Biking 2

I took a bike ride the other day. This is the ''Wanderweg'' (wandering path) of which I spent 13 km on. Not all of it was beautifully tree lined... other parts were cow lined. Litterally, there is so many cow (and horse) pastures here that i am convinced that there are more cows here than NY. Plus, the cows are allowed to actually eat the grass! The second picture is of the typical canals that are all over, between many of the feilds.

biking

everything is soooo flat here that when I go bike riding i just keep going and going... like the energizer bunny, and there is really nothing to wear you out (ie: hills). So, I ended up going somewhere around 40 km the other day, which i guess works out to about 25-30 miles. I took some more pictures. I really should take more. (they failed to load... i'll try again sunday).

Yea... school is boring, and slow. Most days this week I have had school only 2-3 hours so I have had almost nothing to do. And I really don't know anyone, so I've been a little board. I go out with Lisa a lot, but I can only do that for so long because Lisa and her friends have very few of the same interests (ie: drinking and smoking, partying, talking for hours... etc... thats so not me!!). I don't understand what they say half the time and they don't include me in on the conversations, so... I've had a lot of time to think lately. I have met a couple kids in school that I like, I just haven't gotten to know them enough to do anything. There is one girl that was near Syracuse last year on exchange, and so we talk a lot. So many people go on exchanges here that when there is an exchange student here, its nothing new. Not like in NY! The exchange students are treated like movie stars practically. Yea... I like biking though. And there is a lot to do, if you can find a ride and some friends to do it with. Lots of festivals and activities in town (open markets, musicians, etc... and its such a small little town!).

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.

Hellooooooo

It seems that no one ever reads this because no one ever posts comments. So I thought that I would try to get some pictures up so that people would become interested again.

So... I know that I can upload pictures here from the Hoyers, and I finally got all the everything working... but it takes forever! (Modems) What do you think of the cows I found... MOOOOOO. hehe

I updated two other posts with pictures too, below...

Sometime next week I can put up pics of the wattenmeer and of a Rotary picnic in Bremen that we are going to have tomorrow. It has been raining for 2 days straight, so hopefully we wont get rained out.

Moved

Hey!

I'm all moved. So far, i really like it here. I like Lisa's family. And they are much more easy going than the Hedlefs. At first I thought because they lived more out of town that it would be horrible, but its actually pretty cool. I'm one minute closer to school and there are tons of little towns only 2-3 miles away. I'm closer to the forest and today when I went biking I discovered a bog (moor) which this part of the country is well known for, and also a huge canal. I biked for 15 miles today! I ended up in this absolutely gorgeous and cute town called Dunum and it had a little church in the middle that was built in the 1200's! It is the coolest thing ever. the town didn't have as many stores and shops as one would expect from it's size (even small villages have somewhat of a shopping center in the middle), but it was absolutely idylic. Hopefully because I'm not stuck so much in town, I can get out biking more in the forest, or to the coast, or inland further. Almost everything is withing 20 Kilometers (about 15 miles). I wouldn't be surprised if the entire penisula is 60 Kilometers wide. I'm not exactly sure on that, so don't quote me!

I got my own little bedroom here upstairs, and my bathroom (unfortunately) is downstairs. There are no little kids here screaming all day and there is a two cow fields next door. The only thing is that it is a little bit remote. But with Lisa here and with my bike, I don't think it is a problem to get out. I really like my Chorus that i'm singing it. (My next host parents are both in it, so that is cool too... I really like them too... but they live even more out in the middle of nowhere than here! But they are very cultural people, so that is going to be cool!) The Hoyers dont have a piano, so at the moment, I have no idea how I'm gunna practice. I'm not THAT good at occapella.

moving

ahhh... this is the second time I have written this. Not much is new here. I am moving to the Hoyers today, that is Lisa's family. So everything is packed and I'm leaving soon. I'm not sure of the computer situation for the next few days.

