home

After only a couple of days here, I already feel more at home than I ever did by the Hoyers. Not that I didn't feel at home there, which I did... just here feels like I am a part of the family. For some reason, being further out in the country is easier than being on the edge of town. I guess it is that all or nothing philosophy. I gotta be living in either way out in the country or right in the middle of a city.

My host father, Clemens, is a choir director of a rather good size church choir in a neighboring town (but as an occupation he is a house doctor... that means he acutally visits people at home, as a doctor, just like the old times!!). Anyway, he seems to know a lot about classical music, which makes the car rides interesting because he explains what we are hearing coming out of the radio (classical music). I think he is really funny and we seem to be getting along very well. For example, the first day of Brigitte (host mom) and I trying to wash all my clothes (we are still washing clothes!), we had hung some out in the car port. Everytime Clemens tried to park the car, he would have to manouver around the clothes. Then when I would make a comment about everything smelling he would start going... ''Becky stinks, Becky stinks!!''.

At school, things have been going really well. Since Jacob has left, a lot of people are talking to me. It is perhaps a comination of that I don't stink like smoke anymore, my german is getting better, and I'm in a happier mood. I've made a couple of close friends and I am starting to meet a lot of other people through them. The teachers have probably given up on me because I just sit there and do nothing. Even if I understand what is going on, it usually is too much engery and hassle to join in. I usually am in conversation with my ''neighbors'' a good protion of the time (which is something completely allowed in german schools as long as you don't talk louder than the teacher). The last 2 days have been very interesting since I found the slang dictionary that Mrs. Agar at HFL gave me for my graduation. Apparently the mish-mash of slang from the whole of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland makes for very uniqe and interesting collection of words. And then today, I found skeleton in the biology store room. A typical full scale model, excepting this one was made of real bones. It was really cool! All I could really think of was the fact I spent all of last year in AP Art trying to draw bones and skeletons (to learn about the understructure of the body to get the propotions correct when sketching) but of course they were all made of plastic. It was always so difficult because the plastic models don't have all the tiny details. But still... there was a real human skeleton in my bio room. (My bio teacher said it is really old and that now a days, real skeletons are not allowed. Apparently it was from an old medical clinic or something.)

I also need to make a comment on windmills... on my way to and from school everyday, I pass several fields of windmill farms. It is an impressive sight. In my opinion they are like big peopley giants always flailing their arms. When driving in the car really fast, it almost looks like they are moving all around and you half expect them to start fighting with each other or reach down and pick up a boulder to fling at one of the others.... assuming that stone exsisted here, which it doesn't (it's coastal... all sand, clay, loam, and the remains of bogs in the earth!) I guess in New York the state government is letting the towns create their own laws on windmill restrictions and most of the little towns are not very ''pro-alternative engergy'' in regards to large, metal, noisy things whipping around and marring the landscape... think extra tall, moving cell phone towers! There are a few Hollandish windmills here... the cute ones. But most of them are tall metal structures. These ones here are over 100 meters tall. There is a big discussion on the coast about putting windmills in the sea... but there are a few technicalities. The cool thing is that more energy is created than used here. That also accounts for the fact there there are no large engery consumers here, such as factories, etc.

Tonight I am going with Herr Heinzel again, but I think this time to Wilhemshaven. I have no idea what we are doing, but it must be something interesting because a couple of other kids are going along too.