One for Me...One for the Bucket

We are well into summer here in Fritzlar. The past few weeks have been hot and sunny which means the strawberries are ripe for the picking and that is exactly what we did. We filled up Dicke Ulla, our white VW caravan, and set out for the strawberry fields. Buckets in hand and bellies empty, we were ready for picking. One for me, one for the bucket, one for me, one for the bucket, one for me, two for me, one for the bucket…at the end I had 2.48 Euro worth of strawberries to take home to Dan and about the same value in my belly. Sun-kissed vine-ripened strawberries are the BEST!
Three days later, we were back at the fields and we picked even more. More for our bellies and more for the buckets. We were preparing for an Erdbeere Wochenende - everything strawberry the whole weekend. We ate them fresh, in shakes, on pancakes, in cakes, with pudding, on ice cream and even made strawberry ice cream. It was strawberry goodness for two and a half days.

Hallo Haiterbach!

Mom and Dad were off and an hour later we packed up 4 vans as a school and headed off to start our Studienreise. (Who’s been using the handy German-English dictionary at the end of the blog? Come on, use it!) Our first stop was in Haiterbach, a small German town about 6 hours south of Fritzlar where they make the best pretzels. We spent two nights with host a family which was really the best part of the whole weekend. Our host family was a young couple with a bubbly little 10 month old boy named Tim. They fed us well, they played with us (a great German game that I can’t remember the name of), showed us around the town and even showed us family pictures. It was really such a great experience being treating so well by people that do not even know you. They even grilled us beef steaks since they know we were mostly being fed pork at the bible school. How sweet!
On the Friday, we as students ran activities for the kids, young and old, at the church. Saturday was spent at the church learning about an “antiviolence” program run in the schools were we learnt a song that all of the bible school students will never forget. “I want to be your friend just a little bit more…” (To be sung with a Schwäbish-German accent) Sunday, the students led the whole service. Dan played his electric violin in the band and I helped out with the 3-6 year olds with Birte.

Nothing Bad about Bad Wildungen

Right after Dan finished up at a short day of classes, we took the short 20 minutes bus ride into Bad Wildungen. After seeing the beautiful gardens at Easter time with the Bruno and Erna Riske we thought it would be a good day trip with mom and dad.
So we began our walk around town, checked out a few stores and a bakery before we took another short bus ride to the Kurshaus where began our next journey. We walked the same route as with the Riske’s but then decided to keep going. Every small garden section was paired with something special…a large set of Glockenspiel, an over-sized kaleidoscope, funky chairs, a massive lip-shaped bedding box. But the fun began when we spotted a few playground toys. I won’t describe but I’m sure you can see how hard mom and I were laughing swinging in these chairs. Then we continued walking and then fun just kept on coming. We found a huge kid-free playground full of jumbo playing pieces. 2x4 foot dominos, chess pieces and 15 foot logs for pick up sticks. Again we laughed until we cried. This was SO much better than Rome.
After we wore out the big kid in each of us, we started back into town to hit up Lotus Blumen, the best little Chinese buffet in Hessen. On the way we saw a pair of swans with their little goslings waddling behind. Dad and I immediately had our cameras on them, snapping pictures and taking video. It was just so cute.
The rest of mom and dad’s time here was spent playing cards with other students, skyping with our favorite kids in Duncan, lots of walks and looking at Italy and cruise pictures and what seemed hours of footage. (Fun hey Dan?) We had a great visit with them and saw them off at the Wabern train station as they continued their adventure to Paris then to Manchester. See you in August Mom and Dad!

First Family Guests

After a week of getting back into schedule and cleaning up the house, our first family guests arrived. Mom and Dad. We met them at the Frankfurt airport and as mom SPRUNG out of the arrivals area tanned and boisterous, I knew the cruise had done them well. They were full of life and great stories. Again mom and I talked the whole train ride back to Fritzlar. It was like we hadn’t see each other for years yet it had only been 8 short days. For details about their cruise, ask them. They had an amazing time which was well deserved and LONG overdue.
Having mom and dad at our place was fun, after only an hour of being at our place, mom had literally taken over the whole living room with her “loot” from the cruise ports. Turkish hats, bowls and tea lay scattered across the floor, scarves, bracelets and postcards were spread out on the table and shirts, change purses and a ball cap from every port decked the couches. It was quite the site. As the clock continued to tick and Dan still had school the next morning, we all decided to call it a night. Tomorrow’s destination…Bad Wildungen.

Returning to Rome

Well it was short and sweet…and oh so savory and spicy and succulent…yummy. It was time for mom, dad and I to make the bus trip to Rome. I’ll make this entry short as I am not too interested in telling all the details of our Rome trip. I’ll just say this: usually people throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain to ensure they return to Rome, not take one out.
The pictures can tell the rest.