Lost in Translation

Just a short post for today; I'm plum pooped! Dad looks better and better everyday, so that's great! He's hungry as an ox and has been up and around chatting away with the other patients. We are still waiting to hear on when his whole body hyperthermia will be scheduled, so I'll keep you all updated on that. There is still a minimal amount of fluid on his lungs and a bit of swelling in his feet, so just as soon as that's taken care of, we'll be scheduled.

As far as everything else goes, the rain will just NOT let up here! I see now why there's so much moss growing on everything! We're traveling to a nearby town about 40 minutes away by car tomorrow to see a medieval castle and I hear they have an Easter market there. I'm not entirely sure what an "Easter Market" is, but I'm sure I'll find out soon!

We have to laugh each meal at the attempt at translating German food items into English. Here are a few of the highlights:

They had "Chicken Clubs" on the menu. I'm thinking a nice little sandwich, but in fact they are what we commonly refer to as chicken LEGS.

Turkey was on the menu last night, and was "wrapped in egg and herbs".... hmmm. ok. Turned out it was really chicken (we think) and was breaded.. It's now being referred to as "Churkey" since nobody really knows what it is!

These Germans just have a different way of doing things. In both places I've slept here (the Clinic, as well as my hotel), there are NO TOP SHEETS on the bed!!! Dad was very upset about this, and the down comforter is considered to be both your sheet, since it's covered in a duvet, as well as your blanket. It's only large enough to cover one medium-sized person, so if you're tall, I'm sure you're freezing your bum off. In addition, a double bed has a duvet that only covers one person. I hear from others who have "doppelzimmers," which are double rooms, that you each have your own duvet. I'm sure some of you think this is genius so you're not having your covers stolen. ;) There are also no alarm clocks in the hotel rooms, so I'm assuming they either expect you to bring your own, or sleep until you wake up.

Even those who speak English here have very different words for things. According to the South Africans and Australians, here are a few additions to my vocabulary:

A Duner - What Americans refer to as a down comforter.

Loo - Fairly common in other parts of the world as bathrooms.

Reckon - Similar to "I Think"

I have to laugh; Dad and I are the only ones here who speak English without an accent. All the other English speakers are from Australia, South Africa, Texas, Florida and Canada, eh.

We'll have daylight savings time (again) tonight since we already had it back in the states, so we'll now be 8 hours ahead of Denver, and 7 hours ahead of all you Chicago readers. :)

Hope you're all well. I'll send more pictures in the next day or so.

Love,

Chels