The David Has Landed

I got on the plane in San Fransisco at 7:00 in the morning, local time. I got off another plane at 8:00 in the morning, local time. It was the shortest and longest trip of my life. When I got to Vettlehoven, after an hour and a half drive from Frankfurt, my family sat down to breakfast, and, more than a little confused, I sat down as well, and ate my first german "Fruhstuck", with my body telling me it was a midnight snack and the morning sun shining.

But things here have been excellent. My four years of German mean I can understand what people say to me, and even hold up my end of a conversation, albiet haltingly. Thank you Frau Bird! All the funny things that you say, like "Klein aber Fein" that a thought were just Frau Bird-isims, people actually say! My accomdations are also excellent. My room here is bigger than my room at home, actually, and my host family, Thomas Jahnen, Andrea Jahnen, and Fransiska Jahnen are incredibly nice, and considerate of my very basic german. I met the son, Mathias Jahnen, but the day after I got there, he went off to his own exchange in Syracuse, New York. Nice and symmetrical.

Yesterday, after another trip to the airport in Frankfurt, we took a long senic detour and came up the Rhein valley at its narrowest area. Now the Rhein is never narrow, and even at its narrowest it is wider than any river in Humboldt. But its valley is quite impressive. And on either side of the Rhein there are old castles. We saw more than a dozen in the whole trip. Everything here is so old! I was talking to my family about the Carson Mansion, and how it is a really historic building in Eureka, and I said that it was built in the 1860's or so, and they laughed, and pointed to a random building that said "im 1600 Gebaut". Europe is so old!

I met the other exchange student from america that is going to be in school with me. She's from Getteysburg, Pennsylvania, and she's named Signe, but I didn't ask such personal questions as "what's your last name?" She sings, and plays four instruments, so we will likely have many of the same classes. But she has only one semester of german, so this is a lot harder for her. Talking to her as we went and got our bank accounts and visa papers, I discovered something: It is really hard to switch from English to German. When I speak one or the other only, it's easy to remember words and grammar, but using both is really confusing and tricky, and I forget which one I am using to whom. I have installed german on my laptop for that reason, and I will probably not speak much to you english-speakers, not because I don't want to, but because it's becoming difficult!

Bis Später!