Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 19:18:35 +0200
Subject: "The Periodic Adventures and the Adventurous Periodical of Marleigh," Issue 12

Hi!

I hab a code id by dose.  Uck.

It's been a low key week.  First Mom was recovering from her trip, and
she was sick.  Now she's well and I'm sick.  Sigh.  She's cooking me
dinner tonight.  She went to the store by herself, so we're not exactly
sure what we're having, since Mom doesn't read German.  Some sort of
pork with stuff on it, and veggies.

Unless I'm feeling nasty tomorrow, we will go to Nurnberg.  Mom was
there on her whirlwind tour, but only for 25 minutes, so we feel it
worth going back to.  Besides, my Nana lived there after WWII, and if I
come back to the States without having gone there, I'm sure the
consequences will be terrible.

I'm having a discussion with Kate over which of "email" and
"e-mail" is correct.  Her argument is that e-mail is better, since all
technobabble which gets shortened that way should be consistant, and if
you shorten them all to "e" instead of "e-", you risk duplicating some
other words.  I'm going off on another tangent, and saying that it
really ought to be e'mail.  The theory there is that it's a contraction
of "electronic mail," and following English contraction rules, an
apostrophe goes where the letters are removed (like I'm, don't, and
y'all.)  Then again, email is a internationalized word, and many other
languages don't like flinging random punctuation into the middle of
their words, unless it's an accent or umlaut or something.

So if you have an opinion or argument on the subject, tell me about it
(me, not the entire list) and we'll see if we can come up with an
answer.

German Word of the Week (contributed by Mum)
"Naechste Haltestelle" = next stop (stop as in stop on a bus or train
line)

They say this on the bus for each stop.  "Naechste Haltestelle,
Ehrensteiner Feld... Naechste Haltestelle, Heilmeyersteige.. Naechste
Haltestelle, Wilhelm-R|nge-Strasse"  It's an automated thing, the same
woman saying it in the exact same way for each stop.  Mom wonders that
the poor bus drivers don't wake up at night with it going through their
heads.

Honor and Glory...
	to Frau Albrecht, who is dealing with buying my return plane tickets
	to Mum, for doing my laundry and cooking me dinner and washing my
	   dishes and stuff
Dishonor and Notoriety...
	to colds and other illnesses
	to really thin walls that allow sound to carry in my dorm

I almost forgot, I had this totally bizarre experience last Sunday. 
Anna (my friend from Toronto), Mum, and I went to this biergarten called
Tagsblatt (good salad place) for dinner.  We were hanging out, talking. 
We were just about to go, when this woman came to our table and asked if
I was here on the MIT-Germany Program.  I said yes, and looked at her
oddly.  She had been sitting at the next table and heard us talking. 
She looked over and saw my MIT ring, and also that I was wearing my
Course Six t-shirt.  She was also here on the MIT-Germany Program, and
also works at DaimlerChrysler (in the materials science section, in a
different building.)  Her name is Maresi, and she's from Florida.  She
wrote down her phone number for me on a coaster.  I'm going to call her
after Mom heads back to Syracuse.  She said she's been here for 18
months, and would love to talk to other Americans.  I can identify with
that feeling.  :)

Dinner time, the mysterious pork is done.

Tschuess!

Marleigh