An American in Wiesbaden

Well here I am, as promised, writing you from Germany.
So far everything is fantastic.

The boys are shy, but warming up pretty quickly. Max & I played a game of foosball (which I almost lost, but then made a miraculous comeback to and won) yesterday.
It is so incredibly hot here. Well, I just checked and I guess it's not that hot. It probably just feels hot because I'd been stuck in California June gloom for the past few weeks. Right now it's 86 degrees here. There's a good deal of breeze though, so that helps.
I love the area. Everything is so close. I took a walk yesterday, probably about a mile, and got to the center of town. Everything is within walking distance. The mall, the train station, the bakery, the hair salon, the buses. The boys I'll drive to school (it's maybe four or five miles, I could walk, but it probably won't happen. Plus the boys are used to being driven)

Germany is so incredibly green. And the house has windows everywhere, so I get to look at it all the time.
We went to dinner at a place called Rouch last night. It was a Biergarten out in the vineyards.

I looked over and six year old mike was casually pretending to blow smoke rings through his lolly. He lit up like a firefly when I pulled out the camera.

Alright, enough for now. I'm going outside. It's too nice to sit here any longer.

Cheers,
Kelsi

I still can't believe I'm actually going. It all seemed sort of like a "wouldn't that be nice" until now. But I've met the family, opened the evelopes containing the plane ticket and passport, and this weekend I pulled out my luggage and practiced packing.

So far, it looks like I'll even have a bit of extra space. Most of my clothes fit into the one case. I've decided to be economical in my packing. I'm leaving at least 40% of my clothes in my closet. I know I'm going to want to pick up a few things in each city I visit, so I'll need space in my bags for the return trip. Although, I have to say, I am an <i>expert</i> crammer. All of this preparation is surprisingly making me realize how young I am. Showering this morning, I reached for the shampoo, and thought "I am going to have to buy my own shampoo." I don't think I've ever done that. Maybe once a bottle of 99cent travel sized herbal essence. But that was only for the novelty of buying tiny good smelling shampoo. Trivial. Like playing house. But soon I'll be...living "house". Phhhh.
Don't get me wrong. I am <i>incredibly</i> excited. This is going to be an amazing year. But everything is going to change for me. Everything and everyone who has ever influenced me will be on the other side of the world. Everything familiar will be out of reach. It's a little bizarre. But there will be so much to see. And that I can't get at fast enough.
I'm a little worried about friends. I've got the best of friends, it'll be monstrous letting go of them for a while. I'm slow to make new friends, but I'm good at finding the very best. I guess I'm just unsure of how to make friends without a venue like school.
Haha, I suppose I'll just sit in the same coffee shop morning after morning writing in my journal about how I'd like to befriend the staff. Oh well, I'm really not to terribly worried. These things have a way of working themselves out. Besides,I'll enjoy the genuine independence of it for a while.

I suppose that's all I have to say for now.
Perhaps the next time I write, it'll be from Germany.
Cheers,
Kelsi