Germany!

On Wednesday I had class and got all packed up and ready to go to Germany the next morning. Then, Thursday morning I woke up at 3am and headed to the airport. It was weird to be traveling around at that time of night. But it was pretty uneventful.

I got to Germany, Dusseldorf at about 9:40am. Jens, my friend from camp, picked me up and we had breakfast at a little town called Kevelaer. After that we went to a bakery to pick up some bread for his mom. Then we went back to their house which is in Duisburg. Then I met his parents and sister. They are all really nice. I've noticed that people in Germany don't speak as much English, in general as people in Holland. After that I took a short nap because I hadn't gotten much sleep the last night...

After that we went for a walk along the Rhine river. That was very pretty...on one side...on the other side it was packed with industrial machines and factories. But the other side, the one we were on had farms and fields and was really pretty. I saw a bunch of different birds!

Then, that night, after dinner, we went to a local school, where Jens's mom works with the kids after school to see the St. Martin celebration. St. Martin was apparently a knight who was riding along one day (I think returning from a battle or something) and found a poor man who was very cold. St. Martin cut his coat in half and shared it with the beggar. But there is a tradition now for the kids to make lanterns and walk through the town singing. After the main celebration, the kids break off into groups and walk from door to door singing for candy. It's kind of like Halloween but with a definitely more Christian slant and nowhere near as sinister sounding. That was fun and I got to see another Fresian horse!! :-D

On Friday, we went to the zoo in the town that Jens will shortly be moving to. It was a lot of fun! It was very very small after going to the Ashboro zoo, but it was really neat. We also fed one of the elephants! And then he stretched out over the moat thing and we got to touch his trunk!!! (we found out later we weren't supposed to feed or touch them...there was a little sign off in one corner.) But it was so much fun!! I took a bunch of pictures! Part of the time it was raining, but I didn't care. :-) Then we went to the place that he has lectures, which is right on the border of a botanical garden. We didn't get to go into the garden, but it was very pretty to look at from the outside! After that we went to see a nearby race track. It was deserted, but it was fun to walk around it in the woods. That night, after dinner, we went to a nearby landscape park with his sister, Lena, and his mom. That was really interesting because it was an old steel (I think) factory which had been made safe for the public and they had put a lot of flourescent lights all over the structures. We went up to the top of one of the huge structures, and we could see several cities....it was crazy! We were so high up.... But it was pretty cool to see! I'll have to put up pictures later.

On Saturday, we went with Mrs. Hilgert to go grocery shopping and after that we went to the Farmer's Market. That was a lot of fun and it took up the whole morning. After lunch, we just hung around the house.

On Sunday, we had planned to go into town and wander around, but it was pouring and the wind was really strong, so they changed plans. We decided to go to the mountains, because it had snowed there the last night!!!! So, we got all ready and then drove up to the mountains and tramped around in half a foot of snow!! I told them that was probably more snow than I would see for a looong time...yay for NC.... :-P But it was a ton of fun!

On Monday, the good weather had returned and so we went into the town and went to an aquarium. That was really fun because they didn't *just* have fish and water animals. They also had some desert animals. It was really interesting to see and they had a lot of funny looking fish there. After that we went back for lunch and then Jens had to go to class so I took a nap. After that I had tea with Mrs. Hilgert and then Mr. Hilgert took me back to the airport and I left for London.

When we were boarding the plane, there was an American guy checking tickets! It was really weird to hear an American accent in Germany and after hearing a lot of German over the past 5 days. But it was also really nice to hear the accent. :-) Then I made my way back to the flat and made guacamole for my dinner. :-D

Yesterday I had class and we went to a concert for a famous string quartet from Budapest. They were really good! Today I am going to Regent's Park to take pictures for my friend! And hopefully, if I have enough time, I might go into the zoo. :-) Tomorrow I leave for Scotland for 5 days! I'm really excited about that! Laura, David, and Mary went this past weekend and they really enjoyed it and said it was beautiful. So, it should be a great time!

Prayer requests: Safe travel to Scotland and around Scotland in the next 5 days. Also, that I'll get enough rest and that I won't get sick. It seems like more and more people are getting sick.