A day in the life

Today was insanely hot, 36 degrees! (Celsius, of course. Who's this Fahrenheit you speak of?) I spent the morning doing nothing much, eating breakfast, then retreating to my room to not-be-on-a-cultural-exchange for a few hours. Then, 'round when FOMO* kicked in, it was time for lunch, then german lessions with the Frau Pfeist. Nothing new, really basic stuff, but it's fun to hang out with Signe, the other American and the only other exchange student here at the moment, and I learn stuff just by talking German to Frau Pfeist. Then, Signe and I got a ride from Frau Pfeist (everyone here is so nice about being our personal taxi service while we are getting things together!) in to the old walled part of Ahrweiler. Beautiful old buildings, an almost complete old city wall, delicious marzipan gelato... But Signe doesn't yet speak german nearly well enough to get by, so I spoke english and we played the american tourists, in our own little language-bubble. At about five we had the bright idea to walk down to the school, kind of between Bad Neuenahr and Ahrweiler, and check it out. My, was that a long walk! But the Ahr is pretty, and it was enjoyable despite the heat. We had told Signe's host father to pick us up at the school, and when we got there he invited me over for dinner. My new SIM card came today, so I called my host mother and cleared everything. (in german, of course. I'm actually pretty proud of that.) the family Gaudian has an amazing house, with all sorts of art in it, and i'm going to enjoy living there in six months or so. (they're my third family.) The father is fascinating. He is a representative in the Stadtrad, a kind of city council except with more people, I think, and is part of the Green party. The ride there was devoted to a long spiel, the kernel of which was that the Germans were dumb to tear down all their old buildings in the 50's and 60's, and that, because the german population is decreasing, there's no reason to build more single-family homes. For the benefit of Signe, mostly, we spoke english, and he speaks excellent english, so after dinner (which really is small in Germany, just like another breakfast), I was able to engage in some serious conversation. We talked about the environment, about the "cash for clunkers" program and it's ancestor in germany and how they weren't really ecological, because they created so many new cars, and about how we fit into the world in general. It was fun to really discuss things for the first time in weeks; I spend all my time right now on just being understood, and relish the small victories, but it isn't the same as a good conversation.

By the time I got home, the heat had brewed up a thunderstorm somewhere to the west, and so we cleared the terrace and watched the lightning as it rolled lesiurely towards, and eventually around, us. It was a great day, not so good for my integration, but really pleasant. Things are really interesting here.

*FOMO: Fear of Missing Out

Next up: Some pictures of a cold-water geyser I visited, but have been to lazy to deal with. Yes, a cold-water geyser. All will be explained.