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.