This past weekend I went to a Roccoco Festival (Roccoco was a period after Classical, according to Diane) with Diane, Mario, and their host father. It was really fun and interesting. I even tried Piratentee (rum and black tee... it was tooo strong, so we all shared it.) It was funny seeing the costumes and the music and stuff. then we went back to their house for clams. They were tasty, and much better than the ones I had on my prom night.

I joined the local church choir and they sing a lot of classical, german stuff, and so far it is really fun. Rehersal is tonight, so i must go. i gotta move before I can go to practice. Tchüss.

South African Soccer

the soccer game was awasome! I spent much of the game with the South African groups, learning their songs and dances. And Diana somehow ran into her best friend (from Africa, that she didn't know was there)! Germany won, but whatever. I was cheering for both anyway.

the reason y I thought I would post is because I was reading a list of all the things donated by the different countries because of Katrina. If you want to check it out, click on the title of my blog. I thought the funniest one was from Panama, 120,000 lbs of bananas! It sounds like things are getting both better and worse, with the government finally responding, but the floodwaters in New Orleans are getting really toxic. It is sad that the donations from the world were mostly needed a week ago. What would we do with thousands of tents now? The most interesting thing about being abroad is hearing how the news has a different spin. And what makes me angry is how much the american media censors! Its horrible.

Today I had gym class... it was almost like being in gym when u are in 2nd grade because its more fun and games than excersize. I wonder if it is normally like that. We had these long banner things that we spun around and made up games with.

The circus starts any minute now. So, got to go.

Elephants and Camels

there are elephants in my front yard. No, I'm not kidding. And I woke up to the sound of a heard of horses and poneys. This may sound like the begining of a story, but its not, there is literally a circus camped out practically in the front yard! Across the street is a huge field and the circus has come to town. I don't know if we are getting any lions or bears or something, but so far there are camels, dalmation dogs, horses, ponies, and elephants. I can see some of them from the house. I took some pictures and maybe I can get them posted tomorrow. Tonite my host dad and I, and Diane (from S. africa) and a new mexican exchange student are going to a soccer game in Bremen. Germany vs South Africa

School is going better. French is my favoirte class because I can understand it. Maybe I can even keep up enough to take the tests! I have a presentation in 2 weeks on Martinique.

Monday I move to the Hoyers house. So, I have been starting to think about what and how to pack my stuff. My new address is...

Rebecca Volzer
c/o Hoyer Familie
Lerchenweg 4
26427 Stedesdorf
Germany (Mom!... send my stuff to this address please!)

Yea, so I'll be about 7 minutes by bike further from town (Esens) but its not that big of a deal. I'm actually closer to school. Yesterday I lost the key to my bike lock and today one of the school teachers had to break the lock off so I could use it again. Its 15 minutes to the Hedlefs (where I am now) by foot but only 5 min by bike. and btw... its really hard to find gnomes in germany. You wouldn't think so, but it is. Maybe I'm just in the wrong part of the country. lol

Not much new

hey. Not much is new here, so I'm sorry that I haven't been posting. One of the exchange students (Kor, from Tailand) in the area just left friday, so it's only me and Jacob (from Australia) left. We all went to Bremen to see Kor off. School is pretty slow, there is no school spirit, and its kind of slow, so its gunna take a while to get used to. People smoke a lot here too. Other than that, everything is good. Last night I went out with Lisa and Jacob and all their friends to a club. I didn't get home until 5 in the morning! I can't believe how much people drink and smoke here. The weather has finally started to warm up. Yeah!! Hopefully I can go to the north sea some time soon and go swimming. With the sun out and the water so shallow, they say that the water gets really warm! Like bath water! Well... not much else to say.

Katrina

I am very saddened to learn about Katrina and the horrible damage it is causing. Only today was I able to watch the CNN (in english!!!) so that I could understand what is going on. My heart goes out to everyone affected!! I can't believe that over 80% of New Orleans is under water. That is astronomical. There are few cities in Europe that are of the same size, only a dozen or less, so it is difficult to explain to people the magnitude of the situation.

School is better. I have a schedule now, I think... I'm going to classes, but tomorrow I will get the final answer. I enjoy most of themmy classes, although school here is very different from american schools. School here is simply school, and nothing more. There is no school spirit, no after-school activities , no anything. It is difficult to honestly describe. I have much more freetime because school gets out earlier.

