Zoooo

Today I went to the zoo with Johanna! It was a trip with kindergarten, and parents were allowed to come, but obviously Stefan and Stephanie couldn't, so they asked if I wanted to. I figured Johanna would love it if we had some time just the two of us, so of course I said yes! It was alooong day though (at least for a four-year-old). We left at 8:30 and the bus ride to Augsburg took an hour and a half. Once we got there, a little after 10, we walked around the zoo for a while. Unfortunately the zoo is pretty small, so even with all the bathroom stops and eating breaks, we took, we were completely done by 12:30. Luckily there is a huge playground at the end of the route through the zoo, so all the kids played there until it was time to leave, shortly before 3. It just kind of sucked for me to sit there, because first off, the mamas are all way older than me so I don't know what to say to them/they don't know what to say to me, and second, none of them ever even try! That is the thing that really bugs me. They all obviously knew that I was new when I got there, but no one EVER tried to talk to me in the beginning, not even just introducing themselves! I still don't know some of their names, since they've never told me! And of course in the beginning I was not exactly confident with my German skills, so I wasn't exactly going to walk up to a group of people all 10-15 years older than me and start talking to them. Ugh. I really don't get them. I guess they're content on having their own little exclusive circles. Just shows you women are the same all over the world.

Anyway, so it kind of sucked having to sit there and not talk to anyone, but Johanna had a lot of fun. She was still really wound up on the ride home, so she didn't sleep at all (I'd really been hoping she would). She was pretty antsy and kept wiggling around. An hour and a half is looong for a little kid! I took some cool pictures, which I'll post on facebook, so look there eventually.

Oh, I almost forgot--I finally climbed the Münster in Ulm! 768 steps and the highest church tower in the world. Here's a pic:

In other news, I went to Wittenberg last weekend (June 6-8) to finnnnally, after four years, go to Luthers Hochzeit, Wittenberg's big festival every year, and also to visit my old host family. The festival was really cool, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be. There's not really much to say about it, since it was really just something you walk around and look at. There were a lot of bands, although they were all kind of odd, middle-ages type bands. The weirdest thing is that they play middle ages music at times other than during Luthers Hochzeit. On Saturday afternoon there was a big parade with the bridal pair, since the whole festival is to commemorate Martin Luther's marriage to Katharina von Bora. It's weird enough that she was an ex-nun; what's weirder even is that he was an ex-monk! The parade was neat, and luckily since the festival isn't THAT big and the parade route was long, it was easy to get a spot in the front (unlike the big parade in Munich for Oktoberfest...). At one point some adorable little boy walking in the parade came up and gave me a flower. Aww!

I ran into Herr Owens in the evening, just as I was contemplating going home. He showed me where the USC students were so I hung out with them the rest of the night. I didn't know any of them, but they were all pretty nice. The group this year is much smaller than when I was there, maybe 13 people? I think we had at least 21 or 22.

The next day, Sunday, I just stayed and hung out with my host family, since I had only seen them for a few hours on Saturday morning, plus I was leaving Sunday afternoon so I wouldn't have had time to do anything at the festival that day. It was really great to see them, and really great to be able to easily speak German to them! They are exactly the same and their apartment looks exactly the same. We even played the same card game that we played every night while I was there 4 years ago. I have got to get a Mau Mau card deck. Sunday afternoon they took me to the train station, and after three trains and one delay, only got home one hour after was expected. For Deutsche Bahn, that's pretty good. So is only 1 delay out of 3. Do not believe it when people say Germans are efficient. The train system has got to the be the worst, and most expensive, in Europe. Granted, the trains are nice, but they are NEVER on time. There have been a few times when trains I've been on have been on time, but they've always been short trips. Every time I've made a long-distance trip there has been a delay. But, enough about Deutsche Bahn and my loathing of them. It was so great to go back to Wittenberg, see my old host family, and just to see the city. Heidenheim is the same size as Wittenberg, population-wise, but Wittenberg is way above Heidenheim in terms of niceness of the city and just things to do. Wittenberg also isn't as in the middle of nowhere as Heidenheim is, so that probably helps, plus it's a short drive or train ride away from Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and other places.

In other other news, I'm going to Bremen and Hamburg next weekend! I'll only be up there for two days, but from what I've heard and what I've looked up, one day might be too little for each city, but there's not that much to do in either one. And, next Sunday night in Hamburg....I'm seeing Dirty Dancing the musical!!!!!!! Ahhh!!! God, I love that movie. Patrick Swayze, I'm saying a little prayer for your cancer right now. And then the first weekend in July, I"m going to Vienna! I'm hoping to get in one more weekend trip after that. I was thinking of going to Zagreb, but I'm just not sure it'll work out. Maybe I'll do a weekend in Stuttgart, or Zurich. I'll have to think about it. I can't believe I have only a little over a month and a half left here! There are still so many places I want to see, but oh well. My money is starting to run out.