Off to Amsterdam

As promised my impressions of the German countryside, the second time around. Sunday I accompanied Peter to visit his sister, who lives near Stade in the next federal state, Lower Saxony (who would've known I knew the name in English as well).

I have to admit to being slightly nervous because here was another new group of people I had to meet and my only means of communication was German. There is always the fear that one's German has an off day, but I needn't have worried since one covers mostly the basics (where in SA are you from, where did you learn to speak German so well?) when meeting new people. First impression of the family, I couldn't believe the sister and her husband's physical resemblance to Bernd and Steffi - the people I stayed with 10 years ago. But the resemblance stopped at the purely physical b/c of course they were completely different people in completely different situations. Tessa, you've met Doris, I believe. She sends regards

They're youngest daughter had been an exchange student in Johannesburg, so she was very happy to talk about that. She's qualifying for some or other thing right now, but once she's finished she hopes to go and work in SA for a year. Good luck to that. Their son has a cool name: Hauke, not a typical German name, but cool nevertheless. Lunch was delicious, as was expected and afterwards we went for a walk in the forest. It was not too cold a day and the sun kept on creeping through. What struck me about this countryside scene was the size of the cultivated land. There were big stretches of them, whereas in the rural area I'd lived in before there were many, but significantly smaller patches of cultivated land. The houses (of the red-brick variety) were also a lot more charming than the one's I'd encountered further north. I'd even had the privilege of seeing a wild boar in his natural habitat. Who would've thought there is still wild life in Germany;-) Of course Peter's brother-in-law was a hunter (just like Bernd) and he had a hunting hound, which had a cool name too - Ike (although I'm sure that's not the way they would spell it like that). Peter also showed me the farm where he'd grown up, where his parents and younger brother still lives. Of course the farm had to be taken over by his brother b/c Peter wasn't interested in farming at all.

Now, sadly this will be my last post for a while. Tomorrow I'm leaving for a five day sojourn in Holland. Tomorrow I'll undertake a seven hour train ride to Delft for Oxana's birthday celebration. Her birthday is actually the next day when we will drive up to Amsterdam to celebrate further. I'll then spend another day in Delft before heading to A/dam for the weekend. A/dam is the party place of choice for the people I'm studying with. They spent a semester there last year and only have fond memories.

So, I'll speak to you on the flip side of that. I'm particularly looking forward to exploring A/dam on a bike. Let's hope the weather is not to shitty.

Ciao