Good news, bad news

I am resurrecting a favorite “how was your day” game that Matty Hartness and I used to play at the dinner table in the staff room way back when…

Bad news: it is already really cold here

Good news: I don’t have to pay separate utilities so I already turned my heat on!

 

Bad news: my room is the farthest from the bathroom

Good news: there is a mirror and a sink in my room

 

Good news: my German is getting better

Bad news: when I ask about a translation or vocab word, often 5 year old Lea is the one who provides me with an answer

 

Good news: I got to travel to the black forest region with Cindy on Saturday and the weather was absolutely perfect: sunny and clear

Bad news: we both forgot our cameras

So, on that note, I'd like to share with you a little about my black forest adventure (without pictures...sorry - use your imaginations!)

Cindy and Lea picked me up and we traveled about 20 minutes to the base of the mountains  and the black forest region - that is where Cindy attended Gymnasium (an equivalent of our high school) she commuted there from her hometown in the mountains. The landscape is absolutely beautiful - flat plain running into small mountains with vinyards and farmland running right up the sides of the mountains, bordering dense forest. We then went onto the road that runs along high points throughout the range. From there we stopped to enjoy the view from a lookout point from which you can see across the flatlands surrounding the Rhine river and on to the mountains in France - it was simply breathtaking! 

We enjoyed a picnic along the way (something which Germans don't really do - we encountered many curous onlookers!) traveled to a beautiful little spot called Ruhestein. All along the way we saw a few ski lifts about the length of the one on the bunny slope, but steeper, I will admit. In Ruhestein there were cows grazing on the hillside, a ski lift running so people could ride up and hike down, a traditional house that is typical for this region of Germany, and the border stone that marks the border between the previously separate, now united states of Baden and Würtemburg (now collectively known as Baden-Würtemburg). 

Making our way back towards Karlsruhe, we stopped at a beautiful mountain lake called Mummelsee - the location of a German epic fairy tale about the ghost of a mermaid or something like that. There was a man dressed up as this ghost creature of the lake who gave us shells so we can listen to them and hear the sound of Mummelsee wherever we are. We walked around the lake, went for a spin in a paddle boat and enjoyed a cup of coffee.

Everything was so beautiful, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep the images in my memory and that is a sad thought. Cindy promised a trip back there in the near future with cameras so that I can solidify my experience a little more concretely! 

from the internet: this gives you the idea of the man dressed up - it was pretty great!

also from my good friend wikipedia, this is a view of Mummelsee - just to give you an idea