Today was a day to remember. I cooked my own meal for the first time in my life. I know it was pasta with chopped veggies, but still. I might have made my own breakfast before, but that doesn't really count. It was a good lunch, although I made too little sauce for the quantity of pasta I had prepared. Since this week I'll be done everyday at 1 pm, I'll try to cook everyday at noon. Maybe I'll take it a step forward tomorrow and cook some rice.

I also had a chat with one of my flat mates, Christoff. He was explaining to me that they rotated the cleaning duties of the common areas (namely the kitchen area and entry hall) every week. The person in charge has to vacuum the floor and mop it and make sure the kitchen table is clean. Everyone washes his or her own dishes, so it's not a big deal. Since there is a "girls" and a "boys" bathroom, we men have the same weekly cleaning schedule for our bathroom. It'll probably be my turn for both duties next week. However, he made a request that might seem strange to most people in both the US and I guess all of Latin America. I was warned by my German teacher today when we were discussing possible aspects of the German culture that might cause culture shock.

Christoff asked me to pee sitting down on the toilet every time I used the bathroom. Apparently it helps cleaning (you don't splash all over) and it's a cultural statement of the equality between men and women. I find it really funny that the culture where I grew up, a man that pees while sitting down is considered very unmanly (to say the least) and jokes are made around that. However, here it is completely normal, and although I haven't asked yet, it seems like German women can get into lengthy discussions about why should men pee while seated. Strange or not, one of the suggestions for people studying abroad is to immerse themselves in the host culture as much as possible... however some things might take me some time to absorb!