Lots of Stuff

Ho-kay.

Lots of stuff has been happening! That is probably why I haven't really had a chance to write about it here.

Quick little katsup.

I went with the Meissners for a little outing to Frankfurt. It poured rain the whole time but it was still pretty cool. There was this huge double decker food market there. Covered thank goodness. It really reminded me of home. Just all the bustling people, packed into the space, sellers yelling, butchers chopping, little kids running around with bags of bread. I hit up the spice shop there and got a really good Thai curry and a Tandoori rub.



Second little outing I did with the Meissners was to a city called Karlsruhe. The city is famous for its engineering university and this big ol' castle that is right in the middle of the city. All the streets branch out from it, Rome style. On top of the castle there is this big tower that we climbed up in. We also went to this big cultural center there called the ZKM. It is a huge complex with museums, theatres, outdoor art, restaurants, and everything. Very very cool place. We went to a film and moving picture exhibit there.



Next piece of big news; I changed families! My Rotary here thought it would be a good idea if I changed before tour, so they made it happen. Since my hindsight is 20/20, I'm seeing that it was really a better situation than to come back to the Meissners, then leave right away. My new family is called the Mandelbaums (The Almond Trees). The father (Lutge) is a priest (of the Protestant church which is attached to the house), his wife (Noemia) is a Brazillian born Jewish woman who is an excellent cook and a loving mother. Their sons, David and Jonathan, are 18 and 10. I am officially little Johnny's new best friend and American toy. Good thing he does boy scouts, he's is busy a lot. David is also really cool, his girlfriend (Sarah) is really sweet, and his other friends are also really fun. Should be a good time, eh?

I live in Hambach (the rich part of town) again, so a lot of other awesome people live by me again. Just now, I know how to speak Deutsch and can communicate with them. Pictures of David and his friends are on my updated Flickr page if you want to check it out (Pictures).

Alrighty.

Now to the interesting stuff.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for my European Tour. It lasts 22 days and we are going through many Western and Eastern European countries. We are going to begin in Weisbaden, the capitol of Hessen, then move on to Brussels. Our next city will be Paris followed by Lyon and Avignon. Down to the French Riviera we go to Port du Gard, Cote d' Azur, Nice, and through Monaco. Next we travel into Italy, starting with Genoa, then Siena and Rome. Then we go to Florence, Bologna and Jesolo. Once we are finished with Italy we go to Austria and to Wein. Should be pretty fancy there. Next we go to Hungary, to Budapest. Then on to Slovakia and Bratislava. Next comes the Czech Republic and Prag, then we finish it off with Karlsbad and Eastern Germany.

I'm going to be gone for a quite a while. I bid you all a fine time, and please do send me some emails.

Ciao

P.S. <-- what part of the alphabet would look like without Q and R

P.P.S. Check out my new pictures on Flickr