"Totes Tier" is not a German speciality.

OK, I'm finally going to update again! I am so jealous that everyone is finished with junior year/senior year. I'm only in the fourth week of the semester and I have almost "keine Lust" to do schoolwork. When the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the Alps are beckoning, and on your way to class you see people enjoying themselves at the outdoor cafes, eating ice cream, and just plain having a good ol' time, studying just doesn't seem to fit into all that. ::sigh:: So much for summer vacation. Actually I will get a vacation at the end of May, but it definitely wont be for R&R. Since Kandra and I are hoping to see as much of Bavaria and Austria as possible in five days, we decided to add more time to our trip by cutting out sleep and traveling at night. I feel like I should wear one of those "Sleep is overrated" T-shirts from Common Grounds, even though normally that is not my opinion. Only when I'm exploring Europe. Speaking of which, we are going to spend two days in Vienna! It turned out to be in our budget after all. I'm so excited! We've already bought our train tickets and booked rooms at the youth hostels, so there's no going back now.
Anyway, tonight I cooked Mexican food for my roommates. I know I said I was going to do that last week, but one of them couldn't make it last week, so it was moved to this Monday. (Actually, he didn't show up tonight, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway). I went shopping on Friday for the ingredients and that had to be the most tiring thing I've done so far, outside of the snow hike. I went to four different stores in search of jalapenos with no luck. I also couldn't find enchilada sauce, but I wasn't really expecting to find that anyway. However, I found some other random spicy pepper and used that instead, and I used queso instead of enchilada sauce. Fortunately, one store had an international aisle and I managed to find refried beans, tortillas, and tortilla chips. So the entire meal consisted of enchiladas, refried beans, rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. My roommates said they loved it and one of them wants the recipe. I was so proud of myself.
During the meal, we discussed who would be making the next WG Essen. My roommate Daniel volunteered and said he didn't know what he was going to make but most likely "totes Tier" with some vegetables. I thought "totes Tier" was just one word and asked him if that was a normal German dish, at which point everyone busted out laughing and said it would be hilarious if I went into a restaurant and ordered "totes Tier". He then repeated himself slowly, at which point I realized "totes Tier" was not one word but two, and meant "dead animal". I feel so sorry for Daniel. Almost every time he speaks German with me, I completely misunderstand him. One time he wanted to know if I would have a problem if he had some friends over for a get together, to which I cheerily replied "yes". Oops. The next time he talked to me, he was trying to explain that I should make a point to buy coffee, because we don't add coffee to the list of the items that we pay each other back for, because not everyone drinks coffee. For some reason, I thought he told me that I shouldn't drink the coffee that I didn't make, and so I apologized and poured the coffee back into the coffee pot. Then tonight, he was trying to explain how to cut the herbs that he had been growing on the window, and I thought he was telling me that it was a part of my kitchen cleaning duties to cut the herbs. Fortunately, he realized what I was thinking and told me very adamantly not to cut back all the herbs he had worked so hard to grow. He was simply saying that I could use them if I wanted. Poor Daniel. Good thing he speaks English.
Anyway, I think that's all for now! Please keep updating your blogs in the summer! I love reading them! It makes me feel connected. Speaking of which, I can't believe its only five more days until Jenny graduates. It seems like it was only yesterday we went to our first Halloween Organ Concert. (Well, not really. But it still seems too soon!).
Okay, everyone, Tschuess!