to my mom, from the motherland

So this morning I woke up at 445, got myself some toast, and headed down to the bus stop at Gloucester Green to catch the 530 coach to Heathrow. Christye went with me, such an amazing friend! Let me tell you that I slept all the way there. I got on the plane, slept, and then got off to get my bag. It was a pretty good flight, first time in a long time that I have flown with no one next to me.

At the border they always ask you the purpose of your visit. It was cool to tell them I was visiting family. Oh ya, security in London is rediculous. They take your picture before you go through security, and you walk through the metal dector and they frisk you. WEIRD. So I got my amazing backpack off the conveyor belt and walked out the door. I was sorta worried that I wouldnt recognize Michaela, but that was dumb of me. SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE GISELA. And you and roswita to an extent. I knew exactly who she was when I saw her. And she did too I think, the first thing they did was hug me and then she said "and you have a Fix nose!" LOL.

After that we went and met her son, Florian, who is studying in Stuttgart. Then they took me to Octoberfest..which is apparently a huge thing in Germany. And she told me the one in Stuttgart is the second largest in the country. So, we walked around, had lunch and oh my goodness. They were playing traditional music, and there were hundreds of German people singing along in all the right places and some of them were up on the tables and EVERYONE had a beer. And im not talking like a bottle, more like a LITRE. Dont worry, I ordered a coke.

After that we walked around the carnival more and Florian and I went on a Drop Zoneish sorta ride. It was fun, they all got a kick out of watching me screem.

After that we drove back to Haslach. I slept part of the way but as soon as we got to the Black Forest I was wide awake. IT IS SOOO BEAUTIFUL. The hills are steep and all along the top are immence pine trees, thick. And the valleys are beautiful green rolling hills and the treeline is lined with all kinds of trees that are turning color. Red, orange, yellow, lime green. And farm houses nestled into the landscape, with smoke coming out of the stacks. Amazing.

We got here and after I put my stuff down they took me on a walk around Haslach. It was so sureal. All the stuff Ive ever heard about it and here I am, walking through it on coblestone streets being told all about it as we pass all kinds of people Michaela and Ludwig know. We went to the cemetary, the church were Roswita and Gisela were baptized, and saw where your parents used to live, which isnt exactly there anymore. I took tuns of pictures but I wont be able to put them up till I get back to Oxford.

Next we stopped at Michaelas fathers house...Stephan? Anyway, this is my favorite part. He is super cute, but highly dissapointed I dont speak any German. He got out photo albums. He has the originals of a lot of the copies you have. They told me names of the people in the picture with the nun, but i dont know if Ill be able to remember. Then he showed me a picture of you and your mom at christmas in Danville, I guess it belonged to Michaelas mom. Then I almost cried when he gave it to me. :)

Um, what else..oh he had a copy of the poem you have in the hallway, I asked Michaela if she would traslate it for you..she said yes.

We ate dinner, sausage salad, (consisting of sausage, cheese and onions with oil and vinegar over it) and then meat and cheese and bread.

And now Im writing you this. And every Y i have typed was first a z and then i had to go back and fix it, because the y and z are switched on this keyboard. I love you. Its a little weird I think, being here without you. I think that we should try really hard to make that trip with everybody.

I love you a whole lot. Dad too.