Königstein

On Friday my class had a trip to Konigstein, an old fortress on a mountain about a half hour train ride away from Dresden.  We had to meet our teacher at the Hauptbahnhof, and when we got on the train we all sat by each other, but then she was like, "Remember, you have to talk only in German on this trip, even with each other, or your grade will be marked down."  That was so difficult!  I don't mind talking in only German with native speakers, but it's so hard to stick to German when you know the person you're talking to is also fluent in your native tongue.  It's like what I said before about being so frustrated with my Kinder Sprache (little kid speech.)  So many things I want to say but I can't!

Once we arrived at the train stop, we had to take a bus up the mountain to the fortress.  We rode a rickety little doubledecker that felt like it was about to tip over around every corner.  I was sitting by some little German boys who were the cutest things!  Why is it that little kids are even cuter when you hear them speaking a different language?  Probably because they sound like us lol.

The tour was nice, but it was all in German and I missed a lot of it.  Silke, our teacher, was nice about reiterating some of the main points for me so I didn't miss too much.  We saw a huge cellar that was used for holding wine and beer, and one of the deepest wells in the country (completely dug by hand!)  There was a model of a man digging the well, and he had traditional medieval worksman clothes on (pointy hat and all.)  Silke told us that's where the idea for garden gnomes came from!

We all had lunch at a medieval style restaurant.  They didn't have many choices for vegetarians, but I ended up getting some really good pea soup.  It was a lot saltier than I expected, but I like salty things so I didn't mind.  We did a bit of souvenir shopping, but all I could find for stamps were Deutsche Briefmarke, nothing International yet.  I've been buying a bunch of postcards though, and I want to send them all!  If you've read this far, I think you deserve a postcard from me, so send me your address and I'll get one to you soon!  I'm also trying to find a penpal here in Germany that I can send postcards to and receive some in return.  Otherwise I'll be getting no mail. :-(

As we were about to leave, a big storm came.  It was awesome because we were on the top of such a big mountain that we could actually see the sheet of rain approaching us.  It was also wicked windy, so everyone's umbrella broke too.  We ran for shelter in a little bakery, and I got some delicious strawberry torte cake.  Then everyone had to wait for me to eat it, but oh well!

We made it back to Dresden at about 4:30.  I slept the entire ride back because I'd missed my naptime.  I got back to my dorm and did some more napping and recuperating.  I'd forgotten how exhausting it is trying to speak a foreign language all day!  Then I chatted with Oli for another hour or two, which of course was fun but tired me out again because it requires thinking in German again.  Eventually I needed to make an Englisch Pause and read some Stephen King for awhile.  The rest of my group went to see "Salt," but I'm not a big fan of action movies or Angelina Jolie, so I passed.  Plus the movie would be dubbed in German, and dubbing really distracts me from understanding the words.

Today Lin and I might go see Toy Story 3 in German.  That movie is so cute!  Right now I'm off to do some homework with Amanda.  I'll have to write another blog about last night, it was so crazy!  That one's gonna have to be Adult Only though lol.