Yesterday I found a Jewish museum in town. That was interesting, and I even managed to have conversations with the guy who ran it... he was telling me more about the Jewish populations and impact of the Nazi regime on East Frisia. The Synagog in Esens is now a garage.

I also have a problem that everyone can help me with. I need pins, the kind that you can get at tourist places and gift shops, that are ''typical'' american. Anything will work, even if it is a company pin, like something for Wegmans. If it is a pin, and it is in America, and you have some around the house that you don't need/want, I will be more than happy to have them. I don't care if they are from NY, and organization you are in, Ohio, California, or even Toronto (I know, its not american, but i'll take it)!! I'm supposed to give everyone I meet a pin from America, and I didn't bring enough. If you have any, leave me a comment or send me an email, concrete_angel0369@yahoo.com THANK YOU!!!

School

Hello! I had my frist day of school yesterday. I still don't know what grade I am in, but I should know by Wednesday next week. So.... I'm tagging along with Lisa, my host sister, to all of her classes. So far, I like school, but it's to early to tell about anything. I haven't really met very many people yet, but of course, I probably won't stay in most of Lisa's classes yet. So people aren't like Hi! right away. I have no idea about anything, so don't ask.

I just got back from town. Every time I go into town, I find something interesting to look at for an hour or two. Today I went into the church (Lutherin) and WOW. Its simple (compared to the catholic cathedrals), yet gorgeous. It must have once been a catholic church because it has an alter, painting on the walls, a huge organ, statues, and an impressive pulpit. There is a museum thing in the tour, but it wasn't open. Then it started to rain, so I spent almost an hour in a holographic museum. At first, I thought the almost 5 dollar admission price was a rip off, but by the time I left, I was impressed and now I have a completely different opinion about holograms. I always thought they were cheesey and a public money making scam. But some of these things can be a real peice of art and of high quality. They can even be used to present a 3d image of a sculture or other thing (especially if it is something that is valuable).

I went to the library too. I like reading the childrens books. There are some interesting things you can find.

visting relatives

This is the second time that I have written this. Its been a while since I have posted because I went to vist my dad's cousin in Werl, which is near Dortmund (or about an hour and 30 min from Cologne) over the weekend. I just learned that you can't post more than 5 pictures in one post. And even then, it might not work. So, if you want to see the pictures, go to ringo. I had a wonderful time in Werl and it was just like I pictured Germany to be like. But even though it was so pretty, I came to realize that I really love Ostfriesland as well. Tomorrow I start school and I am nervous and also looking forward to it. I still don't know what grade I am in... but I should know tomorrow morning, hopefully!!!

There are lots of beautiful churches in Werl. The town is home to mostly Catholics (with 3 chuches, one is a Basilica!) and a neat Mosque where many of the Turkish imigrants worship (similar to our Mexican problem). They churches are made of old stone and all have artifacts in them of saints. The Basilica has a crypt and a golden statue of Mary.

Werl grew up as a rich town because of the springs in the area hold an exceptional amount of salt. In addition, Werl is one of the most popular pilgramage sites in Germany. There were many wars fought over the rights to produce salt because salt used to be such an important and valuable spice (much more valuabe than gold). To this day, the town still has a militia thing, that is actaully typical of most german small towns. Lucky for me, the Schuzenfest (sp?) was this weekend, where the Schuzen (the town militia) chooses a new ''king'' and ''queen'' and there is a lot of celerations for days. I didn't see much of it but I did see the parade. Many of the larger towns and cities ''own'' smaller ones in the area around them (think, castles and wars and domination) so there is a Schuzen King, Queen, and band and\or milita for each town that celebrate in the main city). The town center of the main city holds the central market place, shopping centers, and churches. (On a side note, Esens owns smaller towns, but is furthermore owned by nearby Wittmund.) The Schutzenfest is quite a sight to see.

