Moin Moin Miau

((I'm really behind, aren't I? Whoops. I'm not even suprised.))
Moin Moin Miau = Hello meow

Today in German class we talked about lots of ways to die. Because, I mean, why would you cover grammar concepts in a German class? That's no fun.

Did you know that if you add 'er' in front of certain verbs, it makes them deadly? 'Trinken' is to drink, while 'ertrinken' is to drown. Neat. We also googled "Mister Germany" because that's a great way to spend your class time! Other things we covered:
-Christine is an alien because she doesn't drink coffee
-Christine has been turned into a frog
-Brief history of Berlin
-Here are some Germany beers
-Pet names for German couples
-How children say puppy (Wuffi)
-Here is the German economy sectors
-Here is a quiz over the German economy sectors
-JK it's not for a grade
-Here are about 30 different kinds of weather
-What are the genders of the planets?
-How did the wolf die in Little Red Riding Hood?
-Also here's the legend of Europa
-Let's look at German coins and see what's on them
-PS China gave Germany a giant statue of Karl Marx

I don't know if our professor really comes in with a plan. I'm sure he has some concept of what we're going to cover, but it's so random! He only brings up grammatical things when they come up in our otherwise unrelated conversations. There's a lot of him asking a question and us staring because our German isn't advanced enough to explain the answer.

Finally we got to leave. Victoria, Christine, and I hopped on a 20 minute train ride to get to one of Berlin's best sites:

PeePee's Cat Cafe. :)

It was actually really fantastic. Most cat cafes have a really big room where you play with the cats and maybe order coffee. At this place, it was essentially an adorable cafe that happened to have some cats wandering around.

On the wall was a purple cling with a cat and the words "Moin Moin". (A silly greeting in Hamburg, Germany). It made me happy 'cause my dad goes to Hamburg a lot. Also purple is a great color, #gofrogs.

I could not get over how precious this place was!! We had tomato and mozerella sandwiches, and then I had strawberry cake and a praline latte. So wonderful <3

Then, while we were sitting there, one of the cats came over and sniffed my black bag. He then proceeded to stick his head in, then his shoulders, and before long the only part you could see was his fluffy butt. Eventually his head made it out the other side of the bag, and he fell asleep.

Sooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could have just scooped up my bag and taken him home with me! Unfortunately there are probably rules about that.

Needless to say, we're already planning a return visit. ;)

The cafe cafe was really close to this park called Templehof. It's an old airport that they've just left as a big open field. The runways are still there, so people will go biking or skating down them. Apparently you can also take a giant parachute and a skateboard, and if you get going fast enough, you can lift off the ground. Between the runways are several little places to buy food. They kind of resemble foodtrucks, but I'm not sure if they're mobile or not.

We didn't spend much time in Templehof, but it was one of the places we wanted to see. Maybe we'll have to come back when we have some more time. The walk to Templehof was also wonderful. I've noticed parks here are very green and overgrown. They're not just perfectly manicured grass. Instead, they're like mini forests in the middle of the city. We saw some cool grafitti (don't vandalize, kids) and artsy drawings along the way. Berlin does have a lot of grafitti (as does any big city), but it's a lot prettier than anywhere else. I think public art may even be allowed or encouraged in certain places.

After our cat excersion, it was time for our favorite group activity: grocery shopping. I think we've gone pretty much every day since we landed... I stocked up on ingrediants to make korean beef bulgogi. Because all I'm good at cooking is Asian food! It's also a bit difficult to

find beef here. Not impossible, but you really only have one brand to choose from. Then your options are some ground beef, more ground beef, or flank steaks. There's more salami than I even knew existed, but not as much variety for other meats.

I was planning on cooking, but after our late lunch and cakes, Christine and I weren't very hungry. So I made a salami (surprise) and spinach sandwich and we called it a night. Overall, I'd consider this day a sucess! :)