Coolness

Note: I have come up with "code names" for the family I am living with. Trying to write without using names was just getting too complicated.

The mother is Elinor. As in, Elinor Ferrars, nee Dashwood. The father is Edward (Elinor was pleased to learn that he was rich). The children, since they are twins, are Meg and Jo (as in March, but since they are Elinor and Edward's children, they are Ferars-- got that?), since Meg in Little Women had twins. Meg Brooks' twins (remember, she married too) had names I can't remember but didn't like much anyway, but everyone can remember Meg and Jo March. Who now have little Ferrars named after them. No one, so far, is named for similarity in personality to their literary counterpart, only for whatever tenuous literary connection I have come up with. The connection with Edward and Elinor is, of course, that Edward's identity had to remain secret for so long.

Whew. Now, on to coolness in Germany.

The first time Elinor took me shopping at the local mart (very similar to Reams-- they sell both clothes and food there), I was delighted to find that they have special carts to go with special inclined-plane moving walkways, so that you can take your cart upstairs without taking the elevator. Wow!

This morning, Edward showed me that their dryer has a water-collecting container at the bottom, so that you do not humidify your outside wall as you dry things. Very interesting. And cool.

The stupid internet kiosk at the airport which ate many euros and kept logging me out for pressing random keys had, hands down, the most sturdy keyboard I have ever seen. The keys were all metal. The keyboard itself is very cool, and I will show you a picture as soon as I know I am staying here and can have my parents mail me the CD that goes with my camera, which CD will allow me to download pictures. Well, that and as soon as I take a picutre, but they have the same kiosks in the Hauptbahnhof (train station), and I go through that every Thursday, so we're good.

Finally (there are other things, but I am trying to stay brief) the Kindergarten where I am making my practicum (read: short, unpaid internship-- but fun) is on Immanuel Kant Strasse! HOW COOL IS THAT! C'mon. It's cool. I am considering asking them if it might be possible to send something on official letterhead to the BYU philosophy department, because almost everyone there is completely enamored of Immanuel Kant. Maybe Dr. Gates. Last I knew he had-- six? five?-- children, and he is definitely a lover of Kant, so he would perhaps be the most likely to appreciate getting a letter from a kindergarten located on Immanuel Kant Strasse.

Of course, not-cool things exist as well, but I'm sort of still in everything-is-cool mode, so you won't get to hear about those other things any time soon.

By the way, to everyone who has been concerned about my not-warm-enough coat: the days have been warming up nicely, to the point that yesterday I shocked Edward by coming back from my walk without my coat even on. (I was pushing Meg and Jo in the double stroller and had been worried that I would get back later than I said I would, so I was hurrying; it wasn't surprising, to me, that I got so warm.) Nights haven't been bad anyway, but Edward and Elinor finally prevailed on me a couple of days ago to take a second blanket for my bed. Last night I forgot to turn my radiator any warmer than the little snowflake symbol, but only noticed it this morning, because I was so toasty with the extra blanket. Have no fear, global warming is here! (I mean, about me being warm enough.)