several people have pointed out to me that I took this year off for a break from school...but I'm still at school every day. (Albeit now I'm the one who gets to say "you have a test monday. study hard!" instead of the one groaning as the sheets stained in red ink are handed back after exam week...) I like to think of it this way: The one thing I can never fully obtain is knowledge - in all its overwhelming entirety. There are ALWAYS new things to learn - the very thought just makes me giddy! (heehee. funny word...giddy...) What an incredible challenge! We can be such underachievers!

I love being at school every day. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Oh, and my friend Elisabeth was here for the weekend. I was camera-lazy so only after we got back from our little Leipzig-trip on Saturday I decided to take a few pics for y'all. The first 16 pics of this link are ones you've already seen. Just skip to pic 17 ... that's where the new pics start. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69362&l=27d46&id=573967603