Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Wattenmeer


Here is the Wattenmeer... unfortunately, only an hour or so after high tide. but all that mud and shallow water that you see is the wattenmeer. At low tide, the water goes out for miles, so you can walk across the wattenmeer to some of the islands. the boat in the background is sailing in one of the many channels dug between the main land and the islands. There is a little wooden dike, only a foot or so high that helps to check the tide. It may seem that it is just a barren waste land and you would think that any animal that manages to live in the shallow water would die at low tide. But on the contrary, the wattenmeer has one of the highest concentrations of life in the world. there are many small creatures that bury into the mud during lowtide and also many species of crabs, seabirds (they aren't all just seaguls u know!), and even seals (called Seehund in german... hund is dog)! arrrg arg arrrrg. lol i haven't seen one yet, but i intend to before the year is up. I was walking along the coast last week and had lots of fun checking out the wattenmeer. i couldn't go far because the water was still high and its dangerous anyway. The big grassy mound... well that is about the highest elevation ya get here. The dikes are along the entire coast, and I would say are about the same height as in New Orleans. It would take a pretty massive storm to overtake these things here... but as we all know... not impossible.

Other than that little science lesson... not much is new. I might go to the Mediteranian in Turkey during my october school break. I'm also struggling to get back my french because I have a huge presentation in class next week. I can't believe I forgot it all. The worst part is that i have met 3 native french speakers so far while being here and all 3 know less german than me. And I can't even remember how to say ''I''!!!!! Its horrible.

I'm missing the warm weather all you people in New york (and probably in Ohio too) are having. Its always between 60-70. And rainy sometimes. The whole german elections were sunday too. Things are still up in the air and no one knows who won. The German government is so complicated... but I guess I would make my government that complicated too if I had some guy who took control of my country and killed millions of people. Its funny how the reports out of the US are so different than out of europe. I'm learning so much more about geography here too... for example, where different countries are. I think that HFL should do a better job at geography and countires... all the map stuff. I didn't even know that Africa was bigger than North America! People here are certainly much more global.

Even on the television, it is surprising to watch news stories about Iraq and Afganistan. At home you see pictures, but only of a soldier in a dust field, or a truck, or some people walking, etc. But here, you see images of soldiers firing at people, and panoramic views of the city or landscape. It looks so much more real. and scary. And I have never seen a news report before at home out of Africa either. You would not believe the poverty and the desparate situation so much of the continent is in. its not just that little group of starving kids you see on the television. Its everyone, and they have nothing. Not even a horrible Astrodome to take shelter in.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow that is so cool about the Wattenmeer how the tide goes back and you can walk to the islands! Nice pictures too! It's nice you are getting to see all these things and new animals and stuff. And also to get a sense of what it is like in Africa. The perspective of the news reports sound a lot more in depth, I think it would be better if the news was like that here. It may give ppl an idea of what is actually going on in Iraq instead of everybody making all these assumptions why we should or shouldn't be there. Although it might make ppl want the troops out of Iraq even more after seeing the terrible things that are happening. Idk, well keep having lots of fun, things are great here. Just pluggin along with school. ttyl!

Anonymous said...

Hey Becky, just wanted to say hi! We really enjoy looking at your website and reading about all the cool things you are doing in Germany. We're looking forward to your next posting! Good Luck in school!
ttyl

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm back!
Hey Bex,
Sorry I haven't left any messages in a while, college has been quite hectic. Still, those pictures look so cool! It's like some nifty scene from a mystery movie or something. Man, I would love to see them first hand.

Miss ya Bex,
Brian

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm back!
Hey Bex,
Sorry I haven't left any messages in a while, college has been quite hectic. Still, those pictures look so cool! It's like some nifty scene from a mystery movie or something. Man, I would love to see them first hand.

Miss ya Bex,
Brian