Letting Deutschland Sink In

Black Forest

 

Today marks my 12th day here and it has definitely been an interesting week. We started the week off with a bike ride in the Black Forest which is truly a beautiful place. Lush with trees and you do not have to worry about any bears (none here)! Actually I haven't seen much wildlife at all. However, tons of livestock. Ben has showed me around the village Kappel that we live in and I am beginning to know my way around.

Ben also let me practice driving his car in town which the street signs here are the same bbuuuutttt different at the same time. His car also happens to be a manual. So put those two together and it happens to be a challenge. I killed it twice but managed to get us home.

 Jumping around in the forest



I had my first laundry experience. The washers here definitely clean your clothes much better than American ones do. It also takes 2 hours to wash one load! Annnnd you hang dry here:)

 

Ben and I baked together a couple days ago (it was supposed to be just me but I needed help converting). Fahrenheit to Celsius and grams to ounces. Thanks to Ben and Google, we got the recipe converted:) I did call him the worst co-baker in a moment of frustration. For some reason now, he calls me

Bagel and I kind of like it.

 

It IS all about World Cup here right now and I have been watching Soccer everyday. Not by choice haha. It is somewhat entertaining, except when America lost to Germany:( I must admit, I was rooting for them. The streets get shut down here and German fans come out and chant and sit in the middle of the road if the team wins. America is out: I will support Deutschland now:)

Deutschland wins

I visited Ben in Marburg this week and explored the city while he was working. There was a beautiful castle that started to be built 1000 years ago. Crazy. Cobblestone streets and adorable buildings made up the old town. I also bought a curling iron and blow dryer at what would be the equivalent to our Best Buy. We watched the German vs. USA game at one of the restaurants and let me tell you, if there is a soccer game playing and you aren't showing it in your restaurant live, you will not be getting any business that evening.

 Castle

 Castle

 Cathedral

 Old town of Marburg

Us watching the game

 







 

On an interesting note, there are a lot of beggars in the bigger cities. That said, I did experience something interesting- at an intersection, a man begun juggling balls as entertainment when the light was red. Then he would walk around and people would give him money out of their car windows. Love that idea! Gotta work for your money, right?



I did start school today and it wasn't the best experience. I ended up missing the first hour and a half of class because the school had all levels mixed together and I missed my class leaving to go to a separate classroom which was about a half a mile away. It was aggravating. And there is barely any English spoken because it is all foreign languages together to learn Deutsch. Not the best first day but tomorrow is a new day and hopefully it will go smoother. Fingers crossed. Until then, einen guten Tag!