To help with recycling, many bottles in Germany (plastic and glass) have deposits on them. The amount ranges from .08-.25. A few years ago after graduation I collected a bag of bottles and took them to the store to return them thinking it would be a bit of change. It ended up being 8 Euros! That is when I became a bottle economist and expert. I can now spot bottles in the bushes, in the trash can, under the sofa at school… When I go hiking, I stick a plastic bag in my backpack so I can collect bottles. I set a goal of finding one bottle a day to make some spending cash. Several people at the school laugh at me when I take my noontime bottle walk to collect castoffs that the students can't be bothered to take to the store. I tell them – "go ahead and laugh; but I am going on vacation on bottles!" Last year I made close to 250 Euros in bottles from June to June. I keep the bottle money in a piggy bank and dip into it for fun stuff – a movie, dinner out, a book. At times I feel a bit like Scrooge or Silas Marner as I count my coins.
The kids also give me a hard time about the bottles. But this year I noticed my bottle searching had hit a recession just like the rest of the world. More students had caught on to collecting the bottles their classmates throw away. At least that is what I thought….
During the week of exams I worked hard to clean my room for the summer. One day I had it vacuumed and went home for lunch. Upon my return I found this sight awaiting me.
It appears that some of my seniors "pranked" me while I was gone. They had been saving bottles in the yearbook room – a stash that I actually eyed several times when visiting downstairs! They came upstairs and tossed them all over my floor. My first reaction was not a good one. All I could think was "ahhh, I just vacuumed!" But then I thought, "Wow, there's a lot of money on my floor." A note on my whiteboard informed me that this was a thank you for a year of English. Not a bad prank. 
I rounded up 3.5 bags of bottles and headed to the store.
