Happy "Tag Der Deutschen Einheit"!!

On a normal day I would probably be working at the moment...but this is no normal day. This is October 3rd. The German national holiday in which they "celebrate" the reunification of the East and West. But it's a little like our Presidents day or something...in other words no celebrations or traditions. Just a day off :)

Anyways, I guess I should first talk a little bit about the weekend.

This past weekend was the German/Swiss Trainee fall retreat. We met in the little town of Meckasheim, about 10 km from Heidelberg. I arrived in the town earlier then the rest so I killed time by getting coffee in a bakery. I wanted a place to sit but there was none so I awkwardly stood there and chatted some with the workers...in German. Everyone arrived safe and sound. The committee leaders were there, two of which I hadn't met before and 2 weren't there. The point of the retreat was to talk with each other about our placements and just have fun. We also took time each day to officially meet together, and a committee person would give share with us a devotional type thing. Friday Deborah, a committee person encouraged us to keep a positive attitude, and Ruth on Sunday shared about how God is shaping us during the hard times. They were good things, but honestly this is a really happy time in my life. I was never this consistently happy/content with my life in high school. So it was kind of strange to me to hear these things. But maybe these are though times for some in the group, but I wouldn't know it. It certainly doesn't appear that way.

Friday night they gave us the seasonal regional specialty of Zwiebelkuchen and Neue Wein (literally onion cake and new wine), The Zweiebelkuchen is like quiche. New wine is wine that has only aged for 4 weeks or so is maybe only 18 proof. Its so good!! I'm not the biggest fan of wine, but I love this stuff. But it's only available in the wine region at this time of year. Saturday afternoon we went to Heidelberg, one of the prettiest cities in Germany (i think). It was a little too crowded though since there was fest going on. I'm a little fested out at this point. Saturday night we learned a fun new game called "banko".

Monday was my first day of school!!! I started my German class. It will be twice a week in Ingolstadt. The time is rather inconvenient, although we are working around it. I have to drive about 20 min, it's not so bad. I just hope that I can find a cheaper parking place...2,60 euros twice a week can quickly add up. There are 10 in the class, very international... a Kenyan, Ukrainian, Russian, french, 3 Americans, danish.

Tuesday, I baked my first pumpkin pie! It turned out pretty good. I was impressed since the last time I tried to make a pie in school I failed miserably.

Anywasy here are some photos of my daily life--taken tuesday.