My accent has migrated East...

...to France! I mean my accent in German. Yesterday I was asked twice on the phone whether I was French, and then someone came into the office and asked me the same thing. I'm not sure whether I should take this as a compliment because the reputation for French folks learning foreign languages in Germany is not very good. Then again, the American reputation can't be any better! At least my accent is more "European" ? I don't know what to think...

I also learned some fun new words! "pennen" is a familiar form of "to sleep" ... so I have determined (perhaps incorrectly) that when people say "Ich gehe pennen" they mean "I'm gonna hi the sack" or "I'm turning in." Also, a very specifically Saarlandischer word: "der Dauerschreiber" meaning "pen." But the usual word in German is "der Kugelschreiber"

I saw a performance of the Wiener Burgtheater this evening. It was weird because I knew the acting was quite good even though I really couldn't understand a lot of the Austrian accents. But I still understood a lot of what they were trying to communicate from what they were doing body-language-wise. Apparently some of the actors are quite well-known in the German speaking world from TV and whatnot. Afterward I went out for a beer with the coworker and friends with whom I spent the holiday a few weeks ago. One of the friends gave me his card in case I "run into any trouble." It was really kind of him. I am constantly overwhelmed by the kindness of people that I meet; it makes it quite difficult for me to be cynical, and it only adds to my idealism for what we can accomplish as one big, happy world! With that, it's quite late, we have a performance every night this week, so I'm off to bed. Gute Nacht!