Stoplights

Every day now I take the bus to school. My bus stop is a 10 minute walk from my house. When I first started taking the bus I was instructed to get on  bus #430 at 7:36, and it would bring me straight to Palmnicken. Then one day bus 430 didnt come until eight or so and now it just entirely doesn't come. Since Paola (the Mexican exchange student) and I are at the same bus stop, we have been sort of just getting on a promising looking buses. They so far have either A) brought us to the bahnhof, or B) brought us to a school just a ten minute walk from Palmnicken. Every day was an adventure! Today now I got to the the bus stop late and Paola was already gone, so I got on a bus (436) that somehow brought me right to Palmnicken. I hope I can find it tomorrow morning too!

Anyways, have I mentioned how BADLY I miss mexican food? I miss it SO SO much. I cant believe I ever took tacos or nachos for granted. Ever. I have tried making nachos here before, but it was a complete disaster. The only corn chips I could find were seasoned with paprika, the only cheese I could find was mozzarella, and then my salsa dip was pasty tasting. Not ideal. Andrea and Paola and I have been looking for a Mexican restaurant after someone mentioned there was one by the bahnhof. Until this morning we couldn't find it, and then on the bus I was reading some sign that said "Specialty Italian, Greek, and Mexican food". The whole time this restaurant had been right in the middle of the bahnhof parking lot! We felt pretty smart. So after school we went and got Nachos. We only got one to share, because it cost €7,- . At first the man just brought out this small plate of salad/maybe-the-Germans-idea-of-nachos plate and we were so WHAT? Then he brought another plate of actual nachos which was alright.  The other one turned out to be salad. Definitely weren't the best nachos that I'm necessarily used to, but they passed.

On my way home I was spacing out when out of the corner of my eye I saw the stoplight turn yellow AND red at the same time time and I did a big double-take. I watched until the light switched again, and it did it again! So that is another thing different in Germany!

The stoplights go from green to yellow, yellow to red, then there is red and yellow at the same time, and then green again! Huh. Also the lights are placed at the intersection right over the car, and not on the other side so its always really hard for me to tell when the lights are switching when I'm in the backseat.

I found this tackle shop in Fürstenwalde. Reminds me a little bit of home and that wilderness feel that Fürstenwalde and Berlin don't really have..