In addition, saturday night I went to a Discotek with some girls my own age that Bobby knew. That was really neat. I wish that American towns would have Discoteks. It would be a good Edify project!! I also learned that the Youth Centers have little cafes and bars in them. What a great idea (well, maybe not the bars)!! Both Saturday and Sunday afternoons I did some sightseeing. Saturday I went to a nearby lake and saw lots of hills\mountains. Its sooo flat in East Frisa that it was a welcome sight. We also went to a thatched roof restaurant and gardens that had delicious german cakes (ooooo, german desserts are soooo good). The neatest part of the gardens, besides being tons better than Sonnenburg gardens was that the tree stumps were painted to look like gnomes!

So now I'm back here in Esens, and last nite I got together with my host sister from the Hoyers (my next family) and with Cor (the Thai student who is living with them now). We went out for pizza bread at a local bar\restaurant and then went back to the Hoyer's house to watch a movie. We watched a german comedy called the 7 Dwarfs (sp?)... not the disney version. I also met my next host parents, and I like them very much. My host dad is really cool and he is also the french teacher at my school, so I might be able to work out a chance to go to France! This is my last day of summer vacation and I have to say, this has been the strangest summer I have ever had. Hopefully I will hear from you all soon!

Pictures!!

Ok, so I have the picture software connected, but I can't get my ''Handball'' and ''Day 2'' posts to upload pix, so here are the pics for them... handball pix; Langeoog; Me, Lisa, Merel on the beach; a lighthouse on the island; and the landscape in East Frisia! (actually, I think the picutures might be in backwards order. ooops) Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Posting help

Apparently a lot of people have been having problems with the posting comments. I've gotten several emails. When posting comments, click on the ''0 comments'' link (or whatever number it is). The letter/mail icon does some sort of weird homepage link thing. So don't click that. Click the ''# Comments'' link and scroll to the bottom. There is another link at the bottom that says ''Post a Comment''. Click that. Then, a window will pop up and you must scroll to the bottom of that. Type your message and then click ''Other'' and fill in your Name, but not your webpage (cuz you probably don't have one). That way, I know who left the comment. Sorry for the trouble!!! I hope that helps. If not, just email me... concrete_angel0369@yahoo.com

On other news, went shopping in town and got a backpack for school, some school shoes, and a sweater jacket (its cold!). Actually, it has warmed up a little this week, 20° (69° F) today and hopefully 23° (75ish°) tomorrow. I am going to continue to look for more long sleeve shirts. I'm not big on them... I wear short sleeves all year at home, even in winter... just with a sweatshirt. But sweatshirts aren't big here, so I'm looking at the alternatives.

I talked to Denis today (Hi Denis, if you read this!!) For those who don't know Denis, he was the German exchange student at HFL this last year. It was neat because it finaly hit me that I am IN Europe. On a DIFFERENT continent. Plus, no more time difference to worry about when calling! I'm looking forward to school starting and have had a good day because the sun is out. The ''non existant'' bugs are out today, lots of fruit fly things, flys, and butterflys. All flys, lol. And of course the spiders. I even saw a couple of grasshoppers too today.

The Pope is in Cologne for World Youth Day this week... its actually more like world youth ''week'', but anyway, I figured out arrangements to go!! So, I'm going to Köln to see the Pope this weekend!! Wish me luck and hopefully fun! Bis dann.

Handball cup

No one has left me many comments lately. I feel lonely!

Its been busy here. Yesterday I went with Lisa (see previous blogs if you are lost) to Langeoog... one of the islands off the coast. It is absolutly gorgeous. And what makes it better is that cars are forbidden on the island, as are most of the islands. It is really neat! Quiet and calm. All the vegitation grows in sand because the entire island is sand dunes ''frozen'' in place by plants. It makes some interesting hills. And the beach looks like those picture perfect, idylic, white beaches from postcards. I took over 50 pictures but only got about a half a dozen good ones. The hills/dunes made difficult angles to deal with. The watenmeer (mudflats) are really interesting and I hope I get a chance to explore them a little. There is a lot of animals and plants in the watenmeer and even just in general. I don't know if I am noticing the animal life more than normal or not. For example, today i went in the forest (there is a little state park like thing, only a couple of miles deep) and I saw a deer and some big hawk/owl within only an hour. There are tons of little toads, seagauls, giant slugs, and spiders here. You would not belive the amount of spiders that live here. And their webs are strong, thick, and sticky. There don't seem to be mosquitos or flying bugs at all for that matter. But there are flys and its funny that they seem to be slower and stupider than american flys. No one swats them or tries to kill them so they sort of just lazily wander around. But american flys are always running for their lives!

