Days 28 and 29 - Oh How the Tide Has Changed...

On Sunday, we attended Mass again at the church in Radolfzell. Still no first reading...

A week ago we heard a crazy rumor about a sudden increase in enrollment at the CDC for the following week (this week). We figured the numbers must be exaggerated, there was no way that many people would all come in one week. Well, a short conversation with our landlord Herr Knasavic proved us false. He, our landlord, was greeting 17 new residents to our guesthouse on Sunday and the CDC would see 30-something new students on Monday. This nearly doubled the amount of students at the CDC. So one would naturally conclude that a large group was all coming together from a country to make up the bulk of this number. Nope. They are all individuals travelling alone. Crazy. Yesterday poor Herr Knasavic was greeting visitor after visitor, showing them and sometimes their relatives around, trying to explain things in Germany to the shell-shocked new residents. Birger, our German housemate, was excited to see the large number of young women moving in. All 17 of the new guests (along with a few old ones) were escorted to dinner by Birger. It must have been a site to see this herd of people walking through the neighborhoods of Radolfzell dressed in foreign clothing and speaking all sorts of languages.

The new swarm of students led to the addition of at least two more classes at the CDC including a B1 class - the level where Todd belongs. He did get to switch classes today and seems really happy about the opportunity to be pushed more. Todd said that the coffee break today (from 10 t0 10:30) was a bit of a mess with all of the new students not knowing what to order and filling up the cafe. Therese and I took a walk through the blazing sunshine to meet Todd for lunch, arriving at the CDC just in time to have the clouds descend and let loose on us. With the large number of lost new students and the very small amount of roof over the outdoor area of the school, it was a bit challenging to stay dry. Plus Therese thoroughly enjoyed running out into the rain... Because of the down-pour, nearly the entire school ran for the nearest restaurant, Il Postino. Of course they aren't used to having so many customers burst through the door at once so service was a bit slow and pretty bad. They forgot to give Christian (our Italian friend) and Cameron (Iraqi friend) their salads and NO ONE got a dessert which comes with the meal because they all had to leave to get back to class (an hour and 15 minutes after we arrived). At least by the time lunch was over it was sunny again for our walk home.

With the influx of guests staying at the guesthouse, we received a new housemate on our floor, Nicolette, who is from Greece. She speaks English very well (thankfully) and seems a bit older than most of the students here (most are in high school or are young undergrads). We ate dinner with her tonight and she made a great Greek salad. It was funny noting the differences between our experiences/impressions. For example, she said she went grocery shopping and was amazed by how cheap the food is here. We expected food to be more expensive than in the States and, well, it is. I was complaining about the heat, saying how I hoped it would get cooler soon. She laughed and said it was perfectly cool to her. She was wearing jeans, a blouse, and a light sweater....

PS - I heard from my dad - he is safe in Italy enjoying the good wine and beautiful scenery.