Beginning of the End

So this week is the last week: the last Sunday, the last Monday, the last Tuesday, the last Wednesday, the last Thursday, the last Friday, and the last Saturday in Germany.

Also a lot of last meals, handball trainings, reading to the kids, biking to the city, running around in the fields and woods, visiting with friends and relatives, singing karaoke at the Irish Pub, going to mass in St. Clemens Church, listening to FNN radio station, craft mornings with Chelsey, eating Christian's delicious homemade bread, driving the kids..well everywhere, taking Matti to Kindergarten in Ahlem, riding the tram, singing 'Alle meine brötchen schwimmen auf dem See', chatting about Twilight with Petra and Indra, jumping on the trampoline, learning dances and songs from Youtube with Indra, quatsching with Petra when she should be working, jogging with Petra, enjoying festivals in Hannover, trying to read Hannover weather, reading the HAZ, loading money on my cell phone, coffee at Balzac, playing games with Petra and Christian, to be continued...

Wonderful stories in the HAZ

HAZ stands for Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, the oldest newspaper in Hannover and they often have interesting stories on the front page.

About a month ago, the front page let the 1 million people in the Hannover Region know that a man, who was test driving a really nice, expensive car, lost 23,000€ on the autobahn. The police came to the rescue and closed the autobahn so he could try to collect the cash. He never did find 3,000€.

Today there was an article about a 79 year old man who was shooting pigeons out of his front window. Quite frankly, I would probably have shot them too.

Vreden, oh Vreden

I was visiting family in Vreden this past weekend. We lucked out with good weather on Saturday as we visited with my great-aunt and then headed to Bredefort, Holland for window-shopping and coffee. Then Sunday, they took me to a beautiful nature reserve where flamingos (the most northern group in Europe) hang out every summer. Then we headed over to Münster where we visited a few churches and ate delicious cake. I will miss being so close to the German family over here.

When in Holland (especially in June), one must try the Herring with onions. After the first head-tilt-take-a-huge-bite photo shot I enjoyed the herring with onions on schwarzbrot.

Poem

Here is a lovely poem sent to me by Ms. Jaclyn. Believe it or not, she is not the English major...

What a Wetterau thing to do,

Ride a bicycle built for two.

Crazy ideas coming from that "W" crew,

Like when your mom wanted to buy a goat.

note: my mom does not have a goat

One Main Reason to Fly Home...

to ride this bike with Katie....

plant people

I believe in a previous post, I spoke of my inability to grow plants. Well the plants from that post have since passed away (I think about 2 days after I took the beautiful picture). But I tried again...Barbara, my mom's cousin, who I visited in Köln, sent me home with this little man. He came with a grass seed packet that is to be stuck in his head. Then with water and sunlight, he grows hair. Well I succeeded!! I will keep you posted on how long I manage to keep the grass alive...

Sarah

Sarah Virkler came and visited me this past weekend. Unfortunately it was somewhat cloudy and rainy, but we quatsched quite a bit and really enjoyed each others company.

On Friday we went out with some of the aupairs. We went to Karaoke night at the Irish Pub and then went dancing (at a new-also-to-me club). Saturday we headed out to my sand handball tournament. Sarah was one of the only fans we braved the weather (she was actually kind of forced...seeing as I was there). Saturday night we watched a movie and talked some more. Then Sunday morning I showed her a bit around Hannover, including the beautiful Rathaus (pictured above). I sent her with my first two Twilight books (auf deutsch, natürlich). It was sad to see her go, I am already looking forward to seeing her in the states at the end of the summer.