The last two nites there was the German Handball championships in Esens and was a big deal because Esens is so small. I went to most of the games and found them a cross between boring and fascinating (what would you call that?) . I've never heard of Handball before and I would describe it as soccer, basketball, and dodgeball combined. There is this ball (about half the size of a basketball) that is really sticky and two goals, just like soccer goals at both ends of an indoor stadium, similar to basketball, except the floor is not wood, it is that athletic mating, and the players are always paranoid about the floor getting slippery (from sweat and spit, etc). So there are pairs of people who run around with mops to make sure that the floor is perfectly dry. The players just go back and forth, throwing the ball and trying to get the ball in the goals. I got some interesting photos, but they are a little dark. I wish I had photoshop (my photo editing software) to fix them up. I also wish I could post pictures. O well... it'll come eventually.

gnomes

I saw my first garden gnome today! It was little and bland (not very colorful). But sooooo very cute. And I discovered how to spell Schätze (''Shotsy''). (This is for you Grandpa V.!) It means treasure, but often translates to ''baby''.... in the sense that mothers say, ''oh, my baby (my precious, or my sweetheart)''.

I also had a Dönner today. It is a Turkish ''fast food'' that is popular in Germany. There is a substantial excercize based about Dönner's in my German textbook. I enjoy going into town and poking around and Ihave done so several times. I went to the bookstore for indexcards (Karteikarten) and then found a kid's activity workbook, one that was not as childish, but still with easy words. The Hedlef's havea lot of kid's books as well, and so I went through a whole box today. I have never been one to read comics before, but I find them VERY helpful too. I found a whole book about Micky Mouse and also the oldest boy, Jan-Ole has several ''Asterix and Obelix''... a popular French series (that I have heard about in French class and is apparently popular in the US).

Tomorrow (Friday) I will go to a party with my host sister from my next famiy, Lisa. Her friend is returning from Brazil. And then that night I am going to a Handball game with Enno (my host father). 'The world's best goalie' is going to be playing or something. This family is very active and they play a lot of games and sports together. I like it a lot. The CD player in my room doesn't seem to work well so occasionally I listen to the radio. But the radio plays more Enlgish songs than German ones! I've never listened to so much of my own music before (CD's).

Cold!

Hello everyone from ANTARCTICA! It is sooo cold and windy. Apparently the summers are not like this but right now it is in the 50's. I've had a cold but eventful day. I rode my new bike to Benserseil, about 3 miles north of here, which right on the sea (with the dikes of course) and then back on a canal path. There are tons of tourists here and bike paths. The paths are numerous and very much not user friendly. They twist and turn and are not well marked. This one that I have been trying to follow for 3 days took me on a roundabout tour to Esens and I ended up first at the sewer plant and then half way to Bensersiel. So that is why I decided to continue on to the coast. There is a weekly market in the town square (which is actually the church yard... but we are talking a brick town center\parklike setting) every Wednesday that I stumbled upon today in Esens and I bought my host mother some roses. And there is a fishmarket in Bensersiel every satuday and sunday too. There are so many festivals and markets that you could go to one everyday. The land is so flat here that they have a saying that says you can see who is coming to visit Thursday on Tuesday. I can even see the church tower from the dikes in Bensersiel. And the wind! You would not beleive the number of windmills. I saw a whole windmill farm today. It is impressive and awe inspiring. I took pictures... but we can't get my camera software to load on the computer. We have to troubleshoot and hopefuly I will be all set up soon.

