A Few Things

Well, I got a hair cut.

It's shorter. It was a fun experience. I was pretty nervous about getting a hair cut here in Germany, for obvious reasons. But, I asked my German teacher how to phrase a few things like "I would like a hair cut" and "Can I get an appointment?" and then marched into a salon I saw near our apartment.

The man said, hello, I said hello back. I said, and I quote, "I am learning German." He said, "Ahhh, I will speak slowly!" I then said, "I would like to get a hair cut. Do you have any appointments?" He said, roughly as I didn't fully understand, "Yes, but this week is full." Then, as he was speaking, the phone ran and someone canceled their appointment the very next day. So I was the lucky owner of the 2:30 spot on Thursday.

Thursday rolled around and I psyched myself up, printed out a few pictures of hair cuts that I liked, and headed to the salon. The same man greeted me and took me back to a salon chair. The owner, Oliver, came over and said hello. I showed him my pictures and muttered a few things in German, including the words "Be creative." which I had also looked up in my handy-dandy German dictionary. He smiled and sent me to the bins to have my hair washed.

When I returned I had already spoke nearly as much German as I knew... literally. I told them where I was from, what I was doing here, how long I would be here, that I liked Stuttgart, etc! About the time I was really struggling to have a conversation, Oliver said to me "Oh, you can speak English if you like!"

SO NOW YOU TELL ME!!!!

He spoke perfect English. Ahhh, well... Practice, I guess.

In other news, Nate and I went to the Stuttgart Zoo today. We had a really fun time. I have posted new pictures (of course) to my Kodak Gallery sight. They had quite a few animals I had never seen before, which was quite a delight. And, as the weather was cool, the animals were actually out and about. We heard an elephant trumpet and a lion roar, which was one of the neatest things ever. Really!