First Days in Germany

       That's right folks, I have finally made it to Germany!  There is lots to write about because now I become excited from the simplest of things like what I ate for breakfast, driving down the road, and how the doors lock all because "this is how Germans do it"!  It is hard for me to really compare many of the things that I have seen so far as German v. American because I don't know if it is all the norm or if things I am seeing are unusual by German standards as well.  That is why I have decided instead to give a super speed recap of the last few days without any judgements.

        So after my great 9 hours spent travelling, I finally made it to the Bremen airport.  My family was waiting for me there and there were hugs given all around.  This did surprise me because everyone told me that Germans rarely hug but if that is true, my family must be an acception because I got a hug from each of them and my host sister greets all her friends with a hug.  From Bremen, it was about a 45 minute drive to our house in Bremerhaven.  I told them I wasn't tired but after the first half hour I could hardly keep my eyes open.  I tried to stay awake so I could see all of my city but it wasn't really working so I succumbed to the 5 minute power nap.  Bremerhaven and my house look much different in person than they did on google maps, but only in the best way.  My new house is absolutely adorable.  It has a very  rustic cottage feel to it, everything is made of wood, even the fridge and the dish washer.  There's exposed beams all over and a loft in the living room as well as my bedroom.  It reminds me of my mom's favorite architecure book called Cottage Living or something like that that is all about maximizing space.  I need to figure out how to download my cameras pictures soon so that you all can see because I am in love with how cute it is.

       After settling in and taking a nice long nap, I took a walk with my host sister, Charlotte, and the dog, Waltraud.  She brought me to a really pretty park not too far from the house that I would  love to run in soon and she showed me the neighborhood.  I was introduced to a few neighbors who I can't remember the names of unfortunately.  After a light dinner of bread with meat and cheese, chocolate yogurt, and a salad, I went to bed. (again)

       Friday dawned bright and hot.  The hottest day of the summer in fact!  I spent the morning grocery shopping and buying a very simple pre-paid phone.  In the afternoon Charlotte brought me along into the city to meet her friend Alex.  We saw most of the main attractions of the city like the main church, the large pedestrian shopping street, the Mediterraneo (this was like a standard mall but all the store fronts looked like Italian houses, it was very cool) and I went inside that big glass building that looks like a jelly bean that is in every picture of the city.  After awhile we were summoned home so I could relax because Petra is extra careful with me; it's very sweet.  A couple hours later Helmut drove us back to the harbor where a movie was being shown on a huge screen made of the shipping containers that fill the harbor.  We sat on a blanket on the cobble stones with a bunch of Charlotte's friends and Charlotte translated the whole movie for me, which was so nice because I would have been completely lost without her!  Helmut came and brought us home afterwards.

        Saturday I slept extremely late.  When I woke up my host parents took me to a park that stretches along the dike past Bremerhaven to walk Waltraud and show me the country side, but when we pulled up it began to rain.  We turned around and drove through the industrial harbor where I saw all the giant cranes for moving the containers which are mostly filled with cars.  The road was bordered by huge trains stacked with new cars ready to be taken to all of Europe.  We ended up finding a tour bus in a parking lot there that we hopped onto.  Normally, the tour wouldn't pick people up there but the driver agreed to drive us back to our car afterwards.  He really liked to talk so it took awhile for him to get us back but he seemed nice enough.  He only spoke German so I mostly didn't know what was going on.  At night I went back to the movie festival with Charlotte and some friends but the movie for that night was really boring so we left pretty early and just walked around the city and went down to the dike.  I still don't understand anything in German unless it is said very slowly so I couldn't keep up with the others at all but Charlotte would stop and explain their conversations sometimes so it was fun!  We saw a few shooting stars as well and they showed me a new constellation.
       
      Today I have had an easy morning and soon we will go to meet Helmut's mom.  Tonight we are barbequeing with some neighbors which I guess happens every Sunday.

Over all, Germany is treating me very well!

~M