Laura Beth in Germany

Training for my new job starts on Tuesday. I've bought my "4er Tickets" for the bus/train to and from Stuttgart during the eight days of training. I signed myself up for the yearly public transit plan - I pay for 10 months and get to ride unlimited, day or night, for 12 months. It's a pretty good deal compared to the price of single tickets. Still - and I almost hate admitting this - I am going to be spending  €144 per month (the equivalent of $183) on these suckers. Talk about an arm and a leg! To all you students out there - ENJOY YOUR DISCOUNTS while they last! In preparation for training, I received a short booklet with materials about grammar, teaching styles, and the history of the company. In one section, I was asked to explain the minute differences in meaning between sentences like "Have you seen him?" and "Did you see him?". Digging back into my brain archives, I discovered that Mrs. Marquart's voice and image are still there in my

If there's one message that Webster drilled into my brain for eternity, it's "Be involved!" And since I had some extra time while Fabian was gone, I began attending Messiah-Singers practice again. For those of you who don't know, it's a gospel choir organized by the Großbottwar Evangelical church. We sing German and English songs/hymns/spirituals either as a capella harmonies or accompanied by our rock band. Rejoining the choir was a wonderful excuse to spend time with Marlene, Uli and Philina, and I figured I would meet new people. Turns out the choir has grown! Where we used to just have 1 bass and 1 tenor, we now have 8 men with wonderful voices. There were a few familiar faces, but only 1 or 2 people were left from the time I took part in the choir six years ago. So as far as meeting new people goes, mission accomplished! We had our first performance of the fall yesterday during Schiller Sonntag - the one Sunday of the year where all the shops in Marb