Fahrradtour und schwimmen

The big event today was when we went on a bike ride (fahrradtour). Heuchlingen and the nearby villages sit basically in farmland. There are farms completely surrounding us. Running through these are routes that I'm assuming were built so that the farmers can drive to the correct field and do all their farming stuff. The roads are public, so people can walk and run and bike on them also. We rode around those for a while and also stopped by the woods to walk a little bit. It's really beautiful here! The only downside is since they're farms, they STINK. There is manure everywhere. Actually, the whole town kind of smells; fortunately not where the house is, but on the outskirts it does (Heuchlingen is so small that from the middle to the edge is maybe a two- or three-block walk).

They also showed me the path through the farms to take to get to Dettingen, which is the next town over. It's huge compared to Heuchlingen, at least twice as big. I was going to go today, but by the time we were done with the "fahrradtour", it was a little bit too late to go. Maybe some day this week after work.

After bike riding, Stefan and Stephanie made applesauce. There are a ton of apples here. Practically everyone has an apple tree somewhere on their property in Heuchlingen. Stefan said that there are very distinct rules here: when something hangs over the fence, whether it's just a regular plant or if it's plums or apples, etc, anyone can eat it. If it's off that person's land, they have no control over it. While we were out they ate some tiny plums (I think that's what they were...even fruit is different here!) and Johanna had an apple. Another weird thing: they only wash their fruit if it comes from the grocery store (because of the chemicals). If they got it from a garden, even if it was sitting on the ground, they don't wash it.

After that, I went swimming with Dominik and Johanna! They have an indoor swimming pool. It was nice after a long day to relax in a heated pool.

And, tomorrow is work! I think it will be good. They are generally well-behaved and active kids, and now they're a little bit used to me and I to them. Ahh, it's so weird to have a full-time job!