Exploring Home

In Frankfurt:
We walked out to the car, and drove through Frankfurt to Butzbach. The one thing I clearly remember thinking was 'Wow, it looks like Washington State.' Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this, but it didn't take long for me to realize Germany is better than expected. I got to the house and was still nauseous and tired; I toured the house and unloaded my things in to my room. The things that stood out first were.... 'Yes! A desk and a chair'; 'I have a sink?'; and 'what an awesome view!' The view is a curving street with rows of three story building with steep roofs, and a 1,000 Johannite Church. Wow, this was different from my view at home. (the backyard)

I wrote a journal entry on the first day so now here is a few things I was feeling on the first day.
"Starting tomorrow, I will be less tired than I am today. I flew from Hawaii to Frankfurt. Feel sorry for me. ... My host father offered to take me with him on a run or bike ride, but I stayed here! I know it was a lame thing to do, but 'blah' is how I feel. .... I don't miss anyone yet. It hasn't even been a day! Well maybe it has... I'm not sure. I am so tired nothing is a happy thing. .... I took a sleeping pill on the plane, and pretty sure I had hallucinations.. I barely remember anything. An airline lady said to never take them again while you are an unaccompanied minor."

When I got to the house it was only the father, Tony, the mother, Cornelia, and myself. I was going to meet the family piece by piece. First the parents, and then the oldest sister for a day while she and Tony where going off to a Greek Island that weekend, and finally my other sister who was coming back from her vacation in Brazil. I quickly found out Urlaub (vacation) is a very popular German word. Everyone has 6 vacation weeks of vacation throughout the year from work and school.

All went well the first day, I slept long and good in the night and woke up in the morning still tired, but ready for the day. Cornelia, my host mother, took me around the small village of Neider-Weisel. When I say small I mean you can walk around it in 30 minutes. The town has two old churches, the one I am looking at right in this moment, and the Reformed Evangelical Church my host mother is a pastor at. She took me into her church and we got to walk to the top of the church where three bells clang every hour and half hour. (They are clanging now, it's six at night) Occasionally a crow yells in between the clangs and it immediately sparks Medieval stories in my brain. Anyway, we walked around the village with little stone roads and the occasional whiff of the farm land it's surrounded with. (It used to be just a farming community, but know there are only around 5 farmers.) We went to a little store and bought a few things, and I offered to buy us breakfast; I bought Brötchen (rolls, or as Cornelia told me; little breads) I helped in the garden that day, and hung about the house. I was starting to feel a little better, less sleepy, and less nauseous.

On the weekend we traveled to the Grandma's house! But that's for tomorrow. :)