20th February 2006 - Day 126

I made the last visit to the dentist this morning.

Though the whole process of drilling and filling up the tooth was faster than the previous visit, I thought it was more uncomfortable. This tooth the dentist drilled into today was more sensitive. As she drilled, tingles went down my spine and it's really not a very pleasant feeling.

After she was done, she told me that everything was in order and I do not have to come back again!

Well, if I had to go back for any other dental treatment, I think I'll develop a phobia for dentists.

Since it was still early and the Mensa was not yet open for lunch, I went in a opposite direction, not knowing where it'll lead to.

Apparently, there's a circus in town. I chanced upon it during my stroll. But it's not opened today. Then I began to realise that there were actually a lot of posters and banners in town publicising the circus. It's just that I did not take notice of it.

Afternoon was spent in hostel going through the notes. It might be not easy to pass this coming exam, contratry to what I thought. There's a lot of explanations to do and very few diagrams and equations.

Speaking of explanation. During a lunch time discussion with Nan and Jason some time last year, we decided that the a good Stichprobe of one's written German ability would be to craft a well-written complaint letter, and sucessfully getting the relevant authority to recognise the problem. And in certain cases, getting your money back.

Similarly, getting your opponent in a quarrel to understand your viewpoint is the acid test for one's speaking ability.

It seems that I've just created the possiblity of testing my speaking ability in the future unwittingly.

I absent-mindedly left the kitchen door open while the drumsticks was in the oven (yes, chicken again! It's not good to keep the food opened in the freezer for too long). This resulted in the oven spewing roasted/baked chicken aroma all over the floor.

It so happened that there were washed clothes hung outside the kitchen. Can you imagine oily smelling clothes now? I would be quite irritated too if someone did this to me!

This sort of inconsiderate act requires several loud bangs on the offender's door, coupled with a menacing look, and a harsh tone. Pretty much like what you see in the television where someone was hiding some criminal in their house, and the police came with a search warrant.

Of course, the generalisation would be that such evil deed could only be commited by a not-so-clever Auslander. Which in this case, was completely correct.

See? Generalisation makes everyone's life easier!

The other day, someone else came over and asked me if I had left the windows closed after showering. This builds up a lot of moisture in the shower, leading to the growth of moulds. When I casually asked the person why she asked me, she replied that there were only 3 people on the floor who could have done this.

They were all Auslander.

It's not much of a coincidence if you think about it. When most notices are in German, one would expect that the offender doesn't know how to read. It really narrows down to a few people.

Seriously, I do think it's better this way that they come straight on and confront you. Quite unfortunately, my lousy German communication skills does not allow me to bring any valid points across should the need arise, besides the usual Entschuldigung and es tut mir Leid.

After all, it's quite cool to be able to say something like this:

"I quarrelled with a native speaker and I won!"

Crazy.

But I should really try to improve on my spoken German and engage in meaningful exchange of ideas.

Yeah, right. Settle your exams first lah!

Then again, these people are few and far between (like 2 out of 12 Mitbewohner. Achtung! This is statisically bias). It's all part of the wonderful cultural package in an exchange program. They make any exchange program more colourful and complete.

So, more revision with the sensitive tooth.