Worth The Wait?!?!?

I was at the local bank branch this week and picked a number to wait in line like everyone else. (By the way, what are those machines called that spit out the numbers, anyway?!?!?!?!?) I was waiting to add credit on our gas card to heat our apartment this winter, so I had to pick a special number between 800 and 899. I was given 807 by the machine, but noticed that the last number called was 869! So, I figured I was 37th in line and decided to be productive and do some homework while waiting. After about 40 minutes, we were at 898 and 899. But, instead of rolling back 800, the board read "700 and 701".

Confused, I started asking a few people waiting if they were putting credit on their gas cards. When I found someone who was, he had number 713!! I showed him my number and he just smiled and laughed. After thanking him, I did some quick math in my head and realized I was not 37th in line, but 137th in line!! That equated to about 2-3 more hours of waiting...and I did not have that much time, patience or homework!

After meeting with my teacher to check my homework, I realized that it was NOT worth the wait because my homework was about 137th out of 137 students! HAHAHAHA!! The moral of the story: if you don't laugh while trying to learn a new language, you will cry!!

Cologne Clones

Sorry for not writing much as of late!!! We have had busy days and nights with lots of stuff happening. Thanks to those of you who faithfully check in. For all of you, here is an experience that is one of my (Mike's) strangest yet in a new culture:

I was at the bank one day waiting for a friend....no big deal. While there, I watched the bank security guard greet another man who he obviously knew...no big deal. As they talked, the guard opened up his desk drawer and the man pulled out a bottle of cologne....no big deal. They joked, laughed and smiled...no big deal. Then, as the security guard took the bottle of cologne back, he started spraying the other man with cologne!! He was not joking around or playing a trick on his friend: the man was quite pleased as he raised his arms, sprayed his hands and wiped it on his face and neck...no big deal?!?!?!?!? Weigh in with your opinion................

Daisy

Tonight we went to the park to let the kids ride bikes and eat dinner at a nice, cheap restaurant with outdoor seating. We took our seat at the restaurant and the kids noticed the lady beside us holding an object in a towel. At first I thought it was a newborn baby. Then, the kids (in their loudest English) started yelling that it was a dog! They were so excited, and the owner let us pet her dog. She explained that the dog was really old (15 yrs. old) and that's why he/she was wrapped in a blanket. When I asked the dog's name, to my surprise, it was Daisy, but the owner knew no English. She pronounced Daisy perfectly, though. I think Daisy is the no.1 dog name in America. I know 2 dogs in my old neighborhood named Daisy. Now I know one here as well. So here are some pictures of Daisy, the 15-year old, cradled, hair-cut-too-short, doggie in a blanket.And here's Emma and Abby riding their bikes at the park...









And David throwing a football...

Residue

I've got this little petpeeve about sticky things on the windowshield of cars I drive. I don't like them. I had a parking sticker thing in college, and it took me forever to get all that sticky residue off the windshield. Well, last school year at Emma's preschool I was required to have one of those sticky things on the windowshield of our car. Without it we would not be allowed to enter. So, I had no choice. But I DID have a choice on how much sticky I'd allow on the windshield. I had a brainchild. Instead of peeling the back off the sticky thing, I took some packaging tape from the house. I placed packaging tape on the back of the sticker and then applied it to the windshield. I figured once the school year was over it would peel right off and I'd have no sticky residue to mess with. So, here's a picture of our windshield now that I took the packaging tape off the windshield. Notice the nice clear square where the sticky thing would've been. Any suggestions?

Reservations

Last week Mike and I went on a date to a restaurant that only seated by reservation. So Mike went by the restaurant earlier in the day to make the reservation (easier than the phone, or so we thought). When the hostess asked Mike his name, he said, "Michael." So the lady wrote down "Michaels." The lady went on to ask Mike his first name. Knowing it would take too much energy to explain that Michael IS his first name and extra brainpower and energy to explain why his last name sounds German but he's an American, Mike very quickly and confidently responded with "John." Mike came home and told me our reservations are under the name "John Michaels." I thought it was so hilarious. He said John was the first name that popped in his head when he was asked. I'm glad he didn't respond with George.