Coming Home!

Our trip home starts at 4am Thursday morning. We drive 2 hours down to the airport and get on the plane at 7:20. It's a 2 hour flight to London where we have to wait 3:2o hours for our next plane. Then its 8 hours over the ocean and into Chicago. My grandparents will pick us up and drive us 7 hours home to Rhinelander. So all together it will be 24 hours. I can't wait!!!

April April, er weisst nicht was er will.

On the 5th I went to do fire wood with Martin. They buy rights to a section of woods that has been logged and then collect whatever is left. So we had a tractor from Norika and a big steel dumping wagon and we did the rest just like home. On the 10th we went on a trip to Freiberg with some friends. The first day we went to Konigstein- a big fortress up on a small mountain. It was very old and very impressive. Then we went and hiked near there in a mountain village called Bastei. It was like a fairy wold with wet moss all over and some streams flowing down the little valleys. It was an awesome hike.We drove to Dresden the next day and saw the city. It was a very old city with lots of history in it. Than night we had a cook out at the other peoples cousins large riding farm. They had a whole bunch of horses. Just before we ate I put my hand out to pet one of the tiny devil dogs and before I even got close he lunged out and grabbed my hand. Good thing he was old and weak cuz he couldn't to to much except try to hold on. So he held on to my middle finger and shook it around a little and then let go and ran away. It didn't really hurt. On the last day we parted with our friends and they went to visit family and we went to a little town on the Czech border. It was a town know for its hand crafted toys. We went to a museum and and looked around the little shops. It was really cool. Lots and lots of little wooden nut cracker type things. Then we took and hour to take a drive into the Czech Republic. It was beautiful. We were in small mountains and the drive we very nice. And we can say we were in the Czech Republic. On the 19th we drove to Wittenberg with a family from our church. This is where Martin Luther had his base and started the reformation. We walked around for the day and saw the churches and had pizza for lunch. After church the next day we went to the Zimmerman's house. An elderly couple from the church. we had coffee and then went for a walk on the beach. It was quite cold with all the wind but still very nice. We came back and showed them pictures and did all our communicating in German!!! That week we started to have spring. the sun was out almost every day and it was gorgeous. We really enjoyed the weather. On the next Sunday after church we had a picnic with the Canadian that works at our school. (She has a bachelors degree and is a teacher helper at our school. Aaron and I have German lessons with her). The weather was perfect the sun was shining the wind wasn't strong and its was like 70 degrees- thats a record!!!! On the same beach as last Sunday we were cold in coats and now warm in shorts and t-shirts. Then we walked down the beach and then got ice cream.
The weather is getting increasingly better. I even got sun burned on the beach!

Febuary and March

Things have been a little busyer and I think I've put this off for too long.

A quick sum of the past few months:

February- The Beginning of February was our trip to Italy which you've heard about. After we got back we switched around our school schedules so we weren't in so many classes that weren't doing us any good. For the last few months of February and the first week of March a group of Canadian students came to the school on an exchange. It was really great to have some english people around and I hung out with them as much as I could. So when they left after 3 weeks i was sad but their presence for those weeks helped to break the ice a little with the Germans.

March- In the middle of March we took a trip to Denmark to visit a potato breeding station. We saw the north sea and drove past Lego Land!!! The day after we returned, Aaron and I headed off to the youth retreat with the other youth from our church. It was a four day conference in German so it was a little boring. But we got to know some people and Aaron learned to juggle. On the 24 the stork came to his nest across the street. Mom was very excited and we've enjoyed watching them.

