I am just as confused as you are!

So today I learnt that:

1. Germans call Smurfs "Schlümpfe." I'm grossly offended...How do they use the word Smurf as a noun, verb and adjective in German? "Dass ist sehr schlümpfig Papa Schlümpfe!" No.....It just doesn't work.

2. German fanta is a wrongness colour. It's yellow with the tiniest bit of orange food dye mixed in....I want my orange flavoured soft drink ORANGE.

3. Germans seem to think a cat has SEVEN lives. Obviously Australian cats are built to last better. Our cats have NINE. I think Laura was a little jealous that our kitties have another two lives up their pussy paws. It makes sense though, sieben rhymes better with leben than neun does. Still....

4. Germans have a better appreciation for Converse than Aussies do. Everyone wears them and they have SOOOOOO many more styles, not just Chucks but every form of converse. They have every colour, shade and style and for winter they have fluffy innards and tend to be made of leather or thicker material that stands a chance against the water.

Anyway I'll quickly explain what I understand of the German Abitur system (it's limited).

So in Germany in year 10 (Laura's year level) you must do around thirteen (or more) subjects. The only choice you have is what languages you do. Yes, that was plural. So Laura studies as follows: Maths (hardcore, even the specialist people would be lucky to understand), German, Sport, Religion, Physics, Chemistry, Biology (where I learnt that circulatory system in german translates literally as "Blood vein system"...gross), History, Geography, Art, Music, Latin, Spanish and of course English.

When you start to do head towards your Abitur in year 11 (like VCE), you cut down the classes, (Annika has 8), you only sit your abitur on four of those subjects but the marks from all your classes matter. When you sit your exams they must satisfy a category. For instance for Annika it's something like one language (English), a science (History) a maths (Bio) and a social (Religion) study. Don't ask me what the categories are or how they work. Then you pick your two best subjects and they are extension subjects (Annika does English and Bio) you learn them at a more difficult level I guess and then I think those classes marks are doubled or something. Just to make it more confusing all your marks from year ten appear on your Abitur...pointless but none the less, after all of your tests in school (like SACS) and the main exam you get your Abitur which is a mark for uni or a job or whatever....Simple?

I made a mess of that!

Hope all is well.