My least favorite German word

Just got back from Dresden yesterday and I had a wonderful time. Still, I discovered my least favorite German word: verspatung. I left around 9 on Friday morning and arrived in Dresden around 4 on Friday afternoon. Iris, Harald, and Christine (their niece, who is my age) picked me up at the Hauptbahnhof and took me to their house. We sat down for cake and coffee, then looked at pictures for several hours. We had a huge dinner, then sat out on the back porch chatting. Harald and Iris knew German pretty well, but not quite as well as my host family, so we had the German/English dictionaries out. Christine didn't know English, so she and I logged onto the computer and used a translator to have a conversation. It was very strange to be having a conversation on the computer with someone sitting right next to me!

The next day, I got up to have a wonderful (and large!) breakfast. Then we went downtown and walked through the old town. Dresden was almost completely destroyed by firebombs during WWII, and after the war it was taken over by Russia. They did not have the funds to rebuild most of the city until after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. I think I was lucky to see the city as it is, because fifteen years ago the city was still in ruins. I saw the Zwinger, Opera, the Church of Our Lady (which was the only building left standing after the fire bomb, but melted the next day due to the heat), and several other buildings. After ice cream, Christine and I took a bus tour of the city. One part, the White Horse area, was absolutely gorgeous, but apparently its the most expensive area! After our bus tour, we walked back to the car and visited Harald's bistro and his cafe (where we stopped for ice cream!), and his pension (bed and breakfast). We returned to their house, watched MTV in German, and then went out to a Greek restaurant. Out came the dictionaries again, but they had English menus. Before we ordered, the waitress brought us all schnapps, and Iris was trying to translate it, but in English is was "greased spirits"...haha. She laughed when I told her that I knew what schnapps was. We had another very large (but very good) meal, then went back to their house. We stayed up late talking, and it was interesting for me to learn about pre-1989 Germany.

The next day, I woke up late, had a nice breakfast, and then they took me to the train station. I caught the train (verspatung), missed my train in Frankfurt, and caught a later train (verspatung). Still, I made it back to Duesseldorf, and it was raining! Good for the garden! Haha. My host family fixed me dinner, and we sat and chatted about Dresden and Germany vs. America. Overall, a lovely weekend.

Today is our last class day, and then we head to Berlin for the end of our trip. I'm sorry to leave Germany, as I've had a wonderful time, but I am looking forward to being home.