Florence

We went to the train station Sunday afternoon and bought our tickets. Then we went out to the platform to wait. Two days before while hiking we met a boy from Minnesota who was taking a semester abroad in Florence. He had come to the park for the weekend. This same boy was riding on our train back Florence. He and some other kids from the US. It sure was nice to hear some real Americans talk, other than the family. The train ride was again pleasant and we only had one close call with missing a train while switching. In the end we just followed the students. We got the Florence in the late afternoon and found our way to the appt. We talked to the owner and then went and got food to cook. Then we came home and made spaghetti. After supper we read and then took showers. The bathroom was the shower...it was a tiny room with only enough room for a toilet and a sink...so they put in a swing out curtain to keep all but the floor and side wall dry (and even the curtain didn't deep everything clean). My turn came and all went well until it was time to exit. There was no real place to put a pile of clean cloths so i left all but my t-shirt and boxers out side. I went for the door handle and turned it...it turned and i heard a click and the latch slipped past the catch point and the bolt didn't come out of the door frame. It was a very very old door and the latch mechanism had apparently worn out...while i was in the bathroom. A long story short (and i mean about an hour and a half) I WAS STUCK IN THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't make you fully appreciate this situation. With European doors there are no cracks. No way to slip anything to me of any size. The landlord came over with some tool and we worked at the door. There were two pins holding two old hinges which if slipped out should let the door fall open, but there was no hope of getting the bolt to open. The old mechanism provided no way of escape when the door was closed except to open it the normal way which was imposable. My only hope was to free the hinges. I got the top pin out with no trouble but the bottom pin was bent so that it must be pulled back where the corner the wall and door made would not allow. They were able to slip me a saw blade and with this I worked on carving away the door until I was able to get the pin out. Then i said "OK, she's free. Slam the door in!" They did so but it would not budge. So then there was no hope of really saving the door, so they took a drill and bored a whole to the back of the mechanism box. Then they put a steal bar into the hole and with the bar drove the box off the door. That was it. The door fell loose. I was FREE! I thanked the landlord many times. That was it for that day and I went to bed.
For the next few days we walked around the city and visited museums and churches. Nothing else too special happened but the city was a very nice place to visit.
On Thursday the 13th we took a train back to Pisa and got to the airport. While checking in we met the same boy we had seen two times before. This time we gave him our e-mail address:) We flew out at 5:30 pm and landed at about 6:10. Then we drove home, and that took almost as long as the airplane ride. We made it home safely. The whole trip we didn't have one problem with transportation. It was a great time!

Cinqueterre National Park

We took a train from Pisa up to the national park arriving on the 7th. There are 5 small villages in the park where there are many shops. They are small villages set back in coves built right onto the rock. It is a very rugged coast so there were lots of tunnels. When we got to our destination we went to the beach right away. The weather was clear and the sun felt so warm i just felt like jumping in. But really the water was like Lake Superior when it isn't warm. It was picture perfect no joke.
Eventually we went and found the place we were staying at and asked where to get food and stuff. Then we went back to the beach and watched the sun go down.
The next day we hike around the village and up the mountain behind it. I just can't explain how beautiful it was. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and in the sun it was warm enough to wear a t shirt and jeans rolled up to you knees. In the shade it was cool and refreshing. I couldn't have asked for anything better.
The day after that we hiked south east along the coast. Skirting the edge of the mountains and dipping back into shaded valleys. We hiked through one town and into the next. We took the train back to the village we were staying in.
For food we ate cereal and fruit for breakfast, bread, cheese, and fruit for lunch and spaghetti for supper. this was our menu for the entire trip. We had spaghetti for 7 straight nights and no one got tired of it. it was the best spaghetti I've ever eaten.
On Sunday the 10th we ate breakfast and packed up. The first thing we did was release the shell abbey had picked up the day before. She had put it on her dresser and in the morning it was under her bed! We soon found that it was actually a hermit crab that had a shell big enough to allow it to pull back so far you couldn't see it. After that we sat on the beach and built rock towers until train time and then preceded to Florence.

Yeah For Vacation!!!!!!

We left at 2:00 and headed for the airport in Lubeck which is and hour away. we got there and waited until the plain got there. We waited in an big sheet metal shed that had a few shops in it and a wood floor that didn't look too stable. we flew out at about 8:00 toward Pisa. We arrived around 10:00 and found our way to our appt. Then we collapsed.
The next day we walked around the city. There wasn't a whole lot to see. Just the leaning tower and some churches. To me it was a city and i don't like all those people. That night we ate real Italian pizza! It was delicious!!! We spent one more night there, and then went to the national park.

Fußball

I've recently joined a soccer team consisting of 13th, 12th, and 11th grade boys. They (unlike me) have played their entire lives. So put simply...I stink! I'm not such a bad player considering i haven't really played ever. I'm fast and have good reaction time, but my ball handling skill is quite terrible. The reason i joined this team is to learn from the best. I hope it works. I have already made some progress but i still lack much, especially leg strength for kicking hard.
So today was my third practice. I got there and we started playing as normal. And then one of the players walked into the gym with a big crate of beer. It was the last practice before our two week vacation so i guess the wanted to celebrate. we played for about 45 mins. and then stopped and went to the benches and they talked and started drinking. Right there in the school gym. Huh!
I didn't know what to think. I'm not what you call a drinker by any means so I didn't have any. The drinking age is 16 so its not anything out of the ordinary. Just part of German culture. I just sat there and listened to there german babbling not knowing what to do. After they each had one or two we went home. Thats it.
Not what I expected at all.