Drachen, Lachen, ...Zachen?

So I have been in Germany a little over a week now and I can honestly say Goodbye America! Haha just kidding, I honestly could move here forever but I know I would miss out on great things back home, and I haven't quite gotten this German language thing down (even though I get really excited when everyone talks to me in German and I understand a word or they don't know I'm an American -- it adds to the thrill). But anyways, I have done  so many "wonderbar" things since the moment I stepped foot on this foreign land. 

Let me start with my host family: they are awesome, very nice people! There are 2 girls, Miriam and Elizabeth about 3 and 17. And David who is 18 that all live at home. The very first day they took Travis and I to Drachenfels which is one of the 7 hills of Bonn. It was beautiful and there was a castle ruin on the top from the thirteen hundreds!! I learned a little German here: (Drachen - Dragon, Lachen - to laugh, and Zachen- which i think is to sing but honestly i have no idea, it just rhymes) Regina (pronounced rehgheenuh) has cooked us wonderful meals of many types, my favorite being the schnitzel or currywerst or the fried potatoes! Tonight Travis and I gave them our gifts of some pecans, UNO cards, tons of A&M stuff, and don't mess with Texas bumper stickers.... (they loved all of it and said they were going to put don't mess with "us" on there instead!) 

Now for our excursion! First we went to Hannover and saw some very interesting things... Mainly the axolotl, an animal found in Mexico that has regrowth capabilities. Whenever a body part is cut off, it has the ability to regrowth that limb without the use of stem cells!! It was very neat to see! And then we went to their spider room, which was a free range spider infested room that we walked through... Creepy, I know, and they were all named too. I think I killed Fred... For our night in Hannover we relaxed with some wine and the USA bs Sweden world cup match. 

Next was the island of Norderney! (Which has been the highlight of my trip thus far.) the first day we went SWIMMING IN THE NORTH SEA after our visit to the rehab clinic on the island! This was definitely an experience of a lifetime, even though the water was cold enough to pierce diamonds. we even convinced dr. Wasser to get in! It was amazing, and the fish on the island tasted wonderful too! The next day was rather interesting and tiring though. The wattwanderung ate us alive. Whenever there is low tide (about every 12 hrs) there is no water between the islands of the north sea and the mainland of Germany.... So obviously we took a tour guide and walked across about 9 kilometers of mud to the other side. Although there was about 4 hours of painful grinding (my ankles are still cut up) this walk was VERY interesting and fun. To learn about the organisms that live in this unusual terrain was awesome, and we even got to see two crabs "doing it" as Bailey yelled out to everyone. It was awesome and people even ate raw oysters straight from the sea! Later on we went to the seal center and learned about how they take care of the lost baby seals and other interesting facts..


Next stop: Amsterdam.
Tschuss!