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Published: September 13th 2007
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Castle in Meersburg
There used to be a drawbridge at the opening at the bottom right corner but now there is just a bridge. It is a 50ft drop off the bridge. We have been in deutchland for over a week now and it is still new and endearing. Every German that i have met knows at least some english. when i am the only person sitting at a table of germans they speak german but if there are more than one or two english speakers at the table they just go on with the conversation in english. the different dialects throw me sometimes. johanis from franconia rolls his r's. christian pronounces hard g and k sounds like sh. we have been told that germans in the north speak a more proper high german. i havent talked to a german that likes the french yet. apparently there is some kind of tension lingering from WWII. so last sunday Morgan and i took a couple bikes to Meersburg. it was sunny and the air was crisp. we rode through vinyards and apple orchards for about 15 km. meersburg has an old castle at its center. the narrow streets wind through old buildings past cafes and shops and restaurants always with outside seating. meersburg is right on bodensee there are ferries on the docks that can take you to switzerland. its a beautiful old town.
Meersburg
Castle is in the center. go. monday we started work. Germans like routines and schedules so a routine has developed. Morgan's routine is slightly different during the work day because we work in different departments. i have the alarm so it wakes me 7 to 730. i knock on the wall to wake morgan since she is staying in the room nextdoor. we have a half hour devotion at 8am. then morgan goes to breakfast. i work until maintenance has breakfast(frühstück) at 9am. then morgan and i usually have lunch(mittagessen) together at 1230. she goes back to work and i have a 10min coffee break with maintenance where they speak in german about what the american will do. then i work til 5pm-ish. then morgan and i go for a run through the countryside. we get cleaned up and eat dinner(abendessen) at 630pm. then we go for a walk either through the apple orchards or to a beach on the lake. then we have a few hours of freetime which has been mostly spent on trying to figure out where to go in italy(we narrowed the list from 300 to less than 30). we also wash clothes, email, read, etc during this time. then it's
Vinyard near Hagnau
Taken from my bike on the way to Meersburg. vinyard, bodensee, Hagnau, switzerland across the water. to bed and repeat.
Work for me has varied greatly. i started out helping johanis with a new hardwood floor. i did a lot of sanding with a backbreaking little sander. i chisled out a channel for electricity in a door frame. i puttied the floor to fill in cracks and crevices. halfway through wednesday i was asked to help christian dig some trenches and do some downspout work for rainwater. thursday morning waldemar and i returned 43 cases of glass bottles and picked up 25 more cases of carbonated mineral water. apparently there was some confusion about the trenches. they wanted another trench to come from another corner of the building to join the first trench. christian and i had dug with spades and picks then made a 1% grade going from north to south with sand before laying pipe. then they told christian(who translated for me) that they needed the grade to go in the opposite direction on the first trench which threw off the second trench. saturday we only worked a half day. i picked apples and plums from the school's orchard that day.
On saturday morgan and i took bikes to Friedrichshafen. it is
Grapes and Big Fly
Taken on the way to Meersburg more modern than the other small german towns on the bodensee. it has a nice lakefront walkway with a park and outside restaurants and icecream parlors. we rode back to fischbach. the soccercamp had ended and the building was empty and silent. at dinner andreas invited us to watch a soccer match between Germany and Wales that night. We brought some local grapejuice and carbonated mineral water to share. andreas and morgan had some good german beer and christian, waldemar and i drank fizzy grapejuice while we cheered on germany.
On sunday morning we had breakfast at 745 and a group of us packed into the school's van and went to a church service that was all in german. i had Christian translate most of the service to english. lunch was käse spaztle again so a few of us drove to Immenstaad to a small italian restaurant called Rustico for pizza. morgan and i had gorganzola and spinach pizza. after lunch morgan and i took a kayak out on the lake for a couple hours trying not to get hit by a sailboat or get flipped by the wake of a ferry. when we got back to the school
Hardwood Floor
This is the floor i was working on. i mainly used the sander to the left. operated from a kneeling position. a bit akward and uncomfortable. we went for a 7.5 km run. we raided the closed kitchen for some dinner and spent the rest of the night researching italy.
we were invited to go on an all expenses paid staff outing to a chalet in the swiss alps for lunch, hike, and dinner on morgan's birthday. so there is more to come.
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andy
non-member comment
aw...
Yeah i am jealous..sounds like a blasty..except the trench digging...ouch! what is morgan doin everyday?