My host sister, Lisa, from my next family spent a year in Texas and just got back about a month ago. This afternoon I went for ice cream with her and her older sister. Then I went with Lisa to her friends' house. East Frisian tea and all the customs are definately unique. They always use china and have a speical kind of sugar in it. And the german cakes (and ice cream) are amazing. Everything that I have had to eat is sooo good. I finally have my german text book now too... so now I can actually learn some german. I feel like I am starting to settle in. Hopefully if I keep biking every day, I won't gain any wieght.

my bike

Today I bought a used bike. So now I can go around on all the bike trails. I went to my school, NIGE, and was planning on going to the coast, but then it started to rain again. My blood sugar is a little off, so I have been trying to figure out what to eat and how to adjust... but it might be just that I am tired. The raisin bread here is soooo good! Satuday we (the Rotary club) went to a neighboring town for a festival to sell raisin bread. We had several dozen loaves laid out on boards made into a looooong table that was 60 meters (about 40 feet) long. We sold it all!!! When the sun is out, it is so beautiful. And it is nice to see the sheep on the dike. We had lamb chops for dinner last night and it was really good. Not much is new, I have been staying around the house mostly. I also watched the 2nd and 3rd Lord of the Rings (in german, of course). The subtitles help a lot. I don't have enough pictures on my camera yet to bother installing the software on my camera onto the computer, but when I do, I will add the pictures of the festival onto this post. Until later...

day 2

It is wierd that when ever I open my blog, all the main pages on blogspot are in german. The keyboards are different too. But now I actually know what I am typing because at home I had the computer keyboard set to the german one, and all the keys were messed up! The keyboard is a little different here... but it's not that hard.

There are 3 children, Jan-ole is 13 and Wieke is 9. There is also another boy who is 11, but I have not really met him yet, he has been out. Today I tried eel. I didn't like it. Oh well. But I saw the mudflats and the dike and we went to talk to the baker today who was working at a local festival. I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot. He says that I can come visit him in the morning while he making bread, at 2 in the morning! So far, I had a red cabbage sourkraut, a venison dish (it tasted like the sauce and meat in beef strogonoff), brötchen (breakfast rolls), lots of cheeses, and a german noodle dish. Everything is going good so far. And the milk is in boxes! Yesterday I went with Wieke to the supermarket to get the milk and we stoped for icecream. The chocolate ice cream is much better here, but it is a darker chocolate... and i like dark chocolate.

Also, today I went to the bank... and now I have a german bank account. There are a lot of offices that I have to go to to get registered. We went to the rathouse (town hall) and tomorrow we go to the foriegn office. When I flew in, I didn't need to go through customs and I didn't even get a stamp in my passport. Apparently I will get it when I go to the foreign office.

My host family is very very nice. Here in ostfriesland, everything is cold and rainy but there are a lot of farms with corn, wheat, straw, cows, donkeys, sheep... I even met a camel today! It was living on the farm where my host mother keeps her horse. The town is really pretty and just like the typical german picture you always see with stone roads and pretty gabeled buildings. Everyone rides their bike or walks here too. It is schön toll! I'm having trouble learning any german. I was learning more at home with my text book than here. My host mother speaks english too readily, but its not all bad. It is making the adjustment easier. I just hope I know enough german before school starts.

I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll put them on my blog or on ringo when I get some. Bye!

Ich bin in Deutchland!

Hello every one! I made it to Germany. Everything is very nice and Esens is just like the picture books. Sehr schön! My german is better than expected but my host mother talks in English readily so I have not been able to learn much. The children do not know much english at all. It is cold and rainy here but I am only 5 miles from the sea and Diane (one of the exchange students here from South Africa) wants to walk across the mudflats to the islands. The bikes here are very different as well and I am having trouble staying on them! Everyone rides bikes and has baskets hanging off of them. And so far the food has been very good too! Send me emails. Otherwise, not much is new around here.

My flight was long and I didn't get much sleep, but I did meet an interesting woman from Ukraine who talked to me the whole night. I didn't get much sleep for several days, so my adjustment to the jet leg is really not bad at all... at least so far. But already I am having difficulties thinking in English trying to write this. That is very weird.