I will do my best to give justice to this story, which is much better told in person, perhaps over a beer or two ... but nonetheless I will give it a try.
Some preface to start with... Right now I'm in the process of finding out how I can continue my studies here, which is a fairly involved process and Germans being who they are didn't attempt to make this any easier. Yesterday I went to the infamous Humbolt University (which taught such great minds of the last century as Karl Marx himself) in order to find a list of subjects in Psychology that I can take... this is contained in a certain book which has a name of no more and no less but 'Vorlesungsverzeichnis' which is a simple University Catalogue of Subjects.
And now to the story... after wondering through the many corridors of the nice university building on Unter den Linden (the main lovely street), I finally found the Student Information office... which of course was closed. With my "extensive" knowledge of German I managed to figure out that these Vorlesungsverzeichnis should be sold in the book-stand out the front of the building. So I ventured out there and looked through a whole heaps of different books, some of which included a full set of volumes by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in russian, but since I had no idea what the book I'm looking for looks like I didn't find it. Thus me being me and not afraid of embarassing myself I looked around for the Verkaufer ie. selling person, and seeing only one guy behind the stall approached him....
me: Entschuldigung, koennen Sie mir bitter sagen, wo kann ich diese 'Voooorleeeeeesuuuuungs.....veeeeeerz*strange mumble* alkjdlkjsfkjlsj-nis' finden? (Excuse me, could you please tell me where can I find this Vorlesungsverzeichnis?)
The Guy: *trying very hard to contain laughter*... *points with his finger behind me*
me: *look behind me and see two stalls*... Ist das auf dem ersten Tisch oder dem anderer? (Is this on the first or second table?)
The Guy: *points again with his finger behind me, slightly lower this time*
me: *look behind again to see that right behind me there is a box, which is clearly marked "Vorlesungsverzeichnis €4 "... *so I turn around with an embarassed look on my face and say* danke (thanks)
.... after skimming through the book and deciding that I indeed want to purchase it, I take one from the box, get the money out and approach the guy again. He is standing reading a book, so I wait as normally they notice someone waiting and look up... After waiting for a little while and him not looking up I decide to try my amasing language again and say:
me: Entschuldigung, kann ich hier bazahlen? (Excuse me, can I pay here?)
The Guy: *looks up very slowly and then.... points behind me*!
me: *I look behind me and see another guy who is definitely the seller as he has a little wallet with change*... *so again I turn to this guy and smile*
Yep, I definitely felt like a foreigner yesterday :) However it was such a nice sunny day that my worries улетучились (flew away)... and after all it's these situations that make me think that I can survive here, 'cos in the end I got what I needed! In your face German Education System!
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