Lessons and Fun (Oxymoron?)

Yesterday I got to drive a tractor. Granted, it was a very small one, but it was fun nevertheless. I didn't run over any chickens nor break it, so I count it as a job well done. Today was fun in English. We were working on translating, so I got to learn stuff too. They would take a (rather simple) German sentence and translate it into English to rid confusion about the perfect tenses. For example, ich hatte gelaufen means I had walked; ich habe gelaufen means I have walked. Ich bin gegessen means I have eaten and ich war gegessen means I had eaten. We only use the word have when we use the perfect tense, but they use be (sein) and have (haben). Other than that, it is the same as english: present perfect= pronoun + congugated be or have in the present + past participle; past perfect= pronoun +congugated be or have in the past + past participle. Before I started learning any languages, I was told that the more languages you learn, the easier it becomes to learn them. You start thinking about the language not only in your language, but also with connections to the others that you have learned. In many cases, it is easier to think about it in terms of another language because who thinks about their own language? One last thing. For anyone who doesn't already know what the 'cork trick' is, next time you eating a meal with my brother or dad, ask and you are sure to be entertained for quite a while. It is basically where you have to corks in your hand and you try to switch the ahnd that is holding them without letting go. Anyways, I taught Wolfgang and Vanessa (my dad had already taught Lukas while he was here), so dinner was quite entertaining.

Here is something that I have learned...
When you are far away from home, everything that you see either reminds you of home or proves how far away you are. People's faces, the trees on the hills, the winding of the roads, the shapes of the houses and the gardens in front, the food, the weather, and the cultural customs. It is your choice whether to see them with joy that you get to have a little bit of home so far away or to cry every time because you really would prefer to be with the people you know and love.